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. Bread By Jenni . . Gia pushed the big metal cart down the aisle. ''Okay, so what exactly do you want?'' ''One of those nice little hand held baskets at the gourmet food store down town,'' Nikolas pouted as he followed along behind her, his hands dejectedly stuck down in his pockets, his shoulders sagging. Gia stopped, spinning around. ''Those days are over. From now on, it's bargain basement,'' she replied crisply, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. He looked so sad that she almost felt sorry for him. ''Don't be like that, Nikolas. It's not so bad buying in bulk. You'll learn to like it.'' Nikolas looked at her skeptically. He pulled a huge 56 roll pack of toilet paper off of a nearby shelf. ''Why on earth would I need to buy 56 rolls of toilet paper at one time, Gia? I don't!'' ''You don't use it all at once, Genius,'' Gia retorted. She took the generic package from his hands and tossed it into the cart. ''We don't need that,'' Nikolas remarked as they moved away. ''Did you see the price? It's on sale
for $6.77! That's a deal.'' ''It's toilet paper, Nikolas.'' ''It's not Charmin. Charmin is quilted.'' Gia stopped pushing the cart. Once again, she turned to face him. ''I know it'll be hard,'' she laughed, ''but your little royal hiney will get used to coarse two-ply.'' ''Are you laughing at me?'' ''Yup...'' Nikolas smiled, running a hand through his thick black hair. ''Okay, I know that I'm taking this too seriously. I'm sorry. It's just that this is a new experience for me.'' ''Being flat-broke?'' ''I am not broke.'' ''How much money do you have in the bank?'' ''Which one?'' ''The only one that doesn't laugh at you when you come in to make a withdrawal.'' Nikolas' mouth drew into a hard line. ''I shouldn’t have told you about that. I can't believe that bank manager at Chase Manhattan laughed at me.'' ''Oh...can you believe that he cut up your credit card?'' ''I can't believe that one either, but you have a point. My resources are limited at the moment.'' Gia glared at some woman who pushed past her rudely. ''Hey,'' she screamed after her, ''get some manners!'' She turned to face the shelves, carefully selecting a vat of peanut butter and a large jar of jam. ''You're still in denial, Nikolas.'' ''What do you mean?'' ''I mean, that you will never be able to live again until you accept the truth.'' ''Which is?'' he asked, his right eyebrow lifting slightly. ''You're more broke than Willie Nelson
at tax time.'' ''I just picked up some jam. Why do we need another jar?'' ''Because I don't like strawberry jam. I like grape jelly.'' ''How predictable. I never took you for predictable, Nikolas.'' ''We agreed to share our food, but don’t get carried away. You just keep your jam away from my jelly, all right?'' ''Will do, sir!'' she quipped, squaring her shoulders and giving Nikolas a salute. ''Fall out, Soldier,'' he smiled, taking control of the cart. ''When did Nikolas Cassadine turn into John Wayne?'' Gia asked, walking behind him. ''Who's John Wayne?'' ''Ummm...where are you from again? Mars? Neptune?'' ''Why do I always feel as if you're laughing at me, Gia?'' Nikolas questioned earnestly. He stopped in the middle of the aisle. ''Because I usually am,'' she replied. Gia paused when she realized that he was no longer beside her. Slowly, she walked backwards, raising her knees high into the air in exaggerated steps. She stopped in front of him. He grabbed her arm, spinning her around. ''You looked ridiculous. You're pretty funny, Gia.'' She saw a glimmer of amusement in his eyes. She stared into the dark pools of brown for an extended period of time. She coughed, looking away. ''Funny? You think I'm funny?'' Nikolas realized that his hand was still on the warm flesh of her arm. He quickly dropped it, his hands falling limply at his sides. ''Yeah. I think you're funny.'' ''Funny how?'' ''You know, funny...'' ''Funny? What..Funny like a clown?'' she
said harshly. She folded her hands across her chest, her face grim ''Yeah, a clown! Do you think I'm funny like a clown? Do I amuse you?'' ''Gia...'' ''What? You said I was 'pretty funny'...I'm asking funny how? So, what, do you think I'm a clown or something? Do I amuse you?'' ''NO! I don't think you're a clown,'' Nikolas said guiltily, his hands fluttering at his sides, ''I didn't, not for one instant, mean to imply that I saw you as some sort of carnival employee! If I offended you...I'm sorry, Gia.'' Gia looked at the honest, sincere look on his face and started to giggle. She fell against his shoulder, her laughing taking her over. ''What's wrong with you?'' He asked, taking her by the shoulders. He looked at her face, trying to figure out if she had fallen ill. ''You look a little green. You haven't eaten at Kelly's when Luke's been cooking, have you?'' ''Who's Luke?'' she asked, wiping tears from the corner of her eye. ''If you'd met him, you wouldn't have to ask. What's going on and why do I have the feeling that I'm causing this fit of uproarious laughter?'' ''I take it you haven't seen the movie 'Goodfellas' either?'' ''No, I haven't seen it...'' ''Well, see there's this whole seen where Ray Liota and Joe Pesci are in this bar-'' ''Who?'' ''They're actors in the movie!'' ''OH...'' ''Anyway,'' she started again, slightly miffed that he had interrupted. ''Ray Liota tells Joe Pesci that he's funny. And Joe Pesci says...'' Gia looked at Nikolas, prompting him to finish the sentence. ''And Joe Pesci says...ummm...how about 'Thank you. That's a nice compliment' ?'' ''Not even close. He says what I just said.'' Nikolas stared at her as if she had gone insane. ''That whole dialog about clowns?'' ''Yes! Wasn't that hilarious?'' ''No, Gia, that was not hilarious!'' Nikolas hissed. ''I'm really sick and tired of being the butt of your jokes! Is it really that much fun to laugh at the poor little rich boy?'' ''Hey,'' Gia started seriously. ''I'm not trying to make fun of you. I was just playing around.'' ''All you ever do is play around. It has really gotten old!'' he said, turning