The rest of the ride was uneventful, other than some small talk. Romeo was officially and eternally endeared to Eva already, and Maria had to admit that the red spectacled cousin was a bit more immediately likable, albeit strange, than his siblings. She reminded herself that they had had to stay up till all hours to get them. Probably they would be nicer in the morning. When they arrived at their cousins home, they dragged their things into their room and without changing, climbed in bed and fell asleep.
Francis and Romeo bid goodnight to their sister and went into their room.
"So." Romeo began, his eyes wide from either excitement or being up way too late.
"Yes she likes opera, and yes I think that's strange." Francis said, then ducked as Romeo threw his sneaker at his head.
"I like her." Romeo declared. "In fact I like them both." He added defiantly.
Francis looked surprised at his tone. "Well so do I." He protested. "And I think I'll like them even better after I get to know them. But right now I just want to sleep!"
He pulled his blanket over his head, partially to emphasis his statement and partially in an attempt to protect himself in case Romeo threw his other sneaker. Not that a blanket would protect him much. But it was better than nothing.
Romeo, however, had no need to throw another sneaker, having satisfied his feelings quite well with the first one. He put his glasses on his nightstand, and settled happily into bed, content with his first impression of their cousins.
* * *
The next morning, the girls didn't get up until past 11, however the cousins didn't care. When they came downstairs, their aunt, Eleonora, had a (somehow)warm breakfast ready for them.
"Wow, thank you!" Maria said, while mentally mourning the absence of Nutella on the table. "This smells amazing."
"Mangia!!" Romeo said, looking at them intently. Unsure of the meaning of this look, the girls sat down, looking questioningly back at him.
"That means eat." He clarified.
"We know." Eva said. He looked shocked.
"We know quite a bit of Italian." Maria explained, since Eva didn't seem to be planning on it. "We just want to become fluent. We can carry on basic conversations."
"And mangia is preeetty basic around here. You should know, Rome." Francis said, coming in and dropping into a chair. "Good morning." he added belatedly.
"Good morning." The girls said sweetly. He looked at them for a moment, then began to serve himself some food.
Romeo had already scarfed down his first helping. He took some more, then sat back.
"So Eva, " He began without preamble, "What is your favorite opera?"
Eva was startled. "Umm..."
"Also who's your favorite singer?" He continued, "Actually more specific- who's your favorite soprano, mezzo, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, preferably in that order. Oh, and-"
"Rome!" Sofie interrupted. He looked at her.
"Yes?" He questioned, obliviously. Sofie rolled her eyes hopelessly. Romeo looked at her with perplexity for a moment.
Eva, after collecting her thoughts as best as possible, said,
"I'm not sure if I have one, although I do like some of La Boheme. And the mastersinger, by Wagner? I can't really think right now though. And for singers... do you mean present, past, or both?"
Romeo looked delighted at this bit of clarification.
"Both." He said, smiling widely.
"Ok, um, I like Maria Callas of course- her voice that is- and I like...Renee Fleming too actually, and Natalie Dessay. That new soprano, whats her name. Nina something. I don't remember. For tenors, I like Vittorio Grigolo, Jonathon Antoine... and Piero Barone-"
"Oh I like him too." Romeo said seriously.
"Alfie Boe, and of course Placido Domingo-"
"Yes!!"
"And, um. I can't think of any more off the top of my head." She finished, looking a bit apprehensive.
Romeo was blissful. Sofie, Maria and Francis stared at him, then glanced at each other. Francis shrugged and resumed eating. The girls looked back at Romeo, who was now happily eating. They both sighed, and stood up.
"Just stick your dishes in the sink." Sofie directed. Maria hesitated.
"Seriously." Sofie insisted, "this week is Francis' week. I'd appreciate if you washed them yourself when its mine though."
Maria immediately dropped her plate and fork into the sink. Francis was glaring balefully at his smirking younger sister.
"So what are you kids planning for today?" Aunt Eleonora asked.
"Well, are you two up for a tour of the town?" Romeo asked, pitching his plate as well.
"Hey, careful!" Francis squawked fussily, looking in the sink. "Don't break them please?!"
"Sorry," Romeo apologized apologetically. Francis looked despondently at the dishes for a moment. He looked wordlessly at his mother. She sighed.
"I'll do them if you want to go right now." Francis' face broke into a smile
"Thanks mama," he said, hastily exiting before she could change her mind.
"So do you actually want to go see Chiaro?" Sofie asked, since Romeo hadn't waited for an answer.
"Yes!" Maria said, "We'd love to."
"Ok, well it's pretty boring." Sofie replied ungraciously. She headed to the door. "Don't bother to change, trust me there are no reasons to look special." She added as she left.
