CIAO!!!!!!!!
Another reminder that this a NEW ADULT story! Lol.
Anybody back in college yet??? Classes started Monday for me and I have my first in-person class tomorrow *cue sad song*
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Holy crud. I'd just hammered Lucius in the family jewels like a mineworker.
"Is that my little RINA-BABAY?!" Bianca shouted as I opened the passenger door. "Oh, damn! Look at those little white mittens and that little matching hat. She's a dazzling little ice princess!"
I tossed my bag quickly in the back, feeling like I was going to have a panic attack at any moment.
"Hey," I said with a self-awareness that I didn't sound as chirpy with her as I normally did. I pulled myself together in an instant as I shut my passenger door. "You look like a sunkissed goddess."
"Ugh, I missed you so much," Bianca said, pulling me in for a hug and two air kisses on the cheek. "It just wasn't the same without you on the vacay."
"I can't believe you even thought of me with your new hunky man."
"Bitch, stop. Of course, I thought of you, you're my number one." She looked ahead through her windshield as I ruminated with the idea that Bianca had told me every detail of her hunky French man, but I hadn't told her a thing about my situation. "Oooh, who's black Buggati is that?" Bianca asked.
My stomach felt like lead again. "Could we actually get going?"
"What's up your butt––" Bianca slammed on the breaks, having only moved a few feet from the spot she'd parked. "Oh. My God. Mega Zaddi alert."
Lucius had chosen that exact moment to descend the porch and strode toward his car. He had his phone to his ear, and I could hear the anger in his voice as he spoke very loud in Italian. Before he ducked into the vehicle, his head turned in our direction, and my eyes briefly connected with mine.
"Now he looks like he doesn't speak a word of English," Bianca muttered.
I turned my head toward Bianca. "Drive."
"What?"
"Please, just drive. He's one of my Dad's friends. Trust me, you don't want to meet him."
"Don't have to tell me twice," Bianca said and slammed her foot on the gas. I burst into sudden laughter as my head hit the back of the seat from her speed. She could have been a little more discreet about it without peeling out of the driveway like that, but now Lucius would have to keep up. Bianca had a bit of a heavy foot on the gas of her
"You know, it's crazy to think that Lana and Annika don't know about your Dad's business," Bianca said, popping a piece of gum in her mouth and handing me the pack. "If they had any idea how many foreign Italian men come in and out of that house, they'd totally be knocking on your door every Wednesday with brownies, wearing skimpy Chanel dresses."
"You really think Lana and Annika would hook up a drug lord or a criminal?" I scoffed.
Bianca shrugged. "If he looked like that guy in the driveway? Maybes. I mean, it's what I regret doing every time I pick you up."
"You're another level of horny. Speaking of, how's your new French man?"
"Incredibleeeeee." Bianca leaned on her steering wheel, dragging the word out in a deep raspy voice for emphasis. "Korinna. Listen, I know how this sounds. But I think he might be the one."
"The one?"
"The one. He didn't just hook up and ditch me after Bora, Bora. He actually wants to try and make this work."
"Bianca, bestie, how is this possibly going to work? Doesn't he live in France?"
"His uncle's this bigshot architect in NYC, so he's flying to new work in a week to stay there there a few weeks to interview at his company before he flies back to Paris. Which means he'll only be like an hour away from me all winter break. He might even get a permanent job in the city!"
This was almost too good to be true. But I hadn't even met the guy yet, so who I was to judge?
"So, what have you been up to?" Bianca pressed. "Anything new in Korinna Romano's life?"
"I aced a psychology exam," I offered with a shrug. "Made a lot of flashcards, watched some Netflix, ate my weight in organic cheddar cheese puffs..." Other than that, nothing really new on my end."
"Oh, my god," Bianca groaned. "This is a code red if I've ever seen one."
"What?"
"You've been deprived of sex for too long," she said, patting my arm. "You're aggressively aging into a crazy cat woman by the second."
"Bianca," I laughed out. "I don't need a man. I'm very career focused right now, you know that."
Bianca turned toward me. "But I thought you were just telling me like a week ago that you wanted a boyfriend? You're not even on any dating apps?"
"Deleted them. Dating apps are depressing. Ninety-five percent of the time you just get ghosted, randomly blocked, and bamboozled by immature men who aren't even over their ex."
"Trueeee. It's probably just better to meet someone in person. Which is why I'm going to get you a hot mans tonight at the nightclub."
Bianca drove me back to her house to meet up with Lana and Annika. Lana and Annika definitely had their shit together. Lana was sous-chef for a former Iron Chef contestant and Annika was taking over her family's pizzeria and in the process of expanding it into a food chain with her older brother. Bianca majored in psychology like I did, which was how we met through our college program. She realized halfway through her senior year that she wanted to work with animals, so she was taking a break before applying to a new school to become a veterinarian.
And then there was me.
At least I had a general direction of where I wanted my life to go, but it was starting to feel more and more unrealistic given the circumstances of my supposed "temporary" situation.
