Loving you

Gigis night with Grandma

I'm lying in bed the house is dead silent. My moms working till the late morning and I'm lying here wondering why Gigi hasn't come through yet. I roll over to try and get some sleep shifting some pillows in the mean time when my phone buzzes. I ignore it until it buzz's again and I decide to check it. It's a text from Luca. - Hey lunch today? Ella and Annie are free.-
I smile at the message. I get to see two of my bestfriends for the first time in years. I reply
- Hey, that sounds great. I'll be there if you send me the details-
It's a few minutes later before my phone buzzes again. - Don't worry about it. I'll pick you up the same with Annie and Ella. Be ready for 1:30pm.-
I smile at my phone and check the time, it's 7:45 and instead of sleeping I may as well get my day started. I drag myself out of bed and pull on a sweater and head to Gigi's room. She's lying there tangled up in her blankets fast asleep, she's precious.

11:30 rolls around and my mom comes home. She looks tired but shakes it off and gives me a hug. "Hey sweetie your up and dressed nice. Where are you off too?" She asks grabbing some water from the fridge.

"Out with Ella, Annie and Luca for lunch. I'm not sure where we are going. Do you think I look alright?" I ask standing in front of the sink and doing a little spin. My flowy top spins round but delayed after me and my black jeans are fitted tight. She laughs and I now feel silly we're just going for lunch.

"You look great. Did they mention where yous are going? If it's where I think we might need to redress you." She laughs but I feel more confused. I thought I was already over dressed. "Is Gigi going with you? I was hoping to spend some time with her?" Questions my mom.

"Oh okay. Luca didn't say where we were going but I guess I can change. Gigi can stay here with you, I'm sure she'd love that. Lucas picking me up at 1:30 can you help me choose something?" I ask kicking off my boots and walking to the stairs.

When we reach the landing Gigi runs out and shows us a picture she's been drawing. It has lots of colours and flowers. She's been drawing a lot of them recently. We head into my room and Gigi goes back to hers. She's a great kid and is so independent which scares me. After my mom flicking through my closet she pulls out a white dress that hits just above the knee. It has a few ruffles down the front and a little bit of lace. "Pair it with your brown boots and that white hairband no bag." She smiles pointing to the hairband on my dresser. My mom has always been stylish. She used to dress me for any event we went to and I loved that time we had.

"Thanks mom... I've missed you" I reply taking the dress out of the closet and placing it on my bed. She cups my face in her hands lightly and kisses my forehead.

"I've missed you too. Get ready. Me and Gigi will probably be gone by the time your ready. We're going to the farm just out of town to do some berry picking. It'll be fun." Says my mom walking towards the door. "Remember curl your hair." She's says with a wink and closes the door behind her.

1:30pm comes and I'm sitting downstairs waiting to hear his car. I've got my boots on, curly hair, outfit and I must say I feel great. Just as I pull out my phone to text I hear the car outside. I grab my card and keys and head out. Ella and Annie are waiting in front of the car and after I lock the door they almost jump up the path. "Omg I can't believe your back" they both squeal in unison. They squeeze me tight and I feel so happy. I pull back and look at them, underneath their fancy outfits and pretty hair they are the exact people I knew all those years ago. "I've missed yous." I say squeezing them again before getting into the car.

When we arrive at the restaurant the interior is stunning. There's a lot of dark wood, leather and royal blue I can tell why my mom told me to dress nicer. "This is our favourite place. Italian of course." Smiles Ella as we follow the waiter to the table we'll be sitting at.

After we've ordered and settled we start to catch up. "How have you guys been doing? What do yous do?" I ask taking a sip of some complimentary wine, another reason I know this place is really nice.

"Well I work in editing. It's hard but I enjoy it. Went to school for a couple of years got a great job my own apartment, you'll have to come visit!" Explains Ella offering me her across the table. She looks great. Her hair is a hazelnut colour with warmer highlights through it. She's wearing a gorgeous navy blue dress with a matching bag.

Annie looks across to me and smiles. "I work in a fashion house. If I'm honest everything's up in the air at the moment but it's good fun. fashion shows, brunches. I guess they'd call me a stylist too but I do a bit of everything with them." She laughs and we all laugh along with her. She definitely has good fashion sense. She's wearing a stunning white and grey pinstriped suit with gold jewellery and her hats at the side of her.

After about an hour of eating and talking and way to much wine our main course comes. Mines as usual is a huge plate of carbonara along with different breads, chorizo pasta, pizzas and ricotta's. "This looks amazing." I smile drinking some more. I'm not usually a big drinker but we're celebrating. Before we dig in we all cheers our glasses and start go eat.

The next time I check my phone my moms sent me a picture of her and Giulietta with her many baskets of berries that she will most definitely get a tummy ache if she eats too many of. "Guys we've went through too many bottles of wine" laughs Ella holding up another empty bottle to add to the collection.

"We're celebrating it's fine. One more bottle then we should head back." Smiles Luca pressing the buzzer at the side of our table to signal to a waiter.

I laugh and look across the table. There's 3 empty wine bottles and from what I can remember three were already taken away. I pull up my keys and say "I'll drive." When everyone bursts out laughing.

"You'll not be driving anywhere your cars not even here. We'll call Gianni and he can pick us up. We can drop you off then go home." Smiles Annie taking my keys out my hand and placing them in her bag. I look at her and she's got a smirk on her face. How did she know my car wasn't here until it hits me that Luca picked us up.

"Why do you guys get to go to Luca's. I want to join in the fun." I pout draining the dribble of wine from my glass.

"You can. We're staying there tonight you can too." Smiles Ella. She's kind. More kind than I remember.

After roughly 5 hours of being at the restaurant Gianni is outside to take us back to Luca's. His car is parked right outside the door of the restaurant however I still feel myself tripping and stumbling when I walk towards the car. I've not been this drunk in such a long time. I hear Gianni talking to Luca loudly but none of the words make sense before I am swiftly placed in the front seat of the car and Gianni buckles my seat belt. "Ohh I'm in the front... does that mean I'm the DJ?" I ask in all serious. However it seems that no one else is taking me serious when I hear laughter coming from everyone else in the car.

"We'll just drive back. It won't be long don't worry." Explains Luca from the back seats. I don't think he's too drunk but I definitely am.

"Luc luc Luca." I sing. "Can you call my mom and tell her i'm staying at yours. I'll be back for Gigi in the morning. She likes you... and you." I say tapping Gianni on the shoulder. Then I look down and see Gianni's hand resting so lightly on his leg. His hands are nice big and strong. They make me feel safe or they used to. It would be so easy to just put my hand on his I think, no I won't. I put each of my hands in a bundle and don't move them till we reach the house.