For Livia, for keeping us hooked up with this parallel story that Sweetie so cleverly started, and Melissa who is so sweet and nice. Oh! and for Fabiano, for showing up while st. Gio is taking what it seems a long holiday.
Hey, this IS an Ugly Betty story. Read the first paragraph if you don't believe me. :P
SEPIA TONED MEMORIES
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Melissa ran her fingers thought the picture of Gio Rossi, radiant and still in monochrome sepia, handsomely dressed in a three piece suit, standing proud among the crowd that were smiling to the camera. She couldn't believe that just until that day he had been there with them, the same cheerful face, and those arms... Now he was gone forever. He brought just so much happiness and then he was no more.
Melissa was entertained with a candy as she browsed through the pictures of Gio. She let out a sigh and couldn't help a little knot forming in her chest. She shared the recent secret within the rest of The Girls. Rachael had told them the resolution a few days back. They were having a Getty meeting that very night, for celebration, she had said. Somehow deep inside Melissa's heart she found it wrong, very wrong. Not only for the pain it has caused others, but for the fear of how such affair could impact those dreams of her own.
"Wait!" a loud cry and the sound of incoming steps made Melissa jump from her seat. A crazy Livia came spraying every place around the little kitchenette.
"What's going on?" Melissa said protecting the photoalbum from Livia's madness.
Livia sprayed the seat where Melissa had been and cleaned it with a cloth. "Now, you can seat".
"What the frak? Are you out of your mind, woman? You've just moved in. What's with this cleaning craze?"
Livia sat near her, worn and spent. Yes, she had been away for a couple of months (probably the longest honeymoon in history) but as soon as she entered her new home she had barely time to breathe. "Too long to explain."
Melissa gave her a look. The poor thing, she thought. She took out the lollipop from her mouth to speak clearly. "Livia, I'm so glad you let me come here and watch the photos of the wedding. I love them."
"It was all idea of my hubby. He loves sepia toned photographs. He tried to convince one of his youngest nephews, someone called Matteo, I think, to come and take the pictures of our wedding. But he was unavailable. So he hired this photographer. I think he did quite a good job."
"He definitely did. You all look so beautiful. I'm so sorry I couldn't be there."
Livia looked to the pictures over Melissa's shoulders. There they were: Elena and Livia as beautiful as they had ever been and, by their sides, their spruced up husbands, Federico and Tino. Tino Rossi, the one that stole her heart one day at another friend's wedding, his hair carefully slicked back, elegantly dressed, showing that dimple that drove her so crazy. She really had found the love of her life. Not only have they had a stormy and passionate start in their relationship, but he proved his devotion for her those in days when she had lost her job and he had welcomed her to become part of his life creating Livino's Deli, mixing their names together as a symbol of their eternal partnership. "And what a way to propose," she smiled looking at the diamond ring in her fingers, "so sudden and so original". She wouldn't expect less from a Rossi.
"My dear, dear Tino" Livia sighed. "I can't believe I'm so lucky. He's just so unique. There's no one else like him… well, except, for Fab, of course".
"Fabiano, right?" asked Melissa browsing through the pictures trying to find any of him. "Isn't that his twin brother?"
"Fabianooooooo" someone sang from across the corridor and came jumping from the living room singing and then, waving away, disappearing to the bedrooms.
Melissa could barely hold a laugh. "Wasn't that Beatrice? What is she doing here?"
Livia sighed again.
"After the day of our wedding I made the terrible mistake to offer her to stay here until we returned from our honeymoon. Now she refuses to go back to her country and I don't have a heart to ask her to leave. She's gotten quite attached to me."
"Really? I thought she was friendlier with Rachael or the oldest Getty Girls, like Stuley, Bella or Juna".
"Well, I don't know. That's quite an inconvenience. I was really looking forward to enjoy my new kitchen. Sometimes Tino likes to cook wearing his apron."
"I see no problem with that. Is he a bit shy about it?"