"I MADE EGG ROLLS!" Lana shouted, clearly already tipsy from the moment she entered Bianca's house.
Annika had driven responsibly but immediately took a shot from Bianca's hand, before sprinting into Bianca's living room and practically leaping on top of me on the couch with Lana. "Riiiinnnaaaa!" they shouted.
"I can't breathe," I laughed out.
"We have to catch you up on so much," Annika said, making me hold her like a baby in my lap. "This bitch Bianca is living a Cinderella Story. Lana, show her the video!"
Bianca covered her face. "Guys, no..."
"What video?" I asked.
"Ugh, show her." Bianca hopped on the couch with a half-eaten egg roll, appearing embarrassed as Lana held out her arms to show me a video of Bianca and her new French man, Marceau Desrosiers. Marceau appeared to be serenading Bianca drunkenly on the beach wearing a flamingo pool floatie around his toned waist. I could hear Lana's hysterical laughter behind the camera. Suddenly Marceau dropped to one knee, making Annika in the background behind Bianca scream.
"He proposed to you?" I asked Bianca, tearing my gaze from the phone as Marceau began some drunken speech about how in love he was with Bianca.
"He didn't mean it," Bianca said, cringing. "He got black-out drunk."
"Drunk or not, he freaking love bombed you on the last night of the trip," Annika said, seeming to want my opinion on the matter.
"Early love bombs never end well," Lana muttered.
Bianca appeared to be getting annoyed. "Guys, chill. It's not a big deal. He was drunk."
"My Dad said I love you to my mom on their like third date," I said, before I could stop myself. It had immediately popped into my head and I wished it hadn't.
Lana gasped. "You're kidding."
"Why did you ever tell us that?" Annika asked. "That's actually so cute."
Bianca bit into an eggroll. "Her parents were arranged to be married, too."
"Ugh, vibes," Annika said. "How old was your mom when that happened?"
I felt a wave of anxiety whenever I talked about my mom. Which Bianca appeared to pick up on, since she knew the whole story with my mom.
"Wait, are you guys feeling nachos?" Bianca asked. "I'm totally feeling nachos with these egg rolls." She started to get up, when I grabbed her arm to pull her back onto the couch.
"Dude, it's fine," I laughed out. "My mom was informally "betrothed" at eighteen and then married at twenty. My father and her hung out and went on dates before the actual ceremony, so that it wouldn't be as nerve wracking, I guess, and happened to fall in love. Hence, the 'I love you' three dates in."
"That's so sweet," Lana said.
"I might have to change my tune about a man saying I love you too soon," Annika giggled. "I kinda want that now."
"Yeah, well," I began, taking another egg roll from the platter, "my mom dissed our whole family by ditching us and moving to California to start a new family with some business guy she probably cheated on dad with. So clearly loving someone isn't enough for a marriage. You have to make sure your partner isn't a heartless whore who only cares about herself." I took a big bite of my eggroll to fill my mouth, not knowing where that had come from and not wanting any more of it to unleash. Lana and Annika looked at me in quiet shock.
"Shit, Korinna," Annika said. "I had no idea."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Lana asked, coming to sit on the couch beside me and touching my shoulder.
"Nah, I'm good," I said, laughing as I muffled around the egg roll. "These are amazing, by the way."
"Thanks..."
All three of my friends were looking at me like some charity case.
"Guys, really, I'm fine. It was so long ago." I wiped my hands on a napkin. "Let's do shots!"
Lana and Anikka and I were already halfway in the bag by the time we got dressed and made it to the club, which left Bianca and I at the bar trying to get tispy before we danced.
I started ranting to Bianca about all my stress with my degree and how I wasn't talking to my dad, excluding the whole arranged marriage debacle, when the bartender came over and handed me a drink I didn't order.
I peered into the glass and smiled. "Thanks, but what the heck is this?"
The bartender shrugged. "Some guy ordered it for you."
Bianca cheered. "Free drink, woo!"
I looked down at drink in front of me. There must have been ten Maraschino cherries in the glass. "Free cavities, more like. There's like a whole jar of cherries in here!"
The bartender laughed. "Amaretto on the rocks with a ten maraschino cherries. He ordered it for the girl in the emerald dress. Since you're the only one wearing green at the bar, I figured it was you..."
"Someone has a secret admirerrrr," Bianca drunkenly sang, spinning Annika back onto the dance floor with their drinks in hand.
The bartender looked over at me as she mixed a drink for order. "Did you know amaretto means "a little bitter" in Italian?"
I just stared at her. "Did the guy who ordered this drink tell you that?" I asked.
"Yes, actually! He spoke fluent Italian. Real tall, ruggedly handsome. Gorgeous smile."
Suddenly my heart picked up a notch. I looked around the nightclub, feeling anxiety raise the hair on the back of my neck. "Any idea where he is?"
"Um..." The bartender got on her tiptoes and squinted through the club, before pointing in a certain direction. "That's him right there!"
