Michelle: Seychelles
Why I Don't Have Friends-They're Devils In Disguise
"I'm gonna pick up the pieces, and build a lego house / if things go wrong we can knock it down."
Ed Sheeran, "Lego House"
I am woken up at nearly five in the morning by Romeo jumping around like a crazy person.
"Fratello, fratello, destarsi!" he cries, jumping around on my bed like a monkey.
"Romeo, what the fuck are you doing?" I shout, opening my eyes just enough to locate a pillow to throw at him. He laughs and dodges it.
"Fratello, Nonno says it's time for you to get up!" he yells. "Serves you right, too, since you never, ever get up before eleven during the summer and I'm forced to get up and eat breakfast and shower and-"
"No one's forcing you, asshole! Jesus, you only do it so that you can go chat up girls and shit like that- fucking mother of Christ, why can't I just sleep-"
"Lovino~! Don't say things like that!" Nonno calls from downstairs.
I take in a deep breath and yell for him to fuck off. Then I shove Romeo out of my room, lock the door and try to go back to sleep, which is impossible with my fucking little brother dancing around screaming and yelling in front of it while banging on pots and pans. Jesus Christ, I'm so fucking ready for University...
When I finally drag myself out of bed, it's not even eight yet and I feel just about ready to buy a goat and use it as a sacrifice for a demon summoning. I stagger down the stairs and into the kitchen to find Nonno and Romeo bustling around the kitchen like the happy morning people they are. I hope that I look like those people in animes and cartoons, where they have a dark blue-and-black aura behind them and look like a ghost who's going to kill someone. Evidently I don't, because they just greet my happily and ask if I'd like an egg with my pancakes.
"Pancakes? Since when do we eat pancakes?" I half-ask, half-moan. I throw myself into a chair and look at the table, silently asking it to just kill me already. It doesn't, so I kick it, but gently, so that I don't break my fucking toe fucking off, fucking fuckers.
"Since now!" Nonno says cheerily. His happy tone makes me want to slam my head down on the table and cry.
"And why do I have to be up today?" I groan. "Why can't I just sleep like a normal person?!"
Nonno stops, considering. Then he shrugs. "I dunno. Just because, I guess."
I just stare at him. Then I heave myself off of the chair. "Good bye," I tell them as I zombie-walk to the stairs. "I'm just going to throw myself out the window now. Don't worry about me, I'm sure God will send down a kind angel to tell you how I'm doing in Purgatory."
"Lovino~!" Nonno tackles/hugs me from behind before I can even put one foot on the stairs. "It's time for breakfast! Don't worry, it'll be fine! Guess what?! We're going before-school shopping! Isn't that just the best?!"
I collapse onto the floor. "Go. Die." I tell him, curling myself into a ball and covering my eyes with my arm so that I don't get the sun in my eyes.
"Lovino, get your shit into gear!" Romeo yells from the kitchen. "Stop being such an asswipe!"
"Language!" Nonno calls back to him.
"Fuck off, you cock-sucking dickwad! When I get my hands on you, I'm going to castrate you and have you fuck yourself with it, you fucking-!"
"Lo-vi-no!" says Nonno, sounding extremely affronted. "If I hear another word out of either one of you, I swear I'll hang you both in the basement by your toes!"
"Shut up old man!" Romeo calls from the kitchen. "It's not like you have any authority over me, you can't even cook better than I can-"
"WHAT WAS THAT YOU JUST SAID, YOU LITTLE FUCK?" yells Nonno, running into the kitchen to give Romeo the mother of all noogies. While they're both distracted, I slink up the stairs and hide under the couch in our "drawing-room", which is where we make the people who come to see Nonno about work wait while we eat cookies in the kitchen- hey, we've got to get our kicks somehow, right? Hopefully by the time they've realized I'm gone I'll already be fast asleep.
(','(','(','('.')';')';')';')
When I wake up again, it's only nine and Nonno and Romeo are calling for me all over the house. I groan, heave myself lazily out from under the couch, then walk down the stairs, knowing that I'm probably totally and completely covered in dust bunnies. I throw myself into a chair by the table- again -and then wait for them to finally come back down here and find me. I mean, I'm not going to actually tell them where I am. They just made me wake up early during summertime! Awful! The humanity!
