I sighed quietly as we hummed along in Nona’s ancient Holden burina and I let my head rest on the back of the chair. I could feel her gaze burning into the side of my head so I opened my eyes slightly and looked over at her with a small smile on my lips.
“It’s rude to stare you know,” I teased and she gave me one of her adorable Nona smiles before turning back to the road.
“I just very proud of you,” she announced in her slightly faulty English with her strong accent and I laughed quietly at the statement, only Nona would find a way to be proud of such a fuck up.
“Why? What have I done to be proud of Nona?” I asked her earnestly, turning my whole body to her as we stopped at a traffic light. She turned to me briefly with a surprised look on her face before retuning her attention to the road ahead of her.
“What have you not done? You finish all school and you going to more school. You the most educated Ronaldi woman ever,” she told me with another one of her trademark smiles and I couldn’t help but join in with my own little grin. There was no doubt about the fact that my Nona was the most caring and kind woman on the planet, no matter what I do she always finds a reason to still love me, or be proud of me. My Nona keeps me going on rough days.
Suddenly she swerved off an exit that we had almost passed and pulled into the restaurant of one of her closest friends; Giovanni’s. Giovanni is honestly the best cook in the world-apart from Nona. He can make better Italian food than any restaurant in all of Australia, bar none. As she parked in the special ‘reserved parking’ he had for all of his favourite customers she checked her appearance in the mirror quickly.
“Time for celebrate. Not every day my Ada graduates big school,” she announced with finality before stepping out and waiting patiently for me to follow. I looked in the mirror quickly and tugged down my short skirt before doing up the top few buttons of my shirt and adjusting my tie.
Now I know what your thinking- this chick is on crack! She’ll gladly look like a slut at school but when it comes to being in public with her Nona she goes soft?! Well you’re wrong. And if you call me soft again I can guarantee you’ll get a black eye out of it. The only reason I try to look respectable when I’m with Nona is I want her to have a reason to be proud of me, I love my Nona so much and I want her to be able to show me off to her friends without being ashamed.
She smiled approvingly at my outfit adjustment before taking my hand-yeah I hold my Nona’s hand still, you gotta problem?- and leading me into Giovanni’s.
“Uh Nona it’s really dark in there, are you sure it’s not clo-”
“-SURPRISE!” Screamed the small group of Italian people that were standing in the shadows as someone flipped on a light switch. I jumped backwards quickly and turned to Nona in astonishment. Standing before me was her group of friends with a banner that said ‘Congratulations Ada!’ they all began screaming congratulations and other things at me in Italian and I felt a little overwhelmed by it all.
“Complimenti [congratulations] Ada!”
“Buon lavoror! [Good Job!] Ada!”
“Siamo cosi orgogliosi di vio! [We are so proud of you!]”
I felt myself beginning to tear up at the way they were all treating me. It warms my heart to know that they all bother to make such an effort even though attending my graduation was too much of an effort for my own mother. I turned to Nona once more and threw my arms around her, letting some tears slip out of my eyes before wiping them away and turning to the small group and giving them all hugs as well. Once again, call me soft and I will show you how soft your internal organs are after I rip them out.
After they all got out their excited screams and over exaggerated hugs - Huh, typical Italians! - We all got to sit down to some of the best pizza ever. Everyone around the table was speaking in rapid Italian and I was having a bit of trouble keeping up to be honest, I may be from there but occasionally their dialog was a bit too much for even me to handle. I was vaguely aware of the fact that they seemed to be discussing me and my achievements (There aren’t many) and gossiping about their neighbours or what they heard happened in the home country.
After a while I heard my name and Vernazza mentioned and I felt my face harden into an expression of distaste. Giovanni, who had been sitting next to me, burst into laughter when he noticed my facial expression.
“Guardatela! Scommetoo che e messo fuori perche non hannp la tecnologia che abbiamogi! [Look at her! I bet she is put out because they don’t have the technology we have here!]” he exclaimed and I shot him a mock glare before shrugging and smiling at the now fully quiet table of Italians. Jeez, that was a weird sentence, it’s not very often one gets to say quiet and Italian in the same sentence.
“Lo non voglio lasciare I miei amici o la Nona [I just don’t want to leave my friends or my Nona]” I explained with a little grin, leaning into my Nona who had been sitting next to me. Yeah alright, I’ll admit it... I am a bit soft when it comes to my Nona... but that still doesn’t give you the right to give me shit about it!
They all let out a collective ‘aw’ before attempting to sell the perks of Italy to me... all at the same time. Really the only words I could hear were ‘Italia’ and ‘bello[beautiful]’ being shouted again and again. I really hope they are all telling the truth and that the beauty makes up for the fact it will be piss boring and completely and utterly shit.
~
There are 53 different edges on my fan. Which is unusual if you ask me, most fans are normal with not many edges at all. But not my fan... it’s ‘abstract’. Really it’s quite shit and doesn’t do much in the way of fanning, but hey, who am I to complain? The designer was clearly a pot head anyway. You want to know how I know that my fan has 53 edges? Yeah? You do? Good. Because that my friend, is a very valid question. I know that my fan has 53 edges because I am currently doing everything I can to avoid packing and reminding myself that in 6 short hours I would be on my way to the airport. On my way to shitty Italy. Hehe, I made that rhyme.
