Moments | Sal Vulcano

Chapter 17

I stand on the front porch, in the cold, despite the thick black army coat I'm wearing. I approach the front wooden door and started knocking. As I was waiting for an answer, I rub my hands and hugged myself to keep warm.

The door eventually swung open and I saw Sal, who's glad to see me.

"Hey." Sal greets me as he gestures me to walk inside.

I set foot inside the house. It already feels like home. The modern lamp on my right really makes the space more vivid, which goes well with the white-beige wallpaper. I take off my black converse, without being told by Sal himself, and went to the living room, where I found Brian sitting on a brown armchair and Joe and Murr sitting next to each other on the brown couch.

Murr was the first to notice me. "So it really is you?" Murr asks with a smile, wearing the bluest t-shirt you could find in a shop.

"Of course it's her! Didn't you recognise her?" Joe nudges Murr with his elbow.

"Yeah, but not until you reconigsed her first!" Murr lowered his voice, thinking that I wouldn't hear him.

I giggled as I watched the two bicker. Sal gestured me to sit, his hand in the direction where another armchair is placed, which is opposite the armchair where Brian is sitting.

"Do you want anything to drink?" Sal asks me.

"Just a glass of water." I told him as I sat down on the armchair, making myself comfortable.

As Sal went to the kitchen, I observed the coffee table in the middle, that has magazines scattered everywhere and papers placed on top of it. Must be work stuff, for all I know. Ideas for the show, maybe.

"We were surprised to actually see you while we were filming." Joe looks at me as he buttons up his white-plaid shirt. "I'd thought I'd seen that face before. It actually bothered me for a little bit."

"I wasn't bothered at all." Murr lies.

"Oh please, you were just as bothered as he was." Brian points out to him with his finger, knowing that he was lying.

"I was trying to look unrecognisable, but obviously that hasn't worked." I said as Sal came back with a glass of water in his hand. I took the glass and thanked him.

Sal sat down next to Joe on the couch and joined in the conversation. "Maybe not, but that doesn't mean that you won't be on TV."

"Wait, if you were trying to look unrecognisable, how did you know that we'd be in the mall?" Murr points out.

I mentally struggled to find the right answer, because if I told them that Sal asked me for help, then who knows what would happen next. Unfortunately, I couldn't think of anything but the truth. "Sal asked me to help him." I answer.

I looked at Sal and gave him the I'm-sorry look. He snarled briefly and was visibly upset, and it made me wish that I didn't say that, because he didn't want to lose and do a punishment that could be far worse than going through trash looking for his phone or peeing his pants, anything germ related. But, honestly, I don't think it bothered him too much. I'm sure there are things far worse than losing a challenge on a prank show.

"Ah! Sneaky Sal, up to his good ol' tricks." Murr glares at him, rubbing his two hands together like a masterminded villain. "You can't fool us."

"Well, to be fair, he sort of did." Joe jumped in, stopping Murr making Sal feel any worse. "I mean, we actually believed that he succeeded by giving him the thumbs up. And we didn't recognise...Mel, right?"

"Melinda." I told him. "Mel is short for Melinda." I'm surprised that he remembers my name.

"Right. We didn't recognise Melinda back at the mall." Joe finishes explaining to Murr.