After a while, they finally show up in the kitchen, looking as if they're about to call the cops. As soon as they see me, calmly drinking coffee and eating a slice of buttered toast, they start freaking out and trying (not to mention failing) to cuss me out to which I respond in kind. It's a good thing our house is kind of far away from our neighbors', because otherwise they'd complain and then we'd be cussing them out too, and we really don't need any practice.
When we're done, we all get dressed properly- and I shower, because, ew, dust bunnies are not in style right now -and then we leave the house to go to our favorite clothing store. We're Italian, and so we always have to look our best and be in style. It's very important, you know. Well, at least to me and Nonno; Romeo just comes with us to flirt with pretty girls. So, while Nonno and I spend nearly two hours combing the racks for clothes that are in style yet still cheap, Romeo wanders off to the girl section and just stands around, searching for his prey. I honestly don't know what makes the girls talk to him. If I were them, I wouldn't talk with someone like Romeo, who's obviously searching for them. I think I'd talk to someone like Antonio, who just seems too happy to want to do anything but be your best friend forever.
Not that I'd ever talk with a boy, anyways. I mean, I'm not, like, gay or anything.
When Nonno and I are completely done, we collect our little lover-boy- sometimes I hope his heart gets broken like his namesake's -and then go on back home. Nonno sticks all our new clothes in the wash and I spend the hour or two before I'm meeting Michelle and the others writing. I haven't been paying much attention to my book lately, and I get the feeling that it's lonely and a little bit angry at me. Yeah, I know, I'm weird and I give my book its own little personality, but whatever, fucking deal.
About fifteen minutes before I have to meet my friends, I manage to move my ass away from my desk and grab my wallet, then leave a little note before disappearing into the city. I love walking around the city by myself. Nobody knows me and nobody pays any attention to me, and I feel invisible, but in a good way. It's like I don't have to put on this I'm-absolutely-okay-thanks face, I can just pretend that I actually am okay. It's relaxing and gives me a sense of freedom that I really, really need.
After a couple of minutes of aimlessly walking, I begin to make my way slowly, relaxedly towards the little café we're meeting at. When I get there, they're all already sitting at our usual table in the back. They wave ecstatically at me until I make my way over, sliding in next to Michelle, who smiles warmly at me. Eliza and Bella wave their joined hands together, Bella grinning rather wickedly, Eliza fingering the camera around her neck and checking out the other occupants of the café. Michelle and I give her a joint look, and she sighs and hands over the camera.
"So, how was your trip to America?" asks Bella excitedly. For some reason they always want to hear about America. I don't know why-i t's not a very interesting place -but they seem to find it fascinating and exotic and all this other shit that I don't understand.
In answer, I shrug. "It was nothing much. My brother and I explored New York a bit, but his parents wouldn't let him stay out for too long or go too far." I've told them that Feli, Romeo and I were all from the same parents, but adopted when our parents died, and somehow Feliciano got separated from us and his parents don't want to give him up. It's a better story than the real thing- that I was abandoned because Feli's just so much nicer than me.
Michelle gives a wistful sigh, and her dreamy expression is mirrored by her cousin Bella. "I wish I could come with you to New York." she says. "Oh, just imagine the adventures you could have in a big city like that!" Michelle was raised in a small town by her parents, for a while, but mostly her older brother and teacher at my school, Francis Bonnefey. The guy is a fucking pervert, to put it politely, and the fact that he also goes just about any ways possible except incest- thank god, because Michelle still lives with him -makes him, like, a quadruple threat or something. Seriously, you may think I'm kidding, but one time Michelle filmed the guy- from a safe distance -while he was drunk and then showed the footage to me. All I'm willing to say is that I feel sorry for the poor potted plant that somehow grabbed his attention. I hope they put it in therapy, because Francis did some things to that poor bush that no living being should have done to it. Ever.
Eliza shrugs her agreement, then her eyes brighten as she gets a sudden notion. "I'd rather go to Paris!" She says Paris the French way, which makes Bella give her this adoring, lovesick, I-really-want-to-kiss-you look, which makes me quickly look to Michelle, who is also ignoring her cousin and cousin's girlfriend. It's a little awkward meeting up with a dating couple. Somehow you always feel like a third wheel, even if there are four of you.
