Damn the Day I Met You

Zach and I enter the country club where the party was being held. We showed up early to see them before it became crowded, but even early in this case was late. I look around the room for my family when suddenly something slips down my back.

The instant the coldness of the ice cube soaks through I start to hop around, hoping that would make it fall out quicker. I turn with a glare at my brother and let go of Zach’s hand. Max grins and then makes a run for it, “you better run Maxwell!” I scream, chasing after him in my heels. It’s amazing how well trained someone can get of running in heels when having a younger brother. After about two minutes of chasing him around the house I finally catch his collar.
“Katie Juliette! What in the world are you doing?!” I hear my father’s voice roar above the noise.

I smile at my parents who were quickly approaching, “just showing Max here some sisterly love.” I say, knowing that they knew the truth. My parents didn’t actually care all that much if Max and I caused trouble. But if my grandmother was around they’d put up an act. She’d freak out on them more than us if they didn’t at least pretend to punish us. “Besides, he put ice down my dress.”

My mother slaps Max’s arm, “Max behave. That’s stands for all of you,” she says, giving my brother, father, and I all a short glare, “this is your father’s birthday. We can celebrate our way tomorrow.”

A pair of arms wraps themselves around my waist, pulling me close. I turn and kiss Zach’s cheek, “you, mister, are a terrible, terrible boyfriend. I know you saw Max coming.”

Zach just smirks and ignores my accusations, “Adam, Julie, nice to see you two again.”

“Always a please, Zach.” My mom replies, pulling him in for a hug. This was definitely something she shouldn’t have done at an event such as this, but my mom was never one to follow all the rules. “How’s Italy treating you?”

“It’s, um, okay. But it’ll be good to be home in six months.” He glances down at me for a moment, silently telling me not to mention anything that had happened.

“He’s hanging in there. This doofus didn’t study the language, but luckily he made a friend in his major that speaks perfect English.”

“Is he here tonight?” my dad asks, glancing around.

“she is right here,” I hear Ana’s voice from behind me and turn around to spot her in the gorgeous dress I gave her a couple weeks ago. “Anastasia De Luca.” She holds out her hand which I couldn’t help but think of what my grandmother would do at that. The host is always supposed to initiate the shake. Luckily thought my dad was someone who could care less.
“Adam DiGerlando.” He shakes her hand and then turns to introduce the rest of the family, “This is my wife Julianne, and, well we think aliens might have given him to us, but technically he’s our son Max.”

“Hey! I’m right here!” Max exclaims in pure shock.

My dad just laughs, “I know. And until the day you admit you’re an alien we’re still going to wonder.”

Ana and Zach start to discuss the latest and greatest in sports while Max runs off to see his friends and my dad gets called over by someone. That leaves my mom and me standing there in silence. She glances over at my boyfriend and the new girl, raising her eyebrows. I just shrug and guide her out to the balcony so that we could talk.

“His tutor seems nice.” My mom mentions, looking out over the yard.

I smile, “she’s great. Plays practically every sport, is an architecture major with a focus on ancient architecture. She speaks English and she and Zach seem to be fantastic together. It works out well since I can’t help translate everything for him well he’s in his classes and I’m in mine.”

“And you’re not worried at all? Not the tiniest bit? That girl seems pretty smitten by him.”

“Thanks mom, that’s what every woman wants to hear when talking about her boyfriend.” I say sarcastically, knowing it was the truth but not wanting to admit it. She would only say ‘I told you so’ and I didn’t feel like having that lecture right now.

“I’m just saying maybe you should make more of a distance between them.”

I sigh and lean against the railing, “Zach cheated.”

This got my mother’s full attention, “what?!”

“The other night he went out drinking and ran into Ana and they kissed. He and I were in a pretty big argument at that point and hadn’t talked for about a week. So I’m not surprised. And you know how he is when he’s drunk.”

“Yeah, he does things he doesn’t have the guts to do sober.”

“Exactly.”

“If I may ask, how did you find out?”

I laugh at the memory of Ana bursting into my room, “Ana. She stopped by the next morning and rambled on and on. I was actually going to go break up with him but she convinced me not to. She says she has no feelings for him but, I mean you saw, those two love each other.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything, but they really do. Their perfect for each other.”

“And Zach and I are not. I’m fine with that.” I pause and turn to look at her, “Before this trip I had wanted to break up with Zach. I was considering it. But then we ended up in Italy and the only reason he put down all that money and came here was because he didn’t want to be away from me for a year. That’s sweet, right? So I couldn’t exactly break his heart. And then Ana comes into the picture and we’ve even discussed breaking up, more than once. Every time though he comes up with some reason not to and he says that he loves me and only me and I just, I can’t do it. I can’t look at him and say that I don’t love him like that anymore.”

