EPISODE 1: The Beginning Of A New Saga
By: Amanda H.
Nobody expected this. My friends Cristal, Kayla, and I were on our way to the Hampton's when we got caught in the rain, and we got lost. We asked someone for help, and out of all people, it just so happened to be Frankie from the Gotti's. I didn't know who he was, but my friends did. We hung out at his house for a while just until the rain calmed down. But the storm went on and on through the night so we ended up staying at his house. We met his mom and his brothers, and some of their friends. Cristal tried flirting with John, and Kayla and Carmine couldn't keep their hands off each other. I on the other hand, kept to myself.
We did alot of stuff. We took a ride in their cars, and we went out dancing. I kept looking at John, and I caught him looking at me once or twice. I thought he was really good-looking and I was sort of jealous that Cristal was with him. He came up to me, and asked if I wanted to dance, but Cristal gave me an arkward glance so I turned him down. When I wouldn't dance with him, he asked me to have a drink with him. I agreed, only if we drank soda. I didn't want anybody drinking liquor and then drinking and driving on our way home.
"So you girls having fun?" He asked.
"Well I don't know about them, but I am."
"You mind if I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"You like my brother Frankie?"
"Why? Who want's to know?"
"Me. I want to know."
"Not really. He's really sweet, but we got nothing in common."
"You speak Italian?"
"Of course! What kind of Italian would I be if I couldn't speak Italian?" I smiled.
"That's my kind of girl!"
I laughed. "You're really funny."
"Thanks." He grinned. I think he thought I was flirting with him, but I really wasn't. By now, I just wanted to go home.
"So John, you got any special things you into?" I asked, trying to make conversation.
"Yeah. Actually I'm trying to do some boxing."
"Well that's cool. It's risky to be in that kind of business. But if it's fun for you, why not go for it?"
He smiled. "So you into boxing?"
"A little. My dad watches it, so sometimes if I see a boxing match on, I'll sit and watch it. It is interesting."
John and I talked for a long time, and when we got back home, we all decided to play football in the rain. I made it up, because I figured it would be fun. They had a big backyard. We split in teams, and before you knew it, people were getting tackled left and right.
Kayla complained about her nails, and Cristal hated being tackled. But I loved it. It was football people! Either play it right, or don't play it at all! As the game kept moving on, I caught the ball and started running for it. John tackled me to the ground, and even though we were both muddy and soaked, we laughed about it, and we were about to kiss, when suddenly I changed the subject and got up in a hurry. He walked away, as I tried not to look at him anymore. Cristal was crushin' on him, so I had to stay away. I knew my boundaries.
Frankie kept trying to sweet talk me, and put his arm around me, but I wasn't stupid. And beside's, I didn't come here to flirt with guys. Normally I would be all for it, and having a fun time, but I wanted to get settled in the Hamptons first, and then party. We all just pretty much chatted in the living room with each other. The only person missing, was John.
I asked if I could have a drink, and Frankie walked with me to get something. His mom was chatting on the phone, and I saw John sitting at the kitchen table. When I got a glass of ice water, I sat down next to John and told Frankie that I'd meet him in the living room in a few minutes. I could tell that something was up with John, and I felt that I had to help him out.
"What's wrong?" I asked him.
"What makes you think something's wrong with me?" He said, in his strong Italian accent.
"We Italian's know each other way too well." I grinned, and he smiled back at me. "So from one Italian to another, what's going on? You okay?"
"Well I got female problems."
I laughed. "Well I'm a female. Let's see if I can help you."
"Normally I wouldn't be complaining if a girl was hanging all over me..."
"So what's the problem then?" By now, his mother had left the kitchen. It was just the two of us.
"Well she's not exactly the girl I thought was going to be the one all over me."
"Cristal right?" I asked.
"How'd you know?" He asked, blushing.
"I can tell by your reaction when she's around you."
"So you have been looking at me." He smirked.
I tried to make a good cover. "No offense, but I was actually checking to make sure you weren't messing with my girl. She is one of my best friends."
He rolled his eyes. "You're such a liar."
I got up, and pushed my glass of water towards him. "Here, your going to need this. You'll be here a while."
He stood up, and started following me to the living room. He cut me off, and grabbed my hand. "Don't walk away when you know you like me." He grinned.
"Excuse me?" I took my hand away from him. "Don't touch me, unless asked too." I smiled, and walked away.
When we entered, everybody stared at us, as if we just got caught in the act of committing some sort of crime.
"Is everybody okay?" I asked.
"Yeah, we're fine. We were just beginning to wonder what was taking you guys so long." Kayla answered.
"We were just talking." I told her. Frankie came up to me and put his arm around me. I took his arm off of me and tried to slowly move away from him.
John looked at me funny and as I sat on the couch, he sat right on the floor next to me. We all started joking around again, and one of the boys' friends kept aggravating me, whispering to me to kiss John. I finally yelled at him to leave me alone, and everybody just stared at me.
