Skylar Jones was adopted into an old Italian aristocratic family when he was ten. His life goes under the strict control of his stepfather, Count Massimiliano De Angelis. Sky is a good boy and obeys the rules. One thing only he keeps to himself, his...
I am finally home, curled up on the couch in the safe space of my cozy living room. The view through the panoramic glass wall is stunning. My penthouse is on the roof of the highest building in the area. Rome is like a sea of moving lights at my feet. The Eternal City never sleeps. It is comforting to know it. Life goes on. Everything constantly changes, and suddenly, here I am, on the top of the world. I love this place, mostly because it is only mine, but also because it gives me the right perspective. One has to get over things, even if only occasionally and purely in terms of location.
What a contrast to the shared, humble apartment on campus. I really should stop complaining about every tiny drawback in my life and be more grateful. Maybe dad is not so bad after all. I wish I was more like mom and always saw the glass as half full. Unfortunately, my brain is prone to the pessimistic point of view and takes it as half empty in ninety-nine percent of the cases. Quite an inconvenient habit, which never allows me to be fully contented with the circumstances and makes it almost impossible to be happy. Why am I like this? I have been asking this question for the last fifteen years and still have not found an answer. Perhaps there is none. Some people are extroverted and buoyant, and others are simply not capable of enjoying life as it is. We want more and spend our time waiting for our delusions to become a reality. However, I have lived long enough to know that perfection does not exist, and human beings are the least likely place to find it.
Talking about moodiness, the two things I love most, besides drawing, are Chinese food and soulful, old pop songs. You know those irresistible tendencies of a pessimistic person to intensify the feeling of melancholy instead of trying to get rid of it. Well, that is me. Not all the time, but often enough to call it a character trait. I do not like it, but I can't help doing it either.
Letting out a deep sigh, I stuff a pan-fried pork dumpling in my mouth and play Hurt's 'Wonderful life' with the volume turned up to max. It is great to have your house on the roof of a building with corporate offices five floors below. You can practically throw a rave party after 5 p.m., and no one will give a shit about it. Black's track of the same title is next on my playlist, followed by Mike&The Mechanics' 'Another cup of coffee', Duran Duran's 'Come undone', Savage Garden's 'To the Moon and Back' and a bunch of others like that. As strange as it may seem, this type of music cheers me up. It somehow makes me believe it is ok to be down sometimes, and things will change for better eventually. You just have to hold on.
My brother Luca calls my music preferences the epitome of gayness. Considering how he is a total ass, we should definitely pay no attention to him. Also, I call him the epitome of dickheadness, so you could say we are even.
Aaah, this is much better. Food and emotional tunes. To make it perfect, l take out my sketchbook and grab a pencil. The pad is thick. There are hundreds of drawings in it. The funny part is they all depict one and the same thing, or rather one and the same person. You will not be surprised to learn who the man is. I have drawn numerous portraits of the object of my unrequited love. It was my main occupation apart from studying and working during the years in Vienna. As soon as I got back to the dormitory, I was hurrying to save the memory of any random or not-so-random encounter on paper. I guess if Jason knew about it, he would have thought I was completely crazy. And maybe I am. He is my addiction. I doubt there is a cure for that.
It is a bittersweet experience to go through all these memories, chronologically detailing every single time I watched him secretly. It is a whole ass romantic novel, a love story which never happened.
Here is a sketch from the day I saw him for the first time. It was at the end of my second week in Austria. I knew literally no one, and there was no prospect of making new friends anytime soon. Maybe it would have been different if I had the courage to talk to my roommates instead of only nodding or shaking my head when they asked me a question. However, I had not yet reached that level of comfort around them, so I kept quiet and existed in solitude.
I was sitting in the farthest corner of the university cafeteria that day, hiding behind my open laptop and doing the most pitiful thing ever. I was stalking my ex-boyfriend's Facebook profile. I know. You do not even have to say it. Pathetic. Not that I was missing him. It was because of pure, unhealthy curiosity. It can be quite fascinating to observe the lengths a gold-digger, disguised as an influencer, is ready to go in his attempts to attract the attention of any heir of a rich Roman family. I was off the hook at that time, so he was in search of fresh meat. I will tell you about dear Andrea some other time. Beware, though. Everyone likes him. You can easily fall a victim of his dashing smile and unadulterated charm. The guy is a master of seduction and always succeeds in becoming the parents' favorite. Before you know it, you may find yourself with an engagement ring on your finger. That is only if you are filthy rich. I am not. Unsurprisingly, his affection plummeted when he realized that my means were strictly limited and I was of no aristocratic descent.
Anyway, my situation in the café was getting quite unpleasant. I was the first visitor when I came early in the morning. It was empty. An hour later, there were no free seats left, and the students kept arriving in merry, chattering groups. They did not mind squeezing at one small table, even if the party was much bigger. All they needed were extra chairs. Gradually, I ended up all alone at a table for four, with no chairs around it except mine while the room was crowded. People were practically sitting on top of each other everywhere else. To say I felt embarrassed would be an understatement. I would not wish it on my worst enemy. It felt like I had the plague, and all my fellow collegians knew about it. There was still half an hour to the beginning of the lecture. It was pouring with rain outside. I was also too uncomfortable to stand up and leave. It would have been the most awful walk of shame. In general, I had no other choice but to stay where I was and feel smaller with each passing second.
"Siete degli stronzi! Mi chiedo perché finora ho sopportato tutti voi. Ma che cazzo! (You are assholes! I wonder why I've put up with all of you so long. What the fuck!) The guy was yelling, but I could tell he was not really angry. It sounded more like friendly banter. His deep, slightly raspy voice instantly captivated my attention.
I peeked out carefully from behind the laptop only to see the most gorgeous boy dragging a chair across the room to my table. Before I could realize what was happening, he had already mumbled, 'Do you mind?' without even glancing at my direction, and was comfortably settled next to me. I made some indistinct sound that was supposed to mean, 'No. It's fine.' The guy paid no attention to that either. He just pulled out his phone and started scrolling.
I did not dare to look at him again, but... Oh, my God! He was my knight in shining armor. I could finally breathe. Not only was I not completely alone and isolated anymore, but an incredibly attractive and confident guy was sitting right next to me.
There was no way I had the plague if he was not afraid to be so close, right?
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
***
A/N
Hello, at the end of Chapter 7.
Thank you for reading and supporting my newest story!
Do you think Jason decided to make this act of kindness seeing Sky's discomfort?
Was it just a coincidence, or maybe Jason had other reasons, too?
What about Andrea? Is Sky right to think his ex was with him only because of the money?
Have fun, share your thoughts, and don't forget to vote if you liked the chapter.
