e l o i s e
"It's really a small world, isn't it?" Mom said as she kept down on the center table the seemingly expensive wine Vincenzo had brought as a token. "Only our kids don't know Vinny while Arya is already a family member."
My eyes immediately went to Vincenzo and so did his, the recognition clear in our gaze, memories on the surface.
If only Mom knew the world was smaller than she thought.
"Right," Dad chuckled and wrapped his arm around my shoulder as he addressed Vincenzo. "Vincenzo, this is my eldest daughter, Eloise."
He gave his head a formal nod. "Nice to meet you, Eloise."
My name still sounded the same on his tongue. The tone, the familiarity, the haze of lust surrounding it—none of it held the innocence of two strangers being introduced to each other.
"Likewise, Mr. Vincenzo."
And so did his name on my lips, and only the two of us knew.
Unbeknownst to what went between his best friend and me, Dad then gestured towards my brothers. "And those are my two demons, Aiden and Aaron."
"Jeez, thanks Dad for being so specific," Aiden rolled his eyes, "I'm Aiden and he's Aaron, Uncle Vincenzo. Glad to finally to meet you. Dad couldn't stop talking about you."
Uncle Vincenzo? Was I supposed to call him Uncle now? The man who fucked me so raw to leave my pussy sore for days was supposed to be called my Uncle now?
He chuckled. It was forced. I remembered exactly what his chuckle sounded like. Sexy, so sexy to leave me wet for him.
I didn't want to but the erotic image of him holding my thighs to my chest and following his word of bruising me made me press my legs together.
Vincenzo was the only one who noticed and his eyes darkened as if he was going to punish me if I did it again.
It made me involuntarily do it again.
His jaw shifted ever so slightly yet profoundly, just as it did when I first teased him in the bar. He was good at keeping his pretence and holding a conversation as if nothing else was going on in his head. But his muscles spoke to me as they tensed, shifting so erotically under his fitted shirt, the one that matched mine as if it was a cosmic joke.
I knew it was wrong, far worse than it ever was before but fuck. How could I look at this man any other way when every glance at him was bringing forth images too indecent to think about my best friend's father?
I still couldn't believe he was.
I tore my eyes away from him, my breath coming out ragged. I looked at Dad. His eyes were smiling as if he was back in his high school. If he ever found out, would I be the reason their friendship breaks?
What about my friendship with Arya?
It scared me how much even one wrong look could do, one slip up, one wrong truth out in the open—I stood up abruptly and all eyes were suddenly on me, including Vincenzo.
His gaze was the only one that affected me.
"I'm sorry, I'll be right back." I said and darted, walking as fast as I could without breaking into a run.
"What happened to her all of a sudden?" I heard Arya wonder.
What happened?
How about I fucked your Dad? And the only thing I didn't like about it was that he was your Dad?
I shut the door to my bedroom, my heart erratic. Vincenzo. Vincenzo. Why did it have to be him? Anyone else could have been Arya's dad and anyone could have been Dad's friend. Hell, they could have been the same person for all I care. Why did that person have to be Vincenzo?
I ran a hand through my hairs. I didn't even have his contact that I could just discuss what the hell were we supposed to do now? It wasn't like I could go asking Dad or Arya to give me his number. Beyond being weird, it would rise questions I wouldn't be able to answer.
Was I overreacting?
Did I affect him so less that he could so easily pretend to be a stranger?
I knew it shouldn't bother me but it did. I was just another one night stand, just another body on the weekend like many others before me.
It was what I agreed to.
It was what I wanted too, a body to forget another.
Why was I complaining now?
Why couldn't I forgot Vincenzo already?
Why did the relation between us have to become so complicated, so illicit even beyond the age gap?
Why did I still desire to kiss him?
It was wrong, so wrong. I should stop thinking about him. He was only a one night stand that I should have forgotten by now. For every thought I get of him, I should think about something else.
Maybe Dad. Mom. Arya.
Dylan.
Right, stop thinking.
I took deep breaths. What happened that night did not have to affect who we were to each other now. I should treat him the same as Aiden and Aaron would, as Arya treated her Uncle Wade.
That was all we were. That was all we should be.
Reciting it as my mantra, I attempted to calm myself down for minutes and only when my breathing returned to normal did I finally go downstairs.
Everyone had already taken their seats at the dining table: Dad at the head, Vincenzo and Arya on his one side, and Aiden, Aaron and Mom to the other. I thanked heavens that I at least didn't have to sit beside him, or in front of him either.
One look at his broad back and all my efforts seemed to slip—no, stop. Stop. He's Dad's friend. Aryanna's father. Stop.
