𝑪𝒂𝒍𝒚𝒑𝒔𝒐 ( 𝑬𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝑻𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒐)

⋆⭒III.⭒⋆

Calypso's phone buzzes on her nightstand, where she had left it to charge over night.
She blindly reaches for it, knocking down a plastic bottle of water that hits the floor with a low thump.

Once she reads the pop up messages on her screen she jolts up and is suddenly wide awake.

"Salut Maman", she coos, trying to ease her mothers fury but to no luck, Yvette Dupont angrily scolds her daughter for not telling her that she'd arrived safely at her friends house. Multiple times Calypso tries to calm her and explain that her phone went dead and that she just fell asleep, deliberately leaving out the fact that she also drank like half a bottle of wine, but her mother doesn't even stop to breathe during her rant.

When she finally does, take a breath, Calypso hurries to apologize again and Yvette calms down when she hears how happy her daughter sounds. The two Dupont women have always been close, so it is no surprise to Calypso when her mother ends up talking to her for nearly an hour.

After countless promises from Calypso that she'll probably break anyways, yes I'll call you at least once a week and no, I won't touch a cigarette, she hangs up the phone.

Last night she was too tired to take in her surroundings, now she slides from her bed, pulls back the thin curtains and opens the huge french doors that lead out to a small balcony, overlooking parts of the backyard and the winding driveway to the house.

Despite it only being 10 a.m the sun is mercilessly burning down on her back and she quickly retreats back inside.

With some fresh clothes, her washbag and a clip for her hair in her hands, she quietly makes her way over to the bathroom she showered in when she arrived,

Giving the silence of the house, everybody else is still asleep, there is no way her chaotic friends would manage to be this quiet if they were awake.

To her amazement her hangover is limited to a little nausea that will probably be cured with a good slice of bread for breakfast.

A book safely tugged under her arm, a bottle of water in her hand and a packet of cigarettes, hidden from her mother in the depths of her suitcase, she heads outside to the backyard.

A gazebo, built to look like it was part of Rome when people still actively worshipped Jupiter, Venus and Mars as gods, provides shelter from the sun's rays.

The garden bench, stocked with outdoor pillows is just long enough for Calypso to stretch her long legs, conveniently someone had left an old ashtray on the stone floor and she balances it on the edge of the bench.

Taking a drag of her cigarette she starts to read, her favourite book yet again.

There is just something about re-reading your favourite book over and over again, you feel excitement when you know some of your favourite scenes are approaching, you can skip over entire paragraphs only to come back to them later.

I am made of memories. Calypso hasn't told anyone but she wants to get the quote permanently inked on her body.

Her mother would get in a frenzy if she knew but Calypso simply doesn't plan to tell her.

She stubbs out her cigarette and blows the remnant of the smoke, left in her lungs out into the morning air.

Once she picks up the book again, she is lost in the world of Achilles and Patroclus, spending time alongside them while they grow and face challenges, way bigger than Calypso would ever have to.

"Buon giorno", Thomas calls from the terrace, arms raised to the sky stretching his muscles. Calypso waves,not ready to leave ancient Greece and come back to modern day Italy yet.

It only takes her a few seconds to dive right back into the book forgetting everything around her.

"Mon dieu", she nearly drops her book when someone steps inside the gazebo and the aromatic smell of fresh mint and woody cologne wafts to her nose.

Ethan is standing right next to her, his dark hair still damp from his morning shower and smirk on his face when he sees her shocked expression.

"No need to call me god", he teases and Calypso rolls her green eyes, closing her book without placing anything between the pages to mark where she stopped reading.

"Breakfast is ready", he announces and holds out one of his hands for her to take, helping her up from the bench and into a standing position. Now, even closer to Ethan than before, the smell of his cologne lulls her in and she needs to take a step back.

"Grazie", Calypso smiles, and hopes that he hasn't noticed her reaction of being so close to him.

Together they walk back up to the house, the rest of the group has set the table in the kitchen because it is just way too hot to eat out on the terrace.

Calypso was right, after a cup of coffee and some fresh bread her hangover is completely gone and she is happily chatting with Vic, telling her about her phone call with her mother.

"How come a bookworm like you never shuts up? I thought readers were supposed to be quiet people", Thomas laughs and Calypso throws a little tomato in his direction, missing his head by a few centimeters.

"We are rare but we exist, extroverted bookworms", she counters with a smirk and throws another tomato, this time Damiano catches it with his mouth and it bursts with a pop when his teeth sink into the red flesh.

"Show off.

When Calypso suggest her friends to come pick out some books for them and read with her, they all decline and she gives up trying to convince them, their loss not hers.

"Non readers are boring", she fires her last argument half heartedly while they clean up the table and Victoria pulls her into a side hug.

"Hate to break it to you baby but we are rock n' roll you can be our little book nerd", she teases and Calypso hits her with the rag that she uses to wipe the crumbs away.

Because of the heat they decide to just lounge inside, before going for a swim later that day.

Calypso flops down on the leather couch, her phone in her hand with her language app open.

"Ethan she is practicing, come sit down", Damiano pats the free space on the couch between him and Calypso and gestures for the drummer to sit down.

The scent of Ethans cologne confuses her and she would like to jump up and hide in her room until she figured out why but there is no way the others wouldn't pester her with a million questions.

So she shifts around until she is comfortable and both her and Ethan are able to see her phone screen.

They laugh at both of their awful pronunciation of words, his English and her Italian while their friends throw in some words from time to time, cheering them on when they finally get a sentence right that the've been struggling with.

Everything could be so easy if it wasn't for that damn cologne, everytime he moves a little his scent is more prominent than before and Calypso's heart skips a beat.