"Buonasera," Jane greeted the waiter when she and her brother Julius entered the restaurant. She showed a polite smile.
The waiter raised his eyebrows. "Good afternoon," he politely said in English.
"Hæ," Julius said and started to talk in Icelandic, mentioning their brothers were waiting somewhere in the restaurant. He looked at Jane, who was trying to hide her smile after she realised what happened. "You don't have to talk Italian. Poor man was in full panic," Julius softly mentioned when he and Jane were brought to the table.
"I know," Jane amusingly smiled about her own clumsiness. "I said it automatically, I don't know what happened. When I'm in Italy, I literally can't speak Italian, and I'm constantly speaking Italian here," she whispered. "Takk fyrir," she thanked the waiter when she arrived at the table.
"Thanks," Julius said and gave the man a nod. "Hello," he greeted Jack and Joshua, who already were sitting at the table.
Jane put off her coat and looked around in the restaurant. She was curious to see if she saw someone familiar - which wasn't the case. Being in her favourite restaurant again, made her feel happy. "Hey," she said and sat down next to Julius, across from Jack, who sat next to Joshua. "I'm so not used to the cold anymore... jeez, it's cold," she mumbled under her breath.
"When will you ever be on time?" Jack said, unsatisfied.
Julius raised his eyebrows. "I was very much on time, she was late," he said and nodded at Jane.
"I wasn't late."
"Did you ever arrive somewhere early?" Jack shot to her.
Joshua smirked. "She was early at her birth." It made the two others chuckle.
"Fuck off. I'm never late. There was much traffic," Jane mumbled, annoyed, but quickly had to switch to a polite attitude when a waiter came to take their order. "For me, a latte macchiato and a glass of water, please."
"For me a cappuccino, please," Julius ordered.
"Perfect. The snacks will be ready in a second," the waiter mentioned and walked away. Joshua and Jack had already ordered something to drink.
"You and coffee?" Julius asked, surprised. Jane always said she hated coffee, 'It is disgusting. Never.'
Jane licked her lips. "Yes," she said and showed a fake smile.
"Jane, you do realise we finally have someone to annoy again?" Jack proudly said when he noticed her irritations. "We waited six months for this."
"Go annoy someone else, but not me," she made clear.
The brothers laughed. They always annoyed the crap out of Jane, but they also cared about her - the typical sibling recipe. The coffee was served, just like the snacks, and they started to talk, just sharing things about life, work, school... The ambience was relaxed, just like the old times. Jack is a photographer, so he shot some photos here and there.
"How is your cheek? It looks good." Jack took a sip of his white wine.
"It is less swollen, and...it still hurts, but we have painkillers," Jane replied. "I'm wearing a million layer makeup, so it looks good, but it isn't good."
Joshua took a deep breath like he was struggling with something. "The police are still investigating it, but as you told, there is resistance from Leonardo," he mentioned and broke his police oath. He was a good policeman, but he also cared about his sister. And since he had access to all the files, including files what were made outside of Iceland but included someone or something from Iceland... He had to take a look. "Once the investigation is finished, the case will go to the public prosecutor, and he will decide what will happen next."
"I don't want this circus to happen," Jane breathed and pressed her lips into a thin line. "Fucking hell. But yeah, thanks, by the way."
"Hey, you got this. And you have us, your friends, the family. You're not alone in this," Julius said and showed a supportive smile. "Don't worry," he said and placed his hand on his shoulder.
"I know, but..." She looked away. "Ugh. It's just... Anyway, I'm not here to be sad. I'm here to enjoy my time." She put on a forced smile.
Jack pressed a smile on his face and nodded, he wanted Jane to talk about the situation when she was feeling comfortable with it, and not when people forced her to talk about it. "How is Luna?"
"Yes, how is she?" Julius asked.
"She's fine, living life. Going to college and stuff, longing for a vacation, though."
Joshua nodded and took a sip from his beer.
"Anyway," Jack said and cleared his throat, getting all the attention from his siblings. "The reason why I asked you to be here is, of course, to spend some time together, which is very rare these days. Busy jobs, tours, studying abroad... But also because I got this amazing job," he started, getting a sparkle in his eyes. "I'm moving to Italy for a couple of months to shoot for a new documentary show on National Geographic." Besides being a photographer, Jack also was a filmmaker.
Jane's eyes rounded, and she looked over-surprised at her brother. Did she predict this?
"See Italy as a home base, because I'm shooting more things in Europe. The series is called Europe From Above. So yeah... I will be moving in a couple of weeks."
"No way! Congratulations, man!" Joshua said, perhaps a little over-excited since people looked at him. "That is fantastic."
"That is amazing news," Julius said and couldn't stop smiling. "Congrats, this is fantastic, Jack."
"I swear, I said this to Marcus a few hours ago as a joke," Jane smirked. "But mate, you know what this means, right? Pizza evenings." She widely smiled, it was a teasing smile, but it quickly changed into a proud smile. "This is amazing, Jack. Wow. You will rock this. Che fico!" She got questionable looks. "That's cool," she translated.
