Page 35 of Better Than Gelato
Hey, how is your day going? Are you coming to Calypso tonight?
That was fifteen minutes ago. Just now he sent:
Just leaving my house. I can meet you at the bus stop if you want.
Ugh.
I feel a stab of irritation. Yes, I was planning on going to Calypso tonight. But we’re enjoying a rare and wonderful peace in the Rossi house. I don’t want to rush off.
I text him back.
I’ll be there, but I’m coming late, so go in without me.
I spend fifteen more minutes hanging out in the Rossi living room, then I say goodbye and head downtown. By the time I arrive at the club, I’m forty-five minutes late.
Calypso is thirty degrees hotter than outside, and I start sweating as soon as I walk in. I try to take my coat off, but it gets stuck on one arm, and I twist awkwardly for a moment before someone says, “Here let me help.”
I feel the coat slide the rest of the way off, and I’m free.
“Whew. Thanks,” I say.
“You’re welcome. I’m Nicola.” Nicola is a good-looking man in a fitted blue shirt and expensive jeans. He gives me a dazzling smile.
“I’m Juliet,” I say.
“Piacere,” he says. Nice to meet you. He leans in for a quick kiss on the cheek.
When he leans back out, Jake is somehow standing right next to me.
“I’m Jake,” Jake says. “Thanks for helping my girlfriend with her coat.”
Wow, I thought flailing around with my arm stuck was awkward. This is worse.
“Happy to help,” Nicola says.
We stand in a weird triangle for a beat longer and then Nicola turns and walks away. I try to breathe deeply in a way that Jake won’t notice.It’s fine. That was a totally normal interaction.
“You made it!” Jake says.
“Yeah. I was right in the middle of something with Isa,” I say.And why do I have to account for my time to you?The feeling in my chest reminds me of the time I got locked in my grandma’s closet.Can you be claustrophobic in tight relationships?
I do my best to shake the feeling off. I dance and let the music work its way into my brain and drown out my thoughts. Diego is extra goofy and makes me laugh, and Paolo seems to be talking to Valentina more. Carmen teaches me a new dance, and I’m so bad at it we’re nearly falling over from laughing so hard.
After two hours of dancing, all my irritation has faded away. My body is tired, and my heart is happy.
“Hey, how did that lab test go?” I ask Jake as we wait for my tram. “Didn’t you get the results back today?”
“Well, I could update you on my research. Or…”
He leans in and kisses me and my whole body responds. He was right. I don’t care about his lab results. I don’t care about anything. Only the softness of his lips and the gentle pressure of his hands on my hips. His smell, woodsy and fresh, is intoxicating. I never want to stop kissing him.
There’s a horn honking and the 27 tram pulls in. Jake breaks away for the tiniest moment to wave the bus on and then he kisses me again.
I feel lightheaded, but somehow manage to say, “What about my bus?”
“We’ll catch the next one.”
And it’s such a great answer because I don’t want to move from this spot. I don’t want to stop kissing this boy with the warm hands and snowy woods smell. At the same moment, I realize we’re standing on a public street corner.
