The Gladiator and The Girl

Lovely Words

I stand there like an idiot as I watch Sina turn to follow his father and sister.

I must have stood there for longer than I thought because I only came to when Gloria started calling out for me.

"Genevieve! Are you coming?"

"Yes, I'm coming!" I yell back as I shake off the cloud of fog in my head.

As I start to walk towards them I see Sina look over his shoulder at me and smile. I was going to smile back and be polite until he winked.

Oh. Heck. No.

My playdar is going off. My brain is sending "all hands on deck" signals to every brain cell I own. If you could see the inside of my brain right now you would think it was a Roman naval ship under attack or something.

I tip my head at him before picking up my pace and joining Gloria. I think ignoring him is a good plan of action... At least until I come up with a better one.

"Would you like me to wait to walk you back home Gloria?"

She stares at me like I'm an idiot, "Yes, I would. But why wouldn't you since you're going to eat with us?"

...Huh?

"I'm what?"

"I bought food for all of us. So you'll eat with us and then me and you will leave so they can train some more."

I just nod my head, "Oh."

I'm glad one of us knows what's going on...

We are relatively silent until we get to the place Gloria decides is perfect and set up the picnic. I can feel Sina staring at me almost the whole time. I hope he doesn't think I'm playing hard to get with ignoring him... I'm just purely ignoring him for my own mental wellbeing.

We all sit down around the basket and start eating. I take the smaller piece of bread available and some grapes. I feel bad, this is their food after all.

As I bite into the bread I almost groan it's so delicious... Almost. I've read that scene in a few too many books. Player McHot Pants over there is not getting anything embarrassing out of me again... I hope.

"Gloria, you will have to tell me the bakery's name, the bread is amazing!" I say as I pop a small piece into my mouth.

She smiles brightly at me, "Isn't it?! I found him a few days ago while just wondering around the market with a friend. It just opened so I'm sure he would love your business."

"Of course, I'll tell everyone I know as well."

I hear one of the men clear their throat and turn to look in their direction.

"Genevieve, I want to thank you again for staying with Gloria today. I felt bad leaving in such a rush but I had to make sure I got here in time to train with Sina."

"Oh, it's absolutely no trouble Adriano. Gloria has been nothing but wonderful. I like to think I've made a good new friend." I turn to smile at Gloria to see her already smiling at me.

"I'm feeling quite left out I must say."

Glorias smile quickly changes into a smirk before turning to her brother and smacking his arm, "Just sit quietly and eat."

He brushes her off before looking at me with an evil smile before turning to his father, "Father you mentioned Gloria was bringing a new friend but never said she was as beautiful as a goddess. I should have been told so I could prepare myself."

Adriano's boisterous laugh easily covered my weak chuckle. I looked to Gloria for help only to see her eyes light up like it's Christmas morning with a mega watt smile on her face.