Tre Ragazzi e Una Ragazza

8 ~ Rehearsal

I practiced my solo song and my half of the duet with Lucio well into the night, immediately falling asleep once I was finished. I woke up to see the sun filtering through my curtains, letting me know it was time to start the day. And what a day it would be. 

I grabbed my phone off the bedside table, looking at the time. 6:30 AM. I would get ready, get a cup of coffee from Caffè e Dolci, come back to work in the restaurant at 7:30, and work until my rehearsal at 1:00. I had so been looking forward to the rehearsal, but now my nerves were starting to get the better of me. What if I didn't measure up to the standards of the coordinator after all? What if I was no longer good enough to be in the showcase? I knew that it was silly, but silly thoughts can still be scary thoughts to think. I looked over at the picture of La Scala in my room. I took a deep breath. I needed to do get a grip and do my best in this showcase so that one day, I could be singing there. And I couldn't get distracted - not even by three, handsome, Italian opera singers. Although, I soonlearned it would be a hard thing not to get distracted by. 

As I walked down Little Italy, walking into Caffè e Dolci and getting my coffee from Mario, I was completely lost in my head. All the good and fun memories of yesterday washed over me and made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but sometimes an image would pop into my head that made my heart race. Staring into Lucio's eyes during our picnic in the park and holding his hand outside the restaurant, hearing Amedeo's calming voice say how much I meant to him in a compassionate phone call, or Cosimo resting his hand on my head on the cable car, baring into my eyes. I didn't know what to think of all that. But for today, I'd try and put it all out of my mind. Even though my mind kept choosing to replay Lucio's face over and over again in my head. 

After finishing my coffee, I went back to the restaurant to work my 5-hour shift. It was nice to have work to distract me. I happily served customers their coffee and pastries, showed some early birds the lunch menu, and helped the occasional child pick out which gelato flavor they wanted by giving them free samples to try. My mom walked up behind me as I was making a cappuccino for an elderly man, who was sitting at the barstools in front of the counter. "Are you excited for your first rehearsal today?" She asked me while simultaneously cleaning a spot off the counter with a rag. I nodded, not being able to contain my smile. "I can't wait to sing and show them what I can do." My mom smiled. "It's what you've been working toward, piccolina. You should be excited."

She took the ready-made cappuccino from me and served the man, who tipped his hat in gratitude before sipping from the hot drink. "How do you feel about your duet with Lucio?" My smile was now accompanied by an increasing heartbeat. "I'm excited for that too. He's a really talented singer, and I'm looking forward to performing with him." My response sounded incredibly formal and neutral. What I really wanted to say was I'm afraid I may listen to his voice ad cry on stage when it's my turn to sing. 

My mom smiled. "He's lucky to be performing with you. I hope he knows that." I rolled my eyes, a smile still on my face. My mom was always the one to brag about me to others. I loved how proud she was of me. "He seems pretty happy about it. Today is the first day I'm going to get to hear him sing his part of the song. He wanted to surprise me." My mom let out an awww. "That's precious. I'm sure you two will sound great together." I thought for a moment before turning to look at her. I know I said I wasn't going to think about them for the rest of the day, but I really needed her opinion on this. "Mom, what do you think of them all? The boys?" 

She thought to herself for a moment before answering the question. "I haven't known them long, but them seem like nice and respectful young men." She smirked at me. "What really matters is what you think of them." As I should have known, she could see right through my act. I sighed, going back to cleaning the coffee machine. I guess she was right, though. I smacked myself in my head, resolving to focus solely on the rehearsal and the showcase for today. Aso, to not assume any of their feelings or emotions unless they were telling me plainly to my face. And maybe not even then.