0.4| Then and Now
1059 Words
Gia was in a trance. Marcus had grown up to be tall and handsome. She had already expected to be attacked by his good looks, so she kept her breath steady and calm. She greeted him nicely and smiled.
Marcus kept staring at her for some time before retracting his gaze and returning the greeting. Gia was a bit disappointed that he didn't recognise her.
Dylan gave her a small nudge and a look that said 'I told you so'. Gia was disheartened. So what if he didn't recognise her? She could just introduce herself.
Alice wasn't far away from them. She came up next to Gia and gave a scolding look to her son for making a fool out of himself.
"Marcus, you remember Gia right?" Alice spoke tenderly, "You both used to be such good friends."
As if the name burned him, Marcus flinched a little. The woman in front of him looked as beautiful as a goddess, there was no trace of Gia in her. Marcus still remembered Gia. Her memories were fresh in his mind.
However, his side of story only had those moments that he found annoying. Unlike Gia who remember their companionship and the soft feelings, Marcus remembered the sticky girl who wouldn't leave him.
"Gia?" Marcus said her name out loud with a small Yelp. She was back?
Gia's face brighten like stardust, "Hey Marcus. It's been a long time. How are you?"
Maybe it was instilled within him from the past, but Marcus half expected her to pounce on him and start squealing in his ears.
The current Gia had no intention to do so. She calmly stood before him and smiled as she asked about him. Alice shook her head and left, seeing that her son had no hope left, sh didn't want to waste her time unnecessarily.
Marcus started to see a few similarities between the Gia he remembered and the Gia in front of him. Looking closely, she did have the same bright eyes and the shape of her nose was also exactly the same. Marcus mentally beated himself for remembering these tiny details about her.
Dylan narrowed his eyes and saw Marcus observing his sister. The protective instinct took over and he stepped a bit closer to Gia.
"Marcus." He nodded slightly. In form, he looked no better than Maximus in a meeting. Marcus nodded as well, connecting the dots, he came to a conclusion that this must be Dylan.
"You two came back?" Marcus said without thinking. Only after he said it did he find how wrong it sounded.
Dylan raised an eyebrow, he never liked Marcus. Seeing how infatuated his sister was, Dylan always tried to come up with ways to remove him from her heart. Till this day he was unsuccessful.
"Why? Are you disappointed?"
Gia elbowed her brother and gave him a wide eye side glance. Her blonde hair moved a little and shone under the light.
"Behave. What are you saying?" She scolded her brother and turned to smile at Marcus, "Yes. We got an invitation for Elliot's wedding. Since we missed Maximus' big day, we couldn't possibly miss this one as well."
Marcus nodded. Gia seemed to have changed a lot. She wasn't clinging to him anymore, neither was she complaining about the littlest things that inconvenienced her. Of course, they were not kids anymore, Marcus thought.
Marcus was relieved and decided to make some small talk before taking his leave from the pair of siblings. He didn't want to spend too much time in case Gia went back to her past self after being comfortable.
"How have you been?" He asked.
"Fine. Work is keeping me entertained. Dylan is busy as always. Never giving enough time to family." Gia teased her brother a little. Dylan flipped her nicely made hair to mess it up and snorted.
"That should be you. Don't go around throwing blames."
Gia stomped her heel on her brother's leg and smiled wickedly. Marcus watched them interact. A foreign feeling was born inside him. It was unfamiliar and a bit uncomfortable. He didn't like it, so he chose to ignore it.
"That's great." He said, "Excuse me. I have to greet the other guests as well."
Gia nodded and let him go. The little ball of discomfort shook, he had expected Gia to insist that he stayed, but unexpectedly he left easily. Not knowing how to feel, he directed his attention to the other guests.
As soon Marcus left, Gia gulped her dink in one go. Dylan took the glass from her hand and gave it to the waiter near them.
"Don't get drunk."
Gia held her brother's arm and grinned, "We talked."
"Yes you did." Dylan deadpanned.
"Dylan, I am so happy. He didn't ignore me!" Gia kept her body composed but the excitement in her speech was impossible to remove. Her amber eyes shone with light, Dylan soften under her gaze and patted her head a little.
"Why are you so happy with such a small thing Gia? This is the bare minimum a host is supposed to do. Even strangers greet each other in parties." Dylan did not want his sister to be sad, but to prevent a major disaster in the future, he had to keep showing the truth to her. So far it wasn't working at all.
Gia's happiness was not dimmed at all, "You won't understand how I feel! Marcus actually talked to me without me having to chase him. I knew time would change everything. There is still hope for me."
The brother and sister were on two different sides, both with their own ideas. Gia wanted to have this chance while Dylan was worried that his sister will be left with a broken heart.
On the other hand, Marcus was distracting himself with the other guests. Yet, his eyes followed Gia accross the hall. She had changed a lot in the last decade.
It was as if she was a completely different person. Marcus didn't know how to feel about that. It was nerve-wracking as he didn't know what to expect of her sudden arrival into his life. At the same time, he was relieved, because the image of little Gia in his mind was still fresh and annoying.
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Here is an update!
Lot's of Love!
Skylar
XOXO
- Writer
