Chapter 19

After work, I went to Piero's house and the two of us set out to go apartment-hunting. We drove all over Los Angeles, going through the listings Piero had printed out for me. We moved from complex to complex and went on tour after tour until the sun had set and both of us were exhausted.

We returned to Piero's house and flopped down onto the couch, where we rested quietly for a few minutes. I kicked off my shoes and lay on my back, holding the stack of information papers above my head and resting my feet in Piero's lap.

"So, mi amor?" he asked as he took my feet gently in his hands. "What do you think?"

"I'm so exited!" I said, sifting through the papers. "We've found some good ones, Piero! I'll have a new apartment in no time!"

Piero began to massage my feet, and I sighed in content.

"Good," he said, "It's hard work, going on a hunting splurge! But the sooner you get a new apartment, the better."

"I agree!" I said, "We did some good work today."

"Yes, we did. But if you want to look around some more, then we will."

I clutched the papers to my chest and smiled over at him.

"Thank you, Piero. But actually, I think the information for my new place is in this stack! I'll look over them and pick one out. Can I leave them here, so my mom and Ray won't find them?"

"Of course, mi amor!"

His hands kneaded my sore feet and I smiled and looked out the window at the moon shining against the ebony sky.

I parted my lips and began to sing softly, "La luna hizo esto…fue culpa de la luna…haberme enamorado…enamorado de ti!"

Piero picked up the song and continued, finishing what I didn't know. "Su brillo reflejo entre…tus ojos mi fortuna…la luna lo hizo asi!"

I listened as he sang, trying to pick up on the words, and after a moment he stood up from the sofa and reached down to pull me up. He rested his arms around my waist and I wrapped my arms around his neck. He swayed back and forth with me as he finished the song, and then he kissed me and turned to leap agilely over the couch. I laughed, and he turned and laughed with me, then went to the kitchen and pulled open the fridge.

"Hmmm…" he said, bending down and looking over the shelves. "Dinner…dinner…what to do for dinner…"

I went around the sofa and joined him beside the fridge. He put an arm around me and stifled a yawn. I smiled and gently placed a hand on his arm.

"You're tired, Piero. Just do something simple. How about you put some fish filets in the oven or something?" I asked.

"Works for me," he said, smiling.

He did as I said, and then turned to me and leaned back against the counter.

"Dinner will be ready in forty minutes. What do you want to do until then?"

"Hmmm…" I thought, leaning back against the cabinet beside him. "Can we make dessert?"

"Like what? Do you have anything in mind?"

"No. Not anything fancy," I said, walking over to the pantry, "I'm just talking about brownies or something."

I looked over the shelves and reached up to pull down a box of brownie mix.

"Here," I said, holding it out so he could see it, "These look good."

He nodded and went to the fridge to get the eggs, and I turned back to the pantry to close it.

"Hey!" I said, grabbing a large bag from the shelf. "Powdered sugar! Nice, this'll be good on the brownies!"

I moved to the cabinet and set down the bag, sitting down to watch Piero cut the top off of the brownie mix.

As we made the brownies we told each other about our day, and Piero filled me in on some of his previous antics with Ignazio at my request. We put the brownies in the second compartment of the oven, and then hung around in the kitchen laughing and joking around while the brownies cooked. When the oven dinged and they were finished, I eagerly tore open the bag of powdered sugar and we began to sprinkle it over the top of the brownies.

"Oh, they're kinda pretty, aren't they!?" I remarked, as the white dust rained from my hand down on the hot brownies. Piero was quiet, and then said, "Julia."

There was a smile in his voice, and I looked up to see an impish smile on his face and his eyes shining with delight, his hand closed in a fist and held up in front of me.

"What?" I asked, when he didn't say anything.

He opened his hand and blew, and a cloud of powdered sugar flew into my face.

"Piero!" I yelped in surprise, waving in front of my face as I stumbled backwards. "What in the world!?"

He laughed loudly and I made a face at him, making him laugh harder and throw his head back in delight. I immediately plunged my hand into the bag and pulled out a pinch. "Hey!" he cried, right before I flicked it at him. His black T-shirt was immediately speckled with white dust, and I laughed at his stunned expression. "Ohh…" he said, playfully narrowing his eyes. He reached over to swiftly knock the whole bag down, sending up a cloud of dust as he brushed the spilled powder with his hand to make it spill onto my scrubs.

