Written in the Stars (7 page)

It took every ounce of my being not to roll my eyes, or shake my head at her. Instead, I looked at this as the opportunity to polish up my pranking skills.

“You know what, you’re right. You may not be able to understand their English, so we shouldn’t wait. I can teach you now.”

“No, because my brain is currently overloaded with Italian guys, parties, and
most importantly, shopping, right now I can barely remember my name, let alone Italian.”

“Okay, but don’t come crying to me when you can’t understand what people are saying to you.”

“I won’t because I’ll have you to translate. Plus, didn’t you say your cousin Manuel speaks English?”

“It’s Mario, and yes, but his accent might be hard to understand.”

“I’m sure I can handle it. Look what I made us.” She pulled out a huge binder. “See, I color coordinated the map for each day we’re there. My must-sees are in red.”

I was regretting giving in to her and taking out my headphones as I listened to her once again go over every little detail of our summer plans, and showing me maps of places that I could personally give her a tour of, since I’ve been there at least a hundred times. After having a long conversation with myself inside my head, I came to grips that this trip was about Erin and no matter how crazy I knew she was going to drive me, I was going to do everything in my power to make sure sh
e had more than an amazing Italian adventure, the same way my mom always made sure for me.

However, I’m not stupid and when she finally fell asleep, I made sure not to move a muscle or breathe since I was afraid of waking her up.

Time flew once we fell asleep, and before we knew it, we had arrived in Italy. Erin’s face lit up with excitement, until she got off the plane and looked around the airport.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“It’s nothing like I expected it to look like.”

“What did you expect it to look like?” I was almost afraid to ask.

“Like the Italian restaurants back home.” She pouted. “You know; marble walls, limbless statues watching your every move, cloudy ceilings to gaze at, and Italian lessons playing over the intercom like in the bathrooms.”

There was no holding back my laughter. “Come on, let’s get our bags.” I grabbed her hand.

“Wait, how do I look?” she stopped.

“Beautiful.”

She closed her eyes and let out a long sigh as if she were meditating.

“Okay, I’m ready.” She plastered on a smile and started walking.

“Yep, this is going to be a very long summer,” I mumbled.

It was taking us longer to get to the baggage area than it took Erin to put on makeup, since she felt the need to say
bonjour
to literally everyone that we passed. Some people said hello back, some laughed and kept walking, but most completely ignored her.

“I can’t believe how rude people are here. We would never treat people like this back home,” she said loud enough to make the people around us take notice.

“They’re not being rude. Unlike us, they’re probably in a hurry,” I said.

“They can at least say
bonjour
back.”

“I’m sure they would if we
were in France, and not Italy.” She looked confused. “
Bonjour
is French, not Italian. You would know that if you learned the basics of
Italiano
on the plane.”

“No wonder everyone is ignoring me. How do you say hello in Italian?”

“If I remember right, it’s
lo faccio parte di capra.”

I knew it was wrong as soon as it came out of my mouth, but I couldn’t help it. She had just handed me the prank of a lifetime, one that would be a considered a crime in my family, if passed up.

To my surprise, she was able to pronounce every word perfectly for just learning them. Maybe there was a little Italian hope for her yet. I tried to keep my wits about me as I watched the people passing us either start laughing hysterically or look shocked, since they couldn’t believe what they had just heard.

I was going to have to enjoy every moment of this, because the second she found out what she was really saying,
she was going to kill me. The only bad part of this prank, it was now taking us a lot longer to get where we needed to go, but it was worth the delay.

I made sure to stand as far as possible from her while we waited for our luggage, just so people wouldn’t link us together. Just as I thought of letting her off the hook, I heard a very familiar voice calling for me from a distance.

I looked around until I saw Mario’s head bobbing up and down from within the crowd surrounding us.

“Mario, over here!” I yelled, hoping he
would see my hands waving wildly in the air.

“Sophie, my long lost love!” he yelled as soon as he spotted me. I had to smile as I watched him politely moving through people, making his way towards me.

