Summer With Enzo

the new guy in town

Valentina Amato

The sun warms my skin and I feel the little droplets of sweat pool around my body as I lay on the towel that's inevitably been covered with sand. With one hand shielding my eyes from the sun, and the other holding my worn out copy of Les Miserables, I read the part where Marius and Cosette first lay their eyes on each other.

"Do you believe in love at first sight?" I ask my best friend, who is sunbathing next to me with an oversized pair of Chanel sunglasses.

"Why worry about love when there are much finer things in life, like exploiting rich men?" Colette says bringing down her sunglasses to wink at me.

"Not this again," I groan and roll my eyes, "just because it's worked so far doesn't mean it still isn't dangerous" I say, putting my book down and crossing my arms.

"Nothing is going to happen! Plus, I'm pretty sure if anything ever did happen, you're brother can come and save me" she says in a fake tone of admiration whilst bringing her hand up to her forehead like a damsel in distress.

"Please, you and I both know that Apollo only cares about himself" I say rolling my eyes at the thought of my brother.

"Hey, he cares about you!" she defends him.

"I'm his sister, he has to," I laugh and get up from my seated position, stretching out my body and wiping the sand off of me, "I'm overheating and sticky, I need to go for a swim. You coming?" I ask the strawberry blonde.

"In a few"she says.

I make my way towards the beautiful ocean that hugs the Italian coast of Lake Como, the blue water calling me. The water is cold at first, but gets warmer as I go deeper. I plunge my head underneath, making sure my entire body cools off. After swimming around for a few minutes, I make my way to the shore again and I walk towards where Colette and our stuff is.

"Ahh! That's cold!" she hisses as I wring my hair out on top of her, the water splashing on her body. I laugh at her reaction and settle down on my towel again.

"Do you want to hit up the Cantina tonight?" Colette asks me, sitting up and setting her sunglasses over her hair, "I heard there's a cute new guy in town that's giving Apollo a run for his money" she laughs.

"You mean to tell me there's another womanizer in Lake Como that isn't my brother? Ouch, that one had to hurt his ego," I joke with her, "but yeah, I guess I'll go. I have nothing better to do anyways. Plus, I missed out on girl's nights with you when I was with Mateo so I want to make up for it" I say, sending her a small smile.

"Yes! Ugh, don't even mention the name of that stronzo," she spits the last word with a grimace.

"I see your Italian is improving," I say, trying to change the subject, "what time should Apollo and I meet you there?" I ask her.

"Mmmm it's 3 o'clock right now, so how does 7 sound?" she asks me.

"Perfect! I'll go home and clean up and that'll give Apollo time to do his whole 'night out routine' ugh, I hate how much of a diva he is sometimes" I groan whilst gathering my things and putting my sundress over my bathing suit. I slip on my sandals and say goodbye to Colette.

"Apollo!" I call out my older brother's name as I walk into the villa our parents rent out for us during the summer.

"Apollo!" I repeat again when I don't hear a response.

I walk upstairs to where our rooms are and I see Apollo's door closed. Walking closer to it I don't even have to bring my ear to the door to hear the moans that come from inside and I fake gag. Nope, I'm not hearing this. I think to myself as I walk into my room that is down the hall thankfully and set down my beach bag on my bean bag chair and walk to my record player where I pop in my favorite ABBA record. The music begins to blast at full volume as I begin to strip from my wet and sandy clothes, heading to my ensuite bathroom and turn the shower on. The steam begins to surround the bathroom and I step unde the warm stream of water.