Chapter 4- Pizza!! by Nina and Ryn

(photo not mine)



CHAPTER 4
The next morning,  when everyone had arrived at breakfast, Gio asked what everyone wanted to do.

"I need to prove to Ernie that I can beat him on Mario Kart." Romeo said seriously, but with a kindly sparkle in his brown eyes. Thankfully Ernie didn't notice this, he would have felt patronized.

"Oh, you two don't need to play video games all day, the weather is lovely." Mrs. Guttuso protested.

Ernie scowled and seemed about to speak, but a glance from his father changed his mind. Romeo shrugged amicably.

"Ok!" He said, taking a bite of his breakfast.

"Why don't you all just take time and get to know each other?" Mrs. Guttuso asked. The young people looked at each other.

'way to make things awkward, mama!' Gio groaned mentally.

"On our first day in Chiaro, we just drove around and chatted." Maria suggested. "You could show us around your town!"

Gio smiled."That's a good idea!" He said.

 Maria didn't appreciate the way her treated her as so much younger than him. However, she only smiled in return and took a bite of nutella toast.

"Well it's decided." Mrs. Guttuso said. "Good"

Mr. Guttuso said nothing, but smiled with amusement as he put his dishes on the counter.

"I'll see you all later." He picked up his briefcase and coat. "Have fun." He added as he went through the door. Francis watched it shut with an unusually apprehensive expression. Eva watched him,with a slight smirk hovering on her lips. Gio finished his breakfast.

"So, are you all ready to go?" He asked

"I'm still in my pajamas." Ernie said flatly. Gio leaned over to look at his clothes, then laughed.

"Oops, sorry I didn't notice. Ok how about we try to leave by 10, sound good?"

"Sure." Romeo answered for everyone. The girls headed upstairs to get ready, and the boys followed shortly after.

At 5 after 10(due to Romeo not being able to find one sneaker, which turned out to be in the closet where he left it), they headed out. Gio's tiny town was close to a little city beside the sea, so there was a bit more to see than in Chiaro.

"Ok, I'll save the best for last... we'll go down to the beach to start and work our way back up." Gio said, as the drove down towards the city. They passed a few interesting stores, of which Maria and Sofie made mental notes.

The beach was much more inspiring than the beach in Chiaro. A nice bath house stretched along the edge of the sand, and umbrellas and towels looked even brighter against the blue water. There was enough people to make it exciting without being a crowd.

"Well, this is nice." Sofie commented as they got out. Romeo looked around.

"It's bigger than our beach," He pointed out unnecessarily. Maria smiled at him, while Eva struggled to hide a smirk, and Sofie rolled her eyes.

They walked to the edge of the water. Maria and Sofie dipped their toes in the water, wading for a bit. The others waited on the edge. After a few moments, they were all ready to go- it really wasn't warm enough for the beach anyways. Gio drove them past his church, the library and the grocery store-

"Exciting" Francis said gravely as they paused in the parking lot.

Without responding, Gio turned dramatically in his seat.

"And now, as I said, I've saved the best for last. We now go to the most important place in town- you guys are hungry, right?"

"Sure!" Romeo replied.

"Not just you, Romeo- anyone else? I promise its something good"

"I'm hungry, too." Said Maria, looking with hungry eyes at the Nutella ad in the store window.

"Well, ok then, lets go." Gio drove off again, back up the hill towards the little stone town. About halfway there, he turned down a side street. After another minute of driving, he stopped in front of a quaint, well kept building. He stared at it in almost reverent silence. The others, unsure of how to respond, did the same. Finally, he got out of the car, and everyone else did too.

"Behold," He broke the (now awkward) silence- " Gian Franco's pizzeria."

Marias face lit up.

"Pizza?!!"

Gio smiled. "Yes. Really,really good pizza."

Maria laughed, "Oh my goodness, Pizza is practically my boyfriend, I love it so much!"

"Same here- its my girlfriend, I mean." Gio paused and shook his head, "anyways, come on. I'll introduce you to Alex. He's one of my best friends- and his dad's the owner."

"Ahha..." Francis said, in a tone of comprehension.

 Gio glance at him with narrowed eyes, but continued walking. He held the door with a flourish and usher them through.

Inside, the smell was heavenly. Cheesy, doughy, saucey... Maria closed her eyes for one moment and breathed in in- then crashed into a chalkboard sign, which fell to the floor and shattered. Her eyes flew open.

"Oh no!!" Her face turned scarlet, "I am so sorry,  I-"

"It's ok," Gio said, his tone roughly equivalent to patting a crying tot on the head. A curly haired youth appeared around a corner. He took in the situation.

