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!" Aurora cheers her on and goes to throw an arm around her shoulders.
Matteo and Vinnie exchange looks. It's obvious, to Matteo at least, that the two of them are trying, for some reason, to show off in front of Valentina. They would never be this excited about drinking wine on the streets in Palermo. The boys have done it numerous times before, but Pia and Aurora were never with them.
Is this what they think Russians do for fun?
Isabella shows up five minutes later with a smile on her face. She hugs Valentina first, and soon enough they just settle on aimlessly walking around the city while drinking the wine. Matteo and Vinnie trail behind Aurora and Pia, who in turn are following Valentina and Isabella a few steps behind. He shares a joint with Vinnie as they walk, completely unbothered about someone looking out the window.
Half an hour later, when the sun has completely set and the moon is slowly starting to show, they find themselves in front of the Port, with two out of five bottles already empty.
"Let's just sail to Ibiza now." Pia chuckles and points to a boat in the marina, slurring her last words.
They all sit down on the benches facing the boats, sharing two opened bottles between the six of them.
"I can't believe you live here." Valentina says to no one in particular as she looks around.
"You've never been to Italy?" Pia asks with the same condescending tone she had talked to Valentina earlier.
Valentina doesn't even seem to care, nor notice. Instead, she smiles.
"I have, and every time I come here, I feel like I belong."
"Too bad you were born in Russia then."
Matteo and Isabella exchange looks. Okay, so Pia is being meaner than usual.
"Shit, Police!" Aurora says and stands up when she sees two Carabinieri walking towards them. They don't even notice their group until they start running away, following a laughing and screaming Aurora.
They yell something behind them and their footsteps echo throughout the streets as they run up Via Vittorio Emanuele.
"Do we even know where we're going?" Valentina yells from behind him, and before he even thinks about it, he turns left and then right on two small streets.
He doesn't stop until he knows his destination, finally coming to a halt in Pretoria Square, sweating and out of breath. When he turns around, he sees everyone else is in the same state, except the girls, who have smiles on their faces.
"What is this place?" Valentina asks after everyone's had a moment to breathe and the bottles are doing the rounds again.
"Piazza Pretoria." Isabella answers. "And that's the fountain."
The Pretoria Fountain looks even more beautiful at night when the street lights around it shine on the statues and reflect in the water.
Valentina walks up to the black fence surrounding the stairs leading up to the first level of fountains. "Can't we go see the top fountain?"
Isabella tries the gate, which is usually opened during the day. "It's locked."
Valentina takes a gulp from the bottle, closing her eyes and scrunching up her face as she does so, before handing it to Aurora.
"Help me up, Izzy." Valentina says. "The fence isn't even that high."
Everyone looks at each other and Isabella doesn't even question it before helping Valentina hop over the fence. Everyone except Pia jumps the fence and follows Valentina to the upper level of the fountain.
"Have you talked to Sophia about Ibiza tomorrow?" Pia asks Vinnie from behind the fence.
"I tried calling her for the past three weeks, but it goes straight to voicemail. I think she's ignoring me."
Isabella huffs and takes the bottle from him.
"I had a dream about this two days ago." Valentina says and kneels on the concrete. She places the palm flat on the water, as if she were testing its temperature.
Isabella looks away from Vinnie, trying to fake excitement. "About being in Palermo?"
"No, about swimming in a fountain. Also, I'm drunk."
She takes off her sneakers and jumps in the fountain.
"Dio mio!" Aurora screams in an excited tone, walking up closer to her.
Valentina laughs and takes the bottle from her, before walking backwards and finally sitting down in the fountain.
"It's hot outside anyway!" she jokes, and Aurora joins her.
"You're not allowed in the fountain." Matteo finds himself saying. He's getting paranoid about the Carabinieri returning and arresting them for being outside their homes, not to mention hopping over the fence and basically violating a historical monument.
"Like you ever gave a shit about the rules!" Aurora laughs at him in English, and he flips her off.
"Oh, come on Matteo. No one's around to judge you." Valentina mocks, standing up and walking in his direction with a mischievous grin on her face.
"Don't you even think about it." he says, stepping back.
"You live here and you never got into this fountain? What a shame!"
"Why would I want to get into the fountain?"
She cocks her head. "You asked me how it's possible to keep life exciting. I think the first step is doing something new every day." She smirks, knowing she just won the debate that had started this morning.
Matteo knows she's right, and what's fair is fair. He toes off his sneakers, then his shirt, and throws his wallet on the ground before getting into the fountain.
"I can't believe my eyes!" Isabella exclaims and tells the three of them to get closer to each other so she can take a photo. Vinnie also laughs as he takes photos, and Matteo finds himself laughing along. Maybe it's the wine, maybe it's that he's seen this fountain a hundred times before but never once thought about swimming in it until today.
"It's kind of nice." Aurora says as she swims over to Valentina and takes the bottle.
Matteo leans back against his palms and looks up at the sky. Everything seems to stop for a few moments, and it's just him, the moon, and the stars. He smiles, feeling a wave of unfamiliar happiness wash over him.
"Merda!" Pia's voice loudly echoes through the square, and Matteo's surroundings suddenly turn red and blue. He watches a police car pull up in front of Pia, and two different men get out of each side.
They order the five of them to 'come down this instant', threatening them with prison time and high fines for breaking lockdown in the first place.
Matteo sighs and stands up from the fountain, those few seconds of complete peace and serenity, as he looked up at the stars while drunk on wine, already forgotten.
"What's the problem?" he asks them in Italian after grabbing his wallet and walking down the steps barefoot. He stops by the fence, across from the policemen and Pia.
"The problem is you're trespassing and you're breaking a nationwide lockdown. May I see all of your IDs? Also, can the blonde come out of the fountain before we call for backup and take you all to jail?"
---
I will update 3-4 chapters a week, Mon, Wed, Fri and maybe Sat. So I'll see you on Friday :)
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Ronnie
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.
Saturday 1:30amMatteo's next three hours are filled with Vodka Red Bulls, lines of cocaine done in the bathroom, and trying to escape both Raisa and Allison at the same time. Vinnie is nowhere to be seen, still upset about Sophia (maybe), and Isabella and Valentina have been talking on one of the lounge chairs since they've arrived.