Chapter Twenty-Two #2
Something stupid, like relief, floods me. His sister. I could scream, but I actually make a nervous sound instead. It comes out like a squeaky laugh. “Hi,” is all I manage.
“And what is it you do best?” Gus interrupts.
She gives him a sisterly smile. “Intrude.”
He chokes on a laugh. “Yes. Yes, you do. What are you even doing in Italy?”
She shrugs. “I have a work thing in Milan.”
Cole laughs this time. “Just a quick a six-hour drive from here.” Grace brushes this off, making a face at me like they’re all being very dramatic.
“I took the liberty of ordering champagne for us,” she says to me, ushering me to the table. I take the seat opposite hers, Gus sliding in beside me.
“Er, thank you,” I say, as she fills my glass.
“What are you having?” she asks, nodding at the menu.
“Give the girl a chance,” Cole says, giving her a disbelieving glance.
“I’m just excited. This is the first normie Gus has ever dated. Well, since secondary school.”
Sirens sound in my head. Must shut this down.
“Oh, we’re not…”
But Gus is already speaking too, “She is not the first normal woman I’ve dated. What are you basing this on anyway? Normal is subjective.”
“We’re not dating,” I try to add, but nobody is listening.
“You’ve only ever dated rich people’s daughters,” Grace accuses.
“Not true! What about Maisy Telling? She wasn’t famous when I dated her. The first time anyway.”
Cole laughs as Grace sputters. “She’s a nepo baby!”
“No, she’s not!”
“Her father is Martyn Telling!”
“Who is that?” he asks.
“That guy who wrote that fantasy show about the dragons,” she says. “He’s a multi-millionaire.”
Gus shrugs and blows out a breath. “I didn’t know that.”
“You didn’t talk about her family?” I ask.
To which he sputters a laugh. “What can I say?”
“Oh nothing. I already knew you were a fiend.”
“But you like me anyway?”
I give him a stare. “When did I say I liked you?”
When I turn back, Grace and Cole are both sipping slowly, watching our interaction with fascination. Ok, fine. So I’m flirting again. It’s just so easy to flirt with him. I could smack my head against the table, instead I sip on my champagne to calm my nerves.
When the waiter comes to take our orders, I keep it simple with a carbonara. “There’s no way I’m spending time in Rome and not getting its most famous dish,” I say to argue my point but, in the end, all four of us get some kind of pasta.
“Are we going to share though?” Gus asks.
I make a face. “Absolutely not. Why on earth would we share?”
“But how do we re-enact Lady and The Tramp?”
“We don’t?”
“Such a wasted opportunity.”
Grace is grinning at us again. Cole too, but he seems to be entertained by Grace’s antics as much as ours. In fact, he’s nothing like his characters at all. He’s so quiet and morose.
“What was it like being his little sister?” I ask Grace, to pull her attention away from us.
She groans. “It’s my entire personality, apparently. But if I try to fight it, it only makes me depressed. Nobody gives a damn about me.”
Gus sniffs. “Please! Save the sob story, Sara isn’t going to buy it. As if you don’t reap the benefits.”
“I might as well. I might change my name legally to Gus from Just4Summer’s sister.”
“Sorry if that was insensitive…” I add slowly, but Gus gives me a look that suggests Grace is just messing with me, so I decide to pose a sillier question. “What’s the most embarrassing thing he ever did to you?”
At this her face lights up. She flicks her hair behind her shoulders and leans forward with a familiar twinkle in her caramel eyes. I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. When I turn to see what Gus thinks of my question, he looks just as intrigued as I am.
“My twenty-first birthday,” she starts.
Gus throws his hands up, shaking his head. “Here we go.”
“I asked Jax to kiss me because I knew some of the guests were actively filming us. I thought it would be funny. A bit of drama to throw into the mix. The media and J4S fans were weirdly obsessed with my dating history.” She pauses to take a sip of wine.
“I honestly got so tired of fighting it, that I just ran with it. I even invited some of the people I knew were involved with spilling my secrets to the press, because they didn’t know I knew it was them.
” She shrugs like she’s half-proud of the drama she caused.
“Anyway, Jax was a friend,” she adds, eyeing Gus across the table.
He clenches his jaw and looks down at his drink.
“What I didn’t know is that Gus and Jax were mid spat about some other girl.
Jax didn’t tell me. And, well, let’s just say Gus intervened.
He was yelling, pulling at Jax’s t-shirt, making a whole scene.