"I figured it was you, Gio." He said after a moment's silence.

"What, you hear a crash and assume its me? Ouch, Alex!" Gio kidded. Maria stepped forward.

"It was me, actually. I'm sorry, I can pay for the sign." She said, slightly reluctant. Alex glanced at her. Their eyes met for a second before Alex blushed.

"It's ok, you don't have to do that," He said awkwardly. Maria thought she heard a snicker behind her, but Francis did have a cough, so maybe that was all it was. After a brief pause, Alex offered to seat them. He led them to a nice big booth in the corner.

"Ok, I'll be back in a few minutes..." He headed off to fetch a broom to clean up the shattered sign. Maria winced.

"Don't feel bad," Gio comforted her. She smiled(slightly forcedly), and picked up her menu. His attitude was bugging her slightly, but she couldn't quite be annoyed with someone that handsome.
After a quick perusal, she decided to just try their original pizza to start with, then glanced around to observe the pizzeria.

It wasn't very large, it was cozy. Painted in warm shades, with painting on the wall, and rough, homey beams. Old music was playing at just the right volume, and the animated buzz of talking Italians completed the picture.

"I love this place." Maria murmured, half to herself. Sofie banged her menu down.

"Me too." She stated. "pick what you're getting yet?" She added amicably.

"their original one," Maria said. "You?"

"Same." She replied. Romeo looked up at them over his menu.

"I think I'm probably allergic to all this." He said, his brown eyes rather tragic.

"Aw," Maria laughed sympathetically. "There must be something?"

"Maybe these cheesy garlic breadsticks, just minus the cheese and the garlic." He said, after glancing back at the menu for a minute.

"Oh, well... there you go." Maria said. He smiled, equanimity apparently restored to his soul.
Just then, Alex came back over.

"Ok, are you all ready to place your order?" He asked, pulling a notebook from his apron.

"I think we are," Gio said, looking around questioningly. At their agreement, he ordered his own, "the way I always have it." Romeo ordered his non garlic and cheese cheesy garlic breadsticks. Francis ordered salad. Eva was still having a very difficult time deciding, so he moved to Ernie.

"Do you have worm pizza?" He asked suddenly. Alex looked startled.

"Uh, no." He said. Ernie looked mildly disappointed.

"Well, I'll have chicken pizza then." He conceded. Looking slightly disturbed, Alex wrote this down. Maria and Sophie had decided to share their pepperoni pizza.

"Eva?" Maria questioned. Francis glanced down at his struggling cousin.

"I can't make up my mind..." She said, looking frantically up and down the columns of food.

"Get a salad," He suggested mildly.

"I hate eating those in public," She admitted without looking up.

"How about vegetable pizza?" Maria prodded.

"Yes, that sounds good- but..."

"She'll take a small vegetable pizza." Francis and Maria said at the same time. Maria scowled at Francis, who shrugged apologetically. Alex went off to start their orders, and the group sat and began to chat. Eva leaned back, relieved to have her selection crisis solved.

"SO," Gio began, "What do you guys have for hobbies?" He smiled at the girls.

"I already told you!" Romeo said in surprise. Gio turned to him and smiled pointedly. Romeo, still perplexed, went back to doing complex math problems on his place mat. Ernie watched him with interest.

"Anyways." Gio resumed, expectantly. The girls looked back at him for a moment.

"Um." Maria tried to remember.

"Knocking things over, just kidding," Gio laughed. Maria blushed.

"Well, yes," She smiled, "But, um I love to sing, and write! And listen to music."

Of course Gio already knew all this, however he masterfully acted as though it was completely new information.

"Neat!" He said. "What about you..." He trailed off, staring at Eva.

"Eva," Francis snapped at him.

"Thank you, yes, I KNOW." Gio lied defensively. Eva eyed him for a moment.

"I like singing, drawing and painting." She said at last. Gio nodded, unsure of how to continue the conversation. Francis came to the rescue.

"So I noticed that you had some Shakespeare movie adaptations in your living room." He said

"Oh, those are my mom's," Gio dismissed them. Francis frowned.

"Oh. So you haven't watched them?"

"Ew no way, boriinggg. i like Action. You've seen Spiderman of course?"

"Actually no, I haven't," Francis said, disgusted at Gio's treatment of the Bard.

"WHat?????? You have to watch it. We can watch it tonight." Gio decided.

"Uh, no thanks." Francis declined, to Marias dismay.

"I love Spiderman!" She protested. Gio smiled.

"Good!" He said, "I'm glad one of you has some sense."

"Hm." Francis was extremely unimpressed by Gio's existence thus far. And he didn't have a lot of hope for this improving in the future. he sighed and sat back more comfortably.

