Lucas
The Bellini last name is powerful. It comes with certain benefits and privileges that most normal people never get the opportunity to experience. Giovanni Bellini hails from a long lineage of powerful, wealthy men on the Italian peninsula. He's from old money that can be traced as far back as the 1400s, meaning that he's never experienced a "normal life." His entire life consisted of large estates, lavish goods, and the feeling of being untouchable because money talks.
Elizabeth Holzknecht-Manzano was a German-Italian hailing from the Bronx, New York. Fast-talking and hustling were ingrained in her DNA as a way to keep her head above water and the lights on in her family's small apartment. There was no power or privilege associated with her last names that gave her an advantage in the world.
Somehow through chance and sheer luck Giovanni and Elizabeth crossed paths and the feisty waitress with the thick New York accent became Lizzie Bellini, a woman who no longer needed to work to keep the lights on because the world had been given to her.
It's a lot harder than it seems to go from one missed paycheck away from being evicted to being able to buy the entire block she grew up on. Lizzie made it her mission to give her children the most normal childhood she possibly could, knowing the privilege that they were born into.
Of course, being a Bellini isn't all privileges. There are drawbacks as well, that Lizzie couldn't prevent such as being whisked away without any notice to conferences half away across the country because Giovanni needed his entire family there to schmooze and rub elbows with other people whose last names give them extraordinary benefits.
~*~
"What does your dad do again?" Scarlett asks me through the screen. I snuck off from all the festivities of the night and have been drinking water and eating martini olives for the past hour. I'm over this night. I'm over this conference, and I'm over hot ass Houston. I just want to go back home and be with my girlfriend.
"A little bit of this and a little of that," I tell her, popping another olive in my mouth.
Scarlett scrunches up her nose and furrows her brows. She's wearing her glasses, with her hair tied up like a pineapple on top of her head. She looks like the world's cutest dork. "What does that even mean? Is he in the mafia?" She brings herself closer to the camera and raises her eyebrow.
"Where are you at? That doesn't look like my room." The bartender gives me a dirty look as I signal for more olives.
"Cause it's not. I'm in my dorm. Duh."
"Why aren't you at the house with the guys? I told you, you could stay there while I was gone."
"I didn't want to intrude on the guys. It feels weird to be there without you."
"You don't even like the dorms. You said that they're musty and you don't like Juliette so why are you still there?"
"I can hear you!" Juliette yells out. Scarlett rolls her eyes and mouths, "Bitch."
"Even more reason why you should go over to the house." I would feel a lot more comfortable being apart from Scarlett if she was at the house with the guys. Only because it seems like Scarlett gets herself in messy situations when left unattended.
"As much as I would love to spend the rest of the night chatting it up with you, I have a Chemistry exam that I need to study for." She says, ignoring my suggestion.
"So you're hanging up on me? Really? When you know that I don't want to be here?" I give her my best acting skills and pout, pretending to be upset with her.
"Sorry but Chem isn't going to pass itself, baby. I love you." She blows me a kiss, and I break out in a grin.
"I love you too, baby. See you soon." We disconnect, and I immediately shoot a text to Jeremiah, asking him if he could pick Scarlett up and bring her to the house. I know that she said that she didn't want to feel like she's intruding, but I also know how much she hates being in her dorm and around Juliette. They still haven't gotten along, and it's been more than a full semester of them rooming together. I understand, though. Juliette is a different kind of annoying.
I'm scrolling through Twitter, debating on if I should go up to my hotel room and call it a night when Regina and her crooked ass nose manifests beside me. Great, just when I thought this night couldn't get any worse, Regina shows up to remind me it can.
"What do you want Regina?" I'm in no mood for pleasantries tonight, especially towards her.
"Wow, a girl can't come over and say hi to her ex?" She questions. Regina pushes her long blonde hair behind her shoulder and looks up at me with her baby blues. Once upon a time, I would have been all over her, captured in the web of lies and deceit. Now I see through all her bullshit and see her for who she really is.
Regina and I have a very complicated history. Our fathers were business partners at one point, so we got close because she was always around. High school came and she ended up being a consistent fuck buddy. Regina was and is still a freak who was down for anything, anywhere. She was under the illusion that because we fucked so much, we were more than just fuck buddies.\, but I never saw Regina as more than an easy fuck.
"Fuck, buddy. We were fuck buddies Regina. Nothing more. Once we stopped fucking it meant I wanted nothing to do with you."
