Elsa
Rita gives me a mischievous look. I wave her off, fighting back my smile.
“So?” she asks, raising her hands to implore me to talk.
“Have you just sent him away?” she asks in disbelief.
“No, he’s still there. He is waiting for me to get ready,” I respond. She screams quietly.
“Fuck you bitch. The way he looked at you, I knew right away he would be between your legs before the day ended,” she whispers.
“Shut up, Rita!” I scold her but smile thereafter.
“I am telling the truth, no? For someone who was panicking to do the pregnancy test yesterday you look too excited now,” she raises an eyebrow at me. We did a pregnancy test when I arrived. We did one wrong test and I swore I would never have sex again. We tried with three more tests and I turned out not to be pregnant. I thanked God and promised myself never to be reluctant about my birth control. The last thing I want for myself right now is a baby. I am still young and have a bright future ahead of me. Putting in a baby would totally not balance the equation of my life. I have booked an appointment with my doctor tomorrow and Marcello would be crazy to stop me from getting my shot.
“Hey, I don’t have time to charter. I have been given a few minutes to finish up and Marcello has no records of being patient. Come on, help me get dressed,” I beckon her.
She follows me to the bedroom straight to the closet to the bunch of cliches we shopped yesterday.
“Where is he taking you? To his place,” she asks, while she zips up my dress.
“Yes,” I respond.
“What? Already? I thought you said he had given you time to think about it?”
“Yes, he had. He has said he we are going to talk about it later. Besides, we can’t keep going to random hotels. It is not safe for the both of us,” I respond.
“Okay, but don’t settle for what you don’t want. I know you guys will be able to work out what is going to be good enough for the both of you,” she says.
After brushing my hair and applying some mild makeup, I pick up a black handbag and throw in my phone and lipstick. I throw on some black boots and am ready to go. Rita looks at me, her lips in a pout. She looks like a baby whose mom is about to leave behind for work.
“Come on Rita. You can’t look at me like that,” I tell her, feeling equally sad to see her sad. I fold her into an embrace.
“Don’t shut me out of your life, Elsa. You know how much I will miss you. Try to talk to me once in a while, okay?”
“I will. I promise. I will have my phone. I won’t accept to be locked up. I will even come and visit,” I try to assure her.
“Okay.” but she doesn’t sound convinced.
“I have to go now. It’s been over fifteen minutes,” I say, walking to the door.
“Have fun, Elsa. Call me,” she says, from behind.
“I will,” I promise, and then head out.
Marcello is still there, standing casually as if he waits like this on people every other time. I expect him to say something about me taking long but he doesn’t and I also don’t bother apologising.
“You look so stunning. Come let’s go,” he comments his eyes scanning my body wrapped in a tight red dress. He smirks before holding my hand and leading me into the elevator. There are no people in the elevator. He doesn’t say anything the whole time, and we are just there listening to each other’s breathing. What is he thinking about? Me? How he is going to make the most out of the night? Whatever he was doing this evening that had him cut off from the rest of the world for some hours. He doesn’t let go of my hand, however. He leads me into the back seat of a car waiting in front of the building, and he sits beside me. The driver drives off.
I have a bunch of questions for him but his silence communicates that now wouldn’t be a good time. He looks tired, his mind is probably preoccupied with a lot of thoughts. His eyes are cast out of the car window during the drive, I feel so ignored. I play with my figures on my lap and try not to stare at him. He looks so good. He hasn’t shaved his beard and his check has a mop of hair that I would like to run my to gue on, taste his skin. I catch myself looking again. He has no tie on, and his shirt is unbuttoned for the first two buttons, and his chest hair peeps out. I have a very strong urge to jump onto his lap, put my legs astride his, and kiss him. He wouldn’t stop him. He would like that. Maybe. I don’t know. Maybe he wouldn’t. That is why he is not even paying me any attention. Why is he even taking me if he doesn’t want me? That would be because I sent him shitty texts begging him to call me. I just wanted him to call. He could have called.
Fuck him!
I am not desperate for him. I can fucking manage to be around him while he is preoccupied with more important things in his life. Why does he even waste time with me? There is a good number of beautiful willing girls all over Sicily who would readily jump into his bed. Does that make me special?
Of course, dumbass. You are special to him. He always says that.
I don’t know why I would even find a reason to doubt that. I decide to let him be and be patient until he comes around.
I fight the urge to sleep off, by looking out of the window and disrupting myself with the beautiful streets of the city.
We pull into the driveway of the estate. I recognize it immediately even in the darkness. The mansion stands in its glory. Nothing has changed. Of course, nothing has changed. What was I expecting?
The driver rashes out to open the door for Marcello. When he walks around to my side, Marcello stops him. Marcello opens the door and carries me out like I weigh nothing. I gasped, shocked but also excited. He carries me into the house. I am washed over by a wave of memories, good and bad, but mostly the good ones.
“Welcome home, dolcezza,” he whispers into my ear. I grin at him. I feel giddy to be in his arms after the internal whining in the car. He carries me straight to his suite. He opens the door with one hand, using his knee as support. I don’t bother offering to get on my feet because he looks to be handling it properly. Inside the room, I am washed over by a feeling of nostalgia.
He finally puts me down, carefully like I am a delicate vase. His hands are all over my body and into my hair as he kisses me. Having yearned for this feeling, I moan loudly into his mouth.