I turned over my shoulder, my jaw tightening at the sight of Lucius lounged on a long red couch with two gorgeous women. The one girl was leaning into his ear and whispering something into his ear, while the other one played with his longish dark.
As if sensing my stare, Lucius lazily turned his head toward me and raised his glass to me in a solute.
"Lucifer," I hissed.
Something sourer in than the mocking drink in my hand churned in my stomach as I stormed through the chaotic dance floor to the sitting area where Lucius was. His head was turned into the dark-haired girl's neck beside him and he was whispering something in her ear that made her giggle.
"Do you have a tracker on my phone?" I demanded.
Lucius pulled back, his dark eyebrows shooting up. "I'm sorry," he said with a thicker accent than usual. "I no speak English very well, signorina." Miss.
"He's from Italy," the black-haired girl to his left said with a big grin, twirling his hair around between her fingers. "Isn't that so hot?"
Lucius sipped his drink to hide his amusement behind his glass.
"Stai seguendo il mio telefono?" I demanded of Lucius. Are you tracking my phone?
"Oh, my God!" cried the blonde girl playing with the collar of his shirt. "She speaks Italian, too!"
When Lucius didn't answer me and just continued to look at me with that cold, contemplative look, I kept at it. "È così che ti fa piacere alle done?" Is this how you get women to like you? "By lying to them?"
Lucius took his time to answer and leaned back on the couch, his arms hanging over the back. "No, è così che non devo chiacchierare con loro tutta la notte." No, this is how I don't have to chat with them all night. "Do you mind?" he added in English, making an annoyed gesture with his hand for me to leave.
"Don't be rude, Luc," giggled the woman with the black wavy hair. She had her long tanned legs sprawled over his lap. Lucius' name was pronounced "Loo-see-us" and she'd said his name like "Luke."
Huh.
The blonde twirled her hair. "Yeah, don't be mean, Luc. Maybe she wants to join us..."
"No, bella," Lucius said. "Trust me, her personality has a bitter taste."
My hand gripped the glass in my hand so hard that I thought it might shatter. Storming on to the dance floor, grabbing onto the nearest guy, and kissed him right on the mouth. He froze in shock at first but thawed into it as his mouth angled over mine.
"Oh, shit," the guy groaned as I pulled back, a smirk appearing on his mouth as he looked down at me. He was pretty hot. Blonde hair trimmed shorter, light-colored eyes that were wide in surprise, but it was hard to tell what color over the blue light flashing over us. "Do I know you?"
"No, but now you do," I said with a boldness I didn't know I had in me. "Wanna dance?"
"Hell yeah, I do!" He nudged a guy behind him and blindly handed off his drink to him, his mouth still split in an amused smirk. "What's your name?" he asked me in a loud voice over the music as I began to dance with him.
"Korinna!"
"Beautiful, just like you!" He took my hand and danced with me in a goofy way. I liked that he wasn't afraid to be himself and actually liked to dance. "I'm Fletcher!"
Fletcher and I danced a few songs, before I started getting more comfortable. I settled my hands on the back of his slightly sweaty neck, his hands respectfully staying at my waist as I swayed to the rhythm of the music.
I almost forgot the reason I'd even approached this guy in the first place, until I looked over through a thong of people and saw Lucius on the dance floor with his two dates. He hadn't noticed I was looking yet and twirled the dark-haired girl at his side, making her laugh, while the blonde girl kept his back to him and ground her ass against his front, vibing to the music. It was clear these two women were very comfortable with him.
"You okay?" Fletcher asked me, appearing to not be very perceptive despite his intoxication.
"Yeah, I'm fine! Can we go to the bar?"
Fletcher nodded and took my hand to help me navigate with him through the tight chaos of partiers. I spotted Bianca with Anikka waved at them, pulling Fletcher with me.
"Hey, where's Lana?" I asked.
"Dancing," Anikka replied, before waving at Fletcher. "Hi! I'm Anikka."
"Fletcher. I dig the sunglasses."
"Anikka, whose sunglasses are those?" I asked her around laughter.
She shrugged, sipping her drink sloppily. "I dunno!"
"I'm Bianca," Bianca said, "I'm basically Korinna's conjoined twin. You have a stable career, Fletcheth? Do you do drugs or have bad credit? Speak now or forever never kiss my friend."
"Bianca," I hissed.
"You guys are funny." Fletcher laughed it off, appearing easygoing. "Can I order you ladies something to drink?"
"Shooooots!" Anikka shouted.
I downed my drink, slamming it against the bar. "I'll be right back, take your shots! I have the bladder of a hamster!"
Heading to the back of the club, I found a hallway that led to the women's bathrooms. But apparently, I'd missed some sign because this bathroom was out of order, and I had to use one upstairs. Sighing, I turned and nearly crashed right into Lucius.
Lucius' head tipped down so that he looked at me from under his lashes, his deep set hazel eyes sultry and filled with malicious intent. "Enjoying your night, principessa?"
***
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