POV: Antonio Carriedo
Music was blurring out the stereo and the moment I walked in, Gilbert threw his arm around my shoulders pushing a cold beer in my hand. I felt at home in one second, forgetting about the empty house I just left.
"Am I late?" I shouted over the terrible music. Gilbert laughed.
"You only missed one beer!" He answered before whispering in conspiration against my ear. "Belle is here. She is stunning. I've got 10pounds on you guys making out."
I smiled widely, uneasy feeling running in my spine. Panic flood I tightened my hold on the bottle. That was way to soon, what was I suppose to do with her? But I did not say anything to Gilbert. I believe in ignoring problem until they go away like any good teenager with the fear of responsibility. We ran into Francis. He was having some cherry, fancy cocktails with peach sirup and hugged me without crashing neither his or my drink. Some french skills I believe.
"So I've got exactly 8 new conquêtes. All of them breathtakingly beautiful, obviously," he announced rolling his eyes, checking his watch. "And it's only 10pm. What about you?"
"6," growled Gilbert letting me go. "But let's talk about it again in 5 minutes."
Francis waved him off shouting as he leaves: "And remember it does not count if you already make out once before!"
I laughed at that stupid competition maybe if I start now I could get past Gilbert, one of the advantages of being the football-almost-captain. My eyes ran over the crowd. I caught something new, it was Feliciano jumping up and down dragging Ludwig on the dance floor.
"The Italians are here?" I said without stopping myself. Francis nodded.
"Feli is quite an animal party," laughed Francis and I feared the worst. "But we all know you are not talking about him."
"Very funny," I hissed drinking my beer again. It was the cheap asian kind, why does no one ever buy Spanish beer?
"This afternoon, they were quite good, right?" Francis said off-hand but he was lying to me and himself. This question was cold stone serious, not "off-hand". He was asking if we had a shot. Were they good enough? Can we win the competition this year? He hided behind his cocktail.
"Lovino managed because he can create game, also he can not shot to save his life," I said. "I think we just need give a plan and focus to Feliciano. Playing Kick and Run in a new team is never easy. Even more unfair for defence players." Francis nodded waiting for me to continue. "Feliciano needs confidence in his game and Lovino confidence in the other players. We can manage."
"And I'll manage you, and your lack of confidence." He got his hand on my tie and loosen it.
"Sorry, what?" I asked stepping back.
"Belle thinks you look the best like that," He said, finishing his work.
I rolled my eyes, like she cared how I was dressed. She was so into me I could be wearing my pyjama it would be fine. But even though, it did not help me, I was feeling so inadequate around her. Like we were dancing a candle in hand. It was iddillic but was going to end terribly. It was the envoutement of putting too much money on a single player. There was way to much hope for perfection about me going out with Belle. We would not survive the first bump. I smiled uneasily at Francis, I was not worried about her perfection, but about mine.
"Now, go get her, Don Juan! I've got money on you two going out! And Everybody is dying of the inexistent suspense of your love story."
"You bet too." I sighted looking around the room wondering how many people were waiting for me to meet their expectations. How many people gossiping about it? Maybe they were right. Maybe it would be perfect, for everyone.
"Aren't you suppose to give me the big brother threat of killing me if I hurt her," I said smoothly getting away from the subject.
"She is my cousin. You are like my brother," he rolled his eyes as I smiled truly. "And I'll have the talk with her, because she'll break your heart."
"Thanks," I answered sarcastically.
"You are not worried about it, right?" Francis suddenly asked, like he just glanced into my mind. I was bloody terrified, yeah. I glared, wanting to push him out suddenly worried everyone would know, I am only pretending to be okay with it all. He almost stepped back and I was regretting instantly my glare.
Before Francis could say anything else, Jack jumped on us with shots of whiskey. No one ever says no to a Scottish man proposing whiskey if you want to stay friends. Time passed, I was ready to see Belle every five minutes, appearing at any corner of the room. Though, the house was so big with the garden and the two floors, maybe I won't even see her!
I met Yao thanking him for the party and complained about the beer. It was a bad move.
I saw Li and that blond guy, that I keep on losing the name. Gilbert was talking to then. Well, he was trying. He tiptoed around the blond boy, laughing weirdly at everything he said. Li was watching everything silently not helping and quite amused at watching Gilbert ridiculise himself. I elbowed Francis and we stole Gilbert away saving him from further embarrassments. Li just in time whispered I should look for Belle. I glared at him. All I got was "What? I've put a lot on this bet!"
I did not answer that and stepped away with Gilbert.
"Argh! That was so unawesome!" he growled.
I patted him gently on the back. "It's okay, my friend."
Gilbert was quite rueful. And while Francis went in a long discourse about the corelation between real love and the need to override great difficulty to make it more special, tequila appeared in front of us. Yes, tequila can teleport. Sneaky tequila. It must be that, magic abilities or how do you explain; You are mildly tipsy enjoying your night and before you know it, tequila appears and you are shirtless on the dance floor.
POV: Lovino Vargas
The moment I walked in into the party, I knew I made a mistake.
We were there early, thanks to our nice escort who arrived and let us go on time. This time it was simple gray car, no more mascarade. The 30-something policeman did not hide his identity. I could only wonder if he did that to win over our trust or to threaten us. Nonetheless, Feliciano had been really friendly with the policeman and the man was actually falling for it, asking about school, friends, football. Like Feli said, if he was going to be around, we should at least be friend!
