Chapter 7: Unfounded Apathy

Matteo 

Manhattan, New York, United States 2020 – winter/spring

Matteo takes out a small silver box from the pocket by the door, then leans back into the seat. Valentina looks at his fingers, which are now holding a pre-rolled joint.

"Lucky how?" he asks, interested in  entertaining this discussion. 

He can't figure out whether she's joking or being deadly serious, because she didn't even  flinch nor ask questions when he told her the police let him go free for punishable offenses. 

Valentina watches him light up the joint. "Getting to go free when you get caught doing  illegal stuff." She says, smirking at the irony of the situation. Her phone beeps.

Matteo cocks his head. "How would that account to luck though?"

He sees Isabella rolling  her eyes because she knows that if Matteo is good at something, then that's carrying an  argument and seeing it all the way to the end.

He takes a few drags and then looks at her expectantly. "Hello?"

She looks up from her phone. "Right, sorry. What did you ask?"

"What makes me the lucky one in this whole situation? I'm curious."

"The right... circumstances."

Matteo raises his eyebrows and passes her the joint. She takes it without looking down and  continues. "Knowing the right people, at the right time." He watches her take a long drag,  waiting for him to reply.

"That type of luck is made." 

Valentina tilts her head and frowns. "Is it your case though?"

Isabella snorts and Matteo looks at her. "Maybe not."

"What are you even talking about?" Isabella chimes in, looking between the two of them.  "You're chatting legit nonsense."

Valentina hands her the joint. "Join us then."

Matteo looks down at his phone, zoning out but smiling.

***

Before Matteo goes to sleep on Sunday around 12:30am (so he would be up for classes on  Monday) his father calls him on video.

"Fuck. Fuck." He hisses and stands up properly in his bed.

He switches to the App on his laptop. "Yes,  hello?"

His father is sitting in his office chair calling him on a private software their company had  installed a few years ago for all its members. He looks tired and has half of his shirt  unbuttoned.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to sleep."

He's at their apartment in Utica, which Matteo uses when he's not in the city and  has to attend classes.

"Are you in the city?"

"No, I have classes tomorrow." Matteo sighs, knowing damn well his father sometimes  checks up on his attendance. Usually at the beginning and end of the semesters.

"I talked to the chief of police today. You're cleared of everything, it never happened."

Matteo remembers how Valentina seemed to understand that some people could actually get  away with bad things. "Why didn't we get arrested?"

His father looks down at his glass. "I know the people leading the police force. They owed me  a few favors."

"Do you pay them?"

"Yes."

Matteo nods. He already knew that, instinctively. He wants to ask if it's a monthly payment,  but he knows it is.

"What happened to the... stuff?"

"Don't push it. What were you thinking, having that stuff in the house?" Matteo rolls his eyes. "That can't be news to you."

"Not the using, the holding! You need to be more careful-"

"This never happens, you know. Someone called the police."

His father nods. "I know. It was Vincenzo's girlfriend, Sophia."

Matteo nods. They suspected her already, but the fact that his father confirmed it made it official.

"Do you know why she called the police?"

"Because she had a fight with Vinnie, apparently. I don't know, no one's ever done that  before."

"I know. It put you in danger."

"I mean-we're fine now." Matteo frowns, not knowing whether his father's voice is just serious  or has gotten darker.

"You go to classes for a while, stay out of the city."

"Yes dad." Matteo says, running a hand through his hair as he watches himself in the camera. He's getting impatient.

"Who did you talk to about this outside the family?"

"Uh..." he wants to say no one, but the fact that he spoke to Valentina about it makes it  difficult to lie.  He only lied once in his life, then never again. Maybe he avoids telling the truth sometimes, but he never lies.

"Don't talk about these things with people who aren't in the family, people who you can't  trust. Be smart, son."

"Yes, I will." Matteo replies as if on automatic pilot. Then he checks the date. Shit, it's  January 6th. "Happy birthday, by the way." 

His father smiles. "Thank you. I forgot. What's Marco doing?"

