Hidden Gem Short Story Collection (9781301405985) (30 page)

“My girlfriend?” Piersanti raised his dark
brows. His eyes crinkled into a smile. “She’s the reason I will not
leave this country in tears. My heart is in America but when I
think of seeing her, I’m happy to go home.”

“What if you got to the NBA? Would she
follow you?”

“Oh, she will! I want to play for Los
Angeles. Lakers or Clippers, I don’t care. I will play for Warriors
or Kings too, if I must. I want California.”

“What, no love for New York?”

Piersanti shrugged. “But I am originally
from Sicily. I like the sun. My girlfriend too. We are accustom to
good weather.”

Gavin nodded. “How’d you meet her?”

“My girlfriend? I, ah…” Piersanti rubbed his
chin while wincing and making a goofy face. He shook his head. “It
will sound strange to you.”

Gavin felt himself laughing already. “I’m
sure it will, but let’s hear it.”

“I… at a restaurant in Ozieri. It is close
to Sassari, where I play basketball. She is with her friends, I am
with my teammates. My teammates, they ask the waiter, ‘Can you tell
the girl there to be quieter? She is too loud.’ The waiter says
‘yes’ and he goes to her table. He comes back and he is holding a
very good bottle of wine. He says, ‘The girl would like to buy you
a bottle of wine because you are not loud enough.’” Piersanti
grinned, the memory visibly sparkling in his eye. “I say to the
waiter, ‘Then I would like to buy her champagne. Please pick the
best bottle you have.’ The waiter picks a bottle but he returns to
our table. ’The girl has enough wine and champagne. She would like
you to buy her your favorite dish on the menu. But sir, I am very
sorry, our kitchen has closed and our chef has gone home. We have
packed away everything but in the basement, we have
casu
marzu
.’”

“What’s
casu marzu
?”

“It is an illegal cheese in Sardinia.”

Gavin burst out laughing so hard that
Piersanti laughed too. “What the hell? What kind of toxic-ass
cheese is this?”

“It is a cheese with live maggots.”

“Oh shit.” Gavin’s face fell, his amusement
replaced with a horror that Piersanti laughed at as well.

“Garrett, I am born in Italy, raised in
Italy. I love three things: basketball, my mother, and food. But I
have never eaten
casu marzu
. I don’t know anybody who eats
casu marzu
.” He shook his head, grim for a second as if
imagining the bug-infested dairy. Slowly, however, a smile touched
the corners of his lips. “But this girl at the restaurant? My
teammates, they think it’s funny to send her the
casu marzu
.
I tell the waiter, ‘No, she is not from Sardinia. The
casu
marzu
will disgust her. Please do not put the cheese on her
table.’”

Gavin was riveted. “But they did it
anyway?”

Piersanti nodded. “My teammates say to her
it is my favorite dish, she must eat it. And the girl, her friends
are screaming but she is laughing. She drinks her wine and she
says, ‘
Chi non risica, non rosica! Mangia e statti
zito!
’”

“What’s that mean?”

“He who risks nothing gains nothing! Now
shut up and eat!”

Gavin felt a wide and real smile spread his
lips. “That’s awesome. And she ate it?”

Piersanti covered his mouth and squeezed his
eyes shut for a second, appearing to be reliving trauma. Gavin
burst out laughing. “Yes. She ate the cheese. And what happened on
her second bite?” Piersanti drew a high arch in the air with his
finger. “The maggot jump off her bread.”

“Oh Christ, I would’ve shit myself.”

“I shit myself.”

Gavin howled. “What?”

“I mean I was close. I felt I was.”

Gavin couldn’t contain his laughter. It
actually tingled and hurt in his cheeks. He hadn’t laughed so hard
in awhile. “So that made you fall in love with her.”

“She ate this terrible cheese for me. Would
it not make you fall in love with her?”

He considered it. “I think I’m already in
love with her.”

Piersanti beamed. “Exactly. This girl was so
brave, so funny, so beautiful. I said to her, ‘Please let me take
you to dinner, but understand if I do not kiss you on the first
date. I just watched you eat the
casu marzu
.’” He shrugged,
pressing his lips into a tight-lipped smile. “Eh. But then I kiss
her that night.”

Gavin wiped a surprise tear from the corner
of his eye as he came down from his fit of laughter. “Awesome. So
by the transitive property, you ate maggot cheese that night
too.”

“Yes! She use this same expression!”

