Page 46 of Two Chances With You

Without bothering to turn around, Gin raises her left hand and, in particular, holds her middle finger up so that it’s pointing at the sky.

Marcantonio shows up just in time to see that charming salutation. “She’s crazy about you, isn’t she?”

“Yes, she melts at the sight of me.”

***

Ele and I continue on our way. Ele seems deeply and seriously annoyed. “You want to tell me why you told me nothing about this?”

“No, I swear to you, Ele. It completely slipped my mind, I mean it.”

“Sure, no doubt. I mean, you kiss that incredible babe of a guy, and it slips your mind!”

“For real, you like him so much?” I ask.

“Well, for hot’s sake, he’s hot, but he’s not my type. I like the other guy. He looks like a young Jack Nicholson. If you ask me, he has a lot of filthy thoughts in his head. He seems more like the disreputable type.”

“And you like your men disreputable?”

“Yes, but tell me, whoisthat incredible bombshell of a guy?”

“You called him an incredible babe of a guy before.”

“Well, okay, whatever. What does he do, where does he live, how did you meet him, did you two seriously kiss, and what’s his name?”

“Am I really supposed to answer that machine gun burst of questions?”

“Of course you are. What are you waiting for?”

“All right, then, here we go. I’m answering them all, okay? I don’t know, I don’t know, I met him last night, there was one kiss, and his name is Stefano.”

“Stefano?”

“Step.”

“Step? Step Mancini?” Eleonora bugs her eyes out and stares at me.

“Yes, his name is Step. So what?”

She grabs me by the jacket and shakes me physically back and forth. “I can’t believe it. Yahoo! We’re going to go down in history. At the very least, when I spread word of this, we’ll be featured inParioli Pocket. Step the rebel. He rides a dark blue custom Honda 750, he races like Valentino Rossi, he’s traded punches with half the population of Rome, he was a regular fixture at Piazza Euclide, a friend of Hook and Schello, and to stand up for his girlfriend, he even fought with the Sicilian. And who does he decide to date? You!”

“Aside from the fact that we’re not dating, number one. And number two, who is this woman of his?”

“Ah, then youdolike him. You’ve fallen for him!”

“What are you talking about? I’m just curious.”

“He was dating a girl who’s older than us, I think, and quite attractive, she used to go to Falconieri High School. She’s the sister of Daniela, that chubby thing who was dating Palombi, the guy who used to date…”

“I get it, the guy who used to date Giovanna who was going out with Piero who used to go steady with Alessandra and so on and so forth. Your usual endless network. Okay, well, I don’t know any of those people, and what’s more I couldn’t care less about them. Now let’s go do this audition because I could use some money.”

Chapter 16

Women are arrayed at the center of the stage. Tall, blond, brunette, the occasional redhead. Elegantly dressed, or casual, or bohemian in a desperate attempt to blend together two things that pretend to match. Gym shoes together with perfect charcoal-gray skirt suits, the latest thing, old platform shoes too tall for a fashion that’s forgotten about them. Noses that are straight or crudely fixed, or not yet fixed at all due to a shortage of funds. Some women are relaxed, others are nervous, others still are defiant with a bold piercing they’re flaunting, while there are a few timid ones who’ve done a piercing with a small, understated stud. And then there are tattoos displayed more or less openly, and who can say how many others are concealed. The audition girls.

Gin and Ele sneak in and sit in the back.

“All right, then…”

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