The Gun and the Rose

23 | Jealousy

The room was filled with people. People talking and eating and laughing and drinking. My grip on Ales' hand tightened and he turned to me as Tony and Laura passed by us.

    "You're going to be fine, baby," he assured. I nodded and was about to continue walking when a lady shrieked. I looked up to see a familiar-looking woman walk toward us, her eyes bright and smile brighter. She was shorter than me, with the same dark hair that Ales had.

    "Alessandro! You forgot about your mamma, didn't you?" she scolded, reaching up and grabbing his ear. Ales yelped, groaning.

    "Mamma, mi metti in imbarazzo," he whined. She let him go, then kissed both his cheeks before turning to me. (Translation: Mom, you're embarrassing me.)

    "You must be Rosaline. Ales told me all about you," his mom said. "Call me Sofia."    

    "Nice to meet you, Sofia. You look beautiful," I gushed. His mother looked full of youth in a flowy gold dress, that shimmered every time she moved.

    "Thank you, sweetheart. Give your coat to the coat check over there and come in. Eat something," she told us before walking away.

    "I told you she'd love you," Ales said.

    "She's so nice," I said. I was expecting an evil mother-in-law situation if I was being honest. Wait, mother-in-law? We were just dating! I reeled my mind back as we passed our coats over to the checker and headed past the foyer. I walked slightly behind Ales as an overwhelming amount of people approached him to say hi or just pat him on the back. I sent them warm smiles but no one made a move to talk to me and I was glad. They spoke to Ales in Italian much too fast for me to pick up and my head hurt too much if I concentrated on translating.

    "Ales, baby!" Someone else called. I scrunched my face at the high pitched voice which came from a woman who sauntered up to him. My mouth almost dropped. She was beautiful, like a Victoria's Secret model, tall and willowy. Her hair was jet black, tumbling down her shoulders like water, and her lips were painted a deep shade of ruby. She touched both of Ales' shoulders and touched his cheeks with hers. "Where have you been?"

    Ales moved away and her hands fell off his shoulders. "I've been busy, Adrianne."

    "Sofia told me you were away on business and I was kind of sad that you didn't tell me before leaving. Your mother was pretty upset too, especially because she was looking for venues for our wedding."

    "Your what?" I sputtered, looking between them. Adrianne's eyes fell on me as if she had just noticed me then.

    "Who are you?" she asked, her mouth twisting.

    "Who are you?" I shot back. She crossed her arms confidently, raising a perfectly sculpted brow.

    "I'm his fiancee-"

    "You are not my fiancee, Adrianne," Ales said through gritted teeth. I turned to Ales.

    "You were engaged?"

    "Yup," Adrianne chimed in.

    I ignored her. "You told me you've never even been in a serious relationship," I said, my voice quiet.

    "I was never engaged to her, Rosa. We were never dating either. Our parents just wanted us to get married," Ales explained, reaching out for my hands. I pulled mine back, crossing my arms.

    "We were together for a year before you left if you consider that not serious," Adrianne said. I glanced up at her, eyes wide. She was smirking, head cocked. I looked back to Ales, looking for him to deny it. Looking for a hint of protest or contradiction, anything. When he stayed silent, she clapped her hands together. "Exactly." I wrapped my arms around my stomach, my cramps getting seemingly worse. I turned away from them both.