Gavin laughed. “Nice.” He shook his head.
“Goddamn. Sounds like a dream girl.”

~

Groggily wiping at his face, Gavin wasn’t
sure if it was the bright light or Peyton’s sharp voice that made
him wince.

“What in the hell are you doing out here,
Hunter?”

He opened his eyes, squinting into the sun
until Peyton’s body moved in front of it. Her lip curling, she
ripped away the blanket that Gavin had managed to carry out with
him in the night.

“Do you care to finally talk to me and tell
me what the fuck you think you’re doing to me here? Like it wasn’t
enough that you left me at dinner alone last night with your fat
intern and fucking
Elliot Smiley
? Why did you even take me
home if you weren’t interested?”

Gavin rubbed his eye as he recalled Peyton
having waited for him outside of the front door of Lilac, catching
him upon his exit from the restaurant. She’d climbed into his cab
and he hadn’t said anything in protest. His mind had been too
occupied. And it wasn’t as if she didn’t look good.

“Jesus Christ, are you seriously going to
ignore me right now?”

Gavin ran a hand over his face, finally
focusing his eyes on Peyton, her hair a mess as she stood before
him in one of his Beauford Athletics T-shirts. He grimaced.
“What?”

“Did you hear a word of what I just
said?”

“I’m sorry, I was thinking.”

“About
what
?” Peyton fumed. “Nicolo
fucking Piersanti?”

Gavin squinted at her. “Actually, yeah.”

She stared. “Oh. My. God.” Chucking the
blanket back onto his body, Peyton grabbed a handful of her already
messy blonde hair, her long legs storming back into the apartment.
Gavin’s lips parted to form some sort of apology but all that came
out was a strange sigh. Frowning, he blinked straight ahead at the
view of blue sky and Midtown high rises.

When he returned to his bedroom, he found
Peyton tearing through his closet. “I’m not doing the walk of shame
in my dress, asshole,” she explained through gritted teeth. “I
won’t.”

Gavin knit his brows together as he rubbed
his temple. “That’s fine, I don’t want you to,” he murmured,
opening his drawers and looking for the thin, soft sweaters that
his ex-girlfriend had loved and borrowed so often that he’d
considered them hers. Lifting some old T-shirts, Gavin located the
pile. But as his fingers touched each sweater for the first time
since they’d brushed her skin, he decided suddenly that he didn’t
want Peyton wearing even one of them.

But as it turned out, she did just fine
making herself an outfit of his other pieces of clothing.
Impressed, Gavin checked out the way her lithe body pulled off his
jeans, letting them hang slightly below her hip bones with the
bottoms cuffed messily above her thin ankles. He wanted to tell her
that she had on his favorite Beauford Athletics shirt — the one
he’d worn in so perfectly — but he decided against it. She was
upset enough as it was. Plus, she’d knotted it to look stylish
enough for even him to notice. He figured she somewhat deserved it
at this point.

“I’m leaving now,” Peyton grumbled, marching
out of his room with her nude bandage dress in her hands. Gavin was
still for a second but then he followed.

“Peyton.”

Spinning on one stiletto heel, she dug the
other into the ground. “What?”

“I’m sorry about stringing you along
yesterday. Or doing anything that hurt you. I didn’t mean to.” He
swallowed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I broke up with you last
year because I was in a bad place where I was thinking about my ex
and I didn’t want you to deal with me when I couldn’t give you the
attention you deserved. You deserve that attention, trust me, and
you’d get it from anyone else who was in his right mind, but I’m
not. If I wasn’t ready for a new relationship last year, I’m even
less ready now.” Gavin chewed his lip for a moment. “I shouldn’t
have brought you home last night. I’m sorry if I misled you in any
way.”

Crossing her arms, Peyton stared hard at the
floor in front of him, her jaw tightening and un-tightening.
“Fine.” She kept her eyes on the floor, quiet for a moment. “Who is
she, anyway.”

“A girl.” He paused. “Not Nicolo
Piersanti.”

Still annoyed, Peyton fought the smile
tugging at her lips. “What the fuck is up with you two,
anyway?”

Gavin grinned. “He makes me laugh.”

“God, shut up. You’re so stupid.”

“He reminds me of the good days.”

Peyton rolled her eyes, though she actually
let herself breathe a little laugh. She was silent for another few
seconds. “So, what, are you trying to get back together with your
girl?”

Gavin shook his head. “Not anymore.”

“Then why waste time being hung up over
her?”

