"Out of the doubt that fills my mind, I somehow find you and I collide"
Track - Howie Day (Collide)
"No man is ever going to want you if you keep acting like such a snob." Gia's cousin Stella declares, exasperated. The target of the irritated jab looks up from the novel her face had been buried in moments prior, but says nothing, returning her gaze to the rough, yellowing pages of the vintage gem she had located in the old bookshop she had found on the way to this thriving coastal hub. Bram Stoker's Dracula. She had read it many a time before, but as she read it now she thought of all of the hands that had held it before hers. The stories of the people to whom those hands belonged. She wouldn't tell Stella that, though. She'd just call her weird again.
Stella lets out an overly dramatic sigh and flops down on the chair in the living area of their hotel room. She flashes another disappointed gaze in Gia's direction, but her cousin fails to notice. She is far too engrossed in what she is reading.
"Maybe we should have gone to Transylvania." She retorts. "We could have found you a vampire. You know, if that whole blood sucking thing turns you on so much."
This earns a response. Gia narrows her eyes at Stella and closes the book with a thud, tossing it on the coffee table and moving off the couch. She heads toward the door, her long legs helping her to make quick progress.
"Where are you going?"
This time Gia sighs. "Out."
"Not like that you're not!"
The raven-haired beauty screws her face up at the sight of her cousins fashion choices. A dark green tank top, light wash jeans and white converse that had been worn a few too many times to have been considered intact.
"Fine, I'll change."
"I was hoping you would say that." Stella chimes, wrapping her palm around Gia's arm and pulling her into her room. "I got this for you."
Gia gazed down at the red bandeau and mini skirt combination, each of which tied at the side and featured white floral embroidery. It wasn't something she would normally wear. She had to try her damnedest not to screw her own face up, and took it anyway with an unenthusiastic thank you.
As she finished changing she stared at herself in the mirror, trying to ignore the tan lines on her shoulders. She knew Stella would be left unimpressed by the revelation but she ceased to care, throwing her dark blonde hair over her shoulders to cover the worst of it. She couldn't handle any more of her cousins petty jabs today.
Outside the door to her room she can hear a foot begin to tap rhythmically against the floorboards. Stella had always been so impatient. They hadn't planned anything that day but she was in a rush nonetheless. Gia rolled her eyes to the heavens and walked toward the door, opening it and letting her eyes fall upon a her cross-armed cousin.
"Well it's about time." She scolds and descends the stairs, holding the door open as she reaches the bottom. "Come on then."
The blonde furrows her brow. "We're are we going."
"You'll see when we get there."
*
"Dad, you're being ridiculous!" Stefanos Pallis almost chuckled, following his father around the house like a lost pup with hands upturned and palms grasping the air.
"I am most certainly not, son." Christos Pallis scolded in Greek. Stefanos rolled his eyes.
"Come on Dad, Anna is different." He answers in English, a move that he knows will vex his father. He acts as though he doesn't know as he continues to plead with him.
The older man clicks his tongue irritatedly within the confines of his mouth. "She is no different to the last, and she will be no different to the next." He says through gritted teeth.
"Well, there won't be a next."
Christos dashes around to face his son, enraged.
"What do you mean by that?" He barks.
"I'm going to marry her."
*
Stef couldn't remember the last time he had been so angry. His father had given him an ultimatum. He had two options: to marry Anna and lose everything; his family, his house, his fast cars and his role as heir to his fathers company, or he could keep a hold of it all and in doing so forfeit the right to her. His blood was boiling as he approached the town, then the familiar, energetic sound of pop music drew him in. It lulled him until his heart slowed again. The thought of pouring a cold beverage down his dry throats calming him some. He quickly locates the source of it and ventures inside.
Thud. The air is knocked from his lungs and all at once his chest begins to ache, his ribs reeling from the impact. He struggles to regain his breath as he glares down at the woman with whom he had collided. Slim, tall, blonde. Everything about her reminds him of his mother. For a moment, he is reminiscent. He is dragged back to reality when she gazes up at him through tired green eyes. "Sorry." She mutters, embarrassed. There is something endearing about this woman that makes his anger dissipate instantaneously.
Whoever this woman is, she is the complete opposite of Anna. Reserved, humble, with an air of kindness seeping from her being. Stef extends a hand to help her up, knowing exactly what he must do in order to get what it wants.
"Don't be." He soothes.
YOU ARE READING
The Facade
Romance"I want to date who I want, you want your freedom. Let's make a deal." Gia is tired of being told what to do- more specifically, she's tired of being told to settle down. With the trauma her past love left her grappling with still firmly in her comp...