"So how long does the pizza take?" He changed the subject.'

"Oh around 25 minutes. It's not too busy right now." He added, looking around. Just then Alex brought over some waters.

"Here you go," He said, shyly glancing at Maria and then spilling one water all over the relaxed Francis.

"Yow!!" He cried, leaping up. Ice clattered to the floor. Francis looked at Alex in indignation. Alex was appalled with himself.

"I am so sorry!!!" He exclaimed. Gio was amused.

"Al, what is up? In all the years you've worked here I've never seen you make a mistake!"

"There's always a first time," Francis grumbled, brushing himself off, grimacing at his wet clothes, then sitting back down.  Alex, his ears scarlet, hurried off to get the broom-again.

"Well, that makes me feel a little less embarrassed about breaking the sign!" Maria laughed.

"Well, good, you shouldn't be embarrassed anyway."Gio assured her.

Alex hurried back over to clean up the mess he'd made. He narrowly missed smacking Francis in the head with the broom, with flustered him even further. He hurried away again. Gio watched calmly the entire time, then chuckled after he was gone.

"Wow," He commented," I have no idea whats come over him!" Eva and Sofie glanced significantly at each other, then at the oblivious Maria, but Gio missed their meaning completely.

"Huh," He finished the subject. then his eyes lit up, his face completely transfigured with joy. The others follOwed his gaze to the beautiful sight that had so affected him- Alex was coming with the pizza.

"Finally." Francis said ungraciously. Alex set down the food, with no mishaps.

"Enjoy!" he said wistfully, wishing he could join them.

"Why don't you join us?" Said Gio, reading his thoughts. Alex brightened.

"Are you sure? I'll go tell dad!" He said, rushing off once more.

"Interesting." Francis thoughtfully watched him go, then turned to Gio.

"Shall I bless the food?" He asked Gio.

"Sure." Gio replied.

Francis did so. When he had finished, Gio, before devouring his pizza, quipped,

"Bless the bunch that munch the lunch." He took a huge bite. "That's what my dad always says," He explained between chews. Alex breathlessly returned and sat down with a sandwich.

"So whats new for you?" Gio asked him. Alex shrugged.

"Not really. We've been playing around with the sauce recipe-"

"Don't change it. I mean it." Gio said seriously.

"We're not." Alex said resignedly. "I wish we were though. I'm so sick of it." He bit into his sandwich.

"How?" Gio was incredulous.

"If you had to make it, smell it, use it, eat it, breathe it and live it all day every day, you might be too." Alex said with unexpected vehemence.

"Wow. I never thought of that." Gio mused for a moment.

"So are you enjoying it here so far?" Alex asked the cousins bashfully.

"Oh, yes." Maria said. Alex smiled. Sofie snorted and choked on her water.

"You ok?"

"Yes."

"I love the houses here," Maria continued. "And the pizza is divine." She added. Alex blushed again.

"Thanks.." He murmured.

-commences to be written by Ryn 

"So do you live near here?" Maria continued, taking a bite of pizza.

"Right across the road actually," Alex answered bashfully.

"Oh that's nice," Maria replied lamely. Small talk could be so hard sometimes.

Gio glanced at Maria, realizing she was out of things to say.

"So..." He began. "What do you all say to coming over to my house and watching a movie tonight? Al, you could come and I could call Tad." Tad was the other of Gio's two best friends.

"That sounds perfect to me," Maria said. She hoped she didn't come across as flirty agreeing with everything Gio said. He was just always right, that was all.

"Well, shouldn't we make sure that's ok with your parents?" Eva questioned.

"Oh mom doesn't care. Just as long as we don't make a mess or too much noise. And as long as we're not up more than an hour past Ernie's bedtime." Gio dismissed. Eva didn't look convinced. Ernie frowned at his brother as he absentmindedly picked at his pizza. Then Gio continued.

"How about Spiderman." He stated, shoving a peice of pizza in his mouth.

Maria opened her mouth and started to agree again, but than changed her mind and said, "Anything is fine with me." She smiled fakely.

"Aww Gio, please not Spiderman. Not again." Alex groaned.

"Spiderman 2? Spiderman 3?" Gio suggested, smiling convincingly.

Eva and Francis stared at him from across the table, chewing pointedly on their pizza.

"Well, I mean... like maybe Star Wars then?" Gio said.

Romeo face lit up.

"Oh I like that." He nodded. "So does Francis. He likes Princess Lei-" Francis's dramatic coughing fit cut him off. Romeo smiled at his older brother cheerfully. "You do," He said, under his breath.

"Well, I like Star Wars too," Maria began. "Actually my favorite movie is Revenge of the Sith," she said.

