Chapter 2.2 - Valentina

The house overlooks the sea, its floor-to-ceiling windows making it seem even bigger than it is.

"Where is everyone?" Raisa asks as we follow Vinnie through a hallway just off the main  entrance.

"By the pool." He answers before he opens a door that leads us back outside. 

This is a pool party??

"I don't have my bathing suit." Raisa whispers to me as we walk down the steps leading to the pool area.

The pool has a perfect view of the sea below and if I didn't have a fear of heights, I would try to climb on top of the rock wall, which is the closest point overlooking the cliffs in this whole estate. Also, the closest you can get to falling off and plunging to your death.

Raisa looks at me, still waiting for me to react to what she just said.

"Me neither." I tell her.

There's a bar by the pool where some people are huddled together, taking shots. I recognize  some girls in the pool, as well as some other people chilling on the canopy beds.

"I smell weed." I say to Raisa as soon as we come to a halt by the pool bar. Pia disappeared a few minutes ago and Eddie wandered off to greet some of his friends, so it's just the three of us now, and I feel much more comfortable.

"What do you want to drink?" Vinnie asks me, going behind the bar to the bottles. 

"Gin Tonic." Raisa and I both answer at the same time, taking a seat on the highchairs.

Vinnie starts mixing the drinks while Raisa and I take a moment to analyze everyone here. I  recognize Marco Giudice, another one of the Italian boys in our year, talking to his little sister Aurora while smoking a joint.

I smile. Of course he is.

Marco Giudice was a year below me in high school and I got along with him since he used to play ice hockey with Adrik. I don't know much  about Aurora, except for the fact that she used to come to their games.

Marco catches my eye while talking to his sister, and smiles, nodding in acknowledgement.

"He's kind of cute." Raisa says, leaning over to me so Vinnie wouldn't hear our conversation. 

"Who?"

She nods at Marco. "Marco."

It's hard for me to think of him as attractive, because I still picture him as one of my brother's best friends coming over to play video games. But, nevertheless, she's got a point. Athletic guys always have muscles in just the right places, and when it's not too much to be obvious but rather creeps on you silently then it's just-

"Yeah, he is."

Yes, he fucking is. He's wearing a pair of orange swimming trunks that go down to his knees,  showing off his tattoo of a pair of scales in balance. Not to mention, he has no shirt on, which is just-

"Are they dating?" Raisa proceeds to ask.

"What? Those two? No, they're siblings. That's his younger sister Aurora."

"Oh."

"She's still in high school, I think. She's like...sixteen."

We both look back at them, and before I can even think about how we might look like stalkers, Vinnie tells us our drinks are ready.

"Let's get into the pool. Makes drinking more fun." he says, gesturing with his glass towards  the pool.

"We didn't bring our bathing suits with us." I let him know, crossing my legs on the chair as I  lean down to take a sip of my gin.

"It's not the end of the world." Someone interjects, and a guy I've seen around before appears in my line of vision.

I'm not sure whether he wants to make a sexual joke or if he just thinks he's funny, but before I can figure him out he's already looking away. He pats Vinnie on the back before shaking his hand and pulling him into a side-hug.

"Vincenzo, how are things? I haven't seen you in weeks, you son of a bitch!"

His Italian accent is almost nonexistent, but I can tell he's Italian from the way he accentuates  his sentences. He looks really familiar, but I can't place him. He looks at Raisa, then at me,  before raising his glass to us. "Cheers."

Right. I've seen him at parties around Manhattan before, and I know he's a year above me.

His phone starts ringing so he takes it to his ear, winks at Vinnie, then walks away.

"Who was that?" I ask Raisa, who followed him with her eyes.

She laughs and rolls her eyes. "Like you don't know him."

"He looks familiar."

"That's Matteo." Vinnie smiles, like he knows something I don't. "I'm gonna go see what's up with him. See you girls around."

Raisa and I watch him walk away, and as soon as she makes sure he can't hear us, she leans  over to me. "That's Matteo Giudice."

I frown, looking at her shocked. "Giudice as in, related to Marco and Aurora?"

She nods. "He's the oldest, in Vinnie's year. They're best friends."

"How do you know him?"

She shrugs. "We hooked up before summer started."

My jaw drops. "What? How did I not know!?"

"You were too busy with James to actually notice that I had a sneaky link sometimes."

I look in the direction she's looking, over to the stairs leading back to the house, where Marco and Vinnie are talking to Matteo. 

Now that I think about it, I kind of know him. I've seen him at parties, in America and in Italy, everywhere, really, but just because it was the place to be for people at our school. The reason I noticed him was because he's always shouting something or pouring people drinks.

Also, he's got tattoos. There's a scale on his calf, something on the side of his neck and on his arms. And even though he's wearing a t-shirt now, I can tell he works out by the way his biceps bulge as he crosses his arms.

