|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2013 9:27 am
There were some times in which Christopher Gallo hated the fact that he took his responsibility as a student so seriously. His place on the baseball team and his high grades were just as important to him as protecting those he loved and the city. But had he not cared that school was starting back up, he might have tried to convince Paris to stay in Boston and just... never go back.
Things would be easier that way, surely. He had his grandmother to dote on them and they would no longer have to risk their lives in a war that may never end. But he knew there was more to it than that. There were people he cared about in Destiny City, and with steeled resolve, they’d returned to their lives as usual.
Well, mostly usual.
Chris grinned as he spotted Zia making her way into the small, but comfortable coffee shop he’d invited her to. He was always glad to see her, despite whatever hell was surrounding them. He didn’t have to stand to get her attention, having picked a table that would be easily spotted, but he did lift his hand to acknowledge her.
He already had a cup of coffee in front of him, and had left enough cash at the register to get her drink whenever she came in, and waited for her to get settled before properly greeting her.
“How are you?” he asked, still smiling but his eyes would give away how wary he was, and how he would never believe the automatic answer of ‘Fine’.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2013 1:32 pm
Zia actually looked semi-normal. Like some other Zia from a past life when she actually rolled out of bed and dressed up. That, and she didn't look happy even a little, but all that was a side effect of just getting off work. And other things like stupid, stupid cats.
"Ha, fantastic," She said as she flopped in the chair a little awkwardly. She had gotten so accustomed to jeans she forgot loafing around was a little hard in a pencil skirt and killer heels.
She chugged that coffee, though. Zia's caffeine addiction would never fade like her proficient tolerance for painful shoes. She adjusted the tote bag on her shoulder, though, daring nothing in it to explode.
"How are you, though? How was Boston?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 5:30 am
”You fixed your hair,” Chris commented lamely, trying to keep his eyes off her legs as she sat down, because despite the fact that she had killer legs, she was also closer to a sister than anything else.
He cleared his throat awkwardly, knowing she was used to his strange habits, but it was still embarrassing, and he hoped she’d been too distracted to notice.
“Ah, Boston was great. No monsters,” he said with a sheepish grin, hoping his voice was low enough not to get the attention of others around them, but also wanting to remain as nonchalant about it as possible. That way no one would suspect that he was saying something weird, right?
But the reason he’d asked to see her wasn’t to talk about Boston or how being powered freaks sucked... It was something a little more, well... life changing. Sort of... if he really thought about it. Really, things would be the same, but... more.
Regardless of what it was, he would like her to be the first of his friends to know. After Zia, he would try and catch Daniel on Skype...
The problem was... he had no idea how to say it.
‘Hey, so I bought Paris a giant rock’ seemed kind of pretentious and uncaring. Or anything similar to that... So instead, he fidgeted a little as he asked, “So, what are you doing the twenty-ninth of March?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 5:19 pm
"Ah," She pulled her coffee cup away from her face and made a sort of 'good point' gesture with one finger. "Yes, occasionally I do transform into this functioning human being as a disguise throughout the business hours of the day. Ribbons come off at midnight, though," She said with a twitch of a shrug.
And the gave him a sort of narrowed, suspicious look, clearly sizing him up. "What's going on? You look nervous."
It didn't last long because when he asked about a date that specific, she ended up wondering what she missed. And suddenly insecurity set in and she worried it was something she should remember but couldn't because it was another lost stream of information in her endlessly tweaked databank. There was an awkward moment where she wondered if she should ask and then tried to convince herself that if it was important he knew enough he probably wouldn't be offended. Maybe.
"What's the 29th of March?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 1:42 pm
His eyes widened as hers narrowed, leaning back in his chair as she seemed to draw closer. “Uh, what?” he nearly sputtered in surprise as she tried to corner him about something he was trying to tell her at that very moment. It wasn’t everyday that he went around telling people that he was getting married. Especially not people like Zia, who may or may not have given him heartache about every girl that looked at him “funny”.
“I asked Paris to marry me. He said yes,” he said quickly, before she could jump to conclusions that were entirely exaggerated and over the top. “I wanted to know if you’d be my best, uh... Best Woman.”
It seemed totally lame and cliche, of course... so he quickly shook his head against anything she might suddenly be thinking. “It’s not going to be a huge event. I mean, I’m sure my mom will try to make it a huge event, but the wedding itself will just be at the courthouse. Nothing fancy.”