"Sleeping, probably."

"Okay. Take care. We'll be in touch."

"Bye."

Matteo shuts his laptop and places it on the other side of the bed as he gets under the covers. For a second he worries about talking to Valentina about the incident, because she's friends with Raisa who loves to gossip. He decides to blindly trust that she won't  discuss anything with anyone, then tries to go to sleep.

***

Waking up at nine on a Monday is not something Matteo likes to do, so when the alarm goes  off that morning, he curses everything that has led to him to this moment. The coffee

machine in the kitchen is broken so he keeps cursing as he uses the last pack of  instant coffee he finds in a cupboard.

Matteo drinks it down in three gulps. It sucks. He also doesn't  know where or what course he has to attend, he just remembers seeing a notification about a  class on Monday at 10.

He figures it out on the way and arrives five minutes before it's supposed to start, happy to  find Isabella waving at him from the back row.

"Can you help me with my schedule? I applied to all the courses, but I can't tell when and  where they're supposed to be." He asks, placing his laptop on the small fold-out table.  Isabella looks at him annoyed before she opens his laptop and signs into his university  account. 

"See this little tab at the top that says 'schedule'? You click on it. How did you even survive  until now?"

Matteo shrugs. "I mostly only ever went to exams or when Vinnie asked." "You're a disgrace." She jokes before she waves at someone else.

Valentina takes her coat off before sitting down on the other side of Isabella and greeting  them both.

"I miscalculated how long it would take to stop and get coffee." She says and places her cup  on the table, smiling.

"How can you be in such a good mood in the morning?" Matteo asks.

"It's either this or I'm in a bad mood. And nobody wants that." She smiles as she ties her hair  up in a ponytail.

The professor enters the room and it suddenly gets quiet. Matteo only fully reads the course  name when "International Economics" pops up on the giant screen.

The three of them also have another law course together at 12pm, so staying together makes  the most sense for Matteo, who doesn't even know where the buildings are. He kind of zones  out during the break, just following Isabella's lead while the girls talk non-stop. 

How can someone always find something to talk about, he thinks as he watches Valentina and  Isabella a few steps ahead of him.

"Yo!"

Vinnie pats him on the back as soon as they stop in front of a smaller building. Matteo's  mood picks up then, because Vinnie always has a good energy and makes things more fun.

"I was wondering whether you'd show up because I forgot to text you." He smirks and they  start walking towards the entrance. They find four seats in the middle, but Raisa also spots  them and joins them, which also shifts the mood.

Matteo can tell when someone's into him, and Raisa isn't even making it exciting at this  point. It's obvious she likes him and Matteo knows that money is a big part of it, but  sometimes he just likes to have sex when he feels like it with whomever he feels like.

Time seems to stop while the lecture drags on for 90 minutes, but soon enough it's almost 2  and someone suggests going to lunch at a restaurant nearby. They meet some  other friends there so they all decide to get a table for ten.

The restaurant isn't that crowded, so they get their orders soon enough, but the lunch drags  on because some people got drunk and now everything is funny to them. It's one of those  times when Matteo wishes he hadn't taken the car because he feels like he's the only one  sober and not enjoying himself.

Valentina orders a bottle of prosecco to share with Isabella, with the excuse of celebrating the first university day of the year. Raisa excitedly joins them and suggests  splitting it to three.

They have to head to the last course of the day which Matteo shares with Valentina and  Isabella, so around thirty minutes before the course is supposed to start he suggests they get  going. Vinnie asks for the bill and Matteo doesn't even bother asking the girls for their share,  because five minutes later the guys have all split the bill between them and left the cash on  the table, with an extra tip.

"I'm definitely tipsy after three glasses." Valentina laughs with Isabella as they put their  coats on. As they leave, Matteo sees her drop two hundred-dollar bills into the glass already filled with  money. 

It's the first time since he can remember that he's seen a woman add money to the bill and  pay her part. Nobody else seems to notice, but it's enough to make Matteo respect her as a  person, not just Isabella's friend.

---

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