Valentina opens her mouth to answer but Matteo's phone starts ringing. It's Isabella Facetiming him.
"Hi."
"Are you done with your exam?" she asks in Italian. Matteo turns the camera to show Valentina. She waves. "Valentinaaa!" Isabella excitedly screams. "Are you in Sicily? This is perfect! Let's talk about Vinnie and Pia's birthday because for some reason she thinks I should be helping her with it."
"Don't be mean." Matteo tells her in Italian, then switches to English. "Didn't she say she wanted to do something in Ibiza?"
"Yes, but everything is closed because of Covid. She was crying when she called."
Matteo snorts and looks at Valentina, who is too focused on the sea to even listen to their conversation.
"I think I have an idea." Matteo says after thinking about it for a minute. "I know some guys on the island, I can arrange a yacht."
"Yacht party?! She'll love that. I'll tell Vinnie too."
At this, Valentina turns her head to look at the phone.
"I'll call them now." Matteo says and Isabella ends the call.
Valentina passes the joint and watches Matteo look up someone in his contacts before holding the phone up to his ear. He knows Marcus from the last time he was in Ibiza.
Marcus knows his father because he's been helped by their company before (Matteo doesn't know the details), and has sworn his loyalty to their family, telling them he'll help them anytime they're in Ibiza. With anything they could possibly need.
"Ciao Matteo!" he answers in Italian.
"Hi, I need a favor."
"Anything."
"My friends' birthday is tomorrow, and I can't find anywhere to celebrate it. I need a yacht with a staff and a DJ."
Valentina looks at him with a look that makes Matteo feel weird, but then he realizes they're both high. After all, he has access to the best weed in Italy.
Marcus tells him to wait on the line while he makes a call, so Matteo looks down at his slides, listening to the song that plays while he's on hold. His eyes travel to Valentina's ankles and he raises his eyebrows when he spots a tattoo peeking out from her sneaker.
"Okay, it's done." Marcus says and Matteo can hear the pride in his voice. "There's a yacht waiting for you in Port Eivissa tomorrow at eight pm. I'll be waiting with a bus at the airport, just let me know what time."
Matteo smiles and passes the joint. "Perfect. Grazie, Marcus."
The line goes dead and Matteo places the phone down.
"What? Is it done already?" Valentina asks, surprised.
"Yes. I know a guy."
Matteo texts their Italian group chat about the details. All of the Barone kids, his own siblings, as well as Isabella and Ariana are in the group.
Isabella: Valentina is obviously invited too, right?
Vinnie: ofc
"You coming too, right?" Matteo asks when he reads the message.
Valentina shrugs. "When is it?"
"Tomorrow."
"Matteeeoooo." Aurora sings from inside.
"Out here." Matteo answers in English.
"We're going to Ibiza- oh, hello." Aurora says, stopping in her tracks when she sees Valentina. She looks at Matteo for a second, then back at her, smiling. "You're coming too?"
Valentina looks down at her shirt. "I only have this outfit with me. I planned on going back today."
"I have an entire closet full of clothes, you can borrow mine." She offers, waving it off. Matteo frowns at her. Since when is Aurora nice to anyone?
Valentina is looking at him questioningly, as if asking him if it's okay.
"You can stay here until you want to leave, we have enough guest rooms."
"Great, then I want to have a shower, like, now." she says, standing up. "Show me to my room?"
Aurora takes the joint from her and sits down in her place, crossing one leg over the other. "I'll be here."
Matteo leads Valentina to one of the guest rooms down the hall, the only one who has an en suite bathroom and a closet.
"Thanks. Do you have towels?" Valentina asks as she looks around the room before going over to the bathroom. "Nevermind, I see there are towels here. Thanks."
Matteo returns on his balcony, where Aurora is currently sitting with an extinguished joint between her fingers. He sits down in his seat and takes it from her fingers, making a point of lighting it up.
"Since when are you two friends?" Aurora asks, wiggling her eyebrows.
"Since- I don't know." It occurs to Matteo just now that he first became aware of her last summer. "Last year? She's Isabella's best friend."
"Why is she here?"
"She helped me take an online exam. I flew her in from Moscow. How do you even know her?"
Aurora looks like she panics for a second, but she quickly composes herself. "I've seen her around. I like her."
"You don't like anyone."
"I just graduated from high school on a random Thursday, no ceremony, nothing. How long is this virus even going to last?" she asks, changing the subject.
"We're going on a trip to Ibiza tomorrow, I don't think we should be whining about it." Matteo finds himself saying, feeling not like himself but like his father.
"You sound exactly like dad." She jokes and rolls her eyes. "Have you even seen him today?"
Matteo shakes his head.
"Can I get some clothes?"
The two of them look towards the door, where Valentina's standing with a towel around her body and wet hair.
Aurora stands up and waves her hands excitedly. "Of course. I'm going to make you look like you were born to be Italian."
Valentina throws Matteo a confused look, but all he can do is smile and shrug, having no idea what Aurora even meant.
Aurora comes back eventually, long after Matteo has finished the joint.
"You're still here?" she asks, dropping down on the chair.
