𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄, damiano david

━━𝟎𝟕.𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐬

The interview went by much faster than I had thought.
I was asked rather trivial questions, for example about my song and the inspiration, but also how I found my way around Rotterdam and whether I had a certain strategy to win.

I felt I had done quite well and when I came back into the meeting room, Sophia was waiting for me, holding out her mobile phone.

"What do you want?" I asked her, confused, reaching for the phone.
"I'm obviously not the only one who wants a studio version of your song," I looked closer at the screen and widened my eyes in shock, "You didn't post this, did you?""Of course I did, Damiano saw it live anyway."
"I'm so going to kill you," I threatened her, putting on an angry expression, "You won't, people love that song," she chewed her gum and I snorted in frustration.

"Where's Damiano now?" I then asked to distract myself, "I think he's in the Italy room, band meeting or something," Sophia enlightened me.

"I see, are you going to apologise for posting me illegally now?", I asked, putting my hands on my hips.
"I'm not even thinking about it," Sophia snorted. She was incorrigible.

"Where's Elle?", I then asked without responding to her sass. "In our room, talking to Jared about you," she informed me.
"I was just playing billiards with Jendrik, do you want to join?" she then asked and I shook my head decisively, "Nah thanks, I'll only lose to you."

I decided to go outside to get some fresh air. There were a few chairs outside, presumably for the staff, and I sat down on one, then opened my handbag and took out my phone.

99+ Instagram messages

Instead of watching the video Sophia had tagged me in, I turned off notifications and leaned back in the chair.

I breathed in the fresh air and some of the stress fell away.

It had always been a relief to go outside, back in Italy I had often gone hiking at weekends with Damiano, Vic, Thomas and later Ethan. We had made campfires and Thomas had played the guitar while the rest of us sang.

There were so many things that reminded me of that time that I had thought of Italy almost every day since then.

On the one hand, it had been terrible because my father was a horrible person and had abused me, but on the other hand, I had had the best friends there, and since then I had never met anyone who understood me as good as those four did.

At some point, however, the horrible side had prevailed.
Maybe I would have stayed in Italy if it hadn't been for Sophia, but I didn't want to let her go through what I had had to go through.
I knew that at some point it would no longer be in my power to continue protecting her and the thought had tormented me.

I heard footsteps behind me, but I didn't turn around. It wasn't until someone dropped into the chair next to me that I looked up.

"Oh hi," I greeted Joel, the singer of the band from Finland.
"Coraline, right?" he asked and I nodded quickly, "That's right."
"Hi," he smiled kindly. His long hair fell in his face, his eyes were dark rimmed and he was wearing an all black outfit.

"One too?" he held out a pack of cigarettes and I reached out and took one.
"Thanks," I smiled gratefully as he lit the cigarette for me.I didn't actually smoke, at least not often, it was probably from the stress that I just agreed to it now.

"I like your outfit. You don't look like your song sounds", huh?
"Is that supposed to be a compliment or not?" I asked amused and Joel grinned, "It is a compliment. I'm not a fan of ballads, although your song is pretty good, but your style is great."

"Oh, thanks," I smiled, "I figured you weren't into ballads."
"That flashy?" he asked and I eyed him up and down, "Pretty much" I grinned, "Besides, I know your song".
"I hope you like it," he said quickly, watching me closely, "It's great," I replied honestly.

"Then I'm relieved", he said, "that a beautiful woman like you likes my music".
Was he flirting with me? I chuckled nervously and brushed a strand of hair behind my ear, then took a drag of the cigarette so as not to have to say anything.

The door of the arena opened again, but again I didn't turn around because Joel asked me something, "The others, from the band, and I were wondering if you and your sister would like to go out with us tomorrow night, after all we have the day after tomorrow off", I was about to open my mouth to regretfully tell him no, because I had a date with Victoria and the others, but someone beat me to it.

"I'm afraid Coraline doesn't have time," Damiano said sharply, "I can sit with you, can't I?" he didn't wait for an answer but sat down on the chair on the other side of me.
It was a strange situation, Damiano stared at Joel and Joel looked back and forth between him and me.

"Ok, too bad, maybe another time," he said then and smiled.
"Yeah, sure, I'm sorry," I said apologetically.
Damiano didn't say anything, he just snorted and that was enough to intimidate Joel, "I think I'll go back inside," he said and quickly disappeared into the arena again.

Damiano and I were silent for a few seconds, then I turned around so that I could look him in the eye.
"May I?" he asked, pointing at the cigarette in my hand.I handed it to him without a word and he took a drag.

"Sharing cigarettes like the old days," Damiano said and smiled, but I was thoughtful, "What was that about?", I asked him
"What do you mean?"
"Joel, of course"
Damiano shrugged his shoulders, "Didn't like the way he looked at you"

He had always been jealous, but since we weren't together anymore it surprised me.
"Jealous?" I asked in surprise.
"Yes," he admitted and his honesty amazed me, but I should have known since he was never ashamed of anything.

"You don't think I'd go out with Joel, do you?", I asked with raised eyebrows and Damiano shrugged again, "I don't know, I don't even know if you're in a relationship or not."

I snorted, "I'm not" I said and Damiano looked me in the eye.
"Okay," he replied.
"And you?", I hadn't even considered that he might be in a relationship, so now I was a little afraid of the answer that would follow.
"Neither," somehow it relieved me.
"Okay," I repeated his answer.

"Then why wouldn't you go out with Joel, he's nice, isn't he?" he asked in a raspy voice.

Because I haven't been able to go out with anyone for four years without thinking about you, you idiot. You are burned into my brain like a brand and I can't think of anyone who would suit me better than you.

Instead I said, "Sophia thinks he's cute. Also he's not my type."
Damiano smiled, "Interesting," he handed me back the cigarette and I took a drag to calm my rapidly pounding heartbeat.

Somehow Damiano still always managed to make me nervous.