back to the old house 🍑

watercolour eyes

After those 15 years of rotting behind the doors of our mansion in Manhattan i could finally be free. Crema, the city that nobody knows. i used to spend all my summers there with my grandparents. and every time i had to come back to this place called home i felt like being caught in a cage that i can only leave again next summer. At least that was my life until i turned 8. my mom and my grandparents got into a huge fight and haven't spoken to each other since then. and all those years along i've been begging my parents to let me go back to Crema. and now after all this begging, they let me go all by my own. i would have to stay at my grandparent's, they told me. but also to be away from them as much as i can. actually i don't exactly know how i'm gonna do that, since i don't have friends or any other relatives there, after everyone moved to America or wealthier places in Europe. i could still hope to find some nice people my age. bothered was i not at all by any of this actually because i knew that this is going to be a perfect summer like back in 1968-76.

08:46 i see on my watch. the plane must be landing soon. i started to wake myself up and brushed my fingers through my hair.
my dirty blonde waves are shoulder long and glow whenever they met sunshine. i loved my hair.
when i almost fell asleep again, the lady next to me woke me up because we were in fact landing. with my suitcase i marched out the airport to the parking lot. in my memories, my grandparents had a blue old Porsche. before i could walk around looking for them, my grandma already hugged me from the back.
"mio caro, Viola!"
"ciao!" i smiled widely seeing them
"we missed you so much you know"
i could never forget my grandpa's strong Italian accent. he took my leather suitcase and threw it into the backseat next to me. my grandma was the kindest person i knew and my grandma could always make me laugh.
when we arrived at the beautiful villa, i already felt brighter than the last years. high school sucks already even tho i'm a freshman. and also my room is boring as shit. here i have my own balcony with the prettiest flowers and the best view possible. from there i could see the sun go down every night.
"hai fame?"
i could feel the fresh smell of pasta but i ate on the plane just before.
"i'm not that hungry right now sorry"
while i spoke, i still watched the sky.
"oh at least come down, we have guests!"
i brightened up immediately.
"guests?"
"yes the perlmans, can you remember them? you used to play with their son elio but he is a bit older than you."
i could remember the boy with the dark curls and big pretty eyes.
"i guess can remember them actually!"
"eccellente! come down."
i jumped into my yellow dress with white dots and ran down the stairs.
elio used to be my crush when i was little but i unfortunately forgot about him. now i really wanted to see his 17 year old version.
when i was still walking to the kitchen, i saw the door open and 4 people walk inside. there was an old lady who was greeted by my grandmother as first.
"buonasera Mariella!"
then there was a woman and a man, they were my parents age.
and the last one who walked inside was a boy with dark curls, a blue shorts and red converse.
"Elio you are such a big boy!"
"ciao signorina Folla!"
he gave my grandma a hug and reached her the basket full of fresh smelling bread slices.
"i have a surprise for you too."
my grandma pointed at me as i stood there still on the stairs. my face turned red and i waved with a wide smile.
elio bended his head and looked surprised.
his mom nearly screamed
"Viola!"
"ciao mrs and mr Perlman, and Elio."
i still wore the awkward smile from before. everyone was looking at me, and i had to giggle inside when Elio made a little face that kinda said "poor thing".
when we sat down at the big wooden table, that boy was in front of me. that definitely made me a bit uncomfortable but i really tried to hide it and ignore his face.
even tho all of that i had to look at him every time he smiled or laughed because that was when his eyes glowed so bright that my eyes couldn't ignore. whenever the green in his eyes hushed by my look i felt something inside.
i know that i am girl who falls easily cause of her attachment issues, but this is weird. my type were always the tall blonde guys who would flirt with you, but all elio did was at me every 2 minutes for a second.
after we ate, my grandma told me i should go to bed in an hour at least, so i chose to sit on the balcony next to the colored flower pods while she was still having fun with the Perlman's. when the sun started to sink it was just as i figured out before, right infront of me. i looked deep into the burning light and let the summer breeze stroke my shoulder tips and make my hair float. suddenly i heard a boy's voice.
"i used to watch the sun from our old houses balcony... before it burned down."
this should have sounded sad but he laughed after the sentence. i turned around to see elios face.
"oh... i'm sorry"
but then i started laughing too.
we didn't stop until he was standing next to me, looking over the balcony's edge.
we looked at eachother in silence.
i felt his warm breath trough the cold wind.
then i saw his little considering look.
"what's wrong?"
i checked.
"nothing" he wore his big grin again. "you just have.. watercolour eyes."
"what eyes?"
i never heard this before
"i don't know, when your eyes look like a watercolour painting. you know?"
"i guess haha"
we continue staring at the sun. i remember something that my aunt told me when i visited her in venice 2 years ago and there she told me a lot about origins of Italian names, and how he does workshops about this. Viola means purple or violet. and weirdly i could remember another name too, Elio meant the sun.
"come down Elio we are going!"
we looked at each other and i said bye.
"tell me if you're free, okay?"
i nodded.