Page 41 of Two Chances With You

Slowly, gently, I caress her neck. I plant the palm of my hand on her cheek. Gin turns her face to relax against the door, her hair hanging forward and suddenly, half-hidden by that scented black river of hair, her mouth appears. Like a rose of love freshly opened, soft and wet. She sighs and sketches little clouds of mist on the glass of the door. Then I kiss her. And she smiles. She nibbles back at me, and it’s wonderful. It’s dramatic, it’s comedic, it’s heaven…No, it’s better than that. It’s hell.

“Gin, is that you?”

A man’s voice behind me. Now of all times. No, I can’t believe that we hadn’t heard a thing. Dazed by desire. I whip around, ready to parry a blow rather than throw a punch. I look at him. This guy isn’t too tall, and he’s skinny.

“Sheesh, I can’t believe it.” The look on his face is one of amusement more than anger.

Gin smooths back her hair, and she’s annoyed. “Well, believe it, or should we kiss again?”

I’m still standing there with my fists at the ready.

“Stefano, this is my brother, Gianluca.”

I put down my arms and heave a faint sigh, but it’s nothing to do about any worry over a fistfight. That’s the least of my concerns. I have other thoughts. Which is perhaps the most worrisome aspect.

“Ciao.” I extend my hand and smile. Certainly, this isn’t the best way to make a brother’s acquaintance. Getting caught making out with his sister.

“Well, now that you’re in safe hands, I can go,” I say.

I head off toward the gate and leave them behind me, brother and sister, framed in the front door. I start my motorcycle and take off, leaving in that redolent nocturnal bouquet of jasmine a kiss, only half-consummated.

***

Gianluca looks at me in amazement. “Seriously, Gin, I can’t believe it!”

“Believe it. Your sister is just a female like any other, and if it’s any consolation to you, she’s not a lesbian, as you’ve had occasion to observe.”

“No, you don’t understand. What I can’t believe is that you were actually smooching with Step!”

I’ve finally found the key, and I open the door. “Why, do you know him?”

“Do I know him? I’d like to know who doesn’t know him in the city of Rome.”

“Well, here I am. You have the living paragon right in front of you. I’d never heard of him.”

Then I think to myself that it’s just one lie, more or less.

“I don’t believe you. It really isn’t possible that you’ve never heard of him. Come on, everyone knows who he is. He even appeared in a newspaper on his motorcycle while he was pulling a wheelie, with his girlfriend riding on back, surrounded by cops. I can’t believe it! My sister kissing Step.” Gianluca shakes his head.

Together they step into the elevator.

“Anyway, I wouldn’t want to destroy any of your myths, but the famous Step, rebel, performer of wheelies with women clinging to his back…”

“Right, right, I get it. So what about him?”

“He kisses exactly the same as all the other guys.”

At that very same instant, I hit five, the button for our floor. Then I take a look at myself in the mirror. I’m blushing. That was another lie. An even bigger one. And I know it perfectly well.

Chapter 14

I’m racing down the street on my motorcycle at top speed. Piazza Ungheria, straight toward the zoo. I can’t find a word to describe Gin. But I try, all the same. Likable? No. Cute as a bug? Oh, come on! Pretty, amusing, different. But why should I try to define her in the first place? Maybe she’s all those things, put together. And maybe she’s more than that. I don’t want to think about it.

But something pops into my mind and it makes me smile. It was with Gin that I went by Piazza Euclide, following alongside her car. I didn’t even glance at the Falconieri High School. I didn’t think about waiting for Babi to get out of school or about me waiting for her, about that time we had.

But I’m thinking about it now. Suddenly, like a bolt out of the blue. A memory. That morning. As if it were happening right now.I was outside her school. I was watching from a distance. I saw her come down the stairs and laugh with her girlfriends, chatting about who knows what. I smiled. Maybe it was about me.

I waited for her. “Ciao.”

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