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I have a problem. I’m utterly obsessed with my brother’s best friend and I have been for years. He won’t give into my advances and he treats me like I’m still a kid although I’m nearly 21. While my brother and his wife are off on their honeymoon, I’m hiding out at their house to get a break from campus. But the thing is,helives there too. Both of my brother’s best friends do. So, I’m stuck living in the same house as them for the next three weeks. My confidence dwindles every time he rejects me, but I’m going to break him down. Gio Colombo will be mine,fuck forbidden.
Chapter 1: Escape Plan
“The greatest weapon against stress
is our ability to choose one thought over another.”
–William James
Arianna
Waiting outside for someone to pick you up is something that shouldn’t feel embarrassing, but it does. Like getting up to use the bathroom during a lecture or eating in a crowded restaurant. I’m sure somewhere out there, there are people who do normal activities without feeling strange, but I’m not one of them. I’ve always been more socially uncomfortable than I let on. No matter how convincing I may be, I’m a fraud.
I put on brave and peppy faces to convince myself I feel safe when I’m not sure that I do. Despite my inner fears, I certainly come across as confident. I’m loud, overbearing and worst of all, a hugger. Of all my problems, physical touch has never been one. I like affection and it’s one of the few things that doesn’t make me feel uncomfortable. I enjoy being held, hugged and kissed, but doesn’t everyone?
Even though my confidence is fabricated, it comes across as quite genuine after years and years of practice. Since I have always clung to the sunshine persona that I crafted at a young age, I’m quite the actress. Though, I think in some ways, false happiness makes me happy. It’s comfortable to hide. Even if it’s wrong, it feels right.
Mamma raised a poised and sophisticated lady quite well, but even she couldn’t decipher my lazy forced smiles from the real ones. Mamma, like the rest of our family members, simply notice what I allow them to notice. They see my eyes full of mischief, my teeth when I smile and my flushed cheeks when I laugh. I’m a proper heiress, well-behaved, well-mannered, classically beautiful, humble, and modest to the untrained eye.
The thing is, even princesses crack underneath copious amounts of heated pressure. Expectations are a steaming hot bitch, but luckily, I almost always end up meeting them. Arianna Vitale has always outperformed. I’ve taken on my peers academically with brilliant success. I was a varsity cheerleader before anyone else my age. Prom Queen, Homecoming Princess and Valedictorian of my class came easily to me.
Part of me always wished I didn’t attract so much attention, but with success comes notoriety. Lorenzo, my eldest brother, lovesnotoriety. He enjoys being honored for his achievements, and I find it sincerely unnerving. Yet I suffered through the attention to avoid my father's biggest fear, failure.
Vitales arenotfailures. We’re successful and honorable Italians with great pride in our family. We have history and we maintain our good name through glorious achievements. I suffer because if anything is worth being in pain, it’s family.
I love my family more than the night sky loves the stars. Vitales are fierce lovers, and that is what I’m most proud of. Personally, I pride myself on a few things. However, I’m much better at pulling apart my downfalls.
I’m a kind friend and a dutiful daughter. I’m great at cheering people up, and I am an amazing shopper. But I’m a shit sister, if I’m being honest.
I envy Lorenzo so much that it makes me hate him sometimes. Hate his success, how our parents favor him, his power and how lucky he is to have a woman like Katherine. She’s got her issues, believe me. But she loves him with the fiercest passion I’ve ever seen. A good sister would be happy for him, but I allow my jealousy to eat at me.
I’m a better sister to Marco, my junior by three years. Still, I seem to fail him just as often as I do him good, but in different ways than I fail Lorenzo. I should stick up for Marco more often, and it makes me disappointed with myself whenever I don’t. I know I don’t have the power to fend off my father’s rude comments or the isolation he subjects Marco to. As his sister, I shouldn’t care about the consequences of being his Saviour. I should just do it.
Marco and I grew up thick as thieves. We might as well have had our own language. We understood each other, and we spent more time together than with anyone else. Lorenzo, being much other than us, meant he didn’t really grow up alongside us. He was already eight when I was born and eleven when Marco came along. He was more like a second father than a brother. But Marco and I were best friends, even as siblings.
Marco is an outcast, set on never joining the family business. He won’t talk about it with me, probably because I’m not privy to business discussions. The Vitale are old school and the men run the family businesses. Not that I mind, I’m not expected to be a housewife. Women can do whatever they want, but the men run Vitale Industries. Lorenzo started working for our father young, and Marco should have started already, but he won’t. Hence the bridge of rage being built around him.
I wish he’d tell me more, but I won’t push him, even if he’s spiraling. Marco rebels against Italy, favoring American music and culture to spite what he believes our father stands for. He drinks too much and parties too often, but he’s always been my closest ally, so I’ll never judge him. He’s always been my best friend, yet even he doesn’t know how I feel in my own skin.
So you see, I’m sort of a phony.
If you asked anyone in my family what my biggest problem in life is, they might make some silly comment about a shopping dilemma. Maybe Katherine might dig deeper and mention my loneliness. But none of them would consider me an anxious person.
So, like a phony does, I suffer in silence, waiting for my ride. All I can do is pretend to be interested in something on my phone, so I don’t have to see anyone looking at me. There’s only so much scrolling I can do with disinterested, wary eyes. Luckily, Katherine finally texts me back as I’m getting restless.
Katherine:We landed safely. We’re in the Maldives!
I already knew where they were going. I made Lorenzo tell me because I loath surprises.
Arianna:Thank you again for letting me stay here, and keeping my secret. Have fun!
Katherine:You too. *Winky face*
She’s completely on team Arianna and Gio. She calls us Ario, her version of a celebrity ‘ship’ name, I guess. I’m glad I have her support because fuck knows I’m going to need it.
A car horn honks, making me jump and look up from my phone with a glare.
It’s Luca. I can see his blindingly blonde hair even through the tinted windshield. He’s picking me up from my dorm and taking me back to Lorenzo’s house as a favor to my brother. I can tell he’s driving one of Lorenzo’s Maseratis, which doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. He has his own cars but never drives them. I think he prefers staring at them or something.
