O mio babbino caro,
mi piace, è bello, bello.
Vo'andare in Porta Rossa
a comperar l'anello!
Sì, sì, ci voglio andare!
e se l'amassi indarno,
andrei sul Ponte Vecchio,
ma per buttarmi in Arno!
Mi struggo e mi tormento!
O Dio, vorrei morir!
Babbo, pietà, pietà!
Babbo, pietà, pietà!
Oh my beloved father,
I love him, I love him!
I'll go to Porta Rossa,
To buy our wedding ring.
Oh yes, I really love him.
And if you still say no,
I'll go to Ponte Vecchio,
And throw myself below.
My love for which I suffer,
At last, I want to die.
Father I pray, I pray.
Father I pray, I pray.
Singing up on that gazebo was a blur of lights and musical notes, floating up and down from the piano and from my voice. The setting totally matched the music; it was like Orpheus knew what song I totally adored. I thought it was convenient, but a bit on the creepy side.
As I sung, out in the audience, I saw that Chandler and Adam were standing in the very back of the crowd; they both had supportive smiles on their faces, not to mention their eyes were on me. I didn't mind that they were there, though. It was nice to see them here, even if it put more pressure on my performance.
I saw that Adam had his hands in his pockets and that his was studying the new, fancy dress. (And yes, he does know how I feel about them; my mother had brought him to enough dress shopping trips where I complained the majority of the time about trying them on.) But, that was beside the point. I felt my cheeks get a little hot, but I couldn't let embarrassment get in my way, I had to focus on supporting those F note octaves that were coming my way, so they don't squeak or anything like that, making me screw up the entire chance we had of ever getting Lacey back.
Chandler was standing next to Adam, her body barely swinging from side to side with the gentle sway of the music. I could tell she liked the song, just by the pleasant smile that she had on her face and her body movement. I had a feeling she would want me to teach her this song. I think I will once we get home, not to mention safely.
The final chord was struck by the pianist and there was silence before the crowd burst into applause. I grinned as I took a bow, almost tripping in the too-high high heels as I did so. When I came back up, I saw that Orpheus had stood up, but he wasn't clapping or anything like that. He looked really peeved as he stared at me, like I was a monster or something. I guess I kind of was, especially with shocking his crowd. With a sour look on his face, Orpheus marched up to the front of the crowd.
"Silence!" He commanded but the audience kept cheering and eagerly talking to each other. His eyes widened and he turned to me. "You did so well that you charmed the crowd out of my charm!" He immaturely crossed him arms, glaring up at me. I decided to act like a child too.
"You started it first," I replied and smirked. I walked past him but I stopped, looking at him from behind my shoulder. "And consider yourself warned." He then stomped his foot and angrily trudged away. I heard Chandler call me, running towards me, with Adam barely catching up with her.
"Althy!" She hugged me and I hugged her back.
"Hey!" She pulled back with a huge smile on her face.
"You did great!" She exclaimed. "How did it feel?" I shrugged, too fazed to really answer.
"It was really all a blur." She nodded with understanding but grabbed Adam's arm, pulling him up towards us.
"But, I think Bolts here was the most proud of all," Adam looked at me and smiled, nodding. And even though he tried to hide it, I could see him blushing too.
"Yeah, you did wonderful, Althy," He cleared his throat nervously, switching from one foot to the other, rubbing his neck. I only smiled at him.
"Thanks, Adam."
Soon enough, the crowd, (who was back to themselves now), came up to me and congratulated me. I smiled at them gratefully, giving them responses of thank yous and glad you enjoyed its, even though I kind of performed against my liking. Once the crowd dazedly made their way out of the park, I let out a sigh of relief and started to rub my cheeks from all that smiling. Chandler somehow snaked her arm through mine and we were connected by elbows, she eagerly led the way back to the car.
As we walked, the magic of the day disappeared, and I don't just mean metaphorically. My dress evaporated away, as if a current of air was so strong that it blew it away in a gust of wind. The red sparkles flew off and into the sky, leaving me with my jeans and t-shirt, and totally comfy Converse sneakers, (thank goodness).
The gazebo powered down, the stage lights slowly shutting down from a hard night's work, and then totally disappearing overall. The pianist, along with the grand piano, popped away in midair, letting the tiny gazebo be boring and useless. The chairs that were all set up for the audience were gone too, leaving the small lawn trampled and bare. I felt like Orpheus's whole façade was a set up and that he was just a phony, with only a huge bark but no bite. But, you should never judge a book by its cover, you know.
I looked out of the window of the car; Orpheus was nowhere to be seen. I could tell, no, I knew that he was pretty mad at what went down tonight. And even though I beat him, I would be seeing him again. Soon.