CH 5

Gia had tried to wash her dress several times with no luck of getting the stain out. Every time she looked at it, she thought about the jerk that put it there. Something about him got to her, his smile she guessed. He had a smile that could make her blush just thinking about it. But she shook her head as she thought of him, trying to get him out of her head. She knew what kind of guy he was, rich, spoiled and popular, she hated guys like that. She looked down at the card that was in her hand and took a deep breath before picking up the phone and dialing the number that was on it. “Nikolas Cassadine.” She heard his deep voice speak into the phone. “Hi this is Gia Campbell, we met the other night at the party when you uh, spilled your drink on me.” Gia said. Nik’s heart began to pound with excitement at the sound of Gia talking, he had thought about her non-stop since that night and was hoping she would call. “Hi Gia, what can I do for you?” He asked. “I was wondering if you were sincere when you said you would replace it?” Gia questioned. “Of course, I always keep my promises.” Nik said, not able to see Gia’s eyes roll. “Yeah OK well this is a Calvin Cline dress and now I can’t wear it, it cost me $70.00.” Gia said. Nik laughed. “Oh I think I can cover the costs. What do you say we meet for coffee at Jitters tomorrow? I’ll write you a check.” Nik asked. Gia thought about it. “Coffee? Look why don’t you just pop it in the mail?” Gia suggested. “Come on, would it kill you to have coffee with me?” Nik asked. Gia sighed and smiled in spite of herself. “Fine, coffee tomorrow. I get out of school around 3:00 but I’ll have to take the bus downtown so what do you say we meet around 3:30?” Gia asked. “Sounds great, I’ll see you tomorrow Gia.” Nik said smiling to himself. Gia hung up the phone and dropped her head back on the bed. She looked over at the clock and decided to make one more call, she picked up the phone and dialed. “Hi Carol, is there anyway that you can watch Jake for an extra hour tomorrow?” Gia asked. “No problem honey, see you tomorrow.” She answered kindly. It was all set; she was going to have coffee with Nikolas Cassadine tomorrow.

Gia sat in her math class, looking at the clock. This was her last class of the day and for some reason, she couldn’t wait for it to be over. She was very good at math too, in fact it was her favorite subject but she couldn’t stop daydreaming about later today with Nikolas. “Gia, I asked you a question.” Sister Mary Margaret distracted her thoughts.

Nikolas couldn’t believe he was so off at soccer practice, he missed two goals and made one penalty. All the guys were confused by his performance on the field. His focus was just off, he kept thinking about Gia. The sound of her voice as she spoke to him the night before excited him. He couldn’t wait for the date they had today. He took a shower and put on a pair of jeans and a black silk button up shirt and went to his car to the coffee shop.

  Nikolas looked at his watch. Gia was late. He didn’t see how anyone could handle having to take the bus. He was taking a sip of his coffee when he heard someone speak to him. “Nikolas.” The soft sound of her voice said. Nikolas looked up to see the most amazing sight he had ever seen, Gia stood before him in a school uniform that she had obviously fixed up to look a little more tolerable. Her sweater was wrapped around her waist and her white blouse was unbuttoned a few buttons on the top, showing off the sexy curve of her cleavage. She looked at him with her iced coffee in her hand and blushed at his staring. “Nikolas.” She repeated. Nikolas snapped out of his trance and smiled up at her. “Gia, you look incredible.” Nik breathed. Gia frowned as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Look, you don’t need to flirt with me OK? I just want you to replace my dress, that’s all. You really don’t even need to talk to me; all you have to do is write me a check for the dress. I’m not some whore that you can just flirt with to get out of this. I’m not like that.” Gia said attitude and confidence. Nik was shocked. “Gia, that’s not what I was trying to say. I was just telling you that you look beautiful.” Nik said. He once again saw Gia blush and found that odd. “You’re acting like you don’t know this.” Nik said with a slight laugh, stopping when he saw her serious look. He was once again shocked. Surely she didn’t really think she looked like a whore. “Gia, you’re.” “Nikolas stop, just forget it OK?” Gia said interrupting him and starting to leave. “Gia come on, will you just sit down and have coffee with me? Please?” Nik asked. Gia sighed. She nodded her head and sat down. “So what does your family do? I mean how do you have so much money?” Gia asked as she sipped her coffee. Nik chuckled. “You don’t know who I am?” Nik asked. Gia scrunched up her nose. “Nikolas Cassadine is who I thought.” She said. Nik laughed. “You don’t know who the Cassadine’s are?” Nik asked. Gia thought about it. “I think I’ve heard the name on the news once or something, I’m not sure.” Gia said shaking her head. “My family is royalty, we are from Greece. My brother and father fallowed me out here when I came looking for my mother.” Nik said. Gia was confused. “You didn’t know where your mother was?” Gia asked. “My father had an affair with her.” Nik explained. Gia nodded her head. Nik smiled at her, it was not like him to be so open with people but he felt comfortable with Gia. “So, lets talk about you. I know you go to Catholic school but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around.” Nik said. “Well I live on the other side of town. I take the bus to St. Mary’s because my mother makes me.” Gia said. “Oh I see.” Nik said nodding. “My father wanted my brother and I to go to private school too but we insisted on public and he finally gave in.” Nik said. Gia laughed. Nikolas’ heart skipped a beat as he heard the sound of her laughter and saw the smile on her face. She looked absolutely breathtaking when she smiled. “Lucky.” Gia said shaking her head with a smile. Their conversation was interrupted when Gia’s cell phone rang. “Hello, this is Gia.” She said into the phone. “Gia this is Carol, you need to come here right away. It’s about Jake.” Carol said. Gia’s heart sank. “Jake?” She asked. Nik sat back in his chair deflated, he knew that this was too good to be true, she was going out with Jake Sheer, the captain of the football teem. She’s beautiful, so why should I be surprised that she has a boyfriend? But why would she act like there was a slight chance? Clearly what I’m feeling cannot be one sided, he thought. Nikolas became angrier by the minute as Gia listened intently to her phone call, how could he have been so stupid? She’s going out with Jake Sheer, he concluded.