"Amanda, what's wrong?" Cristal asked.
"Um, nothing. I just spased out, that's all." I sort of gave her a fake smile.
"Okay..." She looked at me funny.
"Just kiss him! I'll pay you 50 dollars..." This kid just wouldn't leave me alone.
"Kiss who?" John asked.
"You!"
I turned red, and John looked away. "Do you guys like each other?" Kayla asked, as Carmine held her hand.
"NO!" I yelled. John didn't even get to answer. Everybody waited for his reply. He just got up and walked up to his room.
Cristal got up and ran to the bathroom crying her eyes out. I was so mad that all this was happening. Once again, all the attention was on me.
"What? I wasn't going to kiss him!" I yelled.
"Why not?" Kay asked.
"Cristal likes him! I would never jeopardize a friendship over a boy." I told her.
"But by the looks of it, he likes you. Not her."
Frankie walked up to me. "So you like John?" I didn't answer him. "Answer me!" He yelled. I just froze. I didn't know what to do. "Just forget it." Frankie walked up to his room, and slammed the door shut.
Carmine asked everybody to leave, except for me and Kayla. We were staying overnight. I had to find out how Cristal was doing, so I went to the bathroom and knocked on the door.
"Go away Amanda, I know it's you." She told me.
"Cristal, you can't hide in there forever."
"I can stay in here until we leave."
"Cristal, just talk to me." She opened the door and we sat in the living room. Carmine and Kay were too busy flirting to even pay attention to us. "Let me explain..."
"Explain what? That you like John, and you wouldn't tell me? Or for the fact that you made me look like an idiot in front of all these people? Especially John himself! I was flirting with him the whole time, thinking I had a chance, when all along he wanted you!"
"Cristal he kinda gave me the hint he liked me, when we were in the kitchen talking. But I did not like him until then. But even though I do, I won't EVER make a move on him, knowing you like him. I would take a friend rather than a boy any day." She smiled at me, wiping her tears. "I think he's great and everything, but I'm not that type of girl to turn her back on her friend. You told me in the beginning that you were crushin' on him, so I have no right."
"But he's not a piece of property. You can have him, if you want."
"No I don't. Trust me. I'm not going to do that to you." She smiled at me, and we hugged. Then before Kay, Cristal, and I headed to the guestroom for the night, I decided to go talk to John. I walked up to his room, passing his mother's room. I saw her because her door was opened, and said good night to her as she got ready to go out with a few of her friends.
I knocked on John's door. I could hear some music blasting in the background. I knocked again, and he lowered the music down. I knocked once more, and he opened it up for me.
"What do you want?" He asked.
"I wanted to know if we could talk?" I asked, looking inside his room.
"Yeah. Come in." He shut the door behind me, as I walked in slowly, not knowing where to go. "Come sit with me on the bed." I sat down next to him, and stared at him. He was very handsome, and I was remembering when we were in the kitchen talking, and I loved his smile. I had to admit, that I was developing a crush on him myself, but I knew where I stood. And that was as far away from him as I could. "So what do you want to talk about?"
"I hope you didn't expect to just forget about what happened downstairs." I told him.
"Well what's to talk about? We got embarrassed, and that's it."
"No, that's not it. You and I both know that you expected something to happen."
He looked at me, and then looked around his room. "My friends could tell I was crushin' on you. So they wanted you to kiss me. I didn't think that it was such a bad idea. But you made it out to look like it was so horrible."
"I'm sorry I made it out to look that way, but you have to understand the situation I'm in."
"Your not in no situation, so don't try to make some stupid excuse."
"I am in a situation. Cristal likes you. And I'm not going to lose a friend over a boy. I'm sorry, but it's just not going to happen."
"So you mean to tell me, that you don't like me at all? That you could care less about me?" I looked away and ignored him. "Amanda, no offense, I know you're trying to be a good friend and all, but I think you need to start thinking about your own feelings first, before you worry about someone else's."
I got up and headed towards the door. "It's not that easy." I said, as I opened the door.
John came from behind me and slammed the door shut. "And why the hell not?" He yelled. "Why can't you just worry about yourself, and no one else! I know she's your friend, but she has nothing in common with me. She can't speak Italian, and she's too young for me anyways." I turned around to face him. "You won't even give me the time of day! What's with you! I don't understand!" He yelled.
I sat down on his bed again, as he followed me and sat next to me. "You want to know how I feel John? You really want to know?" He nodded his head yes. "I do like you. I think you're very handsome, and I think you're very nice. The conversation we had was awesome, and I enjoy hanging out with you. But I will never choose a boy over a friend, and that's that." He stared at me again, and didn't say a word. "John? Are you okay?" He leaned in and kissed me. I kissed him back and then backed away. "We shouldn't have done that." I whispered.
"I'm sorry-" He tried apoligizing, but I cut him off. I kissed him again and this time it lasted a while, until Carmine, Kayla, and Cristal showed up. They opened the door, not even knocking first, and just stood there in shock with their mouth's wide open.