"Did we really ever stop fucking though? I still know all the ways to make your head spin baby. Let me show you." She purrs in my ear. I push her off me as gently as I can. Knowing Regina, any harder and she would have either fell to the ground and caused a scene or take it as permission to keep failing at flirting with me.
"Regina please stop. Have some respect for yourself and me. I have a girlfriend that I love. Stop throwing yourself at me and find someone else to harass."
Regina immediately lets go of me and straightens up. "I see you're still experimenting. That's fine and all. I had my phase too. His name was Jamal. Biggest cock I've ever ridden. He was a good lay, nowhere near as good as you were, but he could make me cum. However, I knew at the end of the day, he wasn't one of us, and he never would be. Eventually, the novelty is going to wear off like it did for me and you're going to come to your senses and remember who you are and your place in the world."
I can feel my anger rising, and my blood boiling. Regina is lucky that I don't hit women.
"Regina, for the love of God, shut the fuck up and leave me alone. We fucked a few times in high school, but it's over. You were the worst girl I've ever been with if I'm honest. If I wanted to fuck something that just laid there, I would have just fucked my pillow. I've had it up to here with you and your ignorant ass comments so I'm telling you this now. The next time you say anything negative about my relationship with Scarlett, I will not hesitate to let her fuck you up. She's been wanting to knock your nose straight since the Gala." I say as calmly as possible even though I'm vibrating with anger.
Regina's face goes red with rage. Tears brim in her eyes as she furrows up her face. "I don't know what the fuck happened to you, but you've changed since you started dating that..girl. You're going to regret talking to me like this. Do you know who my father is?"
I roll my eyes at her dramatics. "I know who Reginald is, and I know he's the reason why you're this spoiled little bitch who doesn't know how to take no for an answer."
"Fuck you, Lucas!" Regina screams at me, causing a few people to turn their attention to us as Regina storms off, her heels loudly clacking away.
The bartender looks over at me. "You finally want a real drink, or are you still going to eat all my olives?" I sigh and run my hands through my hair, not caring if I mess it up or not. I'm trying to stay sober tonight but fuck Regina is going to drive me to drink.
"I'm good," I tell her. She rolls her eyes at me, leaving me to attend to another patron. I'm trying not to drink as much because of Scarlett's past, and even though she's hundreds of miles away, I still want to respect that.
Someone runs their nails up my biceps to my neck. I shiver under their touch and I sigh. Here we go again. Regina doesn't know when to stop. "Regina didn't I tell you-" My blood runs cold as I turn around to see who's touching me.
"Lucas Bellini? Well, I'll be damned. Look how much you've grown." The voice purrs at me as her hand creeps up my neck. The hair on my neck stands up.
She touches my cheek and strokes my face. "Your father told me you were here. I've been looking all over for you. I should have known you'd be at the bar." She laughs. "Tell me is your favorite drink still rum and coke?" She gives me a knowing smile, sharing an inside "joke" with me.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" I whisper to her when the initial shock wears off. I didn't expect ever to see her again, let alone tonight.
"Now Lucas. That's no way to talk to me, after all, we were close once upon a time. I almost thought I'd ever see you again, but here you are in the flesh, even more, handsome than I remember." She leans in close enough that I can smell her perfume. Annick Goutal Ninfeo Mio. The scent flood my system and memories I tried so hard to forget, comes rushing back at me all at once, overwhelming me. Squeezing my eyes shut and exhaling, I try to block it all out and release the tension in me building up.
"Do you remember our last meeting? What was it? Your high school graduation?" Her ruby red nails creep down my chest. My heart rate speeds up as she continues traveling south.
"Your body still responds to me." Her lips touch my ear as she whispers to me. She finally takes a step back, giving me room to breathe. "It was great seeing you, Lucas. My husband is probably going crazy looking for me. Hopefully, we can reconnect before the weekend is over. See you soon."
When's she's out of view I release the breath I was holding in. My heart is still beating wildly, and I can still feel her nails digging into my skin. I catch the bartender as she's walking past me. "Let me get a bottle of the strongest drink you have."
~*~
I don't know how I make it back to my room. I could barely stand, let alone walk. I'm here now, swimming in the plush bed.
I haven't been this drunk since her. I can't believe I saw her again. I thought I finally got rid of her for good when her husband moved their family across the country, but there she was — the same as before.
The bed dips next to me as someone leans over me. I feel like I'm looking through a kaleidoscope, underwater, in the dark as I try to make out the figure. I'm fighting a losing battle with consciousness.
"Wha ares yous doing?" I slur out at the figure.
"Hush, sleep baby." She says, stroking my cheek before everything finally goes black.
-----------------------------------------
Excuse any typos!