Bianca

“Did I hear right? You exchanged numbers with the boys, right?” Dad asked as he dropped me off at my dorm. I hadn’t wanted him to drive, but he’d sobered up somewhat after a couple of espressos.

“Yeah,” I whispered.

He patted me on the knee as if I was five years old. “Good. I just need to get Dante on my side so he can look at this app.”

Since I’d spent the evening trying to stop myself from getting wet from Carlo’s touch, the scam had flown right out of my head, but the frustration came flooding back with his reminder. 

“Dad, you never told me you invented things. Why the hell didn’t you tell me this was all part of some scam? I go to school with these guys—did you think, or even care, about how this would reflect on me when it all goes sour?”

In the end, he hadn’t even told Dante exactly what the app he supposedly developed was supposed to do. And wasn’t that supposed to have been the whole point of the dinner?

I was upset, disappointed, and fed up with him using me. Him being my dad didn’t seem a good enough reason to put up with his behavior.

“Calm down, it’s not a scam. I never told you a lot of things. It was hard back then. I would invent, go to these roadshows before you were even born. Then someone would invent the same thing, but better, and get more money for it.”

He ran his hand over his head, then sighed and smiled sadly. “I noticed you had a couple of glasses at dinner, but then you stopped. You were always a good girl… just don’t take after your old man.”

“My old man’s not so bad.”

I hated myself for lying and trying to reassure him, but I was a sucker.

He sighed. “If only it was true, Rose.”

I smiled at hearing him call me Rose. The pet name Mom used all the time.

God, I missed her.

“Anyway, we’ll catch up in the morning after I’ve had breakfast with Dante. We’re going to talk shop.”

“And what if he says no? Then what?”

He winked at me. “You don’t want to know. Now go and get some beauty sleep. You did good tonight. I think the boys like you.”

Like wasn’t the word I would use.

I kissed him on the cheek and then headed inside, smiling as I thought about dinner. Even if Dad was chasing money and pimping me out for the night, it had been fun. Dad was fun. He was a typical car salesman, and he had enough stories to keep everyone entertained all night, including the triplets.

I felt my phone vibrate as I scanned my ID to get into the building, swiping to view the text from the unknown number.

Unknown: Let me know when you take that sexy number off. You looked hot tonight, I want to see if you look as hot without it. C.

 It was clear Carlo wanted more than to help me with my thesis, and he had something dirty in mind. I smiled as I thought about the idea of someone like him being interested in me. He was the most popular one out of the three brothers, and he’d certainly been friendly tonight.

To be fair, it was really only Alessandro that I despised, not the three of them. Alessandro was the one who made women feel uneasy, the one who would voice his latest conquest. He was the one who didn’t fit the bill of the type of person I’d want to be with.

The more I thought about the night, the more my smile grew. I’d broken all my rules by wearing a dress too short, putting my hair up, and wearing more makeup than I normally would.

I walked up to my room with the text on my mind.

Should I take it off and reply to him or should I wait?

I smiled as I opened the door and saw that Erika wasn’t in the room. This meant she had somewhere else to crash, most likely her boyfriend’s, and I wouldn’t have to fill her in on the night’s events.

I tossed my purse, closed the door, and started to strip, wondering if I should send Carlo a picture of me in my underwear. Luckily, I had one set of decent lingerie that I bought when I came to Yale, hoping that the V-card I’d so dearly been holding onto would one day be lost.

Here goes nothing!

I took a selfie as I tried to find the right pose and light, which could only be found in the bathroom, and sent him a picture, giggling like a teenager as I waited for his reply. 

Nothing.

I brushed my teeth and washed my face, deciding that I was too tired to shower tonight. I would do that first thing in the morning. 

Nothing.

I put on my Betty Boop oversized t-shirt. I was a fan… why not? She was sexy and everything I wasn’t, even if she was only animation. Besides, Mom was a big fan of hers, so wearing Betty Boop kept her spirit alive.

Nothing.

I turned the light off and crept into bed, deciding to check my phone one last time.

Shit!

There was a group chat called Ethics, with the picture I’d just sent to Carlo set as the group’s photo. I checked out the members, and sure enough, Carlo, Alessandro, and Adolfo were there.

The group’s description was Rose´s road to ethics, and there were two messages:

Adolfo: Bella

Alessandro: Bellisima

Were they saying my photo was beautiful?

I didn’t reply as I thought about the boys I thought I didn’t want near me ever in a million years… until tonight. Now I was dreaming about them having their hands all over my body. They’d made me feel special, just by creating a group. Made me feel sexy with a few simple words.

Maybe it was time to let my hair down. College would soon be over, and my only achievements would be to graduate, have Erika as a best friend, and have an ex-boyfriend who claimed college was for studying, not dating… even though he’d been seeing a girl for the better part of the three years since we broke up.