John and I backed off each other, slowly, and he looked away, as I looked at my friends and Carmine, not knowing what to say. "This isn't what it looks like--" I tried to explain.
"Yes it is! You finally kissed John!" Kayla yelled, happy as ever. While Cristal on the other hand didn't look too happy.
"But-"
"It was a mistake..we just got caught up in the moment." John cut me off.
"A little too caught up, eh bro?" Carmine joked, as he gave his brother daps.
"We better be going. It's getting late." I said, as I gave John a hug and walked away with my friends. Cristal wouldn't even look at me. I felt so awful. I finally got her to trust me again, and she just saw me kiss John! I was so stupid...
When we got into the guestroom, and were getting ready for bed, I tried talking to Cristal again, but she was giving me the 'silent treatment'. She wouldn't look at me or talk to me. Finally I gave up, and just went to bed.
When I woke up and we all went down for breakfast, John and I sat at the table, and were very quiet. We both didn't know what to say to each other.
"John, what's wrong with you? Why aren't you talking?" His mother asked him.
"He got caught kissing Amanda last night." Carmine spilled. He was laughing, while Frankie just gave John the 'evil eye'. I wanted to kill Carmine for letting everybody know what happened.
"You what?" She asked.
"Nothing ma, can't we just eat in peace? Damn." He got up and walked out the kitchen.
"John! Get back here!" She yelled.
"You kissed John?" Frankie asked me, angrily.
"We didn't--" I started, but I never got to finish.
"What's wrong with you? Do you flirt with every guy you meet!"
"Guys! What's going on!" Victoria asked.
"Ma'am, may I be excused?" I asked, politely.
"No! You may not! I want to know when this happened! Nobody tells me anything anymore!" Frankie yelled.
"She kissed him, what's the big deal?" Kayla shrugged. Cristal just kept quiet, as she drank her OJ.
"STOP IT!" I screamed. Everybody zipped their lips. Cristal put her cup of OJ down. "Fine, I'll admit we kissed each other. And for once in my life, I wasn't thinking about hurting someone else, or worrying about someone else's feelings. I was worrying about mine! And I'm not going to lie to any of you! I enjoyed every minute of it! John likes me, and I like him too...everybody just needs to deal with it! Cristal, you don't have anything in common with him, and Frankie I have nothing in common with you, so if you think that we were ever going to be together, you were wrong." John walked back into the kitchen. "I admit I'm a mess. I flirt non-stop, but that's only because I thought about my friends first and how much they liked that certain guy. So I always backed off. Well now I'm crushin' on someone, and everybody all of a sudden has a problem with it! Well too bad. This is not meant at all for Victoria, so excuse me when I say this; but ya'll can kiss my a." John smiled at me. I got up, and walked towards John. He took my hand, and we went back to the guestroom to talk privately.
John and I went back to the guestroom, and I started packing as he tried to persuade me to stay.
"I can't. My parent's think I'm in the Hampton's. I keep lying to them when they call my celly. Beside's, as much as I like you, I don't think this would work."
"Why not?"
"John, you're a Gotti. I'm an old school girl. Our world's are so different. We would never make it."
"So your going to give up? Just like that? Take off and leave, and hopefully we'll see each other again?" He was pacing back and forth. Finally he turned me around to face him, and started kissing me again. He pinned me up against the wall and I kept kissing him back. He started putting his hand up the back of my shirt, and then I pushed him away. "Please--" He begged.
"I'm sorry, I can't do this." He got away from me and started yelling.
"Why do you keep running away! I can't stand this!" He screamed.
"Why are you getting so angry?" I asked him.
"Why am I getting so angry? Why do you think? We've been having a good time...and now you want to walk out of here like nothing ever happened."
"John what happened last night was a mistake..."
"Was it? Or are you just too scared to face the truth?" He walked out, slamming the door behind him.
I didn't know whether to run after him or just stand there. I knew I really liked him, but I was just so scared of having a relationship, that I pushed everybody I have ever loved away from me.
Kayla kept going on and on about how she was going to miss Carmine, and how she wanted him to come with us to the Hamptons. She begged me to bring him. Frankie wouldn't talk to me. Cristal wouldn't even look at me. John was so mad at me because I wouldn't be with him. Everybody I came in contact with, basically hated me. I couldn't take it anymore.
I told Kayla she could bring Carmine to the Hamptons with us. He told his brother's and John asked Kayla to ask me if he could come. Finally I asked Frankie if he wanted to come because I felt bad. I didn't want to leave him here all alone.
I had a long talk with both Cristal, and Frankie and worked everything out. They understand everything that happened between John and I and they couldn't wait to get to the Hamptons just so we could party and they could meet some new people.
Before we all got in the cars, John pulled me aside to tell me something. He kissed me softly on the lips. "This is what you could've had." Is all he had to say, and then he walked away from me.
We were once again, on our way to the Hamptons. But this time, we were going to make it there.