36| broken

                                    

                                          
•Aria Marino•
           It's been a very quick three months since I sprained my ankle and I have been healed for a while now. Although it's already October, we still have pretty warm weather every day.
           Sofia is now 23 weeks pregnant so we are at her and Aless' house, taking care of Vittoria while they are going to a doctor's appointment, then on a date. Well, I'm here taking care of her. Matteo is out golfing with his cousin and the prime minister.
           I have not heard from my mother in months which is weird for her, but I have heard from Dad and Luca. They're both doing amazing. Luca has been doing solo travel, getting paid since he does these jobs along the way in the places he stays. I don't exactly know how it works but it sounds like he is very happy.
          My dad is also doing a lot better than when he was with my mom. He is very happy for me now living in Italy and being with Matteo and he's just been very kind and supportive.
          Sofia and Aless have both been stressed lately. They say that Vittoria has been acting up, giving attitude weirdly. She is never like that. Which is why I suggested that they go on this date and I could take care of Vittoria. And maybe try to figure out what has been going on with her.
          Right now, we are making cookies. As we roll the dough into small rounds to be put on the baking sheet, I look at Vittoria questioningly. "Hey, so your mommy told me that you've been feeling kind of weird recently. That you kind of get a little angry with them more. Is there any reason why?" I ask her.
          She refuses to look at me, her eyes stuck on the dough in her hands as she shakes her head. "No." she replies, plopping the dough onto the sheet.
           "Are you sure?" I ask concerned, grabbing another chunk of dough, "Sometimes, I get angry with your Zia Laura, but I can't keep that anger in my head all the time. I have to tell her so we can fix the problem, or so she can apologize and it makes me feel better. So if there is anything wrong, it might make it better to tell someone."
           She nods, staying silent. The silence stays for a few minutes until she looks at me and asks, "Zia, how did you feel when Zia Laura got born?" 
            I smile, thinking back to my earliest memories of Laura. I was only 2 years old when she was born but I do have some memories of when we were younger. Not a lot but they're there. 
          "I was excited. You know she's a twin? We have a brother, he was born with her. I was so happy. I had someone else to talk to and play with. I had a little sister and little brother." I explain to her, and she looks at me curiously.
          "Well what if when the new baby is born my mamma and papà don't love me like they love the new baby? Or they don't talk to me a lot?" she asks, almost tearing up as her lip sets in a pout in an attempt to not cry.
           Our experiences are different. Her parents love her to begin with. Mine didn't, or at least my mom didn't. But nothing changed when Luca and Laura were born, not that I can remember it or it was good to begin with. But Vittoria's parents love her, and I know that. Nothing and no one could ever replace that. 
           I sighed, picking her up from the stool she was standing on and sitting her on the counter to maintain eye contact. 
           "Tesoro, your parents love you so much. They are not going to love you less just because they have another baby. When babies are little like that, yes, they do need a lot of attention, and it's constant. But that does not mean that they do not want to give that attention to you. And trust me, they will work as hard as they can to show you that they love you and care about you. And you're going to love the new baby, right?" I tell her, trying to make her feel better and knowing that it is nothing but the truth. 
          "Yes, I love the new baby!" she squeals, then opens her arms for me. I laugh and pick her up, spinning around causing her to giggle. 
          We spend the next half an hour finishing making blobs of dough then waiting for them to bake. Then, I hear the front door open and someone saying, "Hello," although I recognize the voice as Matteo's cousin, Armando.
          Both him and Matteo walk into the kitchen as we put the cookies onto a plate. They're both still in their golfing outfits and Matteo looks so cute.
          "Hi Melodia," he says sweetly as he walks up to me, embracing both Vittoria and I in a hug. He kisses me on the forehead before taking Vittoria from me, throwing her up in the air earning us a loud laugh. 
          "Hi honey, hey Armando, how was golfing?" I ask them. I push forward the plate off cookies as an offering to both of them and they accept happily.
           "It was good. I had just forgotten how fucking awful Armando is at it." Matteo claims aggressively, giving his cousin a dirty look from the side. 
          Armando looks taken aback, a hand on his chest and an offended look on his face. "Aria, your boyfriend is being mean again," he says, taking Vittoria from Matteo. I laugh at Armando's words, then look over to said boyfriend who was already looking at me. He smiled, dimples and all before blowing a kiss.
          Vittoria taps Matteo on the shoulder as she is in Armando's arms, and giggles before saying. "Hey! You said the 'F' word! That's 50 in the swear jar, zio." 
           Matteo looks appalled. "Ria, that's for your papà, I don't even live here." He says.
          Vittoria shrugs, not caring at all. "I don't make the rules Zio, you just live by them." She says, pointing to the cabinets in the kitchen. 
          Matteo sighs, kissing her on the forehead before pulling out his wallet. He pulls out a jar from one of the cabinets and opens it before taking a bill out of his wallet and shoving it in the jar. The jar seemed to already be filled with money, all 50's and 100's. He was acting like he cared a lot but he doesn't really. Vittoria was giggling the entire time. Matteo stuck his tongue out at her before looking over to me. He smiled widely before blowing me a kiss.
          I giggled, getting closer to him and wrapping my arms around him. We have both been so annoyingly busy recently, and he has had all these work emergencies we have just barely had enough time to be together. And even right now, we have about two hours before we have to go to an interview.
