Dear Florence,

THREE: Ora Di cena

❀Florence

Everyone is laughing as they hear Farren's, Graysons dad, corny dad joke.

Grayson rolls his eyes and picks at his food.

He hates it here. And that makes me mad.

Now I'm rolling my eyes because of him. Mamá kicks my leg under the table and gives me glare. I widen my eyes at her.

I wasn't even rolling my eyes because of Farren's bad joke!!! I was doing it because Grayson clearly is ungrateful to eat dinner with his family and his new family friends.

As we finish up eating, Mamá tells Grayson and I to clear up the table while the parents grab drinks.

She says this is a good way to get to know him.

I don't want to get to know him. I want to be in the flower shop, spending hours watering them instead of being here with Him.

My back is facing Grayson as I stack the plates and gather the spoons and forks.

"Florence," I look up and turn my head to him. He's not looking at me though, "How old are you?" He asks.

I turn back around and keep grabbing the utensils, "I just turned 16 last month." Is my English bad? I really hope it's not. What if I sound like an idiot with my accent?

He doesn't say anything else after I respond. But, I hear him coming over to the table. He's stands next to me and starts to help gather the dishes. I reach for the water glass but so does he.

His hand is on top of mine and we're both staring at our hands.

His hand isn't moving - my hand isn't moving either.

My heart rate quickens. I've never touched a boy like this.

No. He's a jerk remember?

I pull my hand out from under his and pick up the stack of plates off table. I walk up to the sink and put the dishes in there.

The tension is in the air. I can feel it and I don't like it.

I need out of this house.

I hear the parents laughing in the wine room downstairs. Maybe if I leave they won't even notice? No. I can't. Papá is going to get real mad if he sees the dishes not cleaned.

I stare down at the sink, trying to think of ways to not be in the same room as Grayson.

Grayson.

His name is very unique. At least to me. Maybe it's a popular American name I didn't hear about.

I hear Grayson clear his throat. I turn around and see him holding up the other dishes.

"Oh" I realize I'm in the way of the sink, "spiacente-" I move out of the way, "shoot, I meant - sorry." I mumble.

Stop saying so many words, Florence! You sound a like an idiota...

"I understand Italian," he chuckles, "well... a little bit. I'm still learning but I'm almost fluent." He adds.

"I'm still gonna talk in English though." I tell him, "I need to practice anyway." I say to him. He gives me a small smile and looks at me.

We're looking at each other. So intensely. I don't like this.

I look away as I hear our parents laugh coming up the stairs.

Once they reach our floor they come into the kitchen.

"Royal," Graysons mom looks at him.

Royal? What is royal?

"Ready to go?" Anna looks at Grayson. Grayson nods and goes up to them.

I would expect a boy that's in college to be independent - to not be with his parents. It's odd.

We walk the family out the door and they wave goodbye to us.

I look at Grayson and he gives me a small wave. I shyly wave back and look away.

He's starting to make me nervosa.

We walk back into the kitchen and start to clean more. We usually don't have guests over so it's weird having to clean so much.

"Come ti è piaciuto Grayson?"(How did you like Grayson?) — Mamá asks me, wiping the counters.

"Sta bene..." (He's okay...) — I look at the table to see the boxes of pastries Grayson had from earlier today. Well, now 2 because one box is already empty from dinner.

"Va 'bene'?" (Just 'okay'?) — Mamá shoves my shoulder.

"Mamá, abbastanza." (Mom, enough) I roll my eyes and take a pastry out of the box and stuff my face with it. I don't want to talk about Grayson anymore.

A/n: hey guys, just want to let y'all know that Evelina will be brought up soon. Please please be patient with the story. The whole point is to build up the relationship between you and the characters before we get to the good parts. I want you guys to love the characters as much as I love them writing throughout the story :)

FAQs:

Q: Where is tf is royal?
A: queen it's grayson himself. Be patient because there will be more of an in depth explanation on why his name is different in this book!!!!!!

Q: will grayson end up withe evelina?
A: ur gonna have to keep reading to find out bestie

Q: where's evelina?
A: fucking be patient cuz she will brought up later its only the third damn chapter of this book pls and ty😃😃😃