Carnevale (#Wattys2015)

Chapter 3

Cinzia woke to a bright light. She groaned and turned over to bury her face in her lavender scented pillow. After a few moments of slowly pulling her head out of its safe and dark cocoon, she blinked and let her eyes adjust to the painful light. Sofia snored loudly and rolled over towards the wall and pulled her knees up into her chest. Cinzia scowled at the curtains, which had come open in the night and were the reason she had been woken at such an ungodly hour. She grumbled and, rather dejectedly, pushed off her cozy and soft duvet.
Cinzia slid her feet into her slippers and trudged down the hall, closing the previously open door behind her.
She slipped down the stairs and seated herself at the table, where Nico was discussing the upcoming masquerade ball with Maria. Maria beamed at the girl as she pulled a bowl of creamy porridge, in front of herself.
She sprinkled a small amount of brown sugar over the velvety oats and plucked a few berries out of the side dish and put them on her breakfast, as well. She dipped the spoon into the oats and placed it in her mouth, savouring the slightly savoury, yet still sweet, flavour that her mouth received.
Nico turned to the girl and waited until she had finished her obviously delicious mouthful and smiled before sitting opposite her and pulling another bowl of porridge to his front and putting a lot more sugar than Cinzia had. She smirked at the now mainly golden breakfast.

"Got enough on there?" She said sarcastically. Nico rolled his eyes,

"Nah, I might put a bit more on." He picked up the sugar spoon and chucked it into Cinzia's bowl. She screwed her nose up in disgust.

"Eww, idiot! You'll ruin it if it's that sweet!" Nico shrugged and ate another mouthful.

"Try it." She raised an eyebrow at the black haired teen before her, and tentatively dipped her spoon back in. Cinzia brought the spoon up to her mouth, giving the spoonful of oats a wary glare. She gave up trying to scare the porridge and put it in her mouth.

"Huh! I take back what I say! This is easily just as good - or better!" Cinzia said, amazed. Nico gave her an I-told-you-so look. He polished off his breakfast and placed it back in the centre of the table. He nodded at Cinzia once, and left the dining room.
Cinzia tried to slow down and savour the last few mouthfuls, but finished reasonably quickly. She put her bowl beside Nico's and headed upstairs to get changed into skirts and a blouse.

***

Cinzia stretched her legs out as she got out of the gondola. She turned to help Sofia out of the small wooden boat.

"Where are we meeting Angelique again?" Cinzia questioned Sofia, who frowned and screwed her face up in concentration.

"Campo San Polo, she said yesterday, before we parted ways." Cinzia nodded and followed Sofia down the narrow stone path the widened into a square with a fountain in the middle. Sitting with her feet dangling over the edge of the stonework, hand trailing back and forth through the clear water, was Angelique. She noticed her friends heading towards her. Angelique stood and stretched, her short sleeves sliding up over her shoulders.

"Hello girls! Shall we go then?" She greeted Sofia and Cinzia.

"Sure! Where are we going?" Cinzia asked, curious. Sofia smirked and caught Angelique's eye.

"That's for us to know and you to find out!" The friends said in unison, laughing at Cinzia's exasperated expression.
The trio made their way across the square towards a small side alley and turning down it. Cinzia's nose was instantly assaulted with a multitude of odours, dank alley, alcohol, ladies perfume and something she couldn't quite place her finger on.
Angelique knocked on a dark, rich purple door, which opened to show a short lady with black greying hair who looked to be nearing her sixties and was wearing a deep blue and black dress which fell to the floor in waves of velvety material. Sofia made her way through the cramped spaces between the racks of dresses, towards one at the back of the shop.
Cinzia flicked through a rack of velvety dresses and found a red, long sleeved dress that had gold patterns embroidered up the bodice. She made her way to the area in the corner of the dark shop and pulled the curtain across.