VALENTINA

"Thought I almost died, in my dream again. Fighting for my life, I couldn't breathe again."

. . .

I have a fucking cold.

Thanks to none other than Alessandro, of course.

It's two days after the Halloween party, and in that time, I managed to catch a cold. Shivers are running up and down my body, and a headache has been plaguing my head all day.

And I'm on a road trip, too.

In fall, we usually head back to our estates outside of the city for a week, and I stay with the Silvestro's for that week since my mother and Martina just stay back.

"So..." Dante begins once we're on the road. We're taking his car, while Alessandro drives ahead of us with his bike. Alyssa and her parents went to their house yesterday already. "When were you going to tell me that you're not a virgin anymore?"

"I didn't think it mattered," I murmur and blow my nose. He turns his head to look at me for a brief moment.

"You're my best friend, Val. Of course, it matters."

"Virginity is a construct made by society. Is it really that important?"

"It is," he argues. "Since you've always told me that when you'd lose it, it'd be to someone you love."

"I don't want to talk about this now, Dante. My head hurts so fucking much," I groan and close my eyes, resting my head against the window.

"I'm sorry," he sighs. "It just caught me off-guard, is all."

"Well, don't worry about it. It wasn't anything special."

Lie. It was the best night of your life.

"It wasn't?"

"No. It was a one-nightstand that happened last year."

"A one-nightstand?" he repeats, shocked. "Are you okay? Were they gentle? Did it hurt?"

"It's been a year, I'm fine," I chuckle and shake my head. "I'm okay, don't worry about it."

Dante doesn't make any further comments on it and keeps quiet. I know he's thinking about all sorts of things, but I'm not in the mood to talk about it.

All I want to do is sleep and get some rest.

After an hour of driving, Dante pulls over to a gas station.

"You want anything from the shop?" he asks, but I shake my head.

Alessandro has pulled over too, filling up the tank of his bike.

I haven't spoken to him the few times I've seen him since the party. Partly because I'm sick and can't be bothered to talk, and partly because I don't know what I'd say to him.

His stunt got to me, which was the first time that I had to push back tears, and was at a loss for words because of a stupid prank he did.

Dante enters the shop, and I take the time to rest my eyes for a moment because sleep is pulling me in.

I pull the blanket I brought tighter around my body and make myself more comfortable in my seat.

Right as I'm about to drift off, I'm startled by my door suddenly opening.

"Dante, you scared the living shit..." I trail off when I see Alessandro standing there instead, clad in his bike gear and holding his helmet in one hand.

In his other hand, he's holding a cup and he extends it toward me. I glance down at it and back up at him, suspicion probably written all over my face.

"It's uh, tea," he explains. "I added some honey, too. It's good for a cold," he shrugs and thrusts it into my hands.

Then, he digs into his pocket and hands me a packet of... cough drops.

I hesitantly take it from him and don't know what to say.

Parting my lips, I prepare myself to... thank him?

I'd have never imagined that there'd be a universe where I'd be thanking him.

But he doesn't give me the opportunity to since he stalks off to his bike and puts his helmet back on.

Getting on, he takes off and drives away from the gas station, where I stare after him while not knowing what the fuck just happened.

Immediately taking a cough drop from the packet, I put one in my mouth and let it do its magic.

Dante gets back in the car with some snacks and does a double-take.

"Where'd you get all that?" he asks.

"Believe it or not, your brother," I chuckle, still in disbelief. Dante's brows shoot up to his hairline.

"That is crazy."

I wait a couple of minutes before sipping from the tea and I taste ginger in there. This whole thing is so... thoughtful that I still can't grasp it.

Maybe he's working on his guilt, knowing that I got sick because he pushed me in ice-cold water and made my immune system drop.

Before I know it, we arrive at the Silvestro's mansion and Dante parks his car in the garage.

"Good to be back," he sighs and turns off the engine.

"I hope your parents won't mind if I head straight to bed," I tell him when he gets our suitcases from the trunk and starts dragging them upstairs.

"They won't," he assures me. "I told him you were feeling a little ill, anyway," he adds.

The tradition is to have dinner on the first night here and after have a hot chocolate which Riccardo prepares.

I hear Aurora in the living room when we pass, and she's arguing with Riccardo on whether or not they'll eat burgers tonight or if he'll get to make pasta.

Throughout the years I figured out that Aurora usually gets her way.

Alyssa is just the same.

Speaking of, she walks into the hallway and her face lights up when she sees me.

"Valentina," she grins and opens her arms to hug me, but I stop her. "I'm sick," I warn her. "I don't want you to get sick, too."

"Right," she cringes and tucks a curly strand behind her ear. "You better get well soon. We have lots of board games to play and cookies to bake."

"I'll try my best," I grin and head upstairs with Dante, to the usual guest room I use here. Dante drops off my suitcase and heads off to his room.

Entering the room, the first thing I do is close the curtains to darken it in here.

I don't even bother to unpack everything and just take off my shoes, jacket, and bra, before jumping into bed and closing my eyes.

I'm out like a light immediately.

"So, how are you feeling now?" Dad grins as he drives us home.

"Better," I smile, now that my belly is full. Chinese food does wonders when you're feeling sad.

