✓ VIRTUAL AEROBICS; eli moskowitz

30. {swerved kisses}

hawk took the drink from her hand and quickly threw the remains into the sink. before she could protest, he placed the plastic plate in her hands. on it was vegan pigs in a blanket, chicken nuggets and some margarita pizza slices.

"you want me to eat all of this?" gioia scoffed in surprise as she sat down on an empty space on the kitchen counter.

"most of it. i hope." hawk shrugged, "i'll have some with you, if you want."

gioia looked at him, her eyes full of purity. even though she'd been trying to seem like a mean girl, hawk could see right through her facade. he knew how kind-hearted and silly the girl was and silently hoped he would get her back. although he loved the confident and defensive gioia, he couldn't help but miss the old girl.

"you would?" she asked him.

"sure." he nodded, jokingly stuffing his face with a few chicken nuggets.

gioia gagged at how messily the boy ate but smiled regardless. then, hawk moved over to the fridge and grabbed a cold bottle of water.

"here." he handed it to her.

"why are you acting like my caretaker?" gioia asked as she chewed on the warm pizza, "because you care?"

"whatever helps you sleep at night, gb." hawk shrugged, "i just don't want you to throw up all over me."

"sure, sure." gioia nodded, a smirk plastered on her face.

"well, maybe i do slightly care." hawk shrugged. "is it such a bad thing that i care about my friend?"

"friend?" gioia questioned softly, she peeked beside him to see that no one had taken any notice of the two of them. "i'm just your friend?"

hawk's eyes shifted from her cheery blue eyes, which had a hint of green in them, to her rosy lips. gioia noticed this and couldn't help but smirk a little. she watched as the boy leaned in closer to her face, waiting for the moment when he was centimetres away from her lips.

once he was, the girl curved her head to the side and reached for a cup of beer behind him. this left him in contact with her neck instead. hawk pulled away, his face red with embarrassment as she chuckled.

"gioia, over here!" moon called out from the other side of the room.

"i'll talk to you later." gioia told the boy before sliding off the counter. like she hadn't just swerved the boy she liked, gioia began walking over to moon, who was standing with two girls.

"gioia, this is piper, my girlfriend." moon gestured to the girl in the middle, she was gorgeous and had a lovely curly afro.

"your girlfriend?" gioia questioned. it made sense now, why she was so chill about her liking hawk. moon had already moved on.

"yeah."

"nice to meet you." piper elswith gave her a curt nod.

"you too." gioia smiled.

"and this is mickey." moon pointed to the second girl.

mikayla 'mickey' omar had light brown, loose curls and dark brown eyes. smiled at gioia, putting her hand out for her to shake. "you're beautiful."

moon smirked at gioia as she blushed. the blonde girl shook her hand, keeping eye contact. "thank you, so are you."

"thanks." mickey grinned.