Italian Ego

Chapter 5

Alfonso strode into his penthouse apartment just an hour after he had parted ways with Seychelles.

He walked slowly to the far end of his living room and parked himself in front of the floor to ceiling windows, taking in the beautiful view. The spot had always relaxed him, but today only one thing ran through his mind as he looked out the window unseeingly: not even the most beautiful scenery was more stunning than she was.

He turned away from the view to the furniture and sunk tiredly into a sofa, throwing his jacket and car keys on the nearest stool he could find. It never bothered him, but for some reason coming home to an empty apartment didn't appeal to him as much as it had before.

It was all her fault, he knew. It was absolutely absurd! How was it even possible? Never before had one woman completely dominated his thoughts in such a way.

"Oh, you're back."

Al was startled when he heard Luigi's voice float through the massive den, then he felt relieved. At least he wasn't alone anymore. Being alone would mean spending more time alone with his thoughts; thoughts of her. He didn't let any of his reactions show though, he kept his face impassive, as always, when he turned to face his best friend.

Ever since Alfonso had bought the apartment five years ago, Luigi had gotten a hold of one of his spare keys and had made it a habit to drop by whenever he wanted to. Even when he wasn't home. It usually annoyed him, but Al knew never to look a gift horse in the mouth. Still, he wouldn't give Lui the satisfaction of knowing that he was grateful for his company.

"Lui," he drawled. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Oh come on, Al! You know what they say; mi casa es su casa!" Lui said as he plopped himself onto the couch his best friend was sitting on, carrying a mug of beer.

"Luigi, I hate to break it to you, but we're Italian not Spanish."

"Hey! You made a joke and it was funny. Who are you and what have you done with my boring best friend?"

Alfonso raised his left eyebrow in query. "I've always been funny. Just in an understated sort of way."

Luigi decided it would be best not to say anything at all, knowing a negative comment from him would be the basis of a never-ending argument. So he did the only thing he could; changed the subject.

"How did your date go?" he asked, only half-listening.

Alfonso glanced at his companion. "Fine," he said in an offhanded manner.

"Are you planning on seeing her again?"

"Nope." Al lied. He most definitely had to see her again.

"So you wouldn't mind if I had a go?" Luigi asked taking a sip from his beer.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm just saying, you don't seem to be interested in her. I met her earlier this week and I'm thinking of giving it a shot. So since that's the case I think I'm going to have a go at her." He looked at his friend and noticed him glaring at him with an intense look of displeasure.

It looked like he had struck a nerve.

"Yes I do mind," Al spat out.

"Why?" Luigi asked, more amused than anything else.

"Well... because... Because she's Sandy's best friend and you're going to end up hurting her. Sandy will end up blaming me and I'd rather not go through that," Al said, feeling rather pleased that he had not admitted his true feelings.

"I'll take full responsibility. Besides, it's just a little harmless dating, nothing serious. We do it all the time, you and I."

"Since when is breaking a girl's heart harmless?" Alfonso demanded.

"Since when do you care?" Luigi countered.

"Since I met her!" Alfonso shot up from his seat and paced frustratedly around the living room. "I know it's crazy, okay? I met her this morning, I almost hit her with the Mercedes while she was jogging. I was so overwhelmed I started yelling at her to be more careful, and you know what she did? She yelled back at me... At me! When she left, my goodness, Lui, I thought about her all day. Her brown eyes were in my mind all day. I was going to go back tomorrow to see if she was jogging again, just so I could talk to her.

"Imagine my surprise when she was the one who walked in at that restaurant tonight. I couldn't believe my luck. We sparked, Luigi. We had an undeniable connection. She's so beautiful and smart and funny and if you even think of touching her, or looking at her, I will kill you!"

He was breathing hard by the time he had finished his babbling rant. He felt so annoyed when he turned to see Luigi grinning at him broadly.

"What's so funny now?"

Luigi's grin didn't dim, if anything, it stretched wider and became brighter. "You fool! You're sprung!"

***

Alfonso had to put up with an hour of Luigi's nagging. The point of having his best friend as company was to distract him from his thoughts of Seychelles, but since that did not seem to be happening, he eventually excused himself and went to bed.

He took a quick shower and brushed his teeth briskly. Once he had finished getting ready for bed he picked up his phone and blankly stared at it. The message tone had been blinking for over three hours now. He knew it was from his sister. She had sent him Seychelles' number. He had avoided it like a plague, knowing the moment he saw it he would not be able to resist dialling that number. He wanted to be cautious.

Deciding to throw caution to the wind, he opened the message. Ignoring Sandy's teasing words, he immediately copied and dialled the number. The moment it started ringing he began to have doubts.

What if she didn't want to talk to him? What if she already had someone else in mind? What if...

"Hello?" her husky sounding voice came from the other end.

"Seychelles? I'm sorry, I didn't think you'd be asleep." He glanced at his wrist-watch and noticed it was almost 1 A.M. Why didn't it occur to him to check the time?

"Oh no, don't worry about it," she said as she cleared her throat. "I wasn't sleeping. Your baboon of a sister was tickling me to get the remote from me. I swear I'm going to lose my voice."

Al couldn't help but chuckle. "Well at least you recognise me, I thought I'd have to remind you who I was."