Matteo doesn't even know how much time has passed since he's been sitting in the chair he always sits in, looking out to the sea. He can't even remember the last time he just sat here, simply staring out where the water meets the sky. He's been trying so hard to figure out what makes Valentina so certain she would never be sad with this view, that he hadn't even realized he didn't get bored by just sitting.
"What else am I supposed to do?"
"We should go out tonight. It's nearly six."
"We're on a nation wide lockdown, Aurora." Matteo reminds her.
"Yes, but I'm going to lose my mind if I have to stay in this house for one more day! Dad comes and goes whenever he wants, why wouldn't we?"
Because dad owns the police on this island, Matteo thinks, but doesn't say.
"Pia also wants to. Come on, let's convince Vinnie and Isabella and let's all go out! We can show Valentina around, we can't just keep her inside until tomorrow."
"What about me?" Valentina asks, stepping outside. She's wearing a short white satin dress Matteo has seen Aurora wear around the house before.
"I was just telling my brother that we have to go out tonight, we can't just keep you inside instead of showing you beautiful Palermo."
"I wouldn't mind." Valentina says and sits down on the bench by the stone railing, facing the two of them. "But isn't Italy on lockdown because you have the highest death rate in the world or something?"
"Exactly, so the streets are going to be empty, even better!"
"What about the police?"
Matteo looks at Valentina and nods, agreeing with her question. Aurora waves it off. "Eh, no worries. We'll deal with them if it gets to it. I'll text the groupchat."
Aurora leaves after that, and Matteo lights up a cigarette.
"Do you know each other?" he asks Valentina, who's typing away on her phone. She looks younger than usual, in the white dress with semi-wet hair.
"Who? Me and your sister? Not really. I just know she's your sister."
"Hm."
"Why?"
"No reason."
Valentina doesn't ask any further questions, so Matteo also focuses on his phone.
Aurora: let's go out in Palermo tonight
Aurora: everyone bring a bottle of wine
Aurora: let's walk around Palermo
Pia: why would we do that
Aurora: because I'm going to DIE if I spend another day locked inside
Matteo thinks about his father for a moment. If he'd hear them complain about being locked in a giant mansion by the water with a pool and everything you could possibly want, he'd laugh at them and tell them to come back to reality.
Valentina's right, when you have everything, nothing is exciting anymore. Living in lockdown during a pandemic in a giant mansion can become depressing, especially if you know, deep down, that you should be more grateful about where you are and what you have. Matteo never realized he was bored and burnt out until Valentina came to Italy. Every day has been the same, but he's gotten used to it.
"Don't your parents mind you being in Italy during Covid?"
Valentina looks up from her phone. "I just texted them. They're not excited about it, but they'll deal. My dad travels for work anyway."
"He's a businessman, right?"
"Right." Valentina answers, with a hint of hesitation in her voice.
Matteo doesn't mention it, but he remembers her telling Isabella about how her parents are trying to keep someone dying a secret. He also remembers his first instinct being 'mafia', but then she explained that her father is a businessman and that they were just being secretive about it.
Sometimes Matteo forgets that his reality does exist, but there are very few people in the world who are in it as deep as he is. Born into it, stumbling upon the truth when young, doing jobs that got more dangerous each time, using drugs to make money to buy other drugs, and so on.
Also, he tried googling her name to find her dad, but all he got was a link to her I*******m and F******k. She doesn't post as much as the other girls Matteo follows, and she definitely looks better in real life than in photos.
"What are you thinking about?"
Her question makes him snap back to reality. He's never been asked that before in his life. He also can't really answer the question truthfully.
"How things aren't always what they seem."
She lights up a cigarette and turns around to watch the sea, smiling up at the sun. Matteo looks back at his phone screen.
Pia: meet in front of your house in 20?
Matteo sends a thumbs up emoji before deciding to go change out of his tank and shorts into something more appropriate for going out. He finds a pressed white linen shirt and clean jean shorts in his closet. Good enough.
"Let's go get the wine first." Aurora tells the two of them when they meet in the foyer.
They go down to their wine cellar, stocked to the brim with wines produced by their own company, some of the bottles being ever older than Matteo.
"Il Giudice 2010?" Valentina reads off a bottle she picks out. Matteo walks over and takes the bottle to read it.
"Yes, it's the batch from 2010. It's good wine, I think. I prefer spirits."
"Yes, but Giudice? Wait, are all of these Giudice?"
"It's our family winery."
Matteo doesn't tell her that you can find this type of wine in every store selling alcohol in Sicily, if not all of Italy.
"Do you sell it?" she asks anyway.
"Some of it." Matteo answers and picks out a random bottle. "Let's go."
