My Italian Nightmare

Chapter 16: The Second Night

As Matteo and I were vibing to my favourite 70s playlist, Edoardo and Valentina were chatting in Italian and Angelo was on his phone. I had to admit that until now, I had never felt more at ease in their presence and was really thankful for Matteo. He was just such a sweet heart and I felt really connected to him.
"Let me put on a song as well", Matteo requested and I handed him my phone.
"Ohhh, I love that one", I exclaimed as 'Don't stop' by Fleetwood Mac sounded through the sound system.
"Do you have a Spotify account?" I asked him and couldn't believe I was actually able to ask him that. "I would really like to follow it, to see your playlists and stuff."
"Oh, yeah, totally. I want to see your playlists as well." He took my phone and typed in his username.
"I'm sorry in advance, my playlists are weirdly specific sometimes", I said and laughed, when Matteo handed me my phone back.
"That's alright", Matteo said and grinned. He opened his mouth but closed it again, looking a bit ashamed.
"What?", I asked and raised my brows, smiling encouragingly.
"I was also thinking uh, I've got a private Instagram account where I could follow you and you know, you could text me there if there's anything..." I smiled wider and nodded, unlocking my phone once again. Suddenly I felt my face getting weirdly hot and looked up, seeing that Angelo was eyeing us over his phone screen, frowning slightly, but not saying anything. I returned his look, raising my eyebrows. Was Angelo irritated about Matteo and I getting along so well? But why should he be? Angelo shook his head slightly and looked at his phone screen again, his expression unreadable, but he surely did not look amused. Matteo typed his username into my notes and smiled sort of relieved. Hanna would find that so cool, I couldn't wait to tell her that I'd got Matteo Rossi's finsta account.
"We're there", Angelo said and interrupted our conversations. The car had stopped in front of a big, expensive looking building, and I knew we were once again in front of the Grand Hyatt.
"Any fans?", Angelo asked Jürgen, who squinted his eyes to look out the widow.
"Looks clear to me", he said and Angelo exhaled a little.
"Still...", he mumbled and handed me sunglasses and a hoodie.
"Please put these on. And your mask." I'm gonna look like a fucking bank robber, I thought but did as I was told. To be fair, it was in my interest as well, I did not want to be part of any rumours about Angelo Angelico's dating life, when I could as well throw myself into a pool of alligators. It would literally have the same effect. In my disguise, I climbed out of the car and followed Angelo into the hotel. The rest of the band came along and we all stepped into the big elevator, the same one that Angelo had pushed me into less than a month ago. I pulled my hood up, removed my mask and sunglasses and took a deep breath.
So here we are again. Was it the effect of the elevator again, or why had the atmosphere suddenly become so tense? Maybe it was rather the fact that everyone knew...everyone knew why I was with them and what was about to happen between Angelo and I. I looked at my feet, realizing how put on the spot I felt right now, like a trophy that he had taken with him, or like a present that he couldn't wait to unwrap.
"Which floor?", I asked my voice sounding weird in the spacey elevator, almost echoing.
"Eight", Edoardo answered to my surprise and I looked up at him. His ever so unreadable face was showing sympathy this time and it somehow made me feel a little calmer.
"Okay", I said, nodding and looked at my feet again. No one said another word until the elevator made its ping noise, which made me jump because I had concentrated on stopping my body from shaking and vibrating. We stepped out and Angelo took my hand once again.
"Buonanotte", he said to the others and smiled, "Ci vediamo domani."
"Trattalo bene", Valentina said and shot me a quick glance.
"Non lo farei mai?", Angelo replied, raising a brow. Valentina looked at him sternly. "Good night, Ari", she said and I returned her smile.
"Good night." I smiled at Matteo a last time, before Angelo turned away and dragged me with him across the floor, until he stopped in front of Room 128. He opened it with his key card and pushed me in. The lights turned on when I stepped into the room and I was once again impressed by how beautiful and luxurious the hotel was. The room looked very similar to the one that we were in the first time, but it seemed to have a bigger bathroom. I put off the hoodie, my jacket and shoes and then looked at Angelo. Now that we were alone again, I remembered how anxious I had felt the first time we stood in front of each other like this in a hotel room. Now it felt weirdly familiar, but I was still scared of the unpredictable nature of the situation. Angelo dimmed the lights and came nearer, looking at me, his eyes scurrying over my face and the rest of my body.
"You look so beautiful tonight", Angelo said in a low voice and stretched out a hand to touch my hair, fondling with it, curling it around his finger. My lips parted slightly and my breath elevated. I wanted to say 'You as well', but it just felt so silly when I looked at his perfect face, which was so beautiful that the word didn't even do it justice.
"Let's go over to the bed?", Angelo suggested, but it somehow didn't sound like a question. I nodded, once again at a loss of words in his presence. Angelo sat down on the edge and I followed him, not sure where I should place myself. Angelo reached for my hand and pulled me in between his legs, so that I was looking down at him again, just as I had the first time. "That's nice, I can look at you so well this way", Angelo whispered and his hands embraced my waist. Being so close to him again made my blood rush through my body and the need to touch him was becoming unbearable. I stretched out my hand and ran my hand through Angelo's hair, sighing softly.