La Serenissima

The White Queen & Her Lost King

"How long have you been working on this one?"

"I'm embarrassed to tell you."

Santo put the paper down. "We need coffee," he waved Austin up. "A lot of coffee."

"I've been through six cups already."

"You might not need it, but I do," Santo tugged Austin along with him despite his protests. "Plus," he continued as they headed down the stairwell, "new scenery might be good."

Austin shrugged at Santo, pulling on his jacket as they made it outside and walked over to the nearest cafe. It was a busy little shop with more music students and tourists than Austin tended to like. On top of that, it was tiny. Whenever he came inside, which was only when he was really needing coffee, he felt he not only had to duck down but he also had to slide and squeeze his way to the counter.

The line moved slow and with every inch towards the register, Austin tapped his hands over and against the counter top. Looks like Santo was right, the scenery helped. The tempo was there and remembering the lyrics in his head, matched up. Austin pulled out the notepad from his back pocket and scribbled all the notes down that he could, taking up several pages. He didn't want to move an inch but the people around him were making him do just that, and he bumped into the person trying to get out of the shop.

"Crap, I am so sorry. Mi dispiace," he started to turn around and help the person and lit up when he actually knew who it was - Gianna.

"Ah, Austin, right? I see your Italian is coming along better."

"I'm working on it. It's good to see you."

Gianna smiled up at him. "You too. What are you doing in this shop? I thought it was Santoli's for you and Ally."

"Usually is," Austin admitted and if Santoli's was closer, would be there right now. "Santo and I needed a break from the conservatory." He motioned to his friend who had finally made it to the register.

"That's right. Ally told me about your music," she sipped on her coffee. "Oh, I heard that you'll be joining us for Carnevale."

"Wait, what is this?" Santo came up beside the two, handing a small cup to Austin and picked up the Carnevale bit. "You're going to Carnevale?"

"He's going to be our Lost King."

After introducing the two to each other, Austin listened as they went back and forth in Italian, and left him lost in the conversation. He did pick up bits and pieces - the parts about their careers, a party and the not so subtle drops of his and Ally's names. After agreeing to meet Gianna later at her parents for his own fitting, he found Santo staring at him with a know it all smirk. "What?"

"Carnevale, really?" Santo let his chuckle die down into his coffee as he drank it. "I'm assuming that this girl is also the one turning your musical brain into goop, right?" Austin didn't say one word to Santo, which said just about everything. "Tell me about her."

"Her name is Ally," Austin started and then started to ramble off everything he knew about her. He knew that she was incredibly smart, and used to write music herself; he knew she knew everything there was to know about Italy, and he knew it now drove him crazy when she flipped her hair to the left side. He had no clue why, it just did. He told Santo about the tiny tour she took him on days before and their visit to the island before that, and then Austin told him about the underground party and how it changed everything he felt about her.

"Definitely messed with your musical brain."

"You have no idea," Austin muttered as they walked back into the conservatory. "Now, I just can't think about anything else but her."