"Wearing nothing but his apron, Melissa" Livia finished, suggestively, "And, I tell you, Tino has nothing to be shy about".
"What am I to be shy about?" Tino said as he entered the room carrying several bags of groceries to the kitchen crossing in front of the ladies and followed by Calvino, one of his youngest nephews.
"Nothing" Livia answered welcoming her newly-wed husband. "Mel and I were just watching some of the photos of our wedding".
"Were you, honey?" Calvino managed to say as he stood frozen watching that beauty in front of him. She was eagerly licking a candy, painting of rosy tint those lips that, oblivious of how sensuous they were to him, managed to excite the demons inside his young fervent body. How that woman could cause him such stormy passion, he didn't know. He looked for shelter in those eyes that were looking at him: the eyes of an angel. Behind the curtain of fire, he also saw the calmness of a future with her. If only he knew what she really felt about him. Would she think they were too young for such feelings to be so quickly developed between them? Was he a fool to think she felt the same way? Whatever, he didn't want to lose her again. He walked over to Melissa giving her a gentle kiss on his girlfriend's sweet lips.
"Yes we were, dearest Cal, look at you. How handsome you look there. Didn't I tell you how great you look in a suit?"
Calvino looked at the pictures, as his beautiful girlfriend showed them carefully to him. He remembered it well. He had that sad look that clouded his usually cheerful face. He enjoyed weddings and, above all, he loved his family, but the real reason he'd been so eager to attend that event was not to please his keen uncle or his older cousin Federico. He had been looking for someone, someone he didn't found that day...
He had looked for her in every one of the faces of the girls that attended the wedding. She wasn't there. He had been searching Heaven and Earth for her. All he had was the memories of her name, her face and, for a clue nothing but the image of the t-shirt with the inscription "Team Gio".
That silly shirt was the first thing he noticed of her when he saw her that day.
Melissa was glad she found someone to talk to at the international airport of JFK. Of course it was a bit too bold of him, a total stranger, to be staring for so long at her breasts. It made her feel uncomfortable. But there was something about him that seemed quite familiar.
It wasn't until he came closer to her and pointed at her t-shirt that she found out what.
"You know" he said "I have this cousin of mine that would love to have a t-shirt like that. Do you mind if I take you a picture?"
There he was: the perfect image of Gio Rossi in a younger body of real flesh, right in front of her. Could it be one of those Rossi family members Rachael and everyone have been talking about?
Her heart started beating at an alarming pace and she barely managed to nod the answer. Dressed in a floral red tropical shirt, khaki pants, and sandals, a camera hanging from his neck and a sexy smile, Melissa had never seen anyone as handsome as him in her life.
There was a call on the speakers: her local flight to Miami was already boarding.
"Wait!" he said out of the blue and Melissa obeyed. "Do you believe in destiny?"
Acting out of impulse, and before she had time to answer a thing, he tore a little page from a magazine and scribbled something. "There."
"I really have to go" Melissa heard the last call for her flight and said goodbye running for her gate, holding tightly inside the palm of her hand a crumpled piece of paper that contained an email and a name: Calvino Rossi.
Not even a single cloud in the sky. Calvino breathed the purity of air coming from the beach right in front of him. What a beautiful day, he said, he could already feel it. And then he saw a vision. He blinked twice to make sure it was real. At a distance, he noticed a familiar figure in a colorful bathing suit. He eyed closer. Could it be?!
He ran with all his might until he was right in front of her.
"Found you!"
Melissa couldn't believe her eyes.
"You!" she said surprised.
"Give me just a second" Calvino said putting both his hands in his knees trying to recover his breath. As he did so he took a minute to check those beautiful legs in front of him.
"What are you doing here?" she blushed trying to cover her body with her arms. "I … I can't believe we were going to the same place".
"I told you: destiny" he answered with a smile.
They had lunch together and, from that day and on, they were known to the employees of the hotel as the young inseparable sweethearts. After dinner, that very first night at the hotel, they walked on the beach on their way to their rooms. The tropical sky above them was full of stars and the wind breeze sang on the top of the tall coconut trees. They talked about religion and philosophy and life and love and dreams.
