𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄, damiano david

━━𝟐𝟑.𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐛 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧

The days went by faster than before. I spent almost every morning and every noon in the arena, rehearsing my performance and listening to the others, in the evenings I spent my time with my friends and my sister, and at night I slept in Damiano's room, he held me in his arms and we whispered until our eyes fell shut.

It felt like I had been in Rotterdam for months when it had only been a little over two weeks.
The final of the ESC was getting closer and closer and with it my excitement was growing. 

I hadn't heard anything from my father, nor did the press people talk to me about him. 

It felt like the calm before the storm, as if the universe was taking a deep breath before raining disaster down on me.

Five days before the final, which was to take place on Saturday, I sat with the others in the evening in the restaurant where Sophia and I had been on our first day in Rotterdam.
I was wearing a dress that I had bought when Vic, Sophia and I had gone shopping together.

It had become warmer than before, the wind was a light breeze that blew my hair out of my face.
On the table in front of me was a large glass filled with a cocktail Sophia had ordered for me, obviously it tasted strange and had a name I had never heard before.

Damiano, who was sitting to my right, had put his arm on the back of my chair. To my left was Victoria, who was singing along with Sophia to the song coming from the speakers next to us.

"I think I forgot something," Ethan mumbled, feeling around in his pockets. Thomas and Damiano exchanged an amused look.
"Your keycard?" asked Sophia, who was sitting next to Ethan, but he shook his head.
"The rolled R?" suggested Thomas and they all laughed, Ethan rolling his eyes with a grin, "Thank you, Thomas."

Thomas was still laughing at his joke when the waiter came to our table to ask if we wanted to order anything else.
We agreed to pay now and a few minutes later we left the restaurant.

It was already dark outside, but the street lamps gave us light. Vic and Damiano were discussing an unreleased song, which was not uncommon, they often disagreed.

I sank into my thoughts while staring at the street in front of us, almost mechanically walking behind the others.

In just five days the grand finale would take place, after which we would all go back home. The time in Rotterdam would be over and I didn't know what would happen after that.
Damiano and I hadn't talked about what would happen when he went back to Italy and I to England, it was an inevitable fact that was getting closer.
I didn't know if I could go back to Italy. I didn't know if Sophia would go to Italy. 

Right now, at this moment, everything felt like it was fine, it felt like we had no worries, and yet nothing was perfect.
A dark cloud of problems was waiting for us at the end of the horizon and I didn't know if we would be able to lure the sun out from behind it.

"Where are you?" I heard Vic ask, who had turned to me. I had fallen back a few metres, the others also turned to me.
I quickly caught up and grabbed Damiano's hand, which he held out to me. Our fingers intertwined and I held it a little tighter than usual.

Damiano seemed to notice, "Are you alright?" he asked me so quietly that the others couldn't hear.
"Yes, I was just thinking," I replied just as quietly.
He squeezed my hand and brought it to his lips where he pressed a kiss to it. I smiled up at him, his brown eyes roaming over my face, searching for answers to questions he couldn't ask.

I was sure he had also thought about what we would do when this was over. Maybe he wanted me to go to Italy with him.
In any case, I believed he avoided the subject because it would lead to discussions. That was inevitable.