My Italian Nightmare

Chapter 30: Big Smiles

Tom had shown us around LA for a while, since he's already been here on vacation a couple years ago and I was absolutely stunned by the city. Not only did I love areas where palm trees grew, it was absolutely crazy for me to see the Hollywood sign in real life! We had also been to the Hollywood walk of fame and I couldn't help but take a hundred photos of it. It was just too exciting being in a place where so many famous and successful people had spent time in! I mean, Los Angeles literally had a Fashion district, and so many stores that I wanted to walk into. Although I knew, that most of them carried clothing I could never afford in my life. When we walked down Rodeo Drive, I was so conflicted that I could not even enjoy all the amazing pieces in the shop windows. In my opinion, fashion should not be a luxury good. But it was hard to resist this glamour and it was easy to envy those rich and beautiful people with their Prada, Dior, Burberry, and Louis Vuitton wardrobe. But at least Tom and I had great insights and inspiration for our studies and I was happy to see him feeling better.
It was soon time to meet up with Val and Teo and we took an Uber back to our hotel where we would meet up. I was a bit nervous about reencountering them after what happened last night. I did not want them to think that I wanted to drive a wedge between the band members. And I was embarrassed thinking about how they could assume I was only a self-involved groupie who wanted to hang out with them just because they were famous.
When we arrived at the hotel lobby however, my heart sank into my stomach yet another time. Not only Val and Teo were present, waving to us and smiling – Edoardo was with them, leaning casually against a marble pillar.

"Hi you!", Val greeted us and we hugged each other. "How was your day so far?"
"It was truly amazing", Hanna exclaimed and her eyes were lighting up.
"What did you guys see?" Hanna listed the sights we had seen while I looked at Edoardo, who examined me carefully. I raised my brows slightly, but he did not change his expression.
"Ari, are you in?" I quickly turned to Hanna, Val and Teo who looked at me inquiringly. "In...what?" Teo chuckled and his blond hair was falling into his eyes.
"We want to drive to Santa Monica, relax at the beach a bit, check out the pier..." I felt excitement rushing through me and I looked at Hanna, smiling widely. "Santa Monica? That's like super close to Rocky Beach!" Hanna giggled and shook her head slightly.
"Rocky Beach?" Teo asked and Hanna's giggle turned into a laugh. "There's this German children book series about three teen investigators who live in California...Ari's a bit too excited about them."
"I'm not! It's the best audiobook series that was ever made."
"Anyways", Hanna interfered, "Rocky Beach is a fictional town near Santa Monica. It doesn't exist."
"It exists to me", I mouthed with a sad face and Teo had to chuckle.
"So you are in", Val assumed and I nodded insistently.
"Great!", she said and smiled. "We will just all grab our bikinis and towels and meet back again here?" We all nodded approvingly, but before I could turn away to leave a voice called out my name.
"Ari, can you wait a moment?" It was Edoardo who had now left his position and stood upright, hands in his pockets. I nodded and nervously tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. "See you in a minute Ari", Hanna said and I quickly waved at her before she and Tom stepped into the elevator.

Edoardo took a couple steps forward and looked down at me. "How are you?" I stared at him and just shrugged. Did he really hold me back to do some small talk? But when I thought about it, he didn't seem like a man who would be into small talk.
"Very confused", I eventually said and tried not to break the eye contact. Edoardo nodded understandingly.
"I want to join you at the beach...but I wanted to ask first, ask you first. If you are good with that." I raised my brows and looked at his face, his dark brown eyes looking genuinely back at mine.
"I...I have no problem with you. I just...I don't want Angelo to hate me more or to fight with you. I don't want to be the reason for any arguments between you." Edoardo smiled very slightly at this, but was quickly serious again. He was making up his mind for a couple seconds before he said: "Angelo is...very troubled right now. This is only partly because of you. And he don't hate you, not at all. It's more like...he don't like himself very much right now." Edoardo's glance shifted beyond me for a moment and he sighed lightly. Then he looked back at me and continued: "I think he will come around. But don't worry, okay?"
How could I not worry? How could I believe that Angelo didn't hate me after what insults he hurled at me last night?
"I do think it might be better if Angelo stayed away from you for a while", Edoardo added and run a hand through his hair. "I don't want that he is mean to other people just because of his own problems." I stared at Edoardo who observed me calmly and I took a deep breath. "Why did you invite me to dinner?", I asked and crossed my arms in front of my chest.
"I want to know you. I think you are an interesting and...fascinating person. And...I want to make up for the things I said in chat." I nodded slowly and opened my arms again, putting my hands in my pockets. I gave him a little smile, which he returned, and a warm feeling entered my stomach. Stop Ari, stop it, my brain shouted at me.
"Fine", I said, "you can invite me to dinner. And of course you can join your friends at the beach, you should not even have to ask me. Just...I want to stay out of the Angelo drama. Please make sure that he will not start another fight if we get to know each other. I..." My insides twisted slightly and I looked down, "I can't bear having him yell at me like that another time." I shook my head and then felt Edoardo stretching out his hand and carefully caressing my shoulder for just a couple seconds. His strong hand squeezed it and his long fingers dug into my shoulder blade gently. I looked back up and saw an almost worried expression on his face. Without saying a word, he took his hand away and straightened his shoulders a bit. "Okay so...I see you for our beach trip in little time?", he broke the silence and I nodded and smiled again. "Yup."
"Good", he remarked and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.
"See you in a minute!", I said and waved at him before leaving for the elevator.