The Secrets We Share

Tour #2

Gio had now started the car and off we went down the very, long hill that the Morettis lived on top of. They were lucky, they had the whole area to themselves; Their closest neighbours, were at the bottom of this massive hill, which some could interpret as a mountain.

I turned to Gia and said, " hey, so what's the plan for today. Where are we headed to first". She looked at me excitedly and replied with, "well first I'm taking you to the centre of town here, where all the main shops are located; I thought you'd find it fun to do some shopping together", she paused. "Admittedly, I've never done this with anyone before, other than my mamma of course, when she's free from her busy schedule".

Looking at Gias face in that moment, showed me just how lonely she had been, up until I'd arrived. Don't get me wrong, I know she's very privileged but as an empath, I did feel bad for her. As they say money can buy a lot things but genuine friends, was not exactly one of them, so I've heard.

I grabbed her hands and said, " I can't wait". She looked at me with her big, blue puppy dog eyes and just grinned at me, before asking Gio to play some music.

We'd been driving for about 15 minutes, when I noticed out of the window the most gorgeous looking shopping centre, I'd ever seen. The ones in England i went to, were rough compared to this. I turned to Gia and said, "this is your local shopping centre, mine is nothing compared to this. It's beautiful".

She just giggled, then dragged me out of the car after saying something to Gio. Once he had driven off, I felt bad after realising I'd forgotten to say goodbye and thank you to him. I guess it was because I was so awestruck with the architecture in front of me. Reminder to self to thank him later.

Gia tugged my arm and muttered, "shall we go in", she seemed kinda sheepish so I replied with,"hell yes, let's do this". The irony of this sentence, was the fact that in actuality, I did not save nearly as much money for this trip as I'd originally planned, so until I found a job here, I was skint. to put it lightly.

We entered through one of the many doors in this centre and the first shop we saw was full of clothes, that I'm certain, were designer. We went inside and when I saw the prices on a pair of sunglasses, I actually felt my self start to get faint and my eyes had to squint at the tag once more, trying to rationalise the unimaginable price in front of me.

Gia creeped up behind me and said, "do you like them", she was genuinely asking, as if I was actually going to spend that much on pair of sunglasses. I laughed and said, "I did, until I saw the price". I couldn't stop myself from laughing, when out of nowhere Gia picked them up looked at the price and stated, " I'll buy them for you".

Gobsmacked, I turned to her gently, took the glasses out of her hand, put them back in their rightful spot and whispered because people were staring at us, "absolutely not. I do not want my new friend spending that much money on me for a pair of sunglasses, I'll probably end up losing. So thank you but also no". I gave her a reassuring smile and she simply nodded before leading me back out the shop and into a new one.

We walked into the new shop and I have to say, the vibe felt really off. From the moment we'd stepped in, I'd felt as though a million eyes were following us, as we'd move throughout the aisles. " have you noticed the strange feel of this place or is it just me being paranoid", I whispered casually to Gia, not trying to receive more attention. Gia was about to reply when this irritating sound interrupted her before she even had the chance.

"Gia... is that Gia I see", a bunch of girls around her, including herself, started laughing. What the hell was going on right now. We both turned around, Gia more reluctantly than me though. The girls then switched to Italian, so I couldn't clearly understand what was being said but still, I got the gist of it.

Dopo due anni finalmente rivedi la tua faccia. Chi l'avrebbe mai pensato. Certamente non io, questo è sicuro. Her tone had this insincere, fakeness about it which made me sure whatever they were saying to Gianna was utter bullshit and I wasn't going to just, sit back and listen to it.
Translation: after two years, you finally show your face again. Who would have thought it. Certainly not me, that's for sure.

Concerned, I looked at Gianna whose earlier excitement had fizzled into nothing more but sadness and fear. Frustrated but trying to maintain my cool, I turned to the bullies who thankfully, I towered over and said, "look, I don't know what your issue with Gianna is but I can tell that whatever you just said has made her feel extremely uncomfortable, so I would very much appreciate it, if you'd leave her alone, so we can carry on with our day, peacefully. Okay, thanks". I gave her an ingenuous smile before grabbing Gianna's hand and leading her back towards the shops exit.

Or at least I was before, tweedle dumb and tweedle dee blocked our path. I looked down at them with a frown and muttered, "move". Nothing more, nothing less. I didn't want to start a problem but I would for my friends, if they needed me. The wannabe mean girl was now stood in the middle of her minions, she grinned at me before lunging towards Gianna.

This girl was insane but unluckily for her, I'd dealt with much worse, than a spoilt bitch who has a superiority complex. So I stood in front of Gia ready and willing to block her from anything this girl was about to attempt, when out of nowhere, she threw herself to the ground and started wailing like a baby.

Embarrassing, was the only word left to describe this situation we're in; not for me of course but for whoever this girl was. I wasn't oblivious to what she was trying to do but what happened later sent me over the edge.

I bent down to her on the floor so we were eye level and I said in a condescending voice, "you done yet". She looked at me with disgust, which was bold considering she didn't know a thing about me but she said nothing. I stared at her for a bit with a concerned face because clearly she wasn't the full shilling but Gia grabbed my arm forcing me up, before looking at her and saying, "cagna". Now I knew that word, my eyes lit up as I looked at Gia and applauded her, she weakly smiled and we both made our way towards the exit once more.

We were so close to freedom but the thought didn't last long, as a group of security men surrounded us, forcing us to stop in our tracks. And now the girl who was supposedly injured before, was up and off the floor as she marched towards the flock of security, along with her gang.

With crocodile tears barely managing to escape her eyes, she muttered, "this foreigner just threw me to the ground for no reason; I was only trying to speak to my old friend from school who's standing behind her". Huh was she talking about me; I had to stop myself from laughing out loud because I wasn't stupid to the fact this wasn't going to go my way.

Before I even had a chance to respond, a familiar presence was looming over me and then that all too familiar voice...Leo.