After a few hours, we were released home, and Elizabeth and I hurried to the subway. We were silent for about five minutes, and then I couldn't pretend to be outraged anymore:
— Listen, stop being mad at me, — I said to Ella.
She continued to remain silent.
— You know me; I just don’t believe in coincidence. And yes, I was just afraid that someone would take my best friend away from me.
— You’re such a fool, where would I run away from you? — my friend looked me in the eye.
— Nowhere for sure, — I smiled a genuine smile. No matter what happens, I will always have her, and she will have me.
A long time ago, during one of our joint dinners at my place, after talking about our relationships with our parents, I sincerely said:
— You three are my family. Now and forever, — I said back then.
Sarah, Ella, and Dam exchanged glances and pounced on me with hugs. They knew it was true. And I knew it too.
— I love you, so I want you to be happy. I don’t believe in love at first sight; you know that perfectly well, but if Nik has caught your eye, I won’t object, — I understood how much my friend wanted to hear these words.
— Thank you, I love you very much too, that’s why I care about you. You look at things through a scope; you won’t find your happiness if you keep pushing everything and everyone away, — for me, the conversation was veering into a territory we weren’t supposed to discuss, we were talking about Ella, not about me. I rushed down the stairs, toward the noise, weaving through people running the other way.
— You see, I just’m not ready for any relationships right now – a clarification, I hadn’t been ready for a long time — I’m satisfied with my work and studies, I have you, Damiano, Sarah, and Louis, and I need nothing more, — I was happy with my current life.
— You just never tried to be happy, so you don’t know how that feels. Happiness wouldn’t hurt you, — she tried. And she knew that. But she preferred not to mention it, as if nothing had happened at all.
— Let’s talk about this later, — we won’t talk, I'm just dodging the topic.
— This is our train, — I jumped off the escalator and ran toward the doors that were opening. — There you go again, running away, okay, but this won’t just disappear, I promise you, I will deal with it! — Ella caught up with me and sat in the seat next to me.
— Okay, okay, enough, fine! — I waved my hands.
The only place I can hide from Ella’s incessant concern is my apartment, but even there it isn’t always easy. Thank Merlin, she went home to grab some things to come back to the fashion house (the girl was just fixated on controlling every step in the dress’s production, and I could probably understand her), because today is clearly one of those days when Elizabeth starts worrying about me, reminding me of my mother, while I try to escape from any manifestations of that behavior from her.
I stretched out in the chair when I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. I received a message from an unknown number as soon as I got home:
"Good evening. It’s Leo. Can we talk?"
I knew how Leonardo got my number. My best friend helped. I didn’t reply, I didn’t even read it, to be honest. I just made tea and muted the chat with him.
I sat on the couch in the living room, scratching my mustached cat (he broke my favorite flower vase while I was out). I had just managed to settle down a bit to rest when my phone vibrated again with messages. This time, all from Mia:
"Hey, I completely forgot to tell you, we’re performing today. “Romeo and Juliet.” I’m playing the lead role and they gave me two tickets."
Then immediately another message:
"Do you want to go with someone? If you agree, write me back as soon as possible."
I was really tired, but I simply couldn’t refuse such an invitation. And there I was, typing furiously on the keyboard:
"Hi. Of course, I’m in :)"
"Oh great, then I’ll be waiting for you at the entrance to La Scala at 7:00."
"Okay, thanks."
"Don’t mention it, see you soon :)"
See you soon? I didn’t quite understand... Oh no, it’s almost six! And I still have to get ready. But who else can I invite? Of course, Ella, she likes that too. I had even forgotten that Ella might touch upon my "favorite" subject again. And when I remembered, it was already too late.
"Ell, I have two tickets for “Romeo and Juliet,” are you with me?"
"Where? When? Today?"
"La Scala. We need to be there by seven, Mia will give us the tickets."
"Ooh))) I’ll grab a taxi to pick you up; I won’t struggle in heels on the subway. I’ll text you later, bye!"
"Haha, okay. Kisses, blondie" — she usually said that, not me, so I relished the moment where I got to tease her a bit.
I tossed my phone on the couch and ran to the wardrobe.
This is definitely my favorite room. If I could live here, I probably wouldn’t leave it at all. It’s quite small, but it holds so much gold. My clothes are treasures to me. Moreover, most of them are my own creations.
Scanning the large closet where the dresses hang, I found the one that would fit perfectly. I put on a long black dress with a slit that reaches almost to my thigh, and my favorite black shoes would perfectly complement the look. God, I feel like they might not survive this life much longer. To stay warm, I draped a large black shawl over my shoulders (just don’t picture the kind that grandmothers wear; it's not knitted, but made of silk). I did a light makeup job, and gathered my hair into a tight bun.
Just in time: a message from Ella was already lighting up my phone screen. I grabbed a black clutch and dashed to the exit.
— You look stunning! We won’t be able to make it to the hall like this, someone will steal you away on the way, — Ella was in an extraordinarily good mood, perhaps overly so, to be exact.
— Thank you, mia regina. You look simply incredible, so maybe someone will steal you away faster? — We both burst out laughing and settled in the back seat of the car.
As soon as I arrived in Milan, the first place I visited was "La Scala." It is one of the most famous opera houses in the world. You’ve probably heard of it at least once, and some people come to Milan specifically for the opera. This place has always felt magical to me. I would come here when I was inspired and when I wasn’t, when I was happy and when I was sad, when I wanted to cry and laugh at the same time — I would just buy tickets and watch a show. It didn’t matter to me what I was watching. I simply felt like an invisible observer among all these dressed-up, pompous people. I often just watched the guests who came here. Over the years, I’d learned to distinguish tourists, wealthy folks trying to spend their evening there, ladies trying to grab their attention, and the same loners like me.
At the entrance, Mia was scanning the crowd for us. Her hair was already styled in a perfect bun and her makeup bold, fitting for the role.
— Hi, how's the mood? Ready to get into character? — I greeted, drawing the attention to myself. Sol quickly turned to us.
— Hi, yes, I’ve always loved playing Juliet. Alright, here are your tickets, I’m off, — and she disappeared into the crowd flowing down the street.
I lack a sufficiently large architectural vocabulary to describe to you how amazing the theater is inside, but it’s impossible to deny its magnificence. One should come here just to remember the beauty our ancestors created, even when most modern devices hadn’t been invented yet.
We still had time to stroll around the building. A waiter approached us with glasses of champagne and asked for our tickets. The sparkling was just at the perfect temperature, just don’t overindulge. Although Ella loves that. Right now, she’s glued to her phone, while I continue to glance at the other guests milling around nearby.
All of them are dressed to the nines. Ladies are admiring the paintings, a couple is embracing in the corner enjoying the classical music accompanied by musicians in the foyer. And someone is snapping photos. Exactly! We need to take a nice photo for memories.
— Ell, let’s take a couple of pictures.
— Ooh, I’m totally in, we didn’t dress up for nothing, did we?
We chose a nice, relatively uncrowded location and started creating. Another great skill of my friend is her ability to take stunning photos. She loves it, and during one walk through Milan, she can take more photos than some people do in their entire lives.
— These turned out just wonderful!
— I love it too, — Ella almost jumped on her pink heels out of happiness.
The first bell rang. We got busy looking for our entrance to the hall. To me, this is the most unparalleled part of La Scala. Sarah said that the hall seats 2030 spectators! Just imagine that. From our tickets, I realized we had the best and most expensive seats. The orchestra level.
We will have a wonderful night... What the hell is he doing here?!