This ain't it luv

G N O C C H I

Maria Russo

"Ah so you must be the famous Oli that my daughter never stops talking about. It's a pleasure to meet you son." The two most important people in my life were finally meeting" sorry Gio. I could tell Oli was nervous. His forehead was shiny, a glimpse of sweat trickling down his temple, but then again it could've just been the sun. You would never get this scorching hot weather back in Bishops's Stortford.

"And you Sir." Oli replied extremely respectfully.

We were inside now, standing before a large oak table. There were foldable wooden chairs pushed under and all around it. My father was standing by his desk.

Oli wiped his hands against his shorts and lifted it to shake Papa's hand. I saw him wince at the strength of his grip. Papa was a lot stronger than he looked.

I chuckled, jokingly slapping him on the arm, "Don't be mean Papa"

Oli Porter

My heart was rapidly pounding, I could feel it climbing up my throat, why was I so nervous?

If only my friends were here they could've helped me with what to say and how to act. Now all I have is my brother Ben who is completely oblivious or his best friend Luke who has shagged half the girls in his year. Great.

Maria's happiness is everything to me so I want this to be perfect for her, he has such an impact on her life. I hope he likes me. He has to. I love Maria with every ounce of my heart; I want him to know I would never hurt her. I'm with her until the end.

But it was all over in an instant. His hand gripped mine, we laughed and it fell away again.

"Well you two love birds have fun in Bergamo, it's a beautiful city you know? Just make sure you keep my daughter safe."

I began a sigh of relief internally, Mr Russo hadn't been as intimidating as I thought.

"If anything, she's the one keeping me safe." This had gone over smoothly as he laughed once again. Even Maria chuckled too, before she threaded her finger between mine.

We swiftly moved away from the desk and took our seats at the table. Even after all that talking with Mr Russo I still felt a shiver down my spine when he bellowed down the hall, addressing everyone in it.

"Okay everybody we have a little icebreaker for you to get to know one another. Turn to the person next to you and try to ask them in Italiano some questions about themselves."

He didn't just speak to a room, he commanded it and for that I wished I could be more like him.

Ben Porter

I didn't realise I was staring, until after 3 whole minutes had gone by. Ana had gravelled to sit next to Maria's brother. It was clear he was attractive and he definitely knew it. Ugh this whole trip was going to be the entire female population gawking at him. Why couldn't Ana notice that I valued her? Was I not enough?

I creaked forward in my chair trying to get a gist of what they were talking about. I was lucky that my Italian translation was good. Ana spoke so fast and yet her accent stayed flawless.

"Ciao, mi chiamo Ana Martinez" She muttered. She was being shy.

"Ciao bella, mi chiamo Giovanni ma puoi chiamarmi Gio." His voice was deep and sultry. It clearly made an impact on her as she stifled a gasp at how romantic his tone was. "You kind of look Italian, where are you from signora?"

Ana was Spanish. As children we always indulged in the luxuries of her mother's food. Our entire friendship group spent day in and day out in the garden of her house, under the cool shade of the gazebo, preparing for the feast of Gods.