And yes, I did want a scene. But a scene crafted at my own hands.
Not my big brother acting all protective at my birthday party. It was mortifying.”
I give him a look. “What did you do?”
“I threw a drink at him,” he says, his expression unreadable. “I should have punched him though, in hindsight.”
“Hmm,” Grace mutters. “Gus was so drunk he missed, by the way, and drenched me instead. On my birthday.”
“I said I was sorry! And besides, Will dealt with Jax before I had a chance.”
Something about this sentence silences Grace, her composure softening. I half expect her to add more to the story, but instead she takes a sip of water and is pleasantly pleased by the waiter arriving with bread to interrupt the conversation.
After we’ve finished our mains and the table is being cleared, the owner comes in again and starts to converse with Cole in Italian. He invites him to follow him into the kitchen and Gus joins too, checking I’m alright with his sister before he goes.
Obviously, I nod, except I’m instantly on edge as I turn back to her.
She’s smiling conspiratorially. “You’d be good for him,” she says.
“Oh no, it’s not like that, we just met.”
“I know.”
“Besides, I don’t really think—”
“I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you,” she says, interrupting me, her tone serious. “I think it’s because you remind him of what our childhood was like. We were totally normal. I don’t think either of us were designed for the life his fame brought us.”
I put my napkin on the table and sit back. “Gus does seem affected by it all.”
“He’s a sensitive guy, really,” she says.
“I know he’s scared about what life will be like now this is all over.
And I also know he doesn’t want to hear it, or how much he’s actually told you, but it is coming to an end.
He’ll find out soon. Between us, you should be prepared for that. In case you’re with him.”
I swallow and nod.
“Obviously, he has opportunities, if he wants them. He could make his own music, or act.” She laughs. “Fuck. Actually no, not acting. He is a fucking terrible actor.”
“What do you think he’ll do?”
She twists her lips. “Honestly? I think he’d be a good mentor for other young popstars. He’s talented. He might perform again. Or he could turn to presenting.”
I grin. “He’d be good at that.”
“Right? He has the personality for it.” Although she frowns. “I’m not sure I want to see him in the music industry again though. It’s incredibly toxic and takes so much from him.”
Before she can say anymore Cole and Gus return.
We order desserts, then after, when we’re all full and tipsy, Gus leans back, reaching an arm behind me to rest on my chair.
I’m hyperaware of Grace, reading my every reaction.
She can barely hide her smile. If I knew her better, I’d kick her under the table.
My sisters would like her. She’s fiery.
“Right,” she says, slapping her palms on the table and standing up. “I’m going to go before the bill arrives because they’ll be a super awkward moment where Gus offers to pay and Cole refuses.”
“I already paid,” Cole responds.
Gus growls good-humouredly. “You mother fuc—”
“See,” she says, laughing at me.
“I feel whiplashed.”
“Hanging out with Grace will do that to you,” Gus says, just as she retorts, “That’ll be because Gus is so annoying!”
Cole stands to block Grace’s escape. “Where are you staying tonight?” he asks. It’s almost protective. I glance at Gus to read his expression, but he clearly isn’t bothered by their interaction.
“A boutique hotel in Parioli,” she says. “Although I appreciate your offer to stay with you, I try not to stay in the same place as my brother, as you know.”
Cole nods. “Take my car. My driver will take you wherever you need to go.”
I expect her to politely refuse but instead she laughs and says, “Ok.” Before she reaches the curtain to the kitchens, she spins on her heel and steps towards Gus, throwing an arm round his neck and holding him close.
“I nearly forgot to hug you. Here’s some cash.
You can pay me back later,” she says, stepping back and pulling out a massive wad of euros from her handbag and pressing it into his palm.
“And I hope I’ll be seeing more of you, Sara.
” Then she turns again and marches out of the restaurant as Cole calls his driver to explain the change in plans.
Gus leans towards me, his lips almost brushing the shell of my ear. “Are you up for walking back to the villa?”
I turn to him and immediately regret it, my pulse jumping in my throat at his proximity. “Ok,” is all I manage to squeak out.
All I can think about, as his eyes track mine, is Grace saying, I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you. I swallow that information down and clear my throat, brushing down the invisible dirt on my dress.
Gus throws a helmet at Cole, which he catches with his superhuman reflexes. “Hey, I know you’ve been drinking, but can you take the Vespa back? We’re going to walk.”
Cole rolls his eyes good-humouredly. “I’ll arrange a taxi to collect me. And the Vespa.”