It had only happened a few months before, just the start of junior year. I didn't expect to create a monster in the progress. Pietro's one rule was to never get attached to his missions, which was a rule his little brother, Tony, never forgot to rem...
I buttoned up my shirt snd pulled on a pair of dark grey slacks. "God, you look so uptight."
I turned around to see Rowan, leaning on her window. She was wearing a mesh shirt dress, which made every curve of her body stand out. Her hair was straightened I never noticed a small dimple on the top of her cheek when she smirked.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Oh I'm uptight?" I crouched to fit in my window and stare back at her. "Don't tell me you're trying to tell me I'm uptight?"
I laughed, "Carlo's party, I'm guessing?" She stood back up and spoke to me as she searched in her closet for shoes. "Mhmm, do you need a ride?"
She let out a sigh of relief when she found simple black flats in the back of her closet. "Nah, Amelie is forcing me to go. She says it's good for my reputation and I was like 'what reputation?' And she was like 'exactly, ro.' Sometimes she reminds me of my own mother. My mom was a party girl and obviously she had me young. I mean it's not that obvious because you've never met her, but maybe someday you will-"
She looked up at me sheepishly as she realized what she had said. "I didn't mean to ramble. Amelie says I tend to do it when I'm stressed."
"And why are you stressed?" I leaned farther into the window as if there were no possibility to fall out. "Is someone making you stressed?"
"You have a lot of questions don't you?" She smiled. She hold up a finger and sat down in front of her desk to pull out a giant box. She opened it with a click and took out all kinds of makeup that I've never seen before. "I've always hated parties. Not to mention the fact that it's Carlo's." She sighed as she put some sort of scissor machine on her eyelashes. "Sorry for getting upset with you about that cafeteria incident. I know you were just trying to help."
I smiled. I understood, it was true. I didn't know her nor her friends.
"Carlo and I, we just didn't work out. We're better being nothing than something, if you know what I mean? I mean the relationship was so toxic and then the last time Amelie and I both went partying when I showed up at his doorstep and some weird men in black suits just tackled me! Carlo said they were breaking in and I technically saved him, but nobody robs a house in black suits!" She caught her breath. "Sorry."
"Is that Amelie?" She covered her eyes from the blinding car lights as a car entered her driveway. "Oh shit, it's my mom!"
She grabbed her makeup and placed it back into the box, "Would you mind?" She quickly threw the box to me, which for her luck, I caught. "Help me get in!" She started to crawl out of her window and grabbed her little purse. I placed the makeup box on my bed and held her hand. She took her footing on her window sill and held onto both my hands. "I got you, just jump."
She looked in my eyes and took a breath. I nodded, trying to reassure her that whatever she was doing, I would save her. I'd never been a hero before, usually at this moment I'd let them go and watch them fall to their deaths, but Rowan was my friend.
I held onto her tightly as she jumped through my window and pushed me back onto my bed. She pushed herself off my chest, we were only an inch away from each other, "well," she said and pushed herself away from me. "that was exciting."
She texted Amelie, and told her not to come. She decided she'd carpool with Tony and I. 'It'll be better for the environment anyways.' she told me. She finished her makeup and I watched her closely from the bathroom mirror. After she'd finished she'd come into the bathroom and help me style my hair. 'I always styled my dad's hair when I was little. If I didn't want to become a fashion designer I think I would've become a hair dresser.' She had said to me.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Antonio said as he barged into the room. "Rowan! When did you get here?"
She laughed and told Antonio what she'd just done a few minutes ago. We made our way downstairs and Rowan left her makeup box in my room saying she'd grab it later.
We sat in the back of Tony's Jeep. "How long have you two been dating?" Tony said with a fake Russian accent. "Oh, for years! Highschool sweethearts." Rowan followed along with Tony's act and wrapped her arms around mine. "Ah, I see. My wife left me with my two kids last month." He fake cried.
Rowan and I laughed when Tony set his head on the steering wheel to fake try and instead honked at the car in front of us. "Okay, real questions now," Tony looked at us through the rear view mirror. "How long have you and Amelie been friends?"
Rowan thought for a minute and played with her earlobe as she thought. "we've been friends since third grade when I wanted to play kickball with the boys. She had to haul me out of the field to stop me from kicking the ball at the boys head. I thought it was totally sexist. Until she explained how the boys and girls have separate days and play together as a whole on fridays. I felt so guilty."
Tony and I held back our laughs for as long as we could. But when we made eye contact though the mirror we couldn't hold it back anymore. I hadn't noticed how similar our laughs were.
Rowan leaned back in her seat and covered her eyes. "Okay, okay enough laughing at me. My turn." She thought for a second, "You guys seem pretty close. Any embarrassing stories?"
I looked down at my phone in my lap. I thought Tony would speak but he didn't. "We aren't." I looked up at Rowan. "Close, I mean."
"We hated each other , didn't we." Tony chuckled.
I smiled, "One time during our karate tra- club, ahem," I glanced in the mirror to meet Tony's eyes. "Once during our karate club, we were fighting each other and I stepped on Tony's toe-"
"No!" He laughed, "Don't do it!"
Rowan smiled once more. "Tell me! Tell me!"
"He started crying and saying I cheated! He rolled on the floor like an absolute baby."
The rest of the car ride we all shared the embarrassing things we'd done as children and for a moment I forgot that I was Pietro Mancini. The heir to the Mafia throne. For that moment I was just Pietro, your next door neighbor.