his back and looking down into the cart. Gia didn't know what to do. She hadn't meant to hurt his feelings. There was a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. What if he wouldn't forgive her? That thought was a bird dropping on the windshield of her life. It messed everything up. Somewhere inside, she realized that she liked being his friend. She liked fighting with him over orange juice and toilet paper. She liked living in his house, knowing that he would come home and that she wouldn't be alone. She liked...him. Her hand reached out to touch his shoulder. ''Don't be mad, Nikolas. I'm sorry if I've hurt your feelings. I'll make it up to you, really I will. I'll even pay rent...one of these days. Please,'' she pleaded, ''tell me that you can forgive me!'' Slowly he faced her, a big goofy grin plastered across his handsome features. ''Who's laughing, now, Gia?'' ''You jerk!'' she railed, grabbing a hunkering loaf of bread from the display at the end of the aisle. She started hitting him on the shoulders with it. She swung fiercely, her hands tightly gripped on the plastic bag. ''You had it coming!'' he replied, holding up his arms to deflect the blows. He tried to pry her hands off of the bag, but failed. The plastic of the bag gave way, and slices of ''Happy Family Bread'' went flying through the air. ''Look at what you've done!'' Gia glared at him, turning on her heel and marching away. ''Are you mad?'' She ignored him, the heels of her boots furiously clicking across the linoleum panels of the floor. ''Gia,'' he said, running after her. He cornered her at the end of the aisle against the bread display. She was trapped between him and a mountain of shiny red plastic wrappers. ''Why are you angry?'' Gia averted her eyes. How was she supposed to tell him that she was angry at herself for caring about his feelings? ''Gia! Look at me! I don't want you to be upset,'' Nikolas explained, knowing that it was the truth. He looked at the even lines of her face, the way her lips were tightly pressed together in distress. He didn't like that. He wanted her to smile again. Nikolas hadn't known how much he adored her smile until the very moment he saw it slowly fade away into a sneer. ''Please, Gia!'' She reluctantly raised her eyes to meet his. ''I'm not upset.'' ''Good...'' ''Did I really hurt your feelings before?'' Gia asked. ''No, it takes far more than that to hurt me, Gia.'' ''You're a tough guy, huh?'' she said, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. That's what I've been waiting for.. Nikolas' breath caught in his throat. He had never really thought about how beautiful she was until that very moment. Beautiful face. Beautiful smile. Beautiful eyes. ''Do I have bread stuck in my hair, or
something?'' ''You're staring.'' ''I'm not staring. We were having a conversation. And an important part of having a conversation is direct eye contact.'' ''You sound like my mother,'' Gia said. ''Excuse me!'' the rude woman from before launched, navigating around the slices of bread spread across the floor. ''You guys are blocking the aisle. I can't get through!'' ''Then you should turn your cart around and go back the way you came!'' Gia retorted. ''Move it!'' ''Fine!'' Gia said, pulling Nikolas against her so that the troll had enough room to wheel through. Nikolas was suddenly very aware of the closeness of her body. Gia pushed back against the bread display. It was nothing more than loaves of bread mounted in a pyramid formation on top of some boxes. She was forced to move even further into the display when the troll kept complaining about not having enough room. She had her hands on Nikolas' lapels. She felt the heat from his body as they were forced together. The troll wriggled through, but Nikolas didn't move away. He looked down into Gia's eyes. She stared back, rooted in what she saw. His head started to move down and her tongue darted out to wet her lips. Just as his lips neared hers, the entire bread display gave way. Gia went sprawling backwards, loaves of bread raining down on top of her. Because of her death grip on his lapels, Nikolas went right along with her. He ended up on top of her in the mountain of displaced bread. ''Oh boy,'' he said without moving. ''Oh boy is right,'' she chuckled into his shoulder. ''Bad things happen when we're together, Nikolas.'' ''I noticed.'' He propped himself up so that he could see her face, his hands on either side of her. Before he could stop himself, he remarked, ''You're beautiful when you're happy, Gia.'' Gia's face became blank. There was a silence as embarrassment started to flood his face. ''I don't know why I said that,'' he said, trying to laugh it off. ''I just...'' ''You just what?'' she asked, straining to keep her voice neutral. She didn't want him to know that inside, her heart was thumping. ''I just...I don't know...I just wanted to tell you because it's the truth. You're beautiful when...well, all the time, actually.'' Gia's hand reached out to caress his cheek. ''You wouldn't lie to a girl in a heap of bread, would you?'' Nikolas leaned down to kiss her, his lips interrupting anything else she might have said. His lips were soft and persistent against hers. It was deep and sweet as she moved her hand to play in the hair at the nape of his neck. She arched up to meet his body. He felt as if he had never kissed another girl before. This was a whole new experience. Her lips were working, tipping him over the edge of desire. And that was just a kiss. Gia wanted him. It was that simple. She wanted to be next to him. With him. As close as she could be. She was feeling hot all over as they kissed. They could have gone on forever. They would have to, had they not been drawn out of their ecstasy by the sound of applause. At least twenty five people were grouped around the fallen bread display and the outrageous spectacle of Nikolas Cassadine and Gia Campbell. ''What are you staring at?'' Gia yelled, hiding her face behind Nikolas' shoulder, ''Haven't you ever seen bread before?'' The End. Back to: The Library |