I made my way over to sit beside Arya who was busy talking to Mom. She abruptly got up and slid into the other head chair instead, right next to Mom. "Aunt Ava, you have to tell me your apple pie recipe. I want to make one as good as you do."
An apple pie was fucking me up now?
Mom's eyes flickered to me and she frowned. "Ellie, you okay? You look a bit pale."
All eyes were on me again.
His eyes were on me.
My palms grew sweaty. "Nothing, just feeling a bit cold."
She nodded and gestured me to take a seat. I contemplated. Would it look bad if I left one seat in between and sat at the corner seat beside Arya?
As if Vincenzo knew my attention was on him, he slithered his left hand to the chair beside him and tapped his index finger against it twice.
What was this man thinking? That I'd follow and sit beside him?
"Eloise, if you don't feel well or don't feel like eating, you can rest. It's fine, Vincenzo and Arya both understand," Dad spoke.
Arya nodded. Vincenzo tapped the chair again.
I sat beside him.
What was wrong with me?
I forced out a smile. "I'm okay, Dad. Just a bit..." overwhelmed with your friend's presence, his cologne, his thoughts, sitting beside him... him.
"Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital?"
Did I look that bad? God, what if I blurt out something—
Vincenzo gripped my knee. I stilled, and so did the nervous bouncing of my knee. His hand trailed back, pushing the hem of my dress up to my mid-thigh. I couldn't breathe. His thumb began rubbing circles against my skin, drawing my attention to the repeated motions.
"Relax, Wade. She's old enough to understand when she has to go to the hospital."
It calmed me down. I didn't know if it was his words or his thumb drawing a soothing rhythm on my skin.
"Vi—he's right, Dad. I'm alright. Hungry, maybe."
This time, his chuckle was real.
It left a weirdly welcoming feeling in my stomach.
It stayed even when he'd taken his touch away and the dinner carried on. Sometime in the midst, it returned. I froze, eyeing him sideways. He continued to eat and held conversation with my parents as if he didn't have his hand on their daughter's thigh in all ways indecent. Couldn't he understand that if we were caught, it wouldn't end well?
Instead of circles, he drew a horizontal line and a vertical line down its middle.
T?
I frowned.
He drew again, a 'V' with again a line down its centre. Y?
He continued. A straight line and a semicircle? P?
His finger went down and lifted again to draw three horizontal lines. E?
He tapped twice as if that was the full-stop.
Wait, T-Y-P-E? He wanted to type something?
I picked my phone and the scolding came immediately. "Don't use your phone while eating, Eloise."
"Ma, it's urgent, please."
Arya gave me a side glance, probably thinking of an answer she wouldn't be able to figure. I ignored her stare.
What did he want to say?
"There's nothing that can't wait until the end of the dinner."
Oh Mom, there is.
"If you asked me back then, I could have never imagined you'd be such a strict parent, Ava."
Namely, Vincenzo Rodriguez.
"Ask me, Uncle Vincenzo," Aiden said, "I feel like I'll have a brain injury one day."
"Let the boys be free. If they won't enjoy now, when will they?"
He wrote '2' on my thigh. I noted it down, frowning. Was it supposed to mean anything?
"Live with them for a week and make that statment again." Dad laughed. Vincenzo traced a circle now. O?
"I'm sure that is just an exaggeration. Aiden and Aaron don't seem like that."
'2' again?
"It is. It is an exaggeration, Uncle. You have to be on our side."
2-O-2?
202?
I froze. Was he giving me his goddamn number?
As he held the conversation and drew out the digits one-by-one, I was sure this man scammed people for a living. He definitely scammed someone of millions that night before scamming me of my sanity. Maybe it was the reason why I still liked when his hand rested on my thigh, his calloused, large hand against my soft skin. I felt petite and I wanted him to slide that hand up like he did in the elevator.
He wasn't just Vincenzo anymore, I knew, yet, I felt my core grow hot for him and my legs pushed together instinctively.
His hand clamped down, grip tight, his posture tense, the last digit only traced halfway.
I let out a quiet, shaky breath. His control was hot. I wanted to look at him. I wanted to see if he felt the same, if his eyes darkened, or if he promised to fuck me raw if I did anything I shouldn't. But I was scared that I'd exactly show all those emotions, so I only looked at my phone screen and never him.
"You can't be serious, Uncle Wade. Dad cheated in an exam? Like, my Dad?"
I blinked. Weren't they just talking about Aiden and Aaron now?
"We boys are different. We circulated it over half the class and neither the girls nor the teacher could figure out," Dad chuckled. "But don't do that now. We didn't have CCTVs but you do."
