Written in the Stars (8 page)

“You have a beau
tiful house.” Erin startled Nonna when she yelled into her ear.

“She’s not deaf.” I laughed and grabbed my bags. “Why don’t you tell her what I taught you to say earlier?” I smiled before walking past her.

“One day, Sophie, I will get you back.” Erin followed me into the house.

“I seriously doubt it.” I replied with a smirk.

As soon as we walked in, we were hit with two of my favorite smells in the world, Garlic and cookies.

“It smells like Italy in here.” Erin smiled.

“
Sacchetti Di Mario, per favore,”
Nonna told Mario.

“What did she say?” Erin leaned into me.

“She asked Mario to take our bags upstairs.”

“I really need
to learn Italian.” She sighed.

“Should of, could of, and didn’t.” I smiled.

“Shut up!” she snarled.

We followed
Nonna into the kitchen. I could easily tell that she had spent the whole day cooking. Erin’s eyes widened as she looked at all the food.

“Is that for us, or is more of your family coming for dinner?” Erin asked me.

“
E questo solo per noi?”
I asked Nonna.

“
Si.”

“It’s just for us.” I answered Erin.

“That is a lot of food.”

“That’s not even half of it,” I said.

“I’m going to get fat aren’t I?”

“The last dinner I had here, we
started with a huge bowl of Nonna’s amazing
Tagliatelle al nero di seppia,
bread, and salad, and since I absolutely love pasta, I piled it on my plate and loved every bite of it. My stomach was about to burst, when Nonna brought out a huge roast, and all the sides. What I had just eaten was pre-dinner, and we still had dessert to go.” Her face dropped. “So, to answer your question, yes you will definitely be putting on a few pounds while you’re here.”

Erin’s
eyes widened ever more when Nonna poured her a small glass of wine.

“Is that what I think it is?” she mumbled.

“It’s wine.”

“Is it legal for us to drink here?”

“Yes, but just don’t take advantage. Nonna will kill you.” Mario joined us.

“Wine is a staple in every Italian’s meal,” I told her.

“Cool.” She grabbed her glass and took a sip. “I have a feeling I’m going to love everything about Italy.” I rolled my eyes when I saw her smile at Mario.

“Would someone
please say grace so we can eat?” I grabbed Erin’s hand and bowed my head. At Nonna’s, there was no eating until everyone gave thanks, and I mean not even an olive before prayer.

“So do you live close?” Erin asked Mario once he was done praying.

“I just moved to the island to be close to Nonna.”

“Oh, so which one of the five cottages did you buy?” I teased him.

“The huge one, a few miles up the road.” My mouth dropped at his reply.

“No way,” I said.

“Way.” He smiled. “No, I’m just joking. The Mancinis own that one.”

“You’ve always been a horrible liar.” I took a bite of my food.

“It must run in the family.” Erin smiled at me.

“Do I know them?” I asked.

“You met them when you were really young, like five or so, but then they moved to America shortly after, so you probably don’t remember.”

“Why would someone move away from here?” Erin asked.

“They moved when Giovanni started acting.” He answered as if we knew who he was talking about.

“They have a famous person in the family.” Erin got excited.

“Giovanni is a little more than famous. Some people would put him at Zeus-like status.” Mario smiled.

“Giovanni Mancini?” I couldn’t figure out who he was. “He can’t be that famous.”

“That’s because he changed his name to Geoff Mann,” Mario said nonchalantly.             

“I’m sorry, what?” Both Erin and I choked on our food.

“I thought you knew this.” Mario looked at me.

“Why would I?”

“You played with him when you were little.” He looked confused.

“And you just said I wouldn’t remember him.”

“I meant you wouldn’t remember his family, but not Giovanni. He was my best friend back then,” he said.

“You used to play with Geoff Mann.” Erin got excited.

“Didn’t your mom tell you she knew his mom?” Mario asked.

“Yes, she mentioned it, but she never said anything about Geoff and I…” That night started coming back to me. “Wait, did our moms grow up together?”

“They were friends from very little.” He smiled.

“Why didn’t she tell me that I knew him?” I felt betrayed.

“She wanted to, but I guess she felt like other things were more important for you to know before she left,” Mario replied.

“I can’t believe your family is friends with Geoff Mann’s family. It’s like you were destined to be together.” Erin grabbed my hand. “We have to go there tomorrow to see if he’s there.”

“No, we’re not going to Geoff Mann’s house just so we can spend the rest of our summer in jail for stalking,” I told her.

“In all the years that house has been here, I’ve never seen him,” Mario said.

“See, he’s not even there.”

“That’s because he’s filming in South America,” Erin said.

“If you knew that, then why would you want to go see if he was there tomorrow?” I asked.

“Because you never know
, just like your mom used to always say,
it could happen.
So, just maybe he’s done filming and came home for a break and in the meantime he meets you, his one and only, falls head over heels in love, and all your dreams come true.” She made no sense.

