Page 119 of 7+Us Makes Nine

Arianna

I woke up the next day with a somewhat hollow feeling in my chest, and I knew that it had everything to do with Giovanni. It hadn’t even been 24 hours since I’d left him, but I already wanted to be with him again.

Knowing that I was going to need a distraction to keep Gio from my mind, I grabbed my cell and called Angela.

“Hello?” her voice sounded on the other line after the third ring.

“You busy tonight?” I asked.

“Nope. Tonight, I’m all yours.”

“Good,” I said, a smile inching across my face. I began to pace the room, feeling like a giddy teenager. “I want to tell you all about him.”

“Him?”

“Giovanni Romano. My fiancé.”

Angela screeched so loudly, I had to hold the phone away from my ear.

We met up outside of the nightclub—the very same one I had met Gio. Once inside, we ordered drinks, found a table, and I proceeded to give Angela all the details. She listened, completely riveted.

I’d known Angela since high school. She was a bubbly girl with bright blue eyes, curly hair, and ears always open and waiting to hear the latest gossip. Although adult life and work had gotten in the way of us seeing each other as often as we would have liked, whenever we were together, it never felt like any significant amount of time had passed, and we quickly picked up from wherever we left off.

“Wow,” she said, once I’d finished telling her about the whirlwind romance I’d been enjoying with Gio for the past couple weeks. “You really lucked out! I can't lie—I’ve always thought the whole idea of an arranged marriage was kind of weird. But now, Hell, I wish my parents would set me up with a Prince Charming like you’ve got!”

I laughed. “I was worried at first, but now I see it has its perks. I don’t think things could have worked out any better even if I planned it myself.”

I reached for a drink, taking a sip while Angela continued to lament about how lucky I was.

“I get to be the maid-of-honor, right?” she asked.

I reached forward and took her hand in mine. “Of course, you do!”

“Awesome!” she said, throwing her hands in the air in victory. “Well, we can’t just sit here all night! We’ve got to dance to celebrate! You’re getting married, Ari!”

I laughed as she dragged me onto the dance floor, and together, we began to dance in celebration of my upcoming wedding. It felt something like our own little pre-bachelorette party.

Dancing silly with Angela, I spun around and couldn’t believe my eyes.

There he was. Giovanni.

My heart fluttered in excitement. He was sitting idly at a table by himself, drinking a beer. I supposed it had been a long day at work with his father, and he had decided to come out for a bit to unwind. Although I felt mildly irritated—wishing he would have called me to unwind instead—I quickly pushed the thought aside because I was simply so happy to see him.

I nudged Angela, who had been making flirtatious eyes at some guy checking her out across the room.

“Yeah?” she said.

“I think I need to introduce you to someone.”

She raised her eyebrows and began glancing around. “Who?” she shouted over the music.

His name had been on the tip of my tongue before I came to an abrupt halt.

The whole scene unfolded before me as if in slow motion.

I realized that Gio seemed to be staring rather fixedly at something, or someone, rather. And it certainly wasn’t me. I followed his gaze as best as I could, but it turned out to not be difficult at all to figure out who had so thoroughly captured his attention.

An attractive female.

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