Teach me to dream

23

Pietro made an incredulous grimace, as if he had problems picturing a planet where such job could exist, and, as it was his custom, he went straight to the point: “And what about the Norwegian guy?”.
“Well... You know how he's done, I hope to see him soon; now I go to London to pack my bag, cause all my stuff is there, but I'll be there for a day only and he is always very busy, who knows if we'll be able to talk.”

“But wait, wasn't he one of your company's bosses? Couldn't he help you in some way? Couldn't he explain to someone how things really went?”
“Who, Markus? Come on! They're different, they're more individualistic than us, but it's fair, you understand? The thing is, everyone must pursue his own course without relying on others, right?”
“Well, if you say so!”
“He's doing it in order to help me grow up, to handle things by myself...”
“Listen, Alice, I've never met this guy, but I can tell you I've met a lot of Norwegians, here in the hotel and when I've traveled the Scandinavia with Ivana as well. They've never seemed so mean to me, on the contrary.”
“Well, no, he's not mean, that's how he does, he's just frank... You know what he always says: “Alice, I'll be brutal, but honest”, like that time he didn't let me crash at his place, when I lost my job and I didn't know how to deal with rent.”
Pietro looked carefully at her, focused, as if he had to slowly go over all elements of a difficult problem, with that same wrinkle between his eyes that sometimes shows up when he's talking to his kids.

He drank another big sip of beer and tickled the blonde full beard, then he shook his head and mumbled “I'll be brutal, but honest”, he repeated it a couple of times, more and more perplexed, while Alice could see his face getting red for finally exploding in one of his booming laughs, able to be heard from a distance and to scare those who didn't know him. Then he slapped his big hand on her friend's arm and declared: “I'll be brutal but honest is brilliant! That man is a genius!”.
Alice looked at him perplexed at first, but as everytime in his company, she wasn't able to escape from their complicity and amusement. After a first shy smile, it came natural to her to join Pietro's laugh, in the grip of a strange liberating vertigo: Markus had affected and run her life with this kind of sentence for more than three years, and now to be able to laugh about it felt like a true revolution to her, as if, for the first time, she was able to consider those attitudes under a different light, and to wash away, the more she was laughing, all the heaviness and the feeling of inadequacy that those attitudes have given her.

The infinite words she heard in those three years with Markus ran in a flash in front of her, those words that she would have never been able to tell Pietro about: the more she remembered, the more her stomach hurt because of the laughters, and tears were brought to her eyes.

I'll be brutal, but honest, you have a talent, but if you want to work in a company like ours you should adopt a different attitude.

I'll be brutal, but honest, why do you keep wearing that skirt?

I'll be brutal, but honest, I don't like your friend Sarah at all.

I'll be brutal, but honest, I don't feel like letting everyone know we're dating, not until you'll be more mature and independent...

At the counter, Pietro obviously pushed her away with a laughter: “We're not in Norway here! Put that wallet away, you dumb!”, and then they quietly went back to the hotel; he just put his arm on her shoulder, along the whole Rome Street, wrapping her in the warmth of the old gray and blue jacket, as if she really was his little sister.

*****
Hey squad! So, apparently job wasn’t the only Alice’s problem in London...
What do you think of her (little bossy) boyfriend? Do you know guys like Markus irl?
I’m really curious, let me know what you think!