A lover's guide to love

Chapter eleven

When he approached, Pietro had no idea. But there he was, standing right in front of her, and she was letting him have the first word.

"You came." Pietro spoke up, so close a whisper would be sufficient.

One smile reminded him of all the reasons staying away felt like a death sentence, watching her lips pull apart as they prepared to deliver an answer.

"I came."

"And so did we! Give us a hug!" Giovanni came in with open arms, hugging Ava tightly, letting her proceed to the rest soon after.

Pietro cleared his throat loudly and raised an eyebrow, showing everyone the fakest smile he could do, sending clear signals of where he wanted them all to be; far away for the moment being.

Ava and Pietro awkwardly laughed while they watched them all move away with whispered apologies.

"How was your week?" Ava said. She pursed her lips into a tight, nervous smile, afraid to listen to the answer.

"It was good, it was good." Pietro nodded his head as he answered, but soon his face scrunched up, mixed with a shaking head. "No, that's a lie. It was horrible."

Ava answered his laughter with her own as she agreed, recalling her own week in her mind. All she did was write, beat herself up and then write more, banging her head against surfaces. But maybe, things weren't so bad as Ava felt them to be. That time she was away from him gave her the time to really settle in her choices, coming to terms with the life changes she was about to make. The process was personal, and it happened in the space of her own home and mind.

She wanted to love and be loved, the beauty of it now was so crystal clear. And she intended to prove herself worthy of all the love he wanted to give her, for he had shown that he was worthy of hers.

"Ava?" Pietro asked, looking at her snap out of her thoughts with a ghost of a grin.

"Yeah?"

"Dance with me?"

Pietro shifted in his spot as he asked his question, a look in his eye Ava never saw that often. He had a giddy smile on his face and yet his hands were clenched behind his back, fingers fidgeting. It gave Ava a few seconds to process him, the sensation settling in the pit of her stomach familiar.

He looked devilishly handsome dressed in his suit, a palm facing the sky waiting for hers to meet.

Ava didn't waste anymore time as she delicately placed her hand in his, feeling the cold, silver ring he always wore chill her skin. She had taken this feeling for granted for so long, not grasping just how much she could miss something so tiny.

One hand slipped around her waist and brought her close as they mingled inside the couples dancing, the other still holding her hand. Their hands always fit so perfectly against each other, as if they were two lost pieces of a puzzle, only now finding one another.

If Pietro listened a little more intensely, he would be able to hear Ava's erratic heartbeat, the organ ready to escape its cage and tumble to the floor. Without his support, Ava wasn't so sure she would be able to remain standing, his cologne an addictive sent, the aroma giving Ava a high no drug could ever achieve.

"Bella ragazza?" Pietro whispered, Ava looking up at him with eyes that could hold the whole universe.

The only answer she could say was a humming sound, hanging by the edge of his lips for whatever he was about to say. Hearing those two words was divine, lingering in her mind even when she went to sleep. When Ava's apartment was empty, lights closed with only a small, week light breaking it all up, they danced around the room, haunting her and easing her pain at the same time. But now she was hearing them, straight from his lips.