Gavin shifted his weight, feeling suddenly
as naked as he was. “I mean. I don’t want to be.”

“But you can’t stop thinking about her.”

Gavin shrugged his answer, frowning.

Peyton uncrossed her arms, hooking her
thumbs into the pockets of his jeans. She nodded, kicking her leg
out to spin herself back around to face the door. “Yeah. Just get
her back, Gavin,” she said, making her way out of the apartment.
“You obviously want to.”

“I can’t. She moved in with someone in
December.”

“God, she told you?”

“My sister slipped. They’re still best
friends.”

Peyton paused as she opened his front door.
She squinted, twisting her body to peer at Gavin. “Oh, them,” she
whispered with realization. “Christ,” she laughed. “I forgot you
were tied to that world. All that… Hollywood shit.”

“Yup.”

“Don’t just ‘yup’ though, go after her,
dumbass. Fly to L.A or wherever she is. Everyone deserves to be
happy.” Peyton cringed jokingly. “Even you.”

“Har.” Gavin cracked a small smile.

“Seriously, Hunter. Pretty sure I haven’t
seen you actually happy since knowing you. I swear to God, the
happiest I saw you was when Nicolo Piersanti showed up to dinner
last night, which I know is probably crazy, but I saw it.” She
laughed, shaking her head at herself. “Anyway. Really. Find her. Be
happy together. Life’s short, yada yada.”

Gavin managed a laugh. “I think she’s pretty
happy where she is.”

“You sure about that?”

“Yeah. I’m sure.”

Peyton pressed her lips together, offering
him a bit of a sad shrug. “I’m sorry then.” She sighed. “Guess you
can’t beat the L.A sun.”

Gavin simply stood for a moment, scratching
the back of his head before taking a glance at the clock. “Yeah.
Anyway. I gotta get dressed.”

Peyton cooed. “What, did we max out your man
quota of talking about feelings?”

Gavin shook his head at her, giving a grin.
“Get out of here, okay?”

She smirked. “Gladly. Asshole.”

Flinging the door open, Peyton showed
herself out.

~

“Oz. Damn it, kid. Just let me get to my
office first.”

Gavin laughed, speeding his walk up as he
noticed Osborne from across the room, weaving clumsily through the
cubicles to reach him.

“I did what you asked me to, Gavin. I always
do what you ask me to. Shouldn’t I get to ask you some questions
sometimes?” Osborne demanded.

Gavin looked at him, at his heaving chest
and his ruddy cheeks. He sighed. “Yeah. Alright.” He nodded into
his office, watching Osborne stumble in before him, sliding into
one of the seats across from his big leather desk chair.

“Here. Aiden’s watching it right now but I
made you an extra copy. Twenty-four minutes of Piersanti’s
highlights, defensive sequences only.” Osborne slid a DVD across
the desk once Gavin was seated. “He is fast, I’ll give you that.
Super fast for six-foot-eight. He rebounds, he does get good blocks
with those… fuckin’
big-ass
hands and he gets some really
good steals, too. And yes, he alters the opponent’s shot with his
defense and gets shit done that doesn’t show up in the box score.”
Osborne shook his head. “But he’s a complete offensive liability.
He can’t make a basket. And he never even played in Euroleague. I
don’t see him piquing the interest of any NBA teams, let alone the
Clippers, Warriors or Lakers. The Kings,
maybe
. Just
maybe.”

Gavin took the DVD. “Oz. All I asked was for
you to edit the footage. It’s not your business if I want to waste
my time making a case for Piersanti’s representation.”

“Gavin. Aiden Klein makes me shit my pants
and you just made me force Piersanti’s crappy highlights on him
first thing in the morning because you were too hung over to get
over here early. I’m a fucking intern. I could put milk in his
coffee instead of soy and get fired.”

“Dude, Aiden’s cool if you don’t act like
you’re about to shit your pants around him all the time. No one
likes a pants shitter.”

“Gavin, can you take me seriously for
once?”

“Fine.”

“Okay.” Osborne let go of a breath. He
frowned. “So. I wanna know why you lied to Piersanti. About your
name and about being an agent. I didn’t tell Smiley or anyone
‘cause I thought you were just taking the guy out for shits and
giggles since he’s like, a pretty boy and kind of goofy and it’d be
funny to laugh at him for one night. But now you’re actually trying
to pull like, a favor for him or something and I’m just wondering
what’s going on here because I feel like an accomplice right
now.”