Chapter 3.1 - Matteo

Around 9pm, Matteo's phone beeps in his pocket. He's just about to start a new game of Fifa alone (since his brother and Vinnie both spend time on campus on weekdays).

Isabella Altieri: arriving in 2

He turns off his PS4 and walks over to the desk. He takes a plate full of powder cocaine out of the drawer and quickly fixes himself a line. Sure enough, Isabella's laugh is heard from down the hall and the door opens. She comes in with numerous shopping bags and Valentina trailing behind her, also holding a vast number of bags.

"We're back!" Isabella sings and drops the load of bags on the floor in the corner by the mini bar.

"You didn't hold back huh." Matteo jokes and watches Valentina look around the room. "I think I've been here before." She says. "Weird."

Matteo looks at her for a second then turns back to Isabella. "So what did you buy?"

She takes out her wallet and shows him the receipts. "We got decorations, neon glow sticks we'll turn into bracelets, then we found these cute halloweeny buckets we can use for VIP bottle service- oh! And these web decorations to make it look like the VIP is filled with spiders."

"Tell her about the big spider." Valentina chimes in and starts rummaging through the bags.

"Oh! And we found a big spider prop which we thought would be fun if it looked like a mama spider at the entrance to the area."

Valentina holds up a giant tarantula plush toy, which has eight eyes and eight legs.

"That looks...not scary." Matteo smiles. "I mean, it all sounds and looks good to me. If you need people to set it up, use our security."

"I mean, you could also help." Valentina remarks and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Yes, but I can also pay someone to help instead of me." Matteo smiles back, then goes to grab some of the bags.

***

When Matteo arrives at Redlight on October 31st dressed as the devil, the inside is almost unrecognizable. There's white fog everywhere but not too much to be annoying, orange and black lights move around the room in sync with the music, and there are skeletons, spiders, zombies and other Halloween props scattered all around.

He finds Isabella in the VIP area on the couch, talking to Vinnie. The doors opened five minutes ago, and there's still a giant queue outside.

"This is amazing Izzy, well done." Matteo says, hugging her from the side after he sits down, then looks out past the elevated VIP area and onto the dancefloor. The DJ is right at the entrance, to the left, and the people who get tables can see everything that goes on in the club.

"I mean, Valentina helped a lot and had good ideas, so we both deserve the credit." She says, hugging him back. "She even came up with names for the VIP menus. "My favorite one is Jack O'Lantern for whiskey. Wait, no. Gin Skeletonic."

Matteo grabs a can of RedBull from the pumpkin shaped ice bucket at their table. That's their usual table of ten, reserved always for Matteo and his friends. That way he can easily step back into the staff hallway which is in the back of the VIP area, while also seeing everything happening in the club. That's how he spotted Aleksi dealing drugs in the first place.

"What are you supposed to be?" Isabella asks.

"The Devil, clearly." He smirks.

"You threw on some devil ears and a red T-shirt. You're not the devil."

"I could've come out here in nothing and I'd still be the devil." Matteo says, trying to act all mysterious.

"Do you pick up girls with that line?" Isabella retorts, disappointed. "If you do, no wonder why your standards are so low." Matteo pouts and Isabella shrugs. "Am I wrong?"

"I do have standards."

"Prove it."

"I dated Allison."

Before Isabella can say something, Valentina and Raisa climb the four stairs leading to the VIP area.

"Hi, oh my god what took so long?" Isabella asks Valentina as she helps them drop their bags on the couch, sliding over to make room. Valentina sits down first next to Matteo, and Raisa next to her.

Valentina leans over closer to Matteo, mirroring Isabella, so they can understand each other over the music. "The queue is long as fuck and then the coatroom took forever." Valentina answers. Great, now they're yelling at each other with Matteo between them.

He leans back into the couch, trying to make them more space.

"Do you want a drink?"

Valentina takes the menu and holds it up so Raisa can also see. "I'll take the Vodka Redlight. I need some RedBull to keep me up."

"And I want the Hallowine." Raisa laughs.

