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For a second I forget.
When she smiles at me I forget everything. I forget the hurt she inflicted on me, I forget that we haven't had a proper conversation since middle school, I forget that I had forced myself to not love her. In the one second of her flashing her brilliant smile at me, I forget.
But then I remember.
I remember the way it had all ended. I remember how much it hurt. Valentina and I were best friends one day and the other I was holed up in my room hurt that she didn't come to me. The dramatics of the moment comes back to me.
I look away from her and toward my dad who gathers attention of everybody by hitting his fork on the glass for a few times. Everybody shuts up their conversation and turns their attention to my dad. "Firstly, I wanted to thank everyone for being here."
"Will I be able to ogle at Matteo while he played basketball yet?", somebody shouts from in front of me and I look to see Elena turning to me and offering me a wink. I squint and turn to Valentina who is glaring at her younger sister.
"What the heck, El? I told you to stop obsessing over him!", she is saying through clenched teeth and all of the parents look at Elena. The tweenager puts her hands up in mock surrender and says, "I'm kidding, everyone. kidding."
"Elena, that's not funny", Oliver says from beside her and she turns to her father. "Daddy, I'm joking." Her dad shakes his head and she turns away form him. "Nobody gets my jokes."
"If they consist of you talking about an older guy then no", Valentina says and I can tell this is not the first time they were having this conversation.
"Sorry, Matteo", Elena says after losing the staring contest with Valentina who nods triumphantly. I shake my head softly at them and say, "It's fine." It was a little weird to hear Elena, the girl I babysat with Valentina when I was younger with Valentina, talk to me in a way but I guess times have changed. It has. Valentina and I would swim together all the time and she wouldn't look at me like she did earlier today.
I'm not sure if she realized it, but she had pulled her bottom lip into her mouth when she caught sight of my torso. I wasn't sure how to feel about that considering our non status but a part of me was thrilled. I mean a pretty girl (who happened to be my ex best friend now turned starnger) was ogling at my naked torso. I'm only a teenaged guy after all.
"Moving on", my dad says with a look thrown at Elena and the mothers laugh at that. My mom's gaze lingers on my father in a way I've seen her do earlier but this time it felt like she was memorizing him, enjoying the moment. It made me sad when my mother looked at my dad like he was going to disappear at any given time.
"There is something wrong with me", my dad says but then smiles when my little sisters look up at him. Elena is frowning now, the ghost of the excitement of her earlier joke disappearing now. My dad touches my little sisters hands with both of his and says, "Daddy will be okay, but something just happened to me." My little sisters nods and my dad looks up at us.
