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AURORA
Iwiggle my toes in the clear, salt water pool, looking over at my best friend’s perfectly manicured feet and then nudging her with my shoulder.
“Thanks for inviting me out,” I tell her, and Francesca Andretti grins, nudging me back and brandishing her champagne glass full of half bubbly and half orange juice. I’m halfway through my second mimosa myself, and feeling a little tipsy.
But I don’t get out much. I’m usually home taking care of my ailing father. He’s not been the same ever since a heart attack when he was only forty, and I’ve taken over most of the household stuff. Luckily, as a low-level wiseguy, he made enough money before he got too sick to take care of us. I’m grateful to him for so many things.
Francesca is like the sister I’ve never had, my best friend ever since we were twelve and crazy about every boy in junior high. I look over at Francesca. Her long, bleached blonde hair is almost white with the sunlight streaming through the glass pool enclosure, and her eyes are the prettiest sea-green color. She’s always been prettier and skinnier than me, but I’m not exactly jealous.
For a while, it made me a little sad, that most of the guys I wanted looked at her first, but it’s not Francesca’s fault that she was born beautiful. And soon I grew out of it. I don’t need the attention of anyone who is shallow enough to only care about a pretty face and a nice body. I have many qualities, and if the right guy comes along, he’ll see beyond the rounder body and the average face. He’ll seeme.Too bad the right guy must be living under a rock, because all the guys that cross my paths have been wrong, wrong, wrong.
Marco Barone comes over toward us and I slide a little to the right side, trying not to grimace. Marco’s attractive enough, but there’s just something about him that makes me feel...uncomfortable. Francesca and I grew up around wiseguys, around bruisers, were raised by them, but Marco can beruthless. The stories I’ve heard... A shiver runs down my back.
I worry about my best friend sometimes, that her beauty may get her into real trouble someday, because unlike me, she revels on the attention her beauty gets her. She has no problem with guys only wanting her for how she looks, she just wants to live life and have the best time she can.
Marco scoops her up into his arms and Francesca giggles and drops her mimosa glass. I catch it in a truly inspired bout of reflexes, but neither of the lovebirds notice. Finally, Marco finishes kissing her and puts her down.
“I gotta go now,belissima,” he says in a low tone, and Francesca pouts.
“All right, if you must.”
Marco scoffs. “If you want me to keep you in diamonds, I have to.”
Francesca grins and flips her damp blonde hair. “You bet I want you to keep me in diamonds.”
“The staff will lock up when you leave,” he says flippantly and kisses her fiercely once more before walking back into the house.
Francesca shrugs and comes back to the pool, slipping into the water and dunking her head before beginning to tread water, splashing at me.
I laugh and slide into the water with her and we swim and play for a bit before she gives me the most mischievous smile.
“Oh no,” I say, knowing what that means. “What are you doing, Francesca?”
“So listen,” she begins, and I already want to roll my eyes. I know this is going nowhere good, with that look on her face. “The Espositos are having a party tomorrow night.”
“You mean Bruno is having a party tomorrow night,” I say dryly, and she bites her lip, grinning.
“Exactly.”
“Marco’s only out of town for a couple of days,” I warn. “Don’t you think this is a bad idea?”
“What Marco doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” she says easily.
I hum. She and Marco aren’t exactlyexclusive,especially given that Marco has been seen with several other girls over the six months they’ve been dating, but I would bet my life savings that he expects Francesca to be exclusive with him. That’s just the way wiseguys are.
“I don’t know,” I hedge, and Francesca pouts.
“Come on, Aurora. I know you’re going to come with me to keep me out of trouble, so let’s not have this back and forth,” she says, and I hate that she’s right.
Francesca is my best friend and like a sister to me, and I wouldn’t ever want her to be in trouble or risk losing her. I don’t have many people in my life, so I want to keep the people I have close.
I sigh and heave myself out of the pool. I look at my empty glass of mimosa. “I guess I’ll get an Uber,” I say, and Francesca scoffs, coming up the pool ladder.
“No way. I’ll call Nico,” she says, and my breath catches in my throat.
Nico Andretti.
