Chapter 1
My best friends were at my place for a sleepover when they got here. I was laughing at a joke my best friend Danni had just told me when Mom called me.
"Luisa, could you come down here please?" She sounded slightly shaken, so I went down to the kitchen with my friends following me like ducklings.
"What's th-" I stopped dead when I saw Lovino. I had stopped so suddenly that my friend ran into me in the doorway.
I stood there trying to find my voice, while Danni asked, "What is it, Luisa? Are you okay? Luisa what is it?!"
When Lovino spoke, he used fluent Italian, so only my family and I could understand. "Hey Luisa, you can let your friends into the kitchen, you know," He stood up and gave me a tight hug. I had not realized how much I missed him. I hugged him back so tightly that he winced in mock pain.
"It's good to see you, fratello!" I said, and then I turned to Antonio, who was still sitting at the table. He was grinning like he hadn't seen something make him so happy for years. "Get over here, you," I said as if I was irritated.
He stood and walked over to me and Lovi. He was a tall, lean athletic looking guy. With his dark brown hair that was nearly black, and his deep green eyes, he was really good looking. He was dressed in a worn soccer T-shirt that read "Spain" on the front and the back, and a pair of jeans.
"Hola, Luisa, its good to see you again." He said, with a beautiful Spanish accent. "Are you going to give me a hello-hug or not?" This he said in English.
I glanced at Mom to see if she and Dad were still in the room. My mother is a tall, auburn haired woman with bright, blue eyes. My dad is on the shorter side, with a pot belly and a shaved head. Mom was standing at the counter, watching as I greeted our guests. She gave me a quick smile, with a wink and said, "I'll go call your parents to tell them you'll be coming home early, okay girls?"
"So, your brother and his friend are here for a visit?"
"I'm not sure," I said. "They might only be here for a few days, but they could be here for a lot longer."
"Well, whatever. We'll figure it out. How old are they?" Danni asked as we sat a long stoplight. I thought for a second. Can I tell them about us? Or will they just think I'm joking? I decided to tell them their physical age instead of their actual age.
"Lovi is twenty-two, and Antonio is twenty-five. Why?"
"Well, if they stay here for more than a few months, they might have to come to school with us. I know it's the middle of summer, but it's a real possibility!"
"I know." The light finally changed and I started down the street again.
When I got home Mom had made dinner. It was my favorite, pasta alla carbonara with peaches and cream for desert. As I set the table with Antonio and Lovi, I thought about what Kayla had said after we left Danni's house. She had looked at me with her stormy gray eyes and said, "However things happen, Luisa, I trust your judgment. Just remember that, okay?"
"Of coarse I will, you know that. And thanks, Kayla." I said with a smile. "See you on Monday!"
She smiled at that. After waving goodbye, I drove home through the light rain that had started. I was jerked out of my reverie when Mom came in with a pitcher of iced tea. At first dinner was awkward and uncomfortable, but when Antonio slapped himself on the face with a noodle we all started laughing. Even Antonio chuckled after he wiped the sauce off his chin. I was giggling so hard that I almost spilled tea on Lovi.
"So," I said as we all slowly recovered from the noodle attack. "How long are you guys going to be staying for?"
Antonio looked at Lovi, as if to say" You answer her, I'm eating." Lovi sighed, and put his fork on the table. "Well, don't take this the wrong way, but I'd rather tell you in the morning. Okay?"
I looked at him for a second; it was like he thought what he was going to say would give me nightmares. "Okay, I can wait 'til tomorrow." I said reluctantly.
"Thanks. So, how's school been lately? We haven't talked in a while."
"Oh, you know, the usual whirlpool of homework and drama," I said in an offhand tone.
This made Lovi laugh, and his laughter was infectious. Soon everyone was smiling. Lovi rarely smiled, and when he did it always made me smile too. When dinner was finished we talked for what felt like hours. Lovi and Antonio talked about their friends back in Europe, and all the things that had happened since we had last spoken. Lovi told me how Veneziano had missed his flight home from visiting Germany and gotten stuck in Berlin for three hours before Germany came and got him. I've never actually met him, but I can tell Veneziano is a real sweetie. "Lovi, how come Veneziano never comes with you when you visit?"
"He runs the house while I'm gone. If we both left, the place would be in total chaos by the time we got back."
"Really?"
"Really. I kid you not, that's just the way we do things at home."
"Huh. Maybe I can help with that at some point." I said. "I've always been pretty organized."
"I see no reason why you can't, plus you'll have some free time after you move in." Lovi gave a yawn that should have dislocated his jaw. I glanced at the clock, it was almost eleven o'clock!
