Page 36 of I'll Look for You, Everywhere
‘Is that a threat?’
‘No,’ he shrugs his broad shoulders. ‘It’s a promise.’
I bite my bottom lip, ready to scream or maybe cry. If I’m not careful, I may just try to kiss him.
‘This has been joyous, really, but I should be getting back.’ I shift the shopping bags I’m holding to my other hand and take a step back.
‘You’re blushing, Magdalen.’
My mouth opens at his audacity. How dare he expose me? It takes all my willpower not to drop my bags and cover my face. ‘I usually don’t talk about fucking before nine.’
His eyes drop to my hands and he draws a deep hit from his cigarette, taking his time to answer. ‘Ah, I see. So when do you talk about it?’
‘What?’ I say, flustered. ‘This is ridiculous. We’re not friends. We don’t need to chit-chat.’
‘You wound me.’ His voice drops, and he takes a small step forward. ‘Am I not your friend, Maggie?’
I’m surprised he doesn’t say anything about me blushing again, because this time, I know my cheeks are on fire. Something about Theo calling me Maggie is oddly intimate. It’s a name reserved for friends. For people who know me.
‘No. I’m afraid you and I are not friends.’
‘Huh.’ He mulls over my response, blowing smoke out of the side of his mouth. ‘Challenge accepted.’
‘Excuse me?’ I choke out. ‘What challenge? There’s no challenge.’
‘Oh, I’m going to be your best fucking friend this summer.’
‘Why are you doing this?’ I groan, pointing between us frantically. ‘This doesn’t need to happen. We’ve been just fine ignoring each other all our lives. Let’s go back to that.’
‘Now, friend.’ He says the word like a threat, taking another step towards me. ‘Friends show each other what they buy. Let’s see what’s in the bag.’
I scoff. Does he not have a number to dial?
Confused, frustrated and in desperate need of a drink, I settle my nerves and take a step towards him so that I almost brush against his chest. ‘Only one man gets to see what’s in this bag, friend. And it’s not you.’ Before he has time to respond, I turn on my heel and walk towards the station, my hands shaking the entire way home.
20
THEO
I don’t see Magdalen for another week. The wedding preparations for Lucia consume the entire town as bouquets of flowers and cakes are constantly floating in and out of their house, Vittoria’s loud voice echoing between the hedgerows as she argues about how cheap the tulips look. Dante shoves me into his car and tells me his mother is forcing us to buy new tuxedos before the wedding.
‘Cazzo, learn how to drive, you fucker.’ Dante slams his hand on the horn of his car and swerves to the left down the steep hill. A few branches sneak in through my open window and almost pelt me in the eye.
‘Dante, can you try not to blind me before the wedding?’ I grab the dashboard for any semblance of support. The idiot had cut the strap of his seatbelts back when he was trying to outsmart the police after they pulled him over for speeding while not wearing one. Dante gives a daring nod at the winding roads and then jerks the car deliberately so that my body slams into the passenger door.
‘Why? So you can keep looking at my sister?’
Silence. We hit another turn and the engine roars as he shifts gears, the mechanical purring filling the emptiness between us.
‘I’m not looking at your sister.’
‘I wasn’t born yesterday, Theo. I’ve known you for like, nearly twenty years, and I know what it looks like when you want to fuck someone.’
Blood roars in my ears at the exposition, struggling to come up with any excuse to deny or steer this conversation in a different direction. I look out the window, watching the cloud bank move lazily across the distant mountains, the sun peeking out through the silhouette of sharp peaks and edges.
‘Just because I wanted you to protect her the other week doesn’t mean I want to fuck her. I would obviously do the same thing for Anika.’
Dante scoffs, pressing on the gas a little harder as we cross the roundabout that leads to the main piazza of Chivasso. ‘You think you’re so slick? Playing the loyal best friend? You’re not even back a full twenty-four hours and you’re dancing with her at the club behind my back.’
