Letters to Italy

6. not normal

I didn't really know where we were going. And I also didn't dare to ask it to Jonas because then I had to interrupt the conversation between him and Il Volo.

We walked to a very big building. There were a lot of beautiful lights hanging on the walls, but not too much. Just enough to make it stylish.

The building was a hotel. Probably a very expensive one. It had big stairs to the front door, which was made of glass. We walked inside and I couldn't believe my eyes. The inside was even more beautiful. There was a big chandelier, full of golden details and it was a very spacy room, filled up with plants and beautiful furniture. The furniture was probably antique and very expensive. We walked to a door on the left from the entrance. There were more tables and chairs. It looked like a club or a restaurant, what it probably was. At the end of the room I saw very high glass windows that could be opened and lead to a beautiful garden. We walked to the garden and I saw more tables and places to sit.

"So this is our garden!" Ignazio said.

"He means the garden of the hotel we're staying this week", Piero added.

Everyone sat down and the waiter came to ask what we wanted to drink. He was very friendly and apparently he knew the boys of Il Volo too. And Il Volo knew him. Maybe they always stayed in this hotel when they came to Rome.I was kinda happy when Ignazio ordered pizza for the ones who were a bit hungry because it was five or more hours ago we all ate something.

I sat next to Ignazio, which was a good idea because he asked a lot to me and made me laugh. Piero sometimes joined our little conversations but most of the time he was talking to Carlotta, Gianluca and Jonas, in Italian of course. Liene was buzzy interrupting everyone and trying to get attention. At least that's what it looks like. I knew for sure she was just having fun and didn't want to be annoying on purpose.

Gianluca still hadn't said a word to me. He even hadn't looked at me yet. He was ignoring me. I was sure about that. I only didn't know why. Maybe he thought I was boring. That's what everyone thinks of me.

"Hey let's play soccer in the garden over there!" Piero said.

"Sounds fun, let's do it!" Jonas was already running away to the ball. Everyone stood up but then Carlotta said she had to go to the restroom. So we had to wait. The boys of Il Volo stood at the table, saying something in Italian to each other. It looked like they had a problem. I went to my brother who was playing already soccer on his own. Liene followed me.

"I'm sorry girls, I'm talking a lot to the boys in Italian. It's just so spontaneous and I always forget that you two don't speak Italian. And do you like it so far?" he asked while he kept playing football.

"Yes, it's...special", I said. "This is like a dream to me", I smiled but I felt like I was going to cry. I felt bad. Bad because this is what everyone dreams about, or at least all the Ilvolovers, and I was not a hundred percent happy. I should be the happiest girl in the world right now.

Jonas stopped playing football and looked with a questionable face to me. "Why do I not believe you?"

"Is it so obvious that I don't feel very happy while I should be?"

"No I haven't noticed it until now", he said. "Me too", Liene added, suddenly very serious too.

"Do you wanna tell us what's wrong?"

"Maybe..." I said.

"Is that a yes or a no?" Liene asked acting like she was a detective.

"It's a 'maybe later', isn't it?" Jonas said.

"Indeed!"

Gianluca's POV

"Gianluca, what's wrong?" Piero asked very serious.

"Huh?"

"You know what I mean."

"I know too, and probably all of these people..."

"Ignazio shhh, let me handle this!" Piero said.

I knew what they were thinking but I wasn't going to talk about it. Not now when they're all still here.

"You're acting weird", Piero continued.

"Yeah, weird!", Ignazio yelled so Piero looked at him with frowned eyebrows and big eyes. Telling him to shut up only with his eyes.

"What! Me! Why?" I said quickly.

"You see, I think that's already very weird. You're not acting normal like always."

"Then that's your problem, I'm just as normal as always!" I tried to convince him. "Ignazio sees it too! Am I right Ignazio?"

"Ignazio?"

"Ignazioooo?"

Ignazio put his hands in the air, "I'm saying nothing!"

Piero rolled his eyes and looked right into mine again. "If it has anything to do with...love", he said silently, "you know I'll be right here to listen to you! Always!".

"And me too!", Ignazio whispered in my ear.

"I know guys! I know. But there's really nothing going on", I told them.

"What if I don't believe you?" Ignazio asked while biting a bit of his slice of pizza like he was watching a movie.

"Ignazio!" Piero yelled. "We're trying to find out what's wrong with Gianluca. So maybe we can help him. And you act like it's all a joke. Be serious! Be mature!..Stop eating pizza all the time."

I knew I hadn't to take their little fights serious but I felt a bit guilty because it was my fault. And mostly because they were right. I was acting weird. I just never met a girl like her. When I saw her talking with Piero and Ignazio, I was jealous. I knew it was a sing that I was in love, a lot! But I couldn't tell it to the others because they would laugh. How can you be in love with a girl you never spoke and you just saw for an hour or two.

I decided to just play the game with the others and act as normal as possible. If I let myself go in the game, maybe everything will solve itself. If I was a person who drinks alcohol just to become drunk and forget things, I could've used a drink. But that would be a completely disaster. So maybe losing myself into the game was a better option.

Luckily Carlotta came back soon so we started to play the game without having to talk about it again.