And at that very moment, without knowing why, she thought of Pallina. Her friend, already more confident and more experienced. She thought of when she told her the story. You know, after that I couldn’t do it, I just didn’t have the nerve. Perhaps that is what gave her the courage, the final impetus. Suddenly she did it. She unfastened that button. His first golden button popped out of the buttonhole with a faint, jeansy sound. In the silence of the room, she heard it clearly; it came sharp and bright to her ears. She’d done it. She almost sighed. Now everything would be so much easier. It was as if they’d said something to each other, acknowledged it. They both knew what was happening, what she was doing. Her hand, more confident now, moved on to the second button and then the third and so on, farther down, as the jeans opened wider, growing free. Step rolled gently away from her, letting his head fall back. Babi reached out for him again, taking shy shelter in that kiss, unhappy at that tiny separation.
Then there was an unexpected noise. Doors slamming.
And as if it were some fragile enchantment, the magic spell was shattered. Babi pushed his hand away and sat up. “What was that?”
“How would I know? Hey, come on back.” Step threw his arms around her and pulled her close to him.
Another noise. Something breaking.
“No, darn it, something bad is going on out there!” Babi got off the bed. She brushed her skirt back into place, buttoned up her blouse, and hurried out of the room.
Step fell back onto the bed, arms thrown wide. “Fuck that Pollo!” Then he zipped up his jeans, put on his T-shirt, and left the room too.
When he arrived in the living room, he couldn’t believe his eyes. “What the fuck are you doing?”
They were all there. Bunny and Hook were having some sort of wrestling match on the carpet. Nearby lay an overturned lamp. Schello was sitting with his feet on the sofa, eating a bag of potato chips and watching Colpo grosso, the TV show that featured housewives doing stripteases.
Babi lunged at them in a rage. “Get out! Get out of here. Immediately!”
At the sound of that shouting, Dario and another guy came out of the kitchen with beers in hand. The Sicilian arrived, too, with a young woman. They were both red-faced. Step figured they must have just done what he and Babi hadn’t even attempted. Well, so much the better for them!
Babi started pushing them all out the door, one by one. “Get out of here, every last one of you…out!”
Amused, they allowed themselves to be herded out, making even more noise on their way. Step helped. “Come on, guys, out you go.”
Last of all, he shoved Pollo out the door. “I’ll deal with you later.”
“But all I did was call Hook. It’s his fault that he passed the word to all the others.”
“Shut up.” Step gave him a kick in the ass and sent him staggering out the door.
“Look, just look at what a mess those vandals made of the place.” Babi pointed out the broken lamp and the sofa stained with beer. Potato chips were scattered everywhere. Babi had tears in her eyes.
Step didn’t know what to say. He hugged her. “Forgive me. Come on, I’ll help you clean up.”
“No, thanks, I’d rather do it alone.”
“Are you mad at me?”
“No, but you’d better get out of here. The parents will be back soon.”
At the door, Step turned around one last time. “Are you sure you don’t want me to help you?”
“Positive.”
They exchanged a hasty kiss. Then she shut the door.
Step went downstairs. He looked around but there was no one in sight. He got on his motorcycle and drove off.
Babi collected the shattered pieces of the broken lamp, threw them in the trash, and then mopped the floor and cleaned up the stains on the sofa. When she was done, she looked around. Well, it could have been worse. I’ll just say that the lamp fell over while I was playing with Giulio.
The little boy couldn’t contradict her story in any case. He was lying there, fast asleep, exhausted by all the excitement.
Chapter 32
The next morning, Step woke up and went to the gym. But he wasn’t going to train. He was looking for someone. And in the end, he found him. His name was Giorgio. He was a young kid, about fifteen, who had boundless admiration for Step. He wasn’t alone in that admiration. Giorgio’s friends also spoke of Step as a sort of god, a myth, an idol. They knew all the stories about him, everything that people said about him, and they did nothing but add even more to what had become a sort of urban legend by now.
That boy was a trusted accomplice. The only person Step could have asked a favor like this without running the risk of looking like an absolute fool. In part because, where admiration left off, sheer terror began.
After talking with Step, Giorgio was inside Falconieri High School. He walked along, shoulder brushing the hallway walls, and finally managed to sneak into Classroom 3B, Babi’s class. Signora Giacci was teaching a lesson, but strangely, she said nothing.
Babi was speechless. She looked at the enormous bouquet of red roses on her desk. Amused, she read the note: My friends are a bit of a disaster, but I promise that this evening, when we have dinner at my house, we’ll be all alone. From: Someone Who Had Nothing to Do with It.
The news soon made the rounds at school. When the principal learned about it, she flew into a complete rage. No one had ever done anything like it before.
After the school day was over, Babi descended the front steps of the school with that enormous bouquet of red roses in her arms, sweeping away any remaining doubts. Everyone was talking about her. Daniela was proud of her sister. Raffaella got even angrier, and Claudio, naturally, received another dressing-down.
That afternoon, Step was organizing a collection of drawings by Andrea Pazienza, when someone rang the doorbell.
It was Pallina. “Oh, first I was the cupid in this affair, and now I’m the mailman. Next time, what role am I going to have to play?”
Step laughed. Then he took the package from her hands and thanked her. He opened it. In it was a pink-flowered apron and a note. I accept, but only if you cook, and especially if you do it while wearing this little gift of mine. PS I’ll be there, but at eight thirty, no earlier, because that’s when my folks go out!
A short while later, Step was in his brother’s office.
“Paolo, I absolutely need the place to myself tonight.”
“But I already invited Manuela over.”
“Well, you’re just going to have to change that invitation to some other day. Come on, you can see Manuela whenever you want. Darn it, Babi can only come tonight.”
“Babi? The daughter of the guy who came to our house?”
“Yes, why?”
“That guy seemed pretty mad to me. Did you finally talk to him?”
“Of course I did. We went and played pool together, and we even got drunk.”
“You both got drunk?”
“Yes, or, well…actually, he got drunk all by himself.”
“Did you get him to drink?”
“What do you mean, did I get him to drink? He did the drinking all on his own. Come on! We’re agreed, right? Tonight, you go out. All clear?”
Then, without waiting for an answer, he hurried out of the office. He was so caught up in the things he had to do that he didn’t even notice the especially sunny smile that he got from Paolo’s secretary.