“He smashed his finger in the door and he needs you. I’ve gotten the bleeding under control but he’s still screaming. Please you need to come.” Carol said desperately into Gia’s ear. Gia could hear her brother’s shrill screams in the background and then heard him call for her. That’s all she needed to hear to make her leave. “I’ll be right there.” Gia said. She hung up the phone. “I need to go.” Gia said turning to Nikolas. “Awww poor Jake needs some loving? Tell him I said hi.” Nik said cockily. “Excuse me?” Gia said astounded. “Jake Sheer Gia? I think you can do better then a moron on like that.” Nik said shaking his head. The cocky smile on his face quickly faded when he saw the furious look on her face. “I don’t know what you are blabbering about but Jacob happens to be my baby brother, and he’s hurt and asking for me right now. And you Nikolas Cassadine happen to be the biggest jerk I have EVER met. You know I was actually starting to think you were a nice guy. But after today I’ve found that not only are you a spoiled stuck-up rich kid, but you are an asshole!! Forget about the dress and just stay away from me!” Gia yelled, and with that, she left Nikolas alone in a numb state. He swallowed the lump that had instantly formed in his throat as she spoke and weakly got up from the table. He walked out of the café to go after her but he was too late, she was already long gone. He brought his hands to his head and cursed. “I am such an idiot!” He stated.

Gia rushed over to Carol’s house and vigorously knocked on the door. She couldn’t hear anything on the other side of the door and no lights were on and that made her even more nervous. She sighed with relief when she saw the lights switch on and the door swing open. “Oh Gia, he’s all right. Phil came and got him, they’re probably at your house.” Carol said. “OK thank you.” Gia said rushing down the steps. She went next door to her house and stepped inside. She could hear her brother crying in the family room and made her way to him. She peered inside the seemingly empty room and saw him sitting by himself, with a bandage on his little finger. She cocked her head to the side sadly at the sight of him and stepped inside the room to go to him. But as soon as she walked in, she was caught off guard by a blow to the side of her face. She cried out in pain and the force of the blow sent her tumbling to the floor. Instinctively she brought her hand up to lightly touch her eye, gasping with pain and then pulling her hand away. She blinked her eyelashes a few times to clear her vision and looked over to see Phil standing over her. Before she could even contemplate what was happening, he grabbed her by her shirt and pinned her to the wall behind her. “Where were you Gia?” Phil screamed. Jake was now screaming with fear as he watched the violent scene of his sister’s attack before him and Gia tried to go to him but Phil stopped her. “I said where the hell were you when your brother was hurt?!” Phil yelled. “I was having coffee with someone, I didn’t know this would happen. Carol said she could watch him for an extra hour.” Gia pleaded with him. “Who did you meet with?” He asked. “This guy I met at the party the other night.” Gia said. “You inconsiderate bitch! You were out fucking some guys brains out while your brother was injured?!” Phil yelled. “No.” Gia whispered as tears slipped down her face. “This will never happen again Gia. Do you hear me?” Phil said. Gia nodded her head rapidly as she sobbed. Phil shook his head with disgust and Gia shrieked when she felt a second blow to her body, this time to her stomach; she clutched her stomach as she slid down the wall, sitting herself on the floor. “I think you better apologize to my son Gia, he needed you today and because you are a stupid slut, you weren’t there for him.” Phil said before exiting the room. Gia took a moment to catch her breath before looking over at Jacob who was still crying, his little chest heaving rapidly as he held his hands out to her. Gia crawled over to him and took him in her arms. They cried together as Gia rocked him, comforting each other. Gia weakly stood up with him and carried him into her bedroom, where she held him in her bed until he fell asleep. She then carried him into his room and put him in his crib, bringing his hand up to her lips and kissing his finger lightly before she left. She went to the mirror in her bathroom and tears fell down her face as she looked at her reflection. Her eye was already puffy and swollen. She knew that in no time, it would be a deep shade of black. She thought about putting something cold on it but didn’t want to risk another run in with her stepfather trying to retrieve something. So she just lay down on her bed and cried herself to sleep.