“Mario!” I started running towards him. By coincidence, we both slowed down, and pretended to run in slow motion when we were only a few feet away from each other. As soon as I was close enough, he wrapped his arms tightly around my waist and swung me in circles, almost knocking some people over.

“How I have missed you, my
bella!”
he yelled loudly, catching everyone’s attention.

It’s on,
I thought.

“No, it is I who has missed you,
mi amore
!” I yelled louder.

“I will never let you leave me ever again.”

“Me leave? It was you who decided that a life with monkeys was too much. It was you who left me standing in the middle of the room with a bunch of animals or do I really need to remind you of the moment you tore my heart out?”

“Oh, I think you need to remind me.” He crossed his arms and looked firmly at me.

“Fine.” I turned away. “I remember as if it was only yesterday. I was feeding a baby gorilla because the mother had just died. I asked you to fetch me a bottle, but instead you threw it at me, saying I was spending more time playing games with the monkeys and not enough time with you,” I started. I had no idea where I was heading with this one, but I knew if I stopped, he would win and this time the prank crown was going to be mine. “Just when I was about to tell you how madly in love I was with you”—I grabbed my heart – “you grabbed the baby gorilla out of my hands and walked out the door.” I was laughing so hard on the inside that I was able to make a tear roll down my cheek.

I could tell by the look on his face that there was no way he was going to be a part of my craziness. He pursed his lips together before laughing.

“Okay, you win this one, but I will have my revenge.” He hugged me again. “
Ah, il mio bel cugino,
look how you’ve grown.”

It took a few minutes, but eventually everyone who was staring at us re
alized it was all a joke, everyone except Erin.

“Sophie, when did you work with gorillas? Was it when your mom volunteered at the wildlife park?” she asked, confused about what just happened. “Also, I can’t believe you stole a gorilla from the zoo. Who does something like that?” she looked at Mario.

Mario started laughing as held out his hand to introduce himself.

“You must be the Erin I’ve heard so much about.” He kissed the back of her hand.

I could tell she really wanted to enjoy his introduction, but from what she had just heard, she was a little skeptical about letting him touch her.

“Erin, this is my cousin, Mario, the one I always t
alk about.” I explained.

“Oh, right, you told me how you two play the same stupid game you and your dad like to play.” She was now very much enjoying his touch. “You were just joking with each other, right?” she asked Mario.

“Of course. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a gorilla outside of captivity.” I rolled my eyes at the boyish grin he gave her.

“Oh, I don’t know, Sophie. I think he speaks perfect English and I can understand him, even with his sexy Italian accent.” She batted her eyes.

“
Benvenuti in Italia.”
He kissed her hand again, and the look in her eyes went blank. “I said, welcome to Italy.”

“Oh, right.” She smiled. “
Lo faccio parte di capra.”
Her face filled with pride. I died laughing as I watched Mario’s boyish grin turn into pure shock and confusion.

“What did you just say?” he asked her.

“
Lo faccio parte di capra
. It’s hello in Italian. Did I say it wrong?” she looked back at me. “Sophie, what did you do?”

“You didn’t say hello; you said you are part goat,” Mario told her.

“Sophie Watters, I’m going to rip your hair out! I’ve been saying that to everyone!” Mario caught her when she lunged for me.

“I’m sorry. I really did think it was hello. My
Italiano
must be a little rusty.”

“Rusty? You’ve been speaking Italian since birth!” she yelled at me. “And I don’t want you teaching me anymore!”

“Since it appears
Sophia
has memory loss when it comes to her
Italiano,
I would be more than happy to teach you if you have time,” Mario told her.

“And I would be more than happy to learn from you.” Erin went back to batting her eyes, instead of throwing daggers at me with them.

“First of all, I don’t have memory loss. It was just a joke. And secondly, I’m pretty sure everyone here can tell you two have the hots for each other, so can we please get this circus on the road before we get thrown into jail for being idiots in public?” I couldn’t help feeling a little jealous, knowing I was now the third wheel in this relationship.

