In the spotlight

29

Matteo Rodriguez

The sun was high in the sky already, the warm rays almost burning my bare arms as I stood next to my deep black Mercedes. My arms were crossed in front of my chest, one of my legs bent and pressed against the car, but even just in a simple white shirt and a pair of jeans, I was contemplating sitting back inside before I got sweaty.

This plan was quickly aborted once I laid my eyes upon a very familiar figure approaching me after stepping outside the airport's main entrance. The closer she got, the more similarities I discovered between us.

We shared the same straight brown hair, but hers reached until the middle of her back while mine was trimmed on the sides and much shorter. We shared our father's tall figure and emerald green eyes and our mother's strong facial features and dark eyebrows.

"Dearest brother." Isabella greeted me in a very distant voice as she stopped a few feet away from me, crossing her hands in front of her chest and mimicking my position. For a moment, her tone scared the shit out of me. I straightened up with a very confused face.

"Ah, come on." She let go of the large black suitcase and wrapped her arms around my neck. I threw my arm around her shoulder to return the gesture, releasing a shaky exhale and signaling my relief. She used to be very angry with me, to the point where she wouldn't even talk to me for days, but luckily we got past that point.

"I missed you, little brother. How were you doing in the big capital without your favorite person?" She shot a cocky smile at me as she was getting around my car. I grabbed the rod of her suitcase and pulled it to the trunk of my car, placing the heavy baggage into it with ease.

"You know, the usual. I spend my punishment and training, mostly." I shrugged my shoulder while keeping the nonchalant tone, but I felt deep down that all this hussle was still bothering me.

"Yeah, I heard that they humbled you. Maybe it was for the better, you know." She was clearly mocking me as I was entering the car myself. I tried to remain stern and show my indignation towards Bella, but I couldn't hold it together, and I snorted loudly once I turned my head towards her.

"Are you still upset with me?" I fixed my sight on the road in front of me. The engine came to life under us once I pressed the start button, and I was already swerving out to the main road leading out from the airport.

"Me? Oh no, I am not upset with you; you do what you do, I guess; you are a grown man after all." She explained calmly, looking firmly in front of her. I wanted to believe her words, but somehow I also felt like she didn't tell the entire truth.

"Even though I would have appreciated it if you weren't messing around with my key model." She added quietly. Her wording felt like stabbing another knife in my chest. I hated how everybody was thinking that I was just "messing around" and using her, but no matter how many times I've tried to explain, nobody would believe me.

"But you are a big boy now; you'll figure it out." She switched back to her joyful self, mimicking me with these words, but didn't fail to put a smile on my face. "As Luna likes to say, everything happens in its own time. I don't even know where she learned that from. Repeating it over and over before baths when her favorite show is on TV." I almost burst out laughing. My little niece was way too smart for her own good and liked to use her cunning against her parents, for sure.

"How is she doing, by the way? I hope she knows that her favorite uncle is missing her badly." The subject quickly shifted directions, and the atmosphere got lighter in the car as we neared the city center.

"The other day she came home from kindergarten, stating that she now has a boyfriend. Lorenzo almost freaked out and led her into the living room for a "dada-daughter" conversation. "She drew a cat's claws into the air with both of her hands." She ended up painting his nails with my nail paint. "This time, I couldn't hold my laughter in and burst out loudly.