𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄, damiano david

━━𝟏𝟑.𝐓𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐚 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐚

I was woken up by the sunshine hitting my face. When I opened my eyes, I first thought I was in my own hotel room, but as soon as I heard Sophia's soft breathing next to me, the memory of the previous night came back.

I had the urge to sleep again, to envelop myself once more in the world of dreams where there were no worries.
Back when I had lived in Italy, I had always been very tired and had often slept even when I hadn't done anything strenuous, my therapist in England had later explained to me that this urge was like a protective shield of my body because I had always been panic-stricken when awake and could only switch off when asleep.
Because I didn't want to slip into this behaviour again, I propped myself up in bed with my elbows and looked around the room.

There were many piles of clothes on the floor that I hadn't even noticed last night.
Sophia was sound asleep, probably an after-effect of the alcohol. I didn't want to wake her, so I carefully pulled back the duvet and clambered from the bed to the door.
My shoes were in front of it and I put them on, Sophia had given me a pair of leggings and a shirt of hers yesterday, which I was still wearing now, leaving my own clothes in her room.

It was bright in the hallway, the sun was shining through the window at the end of the corridor and I had to blink to get used to it. I dimly remembered that Sophia had said Vic had my things yesterday, so I walked towards the lift and pressed the button that would call it.
As I did so, I fervently hoped that I wouldn't run into Damiano.

The lift arrived and fortunately it was empty. My shoes squeaked as I entered and I pressed the button for the floor above me. Only a few seconds later I found myself in front of Victoria's door, without thinking about how much she had heard about the fight last night, I knocked on the door.
I heard her voice, "Yes, my God, what do you want now?" she called annoyed and I narrowed my eyes.

Vic swung the door open and her eyes got big, "O, I thought you were someone else," she smiled sheepishly.
"That's alright. I'm actually just here to get my stuff, Sophia said you had it," I said in quick Italian and Vic nodded, "Yeah sure, do you want to come in for a minute?"
"I'd rather not, I have to go to my room first," I said only because I was afraid of what she would talk to me about."Okay, wait a minute," she said and I nodded, she disappeared into the room and I couldn't see her anymore.

A few seconds later Vic came back with my jacket in her hand, "Your things should still be in the pockets," she said with a smile and handed me the jacket.

At that moment I heard a door open behind us. Vic made a face and when I turned around, my eyes fell on none other than Damiano himself.
"Eh," Vic said uncomfortably, and I reached for the jacket, "Thanks Vic," I mumbled in a scratchy voice and cleared my throat.

Damiano's gaze stung my back, "Cora-," he began, but I interrupted him by quickly saying to Vic, "I have to go down now, see you later," then I rushed past her and Damiano.

His hand reached out as if to grab me, but at the last moment he seemed to change his mind.
Although I tried not to look him in the eye, I glanced up at his face for a brief moment and my heart ached. He looked completely exhausted, his hair fell straggly into his forehead and there were dark circles under his eyes, he also looked paler than usual, but maybe I was just imagining it because of the bright light.

Fortunately, the lift was still on the floor so I could get in immediately, I pressed the button for my floor several times and then tried hard not to look at Damiano again when the doors closed.

In my room, the first thing I did was to take my phone out of my jacket, it had only a few percent battery left, but the screen was glowing. It had several missed calls, some from Sophia and Vic, but most from Damiano.