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 changed. Paul was drunk when he came into the bistro, shouting and making a racket, and it only got worse as the night went on.
Dad hadn’t wanted Paul to take Bianca back to the dorm. He even offered to do it himself, and he never drove—he had a driver do that for him. But Paul insisted on having two espressos to help sober him up some, and Bianca defended him by saying he was fine to drive. I hoped she was just saving face and not a chick who was too damn proud to admit her dad had a problem.
A serious one.
Paul made a fool of himself, and part of me felt sorry for Bianca. Hearing his stories made me realize why she was the way she was—it seemed they were always on the road when she was growing up, never staying in one town long enough for her to bond with anyone. All Paul’s stories were about different towns in different states, and I noticed the more he talked about them, the more Bianca sipped on her wine.
The whole night was painful, but Dad had wanted to help out an old friend. He was way too generous… which was why he and Mom always fought.
Dad was having breakfast with Paul this morning at the hotel, which dad was staying at, to put him straight and make it known he was no fool. He’d done his homework before they met, and with the help of his driver, Rik—who I suspected was a lot more than just a driver—figured out that Paul wasn’t an inventor. Instead, he was someone who had some bad people chasing him. There was no way Dad was going to invest in a lie, but he was willing to help a friend out.
Our grandparents, God rest their souls, came to New York with only a dime in their pockets. They worked hard to achieve the one-bedroom apartment Dad was brought up in, but Dad was teased for being poor and even more for being Italian. Paul had been his one friend, someone who never made him feel like an outsider.
I could understand Dad’s loyalty, but there had to be a line.
Paul’s ideas were ridiculous. He wanted to create an app where you could buy anything and get it delivered anywhere in the world. We already had that—it was called A****n. Then he started talking about a dating app… nothing new there. None of his so-called inventions made any damn sense.
I reached out to touch Bianca’s leg, hoping she would stop feeling uncomfortable with the way her dad was behaving. Also because she was fucking hot. She didn’t seem to mind—she didn’t move away or tell me to stop.
I never knew what was under those baggy shirts and sweatpants she always wore around campus.
She was hot.
Fucking hot!
I wanted a piece of her so badly. I could barely resist putting her on the table and sucking her pussy for dessert. I bet it would have tasted so sweet, much better than the zuccotto. And that photo she’d sent…
“What you dreaming about?” Adolfo asked. He slumped down in the chair beside me, and the way he collapsed into it reminded me of Paul last night.
“Bianca,” I admitted.
He put his hand through his long hair, which was in dire need of a good cut. It reminded me of something Dad said last night before dinner.
“Remember last night when Dad said you looked like some gigolo?” I asked, laughing. Dad didn’t appreciate Adolfo’s new waves. He said it reminded him of Fabio, the famous model, and not in a good way.
He smirked. “Yeah, I took it as a compliment, even if he didn’t mean it as one. As for Bianca, you’re wasting your time. She may look all sweet and innocent, but she’s a tough nut to crack. One I’m not sure we should even be messing with—you saw the look on Dad’s face.”
He was right—Dad had been keen at first, but by the end of the night, he said we should keep as far away from her as possible.
“Since when do you listen to Dad?”
If anything, Adolfo was the most stubborn one of us three. He did what he wanted, whenever he pleased, with no thought of consequence to anyone or anything.
“True, but you can’t fucking mess with Dad. Besides, you really want to go messing with a girl with all that on her plate?”
Dad warned us after they left dinner that whoever was after Paul could lead us to get caught in the crossfire somehow if we were involved with Bianca.
“Yes and no. Some part of me wants to protect her and get to know her. I’m fed up with playing with girls who only want one thing.”
“To get some of the Russo cock?”
“Exactly! I thought women were supposed to be smarter than us. You would think this damn list of rejects you thought of would have stopped them from lining up. I really felt bad for Sarah.” She’d been the first one to be labeled as a “reject.”
