The Loner and Her

Chapter Ten : Like a Kid Again

Gia's face remained the color crimson, as her and Griffin walked down the long sidewalk in complete silence. The two of them glanced at one another from the corner of their eye every so often.

Rosa thought it would be a "splendid idea" for Gia and Griffin to take a walk to the park just down the street from their house. As if they were still ten-years-olds who play on the jungle gym.

Oh, who are they kidding?

Gia, now, giggles quite loudly as she goes down the short slide, meant for a first-grader. Griffin, who's sitting on a swing, smiles slightly in her direction.

"Giules, come 'ere," he calls out to her.

She stands up from the slide, then walks over towards Griffin. He smiles brightly up at the petite girl, "Let's play a game."

Gia can't help but snort, "What are we? Nine?"

Griffin rolls his eyes, "Says the girl who just slid down the slide like a three-year-old."

She blushes, "Touché."

Gia simply got caught up in the moment. At first, her and Griffin felt awkward when they first got to the park. They both look around not knowing what to do. Eventually, Gia broke the ice by asking him if he wanted to go on the swings. He easily accepted.

Then, after a while of competing to see who could swing higher, Griffin challenged her to swing off, then run through the apparatus twice in less than two minutes.

She was seventeen seconds too late.

Griffin stands up, towering over Gia's small frame, "Let's play hide 'n seek."

Gia sighs, "Are you sure? I mean, you have a hangover- "

He shrugs his shoulder, "I'm fine. The coffee took most of it away- "

"But you haven't slept."

He rolls his eyes, "Trust me, with the amount coffee I drank this morning, I'm fine. Besides, I have insomnia. I probably won't be able to crash anyways until later."

Gia finds herself smiling slightly in return, "I have insomnia, too."

His face changes into one of concern, "Are you okay? Are you tired? We can just chill here- "

She shakes her head adamantly, "No, Griffin, I'm fine. I slept very well last night. I mean, sometimes I have trouble falling asleep. I end up tossing and turning from anxiety, but usually my insomnia kicks in if I wake up in the middle of the night. Then I for sure can't fall back asleep."

"Why's that?" He asks her, softly.

Gia shrugs, "I'm not really sure. I've been like that the past couple of years."

Too much thoughts. Too many memories. It all becomes too much sometimes, Gia thinks to herself.

Griffin glances down as he licks his bottom lip. His eyebrows are furrowed like he's in a deep thought. Finally, he glances back up at Gia. He says to her, "If...If you ever have a problem falling asleep, just call me, okay? I'll probably be up, and even if I'm not up, I don't care if you wake me."

"Thanks," she looks down, blushing again. Then she looks back up, "And you, too. Call me. I want to be there for you, Griffin. Even in the middle of the night," she tells him seriously.

"What if I'm disturbing your sleep?" He asks.

Gia shrugs without a care, "I don't mind. I mean it, Griffin. Anytime."

"Okay," he says, then quickly changes the subject by tapping her on the shoulder, "You're it!" He shouts, then starts jogging in the direction of the jungle gym.

Gia scowls in his direction, completely caught off guard, "Hey! Not fair!" She whines.

He just laughs in response.

Gia takes off after him, causing Griffin to run just a bit faster now. The two play the game for over an hour. Laughing and enjoying themselves and the time they have together.

It's now Griffin's turn. Gia is hiding under the slide, neither of them have thought to hide under there, yet.

She hears his foots steps against the hard metal above of her. She pleads silently to herself, please don't look down.

She lifts her head up, and she can see him through the holes of the metal. She can't tell what he's doing since she can only see the bottom of his shoes, but he's currently standing in one place. Not doing anything else.

She suddenly hears a loud sigh, and then Griffin goes down the slide.

She sighs in relief.

A scream escapes her lips when rough hands wrap themselves around her waist. The same hands begin tickling her torso, causing her to thrash against the warm body behind her.

Griffin dips his head down to the crook of Gia's neck, "Found you."

She leans her head back, gasping for breath, "Griffin, stop! I-I- can't breathe," she exclaims as he continues to torture her.

Griffin laughs as he lets her go. "I had a feeling you're really ticklish," he grins.

Gia rolls her eyes as she catches her breath. Running her hands through her messy hair. "Whatever."

Gia catches Griffin smiling, and it literally, almost takes her breath away.

"I...I had a really great time today..." Griffin admits. He looks down at the sand, rubbing the tip of his messed up converse into it. Making small circles. "I felt like a kid again, you know. It was nice and I...I had a lot of fun. Thank you."

Gia smiles in return, "I had fun, too."

Griffin plops down onto the sand, not caring about it getting into his clothes. Gia follows suit, even though she knows her mother will kill her when she comes back with sand in her new clothes.

He sighs, "I spent my entire life being such a...a screw up, you know?"

Gia scowls, "How can you be a screw up?"

