Love Makes Blind

[Elia's Point of View]
[8 days later]

“You didn’t have to drive me, Darin could have.” I said and rested my back against the car door. Paul was driving me to Port Angeles to pick up Gina.
“I wanted to. And I want to meet your friend.” He brushed his knuckles over by cheek.
“Okay.” I smiled.

I was very excited to meet Gina again; I hadn’t met her since I was in Italy five years ago.
I giggled. “I have to warn you; Gina and I can get very… girly you could call it when we meet.”
“Girly?” Paul asked in an amused voice.
“Yeah, you know; screaming, tears, incomprehensible mumbling. The usual.”
Paul laughed. “I never really pictured you as that type of girl.”
“Really?” I asked.

“Is Gina sleeping in your room?” Paul wondered.
“Yes, I guess so, why?” I asked very confused.
Paul surprised me when he groaned. “But then I can’t sleep there…”
I laughed. “Afraid you won’t get any?”
“Yes…” he mumbled.
I laughed again. “Don’t worry; she’s only staying for a week. And I’m sure if you get too bad she can hang with Darin for a few hours.”
Paul bent over and kissed my temple. “Thank you monster.”

“We’re here.” Paul parked the car and got out before. I got out too and grabbed his hand. Airports always made me nervous, so many people. “How does she look? I can try to see her.”
I sighed. “Duh, I’m blind.”
He chuckled. “Then I guess we’ll just wait till she sees you.”

I think we only waited for ten minutes when I felt someone tap my shoulder from behind me. I turned around.
“Elia?” a girl asked. I recognized that voice.
“Gina!” I screamed and threw my arms around her.
Gina did the same and screamed.
“Mi sei mancato tanto!” [I missed you!] Gina said and kissed both my cheeks.
“I missed you too!” I hugged her again. “Come stai?” [How are you?]
“Lo sono grande!” [I’m great!] she answered and let me go.
“You look so beautiful Elia, so healthy.” Gina held both my hands.
“Thank you Gi, I’m sure you look amazing too.” I smiled.
“Oh I have missed you Elia!”

Paul cleared his throat behind us. I took his hand and smiled.
“Gina, this is my boyfriend Paul.” I said proudly.
“Yeah, Val mentioned you. It’s nice to meet you.” Gina shook his hand.
“You too Gina.”
“But if you ever dare to hurt my girl, I’ll neuter you.” She said it like it was a everyday thing.
“Gina!” I hissed at her.
“It’s okay, I won’t hurt her.” Paul kissed the top of my head. “We’ll better head back. Mirella is making dinner.”
“You must be exhausted Gi.” I linked my arm with her and held Paul’s hand in the other.
“A little.” She confessed.

Gina told us about her trip as we walked out to the car.
“So how is everyone back home?” I asked when Paul had started driving.
“Mostly good. But we miss you. Parghelia misses you.” She answered.
I was about to answer but Paul broke me of.
“Who’s Parghelia?” he asked, I remembered I had forgotten to tell him.
“Parghelia is the village we’re from.” I answered him.
“Yes, and Elia is like our princess; everybody loves her.” Gina said and patted my shoulder.
I blushed. “That’s not true!”
“Oh really? Then why is everyone asking about you all the time, and the boys mention you all the time. It's like; ‘what do you think Elia is doing right now?’ or ‘what do you think Elia would say?’”
“Because….” I mumbled, not coming up with a real answer. “How are the boys anyway?”

“They miss you so badly! Oh and I’m dating Mario.” She said and giggled.
“What? Mario?! You’ve had a crush on him since forever.” I smiled.
“Have not!” she defended.
“Who’s Mario?” Paul asked. I kept forgetting he was here.
“He is Matteo’s younger brother.” Gina explained.
Paul was silent. I sighed and brushed his cheek.
“Are you guys serious?” I asked my best friend.
“Yeah, we are pretty serious.” She sounded happy.

“What else is new? It feels like I missed a lot.” I urged her on to continue to talk.
“There is a lot you’ve missed, to much for me to tell. But your cousin, Cara, and Dino is dating. And Sienna and Leo.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me! Cara and Dino used to hate each other!” I said surprised.
“I thought the same. It was like it happened overnight. One day they were fighting about the weather, the next day I saw them making out on the beach.” She laughed. “But isn’t it so typical Cara to do something we didn’t expect?”
“It is! Sienna and Leo isn’t that surprising though, I have been suspicious about them for a long time.” I mused.
“Naa, it happened pretty overnight that too.” Gina told me.
“Weird.” I mumbled, mostly to myself.

“So how did you guys meet?” She wanted to know.
“Elia bumped into on her first day of school.” Paul said with a smile.
“And I ended up in the nurse’s office. Paul didn’t like me first; he only thought I was a stupid sophomore. But I thought he was a cocky bastard, so it’s okay.” I said and laughed.
Gina laughed too, but stopped abruptly. “Wait, how old are you?” she asked Paul.
“I’m twenty.” He told her.
“Twenty? But Elia said you just graduated.” She continued to ask.
“I repeated my senior year.” All her questions bugged me, but it didn’t seem to bug Paul.
“Ah, so you are one of the bad-boys?” she laughed quietly, but a little nervously.
“No, Paul is one of the good-guys.” I smiled. “He has applied to Iowa State University, and he is going to be a cop.” I said proudly.

Gina didn’t press the matter any further, and soon enough we were at my house.