"Michelle, did you go to France this summer?" I ask politely, trying to ignore the looks Eliza and Bella are giving each other.
Her eyes light up and she nods eagerly. "Oh, yes, I did! I went back to my old town, where I used to live, you know, and I saw some of my old friends. One of them gave me this!" She happily pulls a little fish-shaped stuffed animal out of her shoulder bag and looks at it adoringly.
"It's just a fish," I tell her, feeling like a dick but determined to share my true feelings on the matter.
"It's not just a fish," she tells me with a pout. "It's a cute little goldfish and I love it!"
"Well, I just don't see what's so good about it," I tell her, trying to keep the peace.
She flips her hair over her shoulder and looks away from me. "Well, you can go die then."
I roll my eyes, knowing that if I really did die she'd freak out.
Eliza giggles, probably wishing we hadn't confiscated her camera. "You two need to, like, get hooked up or something." She tells us gleefully. I feel my face begin to heat up.
"Nah," Bella says, leaning back in her seat like she's some old pro. "I don't think they're good for each other. I still think that my little cousin should find a rich guy who can cook so that she doesn't have to worry about a thing."
I don't point out that while I'm not particularly rich- it's Nonno who has all the money -I can cook. I just don't think it would help my case at all.
After a while, we settle down on the subject of a new movie that's coming out that looks kind of okay, if you ask Michelle- but she's easily impressed -and looks extremely cheesy to me. We order some lunch and spend an hour or two gossiping about who the new teachers will be this year- a whole load of them retired and were fired over the summer, and we all want to know if anyone interesting is coming along, a fact which they bother me mercilessly about, since Nonno owns the school and all. It's this huge private school thing with dorm rooms and shit, and people come from all over the world to attend the famous Vargas Academy. I know, super lame and shit.
And then, kind of out of the blue, the bell by the door rings loudly as the door is opened. I turn to see who it is and, who is there but Antonio Carriedo himself! I see his eyes light up as he notices me and I shake my head no, telling him not to come bother me right now. He looks confused for a moment, then smiles at me and turns away. He walks up to the counter and asks for directions to a grocery store anywhere, and I breathe a sigh of relief as I turn back to my friends. Thank god they didn't notice me looking at Antonio. They were too busy checking him out. It's not often we get new people in this little café; it's super out of the way and no one knows about it.
"Who's that guy?" Eliza asks, wiggling her eyebrows at me and Michelle, the two single people of the group.
"I dunno," I say, trying not to sound too grumpy. "Who cares? He's just some guy."
Bella gives me a look. "No, not really," she tells me. "He's hot. As in, if I weren't lesbian and in a relationship, I'd be chatting him up right now." She looks him up and down. "No offense, Lizzy."
"None taken, because I'd be doing the same," says Eliza. Antonio is, at the moment, flashing his too-gorgeous-to-be-human smile at the cashier and speaking in less than fluent, slightly accented Italian, and it's... extremely sexy, at risk of sounding gay. Especially since he's wearing extremely well-fitting jeans. I mean, really, no one should look that good in jeans. No one.
"What do you think Lovino?" Eliza asks suddenly, turning to me with an evil smile. I feel my face heat up, seeing as how I was just checking him out. "About what?" I ask, trying to seem innocent. "That guy? I dunno. He's a guy."
She rolls her eyes. "Wait, he's a guy? I had no idea!" she says sarcastically. "I mean, what do you think of him? He's not from Italy, as far as I can tell, and I don't know why he's here. School?" Her eyes sparkle. "You don't think he's a new student at our school, do you?" she asks suddenly. Michelle starts looking excited at this. She's so easily impressed at everything. She's probably thinking that it's fate that he stepped into this coffee shop, and that he'll be her Prince Charming and sweep her off her feet, blah blah blah.
"I don't think he's a student." I tell them. "He looks too old to be a student."
"A teacher then?" asks Michelle, looking even more excited. Oh great, now it's forbidden love.
"I think he just moved here, end of story." I grump. "Who even gives a fuck?"
"We do!" Eliza cries. "He could be your future boyfriend, Lovino!"
"I'm not gay!" I growl at her. "And fuck you for sticking to it!"