"Who says you will be in Italy when I'm there?" Jack teased.
"Me." Jane leaned on the table. "NatGeo... That was always your dream; you made it," she breathed. "Who would've thought?"
"When did you get to hear this?" Joshua curiously asked.
Jack looked at him. "Two days ago. But don't tell mum and dad; I still have to tell them about it."
"You don't hear me say anything," Julius said and raised his eyebrows. "But what will you be shooting?"
"The landscape," Jack dryly replied and gave him a sarcastic smile. "I have no idea; there's no script or whatsoever yet. But Jane, you mentioned Marcus again." He switched between the subjects within a second. "Who is this Marcus man?"
Jane looked at Julius and sent a help look. Julius was the only one who knew who Marcus was, but not their status. "Uhm..."
"Do you have a photo of him?"
Today, tomorrow or in a couple of weeks, they would find out about it anyway. And Jane could say she and Marcus were out of the seeing each other phase, so their thing was stable enough to share it.
"He...he isn't my boyfriend officially yet, but we are dating? Is that how you call it?" Jane asked and looked not sure at her brothers. "I mean... How do you say it? I see him as my boyfriend, but it's not official, so that sounds so...like I'm claiming him."
Soft smiles were playing on the men's faces, Jane became shy in just one second when talking about Marcus, and they had never seen this before.
"Anyway, this is Marcus," she continued and showed a photo of Marcus.
"You look cute together," Joshua said and gave Jane a bright smile. "How did you meet?"
Jane looked away and felt her cheeks heating up; that happened quickly. "Well, actually... Leonardo didn't show up at our dinner date, and I didn't want to leave the restaurant because I thought he would show up. He didn't, obviously. And Marcus was dining at the same restaurant at the same time, and he rescued me from a really awkward situation, pretending to be my boyfriend so people would stop worrying. We had a fun evening, and I realised I wasn't happy with Leonardo. Anyway, we forgot to exchange numbers, so I continued living my life. I broke up with Leonardo. A few weeks later, I had to babysit the children of Emma and Giuseppe, it was Emma's birthday and an important dinner, and it turns out it was a motorsport dinner, and I bumped into Marcus again."
Julius had Jane's phone in his hand, still looking at some photos with Marcus. His little sister didn't have that smile on her face when she was with Leonardo, so that said a lot. "Not gonna lie, sounds like a film. Mum will be jealous."
Touches of laughter filled the table.
"That isn't even her genre," Jack smirked.
"It is, well, she always adds some romance to the story," Joshua informed. "But it feels good?"
Jane nodded. "And before you give the lecture about what happened with Leonardo..." She took a deep breath. "This feels so different than that relationship. Gosh, it sounds like I'm hopping from one person to another." She took a sip of the glass of water. "But..." It was silence. "I never loved Leonardo, and I honestly don't know why I got in a relationship with him. He was the cool dude, and he can be kind, also not though, but I never loved him. In the beginning, I wanted him to be my first love, he isn't my first love, and I just realised that. He was my first attachment; I was stuck, feeling as if I had to stick around because I thought it was love." She looked up at her brothers. "I don't know his family, I never met his friends, he was always checking where I was, I couldn't go out, he didn't show up on dates... I was his property. It luckily lasted for less than two months, but enough to cause damage."
Jack swallowed hard. "Jeez, Jane. Those words are very...grown up. But you are very true."
"It's good you say this yourself," Julius said. "You realised it yourself; this means you see what has happened. It shows you have already moved on - for the most of it. I mean, that man is a psychopath."
"And when I met Marcus... I genuinely fell for someone when I wasn't searching for love; I was searching for peace. Gosh, I'm only 20, but I was so done with men. I was searching for myself and found a friend and... He is more than my friend, obviously."
"Sometimes you need to focus on growing yourself, and you run into what's destined for you," Joshua wisely said and nodded. This was the hard reality, but it was awful to face it. But it could turn out into something beautiful.
"I fully trust Marcus. I mean, he looks after me - in a normal way, I met his friends, even his family over FaceTime, we spend a lot of time together, but we also have our own lives. He's a racing driver; I'm just a student. And sometimes I'm just... what if it's just too beautiful to be true? It's that one thought in my mind that won't go away because of Leonardo," Jane openly told, sharing her thoughts. "I'm scared to get hurt again, and I'm not ready for that," she softly said.
"I'm sure Marcus isn't like Leonardo, far from that," Julius mentioned. "I don't know him at all, but your smile says it all... And his smile. You don't want to hear this, but getting hurt is part of your life. It happened with Leonardo, you learned from it, and it won't happen again. Life comes with ups and downs, and that can make life cruel."
Jack nodded, agreeing with Julius. "If it's meant for you, you will feel it. It may be immediate, it may be a spark of aliveness, it may be a sense of ease, it may be the way you just know, beyond explanation. But trust me when I say: if it's meant for you, you will feel it," he added.
"If it feels right, it is right," Joshua ended the talk.
Jane's face softened, she needed to hear those words for a reason. "How am I gonna survive all those months without you? Jesus," she breathed and looked grateful at her three big brothers.