A Gallo Jones Dinner (+ Lucah)

[Calliope Gallo]

Callie was excited that finals were over. It meant she could actually spend time with her brothers again. Eric always had a tendency to dive right into his studies - he had a pretty severe thing about making their dad super proud of him. Future face of the company and all that sorta thing. Niko was busy too - since he got a job, she'd been seeing less and less of him.

She had a job - a job they didn't know about. And a failing English grade to make up for. So unsurprisingly, she'd been just as busy.

Tonight was different. Their parents were coming into town in a few days with Yia Yia flying in from Mykonos too. She was bound to pressure them in one way or another; for her brothers, it was the request to find a decent girl and settle down. To Callie's understanding, neither had made any headway.

But she'd found a decent guy! He wasn't Greek, but that didn't matter... Right?

Unbeknown to her brother's, Callie had invited Lucah to join them. Somehow in her naive little mind it seemed smarter to introduce him on the fly as opposed to giving her brothers a chance to sit down and conjure up ways to scrutinise him. She didn't even think that they might know how to work on the fly, too. But he wasn't there yet, and she wasn't about to tell her brother's until the time was right.

The time being... He'd walk in. She quickly checked her phone under the table. He still wasn't here yet...

"So!" Callie propped up, being as upbeat as ever. Maybe too upbeat; "How're you guys going?"

Jazzed? Of course. Callie was a terribly liar; trying to play this properly was impossible.

[Niko Gallo]

Niko may not have been around nearly as often now that he was working a regular eight-to-five, but he did try and be around his siblings as much as he could. But (especially during finals) Eric was all but impossible to get a hold of and completely un-distractable when he was home. And Callie... lately, she just wasn't coming around on weekends. Sure, she was still a teenager and had friends of her own, but he still wanted to see his baby sister every once in a while.

Eh, but that was fine. Today! Today they all manged to get together for dinner! The middle sibling had rushed over straight from work to get to the restaurant on time, greeted the owner and a few of the staff with a smile and a laugh, then shoved himself into the seat next to his older brother.

"Sorry I'm late, guys." The sheepish grin told it all. "Tried to run here as fast as I could, but... icy streets."

Of course, Callie being so distracted was odd, so when she perked up super brightly and asked what was up... Niko glanced to Eric, as amused as he was skeptical. How were they doing, huh?

[Eric Jones]

Finals were almost over, and while it was a stressful time you wouldn't be able to tell form looking at Eric he was averaging 5 hours sleep a night at best. The Jones-Gallo cheerfulness overrode anything like that, and also the knowledge that if he let on even a little bit that he was exhausted, Yia Yia and their mother would be on his case and fussing faster then he could say "study plan."

Family, right?

Clapping Niko on the shoulder as he sat down beside him, Eric frowned slightly at hearing the excuse. Slip on an icy street and you could break your wrists. But, because it was Niko, not Callie, he held off on the warning. His younger brother had probably done it enough now to know. Eric hadn't had a chance to congratulate him properly on his job either, secretly happy that it would mean, for the interim at least, Niko would settle, and settle near him and Callie.

No words were needed as the brothers took in Callie's perky question. "Right," Eric said slowly, "I think we're doing good, Callie-cat. How're you doing?" His eyebrows had risen slightly as he emphasised the pronoun. She was just so bad at lying. So bad.

[Calliope Gallo]

Callie couldn't help but take in the sight of Niko with bright eyes; he looked so cute when he rushed all the way from work. From what she knew, she was aware that he was really enjoying what he was doing. And selfishly, Calliope was glad to have him around Vermont more often. All the time, even if she didn't see him.

"It's fine, you're here. That's all the matters." She beamed at him. Coming on a little too strong there, Callie.

She glanced cautiously at Eric. He was suspicious already? Wow, what was with these two?

"I'm great." Calliope replied with as much conviction as she could muster. Her smile was wide. Her eyes bright. She was the worst liar and she knew they knew that, but it couldn't hurt to try and keep things civil. Her eyes glanced at the awkward fourth chair at their table before back down to the table. "So hey, uhh-"

She swallowed. "Do you guys mind if someone joins us?"

She certainly hoped they wouldn't, because as she checked her phone she realised he was almost here.

[Niko Gallo]

Despite the fact that wandering around was definitely in his boots, having his family around again was really important to the middle of the three young adults at the table. He wasn't as tied to sticking around as Callie and Eric were, but he still liked the option of seeing his sibs without having to schedule around time zones and wifi spots. So he grinned, shifted out of his coat, and settled in with ease.

If they were suspicious, it was because their sister was acting suspicious. Callie was a notoriously bad liar (a great thing, really, honestly), and whenever she tried to cover things up it just made her look and sound guilty.

And then the question dropped. Looking in surprise between his older brother and younger sister, Niko hammed just a little. "Is there another sibling of ours running around I didn't know about?" he asked. "Or... don't tell me Mom's in town. I haven't checked if this place has a basement yet."