Vincenzo and I forced out a laugh with everyone else but Aiden and Aaron couldn't even do that. They remained unnaturally quiet with all their attention on the food while the rest of table focused their attention on them.
"Fine, fine, it was AP Maths," Aaron caved in. "And it was a class test. It didn't count anywhere."
"Significantly better than Dad and Uncle Vincenzo," Aiden added.
Mom looked like she was missing a magazine or a newspaper.
"Ma, before you decide to hit me, let me tell you it was because Aiden had broken his nose and he wouldn't just shut up about it. It was impossible to study."
"Try taking a football to your nose before telling me to 'just shut up' about it. None of you know how bad it hurts."
"Oh, Vincenzo knows," Dad said. "I bet he remembers it well even now, don't you, Vinny?"
"Dad, you've been hit with a football on your nose?" Arya laughed out loud. "Is the other guy okay?"
"Oh, he wasn't," Mom said. "When Evie charged at him, I'd never seen a guy so big so scared of a petite woman before."
Something in the air shifted. If Vincenzo was tense before, he was stiff now. Even Arya.
Evie?
The realization dawned on me a bit late. Evie. Eveline. Eveline Rodriguez. Aryanna's mother. The woman Vincenzo loved.
"I wish Dad would have remarried."
Perhaps the only woman Vincenzo loved.
It left me with a feeling I didn't like.
"Vincenzo..." Mom spoke again, much careful this time. "You know Eveline and I used to be best friends." He gave Mom a nod of acknowledgement. She continued then, "I lost contact with her just when you and Wade did. If you happen to have her number or address, I'd love to catch up with her again."
His grip tightened, then as if he realized something, he retrieved his hand back to himself.
"We haven't contacted each other ever since we divorced," he said like he wanted it to be the final line.
"But she must be in touch with Aryanna..." Mom trailed off and her lips pressed in a thin line, perhaps coming to a conclusion she couldn't believe.
"My mother is so in touch with me that I don't remember what she looks like, Aunt Ava."
I frowned. Arya's mother did visit her that night. But I knew not to speak about it if Arya didn't want to do so.
"Sadly, your so-called best friend is not you. She's just a bitch."
"Aryanna." Vincenzo said. Everything about him held a quiet rage. "Watch your language. Is this what I've taught you?"
"I'm beyond the age to be taught to understand things, Dad. You really think I never dug out your divorce papers and I don't know how she sucked you of every penny she could and more? You were in college. Did she care that you couldn't pay? She never even fought for my custody! Why am I supposed to respect that woman and still call her my mother?"
Except the father-daughter, we all exchanged glances, the same disbelief on every face.
It had been that long.
I at least had some idea that Arya's mom left her long back but it still baffled me to know she could be anywhere below three years of age. I couldn't imagine how Mom and Dad were taking in this information, couldn't imagine what Arya went through.
What Vincenzo had gone through.
I wanted to hold his hand and tell him that everyone here was with him now and he wasn't alone anymore. But I couldn't. I couldn't even dare to. He shouted at Aryanna. Who was I?
"Vincenzo," Mom spoke lowly. "I'm sorry. It was thoughtless of me to—"
"No, it wasn't you, Ava. Don't take the blame."
His glare shifted to Aryanna. She flinched.
"Dad—"
"Keep it."
"I only wanted to know..."
"Well, now you know."
"Dad, please. I am—"
"Think twice before making an apology to me that you don't mean."
Tears brimmed in her eyes even though she fought against it. I knew she was not used to harsh language from her Dad. At all.
"Why do you think she doesn't mean her apology, Mr. Vincenzo?" I turned to him. His height towered over me, his presence even larger. His eyes bore into mine and they weren't as kind as they were the morning after.
"Eloise, that's enough!"
I ignored my Dad, ignored the stares on me.
"When we were in our second year, she was absolutely devastated knowing that she was nothing more than a cesarean scar to her mother that ruined her modeling career. She grew up believing that it were the differences between you two, that the custody was fought on both sides, that you were half the reason she didn't have a normal family. Don't you think she'd want to know the truth after hearing something like that?"
I breathed in deeply. I knew I wasn't going to get away unscathed but I didn't care.
"She did that not because she wanted more reasons to blame her mother, but because she didn't want to blame you anymore for something you didn't deserve to be blamed for. With all due respect, Mr. Vincenzo, you may have your reasons but she had hers and they are valid."
I couldn't read his eyes. I couldn't read him. I couldn't understand him at all.
Why would he take the blame? Did he love his wife that much?
"Dad, I'm really sorry. I know I shouldn't have."
His eyes remained impenetrable. He tore them away from me and to his daughter.
"I don't want a word more on it."
And he didn't get any.