The Loner and Her

Chapter Three : So He Speaks

Chapter Three: So He Speaks

The rest of the week for Gia was long and slow. She didn't make friends the way she wanted to, so she ended up spending her breaks and lunches wandering the halls after eating her lunch in the library. She didn't mind it as much as she thought she would. She knows it'll take some time, but she'll eventually find a friend or two.

Gia doesn't want to complain about her not making friends problem to her mom. She knows it'll end up making her mother start to regret ever moving here and Gia can't have that. She's never seen her mother happier than she has been since they've moved.

It is now Saturday afternoon. Rosa called Gia that morning, saying that she wanted to go out to lunch with her. She asked Gia to stop by the hospital around one-thirty, and then she'll take them both out to eat.

Gia decided to take the bus to downtown Oakwood, where the hospital is on fifth and Lavender St. It wasn't a far drive, but because the bus had to make quite a few stops along the way, it took a lot more than it should to get there.

Getting there, Gia enters through the North wing of the hospital, where she knows her mother is stationed at. The receptionist at the front desk, lifts her head up, showing her gray roots. She raises her eyebrows, looking expectantly in Gia's direction. "How may I help you, dear?"

Gia smiles slightly, "Uh, my mom is a nurse here. I was supposed to come by, we're going to lunch together."

The receptionist nods, "Yes. Well you're not supposed to go see your mother while she's on duty, but for the mean time until she goes on her break, you can wait in the waiting room over there," she gestures to the waiting room to Gia's left.

Gia looks at the clock above the receptionist's head and realizes that she's a little early, even with all the stops the bus had took. Giving a curt nod, she says, "Alright. Thank you."

Turning to the left, she goes and sits in the waiting room. Her mom doesn't start her lunch break for another fifteen minutes. Gia didn't even realize that she had left the house that early, but she didn't mind the wait.

Gia isn't sure exactly, what this waiting room is specifically for. She knows this isn't the Emergency room area, but looking around she realizes that there's no signs saying what specialty this is. There's a total of probably twenty-five seats and all of them are the same- brown with an ugly pattern. There is approximately around ten people sitting there, within all ages.

She takes a seat near a person she didn't even bother to glance at. She raises her legs and sinks herself into the seat, resting her head on her knee tiredly. She was up awfully late last night watching YouTube videos. It's an addiction, really.

The person sitting two seats away from her immediately stands up. Instinctively, Gia lifts her head. Her eyes widen when she notices the familiar black jacket and hood.

Their eyes accidentally find each other's. It's awkward, to say the least. Gia clears her throat, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

She's seen Griffin only a handful of times this week. Mostly in her English class. He showed up one other time to her Physics class that week, but that was it.

He hasn't spoken one word to her. Neither has she though. There was a weird tension between the two strangers and she couldn't help but feel intimidated by him. The sight of him even looking at her is scary.

She doesn't know why now out of all the time she's had this week, she chooses right now to say something to him.

"H-Hi," Gia stutters. Her eyes are in a locked and heated stare with his bright and beautiful blue ones.

He doesn't smile, or show any acknowledgement to her presence. He turns to walk passed her, but she gets a sudden burst of courage and speaks a bit louder.

"Uh- why are you here?" She asks softly, gesturing to their current setting.

A hospital waiting room.

She couldn't believe she just asked him that. It's none of her business why he's here. She's never spoken a single word to him now. Why would he say anything to her? She's just his seat partner in their English class. Nothing else.

He continued to stare into her eyes for a long moment. She starts to wonder why he hasn't walked away yet. It's not like he's going to sit here and answer her.

Griffin clenches his hand into a fist, then places it in front of his mouth as he coughs rather loudly. When he pushes his hand back to his side, Gia was already glaring back down at her lap. Her hands are interlocked with her own fingers and she can't help but curse at herself mentally for being so stupid.

"Just visiting." His voice is rough and it cracked slightly at the end.

So he speaks.

Her eyes close tightly, savoring his voice, before looking back up at him in shock. She couldn't believe he actually spoke to her. He isn't even glaring at her anymore.

She didn't push any further. It isn't any of her business.

Griffin's facial expression is blank. He doesn't smile or frown, and his eyes seem dead to the world. It felt as if he's staring right through her.

She wants to say more, but she doesn't know what. She's never wanted to talk to someone more than she did right in that very moment. Gia couldn't help but feel so curious about the man in front of her. Especially since he actually chose to reply to her. She's never once seen him speak to anyone, even a teacher.

"Do you have t-to leave now?" She stutters again. She can't help it though; he makes her nervous.

He doesn't reply back quickly again. He stares at her the same exact way he did before. He hasn't even moved a muscle, and Gia can't help but wonder if this man is even human for a second.

With a shake of his head, Griffin leans back and takes a seat. Now they're both only a chair distance away from each other.

Was he leaving before because of her? She thinks to herself. If he wasn't going anywhere before, and then leaves right when she sits down, then that had to be the reason.

They sit together in silence. After three long minutes pass of the two of them staring at anything but each other or even bothering to form a conversation, Gia's cell phone rings. Sliding her smart phone out of her sweatshirt jacket, she looks at the caller I.D. She subconsciously stiffens. She contemplates whether or not she should answer for too long of a time. On the last ring, she presses the green button.

"Hello?" She spoke hesitantly.

"Giuliana!" Her father's voice spoke out through the speaker.

"Uh, hi, Dad. What's up?" She wonders awkwardly. She then feels Griffin's heated gaze on the side of her face.

"Giuliana, why is your house phone turned off? I tried calling earlier since I have to speak to your mother about something urgent but it didn't even go through."