I laughed and pushed the rest of the pile back at him, and he ducked under the table, popping up with white dust sprinkled throughout his dark hair, and I jumped away as he dumped the remainder of the bag on the table and grabbed a handful, reaching his hand back to throw it at me as I shrieked and turned to run.

We raced around the kitchen and living room, screaming and laughing and throwing handfuls of sugar, enveloping each other in sweet white clouds of dust. The floor became coated with the powder and turned my bare feet white as I raced around the room, shrieking and ducking for cover. Piero was especially nimble in his war tactics, leaping over the sofa and rolling over the cabinets as he pursued me, carrying handfuls of sugary warfare. At one point I gathered up the sugar in my fists and scrambled onto the cabinet so that I could cast down all the powder into his hair when he bounded up to me.

"Hey, hey, hey!" he laughed, reaching up to pull me down from the cabinet. I shrieked as he draped me over his shoulder and then leaned down to pin me on the kitchen rug as he poured the last handful of sugar slowly into my face as I laughed and got a mouthful of sweetness. Then Piero ran a hand through his hair and let the sugar rain down on me.

"You're crazy, Piero!" I cried, pushing up at him, but he refused to release me.

"I know, I know!" he said, laughing, and leaned down to kiss me, letting me taste the sugar on his lips. Our kiss was interrupted by a loud "Ding!" of the oven. He pulled back from me and we both looked over at the oven, then at each other.

We both started to laugh, and Piero rolled off of me and lay beside me on the floor, laughing, his whole body shaking.

"You…look like…a ghost!" I gasped, struggling to breathe as I laughed.

He threw his head back as he laughed, and then pushed himself into a sitting position and looked over my scrubs.

"You too!" he gasped, and we both went into another fit of giggles. Piero pushed himself off of the kitchen carpet and stood with the aid of the cabinet, trying to regain his composure. He reached down and took my hands to pull me up. As I looked down and surveyed my clothes, Piero grabbed a potholder from a drawer and took the fish out of the oven, carefully setting it on the stove. I looked up from my clothes and caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror across the room. I started to laugh all over again, and when Piero turned to me I grabbed his arm and pointed, and he started to laugh too. We both hurried over to the mirror and turned around in it, laughing at our ghostly appearances. Piero suddenly pulled me toward him and kissed my cheek, then licked his lips and smiled.

"Sweet!" he observed, and I laughed and took the opportunity to kiss his cheek back and taste the sugar in my mouth. He pulled me toward him and I anticipated another kiss, but instead I received a lick on the cheek.

"Uggghhh!" I cried in surprise, pushing away from him and wiping off my cheek with my whitened sleeve as he bent over in hysterics. I looked down at my clothes and laughed. "My goodness, Piero! I need to take a bath!"

He reached out and took my hand. I turned to him, and saw the sparkle in his eye.

"What?"

"I have a better idea."

Immediately he scooped me up and held me sideways in his arms as he ran, war-crying out the back door.

"Piero, you're crazy!" I cried as he ran and leaped into the air, holding me tightly, and we splashed into the cold waters of the pool. We were suspended in a cloud of wet sugar, and we were still for a moment in the cool darkness, until Piero kicked off the bottom of the pool and we surfaced.

"I know," he said, grinning breathlessly, and gave me a quick kiss.

"Now we're just wet and sugary!" I exclaimed, clinging to Piero and giggling.

"Guess we better swim around then, huh? Let some of it wash off."

He let go of me and turned around, inviting me to ride piggy-back. I held onto him and he swam back and forth through the pool with smooth, powerful strokes. His legs kicked behind me, sending up a spray of pool water and presumably, sugar. Piero's hair had wet, white lumps of sugar in it, and I clung to him and felt the rush of water as Piero pushed us forward off the wall of the pool.

Eventually Piero got tired and stopped swimming, and we both ducked under the water to try to work the sugar out of our hair. Then Piero climbed out and reached down to lift me out. We were dripping and shivering, and our clothes were heavy and cold despite the June heat. We trudged breathlessly to the house, holding hands and leaving wet footprints behind us on the cement.

"I'll get you some clothes," he said, and then smiled, "I hope you're okay with wearing my clothes. I know you'll look beautiful in them."

I smiled and nodded.

"I'm freezing! I'll wear anything dry."

We entered the house and stood shivering and dripping in the cool air, quietly surveying the sugar spread all over the hardwood floor.

"Hmmm…" Piero said. "Guess I better locate the vacuum."