And now to cross his fingers and hope that she wouldn’t freak out, or... even worse — not care.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 6:07 pm
Zia probably shouldn't have dismissed the mysterious something as a mild annoyance or hurdle. At worst she was expecting it to be a birthday she'd forgotten.
And it wasn't, and she was realizing that assumption was probably a bad move when the coffee she was sipping went up her nose and she started unceremoniously drowning in her own latte.
"Oh <********>," She gasped, clutching at a napkin to try to clean up the mess that came with drowning on dry land.
And after she recovered enough to articulate, "You did WHAT?" Panic set in. Not that she liked the concept of 'marriage' in general. Marriage was a social construct that tricked people into torturing themselves with unobtainable ideals by making them think it would give a relationship more validity and also being a fantastic way to legally have half your assets stolen.
Marriage sucked. It tore people up, and she was not supportive of anything she thought was going to bite Chris in the a**.
But the base of her panic was a lot more petty and a lot more personal. Even if not in a romantic sense, she did love Chris. Intensely and dearly, and she had only just gotten him back and now she was going to lose him for good. Her vision of the future was growing distance as Chris became focused on his marriage and his home life and his family that didn't include her anymore.
It seemed like a raging speech was building up, as soon as she struggled to get that first sentence out and break the dam, but after a lot of effort all that really came out of her cringe was a whimper and, "No." Not an answer to his question, it wasn't meant to be at least, but a rejection of this news and reality. No, he was not allowed to get married.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 4:26 pm
Chris reacted with the intention of trying to help her when she choked on her coffee, searching around for napkins and looking her over to make sure she wasn’t really hurt. After a few moments she seemed to be fine as far as the coffee was concerned.
Her response to him could have been a little more tame, though. He pegged her with an exasperated stare. It wasn’t as though he’d expected any less from her after all the years they’d been friends and she’d been tampering with his relationships.
But she was his best friend and he cared for her deeply. This was part of his life that he wanted to share with her, regardless of how long she might end up trying to push him away again. The year in which he hadn’t known if she was okay aside from seeing her furry cat-self from time to time had been torture, and he would very much not like to repeat that.
“No...?” he confirmed, trying not to show how much his spirits had deflated with the slight sag of his shoulders. “I mean... I guess I could ask Michael... but I’d rather it be you.” He had nothing less than respect for his brother, and in normal circumstances he would have asked him, but Zia was important to him, and he wanted her to know he wasn’t willing to let her out of his life.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 6:18 am
Zia exhaled through a brief grimace at the pang of his lack of understanding. And then slammed her hands on the table as she stood up.
"No, I mean no to the whole thing!" She blurted out. "You're only twenty years old! You can't get married, that's stupid. Even if you weren't, what... I mean why?"
She flopped back down in her seat. "No, look, I know I was a bad friend for a year or so there, but things just got back to kind of normal and now you're going to leave to go do this thing, this stupid 'I have a piece of paper so now my focus is this family unit I just made har' thing that all married people do, don't even lie to me that that's not what's going to happen because it always does and you're just going to get divorced anyway," She babbled at rapid speed before chugging her coffee and slamming the empty cup down in childish anger. "Everyone does."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 7:39 am
Chris nearly jumped back in his seat as she stood, shielding his cup of coffee in his hands just in case she decided to do something crazy like flip the table. He knew he should have expected something like this from her, but it wasn't his fault he was still surprised.
"My parents haven't divorced. Or my grandparents," he said with a frown, placing his cup back down only when he deemed it safe and after he'd taken another sip, cautiously eyeing her over the top of it. "You can't expect that from every relationship, Zee." He didn't dare point out her own parents, or even Paris's parents, because that was obviously what she was thinking about, but just because the idea of marriage had deteriorated over the decades didn't mean that it wasn't possible.
"You should know me better than that," he let out an exasperated sigh, wondering if she would always have these outbursts when things didn't go her way. "I wasn't asking you for your opinion on the matter... I was asking if you'd be there with me when it did happen. You're my best friend and I don't want to lose you again."
Not knowing where she was, if she was alive or dead or just taken over by that cat who shared her body... it had been torture. He didn't want to lose her, but he wasn't going to put up with her selfish tantrums.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 4:54 pm
"Oh, ha," Zia snorted, "I know you pretty well. I know you're that guy, too, who-- who's going off buying into some mythical fairytale bullshit that's just a religious validation to escape sexual shame turned social requisite out of some outdated concept based on the nuclear family unit turned convenient legal way to swindle a guy out of halfofhismonetaryassets IS THERE EVEN A PRENUP IN THIS EQUATION?"
