It didn’t take long to figure out where our party was sitting as we stepped into the Italian bistro. The four men were so loud, they were grabbing all the attention in the restaurant. I would have found it annoying, but the other diners seemed to find it amusing, waving in their direction and laughing at the noise they were making.
I knew them. Alessandro, Carlo, and Adolfo, plus an older gentleman who must be their dad.
I’d never spoken to them in my nearly four years at Yale, and I never planned to. I could quite happily continue avoiding them like the plague and feel good about it.
I’m sure I looked just as nervous as Dad as I pulled down on my dress one more time. It was silly, I knew, because the moment I pulled it down, it would ride back up again, yet I’d formed this habit in the space of thirty minutes since I put the dress on and left my dorm room.
I felt a wave of jealousy seeing them at the table. They were laughing and talking as if they were all the best of friends. Seeing them together, so close, made me wonder if one of the rumors about them was true. People said that the triplets did everything together, from eating, to studying, to even sleeping with the same girls.
“Come, let’s sit,” Dad urged as he practically dragged me to the table.
“Dante, sorry we’re late,” Dad said as we arrived at the table.
“No worries. We’re always late, you see. It’s the Italian blood.” Dante laughed, but the boys were silent.
I felt like all eyes were on me, almost as if the hungry bears had found their dinner. Carlo had his finger close to his mouth, Adolfo just stared, and Alessandro was clearly looking at my legs. Again, I pulled the dress down, thinking this deal better go through. Otherwise I would end up finding out if the rumors were true just to save Dad’s life, at this rate.
Dante and Dad seemed oblivious, patting each other on the back like old friends.
“This is my daughter, Rose. She spent a little too much time getting ready for the night, and now I see why,” Dad said, winking at the boys. Then, it was as if he remembered my real name. As he corrected himself.
“No, her name’s Bianca. I just call her that because she’s so beautiful. Don’t you agree?”
I rolled my eyes, annoyed. The only reason we were late was because he insisted on stopping at the store to buy more “water.” Not in a million years would I be interested in jocks like them.
They were no match for Ben, the only guy I’d ever dated in college. Well, pretty much the only guy I’d dated in my whole life. He was the type of guy who knew what he wanted in life and was willing to work for it. Carlo, Adolfo, and Alessandro thought that because they were good at sports and one of them was the team captain, they were hot property. They were beautiful on the outside with their square jaws and piercing eyes, but on the inside, they were shallow. That I was sure of.
I wanted nothing more than to get through the night and for Dad to get what he needed from their dad. Tomorrow I would do what I should have done from the start, which was call Uncle Floyd and Nan to tell them Dad was here with me.
“Bianca, what a beautiful name. It suits you. Then again, I can see why your dad calls you Rose too. You are completely stunning. Isn’t she, boys?”
They nodded slowly, still staring as if they were trying to seduce me with their eyes. I turned and looked away, feeling shy.
“I can’t believe our kids are at the same school,” Dante continued. “Who would have thought? All these years. Sit down, please.”
Carlo stood up and pulled out my chair, indicating for me to sit down. He had manners, that I couldn’t deny. The other two remained silent and watched the two men converse.
“I couldn’t believe it either. You know me, always on the road,” Dad said a little too loudly. It was clear by the way he was slurring his words that he was drunk.
“Of course,” Dante replied agreeably. “What is it you’ve invented now?”
I nearly choked on my water as Dad’s plan finally clicked. He was going to con Dante, not ask him for help. I’d been so preoccupied with getting ready and Dad coming back into my life that when he said deal, it just didn’t register. Now that it had, I wished I’d put my foot down and said no.
“Are you ok?” Carlo asked. I simply nodded as I wiped my mouth, waiting for Dad to spill out the lie he’d formulated for Dante.
“It’s an app,” Dad said. “All the kids will be using it. I need to show it to you. I will after dinner, for now, let’s eat.”
Dante hesitated, then turned to me. “Back in high school, your dad was always inventing something. It’s good to see he never gave up on his passion. Do you share the same passion?”
I shook my head, and I was about to answer when Adolfo did it for me.
“No, she’s a philosophy student. She always has her head in a book.”
What?
He knows who I am?