“I don’t believe in love anymore.”

“How can you not believe in love? It’s the most wonderful feeling in the world.” She smiled at Mario.

Not when you lose it.
I decided to keep my thoughts to myself to prevent ruining what looked like yet another moment between Mario and Erin.

“Sophie, do you have anyone special in your life?” Mario asked me.

“Yes, she has me,” Erin said between bites.

“Anyone of the opposite sex?” Mario asked.

“I have you and my dad,” I said.

“Not exactly what I was talking about. Do you have boyfriend?” he restated.

“Oh, you mean someone special as in ‘I don’t have time for special,’” I replied.

“I take that as a no,” he said.

“She’s never had a boyfriend,” Erin added.

“Never?” Mario looked shocked.

“Nope. She’s been saving herself for Geoff Mann,” Erin said.

“That was years ago.” I glared at her. “To answer your question, Mario, no I don’t have a boyfriend because I don’t have time for one, and I never had one because I’ve been too busy trying to land a scholarship to Brown.”

“That’s too bad,” he said.

“Yeah, well it’s hard to love someone who’s broken, so it’s for the best.”

“You are not broken,
Sophia.
You are lost. You’ll see; one day, the man you are meant to be with will find you, and you will no longer be lost.”

“Oh, yes, my own fairy tale love story that has been written in the stars by God for all to read,” I said sarcastically.

“You used to believe in that story.” He looked at me.

“And then I lost the person who made me believe in it.” I held back my tears.

“You didn’t lose her.” Erin grabbed my hand.

I closed my eyes, hoping it would prevent the tears from falling, but it didn’t. As soon as I felt the first tear roll down
my cheek, I excused myself and headed up to my room before anyone could see it fall.

The first thing I noticed when I walked into my room was a picture of my mom and me sitting on the nightstand next to my bed. It was a picture of us lying in the field, looking up at the camera. I remember taking it the day we left, the summer before I lost her. If I only knew it would be the last time I got to share one of my favorite moments with her, I would have…I don’t know what I would have done, but I would have done something differently. I guess Erin was right; you never really know when you’re spending your last moment with someone, or if you’re making your last memory, so you should make every moment count.

I picked up the picture and softly ran my finger over her face. She had always been so beautiful to me, and I have no idea what people see when they say I look just like her. She was flawless, and I’m far from it.

I held the picture tightly to my chest, and walked out to the balcony just in time for my tears to start flowing. The light from my room was just enough for me to see a small part of the field. I could feel pieces of my heart breaking all over again as I closed my eyes and tried to remember what it felt like to have her with me. What her laughter sounded like when I said something that wasn’t funny, or how my hand felt in hers as we lay in the field, watching the clouds float by.

“I don’t want to forget,” I cried into the darkness of the night.

Just as the words left my mouth, a gentle breeze, carrying the smell of the wild flowers, brushed over me, and for the first time in years, I remembered what she smelled like. Her perfume always reminded me of wild flowers.

“You’re my favorite thing about Italy,” I whispered into the breeze.

“Sophie?” I quickly wiped my eyes as soon as I heard Erin’s voice. “Sophie, are you in here?”

“I’m on the balcony.”

“Do you want to look at photo albums with us?” I heard her footsteps behind me.

“Sure. I’ll be down in a few minutes,” I replied without looking at her.

“
Nonna will happy to hear that.” I felt her hand on my shoulder. “Sophie, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

“I’m not crying.” My voice was shaky.

“Okay, well then I guess I’ll see you in a few.”

I waited until I heard my bedroom door shut before I walked back into the bathroom and washed my face. I placed the picture back on the nightstand and softly said, “
I love you to the moon and back, around it a million times and back again.”

I didn’t sleep that night. I waited for the first sign of dawn to sneak out of the house for a morning run, hoping it would help take my mind off my mom long enough to regain some sanity.

I quietly open Erin’s door, crept across the floor, and very slowly climbed onto her bed. I had to cover my mouth to prevent from l
aughing as I looked down at her and saw her drooling on the pillow. I waited another minute to make sure she was still fast asleep before I started jumping up and down right next to her making her body bounce.

“Erin, wake up, wake up, wake up!” I sang.

“Earth quack!” she screamed. I died laughing when she flew out of bed and ran for the door.

“No, Erin; wait, there’s no earth quack.” I grabbed her before she could run out of the room. Nonna would kill both of us if she woke up to Erin running through the house like the raving lunatic she already thinks she is.

“Yes, there was. My bed was shaking.” She looked at me in fear.

“That’s because I was jumping on your bed.”

“Are you kidding me?” Her fear quickly turned into anger. “When are you going to grow up?”

“It could happen in the next few minutes, or possibly never.” I smiled.

