Confessions

13. It won't stop shaking

The Spampinato's started cleaning up the house as they both slowly got back to their senses. Stefania was still very anxious, jumping at every loud sound or movement that she felt. Suddenly, after six hours, she felt her phone buzzing, "Danielle," looking down on her phone she saw 35 missed calls and 21 text messages from the blonde. She felt a lump in her throat, her eyes welling up.

***

6 hours ago

Danielle got confused as Stefania suddenly stopped talking mid-sentence. She noticed the mix of worry and fear on her face, making the blonde worry. Danielle gasped when she saw the Italian fall down, "Stefania!", no response. "STEF!, are you there? What's going on?", but the blonde was met with static silence.

She tried to reach Stefania by calling her multiple times. Her fear and anxiety becoming worse with the number of unanswered calls rising. Her text messages not going through, only seeing one tick instead of two. She couldn't do this alone and opened her contact list to call Barret. After two rings, the call connected.

The blonde did not give her best friend a chance to talk, "Ba- Barr," she tried to get out, "D, calm down. You gotta breath for me, what's going on?" Barret calmly asked. "Stefania," was all she could get out. "Okay, stay right there, I'm coming over. I'm 10 minutes out," she worriedly said, receiving a small "Okay" from her friend before hanging up.

Jeff could sense that her second mommy was not okay. The blonde was sitting on the couch, trying to regulate her breathing. Jeff sat her fluffy butt down on her lap, her front legs pressing on the blonde's chest. The pressure that Danielle felt on her chest from Jeff, helped her to regulate her breathing more. She brought her forehead to Jeff's, "Thank you Jeffie. I'm worried about your mama," she whispered, a tear rolling down her right cheek.

The doorbell rang, Jeff jumped off of Danielle. Both heading their way to the door, Barret instantly opening up her arms for her best friend. The blonde let her tears fall, now fully sobbing, finally letting her emotions out. Barret was confused as to what was going on and brought her to the couch. Jeff instantly sitting on Danielle's lap again to bring her some comfort.

It had now been an hour since contact had been lost with Stefania. Barret let the blonde cry it out, rubbing her back in the process. Once her sobs were just sniffles she said, "D, you gotta tell me what's going on. Did stefania hurt you? What happened?," making the blonde look up. "No, she didn't hurt me, I'm scared that she's hurt," as she continued to explain what happened over their FaceTime call.

"And now she's not been in touch with me for the past six hours. I'm scared, what if she's hurt? What if she's not okay?" her teary eyes looking at her friend who's eyes had worry written over them. "I'm sure she'll be okay. It sounds like an earthquake and she probably doesn't have any cell service. Why don't we switch on the news to see if we can see anything about it?" she sweetly asked.

The blonde felt stupid for not thinking of that herself, "Ugh, why didn't I think of this?" she said rolling her eyes at herself. "Don't be so hard on yourself," Barret said while turning on the tv and switching to the news channel. Both their eyes widened, gasping at the same time.

Clips and images of parts of Italy were shown, buildings crumbled, people crying. It was devastating to see. The news reporter spoke, "The earth quake had a magnitude of 6.4. As of right now, tons people are missing. Help has been send and people are actively looking and helping people who are affected by the quake,"

They both started tearing up, shocked by what they saw on the news. Barret got distracted by her phone and saw that Jaina was calling her. "Hey Jai," she answered, "Barret, have you seen the news? Is Stefania okay? We need to be there for Danielle," she worriedly said, knowing that the earthquake happened in the area Stefania was from.

20 minutes later, Jaina arrived as well, Barret opening the door for her. They both sat on each side of Danielle. She stayed quiet but was appreciative of her best friends, bringing them in for a hug. Her best friends knew that all Danielle needed right now, was some comfort. That's all they really could offer anyways. Jaina switched to Disney+ and clicked on 'The Parent Trap'.

It was not late in the evening for the Americans, only the afternoon for the Italian. The three woman had ordered in some Chinese and continued to watch Disney movies. They both jumped up when they saw Danielle's phone light up with her name. "Go to your bedroom, it's okay," Barret said. Barret and Jaina were relieved that their Italian friend was okay and knew that Danielle needed to have her alone time with Stefania.

The blonde grabbed her phone, quickly gave her friends a smile before sprinting to her bedroom. Picking up, she was overwhelmed with emotions, finally seeing the Italian on her screen. Stefania feeling the exact same way. Tears were flowing down for the both of them. "Stef- Stefania are y- you okay?" she stuttered out while sobbing. "Bambina, I'm so sorry. There was an earthquake and there was no service and I couldn't reach you and I'm so sorry," she felt her breathing starting to get heavier.

Danielle noticed immediately, "Stef, look at me," the Italian was trying to focus her eyes on the American in front of her. "Stefania, hey. Come on angel face, don't leave me again. Come back to me," she softly said, suddenly feeling better now that she was able to be there for Stefania. "There you go," she encouragingly said, noticing Stefania's breathing slowing down and keeping eye contact again.

Danielle felt herself getting shy as the brown eyes pierced through her, "Hi beautiful, there you are," giving her a soft smile. Stefania returned her smile a blush appearing on her face as she said, "Have I ever told you how your eyes always bring me back whenever I get lost?"

The blonde couldn't help but smile which instantly made the brunette smile in response. Both were just enthralled by each other for a bit, happy and relieved that they were both okay and in each other's presence again.

The silence was broken by the American, "Are you okay?" she sincerely asked. "I'm okay, my family's okay. It's just my ankle that's been hurting but I'll be okay," she gave a reassuring smile. Danielle knew better, "I'm glad your family is okay and that you're okay physically besides your ankle but how are you really?" giving a knowing look towards Stefania.

Stefania was trying to stifle a giggle but the attempt only made it worse as she burst out into laughing, Danielle joining her. "I don't know why I'm laughing, it's not funny. You know me too well," to which Danielle responded with a proud smile, "Get used to it angel face,"

A silence fell while Stefania tried to find the words to explain how she felt. "I was so scared Bella.. I've never experienced an earthquake before. Obviously I figured out it was an earthquake but I couldn't comprehend it in my head. I had no clue on what to do but then my papa called me down. We were on the street for hours," her eyes filling with tears, looking up at Danielle.

She gave her a reassuring look, making the brunette feel like she was okay and that the blonde wasn't going anywhere. "I'm so scared. I feel like it's shaking all the time. It won't stop shaking around me. I'm always shaking. I'm scared, bambina," she said looking up into her favorite pair of eyes.

Danielle felt helpless. Being thousands of miles away. "Tell me what I can do for you," she pleaded. Stefania felt small and vulnerable as she was finally laying down in bed. It wasn't even nighttime yet. She wanted to be held by Danielle, the distance not making it possible. "Don't go, please,"

The blonde's heart was feeling heavy. She could sense and see the fear on her person's face. She quickly texted Jaina and Barret that they could sleepover in her guest room. "Don't worry beautiful, I'm not going anywhere. I got you," she said while laying down as they both got lost in each other's eyes.

A/N

Sorry for leaving with a cliffhanger. I wanted to update this yesterday but life's been a bit harsh lately and writing this brought back some anxiety but was therapeutic at the same time.

If any of you struggle with a problem, please know that my dm's are always open <3

Don't forget, you're enough, a thousand times enough <3