The Fall of Mangiatorvi

14: Assimulating

"You're here," Gemma said, stuck between impressed and pleased.

This time it was Gemma who was late, and she was sure that he would have left already if he bothered to come at all. Luca sat outside the practice room, his lips pulled into a thin line as he looked up at her past his pretty boy eyelashes. She hesitated, coming to a stop, prepared to receive the same backlash she dealt out.

Instead, he pointed to his thousand dollar watch. "You said four, it is 4:10."

She rolled her eyes, her smile never faltering. Gemma headed into the practice room with a skip in her step, determined to keep her spirits high. "Consider it a down payment for all my time you wasted yesterday."

The trip into the city started with some tension, but the girls quickly recovered from their political differences. Soon the girls were walking arm in arm, laughing and socializing in a way Gemma had only dreamed of in her previous life. Passamont was cramped, but it also had a surprise waiting at every corner. In New York, Gemma walked the busy streets, painfully aware of the fact she was an outsider. She used to feel a knot in her stomach every time she saw a group of friends, the slow burn of envy eating her from the inside out. 

Now, in Passamont, she looked upon her new friends with newfound gratitude and peace. She held tightly to every moment, almost afraid she would wake up from this dream to find herself back in her dingy one-bedroom apartment in Hell's Kitchen.

Luca followed her into the training room with his hands in his slack pockets. He kicked the door closed behind him. She didn't like the way his pale green eyes looked her up and down. She decided it wasn't fair for a man to be that beautiful. Daniel was flawed, despite his rugged looks. Although wildly attractive to her, she noted Daniel was only above average aside from his physique. Luca, on the other hand, had the face of an angel and the body of a god.

His strong jawline and high cheekbones were delicately chiseled to perfection, with a feminine touch, sculpted by the ancient Romans themselves. Gemma could only dream of looking half as pretty as this stupid man. This stupid man with broad shoulders that stretched for miles and sculpted arms that were barely contained in his dress shirt. The pride of his expectant smirk made her regret ogling.

"Do you like what you see?"

She scoffed, giving him a pointed roll of the eyes. "You look like a girl."

"I look like my mom." His expression fell flatter than his tone.

Her own tone softened. "She must be very pretty."

"She was."

Gemma mentally kicked herself. She was just walking into all sorts of landmines today.

He walked past her in the ring. "Let us get started. Show me what I am working with."

"I can't."

Gemma recoiled with a scream as Luca sent out a wildfire burst of flames with a quick flick of his wrist. To her surprise, it didn't hurt. She was encompassed inside a small cocoon of fire. It was warm, like sitting next to a bonfire on a cold winter night. Outside the cocoon, Luca was giving her the most skeptical of frowns. He let the fire drop to the ground and sizzle away.

"You are serious."

"Yes!" Gemma shouted, giving him a hard punch in the arm. "Are you trying to kill me?"

"If I was trying to kill you, you would be dead." Luca rubbed his arm defensively. "That was the most pathetic display I have ever seen. You call yourself a T1E?"

She threw her hands in the air before taking a seat crisscross on the floor, dropping her head into her hands, her mood quickly turning sour. "This is so stupid. I don't know what I thought an asshole like you was going to be able to teach me."