GOLDWING (ing version)

chapter 9

VICTORIA'S POV

In those days, I've been almost 45 days since I returned to live alone.
It was a slow process, which involved a transition of environment, a reduction in medication, and above all, a lot of therapy, but now, I'm proud to say that I have been without self-harm for almost 3 months. I continue to keep a lot of contact with Damiano, and whenever we can we do that movie night every Friday. So far, our movie Fridays until 3 am are kind of on hold because Dami has a new priority in his life, Giorgia, his girlfriend. Today, after 3 weeks in a row of cancellations by Damiano's part of our special Friday, he finally texted me to reschedule it. I also felt like canceling it because of all the times he canceled it, and yes, I'm a bit vindictive. But in the end, I ended up going. I wore a pair of baggy black pants, a gray sweatshirt, and my favorite pair of boots, and then I drove to his house.

I got to the apartment and when I was about to knock on the door, I felt someone hugging me from behind, and I immediately recognized that it was Dam because of the iconic scent mixed with the Ralph Lauren perfume I had given to him in the last Christmas. For me, those 3 weeks passed like 3 months without seeing him. This time, we ordered our pizza in one of the best pizzerias in Rome, so we waited a long time for it to arrive. In the time we waited, Dam stole my phone like he always does, and I (as usual) had to pester him until he returned it to me. But this time, something happened and my foolproof tactic failed, and he continued to resist all the things I did to him until I remembered one thing: his torso tickling, one of his 'weak points.

turn on music: Sweater Weather

During our mini struggle, I noticed that he lay on top of me, trying to grab me. Then, I turned around and that time I stayed over him, making me more have more advantage of being able to resume the tickle and retrieve my phone. Before I could his torso again to tickle, I was stopped by some that were coming from my thighs to my ribs. If there's a person who knows my weak points it's him, Damiano.

"Dami, stop please," I begged, between some laughs.

"Karma is for you, darling," he said, biting his lip lightly.

"Dam? You bitch! I hate you; you know?"

"I love you more, amore," he said, leaning his head on my shoulder.

When I look deep into his eyes, I saw that rapidly dilating pupil, a black shadow that contrasted with his hazel eyes. It was an instant connection. He has a twinkle in his eyes that I've never seen in anyone else, it's something I can't express in simple words. That feeling stops as soon as Dam's phone rang, and luckily it was the delivery man announcing that the pizzas had arrived.

As usual, he laid a towel on his bed and turned on that huge TV. We decided to see A Star Is Born, a film starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, and it was 2 hours of film that went by very quickly, full of funny moments and some tears.

"Well, I think we could do a cover of Shallow. What do you think?" he asked, motivated.

"It's a good idea! When we have the 4 together, we can start training."

"No, nothing like that. Just the two of us, like in the old times, remember?" he said, holding my hand.

"Of course, I remember." Those days were the best. That phrase gave me an immediate feeling of nostalgia for those days after school when he and I would go to my parent's house to try to cover random songs.

Not very soon, he took his guitar from the top of his wardrobe and put it around my torso, and went to look up the chords on the internet. After half an hour, a beautiful melody contrasted with that angel's voice, while we were hearing the rain falling on the ground outside. I already missed that kind of moment.

"Wow, it's already 3 am, I should go," I said startled, looking at my phone.

"If you want, you can stay here tonight..."

"It's not necessary, Dami."

"Please...." he said, making a baby voice. "The streets are dangerous at night, you know it."

"Okay, I'll stay here."

I must admit I like seeing him insisting that I stay at his place because that place has been like my second home since I lived there for 2 months. A few minutes later, he gave me a button-down shirt of his to wear. I took off my clothes in front of the TV while watching an interesting series, and put on that shirt, which was about my knee. For some, it's kind of embarrassing to change clothes in front of their best friend, but honestly, that's something that doesn't bother me anymore.

"Well... I'll sleep in the same bed as you?"

"Yes, why? Do you have any problem with it?"

"I don't know, do you think Giorgia gets jealous?" I asked, a little worried.

"Of course not, she knows we're good friends, and she respects that."

"Do you swear?"

"I swear to God, Angel."

Usually, before going to sleep, my head used to fill with random thoughts, and suddenly I started thinking about something:

Was I the only one who ever felt a possible feeling for someone? Like, it's like you don't love the person, but you know that you could love. It's as if you concluded that you really could fall in love with them very easily. It's almost as if that feeling is a flower ready to bloom, but not quite real yet. And you like the person a lot, you think about them often, but you don't love them. But you that you could.