"Ok let's just watch that," Gio finalized. "Cool with everyone?" They all nodded, except Francis, but Gio ignored this fact. "Ok," He said. "Al, come over at 5," He said.

"Ok," Al said, happy to have the chance to get to know... all the guests better. "I better get back to work," He said, glancing at the clock. "See you all tonight!" He awkwardly got up and smiled at Maria. She smiled nicely back.

 Gio watched him leave thoughtfully. Then he turned back to the others. Everyone was done except for Maria and Ernie.

"Ernie, aren't you going to eat yours?" Gio asked his brother, sounding a bit concerned at Ernie's still full plate.

"Not hungry," Ernie replied. Gio looked back and forth to the plate and Ernie. He looked questioningly at his bro.

"If you want it you can have it," Ernie stated, shoving the plate towards Gio, who had already eaten a whole pizza by himself. This didn't stop Gio, though. He quickly and easily ate Ernie's and turned to Maria.

"Almost done?" He said, beginning to feel impatient.

"I'm full," She said. "We can go now."

"Ok, we don't waste pizza," Gio informed her seriously. Maria was confused.

"Why can't I bring it-"

He sighed as if it was a burden. "Ok hand it over," She was confused for a moment untill she realized what he meant.

"Well... I mean I'm not sick or anything.. but are you sure?" Maria began.

"No really," He said, smiling sweetly. He looked at her questiongly and held out his hand. Ok, Maria thought. She handed her plate to Gio and watched him eat yet another half peice of pizza. How is he so thin?

commences to be written by Nina

"Ok, now we can go." As they headed out he stuck his head in the kitchen and shouted, "BYE ALEXXX" at the top of his lungs. Eva winced.

"Don't shout like that Gio, it's not good for your voice." Romeo admonished as they got in the car.

"I'm fine," Gio laughed, starting the car.

When they got home, Gio told his mother about their plans. She tiredly nodded. The three girls disappeared to their room for some much needed rest. The guys crashed onto the big living room couch, and fell asleep much faster than the girls did upstairs in their beds.

When it was almost time for Alex and the unknown Tad to arrive, the girls straggled downstairs, sleepily fixing their hair and clothes. The boys woke up disheveled messes and made no effort to remedy that.

Soon a knock came on the front door. Mrs. G let them in, and they entered the living room. Alex smiled shyly at the group, while the presumed Tad- with dark blonde, curly hair and deep brow that made him look perpetually grumpy- inspected the guests with frank un-impression.

"These are my friends, and their cousins from America!" Gio announced, looking at him expectantly. It made no effect on Tad, who was no respecter of persons.

"Nice to meet you." He commented. He frowned at Francis(who was in Tads accustomed place), and rather put-outedly sat somewhere else.

"Hey, it's good to see you Tad!" Romeo exclaimed brightly

"You too. What's new?" Tad replied, congenially enough, despite his natural expression.

"I got a car. Did you see it outside?" Romeo said, pride filling his voice.

"Yeah I saw it." Tad grinned. "Pretty hard to miss. Nice one." He added. Romeo smiled with satisfaction.

"I know." He gloated. Gio was frowning. He didn't have a car, or prospects of getting one. He had to drive his mom's. So he was jealous. (As a side note, I once saw someone spell jealous as gelouse. Gelouse. Anyways.)

They watched their movie, to the dissatisfaction of Francis and Eva(and for that matter Gio who wanted to watch Spiderman). Afterwards they ate, then chatted for a while before Tad and Alex left.

"Your friends are really nice, Gio!" Maria said as they all began to disperse for the night.

"Yeah" He smiled. Maria couldn't get past how adorable that half smile was. She smiled back and dreamily went into her room.

Sofie and Eva were already there, debating cheerfully about which of Gio's friends was more annoying. They both concluded that neither were as bad as Gio. Maria sincerely hoped that they were kidding. However she doubted it. She sighed and pulled on her pajamas. She crawled under her covers and stared at the ceiling. Then she grabbed her notebook and began to write.

'Eyes as green as a forest,
and a smile bright as the sun through the trees.
I'd love to spend a life time in those woods.'

She gazed at the words for another moment, then put away her notebook, read her Bible, and peacefully went to sleep.

by Nina and Ryn D.

Tell us what you think!!! Constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated!!!

http://donfranchino.com/

This is where we got our inspiration for Gian Francos- a real Italian pizzeria!! Ours in the story isn't exactly authentic, but you should take a look at the amazingness they actually have there. I REALLLLLYYY WANNTTT TO GOOOOOOOOO!!

As is usual with links, I take no responsibility for other websites etc.