          We have tried not to publicize our relationship and my life because of my job too much which he had understood but I also understand for him that it is quite literally part of his life. People are invested in his life and the things he does, or the people in his life and now that includes me so we have kind of met in the middle, This is the first interview that I have agreed to do and I just hope it goes well. 
           I look over to Armando and see him grabbing more cookies as well as feeding some to Vittoria. "Hey, how are Warren and Elena?" I ask him. Warren in his husband and Elena is their daughter. 
           We talk for a while before Sofia and Aless get home. Aless, Matteo, and Armando go up to Aless' office to talk while Sofia stays with me.
          We had not begun speaking yet but as I turn to Sofia to ask her something, she stops me by taking my hand in hers. I look up at her confused before she looks at me and very calmly states, "You are going to be an amazing mother someday." 
         I was taken aback by her comment, however it unexpectedly made me tear up. I stared at her in shock, blinking back the tears that wanted to go down my face. 
           My reaction made her laugh. "I meant to compliment you, not make you cry," she laughs out, hugging me quickly. 
          I laugh as we hug and wipe the tears that escaped. "No I know, it's just," I sighed, not being able to put it into words. Sof knew what my mother was like. She had once heard my mother yelling at me on the phone, and Laura and I had even told her some of the things she had done to us. The one thing I knew I needed in life was to not end up like her.
           "I know." She mumbles softly, rubbing my back in the hug as we are far enough apart to see each other. Hugging a pregnant woman is mentally challenging. I need to know if she's uncomfortable. "But that's why I feel like I need to tell you. You need to know that you are nothing like her." she reassures me, making me smile. 
         "Thank you." I tell her. "And you are an amazing mother. Vittoria is just going through the normal stages of not being an only child anymore." 
           She smiles and nods as I hear Matteo's footsteps coming into the room. 
          "Melodia, are you ready to go?" he asks, but as he sees me, he stops walking, then rushes over to me. "Sweetheart, you were fine when I left the room, what happened?" he asks, taking me in his arms.
          I laugh, the noise startling him and coming out with a sniffle. 
          "Your girlfriend is a little too traumatized," Sofia says sarcastically, shaking her head as she walks out of the room while rubbing her belly. 
          I laugh once more, then look up at Matteo. "Yes I am ready to go." I tell him and try to pull away, but he pulls me back.
          "You're not going to tell me what happened? he asks. 
         "In the car?" I tell him and he nods, taking my hand in his and basically leading me out of the house. As soon as we get to the car and he turns it on, he asks me once more what happened. 
         I sigh before explaining. He listens while I talk, and understands why I reacted the way I did. Soon, we arrive at some building that looks like all of the other buildings he has taken me to in the last few months.
          He takes me I don't even know how many floors up and as soon as we get out, we are greeted by a very short woman. She looks to be maybe in her 30's, very serious looking.
          She bows her head to me before introducing herself, talking so quickly that I was lucky to understand what she said. 
          "Hello, Ms. Marino. I am Zoe, Matteo's public relations manager. You most likely have not heard of me since he likes to avoid me when he can, but I am in charge of managing basically Matteo's relationship with the public, I organize his interviews, and keep track of what information is spread about him." she explains very quickly and begins to walk as we follow her towards a room that has many people and chairs.
          "I don't avoid her. I just happen to not like dealing with the public." Matteo mumbles, making Zoe look back at us and glare at him.
          As soon as we enter the room, everyone with cameras looks at us and the flashing lights start going off. I hear someone scream my name and I am asked a question that I did not manage to fully hear. 
          I can feel my heart speeding up and I try to back up at least a bit but I hit Matteo's chest. He wraps his arms around me from behind, then yells out, "Stop it! Leave her alone, the interview hasn't even started yet." 
          The cameras slowly pan down to the floor and Matteo leads me further into the room. I was sat down in a chair next to a woman with a bunch of beauty products and tools. I love getting my hair and makeup done, it's like living out my little kid dreams. 
           The woman that was to be doing my hair had a French accent and was aggressively nice. They took Matteo away, claiming they needed to fix his outfit, but his hair looked good. I took that as a compliment because I fix his hair every morning. 
           She took my hair down, scolded me for cutting my own bangs, which I only did about two weeks ago and they seemed to fit my face well, then proceeded to pin them back and start to curl my hair.
           "You do not have your nails done?" She asks, aggressively grabbing my hand from where is rested on my lap and inspecting it. I shook my head and she scolded me. "And why is this?"
          "I don't think my job would allow it," I explain to her, but she shakes her head in disapproval.
          "Then quit your job. You have rich boyfriend, who can pay for your nails. Pfft, be in a job that does not allow pretty nails. That is preposterous." She scoffs, calling someone over and flipping my chair to the side so my hand rested on a vanity near me. "Alain! These nails, paint them." 
           "Deux revenus sont meilleurs qu'un." I tell her in French, making her laugh. (Two incomes are better than one)
           "Lorsqu'un revenu est supérieur à cinquante revenus normaux, il est parfois préférable de vous faciliter la vie." she says. I nod with thinned lips. Good point. (When one income is more than fifty normal ones, sometimes it's better to make your life easier.)
          The man painting my nails finishes very quickly while the woman doing my hair finishes in less than an hour while Zoe was in another room working with the people managing the cameras and the person who would be interviewing us. 
           At some point, she came back and attached a mic to my clothes, then messing with my clothes and some other things. I know nothing about this so I let her do her thing.