Raise Your Heart

Chapter 6

"Trinity!"

"Gio!"

They exclaimed at the same time. Stunned. Trinity stood rooted at the entryway of the dining room. Her eyes were large at the sight of her unexpected friend. Her best friend. Correction, former best friend. She didn't deserve the title any longer. But...Gio was here! Had Dante called him? Did Petra? Her excitement faltered a sliver.

Was this all a joke? A plan? A manipulation on Petra's part? Trinity's reaction and thoughts were automatic as she turned to her best friend. Her new best friend. They had formed a close bond over the last three years, but it was evident she didn't know everything about Petra. Petra could easily say the same, in her defense. Trinity wasn't ignorant to all the detail she purposely left out of the stories she told. The road went both ways. 

As ties went with best friends, Petra's intuition kicked in. A sort of mind reading power she had, and her hands immediately flew up into the air. A stance resembling that of an arrest. Her eyes pled her innocence.

Still, it was a bit interesting how Petra hadn't mentioned Gio at the very least. Trinity could see not mentioning Dante, but Gio? He was the most funny, caring, empathetic person she knew. He was so likeable. At least in her opinion he was. 

"I swear I didn't know, Trin," Petra implored, "or figured anything out!" she quickly added.

The desperation in Petra's voice was telling enough. It wasn't an act. This wasn't a plan. Of course her friend was telling the truth. Petra had no reason to hurt her. Trinity's shoulders relaxed. Plus, Petra wasn't hard to read. The clown hair also helped make her look less of a manipulator and more like...well...a clown.

"I believe you," Trinity whispered with a soft smile, feeling foolish for her ill thoughts toward her friend. She diverted her attention back to Gio who slowly stood.

Right before she ran out on Dante, and Gio, she remembered Gio as having been on a roller coaster with his weight after gaining a few happy pounds, despite his fitness journey. The happy weight only came because he had gained her as a friend along with his new girlfriend, Sarah. This Gio approaching her was just as different as Dante. He slimmed down and seemed to appear almost as muscular as his uncle. There was another thing different about Gio. His eyes seemed harder. Was that right? Regardless, three years passing only managed to enhance these men. It wasn't fair.

"Trinity, I missed you," Gio breathed, now before her.

"I-I've missed you too," she croaked.

There was no hesitation on Gio's end. No accusation, no quest for explanation. Nor was their any gentility as he crushed her to him.

The hug was enveloping. He surrounded her on all sides it seemed. Cocooned her. Her ear landed at his chest, and she could hear the frantic beat of his heart. Rapid and strong it went. Was hers beating as fast? She was so caught off guard, she didn't know.

Instinctively, her arms wrapped around him. She wanted to cry. His familiar cologne infiltrated her nostrils. Where Dante's cologne was expensive and different from what she remembered, Gio's remained the same. For as wealthy as he was, he always ran to Walmart to buy Drakkar Noir and bragged about it by asking her to sniff him. Perhaps Gio wasn't as different as she believed him to be.

She hiccupped a laugh over the memory, unable to help the tears she allowed herself to spill free. His shirt became wet, and she pulled away from him to brush at the spot.

"I'm sorry," she wept, "I-I can wash it...,"

Gio glanced down. "Are you serious, Trin? I don't give a shit about my shirt. I only care about having my best friend back. I'm so fuckin' happy right now," Gio pulled her back to him and took a deep sniff of Trinity's hair. "Mmm. Smells like...ink," he breathed.