"It's okay to be homosexual, Lovino." Bella soothes. "I would know. You don't have to worry about getting pregnant, for one thing." Michelle blushes.
"I'm leaving," I say dully. "If I'm around you people any longer I'll kill someone." I shoot Eliza a look. "Probably you." She gives me a super fake gasp, then smirks at me.
"Bye!" Bella calls happily. "You're a third wheel anyways!"
"You're an asshole!" I tell her, flipping her off as I pick up my coffee, which is in a to-go cup. "Go back to Belgium, bitch!" She just giggles at me as I storm from the café, leaving Michelle looking after me with worry in her big brown eyes.
I'm on my way home to our tomato garden when I hear running footsteps behind me. I turn around, expecting Michelle, but instead see Antonio. He smiles and waves when he notices that I've noticed him, and my face heats up almost of it's own accord, and I grudgingly wave back.
"Lovi!" he says once he's finally right in front of me. "That was so weird! I walked into that café to ask for directions and then I look over and there you are, with your friends or something! Wow, that was the funniest thing ever! I never thought that I'd run into you on accident, Lovi! Especially not when I was lost, and especially not when you were with your friends! Did you have fun?"
I feel like covering my ears so that I don't fall in love with his beautiful voice. "Um, yeah, did." I finally manage.
"Oh, good! I'm glad, because you didn't look like you were having that much fun to me, but I guess you really were."
I blush and try not to think about his ass, which has suddenly entered my mind again. "Um, well, I was having fun, so... yeah."
He smiles at me and my heart squeezes in a weird way. "Hey, Lovi, can we stop by a store real quick? Like, a grocery store, because that's why I went out today in the first place, to get flour and sugar and cinnamon and eggs and, well, food, but then I got lost."
Well, that was super un-romantic.
I roll my eyes at him. "Are you saying you don't have any food? You've just been eating at restaurants since you arrived here? Jeez, soon you're going to be fatter than a big, juicy tomato."
"Yeah, I know, and that's why I want to get stuff to eat~! I was thinking of making churros! Do you like churros? I do. They're almost my favorite food, besides tomatoes~!"
"I've never had churros before, dumbass." I tell him. "What even is it?"
He stops in the middle of walking to grab me by the shoulders and turn me towards him. "You are a poor, depraved human being." he tells me seriously, looking sad.
My mouth falls open in shock. I mean, I know most people don't like me, but no one's ever gone right out and said that I was a fucking depraved human being, and especially not in the middle of a crowded street while we're walking to get groceries, or something like that.
"I'm happy to be the first person to fix you!" And then he orders- orders! -me to direct him to the nearest grocery store and come home with him after so that I can eat churros. And, as if that wasn't enough, he starts happily singing "Fix You" by Coldplay, but in Spanish. What the fuck is with this guy? And why does he sing so well? He could probably be some famous acoustic guitar/singer type if he wanted to, especially with that easy-going smile and the fact that he's not exactly unattractive- to a girl, I mean. Not me, or anything. (And I'm definitely not thinking of how he looks in those jeans! Fuck you!)
I direct him to the nearest grocery, he buys all his shit, and then I direct him to his apartment, something that would make me very embarrassed if I were in his shoes, though he just smiles at me- and everyone else -and keeps calling me Lovi and "mi tomate querido" or something like that, which is something I get the feeling I don't particularly want to learn the meaning of. I just try not to hear the words, because whenever I do my face heats up annoyingly.
Once at his apartment, he presses me into service helping him make churros. First he makes a batch, and then guides me through another one, and then I make one by myself, which turns out pretty okay, all things considered, leaving us with way too many churros to eat by ourselves.
"Come on, mi tomate, just try this one and I swear I'll let you go home...!" he says brightly, waggling one of the delicious looking churros in front of my face.
"You sound like a fucking pervert, bastard. I don't want one!" My mouth is watering just thinking about it, but I won't try one, fucking dammit!
"Come on, Lovi~! It's delicious, I swear!"
I snort. "Well, of course you think it's delicious, you probably think everything is delicious! I'm not trying it, bastard!"
"Lovi, I swear, if you don't try this, I will never leave you alone ever again."
All the blood quickly leaves my face. "What?" I ask.
