𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 ➪ 𝐃𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐎 𝐃𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐃

XIII. BIRTHDAYS

"Happy Birthday!" Carlo, Adriana's brother, shouted over the loud music as he handed his younger sister a gift.

"Thank you!" Adriana shouted back.

Behind Carlo stood his girlfriend, Chiara, who smiled as she went to hug Adriana. "Happy birthday! I remember you were so young when I met you and now you're 21! What the fuck?!"

Adriana laughed, returning the hug. "I feel old." Adriana joked.

"If you feel old then we must feel ancient." Carlo laughed.

"Oh my God! It's Carlo!" Victoria shouted as she neared the three.

"Vic, my bro!" Carlo shouted as he went over to Vic. Him and Vic liked each other too much.

"Do you like the party I planned for our birthday girl?" Victoria asked, putting an arm around Adriana and kissing her cheek.

"Oh, it's definitely fit for a 21st birthday." Carlo said.

"One more!" Adriana shouted as Thomas and Vic had a competition to see who could drink four glasses of champagne faster.

Victoria downed her last glass and laughed at Thomas who still had one to go. "Thommy, you lost at your own bet!"

"Not true!" Thomas downed his last glass. "I'm done!"

"Judge Adriana says that the verdict is in favour of Vic!" Adriana exclaimed.

"Ah! Loser, Thommy!" Victoria shouted as she celebrated her win.

"I'm going to the bathroom, Vic!" Adriana said to Victoria who was still celebrating her win, she just showed her a thumbs up in return.

She walked towards the bathroom. From where he was sat next to Ethan who was going on about something that he didn't understand, Damiano stood up and took his chance.

The toilets were empty, you could hear the loud, muffled music through the walls. Adriana reapplied her lip gloss and after one final check in the mirror, she left the bathroom.

"Hey." She said, stopping her walk as someone appeared in front of her.

"Hi. I just wanted to give you this." Damiano slipped a little white box with a black ribbon into Adriana's hand. "I know we don't usually give gifts to each other but I just saw this and thought of you." Adriana was about to untie the ribbon but Damiano stopped her. "Open it at home."

"Okay." Adriana whispered. "Thank you, you didn't have to."

"I know but I wanted to." Damiano said. He walked away, leaving Adriana with just a smell of his cologne.

She went to put the box into her bag and got back to the party.

"Anyone on your eye right now?" Carlo asked as Adriana sat with him and Chiara.

"Oh leave her alone, Carlo." Chiara laughed.

"Yeah, Carlo! Listen to your girlfriend." Adriana joked.

"But, seriously, I'm also curious." Chiara said and the three laughed.

"Oh yeah, she's got a secret male friend that she won't introduce me to." Victoria said, drunkly, joining in to the conversation. "She's keeping him a secret."

"Oh wow." Carlo said, turning to his sister with raised eyebrows. "Who would have guessed?"

"It's nothing special." Adriana said, the little box that Damiano gave her running through her mind but she pushed the thought away.

"I want to meet this guy." Carlo said.

"Yeah, you probably won't." Adriana said, her eyes flickering to Damiano who was looking at her. She could tell he was listening in on the conversation. "Because it'll never be anything serious."