CRAVING U (The Rook Café) (24 page)

“
The person you are calling is not
available at this time
.
”  So she dialed Dario’s number....

“
How did we get here? I used to know
you so well. How did we get here?  Well, I think I know.
”
 A cellphone began ringing in the back seat
of the Alfa Romeo, where it had been left accidentally.
 
“
The truth is hiding in
your eyes.  And it’s hanging on your tongue.  Just boiling in my blood, but you
think that I can’t see.  What kind of man that you are! If you’re a man at
all.  Well, I will figure this one out on my own. I’m screaming ‘I love you so.’ 
But my thoughts you can’t decode....
”

The
Paramore
ringtone made Lucrezia jump, but she had no intention of giving up on her
ritual of seduction.  “Let it ring!  Ignore it!”  She tried to distract him
with more and more intense deep kisses.

“
How did we get here?  I used to know you so well, yeah.  How did
we get here?  Well, I think I know.
”
  His eyes lit up.  Matteo knew those words, that
soundtrack, like the back of his hand... it was almost like a warning.

It was Dario’s
phone, which had slipped from his pocket earlier in the afternoon, and it was
Marika calling... he was certain of it.  He pulled away from Lucrezia,
squeezing his body between the front seats to grab the phone behind him.  “Hello?” 
His face was radiant, and his eyes moist.

The voice on the
other end answered hesitantly. 
“Uh, hi...
Dario?”

“No, it’s me, Matteo. 
Hi Marika.”

Marika!?
 
That name on his lips was like a red cape to a bull, and Lucrezia quickly
raised her voice to make her own presence known.  “What the fuck does she want?”
she cursed loudly.  “Hang up, now!”  She was trying to claim a right that she
didn’t have.

Caught off guard,
Marika excused herself.  “I didn’t mean to disturb you.”  But her embarrassment
lasted only a fraction of a second, just long enough to catch her breath.  “Anyway,
I was calling Dario, not you.  Make sure she knows that!”

“Don’t worry
about her,” Matteo said quickly, shifting his eyes to the right.  “She was just
leaving.”

“I don’t think
so!”  Lucrezia sunk deeply into her seat, muttering, “Just who does she think
she is?  Tell her to call back later.  We’re busy.”

“Shut up!”  The
young man’s face was tensed, and he began to feel claustrophobic in that small
space with Lucrezia.  “Forget about her, Marika, what’s up?”

“Don’t worry, I’m
not interested in your little games.  That’s between the two of you.” 
Silence.  “Listen, I was looking for Carlotta, but her phone’s off.  Or Dario,
for that matter.  Are they there?”

“They’re at a
movie,” Matteo said obligingly, getting out of the car.  “Dario’s car is in the
shop, but Carlotta insisted on seeing that movie with that blonde actress
....
”  He couldn’t
come up with the name.  “You know, the one from
Grey’s Anatomy
.” 
Katherine Heigl.  “So I gave them a ride to the movie theater.  He probably didn’t
even notice that he left his phone in my car.”

“That’s why
Carlotta’s is turned off.”  She cursed.  “Shit!”

“Take it easy, I’m
here.”  Matteo wanted to reassure her, even though he had no idea why she
should sound so worried: she knew she could count on him.  “You can tell me.” 
He would always be there for her.

This noble offer
set off a flurry of less-noble imprecations from the inside of the car. 
Lucrezia opened the door so as to air her grievances to the world: “Tell her to
go to hell and hang up!”

The conversation,
which up to this moment had been friendly, took on a more distant tone.  “You
don’t need to worry about me, Matteo, thanks.”  In a flash, another name flew
into her head.  “Really, there’s no problem.  I’ll try calling Federico.” 
Marika started thinking out loud.  “If he’s done with the recording studio.”

“Who?”  He didn’t
understand a word of what she was saying.

She had forgotten
that Matteo didn’t know Federico, aside from on the soccer field, and so she
changed subjects.  “No, nothing,” she said.  “I’ll figure something out.” 
After all, it was none of his business.

