Page 27 of Two Chances With You

I act like a tough guy, but I’m struggling not to laugh. “All right, let’s put it this way. You wanted to enjoy your evening with my twenty euros, but you’re much luckier than that. You’re going to spend it with me.”

“Listen to this guy.”

“Or let’s say that you spend the evening with me or else I’ll report you to the police. Is that simple enough for you?”

The girl gives me a faint, sardonic smile. “Of course, I’ll get in the car, or actually to be exact, I’ll get inmycar with a perfect stranger.”

“I’m no longer a perfect stranger. I’m a guy who was basically about to be robbed by you.”

She snorts in annoyance again. “All right, let’s take a look at it from a slightly different point of view. I get in my car with a potential half-robbery victim, okay? So far, so good. But why shouldn’t I assume that you’ll take me to some godforsaken place and take advantage of me? Give me one good reason.”

I stand there in silence. Fuck everyone she’s worried about. Pieces of shit, you’ve ruined things for the nice guys. “Okay, okay…” I know that she has a point. “All right then, how about this? You see this cell phone?” I pull it out of my pocket. “Do you know how many ‘advantages’ much better than you I could have taken with just a simple phone call? So why don’t you shut up and get in?” Finally, I find a situation where a cell phone turns out to be really useful.

She shoots me a look dripping with hatred and then steps toward me. She plants her feet wide and stands in front of me, and then she extends her arm, her hand wide open.

I throw my arm up in defense immediately.

“For the moment, I’m not going to slap you in the face. But give me the keys, I’ll drive.”

I smile, slipping into her car. “Not on your life.”

“How on earth can you imagine that I’m going to trust you?”

“No, how can you think thatI’mgoing to trustyou? You’re the one who started out by trying to rip me off!” I lean over and open the door for her. I give her a smile. “Am I right or am I right? Come on, get in.”

She stands there, baffled, for a moment, and then heaves an annoyed sigh and climbs into the car, her arms folded across her chest and her eyes facing forward.

I drive for a while in silence.

“Hey, your car has a great ride.”

“So is the idea that we’re supposed to talk part of this deal?” We’ve just gone past Saxa Rubra.

“No, but now we can strike another deal. You see, I could drive away with your car and my tankful of gas. So try to be nice, enjoy yourself, smile. After all, you have such a nice smile.”

“But you haven’t even seen me smile yet.”

“Exactly. So what are you waiting for?”

She fake smiles, gnashing her teeth. “Here you go. Happy now?”

“Sohappy.” I extend my open hand in her direction.

She dodges to one side. “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”

“My God, so mistrustful. I’m just introducing myself, right? Like a well-mannered person, the kind that doesn’t rip other people off. My name’s Stefano, Step to my friends.”

She ignores my extended hand, leaving it hanging in midair in the dim light of the car. “Okay. Ciao, Stefano. I’m Ginevra, Gin to my girlfriends. But to you, I’m still just Ginevra.”

“Ginevra, nice, a name befitting a princess. And just how did your parents know in advance that they’d be bringing a princess like you into the world?”

I glance at her and lift my eyebrow, but then I can’t hold back any longer and I burst into laughter. “Oh my God, excuse me, but I just can’t help laughing, and I don’t even know why. Princess.”

I go on like that. I look at her and I laugh. She amuses me. There’s something about her that I like. Maybe it’s because she isn’t pretty.

The car zips along at high speed. The streetlights abandon and then seize her face again. They daub it with light and then with darkness. And every so often, the moon gives her a kiss. She has high cheekbones and a small chin. Light eyebrows, like a vanishing point, flee toward her hair. She has intense, vibrant, cheerful hazel eyes, in spite of the fact that she’s deeply annoyed. Yes, I really made a mistake. She’s not pretty. She’s gorgeous.

“Your folks were pretty cool. Excellent name they picked for you, Princess Ginevra.”

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