GIO:
Technically speaking, Gio knew each step that led him to the car with Florence sitting in his lap. He was pushing 24 hours working on his newest project (without really realizing he was getting close to working 24 hours, he got distracted and lost track of time quickly when he started working) when the group showed up, his grandparents being extremely excited that they would finally get Gio out of “his weird hole” as they liked to call it, Tanner pushed him to his room and complained about his lack of swimsuit choices, and then they were telling him to get into the back and the next thing he knew, Flo was sitting in his lap and despite figuring that he could take a nap during the drive down to the beach (he had no idea how long the drive would take, but even if it was just fifteen minutes, he mastered short power naps by now), he was wide awake and his brain probably short-circuited because he wasn’t really getting anything that the group was talking about, he just kept thinking about how Flo was sitting in his lap and he didn’t know what to do with his hands because touching her felt inappropriate and he was trying not to stare and it was a lot. A lot.
And then Flo was chatting about something and looking directly at him and he could hear her voice, but nothing really registered of what she was saying because as she turned around to talk to him she shifted in his lap which only reminded him all over again that /she was sitting in his lap and she hasn’t had anyone sit in his lap who wasn’t his sister which was probably pretty pathetic if she thought about it, but that didn’t change the facts still. And then Florence was looking at him expectently, which makes sense, because if somebody was talking to you, they expected an answer but how do you even answer somebody if you have no idea what they were saying or if you could even speak in that moment?
Gio ended up just saying, “Huh?”
He cursed inward while Tanner and Logan were snickering next to him. He sounded like a dick. Couldn’t even say a “what?”, no, all he could push out of himself was a huh. Get it together, Giovanni, you managed to make them believe you’re a sort of functioning human until now, don’t fuck it up this time. He blinked rapitly and cleared his throat before saying, “Sorry, what was that? I kind of zoned out for a moment.”
Florence felt like she understood Gio a little better these days, he was quiet and sweet and she didn’t expect him to be rude to her or anyone else on purpose. She probably wouldn’t have been all that embarrassed by Gio’s lack of a response, assuming it was an accident, if it wasn’t for the fact that Tanner and Logan were snickering at her. At least, that’s what she thought made the most sense. She asked a question and instead of listening and answering her, Gio hadn’t even been paying attention so the boys clearly found it hilarious that she couldn’t even get his attention while this close to him.
She felt her cheeks burning a little as she shot Tanner and Logan a glare and nudged them with her foot. “Shut up you two!” Logan raised his hands up defensively and they both did their best to restrain their chuckles so that they didn’t get kicked harder. Florence turned back to look at Gio before quickly glancing down to avoid eye contact now feeling sheepish for having to repeat herself. “It’s nothing. You’ll see how nice the beach is when we get there. It shouldn’t be too much longer, right B?” she leaned forward as she addressed Bernadette, trying to get past her embarrassment.
“Almost there!” Bernadette replied in a sing-song voice, quickly glancing back at everyone in the back seat. Not too much longer they turned a corner and the view of the beach was right in front of them, the clear blue water, the colourful umbrellas in the white sand. Florence grinned as she looked out the window at the view in front of them as Bernadette parked the car. She practically jumped out of the car from excitement once they had stopped, turning to Gio and waving for hurry. “Come on, let’s grab some stuff and find a good spot. We gotta make our claim before someone else does!” she explained, already past her embarrassment from earlier as she moved towards the trunk of the car to grab a bag with everyones towels as well a little cooler with drinks to hand over to Gio for him to carry.