He didn’t say
anything for a moment.  He was confused, and his breath came in short gasps.  “So
it’s like that now between us?”  He formed the painful and unacceptable truth
as a question.

“Well, really
....
”  Her
bitterness was suffocating her.  “I don’t know... maybe?!”  This rejection,
whispered with such fierce disappointment, sunk deeply into their open wounds. 
Since when had their roles been reversed?
  “I was just hoping that
Carlotta could come and pick me up...” she said, holding back tears that had
been waiting to gush forth for days. 
He was the bad guy!  He HAD to be!
 
“I’m...” she started, caught in a battle between sense and sensibility.  “I’m
here at the station,” she breathed in through her stuffed nose, “but there’s a
strike.”

“Which station?” 
His voice was supplicating, like he was trying to go back to a different time. 
“Tell me where you are and I’ll come get you.”

The Alfa Romeo
was hissing like a pressure cooker.  “What the fuck does she want from you? 
Tell her you are busy.”

Marika kept on
talking as if she had heard nothing.  “It’s not that simple
....
”

“It’s really no
problem,” Matteo insisted.

“Noooo, not at
all!” Lucrezia said sarcastically, calming down in the face of his kindness
toward Marika, his concern, his care... all things he reserved exclusively for
her, and against which Lucrezia couldn’t fight.

“Listen Matteo,
really, it’s no big deal.”  The animated hubbub from within the car could not
go totally ignored.  “I don’t want to cause you any trouble.”

“Would you
please
just tell me where you are?”  It was as if Lucrezia didn’t even exist.  “I’m
getting in my car right now.”

Oh God, how
she had missed him!
  “I’m in Padua, at the station.”  She slumped down onto
a wooden bench in front of the dark ticket office.  “I was on my way back from
an orientation session at the university, but I didn’t know about the train
strike.  My parents are at some convention and have their cellphones off,
Carlotta’s at the movies, and I don’t know how to get home.”

“Is that all?” 
His lips slowly formed a smile.

“Why, isn’t that
enough?” she objected.

“Of course,” he
replied carefully.  “But it could be worse.”  After all, what were 20 miles to
someone who had even considered passing up on the opportunity of a lifetime for
her?  “Outside of the station there’s a café, on the right.  Go sit down there,
get something to drink, and wait for me.”  His voice could barely remain steady
as he rushed towards his car, which he had stepped away from in search of some
privacy.  “I’ll be there in 45 minutes.”

“OK, thanks!” she
sighed, more in love than ever.

“Thanks for what?” 
This was the chance for him to rediscover a part of himself that he had feared
was lost forever.

“OK, I’ll be
waiting.  Don’t drive too fast!”

“You forget you’re
talking to a professional, little lady,” he replied, happily.  He hung up the
phone and hopped into his car.

Once inside,
though, he found himself face to face with a furious, paranoid Lucrezia who was
waving her hands wildly.  “What the fuck does that little bitch want with you? 
You’ve got to tell her to back off.”

Without ceremony,
Matteo pointed toward the black Smart Fortwo convertible that was parked next
to his Alfa.  The message was clear.

“Not a chance in
hell,” she brayed.

“What is your
problem?” Matteo replied angelically.

“You want to know
what my problem is?” she screamed hysterically.  “I’m sick and tired of being
dumped on every time she needs you.”  She pummeled his arms with her fists.  “Every
time she calls, you drop whatever you’re doing and run to her.  Wherever she is
or whoever you are with, you run!”

“And so?  Marika
is my friend, and I’m always there for my friends.”  He leaned over and opened
the door for her.  “If you don’t like it, then just go.”

“If she’s really
just a friend, send someone else to pick her up.”

“I don’t take
orders from you,” he replied coldly.  “And don’t smoke in here.” 
It stinks,
it’s bad for you, and it’s not even fashionable anymore.

“She’s not your
girlfriend.”  She wanted to provoke him as she threw her cigarette into the
weeds.

