“Yes.”
“And didn’t you do anything on the beach?”
“We kissed.”
“Yahooo!” Pallina threw her arms around Babi.
“It’s not fair though! Screw you and your whole family, you landed the hottest guy in the whole city.” Then she realized that Babi was a little blue. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Come on, quit lying. Tell me what the problem is. Buck up. You can confide in your wise, old friend Pallina. You did do it, am I right?”
“Noooo! We kissed, and that’s all, and it was beautiful. But…”
“But…?”
“But I don’t know how we left things.”
Pallina looked at her, perplexed. “Wait, did he try to…” And she poked a finger into her opposite fist, eloquently.
Babi shook her head with a sigh of annoyance. “No.”
“Then this is very worrisome.”
“Why?”
“He’s interested in you.”
“You think?”
“For sure. He almost always screws his girls the first night.”
“Oh, thanks, so reassuring.”
“You wanted the truth, didn’t you? Well, so sorry, but you ought to be happy about this. But if that’s what you’re worried about, you only need to wait for the second date, wait and see!”
Babi gave her a shove. “You’re so stupid…By the way, Pallina, they confiscated your Vespa.”
“My Vespa?” Pallina’s expression changed. “Who did?”
“My folks.”
“That jolly jokester Raffaella. One of these days, I’m going to have to have a talk with her. You know, the other night she put the moves on me.”
“My mother? What are you talking about?”
“She did! She kissed me when I was sleeping in your bed, thinking that I was you!”
“Do you swear?”
“Yes!”
“Just think, my father took your key ring, and believed that it was mine.”
“Didn’t he notice the letter P?”
“Yes! But I told him that when I was little he always called me Princess Savina.”
“And he fell for it?”
“Oh, now that’s what he always calls me.”
And so they went back to class. One of them tall, willowy, and blond, the other short and dark. Pretty and well prepared the first one, funny and unmotivated the second, but sharing one great thing in common: their friendship.
Later, Babi was sitting there, dreamily staring at the blackboard without seeing the numbers written on it or hearing the words the teacher said. She was thinking about Step, about what he might be doing right then. She wondered if he was thinking about her.
She tried to imagine him but she realized she didn’t really know him. Sometimes he was tender and sweet. Then he could suddenly turn savage and violent. She sighed and looked at the blackboard. She knew that the equation on the board would be much easier to solve.
* * *
Step had just woken up. He hopped into the shower and let himself be massaged by the strong, determined spray. He placed both hands against the wet wall and let the jets of water drum on his chest.
As the water slid over his face, he thought back to her blue eyes. They were big, pristine, and profound. He smiled, and even though his own eyes were shut, he saw her perfectly. There she was, innocent and serene, right in front of him, her hair tossing wildly in the wind. He recalled that gaze full of character and determination.
As he dried off, he found himself thinking about everything they’d said to each other, the things he’d told her. She was the only kind ear he’d talked to, practically a stranger, the silent listener to his past suffering, his self-hatred, his sadness. He wondered if he might be crazy. Too late to worry about that.
As he ate breakfast, he thought about Babi’s family. Her sister. Her agreeable-looking father. Her mother with her tough, determined personality. With features so similar to Babi, but softened by age. Would Babi someday be just like her? Sometimes, mothers are future projections of the young women we’re dating.
He smiled as he finished his coffee. Someone rang the doorbell, and Maria answered the door. It was Pollo. He tossed the usual bag onto the side table. Step found himself eating a salmon panino while listening to Pollo’s chatter. An enjoyable routine. He looked at his friend with amusement as Pollo asked him question after question.
“You need to tell me what you got up to. Did you screw her or didn’t you? I can just guess, with that girl…that personality of hers, and when are you ever going to get her in bed? Never! Also, where the fuck did you two go to? I looked for you everywhere. Oh, you can imagine the state that Madda was in. Just poisonous!”
Step looked at him differently now. The amused expression had vanished from his face. Maddalena, true enough, he hadn’t thought about her. He hadn’t thought about anything that evening. But, after all, he and Babi had never made any promises. It was just a casual thing. He finished the sandwich, a little more relaxed, even if he knew deep down that it wasn’t really true.
“Here.” Pollo reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper and tossed it at him. “This is Babi’s phone number.” Step caught it in midair.
“I asked Pallina to give it to me. I knew you’d be asking me for it today…”
Step put it in his pocket and then went into his room. Pollo followed him. “Well, come on, Step, cazzo, are you going to tell me anything or not? Did you do it with her?”
Step turned to look at him with a smile on his face. “Pollo, why do you always ask me these questions? You know that I’m a gentleman, don’t you?”
Pollo threw himself onto the bed, bent over with laughter. “A gentleman…you? Oh God. I’m laughing so hard it hurts! The things you say. Fucking hell…a gentleman.”
Step looked at him, shaking his head, and then started getting dressed. As he was putting his jeans on, Step started laughing too. All the times he’d been less than a gentleman! For a minute, he wished he had some better story to tell his friend about last night.
Chapter 19
Out front of Falconieri High School, there weren’t any boys selling books. It was too affluent a school for even the poorest of its female students to consider the thought of buying a used textbook.
Babi started down the stairs, looking around hopefully. Groups of boys at the bottom of the steps were waiting, looking up for new prey or old conquests. But none of them were the right boy.
Babi descended the last few steps. The roar of a motorcycle going by fast made her look up, startled. Her heart beat faster. But it was no good. A red gas tank went zipping past, weaving through the line of cars. A young couple, the girl’s arms wrapped around him, leaned left in unison. For a second, Babi envied them.
Then she got in the car. Her mother was there, still angry from the day before. “Ciao, Mamma.”
“Ciao” was Raffaella’s terse reply. Babi didn’t receive any slaps in the face that day because there was no reason for one. But she almost would have preferred one to the cold indifference.
* * *