“What time is it?” She climbed back into bed.

“Almost five.”

“In the morning?” She rubbed her eyes.

“Yes, in the morning.”

“Why in the world are you waking me up before the sun rises?” she asked.

“I wanted to know if you wanted to go jogging.” I plopped down on the bed next to her.

“In all the years we’ve been friends, have you ever seen me jog?”

“Yes, once when Saks was having a sale.”

“Are we jogging to a sale?” She glared at me.

“No, just for our health.”

“Then the answer is no!” She covered her head.

“Fine, but don’t say I never asked.”

“Oh, believe me, I won’t.”

“I love you,” I sang as I shut her door.

“I don’t care.”

It was dusky outside. Barely light enough for me to see where I was going. I shoved my headphones into my ears and made sure the volume was all the way up before I started running towards the beach.

I was actually surprised that instead of being carried away by the music, and lingering on any memories this path held, my thoughts were on my dad. I hated the fact that we were going to be apart for so long, and I was starting to worry about him being alone even more. I never really thought about what he had been going through or how hard it was for him to lose her too, and now he was alone in the house for the first time since she died, and I knew how lonely the night there could feel.

I was happy when I reached the beach before any real sadness could set in again. I stopped once my feet hit the sand and took a deep breath as I looked around. It looked smaller than I remembered it. It was nothing more than a small cove, surrounded by huge cliffs.

I walked to the edge of the water and sat just far enough for the waves to miss my feet when they came rolling into shore.

The misty breeze blowing off the water’s crest felt good as I closed my eyes and zoned out to
one of the many memories I had of when my mom and I used to come here. I could almost hear her laughter when I heard someone yell, “Geronimo!” I opened my eyes just in time to see the water start settling from someone or something breaking its barrier. I quickly stood up to get a better look at what could have fallen into the water, hoping to see anything but a dead body. Fear set in when I saw how high the fall was for whatever fell in. It had to be at least a thirty-foot drop.

Just as I was
about to be forced to imagine what had happened, I saw someone swimming towards shore.

“Are you okay?” I yelled, even though I knew they couldn’t hear me. I waited until the person was close enough for me to tell it was a male before asking again.

“Are you…” My heart faltered when I saw Geoff Mann rise out of the waves.

I stood frozen in disbelief as I watched his more-than-perfect, dripping wet body walk out of the water towards me, and with every ounce of my being, I was able to fight back the urge to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.

“How’s it going?” He walked right past me.

“Uh…”

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Realizing the words in my head weren’t actually coming out of my
mouth; I managed to pull myself together enough only to gawk when he wasn’t looking, and forced my motor skills to start working again.

“You’re fine. I mean, I’m fine.” My face flushed with embarrassment when he flashed me a quirky smile. “What I meant was, are you okay? Is anything broken?”

“Why, do I look broken?” He searched his body as he dried off.

“No, but I wasn’t sure after seeing how high the cliff is that you fell off.” I looked up at it again. “It has to be at least thirty feet.”

“It’s a little over fifty feet, and I didn’t fall. I jumped,” he corrected me.

“I’m sorry. What?”

“I jumped,” he repeated.

“Why would you do something so stupid?”
I asked, regretting every word I had just allowed to float out of my mouth.

“Have you ever done it?” he asked.

“No. I don’t have a death wish.” 

“Then how do you know it’s stupid if you’ve never tried it?” He wrapped the towel around his waist.

“Because you jumped off a fifty-foot cliff that is surrounded by jagged rocks, into shallow water,” I said. “You’re lucky that you didn’t break anything when you smacked into the water, and even luckier that you didn’t land on the rocks instead.”

“Oh, I see. Because you are too afraid to live on the edge, people like me
, who do are crazy and stupid?”

“That’s not what I said.” I started to get flustered. “And I’m not afraid to live on the edge. I’m not afraid of anything.”

“Prove it.” He smiled.

“No.”

“It’s because you’re afraid, isn’t it?” He said with a fake look of sympathy on his face.

My frustration grew with every word he said, and if I didn’t leave now, I would end up doing something stupid like jumping off a fifty-foot cliff just to prove him wrong, and considering I’m deathly afraid of heights, I would probably have a heart attack before I could climb to the top. Without saying anything, I turned and started walking away.

“Wait. Would it make a difference if I told you this wasn’t my first time jumping off that cliff?”

“Not really, but I would suggest that you get help with whatever life crisis you’re going through before you kill yourself.” I kept walking.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” He followed me.

“Why are you following me?” I turned to face him.

“My car is parked right there.” He pointed to a black Mercedes parked at the end of the street.

“Oh.” I flushed with embarrassment. “Well, it was almost nice meeting you.”

“To my knowledge, we haven’t been formally introduced. Therefore, I haven’t met you yet.”

