La Serenissima

The Girl Worth Leaning Italian For

Read first: There are a ton of Italian phrases and sentences throughout this entire story. Google Translate is your best friend.

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Books were heavy. Really heavy - too heavy to be carrying ten of them solely in her arms all the way from the lecture hall to Santoli's, almost ten turns and twists through the calle and canals away. Mental note: get a bigger bag. Pushing the door open with her back, Ally unloaded the texts on the closest table, regardless of who was sitting there. Thankfully, no one was. Brushing off the light layer of snow - did she mention it was also snowing? - Ally made a beeline for the counter and kept trying to stretch out her arms without hitting anything. So far, so good.

Looking over the new desserts in the display case, Ally didn't even have to get a word in before Mr. Santoli came out from behind the countertop and stole her away, pulling her back towards her books with a plate full of yummy concoctions and a hot, but tiny kettle of tea in his hands.

"You spoil me, Guisto," Ally wrapped her arm around the old man's shoulders, placing a kiss on his bare cheek. "Sei mio preferito."

"Qualsiasi cosa per il nostro Ally," he gave her a kiss right back. "Venite a riscaldarsi in modo da poter studiare e dirci come i nostri nuovi dolci gusto."

"I can definitely do that," Ally smiled, plucking one of the desserts from the plate and popping it into her mouth without any hesitation. Pursing her lips at the tartness, the sweet lived up to it's name. It was flaky on the outside and the gooiest of gooey inside and that was all she needed to satisfy her for the day. She hoped the Santoli's had made a ton extra and a bag of the treats was going to be waiting for her after she finally finished studying.

Ally caught up with Guisto as much as she could before other customers arrived and he told her to hit the books. And she needed to. With one of the biggest tests next week, she actually needed to study her ass off for it. It was all about the little laws and loopholes and ironclad agreements that absolutely no one used, but were still in tact. Her cup of tea was on her right, the plate of goodies in front of her and reaching to the top of the stack, Ally pulled the first book down to read from front to back again.

For as long as she could remember, Ally loved to read pretty much anything. Her favorites were always the thrillers, the books that kept you on the edge of your seat and the ones you sped through because you literally couldn't put it down. She loved those. Ally even loved the folktales and the adventures and even poetry books. The ones she could do without? The law books. They were big and heavy and well, boring. Maybe she shouldn't have signed up for Italian Studies after all...no, she wanted this job. She wanted the preservation and the fighting for the Italian community and state, even if that mean boring law books that she'd have to carry with her until she retired.

As each and every one of the desserts disappeared, Ally jotted down the important notes she needed to retain and bobbed her head along to the instrumental music playing around the shop. She nodded and smiled at the other customers as they came and left before sticking her nose back in the books in front of her. Suzetta had been by many times to trade out her kettle for a warm pot and Ally let her, taking time to think of what else she could do to repay the kind couple. Those tickets! If only she could actually get away with that. After her first fitting a few days earlier, she mentioned giving hers to the Santoli's, but Benedetto wasn't having any of it.

You are a part of this family too, Ally. We want you there. She closed her eyes at his words coming back to her. He was right of course. She considered them family just like they considered her family. But she also considered the Santoli's family and she was still going solo to both events as of this moment. She knew she had a few weeks still left, but whoever she chose to go with her had to have a costume, a mask, and...well, the stomach to keep up with the Nicoletti's. All of them.