Of course he was joking. Sort of. The older members of their family had this habit of asking him when he was going to settle down with a nice girl, which gave him the habit of disappearing down a floor from where he stood before the question was even completely out of their mouths. But in all seriousness, the brunette was interested in who Callie's mystery guest was. As much as any protective brother should be, of course.

[Eric Jones]

Eric was doing his best to keep his face straight; Callie was just so bad at this, she always had been. They'd had to make sure she was never left alone with their parents when they were under suspicion because it took her seconds, just seconds to crack. And it was true this time as well.

She wanted to bring someone to dinner?

Callie wanted them to meet someone?

He grinned at Niko's teasing, but was still looking at Callie. Neither he nor Niko brought women home to meet the family, and Callie was always nervous about her brothers meeting anyone which, honestly, was fair as they both had different ideas about what was right for Callie and, as far as Eric was concerned, they knew a hell of a lot better.

"Of course it's fine, Callie-cat," he said soothingly, reaching over to pat her hand. "What're you worried about?"

But then he sat back and folded his hands on the table. "Ok," he said, "first important question. Are they a she or a he, and is that she or he a wiccan."

Some things he was never going to get her live down.

[Calliope Gallo]

Callie found it as something of an accomplishment to see a surprise look from her brother Niko. Of course she fell for it - how could she not? She was Callie. She didn't even look to catch Eric's grin.

"No, it's-" She began, but her voice trailed off. Having their mother show up in town at a time like this was the worst thing she could think of.

Well, almost. It'd be worse if her brothers hated her boyfriend. Especially given the last time Callie really spoke about Lucah with Niko.

"I'm not worried." She replied, her eyebrows furrowing as she feigned an amused smile and a laugh which really just sounded more nervous than anything else. How'd he knew she was so worried? Alright, that was a stupid question. But she rolled her eyes at Eric anyway. "It's a he and no... Or at least, I don't think so." She hadn't even bothered to ask about his religion. Was that a thing?

She was Greek orthodox. Of course it was a thing.

Her eyes glanced up at the door when the familiar face of her new found boyfriend finally graced the room. "He's my boyfriend, okay?" She dropped the notion (read: obvious fact) at a whisper before looking up again and waving him over. At least the chair was beside her. And Niko. Being next to Niko was the lesser of two evils, she figured.

But that simply meant Eric got to stare at him from across the table. She didn't think this through.

She offered her boyfriend a wave with her hand, a little worried that anything else might warrant an unnecessary comment. "Lucah, these are my brothers. Niko and Eric." She gestured to each at their name, giving them a thoughtful glance before looking back to Lucah. At least she'd told him what he was in for. Just... Not that her brother's didn't know. "This is Lucah."

[Lucah Ivaskov]

As an older brother, Lucah was full aware of the mentality one would have when meeting a boyfriend of the little sister's. Especially when that little sister and said boyfriend had been dating for a while and just now made it official, even though the boyfriend had kind of nagged at her a lot until she finally caved. Or at least, that's what it seemed like in Lucah's mind because, well, it seemed like that's what everyone thought. But that's beside the point.

Lucah was finally meeting the not one, but two older brothers of his girlfriend and to say the least, he was nervous. He knew that as soon as Jezebel started dating, he'd probably be the world's most embarrassing over-protective brother in the world. And he liked it that way. If it was a guy, then Lucah would have no problem intimidating him. If it was a girl...she wouldn't have to worry about Lucah, it was their father that would have a fit. Being over-protective had always been Luc's forte. Without their mother, he felt it necessary to protect his sister even more.

So Lucah knew, fairly well, the potential dangers of meeting the older siblings. But he was doing his best to keep in high spirits. He was dating Callie. She was his girlfriend and he did care about her a lot. It wasn't one of those instances when he was just getting with a girl to get with her. Maybe if they saw that, they'd give him a sporting chance. Even if he knew he wouldn't in the case of his own sister.

Punctuality had always been something Lucah had been good at. In fact, he always ended up being early. Today though, he settled for just on time because he didn't want to seem like a kiss ass right off the bat. So he strolled in with the feeling of being ready, but as soon as he saw the two older men, the nerves kicked in. He couldn't help but wonder what would happen if they didn't like him. Callie waved and he offered her a genuine, rare to others, Lucah smile before turning his attention to the men she was introducing.

As they were introduced, Lucah, polite as ever, offered his hand to shake and greeted them with a nod, "It's very nice to meet both of you." He pulled back then and took the seat beside his girlfriend. "I really appreciate you two allowing me to join you," God did he sound as nervous as he felt? Lucah Ivaskov had never been nervous like this. What was this beautiful blonde doing to him? He looked over at her and found himself smiling like an idiot before taking a deep breath and preparing himself for an interrogation of sorts.