“I think a little of the cazzo could make you happier, no? You have been acting angry towards me lately.” I decided to ignore him and walked off the plane carrying my stuff. If Luca had been more of a gentleman, and less of a player, he would have helped me with my things.
****
We hit the slopes at nine the next morning. Actually, Luca and I hit the slopes while Victoria and Robert slept in. Victoria had a typical European attitude towards alcohol, which is to say she found American attitudes towards drinking overly-restrictive, and we had stayed up late polishing off a few bottles of Italian wine which Luca had brought with him in his luggage, duty free. It still hadn’t been enough to loosen me up, however, and I had gone to bed early, claiming I felt sick.
I had hoped the booze and the late night would put him out of commission until later in the day, but no such luck--he was up as soon as he heard me clattering around downstairs, and raving to go ski.
The lift finally reached the top of the run, and I pushed away vigorously as Luca swore and called for me to wait. I turned my head just long enough to see him skiing thirty feet behind me, bent over so he could close his boot buckles on the fly.
I flew into the tight trees between two of the harder runs that dropped directly from the top of the main lift. The slope plunged downwards at a 50 degree angle, and there were only a few lines through the trees, and since it hadn’t snowed in over a week, it was guaranteed to be icy and terrifying. I’d been skiing here for six years, and I knew the shape of every mogul and exposed branch sticking out from the snow. There was no way Luca could follow me down; at least not without killing himself.
I exploded through a secret pocket of powder near the bottom, then turned quickly in the heavy chop that followed, finding the little gap between two trees that marked the end of the trees...and the top of the cliff. It was a heart-pounding fifteen-foot drop from there to the groomed run underneath. I flew between the trees, my poles clicking against them, before sailing off the edge and into the air above the groomer.
I touched down, hitting the compacted snow with a loud 'slap,' then carved my way between two gaping tourists with inches to spare.
Sick, I thought smiling. Sorry about that cliff, Luca. Hope you didn’t break your neck.
I skied fast all the way back to the base, pushing my new skis to the limit so I could get a feel for them.
Finally, after ten leg-burning minutes, I pulled up to the mess of tourists at the base of the run, throwing my skis sideways and coming to a stop in a cloud of cold snow. I leaned on my poles, almost collapsing into the snow as I caught my breath.
“You ski so fast.”
I looked up in surprise. Luca was standing in front of me, his mouth plastered with a huge grin.
I’d been skiing fast mainly to get away from him, but of course, he didn’t get the hint.
I didn’t know what to say, so I just poled away into the lift line with Luca right at my heels. We stood under the lift together, waiting for the chair to come around, when two fat tourists scooted in beside us.
“Y’all don’t mind if we jump on with ya'?” one of them asked in a heavy Texas accent that sounded just like mine.
“Not at all,” I replied, trying not to groan. The four-person lift came around and Luca and I sat down, mashed up against each other.
“It’s like my airplane ride from Italy to America,” Luca chortled. I ignored him and reached down to flip open the buckles of my new, painfully tight boots. Luca did the same as I tried to think of a run I could possibly lose him on. If he could follow me through the trees there wasn’t much on the mountain I could use to get rid of him.
“I will just follow, you, okay?” Luca shouted as we began another run down. I found another opening in the trees, one that led to another double-black-diamond run and scary enough to still have some relatively untouched powder left on it.
Ugh, I thought, as I maneuvered into a steep, horrifyingly narrow chute full of nasty rocks. All of this was probably just making him like me more. I made it to the bottom miraculously in one piece, and watched with annoyance as Luca bounced off a mogul and landed in the powder next to me.
“Madonna mia,” Luca gushed. “That was awesome!” He held his hand out for a high-five, which I grimly accepted. “You know all the best runs on the mountain! Like a local! This is fantastic.”
****
The day ended in a corner booth at the local bakery. We had skied a few runs with Victoria and Robert, but they both skied so much slower than us they had let us go after only a couple of runs. My legs felt like Jell-O and my head was spinning with exhaustion. Luca was an inexhaustible skier, but I didn’t wanted to admit that I was tired so I pushed until I could barely stand.
The bakery had espresso, which Luca was thrilled about. He arrived grinning with two cups and slid into the booth next to me.
Then he leaned over and kissed me, taking me totally by surprise. I kissed him back before I could stop myself. Our lips moved together for what seemed like an eternity before I pulled away.
Luca pulled me close again. “I wanted to, ever since I see you in the airport,” he said. It felt so good being pressed against him, feeling the heat of his body. I forced myself to pull away.
“We can’t,” I finally said.
“Why not?” Luca asked. His hand was still resting on my waist, making a forest of tingles bloom through my skin.
“Because,” I said, pushing his arm down. “We’re brother and sister now. So we can’t.”
“Amelia,” he said. “You try to control everything, but you can’t live that way. It’s like you don’t even let yourself like me.”
“Yes I can,” I said. “I like it when things are under control.”
****
Our argument continued later on into the evening. I had excused myself to get more wine for Victoria, but instead I walked outside to try and make sense of things. Luca appeared after a minute, tapping an Italian cigarette out of the carton and into his hand.
“Don’t smoke around me,” I said.
“You seemed so different before,” he said, in a biting voice, lighting up anyway and blowing a cloud of smoke.
“That’s because I was trying to be fun. Just to see what it was like. But that’s not who I am.”
“That’s not true. You are fun--I had the most fun skiing today.”
“Just leave me alone,” I said archly.
“Is this all because of Carrie? Ever since I start to see her, you are totally cold to me.”
“I know how this works. You’re one of the popular kids now. You’re never going to talk to me again. But you’ll still try to fuck me, because you’re a guy.”
“Jesus Christ--I was enjoying being with you, and you help me out a lot--”
“Helped, not help.”
“Merda, whatever. You are so goddamn touchy, Amelia. I see a girl once, and now you think I am an asshole.”
“I’m sorry. I’ll be a lot more agreeable than I really am, just for you.” I put every drop of sarcasm I could manage into my voice. Luca kept raving, waving his hands around in a fury.
“I was so happy to come to the USA, and now everything is shitty. And Carrie is stupid, by the way. Everything she talks about is stupid.”
That sounded like Carrie, I thought.
“She fucks real good though,” Luca said before turning and storming back into the house.
I followed him in, fuming.
“I’m not hungry anymore,” I said, heading upstairs to my room.
“Honey, are you feel--” Robert said, but I was already walking up the stairs. I slammed the door to my room and laid down on my bed. Luca stomped up the stairs a few minutes later.