“We can go to jail for that here?” Erin asked.

“No.” Mario smiled at her. “And yes, we can leave now because Nonna told me not to play, to just bring you to her.” He grabbed Erin’s bag and headed for the exit.

“Don’t worry. I’ll get my bags.” I shook my head.

The whole way to Nonna’s house, Erin got to know Mario better, and by getting to know him better, of course I meant Erin talked the whole way. Once in a while, she would ask me a question or look back at me to agree with her, but I wasn’t quick enough in the whole spilt-second she gave me to answer, and she moved on.

It felt like a lifetime, getting to know Erin all over again, when we finally reached the island of Elba, where
Nonna lived. Her cottage sat on the outskirts of a hill village located on the southern tip of the island. It was as far from reality as one could get, and her house, which was made up out of all different size stones, looked like something straight out of a storybook. For me, it was ideal, since there was nothing but wooded hill behind her, the Tyrrhenian Sea in front of her, and not a soul in sight for miles.

I smiled as we drove the only road that led through the nearest hill town and the best I could tell, everything stayed just the way I left it, except for the mansion built a few miles from
Nonna’s.

“I see the town has grown,” I teased Mario.

“Yes, we are almost the size of Rome now.” He smiled.

Excitement overtook me when we pulled into
Nonna’s drive, and I spotted the roof of her cottage for the first time in what seemed like a lifetime. I loved everything about this place. From the stone path that led up to her door, the front yard covered in grass, the vines growing up the side of her cottage, to all the different trees and flowers lining her property, but my most favorite part was the field behind the house. It had grass taller than me, and flowers that my mom always tried to convince me that fairies lived in.

The field sat next to a garden that looke
d more like a maze made of bushes. I used to pretend that I was Alice in Wonderland who got lost in my own world, while my mom and Nonna attended to all the different vegetables, herbs, and flowers that she grew.

My h
eart dropped when I noticed Nonna waving from her front porch. I had forgotten how much she looked like my mom. This was going to be a lot harder than I thought.

I was able to pull myself together and stop the tears from forming
just in time for her to wrap her arms tightly around me and giving me one of her famous
can’t breathe
bear hugs.

“
Sophia, si vista da Dio.”
Nonna was crying.
“Guardate come tua madre.”

“She said you are a sight from God, and you look just like your mom,” Mario interpreted.

“Thank you, but I don’t need you to translate.” I glared at him.

“I wasn’t sure since you had a difficult time translating at the airport.” He smirked.

“
Mi sei mancata
.” I hugged Nonna tighter.

Her grip lightened just enough for her to look at me again, and smile. She gently brushed some of my hair from my face, and embraced me again. I could barely hear what she was whispering in my ear, and since she was talking fast, I only caught a few words about my mom.

Nonna whispered until she heard the car door open. It was then that she turned her attention to Erin, who looked terrified to get out of the car.

“I didn’t want to interrupt,” Erin quietly mumbled into Mario’s ear.

“Nonna, this is Erin.” I introduced them in English for Erin’s sake, and even though I wasn’t sure if Nonna understood a word of what I said, she didn’t miss a beat by grabbing and hugging Erin just as tight.

I glared at Mario when I h
eard what he whispered into Nonna’s ear before she turned and looked at me while shaking her head.

“
Ho capito ogni parola
,” I told him.

“I know.” He winked at me.

“Were you talking about me again?” Erin grabbed my arm.

“No, I was just reminding Mario that I could hear and under
stand everything he said to Nonna.”

“Not knowing what you all are saying is going to drive me crazy.”

“I offered to teach you,” I replied.

“You did teach me, remember?” She glared.

As soon as Nonna turned her attention back to Erin, I took the opportunity to punch Mario in. I would have gotten away with it if Mario didn’t retaliate and put me in a headlock.

“Let me go!” I shouted.

“
Stop, Stop!”
Nonna smacked him on the back of the head.

“
Ha iniziato lei.”
Mario let go and pushed me away.