Chapter 3- Arrival in Abruzzo

Chapter 3
"HI!" Maria and Sofie stared. Out the door came a short, slender young man, with thick, wavy dark brown hair. His green eyes were kind, and excited as he greeted his guests.

"I'm Gio!" He introduced himself, grabbing some bags and leading the cousins in. "Sofie and Francis, you I've met, but, who are these lovely ladies?" He asked, with a smile. Eva was disgusted, and Maria was absolutely enchanted.

"I'm Maria," She said awkwardly, and then tripped. Sofie looked down at her with no intention to help.

"Oh no, you ok?" Gio quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. Maria's face was scarlet.

"Yeah, sorry," She said quickly, brushing herself off. Gio didn't seem phased by her fall. She would soon find out he too could be a klutz. He continued inside.

"I'm Eva..." Eva trailed off as Gio was already through the door and apparently not really interested.

"Mean..." She muttered grumpily as she heaved a bag onto her shoulder, not noticing Francis right behind her.

"Right?" He startled her, smirking. Eva stared at him, disconcerted he had witnessed her grumpily honest self.

"Do you think I don't know your true feelings half the time? It doesn't bother me." He shrugged as they headed inside. "You don't have to hide it from me. I'll like you just as well with out the sweetsy act." His face softened. "No one's perfect."

"I'm not really evil!!" Eva pleaded. Francis smiled noncommittally. He held the door and ushered her in.

"Welcome..." a small, caramel haired woman was saying in a weary but kind tone. She smiled, with some effort. "I'm Elenora Guttuso."

"She's named the same as mom!" Romeo pointed out.

"Mhm." Maria murmured, still embarrassed, and thinking about how much cuter Gio was in person, even than in his picture.  Sofie was secretly thinking the same but would never let on to this fact. Maria knew, of course.

"So you're Maria, ok. And Sofie. Oh wait, whats your name?" Mrs. G directed this question to Eva. Gio looked surprised.

"Oh that's right, what is your name?"

"Eva." She said, with a fake smile. Maria shook her head slightly with a little frown. She knew that that smile was more evil than the most nasty sarcasm Eva could come up with. Francis was smiling to himself.


Suddenly over Gios shoulder, a pair of glasses appeared. A moment later, a face peered up to join
them.

Gio sighed, slightly apologetic  "This is Ernie."

He stepped from behind Gio, blinking at the visitors. His huge green eyes scanned their faces, ending with Maria. His eyes went a little wider as they encountered her. She smiled.

In that moment, it happened.

Ernie fell hopelessly in love.

"Hi." He said at last.

"Hey Ernie." Romeo said. "I've been practicing MarioKart. I'll beat you this time."

"No, you won't." Ernie defied him flatly.

"Will." Romeo said. "Where should I take these?" He motioned to the bags.

"Oh, Gio will show you..." Mrs. Guttuso waved her hand vaguely towards the stairs. Gio led the way for the cousins, as Ernie trailed behind silently, his eyes still on Marias face.

"Ok, so Ernie has taken over one guest room since you were here last. So I thought the girls could share the other one, and you two can stay in my room." Gio directed.

Francis looked over at him with a look of panic at the thought of having to share living quarters with...Gio.

"Ok!" Romeo said, dragging his bags through Gios door. With resignation, Francis followed, but not without darting a slightly dark look at the back of Gios head.

"Your room is on the other side, next door down," Gio called to the girls. The headed that way, Ernie still following.

"Do you need something?" Sofie finally asked him. He stared at her for a moment.

"No." He said.

"Ok, just, you know, checking," She said pointedly, bringing her things through. Ernie however didn't take notice of things like hints.He was about to follow them in but Sofie shut the door in his face.

"Sofie!" Maria said, about to open the dor.

"Don't! He's being really creepy." Sofie said without bothering to lower her voice.

"Sofie!" Maria hissed again, looking at the door.

"What?" Sofie began unloading her belongings. Maria inwardly groaned at her cousin, but said nothing more.


Outside the door, Ernie frowned. "Well I don't like her." He said to himself, referencing Sofie. He walked over to Gio's door. Romeo and Francis were unloading their belongings. Gio was perched on the end of his bed, talking cheerfully to Romeo. Francis knelt on the floor, unpacking. He looked unhappy already. Ernie felt sorry for him. He walked quietly up behind him.

"Do you want help?" He asked him. Francis jumped, banging his head on a drawer.

"Ow!"He scowled at Ernie.

 Ernie shrank back guiltily.

"Sorry-"

"No, thank you." Francis turned back around. Ernie sniffed self pityingly. He walked over and sat silently next to Gio.

"So how are your cousins?" Gio asked Romeo. He paused completely and turned to Gio.

"They are adorable." He said earnestly. Gio smiled, amused.

"Well, good, I'm glad you like them" He said. Romeo nodded seriously and resumed his task.

"What did you think of them?" He asked after a moment. Gio was a bit taken aback.

"Um, I don't know" He stammered. Francis turned to him with narrowed eyes, which disconcerted him even more.

"What??" He asked. Francis frowned, then turned back to his clothes.