"I'm one of those really rare persons that believe in true love." Calvino admitted as his naked feet sank slowly on the sand leaving, walking by Melissa's side, a couple of trails intertwined marked across the beach.
"That sounds like coming out of a lover's manual".
"I'm hurt" he laughed. "Hey, I'm serious. I do believe in marriage. I think it's the most sublime expression of love and devotion: to be able to give yourself away to your only other half, to the one and only soul that God had sent to Earth to become one with your own."
"You mean you believe in waiting to give away your body only to that person when the time comes?" Melissa said slowly, blushing.
Calvino nodded in silence. And then he hit his head with the palm of his hands. He had just admitted he was a virgin in front of a woman. He thought, ashamed, that he was probably the only Rossi in the world that still was.
That night each went to their own separate rooms. As the sound of the sea breeze played a lullaby against the open windows of their beautifully decorated rooms, both Melissa and Calvino, found that they couldn't manage to sleep at all staying wide awake for hours, each replaying the events of that wonderful day.
"Favorite food?" Calvino finally asked after sharing a sumptuous meal at one of the hotel restaurants. They had made a resolve to try each and every one of the amenities of the all-inclusive hotel, and that obviously included one of their favorite pastimes: food.
"Pretty much anything sweet. But if I have to choose among all desserts… well, chocolate."
"Really? Chocolate?! Me too. I just love chocolate ever since I was a kid. You might not believe it but I am on my way to become a renowned patissier. I've had quite a bit of training, you know?"
"Really?" Melissa was incredulous. It was as if she had just met an expert of the most extraordinary profession in the world. "I've never met a pastry chef in my life! I mean you could make any type of sweets?"
"Any type" Calvino said with a proud smile on his lips showing a dimple in his already flushed cheeks.
"I'd die to have some chocolate. I've been craving for chocolate since I left home".
"You know what?" Calvino said excited. "How about right now?"
"What?"
"I mean. Why not? If Melissa wants chocolate for dessert, she's getting chocolate! Hey! Hey!" he said signaling to a nearby waitress that was picking up something a few blocks away.
The woman came to him as quickly as she could. She seemed new on the job and could barely speak some Basic English.
"What type of chocolate can we buy in this hotel?"
"Chocolate drink?" she nodded "Alcohol or no alcohol?".
"No. No. I mean chocolate. For eating. Por comer. Okay? What type of chocolate can one get in this hotel?"
"No chocolate in hotel, sir."
"Really? So you don't have any type of chocolates? Any kind? Not even those cherry filled with liquor…"
Melissa laughed. "I don't think she understands you at all."
He took a tiny wooden umbrella and pinched a cherry from his frozen-lemonade drink. Making a circle with the fingers of his left hand he introduced the little cherry in and out, showing the woman what he was talking about.
"You see? Cherry… filling… chocolate… Cherry… filling"
The woman employee opened her eyes wide and quickly waved. "No… no… allowed… not here. Not here". And with a quick excuse ran away from the pair.
"Hey! I didn't mean that!" Calvino said apologetically while Melissa cracked out laughing by his side.
"She could accuse you of sexual harassment, you know?" she said unable to contain the laughter.
He blushed and ate the cherry in one bite. "I don't think we'll get to find chocolate in this place. Mel, I'm truly sorry."
Melissa drank a bit more of her non-alcoholic piña colada, hiding the pleasure in her pretty smile. When they finished drinking he asked one of the waiters to take a picture of them together, side by side. He hugged her, finally having her so close to him, he found himself enchanted by the fresh fragrance of her body so he sat there, motionless.
People started coming in, the lights dimmed and the whole restaurant turned into a theater for the local show to start. Tropical music played for the course of the night and beautiful glittering outfits danced to the chords of the most fantastic scenarios of colors and bright lights.
