Come Back To Me

Chapter II- Ancora

You were sitting in the passenger seat, your look rapidly changing from staring anxiously ahead on the road to glaring at your watch as it was by then clear that you and Lucas would be late for the event. He kept his eyes on the road while throwing some playful grins at you from time to time.

" C'mon, baby, it's going to be okay, we're not that late anyways...", he assured you in a calm tone, to which you responded almost too sternly.

" Right now, we are already 10 minutes late and seeing that teleporting is out of the question, we're probably going to end up being 20 minutes late. It's going to be embarrassing, Lucas", you said with a whine at the end of your sentence, which caused him to giggle and throw his one hand around your seat, resting it on your shoulder.

" You are adorable when you're stressed out. I give you my word, I've been to so many events like this one, and being a tiny bit late is actually part of the whole thing; it just feels weird to have it written on the envelope: " Dear guests, please be late a couple of minutes, give us some time to make sure everything's ready and well, don't be such a huge pain in the a-" ", Lucas started saying in a mocking voice, and you had to use your hands to silence him as you started laughing at his dorky behavior.

" Besides, I've heard...", Lucas continued, after you removed your hands from his mouth and managed to stop yourself from laughing, " ... that some Italians are invited to sing. It's part of their culture, you know, being a bit late to such occasions. So don't even worry about it.", he finished talking, and you felt your heartbeat slowing down, almost stopping. In-between all the crazy amount of work that had flooded your desk over the week, all the responsibilities you had on your shoulders, you had completely forgotten to even search on who the performers of the night were. In fact, you had almost completely erased the fact that there would be performers off your mind.

" Wh-Who are the performers of the night, again?", you said after some minutes, trying to play it cool. Lucas shrugged.

" I don't really remember exactly, have never really heard of them... All I can say is that they come from Italy, they sing in Italian, and apparently are pretty damn good... Oh, and we have just arrived.", he said with excitement as he forced the car to stop and immediately exited the vehicle, rushing to open your door. You smiled at him.

" What a gentleman...", you almost whispered, and he smiled back to you.

" Always...", he said sweetly, and brushed his lips against yours as he handed the keys to the person that had arrived out of nowhere, apparently, to park the car.

" When did you even see the guy?", you questioned, something that caused Lucas to smirk and answer delicately.

" As I told you before, I've been to such events more times than I can count.", he finished, and held your hand as you both started walking towards the entrance of the enormous building.

Everyone was dressed to the nick; dresses, costumes, hairstyles, perfumes, jewelry, everything seemed to have been picked with the outmost attention. You kept a firm, contained smile on your face most of the time as you looked around you, carefully observing the guests; as always, style had its' effect on you. Lucas was by your side constantly, greeting all the persons he knew and never failing to introduce you to each one. His hand was always draped around your naked shoulders, his touch balancing perfectly between a sense of protectiveness and that of possessiveness.

You sighed as, right then, you felt content with every single part of your life. However, that lasted only for a few, brief moments. The lights dimmed, and you watched as three familiar figures walked on the small stage that had been created for the occasion alone. You felt that your heart would explode, your knees went weak and even your breath came out as nothing at all.

Your eyes watched all three of them, but naturally, after some minutes, your eyes remained glued to his figure; his hair, per usual having been styled as if they had not been styled at all, his costume elegantly framing his figure, his whole posture projecting that confidence masking some sense of insecurity, precisely as the first time you ever laid your eyes on him. And then, his eyes.

Those brown orbs that held every single memory within them; all the sweetness, all his hope and effort for you, all his sheer wish to love you, you and only you. But, at the same time, even though you couldn't decide if it was true or your own mind was forcing you to believe it, in his eyes you could see the sorrow he left in your heart, the feeling of abandonment, the crystal clear proof that he had, indeed, moved on, completely having forgotten his dream.

The music started playing, and the lights became brighter once again. That caused you to snap out of your phase, but your eyes couldn't unfocus; they remained stuck on him, and inevitably, as Gianluca sang the first words of the song, Ignazio eyes met with yours.

"È notte alta e sono sveglio, sei sempre tu il mio chiodo fisso..."

His look remained stuck on yours, as yours remained stuck on his. You felt him piercing through you, reaching deep in your heart, in your mind. However, he remained still, almost as if he'd frozen in his place. You couldn't understand what his eyes wanted to say, in fact, you felt as if they were saying it all at the same time, as if he wanted to make you disappear but at the same time hold you rush and keep you in his arms forever. One thing you could definitely see, though, was the cloudiness in his stare, that had now only gotten darker.

He didn't avert his eyes from yours as he took a deep breath and approached the microphone.

" Ancora, ancora, ancora, perché io da quella sera, non ho fatto più l'amore senza te..."

His soft voice forced all the memories you had buried to rapidly return, but again you couldn't look away from him. After some minutes, it was clear that he was singing to you.

"... e non me ne frega niente senza te..."

Right then he almost raised his hand, pointing at you, but it was as subtle as it could be, so you thought that it was just your mind playing games on you. You looked down for a few seconds, finally managing to break the eye contact, but, in your surprise when you looked up again, you found him still looking at you.

" anche se incontrassi un angelo direi..."

He paused a bit, placing his hand over his heart as he took another deep breath, and you almost felt your heart break as you spotted a single tear run down his cheek. His voice came out a bit hoarser on the next part.

"..non mi fai volare in alto quanto lei...".