Jag Älskar Dig (I Love You)

The next morning, Giana was released from the hospital. The first thing she did was not to try to get a peek at this Nathan MacKinnon kid but was to take a nap in a real bed and then take sort of shower. "How do you feel?" Emma asked once she managed to get clean.

"Better, “she said and sniffed her dirty blond colored hair. "I don't smell like the hospital. Or mud, or smoke."
"That's good!" Emma beamed. "Just borrow some clothes. We'll go shopping after my apartment designing thing's done with my client. Plus I'm sure the girls will wanna go shopping when they come this weekend and your brother's sending your storage things."
Wandering into Emma's room, she picked apart some clothes and called. "Hey! Or I can take back my sweater and my jeans that you conveniently forgot to give back to me!"

Emma giggled an oops as Giana changed but got stuck with her sweater. "Could you help me with my shirt?"
Promptly Emma came in and gently eased her sweater over her right side. "Sorry its a sweater too by the way and not a t-shirt," she laughed. "How warm was it in the Philippines?"
"Eighty’s," Giana sighed. "And sunny. I mean, I guess the mountains and snow are pretty. As long as it doesn't get bone chilling cold like Minnesota does."
Having had to walk to classes in Minnesota weather, Emma made a face. "One of the few reasons I regretted going to U of M instead of University of Denver."

Emma was a Colorado girl through and through so this made Giana laugh. In fact, she started laughing pretty hard enough that she started coughing. Retrieving her inhaler, Emma thrust it in her hand. "Take your medicine jerkface."
"Shut up," she retorted back but took a few puffs that made her lungs stop hurting. Now better, she finished getting ready and wandered into the main room to put on boots.

"By the way..."
Giana looked up from putting on her boots and wrinkled her nose. "What?"
Emma touched her phone. "Adam called." Giana did her best not to stiffen at the mention of her ex on again-off again boyfriend from college. "Do not. I repeat. Do not call him back. Or else."
She blew out. "Geez. I know. Don't want a college repeat to happen again."
Driving her point home, Emma nodded. "Right. When he constantly called you a dumb cheerleader when you graduated two years early. Or when he gave you shit about coming to college as an undeclared major. Or when he bitched about you liking mainstream music artists instead of supporting the local independent artists. Or when he constantly said you were a good doormat...."

"Yup! Got it! Ex is an ass!" Giana threw her hands up. "I'm walking to the DMV. Go decorate someone's place!" She toyed with teasing her about Nathan but decided she had already risked her life enough this week.
"You sure you don't need a ride?" Emma asked incredulously. "It's a bit of a walk. Plus with your lungs right now..."
Waving her hand, Gianna picked up her social security card and debit card that her brother had sent through priority mail to stuff it in the old wallet she was borrowing from Emma. "I've walked worse back in the Philippines, and if I get sore I'll rest and take inhaler puffs," she said honestly. "Talk to you later."

Upon waiting for the elevator, she couldn't help but sneak a peek at Emma's hockey player. "Nathan MacKinnon..." she murmured and nodded when she saw the guy was from Canada. "Not surprised at all." As the door slid open, she erased the Google page she was on and smiled a hello at the taller blond guy already in the elevator. "How’s it going?" He asked. "First floor?"

Almost replying in Tagalog, she swallowed and instead said, "Yes please." He flashed her a you're too damn cute sort of smile. It had been quite awhile since she even attempted flirting so she said nothing and downloaded some American songs she had missed out on while being in the Philippines.
When the door to the outside slid open, she remembered sadly that it wasn't gorgeous and sunny Philippines so she successfully got her coat on her left side. Her right slide, like his morning was a huge problem.

"Here."
Giana was relieved when the taller elevator guy helped her with the right side of her jacket. "Thanks. Sorry," she said sheepishly.
He grinned a grin that made her heart flop. The guy had a killer combo of great blond hair, gorgeous blue eyes and a perfect smile. "Trust me. I've had injuries. I've been there."
"Ah," she replied and zipped up her coat. "Thanks again." Giana left the building with him going somewhere else. Noticing a cute little coffee shop down the street, she decided it had been ages since she had any sort of American coffee shop treat.