"Maybe we should all go to bed," I said. "It's pretty late. Plus I have gymnastics tomorrow."
"When did you start gymnastics?" Asked Lovi, as we went upstairs to the guest room. "Last time I was here you played soccer."
"Oh, I still do. But Danni, Kayla, and I decided to try gymnastics this summer. I actually really like it."
"Well, good night. See you in the morning, Sis?"
"Yeah, 'night."
I walked to my room next door from the guest room. I pulled on my pajamas and climbed into bed. God, what a day. And before I knew it I was out like a light.
The next day I woke up to startlingly bright sunshine coming through my window. I looked at my clock that I had my Ipod docked on. I sighed, it was almost nine. Gymnastics wasn't until noon, but I wanted to spend some time with Lovi before I had to leave. I got dressed quickly in shorts and a T-shirt. Just as I was leaving my room my phone started ringing. It was P!nk's "Raise Your Glass". I smiled and picked it up. "Good morning Danni, what's up?"
"I hate to ruin your totally unneeded beauty sleep, but I need a ride to practice. My brother took the car last night, and he's not back yet. Please?"
"Danni, you live, like, a block from the community center. Are you that lazy, or are you just hoping my brother will come with us?"
There was silence, then, "are you trying to imply something, missy?"
"Oh no, I just remember the last time he came to visit. Surely you haven't forgotten?"
"I haven't. Why do you always bring that up when I say that I've got a crush on someone-?"
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. But yes, I'll give you a ride. Be ready at eleven-thirty, alright?"
"Sure see ya then. Bye!"
"Bye."
Click. Well, today's going to be fun, I thought sarcastically. But first a huge bowl of oatmeal with cranberries and brown sugar. Yum. As I walked down to the kitchen I stopped to pick up my soccer ball on the stairs. When I got to the bottom I set it on the ground and began practicing around the room and into the kitchen. As I started bouncing it on my knee, Mom came in the room. "Luisa, no soccer in the house. If you want to practice go into the back yard."
"Fine, lemme know when breakfast is ready." I went out back and started kicking the ball at a pair of trees I often used as goalposts. I focused on accuracy and force. Force without accuracy was dangerous, and could cause an injury as bad as a broken nose. Accuracy with no force was completely useless of course. I was focused so much on how I was kicking the ball that I didn't notice when Antonio came outside and sat on the steps to the deck. That is, until he started speaking.
"You're really good, how long have you played football for?" He asked, taking a bite of the apple he was holding. He was wearing a white V neck shirt with a pair of camo cargo shorts.
"I've played since I was six, Lovi used to play with me, but know he's afraid I'll beat him. So he stopped playing with me a couple years ago." Lovi had taught me all my best moves. Some I could do better than him, even. But, Antonio was an international soccer player. He played for the national team in Spain. He was probably way better than me, without a doubt.
"You mind if I practice with you? I haven't really stretched since I got off the plane, and I can't think of a better way than playing football," he said. He stood and threw the core of his apple into the bushes.
"Sure, but you've got an unfair advantage and you know it!" I said, kicking him the ball. He stopped it with his foot.
"So what if I do?" He said, grinning wickedly. "There's not much you can do about that, now is there? But don't worry. I'll go easy on you."
"I feel so special. I'm not going easy on you, though. And you know that," I said. "And you should know from playing with Lovino that I'm better than you think."
As we fought for control of the ball, I became very glad that I had my cleats on. Even with that advantage I not only lost the ball, but almost fell on my butt in the grass. We had been playing for about ten minutes when Lovino came out and said, "Breakfast is ready. I hope you guys like oatmeal, because it looks like we're gonna be eating it for a while," he paused. "Luisa, why are you on the ground?"
"'Cause your oh-so-kind boyfriend just knocked me on my ass to get the soccer ball," I said. As I stood, I snatched the ball from Antonio and kicked a goal. "Ha ha, take that!"
"That's a dirty trick; did you teach her that Lovi?" Antonio asked.
"Of course I taught it to her, and besides, you're the only one dumb enough to fall for it. How did you manage to beat Netherlands in the world cup if you fell for that little trick?" Lovino asked. "If she tried that on me she would never have made it."
"Guys, your nation is showing," I said trying to subtly remind them of breakfast inside. They glance at me for a second, then Antonio shrugged and went inside. Lovino and I followed a second later. Once everyone had eaten, I asked Lovi what he was going to do today.