That was news to me. I met Adolfo’s eyes, but his gaze was too strong to hold. I couldn’t help but feel even more self-conscious as I noticed he was smiling at me, smirking as if to confirm he knew who I was. I couldn’t get the thought of how out of my head.
“Oh good, the study of knowledge, reality, and existence. Interesting. It’s better than what my boys are studying,” Dante said as he curled his mouth. I couldn’t tell if he was proud or annoyed about their behavior at Yale.
Curiosity got the better of me, and I pretended to be completely naïve, unlike Adolfo, and act as if I didn’t have a clue what they were studying.
“Oh? What are they studying?” I asked Dante, avoiding the boys’ stare.
“Women and ball!”
Everyone at the table laughed. Everyone apart from Carlo, that is, who brushed his hand across the top of my knee and rested it there, rubbing light circles against my skin with his thumb.
“What is your thesis on?” Carlo asked, smiling as he continued to caress my skin. The worst part was I wasn’t even moving, which meant I’d essentially given him permission to do it, and that annoyed me even more.
“Ethics,” I blurted out as my eyes darted to Dante.
“Ah, you should work on that with my boys. They lack the understanding of ethics. You should all exchange numbers before the night is done.” Dante nodded, satisfied with his idea, but I had the impression that he wasn’t suggesting we exchange numbers—he was telling us to.
“Sounds like a great idea,” Dad said before I could answer. “Our kids studying together, just like we did back in high school.”
“Yes, I would like one of my sons to be with a good girl rather than some of the women they bring home. Bianca, you seem like one of those girls,” Dante said to me.
I didn’t know why he would think that when we’d hardly spoken, but he’d clearly already decided I was the type of girl his sons should get to know better. I just wish the feeling was mutual.
The conversation changed, and Adolfo waved his hand. He didn’t want my number at the end of the night—he wanted it now. I recited my number, instantly regretful as the three of them entered it into their phones. Carlo’s hand had gone from brushing my knee to slowly moving up and down my leg, his fingers trailing up to my thigh. I could have told him to stop, but I didn’t.
I’d often wondered what it would be like to feel another man’s hands on my body. Until now, it’d been nothing but a fantasy. Even Ben hadn’t touched me like this, and I found myself hoping I’d be part of the twenty-five percent.
“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 d
I’d seen Bianca walking around campus as if she was lost, never fitting in after all this time. I’d only ever heard of her dating the one guy, Ben, who broke up with her when she wouldn’t put out, and I’d only seen her with one friend, her roommate Erika, who worked with her at Two Sheets. Unlike Erika, Bianca was far from friendly. It felt like as soon as we stepped into Two Sheets, she headed in the opposite direction. Alessandro says it is because she’s stuck up, the kind of person who thinks she’s better than us. But how would he know if he’d never spoken to her?If anything, Alessandro was the uptight one. If some girl didn’t grovel to him twenty-four seven, he concluded that she wasn’t the kind of girl we should hang out with. He made too many assumptions about people. Sometimes I wondered if we were even related—he was too fucking judgmental.Dad said her dad, Paul, used to go to high school with him. He said he was a mess when they were kids, and it seemed as if things hadn’t
Jesus, this dude was still drunk. Had he constantly been drinking since we left him last night? How did he even manage to get around in his state?Paul was talking, and Bianca complained about needing to complete some paper before her shift at Two Sheets later. I’d been there a few times and bought drinks for the guys, which is how I knew exactly who she was as soon as Dad told us about the dinner last night. Bianca was the kind of girl who was saving her V-card until her knight in shining armor came upon a horse and took her in his arms. Sure, she looked hot last night, but the girl didn’t know how to dress or hold herself. Bianca walked around in sweats and t-shirts, and a knight wasn’t going to take a girl that didn’t dress like a princess. If she couldn’t be bothered to keep up her physical appearance, I hated to think what the inside her dorm looked like. Most likely like Adolfo’s room. As for my other brother, Carlo… any girl would do for him. He was so damn horny. He was so i