"Are you kidding me?" she said in an incredulous tone. "As if I'd ever forget that voice!"

He chuckled yet again. Then he heard a voice shouting in the background, "Is that Al? What's he doing calling you at this time?"

He sighed in exasperation when he realised it was Sandy speaking in the background. "Ignore her," he said, amused.

"No problem there. I've been doing it my whole life. Alfonso, you never did tell me what you do," she said as if it had just popped into her head.

"Oh, I'm an accountant."

"Really? I thought you were some Italian mafia boss or something," she said.

"Now why on earth would you think that?"

He imagined her shrugging. "Well, maybe it's because you, sort of, look dangerous."

"Looks can be deceiving," he murmured.

"Oh I know, that's why I had to make sure. Besides, it's okay if you want to be a boring accountant."

Alfonso almost choked. "Boring?" he exclaimed.

Seychelles giggled. "I'm joking, I'm joking! I just wanted to get a reaction from you. You just seem as if you're always calm.

Al smiled softly. "Well did my reaction meet your standards?"

"It certainly did."

"Well then, I'm glad." He heard her yawn. "I'll leave you to your sleep."

"Alright then," a pause. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Seychelles. Oh, and before I forget, some boring people can be dangerous. Just keep your eyes peeled."

He cut the phone. He jumped in his covers and almost immediately fell asleep. It was like a load had been lifted off from his shoulders the minute he heard her voice. He did not dwell on it too long before he fell asleep.

***

Seychelles glanced at her best friend, who was currently flicking mindlessly through different channels.

"Your brother's weird," she announced suddenly, out of the blue.

"So are you," Sandy said in a bored tone.

Elle rolled her eyes. "Seriously, he is. So how old is he?"

"The weird man is thirty-three years old."

She nodded her head slowly and glanced at Sandy once again. "He has nice eyes," she said slowly.

Sandy sighed and turned to face her, muting the TV. "Is there something you want to tell me, Elle?"

"No. Maybe. I don't know. This is all your fault! Why didn't you tell me your brother was drop-dead gorgeous?"

"Maybe because he's my brother! Can you imagine how weird that would be?" Sandy said as she narrowed her eyes. "You like him."

"No I don't!" Elle vehemently denied. "I just like his face! It's different."

"Elle, sweetie, I know you better than anyone else and I know that the only time you ever compliment someone's eyes is when you like them."

"I object!" Elle hissed.

"No... I object!" Sandy countered. "Alfonso and I took after my mum in the eye department. We have the same eyes. How come you never told me you like my eyes before?"

A moment of silence followed. "Sandy?" Elle said in a small voice.

"Yes?"

"I like your eyes.

Sandy glared at her best friend, snorting. They both broke out in laughter.

"You're an i***t," Sandy said, jabbing her finger against Elle's arm.

"You and I both. We make a great team," Elle retorted. "Maybe I do like him. Just a little, though. A tiny bit."

She pinched her thumb and index finger together for emphasis.

"Well that's great, Elle," Sandy said with a slight smile. "And I know he likes you too. I've set up dozens of dates for him, but he's never asked me for any of their numbers. That's a good sign."

Elle snickered. "Who would've thought?"

"That what?"

"That one of your stupid match-making schemes actually wouldn't lead to a disaster."

Sandy sniffed dramatically. "Am I that bad a match-maker?"

"I bet if our lives were a fairy-tale you'd set up Humpty Dumpty with Cinderella," Elle laughed.

"Humpty's a nursery rhyme, you i***t," Sandy said sticking her tongue out.

"Same thing! They're both books aren't they?"

"Cinderella was a movie! My God, Elle, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were drunk."

"Cinderella was also a book. I read it seventeen times," Elle said stubbornly.

"Look at us!" Sandy said. "Two grown women talking about fairy-tales and nursery rhymes."

Elle laughed. "It's like I said, we make a great team."

Sandy smiled at her and before too long they said their goodnights.

***

Elle woke up to her phone vibrating on her pillow merely an hour later. She summoned up all the curse words she knew to throw at whoever was calling her at this time of night.

"Hello," she snapped.

"Hello, Seychelles."

"Who the hell is this?" she demanded in a grumpy tone.

"It's me, Clide. Clide Oliver? We met earlier tonight."

"I remember you." Was this guy serious? It was almost 3 A.M. for goodness sake! "What do you want?" She knew she was being rude, but social graces would be the last thing on anyone's mind if they were being woken up at three in the morning.

"Well I left a couple of messages for you earlier." -which she ignored. "I was upset we didn't get the chance to say goodbye last night. Anyways, what's done is done, but I was wondering if you wanted to-"

"Look, Clide," she cut him off. "You're a nice guy, and I like you, I really do. Which is why I'm not biting your head off at this moment. Point is, the only time you call someone at three o'clock in the morning is if it's an emergency, if it's a New Year or if it's April fool’s. I'm going have to ask you to cut the phone and call back at a decent time."

She could tell he was flabbergasted. Obviously, a lot of people did not tell him what to do. Before he had the chance to come up with a retort, she murmured a simple 'goodnight' and cut the phone.

Before she completely sunk back into blissful oblivion, she allowed herself a moment of pride knowing her father would hear about this and he wouldn't be happy.