From London to Rome

Chapter 47

Skylar

Life has been crazy since a few hours ago. I always saw myself as being very low-key. I never had many Instagram followers or Facebook friends. I only have three friends and I spend most of my time studying or working. My life changed a little when I started dating Luca. I started spending more and more time with him and sometimes with his friends. Because our relationship was secret, we always had to watch out whenever we went outside together. I never liked being the centre of attention and now I am.

I always knew that dating Luca would be different than it would be with most guys. So many people know and adore him and I knew from the start that us dating would create a lot of attention for us both. Luca warned me of all the things the press might be up to. But he also said that their attention would die out once they realised there were no more stories to sell.

Now I'm really waiting for this media storm to pass. I've always had my Instagram account on private, but the past few hours I've gotten so many follow requests that it's impossible to keep up with declining all of them. At a certain point I just gave up, which results in over 500 open requests so far. Because Luca warned me about all of this, I was kind of prepared and I know I definitely shouldn't read the comments on Luca's post. Multiple websites have already written about it and I even managed to avoid those stories.

I must admit I was kind of surprised about Luca's post myself. Luca had been talking about going public for a while, but I assumed he was talking about once he was back in London. That we would just start going out together without baseball caps and hoodies to hide under.

I agreed with the whole going public idea. I am getting sick of hiding my relationship and especially reading all the stories about Luca and other girls that people come up with. Now it is out in the open and I get why Luca wanted to keep it a secret for so long. Keeping a secret is exhausting, but this? Even more so. And it has only been a few hours. Well, hopefully, it will only get better from here.

I wasn't the only one surprised by Luca's approach. Abby recognised me in the picture immediately and called me in the middle of the night, right after she saw the picture. Because I went to bed early last night, I hadn't seen the post until Abby told me about it. She met Luca a while ago and she never expected him to go public like this. That doesn't mean she isn't super excited. She's already telling people she knows Luca Bianchi's girlfriend. We talked for a little about Luca being in New York but since it was still the middle of the night we were both too tired to talk for long. After updating each other with what's going on, we agreed to get together soon. I made her promise to tell me about her mystery guy when we see each other. I cannot believe I still haven't figured out who it is. Even with all the Facebook and Instagram stalking I've done. She told me very few things but it's clear she really likes him, so I'm rooting for them anyway.

I tried sleeping a little, but it was hopeless. My mind keeps going back to Luca being in New York, so far away from me. And to all the people that now know that I'm dating Luca. After an hour I just give up on sleeping and try calling Luca. It's late in the evening in New York and I know Luca is probably busy with something or trying to catch up on sleep but I try anyway. I just need to hear his voice. To my luck, he picks up his phone right away. He sounds both anxious and excited when he asks me about the Instagram post.

"I liked the picture but I was a bit surprised since you barely use Instagram normally."

"I know, but I wanted the whole world to know and that was the best way to share us with the world. Was it really okay?"

"Yes, of course. We talked about no longer hiding it and now we definitely won't have to."

"I just couldn't stand everyone talking about me and random girls anymore. I wanted everyone to know I was taken by the most amazing girl. I can't wait to hold you again, baby. I miss being near you."

"Me too, baby. All the calling and texting can't replace hugging or kissing you."

Luca asks me about my plans for next week and I tell him I'll finally finish my extra credit courses on Tuesday. We talk some more about school before Luca has to go. It's late and he has work in the morning so I shouldn't keep him awake too long.

"Hopefully we'll see each other sooner than expected, baby."

When he ends the call, I'm already overthinking what he just said. I really hope he comes home soon.