Damn the Day I Met You

I wake up early the next morning, against what my brain was telling me to do. I put on a summer dress and heels, knowing that my grandmother wouldn’t accept anything less. As I was leaving my dorm I run into Toby, Ana, and Zach. They were about to knock on my door but obviously I beat them to it.
“wow hun, you didn’t have to dress up for breakfast.” Zach says, giving me a morning kiss. I glance out the window just in time to see my limo pull up.
“I totally forgot to text you last night. My grandma wants to meet me for breakfast.”

“why didn’t you tell her you already had plans?” He asks, confused and disappointed.

Toby laughs, “dude, you can’t tell Jacqueline DiGerlando ‘no.’ You just don’t.”

“Plus I tried to.” I add in, knowing Zach wouldn’t understand that saying no to my grandma would be hell. “You’ll see what I mean when you meet her. But that’s for a later time and now I really have to go.” I glance back out the window and notice Scott, my driver, becoming impatient.

Zach follows my eyes and notices the limo, “your grandma came to pick you up in a pink limo?”

I start walking backwards, continuing to talk to him, “sure, something like that.”

It was stupid of me to think I could outrun an athlete, especially in high heels. Zach quickly catches my arm, “something like that? Are you trying to say that’s your limo?”

“Zach, we will talk later. Right now I’m already late.” I pull out of his grasp and hurry downstairs to the awaiting limo.

“you’re late.” Scott informs me, opening my door.

“I know, I know. Just drive.”

When we finally get to the restaurant, my grandma is already seated…with the rest of my family.

“what is this, a reunion?” I ask, sliding into the only open seat left that was between my aunt and grandpa.

“you’re late.” My grandma points out, ignoring my question.

“Blame Toby. Now-” I was about to ask if they had ordered yet but my oh so polite grandma interrupts me.

“did you forget to tell him too?”

I groan, “no, I planned on surprising him. And before you continue on with this lecture, you should know that I’m deeply sorry for not telling you. There’s just a lot going on in my life right now and telling you I was going to school didn’t really seem that important. You know now and that’s what is important. Now can we please move on?

I hear Marzia and Marzio chuckle. They were my ten year old twin cousins and were bigger trouble makers than Max. Probably because there were two of them.

We do eventually move on after a short lecture from her about being on time. Nick, my aunt Katelyns husband, who was sitting next to Jacqueline started mocking her, making me crack a smile. I had always enjoyed Nicks company, he could easily take away the awkwardness.

“now onto other business.” Jacqueline says and we all nod in agreement. “There’s a party next weekend that I want you to come to Katie. Vince will be at your dorm at seven to pick you up. It is a black-tie event so please dress appropriately.” With that last statement she eyes my current attire. “I’m sure you’ll be exhausted afterwards so you can stay with us for the night.”

“hold up, who’s Vince?”

“Vincent Ferrari. He’ll be escorting you to the party. You know, a date? Surely you can’t assume I’d let my granddaughter go to a business function single.”

I cough on the tea I had been drinking. A date? Oh goodness, Zach would just love to hear about this. “I already have a boyfriend.”

“Yes, and what a sweet boy he is. But he’s not here. I’m not telling you to fall in love with Vincent, though that could be good for the companies…” she gets lost in her own thoughts.

“No grandmother, I have a boyfriend and he’s here on study abroad with me. He’ll be escorting me to the party on Saturday.”

“What am I supposed to do? Back out of you going with Vincent? This is the Ferrari family Katie, you do understand what that means, right?”

“yes, and I understand that I have a boyfriend. I’ll even contact Vincent myself and decline if that’s what you want. But I will be going to this party with Zachary and that’s final.”

Most of the conversations when I’m with the family only occur between my grandma and me. I’m the only one that will stand up against her bullshit. Everyone says I got that from my mom but I don’t know. This little trait of mine though makes the rest of the family back out of any argument.

“I will call Vincent and clear things up. And I’d like to meet Zachary before Saturday.”

“but-”

“Katie, he needs to meet the family.”

I look to Katelyn for help, she usually stood up for me in desperate times, “I’m sorry sweetie, but for once my mom is right. How about everyone comes over to dinner on Thursday? Nick can cook dinner and we can meet this boyfriend of yours.” I smile at Katelyn. I knew the reason why she was offering up her house for this event, it was so that her house-rules applied. Which meant grandma and I couldn’t argue.