I’d hated him before, and after the way he spoke to me at breakfast, I hated him even more. He always had a way of making me feel insignificant. Yes, I didn’t normally dress in a minidress like I did last night, but I did it because Dad asked me to. This was why whenever Alessandro came to Two Sheets, I made a point to never serve him. I always made sure Erika did the deed. She was more tolerant than I was, always managing to serve everyone, including jocks like Alessandro, with a smile on her face. He would swarm in with his gold card and buy drinks for anyone who gave him any attention. I hated the way he did it, and I knew I wasn’t the only one. He was loaded, and he wanted everyone to know it. I knew some guys on campus were probably as well off as he was, but they didn’t flaunt it like he did with his Rolex, Gucci clothes, and every other designer item under the sun. He made it known everything on him was worth more than I had in my closet and then some. I needed to stay as fa
“Delete the fucking group, Carlo!” I blurted out as I saw my lazy brother sitting in the kitchen, eating what looked like the whole delicatessen section of Walmart. “What’s your problem? You don’t need to contribute to it anymore, and if you do, then I’ll do it for you. Ok?”I shook my head, because he wasn’t listening. I headed to Adolfo’s room to get him in on this conversation. Enough was enough. We didn’t need to have anything more to do with them, neither Bianca nor her dad. “Adolfo, come out so we can have this out.”Adolfo shook his head. “Nope. I’m shooting hoops with the guys. You and Carlo figure it out. You know me, I’m easy. Whatever you decide, I’m down with it.”Adolfo, the voice of no reason. He never took sides, always backing out whenever there was a confrontation between me and Carlo… which was most of the time. “Fine, be a chicken!” He ignored me as he sighed, rolled his eyes, and then stormed out of the door. “Just leaves you and me,” Carlo said. “Can we talk
Two Sheets was quiet, which was the good thing about working the early shift. It was always calm this time of day, never stressful like the night shift. Erika said I was crazy, that there was nothing better than the night and seeing the craziness that went on, that it made work entertaining and the time fly by. I had to admit, she did get tipped a lot more than I did… but then again, she was a lot friendlier than me. I gave each customer their drink or snack and moved on. Erika not only to served them but entertained them at the same time, all while managing somehow to never accumulate a line. I was daydreaming, thinking about Alessandro and wondering why I struggled to focus on a particular topic for my paper.“Maybe he’s right. I’m an imposter,” I mumbled to myself. When I looked up, I saw the last man I wanted to see in my life burst into Two Sheets. “We need to talk, now,” Alessandro barked at me. Then he turned to James, the manager, and said, “Can we use your office for a few
I’d been texting Bianca, but I hadn’t heard back from her. Alessandro was out for blood. He’d been on the phone with Rik and had managed to track down Paul. He was going to get every penny from him. I couldn’t believe he’d gone to Two Sheets to accuse Bianca of taking Dad’s money. I tried telling him Dad was a grown man. He knew what he was doing the moment he gave Paul the money, and frankly, it was none of Alessandro’s business. Yet he didn’t fucking listen. Neither Adolfo nor I could understand the madness. I knocked on Bianca’s door and waited patiently, croissants and coffee from the bakery in hand. I decided to make my first romantic gesture ever, hoping to convince her over breakfast that we weren’t all as crazy as Alessandro. I hoped she wasn’t a late sleeper… maybe ten was too early for her. She did work in a bar. Although, she must have class at some point today…I was just about to give up when a teary-eyed Bianca opened the door. “Bianca?”“Sorry, I just… I don’t know
It had been nearly a week, and still nothing from Dad. I tried not to worry. Carlo had promised he would try and do the best he could to find answers. He was right—Dad had done a disappearing act for the better part of five years. When he was ready to come back, then he would do it. I just had to wait until that day.“Why are you getting all dressed up today?” Erika asked teasingly. “Can’t a girl make an effort once in a while?”She shook her head. “Please! You’ve never worn a denim miniskirt or had your hair braided—I didn’t even know you could braid your hair! And you’re wearing a see-through top so everyone can see your boobies!”“Stop it!” I laughed, trying to apply lipstick and failing miserably.“Thank God for Instagram. There’s loads of videos on how to do it, with girls that have the same hair texture as mine. Also, Carlo has a game. I’m going to see him play, and if he wins… well, who knows,” I said flirtatiously.“Look at you!”I sighed. “Do you think there’s something wron