Isabella starts mixing the drinks and Matteo thinks about escaping this all-girls situation. He feels like he's intruding. Then he remembers Vinnie's here, on the other side of Isabella.

"Why are you so quiet Vincenzo?" Matteo asks, patting him on the shoulder.

Vinnie looks up from his phone. "Nothing. I thought I'd let you two talk." He smiles. "I'm fine."

"Is it Sophia-related?"

"Let's talk after a meeting."

A staff-meeting was a staff room meeting where they'd do a line. Smoke a joint. Talk.

Isabella sits back down and turns to Matteo. "Allison was great, but right now you could definitely do better. She was mommy-ing you and turned you into a passive person. All you did was spend time with her, everywhere you went, she went. You were with her out of comfort, not want. Or need."

Matteo feels like he's being told off by one of his parents, but he knows she's right. The fact that everyone present can probably also hear what she's saying doesn't make it better.

"Yeah, you're right."

"And everyone that followed afterwards was the same. That's why you said you don't want to settle down anytime soon-because they weren't up to the standards you don't know you had. I'm not judging you; I'm just saying you can't prove that you have standards."

Matteo rolls his eyes. "You should become a politician."

"I'm trying to. I'm literally studying World Politics."

He turns to look at Valentina and Raisa, who are in a conversation of their own. "What about you?"

They both look at him.

"What about us?" Valentina asks before taking a sip of her drink.

"What do you study?"

"I study Psychology with a minor in Economics."

Matteo raises his brows. "And you?" he asks Raisa.

"Law."

Matteo nods, not really knowing where to go with the conversation from here. "What about you?" Valentina asks.

"Economics."

"Oh really? Did you have Jameson during the first year in Managerial Accounting?"

"Um...I don't really go to courses."

Valentina cocks her head. "Then how do you pass the classes?"

He shrugs. "I just read the summary notes and go to exams. And make sure I meet the 60% attendance demand in some courses."

Valentina looks impressed. "How did you pass Managerial Accounting?"

"It's math. And business. People get too caught up in the theory sometimes and forget to read between the lines. You know the 80/20 rule?"

"The Pareto Principle."

"80 percent of consequences come from 20 percent of causes. So 80 percent of what I need to know to pass the exam can be learned by doing 20 percent of the work."

Somebody calls Valentina's name, and a girl Matteo has seen around before appears in front of the VIP area. The guard doesn't let her through because she doesn't have a VIP bracelet.

"I'll see you guys; I'm going to go dance with my friend." Valentina says, looking at Isabella more than anyone else, and then stands up and grabs her drink. "You want to come with?" she asks Raisa.

"I'll finish my drink and then come meet you." Raisa decides and then Valentina's gone.

Isabella is talking to Vinnie again, and Matteo wonders why nobody else has shown up to their table. His siblings and Vinnie's are expected to show up, and none of them are here yet.

"What did you do this summer?" Raisa asks, trying to make conversation.

Matteo looks at her. She's wearing a tight green bodysuit that shows off all of her body but in a subtle way. She has clearly dyed her hair blonde and her eyes are dark brown. Matteo remembers sleeping with her for two months before college ended.

They met in the club, and he knew her face. Then sometime during April she came to an afterparty at Matteo's apartment, they flirted with each other and ended up sleeping together. It continued like that for a few months. Matteo likes her; she's smart and can hold up a conversation that's not about gossip or cars or fashion.

But he never saw her as anything more than a friend he sometimes likes to have sex with.

"I chilled in Sicily." Then he proceeds to ask her about her summer.

"Mine and Valentina's family usually spend our summers in Sicily as well, that's why we came to the party in Taormina."

Matteo flashes back to the party, where he realized that Raisa was Aleksi's sister. For some reason though, most of his memories from that day are filled with Valentina in the red dress, looking unimpressed about anything Matteo had to say.

"Matteo."

He looks up to see Vinnie looking back at him with a questioning look on his face.

"I'll be back in fifteen." Matteo tells Raisa. He hasn't had sex in almost a month, and he kind of missed having to work for it.

After Vinnie locks the door of the staff room he starts venting.

---

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