My mom pulls me into a hug. I wasn’t about to cry but I definitely needed the comfort of her arms, “oh honey, I told you Italy was a bad idea. Nothing good ever comes out of it.”

I pull back a little, “I know. I should have listened. I just don’t know what to do anymore. He spends the majority of his time with Ana and if it’s just the two of us then he suggests we invite Ana. The last time Zach and I were alone we went to the park and he was being all grouchy and I mentioned that maybe we should just leave. Instead he offers to call Ana up and meet for lunch. That’s how our fight started. I threw his phone into the fountain and he started screaming at me. I don’t know what came over me; I just couldn’t handle her name and him wanting to spend time with her over me.”

She rubs my back in a comforting matter, “you took him to your favorite spot, didn’t you?”

I nod, wiping away the tears in my eyes before they could fall. “We fought in the exact spot I’ve dreamed of getting proposed to, how ironic huh? And then my friend Tristan came over, mid fight, to introduce me to his little sister who loves our family. Lucy, Tristan’s sister, invited us for ice cream and I said yes while Zach just stormed off. I spent the rest of the day with Tristan and Lucy in the park and it was honestly one of the best times of my lives. I was able to let go and forget about everything that was happening with Zach and Ana.” I glance into the ballroom, wondering if Tristan was working tonight. “That’s when everything fell apart. Zach kissed Ana, they fought about that. Zach and I fought about Ana, and then about Tristan. And in the end, we somehow were able to say ‘I love you,’ and pretend that all was forgotten.”

“But it’s not.”

“Of course it’s not. He may think that he does stupid things when he’s drunk but I know better. For goodness sakes he asked me out when he was drunk! Literally, everything he doesn’t have the guts to do sober, he does when he’s drunk. That means he has wanted to kiss Ana. And that’s fine, I want them together. It’s the fact that he keeps lying to me that kills me.”

“We should get back to the party honey,” she says motioning to the crowd that was awaiting our presence, “but how about you stay with us at the apartment for the week. It’ll give you a small break from everything. And we’ll have a girl’s day tomorrow with your aunt.” I nod as she pulls me into another hug, “Everything will work out, Katie, I promise. It’s just going to get messy for a while.”

“Oh joy.” I say sarcastically, stepping back into the room behind my mother. She heads off in the direction of my dad while I search around the room for Zach, or Ana, or Toby, or really anyone I knew.
It was really good that I talked with my mom about it. I probably should have called her the instant things started to get screwed up, but at least she knows now. A weight feels like it was lifted off my chest. I was finally able to tell someone everything that’d been going on and that’s definitely something I needed to do.

“Spotted in the middle of the dance floor, soon to be ex-boyfriend and his new girl.” I hear someone whisper in my ear, a voice all too familiar.

“Tristan! Don’t sneak up on me like that!” I turn to glare at him.

He laughs and then moves a platter in between us, “sandwich?”

“No thank you. But I’d take some alcohol if you have any.”

“I happen to know that you don’t turn 21 until the summer.”

“And I happen to know that I’m in Italy, not the states.”

“Touché.” He glances around, “I guess I’ll break the rules for you. I’m assuming you something stronger than the wine that’s offered out here.”

I nod, “Definitely stronger.”

“Fine, follow me.” I follow Tristan as he makes his way back to the kitchen, with short stops to feed people along the way. I couldn’t help but admire the way he acted with everyone even though I knew he hated this group of people. He’s good at being professional when need be. “This is breaking every rule in the book. But hopefully they’ll let it go if they catch me with a DiGerlando.” I laugh at his comment and watch as he pulls out a couple bottles of hard liquor, “what’s your liking?”

“Whiskey on the rocks please.”

“Coming right up,” he says with a smile and turns to pour my drink.

I lean against the back door when I start to hear voices on the other side of it. Voices that I surely do recognize.

“I’m sorry, okay? What more do you want me to say?! I fell in love with another girl and I know that wasn’t part of the plan but what am I supposed to do? Toss aside my feelings?” Zach voices echoes through the door. Tristan looks up and I know that he heard.

“For right now, yes you are.” The second voice was my dad. My dad telling Zach to stay with me. Tristan hands me my drink and I quickly down it, handing the empty glass to him.

“Katie you might want to-”

“Tristan, just pour.” I say, my tone turning ice cold. He nods and fills the glass up again. I grab the glass and head out of the kitchen, through the ballroom, and into backyard where I could have some peace and quiet.

Zach. My dad. Our relationship. Their words wouldn’t stop repeating in my head. Zach admitted to loving Ana. Why won’t he break up with me? Why doesn’t my dad want us to break up?

What the hell is going on that I don’t know about?