I wanted to remind him that we met six years before, but since I had just ruined any chance of a proper introduction, one that didn’t involve me acting like a lunatic, there was no way I wanted him to know anything about me, especially my name.

“Okay, well. I’m really glad you’re not broken and you’re still alive.” I started walking again.

“Wait a minute. You’re just going to walk away without telling me your name?”

“No, I’m going run away.” The cliché of what I had just said hit me as soon as the words left my mouth.

“Wow, that’s really rude.”

“I’m rude?” I faced him again. “I’m the one who was concerned about you, and you’re the one who turned my being concerned into some kind of joke.”

“Maybe, but you’re the one who started the name calling, when you called me stupid.”

“I didn’t call you stupid. I called what you did stupid.”

“It’s the same thing.”

“No, it isn’t.” My defenses went up.

“Really? Please explain the difference.”

I fully intended to tell him off, and everything I wanted to say was at the tip of my tongue, but as soon as I looked into his eyes, it was all gone. Instead, I stood frozen, ogling him as if I were thirteen all over again.

“There’s that look again.” His cockiness snapped me out of my star struck fantasy.

“You’re not worth explaining to.”

“Ouch.” He winced.

I made sure my headphones were in as deep as they would go before I turned and started running towards the trail. It took everything in me not to turn around just so I could check if he was watching me, which of course every girl knows that if a guy takes the time to watch you walk – in my case, run away – he’s interested.

I didn’t stop or look back. I just kept running, wishing I could have been anywhere else but where I was. I had no idea what had come over me. Whatever dream I had of him was definitely not coming true in this lifetime. Not that I b
elieved it ever would, but I’m sure I am the last person Geoff Mann ever wanted to see again.

“Let it go, Sophie; he was rude first, not you,” I tried convincing myself.

I barely got halfway home when the black Mercedes that was parked at the beach stopped in front of me and blocked my path. I watched as a freakishly large man who was at least six five and three hundred pounds of pure muscle climbed out of the driver’s door and walked to the passenger’s door behind him. Just as he grabbed for the handle, the door flew open and Geoff stepped out.

I tried to keep up my bad girl persona, but watching him walk towards me like I was more than his next mission made it hard to breathe, let alone keep up any kind of attitude.

“You know, the more I think about our conversation, the more I realize you owe me an apology,” he said.

“Funny, I was thinking the same thing about you.”

“I’ll make you a deal.” He looked directly into my eyes. “I’ll apologize if you apologize first.”

“That’s a horrible deal. I say we go our separate ways and call it good.”

“Nah, I like my offer better.” He grinned.

“I’m not going to agree to a stupid deal, and I definitely won’t be the first one apologizing.”

“Fine, then we’ll apologize at the same time.”

“Do you really think I’m stupid enough to believe that you’re going to say it?”

“I don’t think you’re stupid at all.” He raised his eyebrows. “But, considering you know who I am, you also know that I’m not the type of guy who’s not afraid to admit when I’m wrong, or to apologize.”

“What gave you the idea that I know who you are?” I said, knowing I was about to open Pandora’s Box of lies.

“Only the I-can’t-believe-it’s-you star stuck look you had on your face, not once but twice.”

“I seriously have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Okay, I see where this is going.” He smiled.

“It’s going nowhere.” I glared.

“New deal,” he said with a firm look on his face. “We’ll both apologize at the same time, and whoever doesn’t apologize has to buy dinner.”

“Why would buy I dinner for someone I hope never to see again?”

“See now; that was just mean.”

“The truth hurts,” I replied.

“Fine, I’ll be the bigger of the two and apologize first. I’m sorry if I came across rude at any point today.”

“Apology accepted.” I started running again.

“You’re not going to apologize?” he yelled at me.

“Nope.”

“Can I at least know your name?” he yelled louder. I stopped and walked back to him.

“From what I’ve gathered, you must be someone famous since you said I looked star struck.” I kept feeding into my lies, and he smiled and rolled his eyes as if he knew I was lying. “So, if you really are famous, then I’m sure you have a lot of people worshipping you, people who most likely have friends in high places who can help you find out someone’s name.”

“First you don’t apologize, and now you won’t even give me your name?” It was hard to maintain self-control as I watched the way he pursed his lips together. Everything inside me was screaming my name at the top of my lungs just so I knew I would see him again, but for some reason, he seemed to bring out a vindictive side of me, a side I never knew I had, plus I saw this as game. A game I was not about to lose. “What if I get caught up living my high profile, insanely famous life, and I need someone who will treat me like I’m nothing more than a pebble in her shoe? How can I find you without a name?”

“The same way I would find an arrogant, stuck-on-himself celebrity.”

“Google?” It was hard not to laugh at his reply. “I’ll make you a deal.”

“Another deal.” I rolled my eyes.

“I like deals.” He closed the gap between us. “When I find out who you are, and I will find out, you have to agree to have dinner with me.”