The girls looked at each other, then at their clothes.
"Oh well, I guess we're fine." Eva shrugged and followed the cousins.Maria was not convinced, as she looked at her own floral shorts and t-shirt, but didn't want to make the others wait, so the reluctantly headed out to the little red car.
The music had apparently been turned back up, even louder, and Eva had been promoted to the front seat. Francis was grumpily slumped in the back seat beside Sofie, who was waiting expectantly for maria. She patted the seat beside her with the friendliest expression Maria had seen from her yet. She smiled back and got in.
"Hey wait, this is Il Volo!" She exclaimed delightedly on hearing the music. Sofie gave her a wicked smile.
"Yup." She said significantly. Francis made a gagging sound. Sofie punched him.
Maria blinked, then without further comment buckled her seatbelt. Romeo was talking a mile a minute, describing in detail Piero Barone's career, up until his recent La Scala debut. Eva was listening fondly(whether this fondness was for the speaker or subject was hard to tell). Romeo occasionally compared the similarity of their situations in life, and Maria gradually gathered that Romeo also aspired to the opera stage.
"So do you take voice lessons?" She asked him. He halted mid-sentence, with a slightly irritated expression at being interrupted.
"Yes. So, have you ever seen the video from..." He was off again.
Maria frowned slightly, then noticed Francis looking at her. She smiled sweetly. He was obviously not fooled.
"...and I even have a friend who lives in Abruzzo, how weird is that?"
"Wait Abruzzo?? Where Gianluca Ginoble is from?" Maria exclaimed.
Romeo paused again, this time with an emphatic sigh.
"Yes. So,-"
"No wait! I love... uh, the towns in Abruzzo." She amended hastily. She didn't want to sound like a fangirl of all things. Sofie grinned at her.
"Yeah the 'towns' are pretty adorable." She said. Maria looked at her for a moment, then grinned back, understanding her meaning.
Finally someone else who liked Gianluca better!! She thought. Eva had always been partial to the ridiculously good(vocally, that is), glasses wearing high tenor of the trio, Piero Barone.
"So your friend lives there?" She continued.
"Yesss!!!!" Romeo exclaimed. "His name is Gio."
"Thats a cute name." Maria said thoughtfully.
"He's a cute guy," Sofie whispered.
"Heard that." Francis remarked.
"Don't care." Sofie retorted. Francis sighed longsufferingly.
"can I... see a picture?" Maria ventured. This time Romeo ignored her, being busily involved in a detailed description of the qualities of his heroes remarkable voice.
Maria narrowed her eyes, and contemplated tapping his shoulder, when Sofie stuck her phone in Marias face, startling her.
"Ah! Oh my word."
A pair of droopy green eyes smiled out of a tan face. Maria had never seen such a handsome man in her whole life.
"Oh Sofie."
"Right?"
"He's so handsome!" Maria cried.
"Yeah." Sofie shrugged. "Sadly he's kind of annoying. I mean, he's Romeos friend."
Maria didn't care. She stared at the picture again.
"Wow."
"Ok, that's enough." Francis said irritably, glancing over at the girls. Sofie ignored him.
"He has a bro too, he's more like our age. He is sooooo weird. Like I don't even know."
"He's cucoo." Francis said flatly.
Sofie found another picture.
"Wow." Maria said in a completely different tone.
A pair of intense, hazel eyes stared from behind glasses even huger than the cousins. Curly brown hair crowned his long narrow face.
"Hm. Yeah, that's Ernie." Sofie said.
"Ernie." Maria repeated.
"Short for Ernesto." Sofie said.
"Hm." Maria looked at the photo a moment more. "I'd love to meet them." She said as she handed Sofie's phone back.
"Maybe you could." Romeo said suddenly, apparently finished on the subject of opera.
"No no no, you do not want to do that." Francis said quickly, sitting up.
"Why?" Maria asked indignantly. Romeo too looked annoyed.
"Exactly, Francis. Just why shouldn't they meet Gio and Ernie??" He demanded.
"Can you pleaseeeee watch the road?" Francis begged his brother, nervously. Eva's face exactly mirrored his. She was timid in the car as it was, and although Romeo seemed very adept, he was a bit nerve-wracking to ride with, as half the time he was not looking where he was going. Huffily, he turned back and stared pointedly through the windshield.
"Ok. So why shouldn't they meet my friends??" He asked again. Francis blinked.
"Umm, well... just... Because!" He said lamely. Sofie rolled her eyes.
"Your eyes are going to get stuck that way someday," Francis threatened her direly. She just rolled her eyes again.
Poor Francis. No respect from the younger generation.