She had been making a conscious effort not to get so worked up in public like a crazy person, especially during the day when she was wearing her 'normal face', but marriage may have been something of a hot button issue. Romantic relationships in general had always been on Zia's 'do not ever touch'. One night stands, and dating with a scorched earth policy had been her way of doing things since junior prom, and were never discussed. Ever.
"You're-- you're... UGH," She squeaked out and groaned. "This is going to end badly, aren't you trying to earn a degree in something or something oh my god, stop doing things," She tensed her hands and let her fingers go limp all in a moment, "I swear to god sometimes I just want to wrap you in bubble wrap and shut you up someplace non-lethal."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2013 7:57 am
He laughed. He couldn't help it. He knew she was being... mostly serious, but he couldn't help it. Chris wanted to hug her, pat her head, calm her down, tell her it was okay... much like a dog, but in a way that would be okay with how their relationship once was, and how he hoped it would be again.
"Zee, if I get divorced, I'll give you the other half of all my things," he promised, grinning wide and knowing she was frustrated with him, but this really wasn't something for her to stress about. "I can give you half my stuff now, if you want," he offered, completely serious, although it might not be easy to tell his sincerity as he said it with laughter in his voice.
He did have the decency to stop laughing as she seemed to become even more distressed, his grin replaced by a small, sympathetic smile. "You don't think I'd like to do the same with you?" he wondered, feeling just slightly guilty. "At least I can handle myself... You trained me, so trust me a little... And stop climbing up on rooftops in nothing but your pajamas. I'm tired of getting texts from Michael about you," he added with a frown that lasted as long as it took for the cup of coffee to be lifted to his mouth. "I'm earning two degrees." He was pretty sure she'd be able to hear the smugness of his efforts in his voice.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 5:33 am
Zia watched him laugh with her most serious, unamused frown. She still didn't like this. The entire concept of marriage was something she had associated with broken, used up people which was an image she wasn't comfortable mentally placing Chris anywhere near.
"Are you implying I can't handle myself, Gallo?" She ended up causally bantering back as she glanced into her empty coffee cup with a frown.
And then he eyes snapped back up and she was frowning again. "That happened onc-- how many times has he texted you?!" She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. "He needs to go mind his own business."
Stark contrast from all the time she spent as a high school freshman trying to get him to notice her already, god.
"Of course you are," She snorted. His smugness was noticed, but only reacted to with a subtle glance and one corner of her mouth breaking her frown.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 5:27 pm
"I would never," he grinned, not daring to say she couldn't handle herself. Even though he wished she would stay out of danger, he at least knew she had enough sense to escape unharmed. Chris knew he'd probably continue to worry about her no matter what, but she was quite prepared for all this nonsense.
"Except when it comes to me getting married," he teased, his grin stretching even wider. He didn't go into detail about how many times Michael had texted him. So far it had only been once, but he was sure he'd do it again if he saw Zia out and about, doing potentially dangerous things... in a mentally unstable manner.
"Come on, Zee... It'll only happen once. And if for whatever reason it doesn't last, you have full permission to hold it over my head for the rest of my life," he offered, wanting to compromise somehow. He was determined not to let it happen. He knew this was crazy and fast, but who was to say they wouldn't both be dead in a year or two, depending on how the war continued to unfold.
"Will you be my Best Woman, or are you going to leave me to ask Michael?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 5:52 pm
Zia sat back with her arms crossed and heaved a long, slow sigh as she people watched, and then looked back to him.
"Tch," She scoffed, getting up and slinging her purse over her shoulder, ready to make her exit before she turned and pointed. "You get one freebie, Gallo. One, and when it tanks we'll never speak of it again."
This was epic charity in her mind.
She put on hand on her hip. "I would never leave you to that, of course I'll be the best man. It's only fair, considering I am way better at being your sister than any of your brothers," She preened, clearly smug as she strutted out of the coffee shop, tossing her empty latte cup in the trash on the way out without stopping.
She did, however, stop at the door to sing out, "Chris~... I am proud of you." And after a pause, "Best man also throws the bachelor party, bye!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
