After a few more hours of studying, I must have fallen asleep when I hear my phone ring and see Annalisa's name light up on the screen. I clear my throat, trying to disguise the sleep in my voice, so it doesn't come through on her end.
"Good, you answered!" She laughs, and proceeds to tell me we are going to a new sports bar near the mall for dinner, which I haven't tried yet.
Who am I kidding? I hardly ever go anywhere new.
I tell her I'm excited to try it, and she lets me know that they will be picking me up around seven-thirty. I check the time and see it's around five, so I have plenty of time to shower.
Afterward, I get dressed in dark wash, skinny jeans with a soft peach, silk camisole, and a black blazer. I decide to wear my open-toe nude wedges with the outfit. I pull my hair up in a classic bun but pull out a few strands to keep the look more casual.
Considering I'm usually in workout clothes that consist of just wearing sports bras or tank tops with shorts, sweats, or yoga pants, this is dressy for me.
I also decide to play up my makeup just a little more than my usual mascara use. First, I attempt to conceal my black eye, but it doesn't help much, so I take off the concealer.
My eye still hurts to touch. So next, I use golden brown eyeshadow and line my one eye and then complete the look with a nude shade lip gloss. I look in the mirror after I'm finished and shrug; that's the best it's gonna get.
I go to my jewelry stand on my dresser and find the necklace my mom gave me on my tenth birthday. It's a small, rose gold necklace with an infinity symbol with the word amore as part of the symbol.
There's an engraving on the back in the thicker part of the symbol with my birthday. When my mamma gave it to me, she said her love for me was never-ending.
Every time I put it on, I'm always grateful I had it on that night everything changed. My Uncle had sent men to collect a few of our things, like photos and clothes, but everything else was left behind.
I look in the mirror as I touch the symbol picturing her standing behind me as she put it on me for the first time; I miss her so much. I hurry and stand before I start crying and ruin the makeup that took me too long to do.
I check my phone and see I still have a half-hour before they arrive. I look at my bag on my bed and decide to go through it more thoroughly to see if anything is missing.
I didn't take much time to look through it earlier, focusing instead on studying and making sure I had all the books I needed.
As I go through it, I find my wallet. I open it knowing it's going to be empty of the cash I had in it, but I'm surprised when I see it all still there, along with a couple of credit cards my Uncle has given me.
That's weird. I check behind my license and can't find the one thing I'm looking for; I empty all the pockets and realize the picture of my mom and me when I was younger is missing.
What the hell?
I check inside my bag, in case I missed it, and then all the backpack pockets and still can't find it. I know I had it in my wallet because I hardly take it out. I decide to find Tobias and let him know.
It's an odd thing to take, but he did say to let him know if anything was missing.
As I step onto the main floor, I can vaguely hear voices coming from the family room. They get louder as I get closer to the entrance of the large room.
The sound of a child laughing and Joey's loud, frustrated voice flows out of the room. "Come on, man! You keep throwing those damn turtle shells on me, on purpose!"
YOU ARE READING
For the Empire - Inganno
General Fiction[Book 1] Stella and her father had no choice but to move in with her Uncle Timo, in New York, in refuge, after witnessing her mom's murder, as a child. She feels a connection to her Uncle, but his responsibilities as the leader for one of the large...