She barely moved inside his embrace, resting her head on his shoulder for as long as the show lasted. There was no need for words, their hearts already had spoken.
They stopped at the door of her room. Neither of them had an ounce of alcohol in their blood but they were both feeling drunk and feverish.
Melissa blushed, not knowing where to rest her eyes and opened the door to her room. Calvino just stood there right in front of her, unable to decide whether to yield or to put out the fire that was slowly burning inside of him. She then took a step forward and kissed him goodnight. She felt his strong arms surround her with no intention to let her go. He held her there for an instant and buried his face in her hair. She could feel his choppy breathing caress the lobe of her ear. She barely felt her own legs. She just stood still.
Then he started kissing her neck, slowly and tenderly and planting his desires in a little trail of kisses until he found her lips. He then opened his eyes and saw the light of the moon reflecting in hers.
"I don't want you to think wrong of me" he spoke softly "I swear, God is my witness, I tried, Mel. I just… can't help it anymore".
She let her hands travel his naked forearms, his arms, his shoulders and she found his neck warm and tense to the touch of her fingers. She looked at him with an intensity that only young hearts in love could muster.
"Me neither" she kissed him and his lips tasted of salt, of rough sand mixed with the sweet nectar of desire.
The door closed behind them saying good night to the world outside as they created a new paradise of their own inside the walls of that four star hotel room.
Magical days went flying between early mornings and long walks on the beach, sailing on kayaks and baths on the open sea, horse riding on the sand, mini golf at the park, late dinners under the stars and passionate evenings tinted with the golden glimmer of the twilight rays that streamed from the balcony and fell over their love-craving bodies.
But, like their names written in the sand, washed away by the foaming hands of the blue ocean, the end had to come sooner or later. And it came on the seventh day.
Melissa stood in front of the lobby gate, her luggage in hand. The week ended so quickly to the outside world, but for them it had been more than a decade of new experiences lived at once.
Calvino came running to her carrying a little box in his hands. "They were right. There was no way to find any brand chocolate box in this hotel. So I had to make them myself on the kitchen."
Surprised, Melissa unwrapped the present and threw the paper over her shoulders. She opened the little wooden box to uncover two dozens of carefully decorated chocolates.
"A little something to remember me by" he said.
She gave him a sad smile. For how long did he thought she could remember him? she thought. She was sure she would eat the whole box in less than 15 minutes. After a few promises and goodbyes they part their own ways.
Melissa never knew what came upon her. Maybe she used to over think stuff, maybe he was afraid to reveal how much she had given his heart in those few days of her young life. Would he understand? Why couldn't she just admit it been nothing but a fantasy and her magical time was over? Maybe she was waiting for a st. Gio sign, she didn't know. She was too afraid to write him again, too embarrassed to ask anyone about him. All she knew were the memories that kept playing in her mind and her heart every day since then wishing that one day it would become nothing but a memory.
But, on the contrary, once back from his holidays, Calvino spent days of countless hours checking his email. She never wrote him. No words came between them. The promises were broken and what could have been the love of their lives didn't become more than an absurd summer fling. The young Rossi's heart was in distress.
It had been almost a real miracle -or was it destiny?- to find out, from his cousin Gio and his, then wife, Rachael about the Getty Girls, the "Team Gio" worshippers. New hopes formed in his mind and he didn't thought twice to flight all the way to California and meet his destiny.
Calvino gave a final glance to those wedding pictures. He saw his uncle and his cousin's wives all dressed in white. He then searched for Melissa's eyes and wished in his heart, with all his might, that one day he would finally see her, clad in white like an angel from heavens, those eyes smiling at nobody but him, walking towards him, slowly, across the aisle.
Melissa met Calvino's eyes and held the stare for what seemed an eternity and somehow they told her all she needed to know. She let the air free from her lungs and it was as a heavy weight was finally off her shoulders.
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Next chapter: Fabiano!
Note: Yikes, I made some mistakes on Mel and Cal characters. Thanks Livia for noticing it, you are such a love.