Sure, I crossed my arms glaring at him all the way to Yao's house. I was not going to forget why he was "going to be around" meaning breathing down our necks. He was not driving us around with the city council money for the joy of talking with Feli. We were hostage waiting for them to decide what to do with our conditional liberty. And the harshest truth of it all was that it was all my fault. I put my brother and I in this transparent prison all by myself. My skin was itching for 5minutes of freedom again. 5 minutes of they not knowing where I was. 5 minutes of not being afraid, they would suddenly brag in and decide otherwise with us. I winced stopping to scratch my skin. I really need to cut my nails. I started bitting them pensively looking outside, letting the city running away with freedom.
And there I was, in a new prison setting, four walls, unknown people dancing. Music was blurring out the stereo, songs I've never heard and Feliciano loved it. The first hour, I followed Feli around. Then like usual he started to forget about me talking to everyone. It was so usual, I was almost happy. He was right, for one night everything was normal. Hours started to pass by, the music was not very diverse. It started getting on my nerves, loud hits, buzzing and people shouting. It made me strangely more and more anxious. I found a corner and decide to calm my nerviousity with some wine. After all I was at a party, people won't worry if I get pissed drunk. People never worry. I looked outside again. Maybe I could step out. Just 5 minutes. I saw the gray car stationed in front of house an hour ago. It is still here.
Anyway, I should not. And I was not. I was not going to try anything, I promised myself.
POV: Antonio Carriedo
It was around midnight things calmed down. I was laying on a sofa (my shirt miraculously back on) with some other players when my eyes caught something. Jack was rambling about some football game tactic he just saw on TV but being half drunk there was not much to learn of. And from the corner of the room, I could see someone I have not talked to yet. Lovino was here. He was standing next to the kitchen in his black jean, black shirt and black hoodie. He seemed quite proud, eyes fixed on Feliciano, ready to jump in and censor his brother's fun when needed. Feliciano had been the attraction of the night so far, engaging crazy dance move, laughing and shouting excitable high pitch sounds with designer clothes. I vaguely remembered him dancing on a table. People had just befriended him the moment he walked in, talking about everything and nothing with him. Everybody was looking at him like this social friends, nice, positifs and confident. Everybody wanted to be around him. And I was quite liking sharing the attention. Being able to enjoy the party not having to make it live was quite good. Francis was frowning a bit but I knew that Gilbert was also secretly enjoying it as it gave him a chance to hoover around his Canadian crush. I looked back at Lovino, he did not appear to be talking or being in contact with anyone. People mainly ignored him and he did not seem to care. I took a deep breath and walked toward him.
"Hey!" I said, he glanced up at me. Glanced up, not glared. Good point. Mental high five, tomato dance~ Anyway, I need to stop the tequila. I smiled. "Having fun?"
He rolled his eyes not even acknowledging me with an answer. It was a stupid question I know, he did not seem like having fun but was he really going to just ignore me? He was nursing few glasses of wine already. How cute, it was not a soccer player drink to have at a trashy high school party, as much as Francis like to disagree, but either way, he was not aware of it or he did not care. Possibly he did not care. His lips were already tainted of red.
He went back to sipping, honey eyes just staring at the mob of people dancing. I stood there in silence, my mouth attempting to find something to say. He banged his glass against the wooden table, making the glass wince as he slide it. He took his iPod out, then slowly started to untangle his earphone.
I stayed and I asked; "Are you really going to ignore me?" My four shots of tequila were not settling down after Gilbert's competition.
He simply shrugged. Shrugged.
"I am the one to be upset!" I said a bit childishly and he glared at me. I clenched my fists. "You threw tomato at me. I stop them from bullying you, And now my best friends gets all friendly with you because you help him win few matches. But you won't talk to me? What did I ever do to you? I already apologised."
His eyes widened searching my face for something, "Are you?"
"I am, what?" I asked so surprised not that he finally said something but to have his whole attention thrown at me. At this point I could not hear the music anymore, it was like being put on the spot light, as I just forgot my lines.
"Are you," he repeated a bit unsure now, but still leaning to hear in my answer like if it was some kind of valuable gossip such as football strategy. "Upset?"
"No! I'm not upset," I shouted exasperated.
He frowned, squinting his eyes. "Okay," he said in complete disbelief. "Anyway, I don't care."
And he went back to sipping his wine, taking away his attention, leaving me, standing here the music blurring senseless lyrics. He glanced now and then in my direction but it was not enough to remplace his full focus. It was becoming awkward and a hand slided on my arm. I froze, my heart picking up a race. I knew with perfume.
"Antonio~!" Belle shouted draping herself around my arm. "Where were you?"
"Oh, I was… Eh! Around?" I took a quick breath and smiled wider hoping for the distraction to work few seconds. It worked Belle's cheeks turned to a sweet pink. She looked away. It was not as terrifying as first planned. I was almost happy to see her, happy for salvation from the disastrous discussion with Lovino. I glanced back to him who had barely turned to look at Belle.
She shook my arm. "Dance with me!" she ordered, eyes brighting in enthusiasm.
I gave up. I passed my arm around her waist moving to the dancing area smiling big. She giggled, blue eyes sparkling and accentuated from the black eyeliner. Francis said she made a special effort, not wanting to replay the same fiasco that at the swimming pool. She looked mesmerising in that short red dress, dangerously more adult than the swimsuit. I did not had much choice but to go with it. I had my football team, was working on my grades, and now I was getting the perfect girlfriend. Everyone else wished they could have this thing that made her fall in love with me. Belle was on top of being beautiful, terribly funny, cute, she had this killing French accent. Sometime sexy, but mostly she was deeply caring about the people around her. It was perfect. She was perfect. My parents would love her. Frankly I had to stop being so annoyed by the Italians. Everything was running quite smoothly for once in this universe and I let myself smile dancing away the night, eyes locked with hers.
Unaware she was going to kiss me in 2hours.