He's perfect, she can't help but think as she quietly admires her friend. Friend. Yes. The word Gia constantly reminds herself whenever she seems to think of him as something slightly more.

Which is more often than none.

He explains, "Before I found out my mom had cancer...I was an asshole to her."

Gia made herself get comfortable as she tries to hide the feeling of shock on her face. She cannot believe that Griffin is actually talking to her about something personal in his life. Is he really opening up to her?

He continues while he looks down at the sand, messing with it at the touch of his fingers, "I blamed her for my father not being apart of my life. I thought he was this great guy who wanted me, but couldn't cause my mom never told him I existed, or she just hid me away from him. She never talked much about him, but I couldn't believe that my father was involuntarily not apart of my life.

"I was always out with my friends partying from the age of thirteen to fifteen. I was one of the youngest when I started hanging out with the high schoolers at the time. That was when I started getting into alcohol...drugs..." Griffin sighs loudly. "My mom hated me going out- like any good parent would. She always tried to ground me, but I would sneak out. I picked fights with her all the time. I just liked pissing her off, cause I thought she deserved it."

Gia notices his eyes begin to water, but no tears fall. He's holding it in.

"When I found out she had cancer...I told myself never to drink or do drugs again. It wasn't worth it. I didn't want to worry my mom anymore. She needed to be stress free and I... I was such a fricking i***t!" Griffin exclaims as he used the side of his fist to slam it into the back of the slide.

Gia's eyes widen and she leans over Griffin, "Griffin, stop! You're going to hurt yourself!" She grabs the fist he punched the slide with, and begins to check it to see if he may have broke his hand. There's no way he could have got out of that without seriously hurting himself.

The right side of his right fist looks like it's starting to swell up just a bit. The skin is hot and red.

Gia sighs, "Griffin, you need to be more careful. And no, you are not a screw up. You were a kid who got caught in the wrong crowd. It happens to the best of us."

He shakes his head, "Last night...I fell back and almost ruined our new friendship- "

"No, you didn't! Nothing, and I mean nothing, can ruin what we have, Griffin. I told you, I will always be there for you. You just have to believe that."

Griffin remains quiet, leading Gia to take a sudden breath.

"Come on. Let's go have my mom check out your hand."

•••

Rosa sighs as she examines Griffin's hand. "I'm not an orthopedic, but your pinky looks a little swollen. You may have broke it."

Griffin sighs, "My dad's gonna kill me," Gia heads him mutter to himself.

Her head snaps fast in his direction, "Dad?" She asks, softly.

His eyes widen, not realizing he had said that out loud.

Rosa feels the tension in the air. She points in the direction of the kitchen, "Um, I'm going to go make us some lunch." Then she leaves the living room and goes into the kitchen.

Griffin looks up at Gia, not looking her in the eye. "Drop it, Giules."

Gia frowns, "Griffin- "

He stands up, "I mean it. Drop it! You can't get involved."

"Involved? Griffin, I'm not trying to get involved."

He shakes his head, frowning sadly, "Every time you give me that look. That damn doe look in your eyes, I just want to confess all my secrets to you, and I hate it."

Gia blushes while she frowns, "I-I'm sorry."

He rolls his eyes, "It's not your fault, Giules. You're just too cute for your own good."

"I'm cute?"

Griffin's face turns a dark crimson shade. His eyes are now everywhere but hers. He hadn't meant to say that, too.

"I don't know," he shrugs.

Gia's eyes then cast down to the ground, "Oh."

Griffin realizes his mistake, "Wait, I didn't mean that," he sighs, "You're cute, okay? You're really, really cute, and it's annoying."

Gia doesn't lift her head back up. She continues to blush as she mumbles, "You're cute, too."

Griffin sighs again. He shakes his head, "Alright, this conversation is over."

Gia finally lifts her head back up. She smiles slightly, "Why? Do you feel uncomfortable?"

Oh, no. Is she flirting with him?

Griffin clears his throat, "I-I don't feel uncomfortable. I'm fine. Not award at all."

Okay, he feels awkward.

Gia pushes a lock of her hair behind her ear before asking him, "Have you ever been complimented before?"

Griffin hesitates, before shaking his head, "Only my ma ever said if I looked nice. I never heard someone else say it to me."

"Not a girlfriend?" Gia asks in shock.

He shakes his head, "Never had a real one. I go to school here, and the girls here don't find guys like me attractive. They all want the perfect jocks. And then when my mom got sick, I gave up girls and people in general for a while...until you know, I met you."

Gia smiles, "Well, you're a very attractive man, Griffin."

She actually admitted that. Out loud. And to him.

He deserves to hear it, she thinks.

Griffin, after a long moment of simply stating at Gia, finally lifts the corner of his mouth up, "When you say things like that, you make me wanna kiss you, Giules."

Gia rolls her eyes when he begins to laugh. There he goes again. Flirting and being charming without even realizing it.

But the spark in his eyes tells Gia that he has some clue of what he is doing.