Matteo
Palermo, Sicily, 2020 – (nearly) summer
When Matteo decided to call Valentina and ask her to come take the exam together, he realized that begging would be his last option. When they were forced into lockdown in Italy, he didn't think about the fact that he would be spending more time with his father, and he could see first-hand how much work Matteo was putting into his studies.
His father kept asking about exam dates and upcoming projects, and it all came down to Business Psychology, which was the only course where he didn't have someone who could help him pass.
During the early hours of Thursday, May 28th, a private jet departed from their landing strip outside Palermo and set off towards Moscow, where it would pick up Valentina at 8am. By the time Matteo wakes up at 12:30, Valentina has already texted him that she's landing in 30 minutes.
He jumps into the shower, already feeling pressured by tim. His parents have been out since yesterday and Matteo has no idea when they'll return. At least there's a little peace and quiet in the house, except for the chef and the maid during the day.
The black SUV pulls up in the driveway in the front of the house and Matteo sees Valentina getting out, carrying two bags. She says something to the driver before walking up the pathway leading to the main door and soon enough the doorbell rings throughout the house.
Matteo greets her at the door, and they go up to his room because they must show up on Zoom for attendance and identity verification first.
"We have to write an essay?" Matteo groans twenty minutes into the exam after copying all of the multiple-choice answers from Valentina. He decided to take the desk because Valentina insisted on sitting on the couch by the window with the sea view.
"It's not that hard." Valentina reasons, leaning back into the cushions.
"How to best create an effective environment at work." Matteo reads and looks up at her. "How?"
"You're the one who runs a club, you should know this."
"Ha ha. But seriously, give me some tips."
"Just look into my notes, it's under motivational factors."
"Motivational factors, seriously?"
Valentina cocks her head. "What, you have a better idea? That's what I'm writing."
"How can motivation even make a work environment more effective?"
"If the workers are motivated, then they're obviously going to operate better." "You think motivation works best?"
Valentina looks at him confused. "What else?"
Matteo shrugs. He wants to say 'fear' and 'respect', but he doesn't. He follows her instructions and looks through her notes. He actually manages to write a decent essay and also copy the rest of the answer off of Valentina an hour later, very pleased with himself.
"There, it's done."
Valentina nods but doesn't look away from her screen, still typing. Matteo looks out at the Tyrrhenian Sea shining in the sun behind her, and thinks about how he's never had a girl in his bedroom just sitting on her laptop. It feels weird, but at the same time comfortable. Maybe it's weird because it's not weird.
"Okay, I'm done too." She says as she looks him in the eye and smiles, waving her hands around.
Matteo smiles back. "Good. You turned it in already?"
"Yes."
Matteo clicks on the button to turn the exam in and shuts his laptop, happy to be done with exams from the semester.
"How did you even get through the rest of your exams?" Valentina asks, following him with her eyes as he stands up from the desk and goes over to open the balcony.
"I don't know, Vinnie helped me with some, I g****e others. It's definitely easier online."
She follows him outside without saying a word and sits down on one of the chairs against the wall. There's a round table in between two chairs so Matteo sits down on the other one and takes out a cigarette.
He holds out his pack to Valentina, but she waves him off. "No, thanks."
"You quit smoking?" he asks and she just stands up, disappearing inside.
When she comes back outside, she's holding a Marlboro Gold pack. "No, I brought my own. You definitely smoke truck driver cigarettes."
Matteo lets out a laugh. "What?"
"The Marlboro Red ones? They're the strongest. They're what, a ten?"
Matteo shrugs and lights up his cigarette before offering her the lighter. He watches her face as she looks down at the cigarette between her lips.
They smoke their cigarettes in silence while watching the sea, and Matteo wonders whether he should say something to fill the silence, but Valentina seems to be in her own world staring out at the sea.
"If I had this view every day, I would never have any problems, ever. Just listening to the waves, feeling the sun." She says after a while, exhaling the last bit of smoke. She puts the cigarette out in the already filled ashtray before bending her right leg up on the chair.
"Ha. You think that, but it's not true." Matteo answers, also putting his cigarette out. Valentina turns her head to him, surprised. "Why wouldn't it be true?"
Matteo suddenly gets the urge to roll up and smoke a joint, so he tells her he'll be right back and stands up to go inside. He finds his rolling stash in its usual spot in his nightstand and brings it outside.
Valentina smiles. "Yess, good idea."
Matteo rolls a joint as she struggles to take off her hoodie and tie her hair up, saying that it's way hotter in Palermo than it is in Moscow.
"It's like thirty degrees here. Back home it's raining." She pouts and watches his fingers skillfully rolling the paper into a joint.
Matteo looks up into her eyes as he licks the paper. "What were we talking about before?"
He remembers doing this trick on numerous girls on this very balcony, but unlike the others, Valentina doesn't seem to notice anything he's doing. She looks like she's thinking about his question.
"You said you're sad even though you have a sea view every day."
Matteo cocks his head and lights the joint. "I didn't say that. I just meant that people who live here also have problems. When you're used to the same view since you're born, it can get...boring."
He takes three long drags before blowing them out towards the sea, then passes it to Valentina. She takes it and turns back towards the sea, closing her eyes towards the sun. Her face shines in the sun and Matteo feels like he can't look away for some reason, like he's seen this before. But he knows he hasn't.
"Are you bored?" she asks, letting out smoke.
Matteo shrugs, also turning towards the water now.
"I don't know. Sometimes, maybe."
If being bored is your biggest problem, then you have it easy in life, Matteo.
That's what his father always used to tell him every time he would see Matteo in a bad mood. He'd ask him what's wrong, and Matteo would tell him he's bored. His father never seemed to understand that being bored was bordering on burnout and depression.
"If being bored is the problem, then you have it easy."
Matteo looks at Valentina, almost shocked. "What?"
She shrugs and takes another drag before passing the joint. "That's what my dad says."
"So you understand." Is all he says and leans back into the chair, looking out at the sea.
"Being bored? Yes. I think it's one of the worst things to be in life. But I feel like sometimes nobody understands."
"Why?"
"Because rich kids are supposed to have it all, right?"
Matteo smiles at the way she says 'rich kids', like the two of them aren't exactly that.
But he gets it. When you have all the money you could ever want, even more than you could ever imagine spending, things that once seemed extraordinary become ordinary.
"When you've have everything you could possibly want, nothing is exciting anymore." Valentina adds and takes the joint Matteo is holding out. "It's ironic. And sad."
"That's why you think this view would make you happy, because you don't have it every day." Matteo concludes, proving the point that started the discussion in the first place. The conversation turned deeper and darker than he even expected.
Valentina rolls her eyes, not commenting on the fact that Matteo won the argument. They sit in silence once again, watching the sea create small waves they can hear, but not see, crashing against the cliffs below Matteo's house.
"Do you think it's possible to keep life exciting?" he asks her out of nowhere.
"Yes."
"How?"
----
Aaaaah I just loooved writing this part, it came out so quick and naturally I love it!
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')
Feel free to share you thoughts on the story and let me know what you like/didn't like. I always love interacting with readers :)
Have a good day!
xoxo,
Ronnie
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." Matte
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