“Perhaps.”  His
icy eyes burned.  “But I’m certainly not
your
boyfriend.”

“I hate her!” 
Lucrezia began howling curses and insults.  “You think she’s better than me...
but she’s just a little slut!”... all evidence to the contrary.

“Would you calm
down?”  He cut her off.  “She has nothing to do with this...,” he couldn’t find
the right word, “... with this
bullshit
between us.  Leave her out of
it.”  His gaze was frigid and his body language spoke of repulsion and
disgust.  “My ears have heard enough of your stupid paranoia.”

“Why am I here
then?”  Lucrezia threw herself against him one last time.  “You’re just using
me.”

“The same way you
are using me.”  There was no emotion in his voice, and her hands on his body
created no heat.  “You have always known that I don’t think of you as a
girlfriend, and if you don’t like it any more, you are free to leave. 
Actually, it’d be better if you did... I’m getting tired of this farce.”  He
had suddenly found a way out of the cage that he had built around himself.

“No, it’s fine.” 
His words, which sounded so close to goodbye and which Lucrezia wasn’t used to
hearing, made her quickly right her ship.  “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

“Do as you wish,”
Matteo muttered indifferently.

“OK.  Call me
whenever you want!”  She slipped from the car before he could say another
word.  She blew him a kiss as she got into her own.

He put the Alfa
into gear.  It wasn’t the right moment to argue with Lucrezia.  He didn’t even
care about her.  And so he sped off toward Marika.

He arrived at the
Padua station just past 7.  He double-parked his car right in front of the café
and crossed the street, which was busier than usual because of the public
transportation strike.  That’s when he got a glimpse of her through the plate
glass windows, sitting down and reading with her earphones tangled in her
hair.  He stood still and watched her with a silly grin on his face, glad that
he was there for her.

She felt his
presence.  She lifted her eyes from her Latin textbook to peer out through the
reflections on the window.  When she found his figure standing on the other
side, every square inch of her body began to shiver, and then her muscles
automatically took her toward the door.  “Hey,” she slurred, enchanted by those
eyes.  Too much time had passed since the last time.

“Hey!”  I tried
to get here as fast as I could,” he apologized for having made her wait,
grabbing the check from her table.  “Did you pay?”

“No, I was about
to.”

He handed the
check over to the cashier and paid the bill.  “It’s on me.”

“That’s
ridiculous!  You’ve already done so much by coming to get me
....
”  She fell
silent as Matteo took her hand and interlocked their fingers.  He led her to
his car.

“Don’t be silly!” 
He was doing everything he could to make her understand that nothing had
changed, at least not for him.  “
Marika, you know me!
”  Matteo looked
deep into her eyes with that hot, bewitching look: it was pure passion.  “
Look
into my eyes!  It’s me!
”

Lost inside that
disarming gaze, she was struck by burning hot shivers, some kind of mischievous
thermochemical reaction from touching his skin.  If, as they say, distance fans
the flames of love, well then... a forest fire was about to burst forth!

Sinking into the
front seat, Marika made a superhuman effort to take her eyes off him, but it
was all in vain.  Every single thing about him made her giddy: from his
long-sleeve gray military shirt with the cuffs rolled up to his faded jeans;
from his unkempt hair to his slightly unshaven face which made the blue of his
eyes even that much more intense.  Finally, a thought broke the spell: “What
are Dario and Carlotta going to do now?”

“Don’t worry, I
already spoke with them.”  He turned onto the main drag.  “They’re getting a
bite to eat at the movie theater while they wait for us to pick them up.”

She breathed a
sigh of relief.

“Take it easy!” 
He was in a great mood.  “If you want, I can turn around and we’ll go for a
walk through downtown Padua,” he said, gorgeous and flirty.  “Those two know
how to handle themselves.”

“Yeah right...
but then I’ve got to hear it from Carlotta!”  They both began laughing at the
thought of her waiting outside the movie theater, red-faced and screaming at
the guiltless Dario.