Chapter One: I Know What I Was Feeling (But What Was I Thinking)
Pietro's mind went blank.
"WELL?!" Marty demanded when he did not reply immediately.
He blinked at her several times, as if doing so might make her disappear. When it became clear that it obviously wasn't going to happen he looked down at his shoes and swallowed a few times. His air was no longer one of egotistical aloofness: he seemed to be going into a state of shock. Suddenly everything slowed down, until time itself seemed to be standing still. The cold seemed just a little bitterer; he could smell the snow, even melting as it was. The wind froze in the trees, and yet still it bit into him, digging its teeth into every one of his limbs. He almost stopped breathing.
This was not the response Marty had wanted. Hair flying, she turned and stamped to the stairs, where she sank down and began to sob again.
Her sharp, almost painful cries knocked Pietro's brain back on track. He stood for a moment, not sure exactly what to do. "Look," he said uncertainly, trying to keep his voice calm. "I'm not sure what you want me to do about this-"
Marty whirled on him, eyes still streaming tears.
Pietro winced. Wrong thing to say! He mentally kicked himself, but plowed on nonetheless. "I'm not sure what you want me to do…. I'm not gonna marry you or anythi-"
"Do I look like I wants to marry you?" Marty spat, scrubbing at her tearstained face and pulling her pea coat tighter around her as the wind sprang up again.
Something about that latter gesture bothered Pietro greatly.
"Are you cold?" he asked, surprising himself at the sincerity of his tone. Oh God, I'm getting sappy already!
Apparently he had surprised Marty too, for she was now looking at him as if he had sprouted another head. "Well, it IS below freezing out here," she said cynically, waving her gloved hands at him.
For the first time Pietro noticed that there was no other car in the driveway. "How'd you get here?" he asked.
"The bus," she answered. "And that's how I'm leaving." Standing, she retrieved her purse. She took a few seconds to scribble her number on a piece of scrap paper and hand it to him, before she made her way down the steps, and down the drive to the street.
Looking back over her shoulder, she called above the wind, "Gimme a call when you get your thoughts together. You and I need to have a talk!" She pulled her collar up to stave off the wind and tucked her hands into her pockets.
She was just about to reach the sidewalk when Pietro decided that he couldn't let her walk all the way to the bus stop in the cold.
"Wait up a minute!" he called.
She turned to look at him, clearly aggravated.
"Lemme get my coat and I'll give you a ride home!" Rushing inside, he grabbed his coat, scarf, gloves, and -very surreptitiously- Lance's keys. The jeep at least had a cover on it, and even if the heat didn't work very well, it still provided a shield from the wind. That had to be better than a drafty bus.
Marty was still making her way to the jeep when he returned -which really did make sense, considering it had taken him about 7 seconds to find everything.
Pietro did the very chivalrous task of opening the door for her. She stared at him as if he were insane, but let him anyway. Then he climbed in beside her, swore at the engine until it started, and immediately turned the heater up full blast. They pulled out of the driveway just in time to hear Lance screaming obscenities after them.
*****
An uncomfortable silence stretched between them, until at last Pietro leaned forward and turned on the radio. Marty was still sniffling miserably in the seat beside him, so he made the small concession of letting her choose the radio station. She pulled off her cumbersome gloves and pressed the seek button until she found -much to Pietro's horror- a country/western station that was playing an old Dolly Parton song. She began to sing along softly while she pulled her glove back on, then tapped her fingers to the tune on the armrest: all of these things Pietro found to be very annoying. If her voice had been any louder or less pleasant, he knew he would have had the gas pedal to the floor, all the quicker to get her home and away from him.
The jarring bleep of a cell phone broke through the music. Turning off the radio, Marty pulled a small red phone out of her purse. She looked once at the name displayed and fought the urge to throw the phone out the window. Sighing heavily, she answered it.
"Yeah?" she said, staring at her purse as it sat in her lap.
The person on the other line seemed displeased with this answer: Pietro could clearly hear the shouting on the other end.
"Well what the hell do you want me to do?!" Marty yelled when the line had gone silent.
She glanced at Pietro and listened to the person shouting on the other end.
"Yeah… He's givin' me a ride home," she said, obviously annoyed with whoever was harassing her.
The man on the other line, for it now became apparent it was a man, exploded. Pietro could ALMOST make out what he was saying.
"No, Daddy… Daddy, calm down!" Marty pleaded angrily, gripping the armrest tightly.
"Agh! Fine, whateveh!" she finished, slamming the phone shut and shoving it brutally back in her purse.
"So… That was your father?" Pietro asked gently, trying to soothe the seething young woman beside him. He suddenly had the sinking feeling that this wasn't going to end well.
Marty looked at him from the corner of her eye as she pulled a mirror out of her purse and began to reapply her lipgloss. "Yeah, that was him, alright," she said softly.
"You know, he didn't want me to tell you until he could come along wit' me," she continued, dropping the mirror into her purse and sighing again.
"Can't imagine what he was afraid of," Pietro said sarcastically, taking the exit off the highway and turning onto a small side street just off the overpass.
*****
Five minutes later they pulled into the driveway of a small white house, complete with a tiny, well-kept yard, an iron fence, and a group of angry male relatives standing on the porch. Pietro fought back the urge to run, as far as possible, and as soon as possible.
Six men, all of varying ages -some almost as young as him, the oldest looking to be in his mid 60s- were gathered on the front porch. Every single one of them wore a scowl upon his face, standing arms akimbo, and staring directly at Pietro. What troubled Pietro the most was the fact that they looked like they belonged to the Mafia. Four of the six men were wearing suits. The other two - an old, balding man, and a bristling teenager- were clad in a bathrobe over pajamas, and a wifebeater and jeans respectively. The man standing foremost had fire burning in his eyes. Pietro could almost see the smoke coming out of his ears.
"That's my dad," Marty said, pointing unnecessarily to the man in front. "My Nonno -grandpa," she said, pointing to the man in the robe. "My uncle Gianni," -the man in the suit off to the left- "and my brothers Matthew and Christian," -the other man in a suit, and the man in jeans.
"I'll, uh…just let you…. walk yourself to the door…." Pietro said, swallowing nervously.
Marty raised an eyebrow at him in amusement, then shrugged. "Suit yourself," she said, grinning like a cheshire cat. "You can't avoid my family forever," she added, smiling in satisfaction at the look of utter hopelessness in his eyes. "Eventually you'll have to get out and say 'hello."
"Yeah, well that day ain't today," Pietro said quickly, trying to hurry her out of the car. He was slightly unsettled by the way her father was now striding down the steps and to the jeep. Marty smiled again and climbed out of the jeep.
As soon as the door slammed shut, Pietro slammed on the reverse, and pulled out of the drive, tires squealing.
As he got on the freeway, he switched in the radio. A raucous voice sang at him: "I know what I was feelin'!… But what was I thinkin'?"
Sneering at Fate and her cruel jokes, he switched the radio off.
End Chapter One
Well? How'd y'all like this little installment? Not much plot development in this chapter, but I swear to God it will get better! (I hope…) Anywho, thanks very much to everyone who reviewed! Y'all know who you are! Hope this chapter gets as good a review as the first one did!