Wild Horses

A Slice of Van Life

Hi everyone! Sorry for the wait.

"Shotgun!" Mista called dibs on the front seat as he and Narancia walked out of the gas station with bags of chips and cans of Red Bull in their arms.

"You know I'm already sitting there," Fugo furrowed his brows as he hung the gas pump nozzle back up.

"We've been on the road for hours," Mista shot back. "Learn to share!"

Fugo began fuming, but Narancia put a hand on his shoulder and held him back from approaching Mista. "Sit in the back with me," Narancia murmured with a wink. Fugo huffed before smirking and replying, "Ok." Narancia had been so sweet on their gondola ride last night; for once it felt like the mafia world had melted away, and they just enjoyed the sea breeze air of Venezia together.

"I'll take over the wheel," Abbacchio said, "You just relax and take it easy now, Bucciarati."

Bruno gladly obliged and dropped the keys into Abbacchio's open palm with "thanks." He took a bite of the slice of gas station pizza he had just got for lunch. The gang took their places in the car. It was around 2pm, and they were only half way back to Napoli. Lira munched on gas station salad as the van started back on the road. She studied the stems of the lettuce that had started to darken before finally putting a plastic forkful in her mouth.

"Amore, is your lunch alright?" Bucciarati asked. He saw the look of disappointment on her face and put an arm around her. "You're studying it like it committed a crime," he joked.

"It's... innocent," she replied, instantly becoming paranoid that Bucciarati would sense something was off. "We ate a lot of good food in Venezia, so now I'm just too spoiled for gas station food!" she forced a joke and smile. Bucciarati quirked an eyebrow. What a terrible liar, he thought, but decided to let it go. Lira and Abbacchio both have a strange cloud hanging over them today. Bucciarati hugged Lira into his side.

Lira was exhausted. Memories of her childhood home and the image of her father had been swirling around in her mind all morning. It was an empty feeling. She knew Abbacchio had meant well. Hell, she even went along with his plan out of sheer curiosity. But when she finally saw the man who had been her father, she felt nothing special. No connection. It was just some guy she had never seen, and she would never see it again. Is that how she was supposed to feel? He was just a stranger.

The sound of static and random words played in the car as Mista flipped through radio stations.

"Pick something already," Fugo groaned from the back.

"I bet he's looking for that Cher song he likes," Narancia giggled. "How's it go? 'Do you believe in love after love!' dun nun nun nun!"

"It's 'life after love,'" Bucciarati corrected him gently.

I need love, love, to ease my mind
I need to find, find someone to call mine,

"Oh man, I love this one!" Mista shouted with excitement as he found a radio station playing The Supremes. Mista started snapping his finger to the beat.

You can't hurry love,
no, you just have to wait
she said love don't come easy
it's a game of give and take

Abbacchio scoffed as Mista started singing when the chorus began again. A song about a girl listening to her mother just made him think of Lira and her mom. He wanted to push the thoughts out, it hurt too much to think about. It made him feel crazy, like somehow it was his fault that everything had happened the way it did. It was survivor's guilt, he knew. But putting a name on his mental processes didn't make them any better.

Mista sang along:
You can't hurry love!
No, you just have to wait
She said love don't come easy
It's a game of give and take
How long must I wait?
How much more can I take?
Before loneliness will 'cause my heart, heart to break

Mista put his soul into singing the next lines:

No, I can't bear to live my life alone
I grow impatient for a love to call my own
But when I feel that I, I can't go on
These precious words keeps me hanging on
I remember mama said

Abbacchio, who couldn't stand it anymore, shoved a CD into the console. It was classical music.

"Hey! What gives!" Mista shouted and reached for the eject button. Abbacchio slapped his hand away.

"I'm driving. I get to pick the music," Abbacchio grunted. His first option, which he was proud for not taking, was to punch the radio and break it. It wasn't even that he hated The Supremes. He had even kind of liked that song at some point in his life. But hearing it now, today, in this car, just rubbed him the wrong way. Fucking survivor's guilt, he thought. Ever since my partner... his thoughts trailed off. He couldn't let his mind go there.

"Abbacchio's got a point, he gets to pick," Bucciarati sided with the ex-cop. "However, I will say there's someone else here who also likes to sing in cars," he said as he turned to Lira with a devilish grin. "What was that song you liked? Booty Call?"