"Maybe we could go stay with them sometime while you're here." Romeo suggested, not to be deterred from his point. Eva looked alarmed, but Maria and Sofie both brightened.
"Romeo that's actually a good idea!" Sofie praised him. He grinned.
"Ok, I'll call Gio and invite us." he said decidedly. Francis moaned.
"Oh come on I don't want to go there!!! Once was more than enough." He begged. Eva turned to look at him.
"I agree," she said, "I'm really quite happy to just stay here."
"Yes, you are, trust me." Francis assured her.
Romeo pulled into a parking spot by a small beach on a lake. "Our beach." He announced proudly.
An old lady and man were walking a fluffy dog. Other than that there were no signs of life.
"It's not too popular with the in crowd." Francis remarked. "Which is actually kind of nice." he added after a moments thought.
"Do we need to get out?" Sofie asked.
"No." Maria said.
"Ok, next stop." Romeo backed the car out and drove off. "The bowling alley."
"Yeah we spend some crazy times there." Francis said sarcastically. Eva looked concerned.
"Francis shut up, that's not even funny. Its pretty much where the good kids hang out." Sofie explained in an exasperated tone. "The owners go to our church."
"That sounds like a good thing to me." Maria said.
Francis hesitated, then "yes, that's true." He admitted with a grin.
Romeo pulled into the parking lot. It was more or less an average looking bowling alley, but much less seedy.
"I'm not going in anywhere dressed like this." Maria protested, "I didn't even brush my hair!!"
"Oh!" Romeo said, surprised. "We can come back another time."
"They have reallly good pizza." Sofie informed Maria as they drove away.
"Yummm I must try it!" Maria laughed. Pizza was her favorite food.
"Yep." Sofie replied.
"The last place of interest-the car shop." Romeo announced.
"Wait what? Rome that's not interesting." Sofie protested.
"Why?" Romeo asked.
"Its- its just not." Sofie said.
"Do you have a library?" Eva cut in.
"Oh, yes. Would you like to see it?" Romeo said.
"I would love to." Eva responded eagerly.
Romeo pulled down a side street. He pulled up in front of an ancient looking building.
"Its perfect!!!" Eva was delighted. Maria shook her head.
"Wow, Eve." She laughed.
"It's not open today, we'll have to come back tomorrow." Romeo apologized.
"So, we've seen everything. Now what?" Francis asked.
"Wait, that's it?" Maria said without thinking.
"Yeah." Sofie said. "not very exciting, huh?"
"No, no that's not what I meant!" Maria said hastily.
"Yes it is." Francis said. Maria didn't reply.
"Well there's still the auto body place. We can stop there and say hi. Dad would probably like to see you guys!!" Romeo hinted.
"Oh, fine, we can go to the shop!" Sofie exclaimed. "Really, Romeo!"
They arrived there quickly. Everyone got out and went in.
"Hi dad!" Romeo called over the noise of tools and some music. A short, heavyset man straightened up from where he had been working.
"Hey!" He stopped the music, and wiped his hands on a greasy rag. The girls smiled shyly.
"Well girls! I was disappointed not to see you earlier. You look so much older than I expected!" He exclaimed, giving them each a hug.
"So what are you all up to?" Their uncle asked them.
"We're showing them around town." Romeo explained.
"We're headed home now." Francis added.
"Wait, we haven't shown them the church yet!!!" Sofie suddenly remembered.
"Oh, yes, we want to see that!" Eva said excitedly. Francis sighed. Uncle Giorgio nodded.
"Well, I better get back to work! I'll see you all later!!" He said as the group headed back out the door.
They drove off and soon pulled up at an old church.
"It's beautiful!!!" Eva said.
"It used to be a Catholic church," Francis told her, "but the people who started our church were able to buy it after it stopped being used."
"That's awesome!!" Maria said thoughtfully, looking up at the elegant structure. Eva was inspecting the stone carvings around the wooden door.
"Shall we enter?" Francis said, gently putting Eva out of his way(she didn't actually even notice) and opening the door. They headed inside.
The sisters looked around in awe. The interior was beautiful and well kept. The style and beauty of the old church had not been removed, giving it a feeling of majesty that the girls had never seen in a Baptist church. The cousins looked gratified with their response.
"Pretty nice, huh?" Francis said proudly. The girls didn't need to respond.
"Over here..." Romeo lead them to one side of the auditorium. "Is the piano. I play it."
"Oh you play the piano? I do too!" Eva mentioned. Romeo was enchanted with this idea.
"Really? Wow! Could you play something?"
"Um, sure... I'm not so good though." She agreed, sitting down. She blanked for a moment.
"What should I play?" She asked, feeling stupid.
"Oh anything you have memorized." Romeo said.
