Venice, my love, I was naive when you first held me in your arms. I was born from you, and you watched me grow, you fed me, you kept me safe. And then I abandoned you and fell into the arms of the West. One of my greatest regrets is leaving you. I a...
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Light climbs through the window and spills onto the tangle of covers shared between Liliana and me, softly pulling me from my sleep. Without moving my body, my eyes shift around the room to size up the situation and find that I must have cried so hard that I fell asleep and am still in Liliana's room. At least I left a note for my parents so they won't call the police on me for a missing child.
I strain my vision in order to see the digital alarm clock. There's still time to wake up a bit and get breakfast. For now I just snuggle deeper into Liliana, accidentally rousing her from her sleep. She draws in a deep breath and bats her eyes a few times in order to register herself completely into reality.
"Buongiorno," I greet her, smoothing back the hair on her neck and planting a small kiss there.
"How'd you get into my house?" she asks, and I can't tell if she's kidding or not, as her expression is still neutral and her voice groggy.
"Well you're nothing short of lovely in the morning."
Liliana flips over in bed to meet my gaze with a sweet smile. Her arms around my neck, she sows a gentle kiss to my lips. Well now she sure is lovely this morning.
Suddenly the door swings open, and in the threshold stands Liliana's mother to wake her up in the morning for school as always. Her facial features warp into shock upon seeing us two in the same bed with the connotations of me having spent the night with her daughter, but they then settle back down in an attempt to be a supportive and laidback mother.
Panicked, Liliana immediately starts her excuse, yelling, "Mamá, I swear we did not do anything together!"
I back her up. "It's alright, Signora Ricci. I was just here to talk to Liliana last night and we accidentally fell asleep."
The woman herself just gives a knowing smile and closes the door mysteriously. Well at least she's not mad, although I have no idea what she was trying to convey with that secrecy.
Once she's gone, Liliana and I burst into laughter which does not die out until about twenty seconds later, when she reminds me that I can't wear a t-shirt and boxers to school. "The twins' clothes won't fit you, but since my dad works weird hours I don't think he'll be here to see you take clothes from his closet instead."
And thus we venture into her dad's closet and find an oversized sweater and some slacks. Admittedly it is not my usual style, but beggars cannot be choosers, especially when I came here out of my own free will and made the conscious decision to not get dressed. It draws a chuckle from Liliana's mother as we walk into the kitchen for breakfast.
"You look just like my husband," she giggles, and Maria joins in, too. Waving her hand to dismiss the thought, she brings the platter of cake over to the table for us Italians who cannot take anything salty for breakfast and must always have sweet foods, even if the rest of the world laughs at us for eating cake in the morning.
As we dig into our food, Maria keeps throwing glances my way, as if she wants to say something to me but does not have the courage. Eventually, after she places her glass of milk back down on the table, she asks, "Do you love my sister?"
Liliana almost chokes on her cake, which could act as an excuse from the question with how much we laugh at that, but Maria is persistent on knowing.
"No, es una puta," I respond, taking influence from the many Spanish words I have picked up just by being at the Ricci residence, and Maria cracks up while Liliana of course slaps me in the arm.
"Stronzo," she says famously.
Now equipped with a Spanish curse word, I fire back, "Puta."
And I think that's enough of an answer for Maria.
~~~~~
bruh i wrote this a few days ago but didn't publish it yikes
