A Stray Leather Jacket

"Ele, get your ass out of bed!"

Eleonora forced her eyes open, wondering why on earth Filo was interrupting her nap like this. She just needed a few more hours sleep after last night.

"What do you want?"

"You need to tell me about last night, miss."

She looked over at him, and the stern look he was giving her told her he was going to interrogate her if she didn't give him something.

"It was so late, I just slept there."

"You slept at Edoardo Incanti's house?"

Eleonora's voice sounded small when she replied. "Yes."

"And nothing happened?"

Define nothing.

"No."

"Why is his jacket lying at the end of your bed then?"

Shit.

"I was cold, I borrowed it. No big deal."

Filo scoffed. "No big deal? We both know that's a lie."

Eleonora groaned, throwing one arm over her face. She just wanted to go back to sleep. She'd been thinking about a certain someone and their bare chest.

She wasn't ready to debrief. She hadn't processed it herself, there was no way she could put it into words for Filo.

Filo walked around to the empty side of the bed, throwing back the covers and getting underneath. He cuddled up to Eleonora, wrapping his arms around her and nuzzling his face into her neck.

"Come on, baby sister. Tell me what happened."

Eleonora sighed. "Nothing. Nothing happened."

Filo scoffed. "Liar." He paused for a second before asking "where did you sleep?"

Eleonora internally groaned. "His bed." She didn't need to see Filo's face to know he was giving her a disbelieving look. "But it wasn't like that. Someone had thrown up in his spare bedroom and then he offered to sleep on the couch and I said no."

Filo near-yelled his response. "Wait, he slept in the bed with you?!"

Eleonora's voice was small. "Yes."

"Tell me more."

"There's not much more to tell."

"Did either of you get naked? Are you finally going to admit you like him? You know what, just tell me the story from the start."

Eleonora sighed, rolling onto her back. She looked over at Filo for a second, taking in his excited expression.

"Well Eva messaged me just after you left, and she said Silvia was upset after talking to Edoardo. So I was worried that he might have told her something about our date, but then Eva wasn't picking up her phone so I went to the party."

Filo simply nodded in response, not wanting to interrupt her.

"But by the time I got there Silvia wasn't even there, Eva and Martinico were the only ones left still there. And Eva was drunk and distracted by Gio so I found Edoardo and asked him. He said that Silvia had asked him if he was dating his ex from Milan and he said no and she tried to kiss him but he wasn't interested."

Eleonora paused to take a breath.

"And then the guards came and broke up the party and Eva left with my things."

Filo smirked at her. "And then what happened when you were alone?"

Eleonora closed her eyes for a second, pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers. "I don't know, nothing."

Filo laughed. "You don't know? Come on, tell me."

She sighed, looking up at the ceiling as she spoke. "Well he gave me his phone to call you, and then I asked if he could lend me some money for a cab. He said yes but then he didn't want to leave me alone outside our apartment at 2am. So he said we could just wait at his until you called and then he'd drive me home."

"And...?"

"And I don't know, we just hung out. Ate some cookies and lemon tea."

"You really expect me to believe that's it?"

Eleonora internalised a groan. Why did he know her so well? "Well, I mean, he hung out with me instead of meeting his friends out at EUR, which was surprising."

Filo laughed quietly next to her. She ignores him, figuring she may as well tell him everything."

"I took his jacket and made fun of him with it on."

Filo's laugh wasn't so quiet this time.

"And then he played me a song on his guitar."

Eleonora refused to look over at Filo. She didn't want to see the look on his face.

"He played you a song?"

"Yes."

"What song?"

Eleonora closed her eyes for a second, trying not to grimace. "Creep by Radiohead."

Filo laughed. "That's hilarious."

Eleonora shrugged. "I guess. Anyway, he sang and then you called."

"Ah, so that's why you decided to stay. He serenaded you and then you got into his bed."

"It wasn't like that!" Eleonora gave Filo a small shove to emphasise her point.

"You like him don't you?"

It took Eleonora far too long to respond. "No."

"You liar."

There was silence between them for a while.

"You know, he doesn't seem that bad."

She looked over at him, frowning. "You know how he treated Silvia."

Filo shrugged. "Well, he's not treating you like that."

"I have to give him his stupid jacket back."

Filo laughed, getting out of her bed and to his feet. "I think you should wear it, he might explode."

Eleonora resisted the urge to throw a pillow at him. "Go away."

"Bye, Mrs. Incanti."

This time she did throw the pillow.