 Gio blew out his breath exasperatedly. Francis both baffled and bothered him. He didn't understand his odd mix of intelligence, sarcasm, kindness and laziness. It was an odd combination, admittedly.

"That was funny when Maria fell," Romeo laughed. Gio chuckled. "

"Yeah, that's like something I'd do," He said dismissively. Francis glared at him again.

"Now what?????" Gio exclaimed at his look, startling Ernie who fell backwards onto the bed.

"Oops sorry Ernie."

Ernie slowly sat up. He stared owlishly at Romeo.

"I thought Maria was beautiful." He said reverently.

"Yeah, she is." Romeo said, looking at Ernie. Gio looked down at his brother with some concern. He had never seen Ernie act this way before.

Ernie said nothing more, so Gio said, "what are they like? And how old are they again?"

"15 and 17. Um, they're... awesome?"

"Right, but I need more than that."

"Ummm.... SHE LIKEs OPERA!!!" Romeo suddenly exclaimed, sending Ernie down again.

"Who?!" Gio asked, surprised.

"Eva." Romeo said.

"Eva... Oh yeah, her I remember. Glasses, messy hair?"

"It's CURLY." Francis interrupted.

"Sorry. So that's it?"

"Maria likes Jazz." Romeo continued.

"I need more than their music taste, Romeo!"

"What else is there?" Francis asked sarcastically.

"Like what do they like to do, what do they have for hobbies, stuff like that." Gio was getting frustrated.

"Eva likes to sing and paint and read and play the piano(she's not very good at that but don't tell her I said that), and other things too probably, Maria likes listening to jazz and singing and writing, and taking pictures of herself."

"That's called a selfie." Gio said as Romeo paused for breath. He considered for a moment.

"Well, we'll see. They look older than I expected." He said at last. In fact they were both rather different than he had expected... especially... Maria.

"They are very mature." Romeo said, sticking his last pair of socks into a drawer. He shoved his suitcase off to the side of the room.

 Francis stood up. Ernie was still lying on his back staring at the ceiling. Francis observed him for a moment, then shaking his head, walked out of the room. He knocked on the girls door. Their laughter abruptly stopped.

"It's me." he said. The door opened immediately.

"You're not coming in either." Sofie informed him flatly. Francis was taken aback.

"Ok..." He said. Eva came over behind Sofie.

"Francis, what is wrong with Ernie?" She asked him quietly.

"I don't really know... I think he's just a little off... No, he's just different." Francis glanced over his shoulder. His tone was kind. "He's better once he gets used to you."

 Eva met his gaze. His words didn't appear to reassure her completely, but he realized she was actually beginning to trust him, like she did Maria. This took him aback slightly, but also made him happy and proud. He smiled down at Eva, then turned to walk away. He paused.

"By the way you might want to comb your hair." He added. Eva looked startled, and felt at her hair.

"Oh," She grinned and turned red. "Thanks."

"No problemo." He said as he headed downstairs.

Eva shut the door. Sofie was laying on one bed and Maria on the other. Eva frowned as she went to find her hairbrush. She was unsuccessful, but found Sofies comb, so she just used that.

"Where am I sleeping?" She asked as she combed.

"Oh, hm I don't know. you can sleep in my bed if you want." Maria offered.

"I guess I'll have to." Eva said, tossing the comb onto the vanity. "AH!" She suddenly gasped when she looked in the mirror. Ernie was standing in the open doorway
.
"Supper." he said, then vanished again.

"He's creepy." Sofie reiterated her former opinion.

"Hey," Maria warned as she stood up and stretched. "Be nice."

"I'll try," Sofie agreed as they headed down to supper. Mr. Guttuso had just arrived home from work. After the girls had been introduced, they went into the dining room.

 Mrs. Guttuso had prepared a yummy dinner of ravioli and nutella cookies. Maria was thrilled. The cousins didn't like nutella and she had been feeling a bit deprived.

"Nutellas my favorite." Gio noted as he ate a 5th cookie. Maria smiled at him as she slowly continued to nibble her 1st.

"Me too." She said. Romeo looked up.

"It is?" He was crestfallen, "I'm sorry! I didn't know."

"Oh its fine," Maria assured him.

"Well we would have gotten you some!" He insisted, stressed at the thought of being a less than perfect host.

Gio grabbed another cookie.

"Gio, baby how many have you had?" Mrs. Guttuso questioned wearily.

(I should note, this is actually Gianluca Ginoble)

"Ummmmmm..." He stared at his mom, his cheeks bulging. Then he just smiled. She shook her head.

The girls excused themselves after dinner. They were all exhausted. The prepared for bed, climbed under the covers, and despite the noise coming from the boys room, promptly fell asleep.

Ernie had a hard time falling asleep, both from the noise from Gios room and his perturbed feelings. However, he eventually drifted off.

by Nina

What dost thou think???? Like the gifs? I want to hear from you!! :D Ryn wants to know what y'all think of Gio (he's her favorite character)

Anndddd....

Just like they eat in the story!!! We tried the recipe, and can endorse it;) We halved it though(and yes that included the egg. I don't know how. Ask Ryn.)