"I don't really memorize much..." She said, haltingly starting to play. The notes grew stronger after a moment, and she played a simple but pretty piece she had composed herself, as that was all she really had memorized.
"That was beautiful!" Romeo exclaimed.
"You play something!" Eva ordered. Romeo sat down, and after a brief moment, launched into an advanced, technical, classical piece. The sisters were both shocked. After he finished, they were silent for a moment.
"Wow." Maria managed.
"Sorry, that was the only song could think of!" Romeo apologized, for what exactly the girls weren't quite sure.
"No, that was amazing!" Eva said awkwardly. Complimenting people didn't come naturally to her. Romeo blushed and shrugged.
"Do you play?" He asked Maria.
"Um ,not really, no." She admitted. "I sing though."
"Cool!!" Romeo smiled.
"Ok, we have a piano at home, guys, and I'm hungry." Francis pleaded.
"Fine," Romeo sighed.
"Let's go," Sofie headed out the door.
When they got home, their aunt had a light lunch of sandwiches and fruit.
"Yum." Maria commented. After they ate, Francis suggested that everyone took a nap. He immediately followed his own advice,
"Without washing the dishes." Sofie snorted disgustedly.
Romeo tossed himself on the couch, taking up the entire thing. Sofie glared at him, then sat down on top of him. Maria reclined in the chair, which left Eva to sit on the floor. Which she did.
Romeo pulled out his phone. Maria and Sofie watched him with anticipation. He dialed. After a moment,
"Hey, Gio? Yes this is me. Yes Romeo, who else. Ok. So you know our cousins? No I mean you know about them, Gio. Mhm.Yes, they are here. We were wondering if maybe sometime we could come up and visit you? Yes. Oh great!! Huh? oh, umm..." He looked at the girls.
"When do we want to go?"
"Whenever." Sofie said.
"Shouldn't we, like, ask your mom?" Eva asked nervously.
"Gio? How about in a few weeks? two weeks? Sure!! Ok! Oh wait, Eva why are you looking at me like that?"
"Well, maybe we should make sure our parents are fine with this before we decide on final plans?" She said.
"Yeah." Sofie concurred. Maria was straining her ears to try to catch the sound of the voice on the other end of Romeos conversation.
"Gio? Yeah, we will check with our parents but I bet it will be fine! Thanks so much! Talk to you later. Bye."
Romeo clicked off his phone. "We can come whenever, but two weeks is best." He announced unnecessarily. "I'll talk to mom later."
"We can call our parents right away." Maria assured him. Eva still looked uncomfortable, but said nothing.
That night, after their aunt and uncle gave permission for the trip, the girls called their parents. They too were fine with the plan, and Romeo informed Gio accordingly.
The next week and a half were pretty uneventful, and were spent by the cousins in getting to know each toher. They all clicked well, and were pretty comfortable around each other, already feeling like family. The girls enjoyed the church services, which were not actually too different from what they were used to, other than that they were in Italian!!
Soon it was time to head to Abruzzo. Eva of course was very nervous, as even though she was comfortable with her cousins, she wasn't 100% with even them, and thus was generally exhausted from the constant social contact and upkeep. More new people were more than she could mentally take.
However, to Abruzzo they were going, so, feeling pleasantly like a martyr(and acting unpleasantly like one), she packed her things.
Maria, who was used to her, payed little mind, knowing she would be as fine in Abruzzo as she was here. Francis was amused by her attitude. He had grown very fond of Eva and she him. Their personalities were quiet similar in many was, and complimentary in others. However she was not quite ready to completely be herself with even him.
At last, the morning came when they were to depart. Eva picked fretfully at her breakfast(normally one of her favorite meals, along with lunch and supper). The others(except Francis) were excited. They would be driving, which would take about 10 or 11 hours. Francis and Romeo took turns driving. The girls stayed awake to see the ferry, but dozed on and off for the rest.
That evening, they finally arrived. As they drove up the hill to the little town, Maria could barely contain her excitement. She and Sofie surreptitiously checked their appearances. Eva was carsick, and her back hurt from sleeping in the car. She sighed as they pulled up in front of a nice little house on the outskirts of town. Romeo stopped the car, and paused, about to speak.
"We're here." Francis said before Romeo could.
"Hey." Romeo said, annoyed at this interruption of his dramatic entrance. Francis grinned at him.
Sofie and Maria looked at each other. Eva appeared unwilling to get out of the car. Francis took a deep, resigned breath.
"Well come on." He got out of the car. The others followed, Eva last.
That moment, the front door opened.
* * *
Tell me what you think!!! Do you think the little semi-fangirl section goes?? Or anything else you notice, I very honestly want to know!!
Also, sorry this is kind of long, and a day late:)
Nina
