Lost & Found

chapter two

With our backs turned to the city and our eyes facing the lake, we appreciated the silence and summer warmth of Como, Lorenzo with a gelato al lampone and myself with a chocolate-flavored one.

"How ready do you feel?" Lorenzo looked at me and flickered a group of strands of his hair to the side.

"Honestly I don't feel like it is real. One day I'm here with you and it feels like tomorrow will be a day like any other. Except I'll be boarding a plane with a bunch of other people I don't know and will never see again."

"And that you wouldn't meet if it wasn't for this trip," he pointed out. "I feel like I'm more excited for you than you are for yourself. I know you're nervous but you don't have to be. There's a brand new life waiting for you there and after a few weeks you will not want to come back."

I smile. He really makes it easier. But also harder to say goodbye. I glance at him for a second and then look straight ahead at the view. Thanks to my peripheral vision I notice him looking my way and it makes me laugh.

I laugh loudly and he joins me a few seconds later, when I look at him. I lean my head on his shoulder and sigh. This place is so peaceful: we are sitting on rocks far enough from the main road to hear any sounds from the cars and people passing and close enough to the water to be able to hear the small waves breaking off on the rocks. It's my favorite place in the world and I love coming here with Lor. Our deep talks are what I hope for every day that I wake up and when I'm with him it is even better than I had imagined.

The sunset is our cue to leave. He gives me his hand and helps me stand up.

"Grazie," I say. On our way back to my house, his smile never fades and every time I look at him, he never says a word and looks at the road. I love his smile. I'm going to miss him. When we get to my house he gets out of the car with me.

"What are you doing?" I look at him inquiringly. "I can go by myself thank you very much, I don't really need a chaperone."

"Not even a last hug? Plus, I want to say hi to your parents."

"Fine. They're going to think we're dating or something and that I brought you here to meet them formally." He laughs.

"Please, Sofia. They have changed my diapers, I'm pretty sure we have already met formally enough."

"Okay, if you say so," I smile. We walk towards my front door and I take out the keys from my pocket to unlock it.

As I open the door, I come across people screaming and then, "Surprise!!!!" I look up and all my friends are inside my house next to my parents. I look at Lorenzo and he's smiling. He was in on this the whole time and probably our little afternoon date was a way to keep me out of the house a decent amount of time.

"How are you here?"

"That's a nice way to greet your friend that flew all the way from Formentera three days early to meet you before you leave," said Aurora as I ran to her to hug her. She smiles and kisses me on the cheek.

"And the rest of you... how did you convince your parents to come?" I asked this looking at the three of them with a huge smile on my face.

"Oh they were all in on this," Giulia said with a smile.

"We had to come, we won't see you for a year," added Letizia.

"Yeah, so please don't find Prince Charming in America and decide to marry and have a child and live there. We want you back, okay?" Arianna was always like this worried that I would replace her with someone better. There is no one better.

"Oh, hi Lorenzo," said Letizia, fluttering her eyelashes at him with a smirk on her face.

"Please, if you do that to someone else, I'll guarantee you you'll be forever alone," he stated, matter of factly. "It's just creepy." Everyone laughed.

I realized Lorenzo had been standing outside because I had locked the entrance for him. We went in and into my living room, where I found my parents sitting on the couch with my brother.

"You did all this?" I walked towards them, with the noticeable happiness showing on my expression.

"No. They did it. The only thing we did was allow your friends to invade our house on a Sunday afternoon," said my mom, barely taking her eyes off the TV.

"Thank you so much, I was so sad that no one would be here but now all I feel is gratefulness. It really means a lot."

They all stayed there with me the rest of the night. We played drinking games with music on and lots of laughter. They even bought a cake for me saying Good-Bye Sofia and made me blow the candles. There was a lot of crying involved and letters being given to me that I was only allowed to read on the plane. These friends... I must cherish for life and never loose them, it's amazing the relationship we created between us.

"At what time are you leaving the house, Sofia?" Lorenzo looked at his watch as the hour handle rested above number eight.

"Around half past nine. It takes us a bit more than an hour to get there by car but my dad will drive fast," I say looking at him and seeing him smile, still with his sleepy face on. "The flight is at two in the afternoon. Hey, but this still leaves us enough time to say our goodbyes," I said looking around, expecting sad faces. Instead, they were all staring at me.

"Sofia, we are obviously taking you to the airport. I want to find an airport crush to drool about," said Guilia.

"Oh yeah same," agreed Arianna too seriously, without letting a single twitch on her face that meant she wanted to laugh.

"Arianna, you have a man! Seriously, girls nowadays confuse me," said Lorenzo, rolling his eyes.

"Don't worry baby, I'm still sane and I'm all yours," Letizia says, winking at him.

"Oh shut up, will you?" Lorenzo's lack of patience was always a reason to laugh when we hung out together. Today wouldn't be an exception.

This had been the perfect way to spent the last few hours with my friends before leaving. We didn't sleep but who cares, to be honest? I'll be having a lot of time to do that on the plane. One part of me is extremely excited to go but another one is dreading the possibility of them replacing the empty spot that I filled in these past years with another person.

I blew away this thought and turned my attention back to them and the reality that I was still living.

Stop overthinking everything.

•

Goodbyes are always hard to say, especially at the airport. My parents, my grandparents, my annoying brother and all my friends were there. Aurora was trying to pull back the tears, Letizia and Lorenzo were making small talk with my grandparents while my parents tried to eavesdrop their conversation. It's always the same thing. Giulia and Arianna were looking around the airport, hoping the man of their dreams would appear around the corner and make eye contact with them for a solid ten seconds. They really love daydreaming.

I was hugging my brother and felt peaceful for a while before reality hit again when I heard the clock handles strike o'clock, realizing I had to go take care of the check-in. I hugged all of them, one by one, sent a kiss and mouthed "I'll miss you and I promise to call every now and then." Aurora's tears were already falling down her cheeks and, not long after, my family joined her. I picked my luggage and walked away, looking back one last time to notice Letizia filming my leave. I'll make sure to check social media in a while.

I smiled back and kept walking. This is it. Let the adventure begin.