---
Writing this chapter is such a pleasure for me, I can't even describe it. I just hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing :)
To see more about the story/chapter photos/previews you can follow the story account on I*******m @gamesweplayseries
You can get in touch with me on:
- I*******m: ronniebennett94
- TikTok: ronniewrites
- G***l: ronniebenett22@g***l.com (with just 1 'n')
Have a good day!
xoxo,
Ronnie
They take Matteo's convertible, with Vinnie sitting in the passenger's seat holding a bag of wine bottles. Pia, Aurora, and Valentina are sitting in the back, already sharing the bottle from 2010. Marco and Eddie chose to stay home and play Fifa, and Isabella is waiting for them in front of the restaurant in the city.The drive takes just fifteen minutes because there's not even one car in sight, and the city feels different when it's deserted. The sun is setting behind them and the silence is eerie as Matteo parallel parks in front of their closed restaurant."It's weird, right? The silence." Aurora says in English, hopping out of the car without even opening the door, then grabs a bottle from Vinnie's bag."Shouldn't we at least be wearing masks?" Valentina asks, looking around."Don't be a loser." Pia laughs and shakes her head, taking the bottle from Aurora's hand. "There's no one around. Salute!" She raises the bottle and takes a long sip from it."Yes, that's the spirit!" A
Matteo takes out his driver's license and a 100 Euro bill before handing them over to the guy who spoke to him. Then he motions for Aurora to get out of the fountain."If you think this bribery will work then you're mistaken, Mr..." the officer trails off as he reads his name, voice breaking at the end. "Oh. Mr. Giudice?""Yes, and that 'blonde' is my little sister, Aurora." Matteo adds, pointing to her, before placing both of his hands in his pockets and finally relaxing.The other policeman checks his ID as well, looking at him then at the photo about five times before handing the ID back to him. The 100 Euro bill didn't make it back, of course."Have a good night." The first to talk smiles at him, before bowing his head and going back to the car.
ValentinaPalermo, Sicily 2020 – summer I wake up in an unfamiliar room with a dry mouth, completely disoriented. It takes me a few seconds to realize that the cream-colored ceiling and the matching drapes don't belong to my bedroom in Russia.Fragments of my dream come back to me as soon as I completely wake up. I try to shake them off, bury them somewhere deep in my brain where I'll never find them again. It's a new day, but the view I have of the trees doesn't look like rainy Moscow.Then I remember that I'm in Sicily, sleeping in a guest room in Matteo's house. I sit up and groan, rubbing my eyes and running my hands through my hair. I can still taste the wine from last night.My mom wasn't too happy about me being in Italy during the pandemic, but getting out of the house after two months feels good. My dad hasn't even read the messages I sent in the group yesterday.Raisa: you're in Palermo????"Uuugh." I say under my breath as I read the message she sent last night. While I
Raisa: I talked to ArianaRaisa: I'm flying out in an hour, see you there!!"¡Se deve autoinvitarsi, dille almeno di portare Aleksi!" For a moment I think Matteo's talking to me, but then I see him holding the phone up to his mouth to send voice memos. All I understood was 'autoinvite' and Aleksi, which tells me everything I need to know."Who are you talking to?" I ask.---See you on Wednesday !I hope you enjoy the book x"Vinnie. Your friend is coming too."I squint at him. "'My friend' is your friend too."Matteo pretends not to hear me as he lights another cigarette."And don't act like it's such a drag that she's coming. You know exactly why you want Alex there."He rolls his eyes. "Did I say anything? You're the one getting defensive."I don't bother telling him I heard it in his tone, the way he told Vinnie that Raisa invited herself in Italian, thinking I couldn't understand him. I know Spanish, or at least I understand it from all the telenovelas I used to watch and the
As if on cue, I hear Isabella calling my name. We meet by the door. She looks very happy and pleased with what she heard. It relaxes me enough to trust the process."Your turn."I take my seat in front of Pandora, who is busy shuffling the cards and looking at an unlit candle.
"No." I answer. "Plus, it's summer. I want to enjoy myself, have fun. I think we should hang out when I'm in Sicily with my family. Is Capo d'Orlando far away?""Are you kidding? It's not even that far! A two hour drive, tops." she excitedly says. "We'll definitely hang out. Maybe I can come over to your house, since I live in the city and I love the beach."
MatteoSicily, Italy – spring/summer 2020Friday May 29th, 2pmHis father calls him as he's smoking a joint on his balcony, staring out at the sea with nothing on his mind. He remembers waking up two times before actually getting out of bed.First time, it was Valentina saying his name that brought him back to reality. He was still semi-unconscious when he told her something he cannot remember now.The second time, it was a pair of flip flops slapping against the ground that stirred him awake. Lastly, he couldn't fall asleep after that, so he got out of bed.Isabella's idea of the girls going to see a psychic put him in a better mood. Their childlike excitement made him happy inside, like he was surrounded by people he could trust. That's why he allowed himself to make the occasional snarky remark. He decided that the two of them could hold their own against him.The moment his father calls though, his good mood shatters.He places the joint in one of the cigarette-holders of the asht
Friday, 3:40pm Isabella and Valentina have been gone for over three hours now, and Matteo has been driving himself insane thinking about the initiation ritual. He just wants a distraction, and this weekend is perfect for that. He wants to get the airport, get to Ibiza, get on that yacht, and get wasted. So wasted he parties through the whole day into Sunday, where he'll sleep for a few hours before his father will wake him up.