“That sounds fine I guess. Does six work?” Jacqueline asks, looking over at me.

“six will be great.”

After a bit more conversation about school and just life in general I was finally let free. I back up my chair and accidentally bump into someone behind me. I quickly turn around to find a fairly tall guy around my age standing there with a tray cussing me out. His bright blue eyes glare into my own, “sorry, sorry.” I say, forgetting to speak Italian but he caught on anyways muttering ‘Americans’ as he left. I glance back at my family who were either glaring at me (my grandma) or holding back a laugh (my cousins).

I can’t say I was surprised to find that my phone was filled up with texts from Toby and Zach. Actually, I was expecting more than the 23 texts that I got, but hey, I’m not complaining. Once I get back to the dorms I instantly start knocking on Zachs door. It took him a moment to answer but once he did he didn’t look happy, “What do you want?”

“excuse me?”

“you’ve been ignoring my texts and calls all morning Katie. You can’t expect me to happy with you right now.”

“Zach, if my grandma even saw a cell phone in my purse at the table it would have been tossed out the window. You don’t bring one let alone use it. So I just left it in my limo.” I try to explain but it seemed that every word that left my mouth just made me sound more spoiled.

“Don’t get me started on that limo-”

“I’m not! It’s a car Zach! It’s hot pink and ugly and uncomfortable and I hate it. I’ve always hated it. But I don’t have a choice.”

I notice Ana sitting on one of the couches looking uncomfortable. I push Zach aside and enter the room, taking a breath to calm myself before speaking. “Per non essere scortese, ma che ci fai qui? (not to be rude, but what are you doing here?)” I ask her, speaking Italian so that Zach couldn’t call me out on it.

“Toby e io eravamo spiegare le cose a lui. O cercando di. (Toby and I were explain things to him. Or trying to)”

I smile and nod, thanking her. I hear Zach sigh and come up behind me, “hey Ana, could you let us talk now?”

Ana nods politely, “of course. See you two later!” Once she’s gone I take a seat on the couch and Zach sits across from me.

“I’m sorry about this morning Zach, I am. But like I said, and like Toby said, I can’t say no. I understand that’s not something you’re used to with me since my parents are so open to anything I do and actually help me get out of events. But my grandma isn’t my dad. And though my dad might be okay that I’m late to breakfast, I got a ten minute lecture about how time is money from my grandma. That pink limo, that’s mine. She got it for me so that when I visit I have my own driver. It’s not my choice and she doesn’t like any other vehicle driving around unless it’s me driving some sports car. I’m not some spoiled bitch, and I wasn’t raised in this lifestyle. But I was born into this lifestyle. So when I’m with my grandma, I must act like the perfect rich girl.” I stop there, waiting for him to say something.

“so here in Italy you’re not the same girl as back home?” he asks, trying to clear things up.

“exactly! I’m so glad you understand.”

“That’s just it Katie, I don’t understand. You don’t care about image and all of the sudden you’re wearing dresses and heels. And you definitely never cancel on me, or anyone, yet we weren’t here for 24 hours and you already did.”

“look, I can’t stop how I act when others are around who know my family. But the whole ditching you thing I can fix easily. My family wants to meet you this Thursday. There’s a party on Saturday that I have to go to and you’ll be escorting me since you’re my boyfriend. They want to meet you before this. Once you’ve gone through the family thing, you’ll be at each and every event with me. No more ditching anyone.”

“And I can’t say no?”

“well you can, but my grandma is currently trying to hook me up with Vincent Farrari. So, if you say no, we’ll not only never see each other, but we’d also have to tone down our dating for publicity. It would just be easiest if you’d be my date to these events.”

“Farrari? As in the Farrari family?”

I smile, “yes. So you can see why I’d much rather have my boyfriend by my side. Plus Toby will be at these events along with Ana.” His face instantly lit up at the mention of Ana and I could tell by the look he was giving me that this relationship wasn’t going to last much longer.

“Fine, I’ll join you for these events.” Before I could reply he changes the subject. “Did you know Ana is also an Architect major?”

Yeah, definitely not long before this relationship is over.