"Oh, uh, sorry, Dad, but Mom and I moved last week."

She felt embarrassed that Griffin is witnessing first handedly how Gia and her dad clearly are not close at all. Her own father didn't even know she moved! How sad is that.

"Oh," her father, Edward, said. He didn't even seem bothered with the fact she hadn't called him to let him know.

"Yeah. Mom got a job at a hospital in Oakwood," she tells him, sounding quite proud of her mother.

"You moved to Oakwood? When you said you moved I just figured you meant into another apartment. Not another city." He says confusedly.

Gia shrugged knowing her father couldn't see her, "Yeah. Mom said she wanted a change."

"Huh," he hummed, deep in thought.

There was an awkward silence between the father and daughter for a moment. With a sigh, Gia speaks up.

"Dad, why did you call me?"

She hears him huff on the other end of the line. "Well I was just calling to let Rosa know what I'm visiting New York next weekend on business. I wanted to know if I could come see you, but since you're all the way in Oakwood, I guess that would have to happen another time then."

Any other person would have believed every word Edward said because he sounded so sincere. Gia knew better though. She knows her father has other motives. She hasn't seen him in person in three years, and she knows he's visited New York plenty of times after that, he just never called her to try to meet up. Or if he did call, he would flake out with some excuse.

Like, his meeting ran over time, or there's too much traffic in the city and he's tired.

If he really wanted to see her, then he would drive three hours from New York to go see her next weekend. He would find time out of his busy schedule, but he won't, and he never has before.

"That's too bad," she says, feigning sadness. She really couldn't care less. She was used to her father and his ways by now.

"I was really looking forward to seeing you, Giuliana."

Lies.

"I have to go, Dad. I'm meeting Mom for lunch."

"Alright. I'll talk to you soon, Giuliana." He mumbles.

Lies again.

She plasters on a fake smile, "Okay. Bye, Dad." She hangs up and stuffs her phone back into her pocket. After all these years, she really disliked speaking with her father.

She doesn't hate her father for leaving her mother when she was young. Clearly they both weren't happy or meant for each other. She doesn't even hold a grudge over the fact that he left her, too. She just doesn't like the way he went about everything. Never bothering to call her or see her as much as he should have. She's thankful he at least cared enough to still be in her life compared to never speaking to her again, but it still wasn't enough. It's never enough when it comes to your own parents.

Gia looks over at Griffin, catching him staring at her. He turns his head quickly, but it was too late. He was caught.

"Sorry about that," Gia says when realizing it might have been rude to just answer her cell phone like that, especially since she knows she can be a very loud talker. "My dad just called out of the blue. Not really used to it."

She mentally face-palms herself. Why are you talking?

He usually only calls on her birthdays and Christmas. Except for last year when he forgot to wish her a happy birthday. She remembers the screaming match that had brought on between her mother and father. Her mother had called him the next day when she saw that Gia had obviously lied to her when she asked if Edward called her. Rosa called Edward and yelled at him for being such an i***t and forgetting his child's birthday. That then brought on yelling on his part and Rosa has excused herself from the kitchen and went into her own bedroom yelling at him over the phone. Gia had only heard muffling yells through the thick walls.

Griffin nods his head once in understanding. Gia turns her head, thinking that they're done with the conversation, but was surprised when she hears him speak.

"Your dad not around much?" His voice wasn't louder than a whisper. It was as if he couldn't talk. Like it hurts him, but Gia can tell it doesn't physically hurt him. She wonders if it does mentally though.

Gia shakes her head, "He lives in California."

"I wish my dad lived in California," Griffin grumbles under his breath.

Gia raises her eyebrows, not having to have heard him, "What?" She asks him softly.

He shakes his head, "Never mind."

Now Gia is frowning. She wishes for him to talk more, maybe then he wouldn't seem so sad and alone like he does right now.

"Why do you skip a lot of school?" She bravely asks him.

With a furrow of his eyebrows Griffin glares at her slightly, but not in a scary way. More of one of irritation.

He scoffs, "How would you know? You've been there for a week."

Gia sighs with a shrug. She opens her mouth to say something else, but is interrupted by a familiar voice making their way towards them.

"Gigi, you ready, honey?" Her mother's voice causes her to turn her attention away from Griffin.

Griffin ducks his head, staring blankly at his hands that are settled warmly in his lap.

With a nod of her head, Gia stands up. Her mother smiles in Griffin's direction, "Hello. I'm Rosa, Giuliana's mother."

Griffin lifts his head and smiles slightly. He makes no move to speak so Gia does it for him.

"Mom, this is Griffin. We're in a couple of the same classes together," she gestures to him as she stands there awkwardly.

Rosa doesn't seem bothered by his silence. She keeps smiling kindly at him, "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm glad my daughter has made friends since she hasn't told me much about it all week. I was a little worried she hasn't made any- "

Her cheeks now rosy red and her jaw slacked slightly, Gia stops her mother completely embarrassed, "Okay, Mom, stop. That's enough." She laughs trying to ease the conversation.

"I'm sorry, Sweetie. I'm just glad that you have friends. Even boys! You've always been so shy around them- "

"Aren't you hungry, Mom? Shouldn't we leave- like now? Wouldn't want you to be late back to work."

Geez, her mother is embarrassing.

Rosa catches herself, realizing she was embarrassing her daughter. "Right." She nods and leads the way to the parking lot.

Gia takes a step forward to follow her mother, but stops to turn back around. Itching her forearm nervously, she says, "It was nice talking to you, Griffin."

He shows no signs that he will reply to her. She turns on her heel and follows her mother.

Halfway out of the waiting room, she hears him mumble, "You, too."