After pondering over the menu, she was torn between a fall drink she hadn't had in forever or a fruit smoothie. Noting the girl ahead of her ordered a smoothie, Giana went up to her and cleared her throat. "Hi, pardon me. You ordered the mango orange smoothie?" Giana asked the pretty blond girl ahead of her.
The blond girl blinked and gave her a polite smile. "Uh yes? I like it. Good after working out."
"It sounds nice but I'm more worried if me living in the Philippines made me a mango snob," Giana replied.
This made the girl laugh. "Should I let you try a bit when its done? I mean, I really do like it. But then again you probably had much better exotic fruit in the Philippines."

Scowling, Giana looked up at the menu. "You know what? I think I deserve a pumpkin spice latte. God knows when I had one last." She handed her cash over.
"And what's your name?" The cashier asked.

"Giana," she replied and went over to the pick up side where the mango smoothie girl was smiling. "What?" She asked, laughing.
"Giana is...Italian?" The girl guessed. "I'm Haley by the way."
Thinking for a moment, she said, "Si, ah....Italiano? I think that's right? Dad's Italian but I can't speak it for the life of me. Other than that I'm Welsh and German on my mom's side."

"So, anyways...what'd you do in the Philippines?" Haley asked curiously.
"Taught English," Giana replied. "Though the school just got wiped out so I'm here...for now. Maybe I'll go back if the school rebuilds."
"Wiped out like...closed?" Haley asked in confusion.
"Uh, I'm still not sure exactly how it got destroyed. The earthquakes, landslide. Who knows if one of those pyroclastic flows went off like those geologists were saying," Giana replied wearily.
Haley's jaw dropped and she was rendered speechless. "Holy shit!"
Giana nodded sadly. "I hope at least there aren't any aftershocks."

"Jee-sus!" Haley breathed. "Is that like, a freak sort of thing?"
Letting out a low laugh, Giana said, "Not at all. Its a really active area, when it comes to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Just like in the 90's Mount Pinatubo blew up and killed a lot of people."
"Everyone's alright though, right?" Haley asked. "Like from your school?"
Nodding, she said, "Yeah. I guess I haven't heard of any casualties yet but my town got away safe. Guess Pinatubo was too familiar for them to get lazy over evacuations. But, anyways. Got some burns and my lungs need healing up from smoke damage."

"No kidding," Haley agreed. "So what do you think you'll do until the school rebuilds. WAIT!" Giana started laughing at her sudden outburst. "I saw something earlier this month! Some event! The Pepsi Center's not far away, wanna walk a few blocks? Will you be okay walking?"
Admitting very guiltily, Giana said, "Yeah, walking's easy. Especially when I had to walk off all the too good food I ate when I was in the Philippines." As Haley giggled, she pulled out her inhaler. "We'll just go a bit slower. Worse comes to worse I'll take a puff."
Once they got their drinks, they took sips of each others. "This is why I love fall," Haley sighed. "Though, what's the official opinion?"
Taking another small sip, she said, "It's not bad, but its not from the Philippines..." Haley laughed at her answer as they continued to chat and sip their drinks. Halfway there, Giana's pocket buzzed so she peeked at the number. She made a small face at the familiar number of her ex boyfriend Adam. "Kinda sad that it takes a few earthquakes and a volcanic eruption for an ex boyfriend to call."

"Don't answer," Haley promptly replied. "Asshole's probably all up on getting back with a natural disaster victim for attention."
"Sadly that's accurate," Giana agreed and pushed ignore.
Suddenly Haley's face lit up. "I know plenty of single guys through my fiancé."
Laughing, Giana said, "Hold up. I just got here. Chill out girl!"
"Just say the word and I'll hook you up," Haley beamed.
"Alright," Giana grinned. "You'll be the first to know." As they walked a little more, Giana couldn't help but shoot a glare at the mountains in the background. Better not blow up. Or else, she thought murderously. Now she found herself in front of a sports arena building. "What's here?"
"Oh, my boyfriend," Haley said casually.
Boyfriend? Giana pondered. This boyfriend must be some sort of athlete. Maybe basketball because this obviously wasn't a football field.