He stood up, waving his arms. “Don’t be all dramatic, Carlo! It’s too early for this shit. Besides, when did you get all sensitive?”
I laughed, following as he got up to leave for the kitchen. “The day you started listening to Dad.”
“Touché. But we shouldn’t be playing with fire, no matter how hot she is.”
“I didn’t say we should go put a ring on her finger. But there’s nothing wrong with trying something new, and I think Bianca could be what we’ve been missing. Anyway, we don’t always have to do things together.”
He shook his head. “Sometimes I don’t get how we’re related, let alone brothers. We agreed to come to Yale to have fun, no settling down. Remember what happened last time we let a woman come between us? We nearly lost it. I don’t want history to repeat itself again, do you?”
Thinking of that incident made me realize that Alessandro had been gone a while.
“Hey, where’s bro? He should’ve been back from his run ages ago.”
Alessandro was the only one of us with a consistent workout routine. Dad sometimes questioned if he was Italian, because the man was punctual and too organized. He even knew what he was going to wear on Friday the following weekend. He was obsessed with order, I think because of his frustration with life, from having his heart broken once.
“Dad wanted him to meet him for breakfast so that they could talk to Paul,” Adolfo said as he stuck his head in the fridge, desperately looking for something to eat. “What the fuck?! Alessandro has taken over the fridge with all his health food smoothie shit!”
“There hasn’t been anything in there since Wednesday when Alessandro claimed he was fed up of going to the store and doing everything around the apartment,” I explained, then went back to the Alessandro subject. “Why him?”
“Because he’s the sensible one, and if things get a little heated, then he’s the one who’ll be able to calm Dad down.”
I wondered if Bianca would be there with them at breakfast. Even if she was, Alessandro wouldn’t make a move. He was even more picky about women than he was about his food.
“I guess I better go to the store,” Adolfo grumbled as he headed to his bedroom to put some clothes on.
I could join him at the store… or go and spy on the breakfast meeting. Then again, there was nothing to spy on. Alessandro wasn’t interested in Bianca. But Adolfo, if left to his own devices, would only buy whatever he was interested in eating, which was always junk. I decided that there was only one thing to do, and that was to go the store with Adolfo.
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
I stood waiting for Carlo to get ready to go to his game. I was going to support him, while Alessandro was still missing in action. Not only was he not returning our calls, but his phone was switched off. “Why the hell is he so fucking dramatic!” I blurted. Carlo rolled his eyes, not even needing to ask who I was talking about. “Who cares. I have a hot date tonight, and neither you nor big brother are going to stand in my way.”“Bianca?”He nodded. “Uh-huh, and after the hungry text she just sent me, don’t expect me back later. If I do come back, don’t even think about knocking on my door.”“Please, as if I would. I’ll most likely be out with one of the girls from my fan club.”He shook his head. “Don’t you get tired of messing around, playing games with girls? Don’t you want a woman?”“What, like Bianca?”“Exactly!” he said, pointing to me. “I think she’s something special, not like these little spoiled brats you love hanging around. She’s someone who has been through so much shit
I stood like a little girl inside one of the lockers in the locker room, my heart was beating out of control. I was worried that I would be caught, worried that someone would find me. Erika had practically pushed me in here, leaving the door a little ajar so I could breathe. I hoped her plan would work, because if not, it would be too embarrassing. “Man, you sure you don’t want to come with us?” one of the guys asked as I heard Carlo reach the entrance. He sighed. “Nah, I need to talk to my brother. He’s coming down to have a quick word.”“Alessandro still missing?”“Exactly, so I need to figure out what we’re going to do. He hasn’t been to practice or anything. At this rate, he’s going to get kicked out.”“Shit, man. You should be celebrating, not babysitting.”“Go start celebrating without me. I’ll be there soon.”“Laters!”On that note, I could hear footsteps walking towards me, and I could only hope that they were Carlo’s. The idea of one of his football friends finding me woul