At
the office, the phone rings, "Calabrese" Gina picks up. "Hi,
Gina, just the one I was looking for!" Danni says on the other end.
"Hi Danni, what have you gotten yourself into this time?"
Usually when Danni calls Gina, she needs a favor, as does she this
time.
"Well, nothing yet, but … the day is still young…
Listen, I need you to do me AND yourself a big favor." Gina smiles,
she knew it!
"Ha-ha, and what might that be?"
"I need you to stall my dad tonight. You know, some dinner, some talking, some… Well, you get the point."
"Sounds like I'd only be doing you a favor." Gina replies.
"No,
no, no. You can't fool me. Come on, how long have we known each
other? Like this is the first time you'd hang out together?! It was
just about to happen anyway, you guys just need a little push in the
right direction. And this is me pushing." Danni persuades Gina.
"Yeah, you're pushing it, alright. And what will you be doing
during all of this?" Gina wonders.
"Well, I need to go somewhere tonight … I met this cute guy. I already talked to dad about this and I can go, the thing is, he wants Cinderella to be home by midnight. That might be fun when you're 12 or something, but at 16, you really need a little more time."
"How
much time are we talking about?" Gina says with a smile on her
face, remembering what it's like to be 16 and the fun she had
herself.
"About 3 a.m. would be nice." Danni knew this would
be off limits, but it's worth a shot.
"Oh, come on, forget
it. He would kill me, and you second. I think you should be really
happy with 1." Gina negotiates.
"Why don't we meet each other halfway at 2?" Danni tries.
"Make it 1:30 and you've got yourself a deal." Gina is playing with the phone cord, she had been planning for a while to make a move again sometime. This could work out just fine. "Perfect! We've got a deal." Danni answers gladly.
"How
do you want to arrange this?" Gina asks.
"Well, I thought
about that, off course. A plan should be fully thought through in
advance. I have picked up a bottle of his favorite wine and made sure
we have some nice luxurious snacks in the fridge. All you have to do
is show up unexpectedly. But not too early, though, else you won't
be able to keep him busy all night…."
"Don't
you worry about that, I have some very good stalling techniques."
Gina laughs.
"Haha, great! Oh, and uhm…. there's one minor
other detail." Danni says.
"And
that is?"
Danni takes a second before saying "I am gonna need
to take the Ferrari…"
Gina's jaw drops open for a short
while. "Are you out of your mind? You'd better not mess with his
car. He is very sensitive when it comes to the Ferrari. You'd get
yourself in a lot of trouble when he finds out. "
"No,
you mean IF he finds out. And he doesn't have to.
Just make
sure you guys stay on the boat. If he wants to take you somewhere,
just say you find the boat so romantic. He won't have to be missing
his car at all. I'll make sure it will be in perfect state when I
park it right back on its spot."
"Why
do I have the feeling I will regret to have let you talk me in to
this?" Gina answers.
"So you will do it?" Danni asks. Gina
pauses for a short while.
"Yeah… I will do it."
"You're the best! I owe you one!" Danni says joyfully just before hanging up.
A
couple of hours after that, Danni gets on her way to meet Tommy. She
had already taken the car key out of Sonny's pocket when he hung
his jacket over a chair as he got home. Sonny is fishing on the
deck, heaving no idea what a nice evening he is about to have, and
Danni as well.
"I'm going now. See you later!" She says as
she steps off the boat.
"Is
he picking you up, uhm, what's is name again?"
"Marco! No,
I'm meeting him at the restaurant." Danni lies.
"Ok. Have
fun, then. And don't forget, midnight!"
"Yeah, yeah, I
know. Bye!" She walks the wharf to the parking place where she
awaits the right moment to nick the car. After a short while, she
sees her dad go below the deck to fetch a drink. That's it! She
gets into the Ferrari fast and turns the key to start her up.
Hopefully he doesn't recognize the sound from below there, he
definitely would've if he'd still be fishing. While going easy in
the gas, she drives the car off the parking place and onto the Ocean
drive, where she can finally step on it and feel completely free with
the wind running through her hair.
