Page 33 of Twisted Ambitions
“I really don’t know, I just don’t know…”
I hear my father sigh, perhaps out of frustration; I know he would do anything to see me happy, but the thing about happiness is that it can’t be bought. At least mine couldn’t. Dad says goodbye, saying that he would do anything for me; anything I want would be mine.
I lie in bed, look at my own constellation, and feel a little at peace. I hear someone knocking on the door, and I find it strangebecause girls never knock; I ignore that fact.
“Come in!” I remain lying on my bed, looking up at the stars, without looking away to the person who is slowly approaching my bed.
“It’s really amazing how even in your pajamas and just waking up you can look stunning.”
I immediately sit up in bed, a little shocked to see Henry in my room, leaning against my dressing table, with a smile on his face and a bunch of wild flowers in his hand. “What, how…”
“I decided to visit you; don’t ask me why; I think I simplywanted to see you. Leticia let me in.”
I nod, still a little confused by his presence. I think I should go and change.
“I’ll give you space to do it; I’ll wait in the living room…” Henry heads for the exit, but when he opens the door, he quickly returns to me and hands me the flowers that were in his hands, with a contagious smile on his face. I saw them in the street and thought you’d like them.
“Thank you, they’re beautiful!”
He gives me a giant smile and leaves the room, leaving me there with a large bouquet in my hands. I leave it on my vanity and head for the closet, putting on a comfortable dress and putting my hair up in a high ponytail. I leave the room with the flowers in my hand and hear loud laughter coming from the living room. I stop at the door of the room, where they can’t see me, and watch my friends talking and laughing with Henry, thinking about how they’ve never done that when Luca was around that week. I shake my head, trying to get these thoughts out of my head. I walk into the living room, and people look at me; Aurora and Leticia smirk, looking at the flowers. I go into the kitchen to put the flowers in water and see the way the three of them interact, looking like they’ve been friends for years, and I find myself wishing I could fall in love with Henry, with someone who’s easy to deal with and get along with, someone who’s easy to like and talk to, someone who’s smiling and loving.
“What do you think of having lunch with us? We were about to order something before you arrived.”
Aurora’s voice is loud, and I know that she wants me to hear, maybe to say something. I go into the living room, stepping quietly, and I feel Henry’s eyes on me as if he’s waiting for me to agree.
“That would be fun. Do you want to stay?” He smiles at me, a beautiful smile, his eyes seem to sparkle, and I really wish I wasin love with him.
“Yes, that would be great!”
Henry seems really happy to be having lunch with us; the conversation flows in such a good way that it makes me smile; he really seems to have won the girls over.
“How long have you known each other?”
Henry’s question makes us smile at each other, but Leticia takes the lead and answers first. I think our parents have always been friends and partners.
“We became best friends when we were ten years old, I think, around the time my family moved to Portugal.”
“From that day on, we became inseparable!” Aurora says with a smile on her face.
Our conversation is interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell. I quickly get up to open the door, but Aurora gestures for me to stay with Henry and heads for the door.
“So you went to live in Portugal when you were ten, until that age…”
Before he could finish, I answered. “I used to live in Italy, my home country.”
“Chiara, can you come here?” I frown at Aurora’s question and only then realize that she is lingering at the door.
I gesture for Henry to wait a moment and go to meet Aurora, stopping just a meter awayandnoticing Luca towering over her. Aurora stands in front of him, preventing him from entering, which we both know, if he really wanted to, wouldn’t work. She looks annoyed at him and says something quietly, which I take to be an insult.
“Chiara, can we talk?” his husky voice makes my whole body shiver, and I hate him for having that power over me.
“I told you have nothing to talk about; she broke off the engagement; you shouldn’t even be here!”
“I didn’t ask you anything, Aurora; I’m here to talk to Chiara,not to listen to your annoying voice!”
“Don’t you dare talk to me like that, or I’ll…”
Before she has time to continue, I approach the two of them and gesture for her to stop. She looks submissivebut doesn’t leave the room and stands by the wall with her arms crossed. Now that she’s out of the way, I have the full picture of Luca in front of me, and he looks as handsome as ever in his black three-piece suit; the bouquet of peonies in his hand makes me want to smile. And I wonder if he knows that these are my favorite flowersor if it was just a coincidence; my brain says it was a coincidence; after all, Luca doesn’t know anything about me; he’s never shown any interest in anything that concerns me. But my damn heart, which may be in love, insists that he just knew.