Finally they got there and Haley grabbed a bewildered friend of hers and placed her in front of Giana.
"Ashley, this is Giana. She's in town for awhile so she's finding an anthropology job," Haley said.
Ashley made a confused face as Giana asked, "How exactly does this girl and anthropology go together?"
"SHUT UP!" Haley playfully swatted Giana as Ashley grinned at her. "I just saw a pamphlet from an event held recently. It's perfect for you! Be right back! And Ash make sure she doesn't pass out! She's hurt right now." She called back

Curiously, Ashley started asking questions. "Anthropology? So...do you dig up artifacts?"
"You can," Giana nodded. "Archeology's a part of anthropology. Essentially its the study of humans past and present. Though I haven't exactly used it. I had been teaching English in the Philippines before I moved here for a bit."
"Wow, you got to travel? Ugh I bet it was gorgeous there," Ashley moaned enviously. "So. Will you do archeology now?"

Laughing, she said, "Probably not. I'm more leaning in human rights. If I were in Minnesota I'd probably do something with the fact that we're known for having Hispanic, Hmong and Somalian immigrants. Plus in school I did my papers on the Rwandan and Bosnian genocide which actually makes archeology stuff sound nice at a lot of points during college."
"Ugh. No wonder you went on to teach cute little kids," Ashley replied.
Laughing, she agreed. "Right. Some could be naughty. Like the boys in my class. Eli, Bhenly, JP, Nelvin, Juriz, Mykeey...Hold on, my phone has pictures."
Ashley cried in delight at all the goofy pictures of her classroom kids. "How did you not die teaching them? They're so cute!"
"Cute but they could cause trouble," Giana replied. "Though bribing them with teaching them American outside games or I did my cheerleading gymnastic stunts for them."
She started to giggle but then made a face of utter disgust. "Oh God. Watch out. It bites."

"What is it?" Giana asked in surprise and found a blond girl right up in her face. The girl Ashley seemed to despise definitely could pass as a model, but that could mean she was really nasty.
The girl said something in an angry tone to her which Giana shrugged at. Switching to English, the girl asked, "What? You aren't Swedish?"
"Not at all," Giana replied, bewildered. "Why does it matter?"
Smirking the girl continued on. "No job I'm sure. Girls like you don't go to college or have a job."
This one irked her. "No. I just studied genocide when I graduated college in just two years," Giana said coolly. "Oops. Guess I'm not a dumb cheerleader."
"Very defensive," the girl declared happily.
"Very irked," Giana snapped back. "You try reading through all that Hutu Power crap or what the Impuzamugambi and Interahamwe militias did to the Rwandan people. You'd be touchy too."
Hannah shrugged. "Oh well, I'm sorry," she said lightly.
Giana couldn't help but scoff. "No you're not. Your brain probably can't get past Ellen, TMZ, Kardashians or whatever craps in the tabloids nowadays."

Suddenly Hannah brushed past Giana to coo to someone. "I know you were mad before," she purred in a honey sweet voice. "But-,"
"No," a slightly familiar voice barked. "I told you I'm fucking done."
Hannah said something in what Giana guessed was Swedish and the guy snapped something back. "You'll miss me soon enough," Hannah snapped for everyone to hear and stormed off in a huff.
Glaring past Giana, Ashley sighed. "Goddamn. Took you long enough." Giana turned and realized she knew the guy that rejected Hannah.

"I-Hey! Elevator girl! How's it going?" The blond elevator guy from earlier asked. Giana blinked and shrugged. "I saw you earlier in MacKinnon's apartment building."
Giana nodded once. "Oh. Right. Thanks again for helping with my coat."
Gabe grinned and staggered back. "What?" He gasped jokingly. "You don't remember me?"
Haley stepped to help her. "Give her a break Gabe. She's a little fragile right now."
"I know she hurt her arm," Gabe replied. "Needed help with her coat."

Loudly, Giana interrupted the pair. "Hey, you find that pamphlet? I just need to get going to the DMV."
"Oh. Right," Haley said and pressed something in her hand.
Giana read the title and laughed in delight. "Filipino-American Center? I'll totally apply here!"
"Thought so!" Haley beamed, proud of herself. "Hey I wrote my cell number in there. I'm always looking for a shopping and coffee buddy."
Giana pointed at Ashley. "Us three?" Haley shrugged a sure and Ashley smiled at being included. I'm in. I'll text you back later," Giana replied and left. "Let's hope the DMV isn't swamped," she said aloud, quickly forgetting about Gabe.

Notes