"Well, would it bother you if I came to gymnastics with you?" He replied as he put our dishes in the sink. "Toni and I are still pretty jet lagged, so we don't have a lot of energy despite his earlier display."
"Yeah you can come with us but I have one stipulation," I said with a grin.
"And what would that be?"
"I get to drive your car."
"Never mind, I'll stay here."
"Aww, come on Lovi! Don't be such a stick in the mud." I gave him the best big-eyed pleading look I could muster.
"Damn, fine you can drive my car. But if I find one scratch, so help me god I will make you wash that Ferrari so many times you'll be able to recognize every nook and cranny on it, comprende?"
"Si, si I hear you fratello."
At eleven o'clock I grabbed my gym bag and called out, "Lovino I'm leaving now!"
In response I got, "Hold on a damn second, I'm coming."
This was followed by a lot of grumbling, a loud bang, and cursing in Italian. When he finally came downstairs, Lovino had a tablet in his hand. "Lovino, why do you have my Ipad?"
"I'm on my Facebook. Let's go," he said. "Hey, have you seen Toni since breakfast?"
"No, I haven't. Why?"
"Oh he just disappeared, that's all."
We figured out where Antonio was as soon as we went outside. He was casually leaning against the side of Lovino's tomato-red Ferrari. I looked at Lovi and shook my head, laughing helplessly. Of course he would want to come; the only other option was to leave Lovino virtually alone with dozens of teenage girls, almost all of which are very pretty. And to be honest, Lovi was a terrible flirt. He often blamed it on being the 'spirit of Italy', but he was just flirtatious by nature. The fact that he was nearly three-thousand years old had no affect on this either. In fact the only thing I had ever witnessed having any affect on him was Toni. Sheesh, I hope those flirtatious tendencies don't run in the family.
"Well? Are you going to gymnastics or not?" Lovi jolted me out of my internal babble with his irate words.
"Lovi, be nice~," Antonio chimed in.
"He's right, Lovi," I said grinning impishly. "I'm driving remember?" I dangled the keys in front of his face tauntingly.
"If you keep doing that you'll be late for practice," Lovino stated dryly.
"Oh, that reminds me," I said bopping myself on the forehead. "we have to get Danni on the way. She needs a ride."
"Why do you insist on showing of my car?" Lovino cried in disbelief. "It took my forty years to convince my boss it wasn't going to kill my economy for me to have a beautiful car! Forty-damn-years!"
"Calm down Lovino, we live in a family neighborhood," I said. "Don't curse so loud."
"Yeah, whatever. Let's go before you miss practice," he advised.
After I got all the mirrors and the seat adjusted, I stuck the keys into the ignition. The engine turned over and purred evenly. When I had it on the road I stepped on the gas and it snarled like a jungle cat. A devious grin grew on my face. "You guys got your seat-belts on?"
"Yeah… why do you ask?" Lovino asked warily.
"Just curious," I said before I slammed my foot down on the gas pedal. Antonio seemed to be having fun, while Lovino was in the backseat cursing in Italian and gripping the seat.
"Santo Gesu Cazzo maledetto! Rallentare, Cazzo!" He shouted.
I glanced at Toni, he was tuning the radio. Once he was back in his seat I rounded the last corner to Danni's house and came to a smooth stop at the curb. A quick mashing of the horn served to tell Danni we had arrived.
"You are so lucky your my sorella, Cilia, otherwise you'd be dead meat," Lovino said, righting himself in his seat.
I looked back at him startled.
"What did you just call me?"
"Luisa. That is your name is it not?"
"No, you didn't call me Luisa, you said something else." I paused to think. "Cilia. you called me Cilia."
At this he and Toni shared a worried look.
"Do you remember what I said last night about needing to talk to you about something, sorella?"
"Si, I remember," I said.
"This is part of that."
AN: hey guys, sorry i didnt put any translations in the prolouge, i kinda-sorta forgot. So to make it up to you all, i'll put them here. :)
Prolouge
(the conversasion between Lovino and Sicilia is in Italian)
If you dont stop, I'll tell him about the time you kissed Antonio!
That's private though!
I dont care, stop or I'll tell him.
(The conversasion between Prussia and Sicilia is in German, except for the last thing that Sicilia says, which is Italian)
I have to go.
You dont have to leave, you can stay if you want to.
Thanks Cilia.
No problem, Gil.
(The rest are blindingly obvious, but still)
Vaffanculo, bastardo!- Fuck off, bastard!
Ciao-hello/good bye
Cazzo- Fuck
(I warned you about Lovi's potty mouth, and it only gets worse~ :))