Like Hurricanes

4. Princesses and Don Juans

 The Deffe Square was full of people, but Virginia's boyfriend surprisingly stood out from the crowd. He was standing near the fountain all by himself, looking at the Palazzo della Borsa in front of him. After giving him a quick glance and examining his outfit, I sighed. He was one of those guys.

His shiny blond hair was styled in an Ivy League haircut and his blue squinty eyes were arched by thin curved eyebrows. He was wearing tightly laced, high All Stars and rolled-up skinny jeans that made his legs look like spaghetti.

When Virginia saw him, something in her eyes sparkled and she couldn't contain her gigantic smile. She kissed him on his pale thin lips and he whispered something in her ear, making her giggle. As I watched them, I wondered if this is what it felt like to date someone you actually love.

''So Nick, these are my friends. Pit, Dario and – ''

''Gaia Monforte!'' He snapped his fingers. ''I saw your mum on TV last night. You look so much alike.''

Gaia nodded and tried to smile. I knew she hated it when people mentioned her mother. I didn't know why, though. Anastasia Monforte was a famous actress, but sometimes people tended to exaggerate her success.

"Wait, are we going to McDonald's?" Nick stopped as he saw the M sign from a distance.

I shrugged. "Yeah, why?"

"Come on, guys. This is Italy! We can do better than that," he said. "Come, I know a place not far from here, right behind the corner. Let's eat some real food and not that McTrash."

I furrowed my eyebrows ready to protest, but Gaia's frigid gaze made me change my mind. Whatever, I thought, I was too hungry to care. As we walked down the main street, the others talked about school and summer and their epic love story, but all I could think about was that girl.

When we entered the bar called Bontetto, we sat at a table of six and started looking at the menus. The atmosphere was quite homey, with the soft lighting illuminating the wooden room and the delicious smell of food spreading in the air.

"Ten Euros for a sandwich?" Dario widened his eyes. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

Dario was the only one in our group who wasn't from a wealthy family. He wasn't poor, but he wasn't rich either. His parents were too messed up to know how to manage their money. That's what my mum once said. I didn't like talking about it though. I wished it could be all irrelevant.

"The prices might be high," Nick said. "But so is the quality."

I frowned. How pretentious was this guy?

When the waitress came, we all ordered the California menu, that included a big, delicious hamburger with grilled, melty cheese and juicy beef. When it was Virginia's turn she wanted to order the same, but Nick interrupted her and whispered something in her ear.

She looked down and smiled nervously. "I'll have a salad and a bottle of water, please."

''Okay.'' The waitress scribbled on her pad and walked away.

I expected someone to say something, but no one did. We sat in awkward silence with our eyes fixed on our phones until the waitress came back, bringing our food.

"So Nick," Gaia said, "I've heard you're in the National water polo team."

"Yeah, that's right."

I could see by his build that he was an athletic guy. Tall, muscular and with large shoulders. He was probably much stronger than me, since my basketball training only gave me average abs. But I was content with that.