I was just about to start counting the threads on my rug when I was interrupted by a quiet knock on my door. I snapped my head up, expecting to see my mother-or worse my step father or sister from hell. I was pleasantly surprised when I was Nona standing in my doorway.
“Nona! What are you doing awake at 11 at night?” I asked her in surprise, she is so old she’s normally asleep by seven.
“I no sleep so I get water and I see you awake. Have you packed yet?” She asked and I pointed to my fan.
“That has 53 edges on it,” I told her before smiling at her brilliantly. She rolled her eyes at my immaturity before going over to my closet and grabbing my suitcase. I watched curiously as she went through my draws and carefully chose some undies and swimmers for me to take.
“You going to help me or not?” she asked without even turning around as she moved onto my socks. I smiled ruefully before joining her on my knees and rooting through my tops and searching for the right thing to take to Italy with me. What can I say? Nona gets the job done.
~
“Listen, uh, Adelaide. I’ll miss you alright?” Mark (aka douche bag of a step dad) told me and I raised an eyebrow at him.
“Mark, you’ve been waiting for this day since you met me. Don’t fuck around,” I stated airily before petting him on the shoulder and hearing an indignant noise from my Mother. I snorted at her shock before ruffling the hair of the annoying nine year old horror, not out of affection - she’s very materialistic and gets very pissed off if you touch her hair.
“Glad to see the back of you,” she spat angrily as she stormed into her room.
“Back at ya brat!” I called after her and heard her stupid One Direction music blasting in return. I smirked evilly at Mark and Mum who were both face palming at the repetitive beat and lyrics.
I had finally reached the Mum end of the line-up and I smiled awkwardly.
“Well, I would get all mushy but I don’t see the point... So I guess I’ll see you when I see you,” I told her hurriedly before turning to the door and attempting to escape. Key word being attempting.
“Not so fast, I want to say a few things before you go,” she told me in her boring gravelly Italian accent and I sighed loudly before turning back to her. Surprise, surprise. Here comes the lecture on responsibility and tough love.
“Now I know we don’t get along very well sometimes-”
“-All of the time,” I interrupted her only to be ignored.
“-but I want you to know that despite the fact that you drink and smoke and do things we do not in any way endorse we still love you very much,”
“Bullshit!” I coughed loudly and she glared at me before continuing.
“And I want to say I’m glad you have at least learnt from some of my mistakes and remain a virgin-”
“-Not a virgin, awkward,” I told her with a smirk and her whole face turned white before she gulped visibly and shook her head angrily.
“Just go,” she whispered, pointing to the door and clutching her head in her hands. What a drama queen! I am, of course, still a virgin. I just lied to piss her off; goodness knows why I am though. I certainly break enough of her other rules. Why not this one?
The car ride to the airport was silent and very morbid feeling. Why did I feel like I was going to my death? Poor Nona looked conflicted as she switched lanes and ran through orange lights at the speed of well, light. Her emotions were a mess and an array of happy, sad, angry and just plain conflicted.
“What’s on your mind Nona?” I asked gently and her head snapped around to face me.
“I will miss you, but you have good time in Italy, good time. It beautiful and you draw; you use your hands to create beauty. I wish I knew sooner, I could have found you friend of mine to stay with, they feed you well and not subject you to their sons like Gemma’s friend Viola. Viola not good girl, she not like you,” she rushed out and I tried to hear the sentences she was stringing together.
When I figured out what she had just said I laughed a little and grabbed her free hand with my own.
“Don’t you worry about me Nona, I’m sure I will create beautiful drawings and love it in Italy and I think I’ll be fine with Viola, I’ll be sure to stay away from her and her son,” I assured her and she nodded assertively, apparently happy with the result of our little chat.
“Good,” she murmured, so quietly she could have been talking to herself.
~
“This is it Nona, the part where we go our separate ways,” I told her coaxingly but she refused to let go of me. Her arms remained secured around my waist and her face was still buried in my chest. I couldn’t help but smile at her goodbye and I allowed myself to indulge in a few more moments of her comforting hug before I gently detached her.
“I’ll call you and write to you and send you pictures okay?” I asked quietly and she nodded before diving on me for a hug again.
“Say hello to Italy for me, I miss her,” she whispered quietly and I nodded slowly, remembering that she must really miss it there. It was, after all, the place she grew up, the place she met the love of her life and the place she raised her children. She only moved to Australia because the wicked witch forced her to after Papi died.
I made myself let go of her as I gave one final wave before turning and heading to my terminal. Terminal 16-the place that is the gateway to my new home for the summer. Fucking woo-hoo. No Frankie, no Nona, no getting drunk and high with friends and to top it off I will be with a bunch of stupid Italian strangers. A summer that I’ll never forget? I don’t doubt it for a second.
A/N: Hey everybody ! How did you like that ? :D You should all vommet! (vote/comment=vomment) and I will love your forever ;) Let me know what you think of it all so far !
*Outfit in the external link!