Page 92 of Two Chances With You

“No. I’ve never written anything. Not even a Christmas card,” I lie.

“Wait, you never even tried?”

“No. Never.”

She gives me the side-eye. “Hmmm…” And then she starts all over again. “Well, that’s too bad. If you ask me, it would be wonderful!”

“What would?”

“To get something written by you. I’d like a poem. A beautiful poem.”

“Oh, it’s not enough for me to write. It also has to be beautiful.”

“Well, it especially has to be beautiful! It doesn’t have to be long. A beautiful and heartfelt poem, filled with love…ideally written to win forgiveness!”

“That was the last thing we needed. I haven’t even written the poem yet, and already I’m in trouble for something.”

“Why? Didn’t you lie to me earlier?” She smiles, lifts an eyebrow, and stands up, leaving me at the table.

I finish my last sip of beer, and in the blink of an eye, I’m over next to her. “Hey, tell me the truth. How could you tell?” I ask, confirming for her that she’d been spot on.

“Your eyes, Step. Sorry, but your eyes say it all.”

“What do you mean?”

“They made it clear to me that at least once you tried to write a letter or a poem for someone else. I don’t know who, but you do.”

We walk along, side by side, in silence, toward the motorcycle. One thing is certain. I need to wear glasses more often. Dark glasses. Maybe even wear sunglasses at night.

Chapter 32

October 10

Wo-o-o-ow! The first episode went great. I didn’t screw up anything. Not that I should have. I had only one walk-on at the end of the episode where all I had to do was bring out an envelope containing the winner’s name. What could I get wrong? Well, I could have tripped and fallen, I guess.

But Ele was fantastic. She was supposed to make an entrance in the middle of the episode to deliver the envelope with the provisional rankings. She didn’t trip and fall. No, she was perfect. She came on, walked right up to the moderator at the exact right time, at the exact right place, only…she forgot to bring the envelope! Legendary! Ele is always Ele.

But everyone laughed, the moderator made a funny joke, and now everybody likes Ele! In the end, instead of getting angry with her, everyone just clapped and laughed. There were a few people who even said that she did it on purpose. With Ele, not on your life. That’s showbiz.

November 5

By now, I’m doing great! They’ve made me one of the extra dancers on the troupe. And I was keeping up during rehearsals! It’s so easy to getsomething wrong when you’re on live, and then your mistake goes straight into the houses of everyone in the country. I don’t want to think about it.

My own mother would see it. She doesn’t miss a show I’ve been on. She watches them from start to finish, and she always manages to spot me. The last time she told me, “I saw you tonight!”

“You couldn’t have, Mamma. I didn’t do a thing.”

“Of course you did! You came on for the finale when the whole cast said good night. You were the last one on the right, way in the back of the stage.” My mother!

You can’t hide anything from her. Or almost.

December 24

We rehearsed until 6:00, and then everyone went home for Christmas! We’ve decided to do something supercool, me and Step. First, everyone at their own home with their parents for the big dinner and then, after midnight, everyone at Step’s house, or really, his brother’s house, to open presents. Ele and Marcantonio are coming, too, and strangely they’re still a couple! In any case, from what little I know about him, I never would have expected him to last this long. Go figure! Maybe they really have implemented the open relationship plan. Who can say? So much the better for them.

I reread what I’ve written, and I see that it’s riddled with who-can-says, maybes, and go-figures…have I become too uncertain? Who can say, maybe, go figure! One thing is certain. In life, the best thing is not to betoo sure of anything. For now, things are going well with Step. And it’s going tremendously well!

December 25

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