"I will follow you right to your house and I will sleep in your bed with you and-"
I wrench the stupid churro from his hands and take a bite, hoping my face isn't as read as it feels. "Fine, there, I took a bite, so don't follow me-"
"Noo, you have to eat the whole thing!" he whines at me, waving his finger at me like I'm a misbehaving child. I quickly eat the rest, then stand up, pretending that I don't want any more, even though I want nothing more than at least three more of the yummy delicious pastry things.
"I'm going home now!" I announce.
"Oh, wait!" Antonio cries before I can even take a step forward. He runs around for a couple of moments until grabbing a couple of paper plates from the counter and shoving more than half the churros into one of them, covering it with the other. "Take this with you and share it with your family! I think I remember you saying you had a brother and a abuelo, right? They can have some churros too, right? They're delicious enough!" He shoves the little package into my hands, then kind of shoves me out the door. "Bye bye, Lovi, see you tomorrow!"
"Who said anything about tomorrow, bastard?" I yell, resisting the urge to grab another couple of churros.
"Well, we keep running into each other, so I figure that we will continue with our habit! Maybe you can teach me how to make something Italian that's yummy, hmm?" he suggests, and though I tell myself it doesn't, the thought appeals to me greatly. Finally, that bastard will taste some real food instead of the Spanish shit he's probably been eating his whole life. Poor bastard. He's never had a good, home-cooked Italian meal before.
"Good bye!" I shout over my shoulder, refusing to admit that I will probably seek him out tomorrow.
(','(','(','('.')';')';')';')
When I get home, I try to sneakily stick the churros that I didn't eat while walking over to the house into the fridge without anyone noticing but, sadly, Nonno is in the kitchen and as soon as he sees me walk in, cradling a couple of paper plates like I'm sneaking drugs into the house, he holds out a hand and just looks at me. I hand him the plates and then look away as he takes the top one off to reveal around ten perfect-looking churros, the ones Antonio made.
"What's this?" he asks, picking one up. He sniffs it carefully before shoving nearly the whole thing inside his mouth. Instantly, his eyes widen and he smiles blissfully. "Wow, this is good. Where did you get it?"
"Nowhere," I say too quickly. "I'm going up to my room." I edge towards the door, but he stops me with one raised eyebrow. Damn him and his ability to stop you with just an eyebrow.
"Where have you been all afternoon?" he asks curiously, in that way that grandparents have that just makes you want to tell them everything before they kick you out onto the street.
"With Michelle," I answer. I shift slightly from foot to foot and try not to meet his eyes.
"Oh. Where did you get these? They're pretty good, even if they're not Italian."
"Some café or something," I mumble, trying not to seem as if I'm lying. Which I am.
"Lovino Vargas, don't give me that! You know Rome better than you know your own closet, and all things considered that's saying something! Why are you lying to me? Were you doing something wrong? I just asked one simple question, Lovino. I expect a truthful answer." I open my mouth to ask him why he's making such a big fucking deal out of this all of a sudden, but he continues right on over me with an exasperated sigh and an extremely caring smile that makes me sick to my stomach. "Won't you let me take care of you, Lovino? Please? I know you're mad at your parents, but I did everything I could to keep you five together-"
"This shit again...?" I say dully. How many psychologists have I seen now about this? Yeah, I fucking know I have abandonment issues, and no, I don't need fucking pills, because I already have a solution: don't get close to people and then they can't abandon you.
"Don't talk to me about this again!" I half-yell, bringing an awful, worried glare to his face. I whirl around and run up the million sets of stairs to my bedroom so that I can go be alone and calm and not have to worry about stupid, worthless things like parents and grandparents and brothers and- well, family in general. It's just all so stupid and awful- I mean, one year they're all acting like they care and the next you're stuck in Italy with your random grandfather you just met, and- you know what... let's just not even go there.
A/N I like how Lovi practically became the mature one while hanging with the girls. XD
Oh, oh, if you review you get cake! :3 Homemade cake! I'm a good baker, guys! Review, and fav, and follow, and then you can get even more homemade goodies!
Oh yeah, also, I'll be updating this so that basically you will see it when it's Saturday my time, so sorry if it's not Saturday for you! DX
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(Hey, tell me if this seemed angsty to you, pleases! *beseeching look*)