I stuffed my face full with egg rolls and fried rice.

And now, I'm happily sipping my milkshake.

"I'm glad. I'm sure your mother has cooled off by now, as well," he says and the mention of her makes me frown again.

My chest hurts at the reminder of her cruel words and I wonder if Martina is ever on the receiving end of them.

But she never seems to be.

She's the favorite.

"Now, let's watch a movie together when we get home. I was thinking a good action movie," Dad says, distracting me from my negative thoughts.

"Another action movie?" I groan. "Why not a fantasy one? I love those!"

"They're not realistic," he scoffs and I roll my eyes.

"As if Jason Statham surviving one hundred accidents and building collisions is realistic."

"At least he's not battling dragons," he snorts and I chuckle.

The car hits a hole in the ground, making the milkshake spill over and fall onto me, hitting my bare stomach where it's showing.

"Fuck!" I yell out, the cold making me jump. The shake starts sticking to my skin and feel uncomfortable. "Fuuuuuuuuuck," I whine, frantically looking around for some napkins.

"What's wrong?" Dad asks and looks over at me, his eyes scanning my body to see what happened.

"The stupid milkshake–"

My sentence gets cut off when another car slams into us and sends us skidding across the road.

My head hits the window and then all is black.

The scream resounds through the room when I wake up and my skin is sweaty. My head is pounding and my throat feels like sandpaper.

The sounds of the crash are still resounding in my head.

"Fuck," I breathe and hold a hand to my head, then to my heart. The memory felt so vivid, it was like I was back there all over again.

But it was a nightmare. I'm here. I'm safe. And alive.

Unlike the drunk driver who hit us. He passed away immediately. He had ignored a red light and our car met his at the intersection.

Standing up, I try to shake the negative thoughts and memory away. When I look outside, I see it's dark and the clock on my phone says that it's three in the morning.

I take a painkiller from my bag and head downstairs to the kitchen.

The light is already on when I enter and I halt in my steps when I see Alessandro leaning against the counter of the kitchen, arms crossed as he peers outside.

When he hears me entering the kitchen, he turns his head and our eyes meet.

I forgot that Alessandro is an insomniac and stays up insanely long. He's always had issues sleeping.

He's drinking something out of a cup, and I see leftover pizza boxes on the kitchen island.

I fight back a smile.

Looks like neither Aurora nor Riccardo got what they desired tonight.

Takeout pizza is something Alyssa would bring up.

"Can't sleep?" Alessandro asks, crossing his arms. I nod and walk toward the cupboard to get a glass.

"Yeah, something like that," I sigh and fill up the glass with water.

"The nightmares again?"

I freeze in my movements and turn to him, what I'm sure must be a puzzled look on my face.

"I hear your screams sometimes," he admits and looks down briefly, at his hands which he's playing with.

My lips part in shock.

Dante has never noticed. And I've slept in the same bed as him.

Whereas Alessandro, whom I've always avoided like the plague and make sure to stay away from, knows.

He has heard me.

Has noticed them and figured out why I have them.

"I-it's the nightmares, yeah," I answer, caught off-guard by his comment. "They never go away."

It stays silent for a few seconds after I say that, and I don't know what to do or where to look.

"Whenever I can't sleep, I try to drink warm milk or do breathing exercises," he offers.

"Breathing exercises are shit. They never work with me."

The corner of his mouth lifts a little and it looks like he's fighting back a smile. "Yeah, they don't work on me either."

What the fuck is going on?

We're having a conversation. One that is awkward but civil at the same time. And I don't know how to feel about it.

It's like I'm in a parallel universe.

I drink the water, killing my thirst, and put the glass in the sink, because I don't know what else to do.

"Well," I say awkwardly, and cough. My throat hurts so bad. He winces at the sound.

"Look..." he begins. "I didn't mean to..."

"I don't need to hear a half-assed a-apology," I sigh, getting worked up at the thought.

"For fucks sake, Valentina," he grits out, making a shiver run up my spine.

Because the way he pronounces my name just feels so... right.

Dante does want to make the effort and pronounce my name the correct way, but I just always end up giggling at his accent, anyway.

But with Alessandro, I shiver with the way my name rolls off his tongue and his lips move around it. 

"I'm..." he trails off, and I raise a brow.

"You're what? Sorry? Sound the fucking a-alarms, man."

He clenches his jaw and stares out of the window for a minute, the muscles in his arms tensing up when he clenches his fists.

This is what I'm used to. The animosity between us. This feels normal.

Because whatever was going on a few seconds ago was freaking me out.

I can't let him get to me. Not again.

"You know what? Never mind," he sneers and pushes himself off the counter. "I'm glad I pushed you into that pool. Made you shut up for once."

He strides out of the kitchen, making me feel deflated and just as sick and bad as before.

And I have no idea why but I have the feeling I just blew out a beginning, fickle flame between us.

. . .

tadaaaaa!!

short chapter but this was all there was to say in this one.

what are you looking forward to in this book?

and who do you think Valentina slept with on that Halloween night?

also my exam went well sksks, I'm not sure I aced the phonetics part cuz that bitch was hard to learn on such short notice but oh well I kinda freestyled on that one lolll.

hope you enjoyed and thank you so much for reading!

i love you <33