"He looks good." I say, deciding to look away.

"He fucks good, too."

I throw her a look. "Good to know."

She smiles and then holds her glass up. "Fuck it, let's have fun."

I nod, knocking my glass against hers. "Agreed."

Then, I spot someone sitting down on a lounge chair talking to a blonde girl I've also seen  around.

"Isabella." I say, before I'm out of my chair and already making my way towards my roommate. "I'll be right back." I tell Raisa, who waves me off.

She can take care of herself at a party, for sure.

Isabella sees me approaching and gets up from the lounge chair, excitedly opening her arms. I like her. She's one of the few people I decided not to cut off after high school. She's the type of  friend who you don't have to talk to everyday for the friendship to still be intact when you come back. It's based on mutual love and unspoken loyalty because we've been through a lot  together. I know that what we talk about stays between us, and she knows it too. I can tell by her eyes. You can always tell based on the eyes.

"Valentinaa!" she exclaims, hugging me when we're close enough. I hug her back, squeezing her a little to let her know that I've missed her.

The blonde looks up and extends her hand without standing up. "I'm Ariana."

"Valentina."

She smiles at me, but I can't tell if it's fake.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were in Spain!" I tell Isabella as she takes a sip from my gin.

"I just came back tonight." She smiles. "What have you been up to these past few weeks?"

I think about how I've literally done nothing but pretending to read, scroll on my phone, and watch the occasional movie on N*****x.

"Some self-care." I sum up, wiggling my eyebrows to laugh it off. "You?"

"Same thing. I just laid in the sun all day and watched hot surfers showing off."

"Well, you've had a better summer than mine then." I tell her, just as Ariana chimes in.

"We should go see the boys." She tells Isabella and cocks her head with a look that lets me know it's code for something. Then she looks in my direction, and back at Isabella.

"Do you want to come with?" Isabella asks, motioning with her head towards the villa.

I think about it for a moment, because I have no idea what they're talking about or if I'd like to see these 'boys', but I know it can't be that bad.

"Sure."

Ariana replies to a text on her phone and steps out in front of us, leading the way.

I look around for Raisa but can't find her, so I decide to text her that I'm going inside for a bit. I can't help but feel responsible for her, even though she's the one who suggested we come here.

We climb up the same flight of circular stairs, but we go one level higher, onto a large balcony overlooking the east side of the cliffs.

Ariana slides a door open and we enter a large hallway with doors on each side. I follow them to the door on the left, which opens into a suite.

I stop by the door and watch as Ariana opens yet another door on the left of the hallway, to reveal a bathroom. There are two people in there, and I recognize both. One of them is Marco Giudice holding up a plate and the  other one is Eddie Barone, bending over to snort white lines off it.

"Where's Matty?" Ariana asks and I make eye contact with Marco. He looks at me weirdly,  like he's ashamed that I just caught him trying to snort coke off a plate in a bathroom. 

"Bedroom." Marco answers after looking away from me.

Ariana closes the door and walks further along the hallway before finally reaching the bedroom.

"We're here." Isabella announces and plops herself down on the bed next to the guy from  before, Matteo, then kisses his cheek. Vinnie is sitting on the couch next to the bed, looking surprised to see me. I look down at Matteo, who is in the process of separating a small pile of cocaine into not-so-small lines.

I should be alarmed by the amount on the plate for legal reasons, but I don't know why I'm not even slightly surprised by the situation. Private schools, private jets, private villas, everything that's private means people have the means to pay to protect their secrets. 

My father does it too, even though I'm pretty sure he thinks no one has picked up on it. Private planes, bigger houses, better cars, more money, more business trips, which he never talks about. Cameras outside and high stone fences. And my mother is either oblivious or plays like she's oblivious. The first option is the scarier one. 

"You want one?" 

I snap back to reality and look at Matteo. He's holding up the plate in one hand, a rolled-up bill in the other.

"Sure." I say and take the bill from his hand.

I push my hair back. "Can you stand up and hold it so I don't have to lean down?" I ask.

He looks up at me surprised, like I'd just given him an order or something, not moving an inch. I take the plate from his hand and ask Isabella to hold it. She shoots Matteo an annoyed look before she stands up and holds the plate for me.

"Here you go."

I look down at the line, then at Matteo, before I lean my head over the plate and inhale the line through the bill.

My nose burns for a split second as I place the bill on the plate, then it's over. 

"Good shit, right?" Ariana asks me as she takes over the plate.

I shrug. My nose hasn't gone numb yet, so we'll see.

My update schedule will be 5-6 chapters a week, Tuesday through Sunday :D

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')

A comment/message/feedback is always appreciated :)

Have a good day, and see you on Tuesday!

xoxo,

Ronnie