Letters to Italy

39. the first dance

Gianluca and I talked for over an hour, on the bench in the hall, not really in the party hall with the other people. Although I really loved talking to him again, I felt guilty I wasn't in the party hall with my family. It was a very special day for us, for my brother. I had to be there too. So I asked Gianluca if he wanted to join me to the other hall again. When we walked in he leaned toward me and whispered, "have I told you already, you look like a princes!" I giggled. "No, not you but someone else already told me!" He looked confused. Maybe a bit jealous. "Someone else?" He really couldn't hide he was jealous. But I didn't care he was, it was cute to see him like that. But I soon saved him from that feeling by saying the other person was just Jonas. "Oh, haha!" he said relieved. But it probably made him think about something else. "Aline?"

"Yes?" I said when we arrived at a table in the corner of the party hall.

"Have you...,I mean...no,yes...have you had...someone...else? Maybe? Sometime?"

I smiled. "No one else but you can melt my heart! No one else but you, right from the start" Wow, since when was I a poetess? "That's beautiful said!" he responded. I giggled.

"So beautiful" he whispered while looking with his eyes wide open into mine.

"And...you?" I asked careful, hoping he would have an answer like mine.

"Well, I'm not a poet but to every other girl that crossed my path I said no!" I started to laugh. "That doesn't even rhyme, haha! But I love your answer! Really!"

"Yes! 1-1!" he put his arms in the air like that time I made a goal when we played soccer.

"Heeey Aline!" someone shouted from a few meters further. I turned around and saw a happy Piero walk fast toward me, as if he couldn't wait to see me again. He immediately hugged me and gave me a kiss on my hand. I giggled again. It was not Friday the 13th anymore, well actually it was, but it didn't mean anything bad anymore. It was a fun day. Probably the best day since a long time.

I saw Gianluca look a bit jealous again. I knew why, he wanted to kiss me too. But I still wasn't sure if that was a good idea, even though it was a magical day now, I didn't know if I could allow him to kiss me. Then my feelings wouldn't understand it anymore. So I quickly started to talk to Piero, including Gianluca, to distract him from the urge of kissing me.

"You look so good! Just as good as the last time I saw you!" I said. "You expected me to have grey hair already?" he laughed. "Of course I look the same as the last time you saw me, it's not that long ago if you think about it."

"I don't know, for me it actually is a long time ago."

"You look beautiful too by the way! Just like a princes!" I started to laugh. Piero didn't know why that was so funny. But apparently I really must have had the looks of e real princes that day. Gianluca got it, why I laughed. And so we both laughed, leaving Piero stand there like a baby that sees himself for the first time in the mirror. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

"No, no," I laughed, "I think it are just the emotions that make me giggle a lot. No, it's just everyone tells me that today!"

"Oh, crap, I thought I was being original!" he laughed.

Piero, Gianluca and I, soon Ignazio too, even Liene and some other family members, were having a lot of fun and before I knew, it was already time for the real dinner. That was the time I got nervous again. Where was I supposed to sit? I was the witness of Jonas AND I was his sister, so I probably had to sit next to him. Not really a problem to me. Even though I really wanted to sit next to Gianluca too, and he wanted to sit next to me, I was sure about that.

After a few minutes it was obvious Gianluca and the rest of Il Volo were sitting on a table next to our table. I was sitting on a long table with the most of my family and Carlotta's family. I sat next to Jonas. I was so proud of him. My brother was married now, with a beautiful Italian girl. We had a lot of fun, the food was delicious and we had a lot of laughter too, even though they were sometimes talking in Italian.

I often turned my head to see what Gianluca was doing. But most of the time, he was looking at me too. Like, every time when I looked to him. Like he never turned his head back to Piero and Ignazio and the other people of that table. When I saw him and he saw me we smiled to each other. I didn't need anything else than that beautiful smile. My life was almost complete again. Oh, how much I missed that smile. It was better than pizza or chocolate. Better than the sun or the moon. Better than anything in the entire universe.

After a few hours of eating and talking at our own tables, it was finally time for the first dance. It was magical, especially because Il Volo sang it. They sang 'splendida'. Half of the time I was looking at Gianluca, and I had the feeling he was looking to me during the whole song. The moment was magical, not only because of the beautiful music and my brother dancing with his wife, also because I had decided. If Gianluca would try to kiss me that night, I wouldn't say no.

After the first dance, Il Volo sang a few other songs and I really wanted to stand there and listen but some guy I didn't know, took me by the hand and wanted to dance with me. I was too shy to just say no. He really must've liked me because he danced with me for over ten minutes.

Luckily someone else wanted to dance with me too. "Excuse me," he said to the other guy. "Can I take over?" The other guy obbeyed immediately. Probably because he was overwhelmed about the second guy being Gianluca Ginoble from Il Volo.

"I'm so happy you just did that!" I smiled brightly. "That's what prince charming does, I guess?" he said. And so we danced for a few minutes. It was the first time we really danced with real music in the background. I didn't even really think about it, it just happened. He lead me through every song like he was a professional dancer. The only thing I did was looking into his eyes.

Then he leaned in to whisper something in my ear. "I have another proof you still love me," he whispered. Well, it was a bit louder than whispering otherwise I wouldn't have heard it through the music. "You don't have to prove anything anymore!" I said. "I already told you I love you!"