The Unforgettable

Carlo’s face is beaming with excitement, “I’m so happy we’re going to be together all night,” he rubs his thumb on my finger, holding the steering wheel with his other hand.

I lay my head on his shoulder smiling, his excitement rubs off on me a little although I still feel a smidge of guilt. We ride to his house listening to jazz and talking about how excited we are. Soon after we pull into his driveway, I take a deep calming breath as Carlo gets out and takes my two bags then walks over and opens the door for me taking my hand.

He kisses my lips when I rise from the car and stand in front of him, “I can’t wait to spend these next few nights with you. It will truly be a time to remember.”

He kisses me again as we gaze into each other’s eyes covered in the moonlight, then he takes my hand again and we go inside. Carlo flicks some lights on while I try taking off my shoes. He walks over to the railing and stands at the bottom of the stairs with a small smile on his face. He’s watching me struggle and be lazy trying to pry off my shoes with my other shoe then toes instead of leaning over and undoing the shoelace and pulling it off with my hands like a normal person.

I laugh a little at myself and realize how nervous I am and how this is just a way to stall. When I get them off and push them up against the wall I finally turn and face Carlo, he extends a hand to me. I take it and we walk up the wooden stairs step by step.

Jesus my nerves are shot.

Every step up I take a labored breath as my palms sweat and when we get three steps from the top I get a strong whiff of vanilla.

“It smells really good,” I comment.

Carlo smiles and we finally get to the top of the stairs, I haven’t been up here, it has the same style as down stairs. Wood, white walls, floral paintings and photographs.

I finally remember to ask, “why do you have so much floral art?”

Carlo chuckles, “like I said before I’m no good with plants, but I do enjoy them. So I settle for paintings and pictures that’ll never die.”

I think of the plants in his office which then makes me think of Fiona and I grow uneasy again. Carlo opens a room door and places my bags on a very large, soft looking, white bed. The vanilla is pungent in here, I guess this is where the source is, I take another deep breath. This room is huge, there’s another fireplace up here, a love seat, walk in closet with a curtain for a door and a hall which probably leads to a bathroom.

Carlo turns to me and reads me then he frowns, “what’s wrong dear?”

I quickly shake my head, “nothing!”

He rubs a thumb across my cheek, “are you hungry, have you eaten?”

No, I feel queasy actually.

“I’m not really hungry, I’m fine.”

He looks with concerned eyes, “are you sure about that?”

I swear he knows when I’m lying, I nod and he tucks some hair behind my ear.

“Well, I’ll give you time to get settled. I’m a little hungry so I’ll go downstairs and make something. If you feel hungry later there will be some left, I usually make too big of portions. There are fresh towels in the bathroom if you’d like to shower.

That’s exactly what I need, a steamy shower will calm my nerves.

“Thank you,” I say and he responds with a kiss to my forehead then leaves for downstairs closing the door as he goes.

I take a deep breath and sit on the bed my butt sinks a little. Holy shit, I can’t believe I’m here in his house at night in his bedroom. We’re going to stay together all night for the first time ever. I suck in a breath and my chest starts to tighten, what the hell am I having a panic attack? Every breath I take is harder to take in. I moan a little out of panic and hurry down the hall into the door of the bathroom, push it open and flick the light on. This bathroom is like the size of the bedroom. I stand in front of the mirror at the sink and turn the cold water on and splash some on my face.

“Calm down, calm down, calm down,” I chant to myself try to control my breathing.

A few more seconds go by and my chest isn’t tight anymore, wow that was scary. I look at my dripping face in the mirror, why am I freaking the hell out? Chill, I really need to take this shower. I look over at the glass shower walls and look in, there are three shower heads with three handles. Oh my god this is heaven, I’ve only seen this is magazines and terrible reality shows. It doesn’t take any more convincing, I quickly strip my clothes off, step in and turn all the shower heads on blasting heat. Oh my god this is heaven.

I spend the next thirty minutes in there and I feel calmer, I try to clear my mind and not worry, not think about everything that’s eating me and when I’m dressed I meet Carlo in the kitchen. He’s standing at the stove cooking something up. I walk over and stand next to him, he’s cooking spaghetti. I could go for some spaghetti.

“How was your shower?”

“Really good,” I take a breath from satisfaction.

He looks over at me and smiles, “that’s great.”

We sit at his dining table next to each other rather than across like I would normally do with someone else. We giggle and talk, slurp up noodles and chomp down meatballs. It’s really a nice dinner together. He collects our dishes, rinses them then slides them away into the dishwasher.

He stretches, “I need a shower now. I’ve brewed some tea, put them in cups on top of that saucer over there,” he points to the other end of the counter. “I’ll see you soon.”

We share a smile then he disappears upstairs, I take a cup of tea and sit on the couch. I pull out my phone and see that my sister has texted me.

“Why haven’t we talked? Mom and dad keep asking about you. What’s going on?”

My mom has called me a couple times over the last two weeks but I didn’t answer. I know she’ll ask something about Chris and I don’t have anything to say, I don’t want to pretend with her so the more I avoid them the less I have to say. Rosyln, I think she has called me maybe once, but I was at work I think and forgot to call back. She has messaged me a couple times and sent me random articles with a blurb of a rant attached, and I’ve read them, I just haven’t responded.

I sigh and text back, “Hey.”

She quickly responds, “HEY?? I’m calling you right now.”

I try to hurry and text her to tell her that it’s not necessary but her call comes in before I’m even done typing.

I answer, “hey lo-”

“What the hell!” She yells interrupting me. “I haven’t heard from you in like a month and all I get is a hey! Why haven’t you been talking to mom or dad and most of all me! We always talk, what’s going on with you?”

I sigh and remove the phone from my ear, she’s going to go on like this for a little longer. I wait and bring the phone closer, she’s still yelling. I hold it close to my ear so I can hear when she stops talking.

“And you know that you need to call me, I’m your sister! We’re sworn best friends by blood and by ceremony!”

I laugh a little, by ceremony. . . That’s one memory I’ll never forget, I was four she was six.

“Gigi, you’re the best sister in the world.”

“You’re the best sister in the world!” I exclaim.

We’re holding each other tight spinning in a circle in our frilly dresses in the grassy backyard. Mom just braided our hair together after begging for almost an hour then she softly giggled and sent us outside. She isn’t feeling well today and said she wanted some rest.

“I wish we could build a house out of a giant marshmallow and whenever we got hungry we could stuff our face into wall and get a huge hunk of gooey yummy maaarshmalloow,” I sigh in happiness from my daydream closing my eyes.

My sister giggles, “but all our teeth would fall out.”

I shrug picturing the giant sugary pillow, “I don’t care.”

We giggle together and fall to the ground still laughing and holding each other.

“You’re my best friend!” I exclaim eyes squeezed shut.

“You’re my best friend!” She squeals.

“That means no other best friends!”

“Nope!”

I cheese hard then it falters and my lower lip pokes out, Ros looks at me and hugs me.

“Gigi what’s wrong!”

“What if you grow up and you want a new best friend?” I whine.

“I wouldn’t want a new best friend.”

“What if you get mad at me?”

“I won’t get mad at you.”

I whine, “but what if you do.”

We’re both quiet for a little being warmed by the sunrays on our faces then Ros gasps, “I got it!”

We both sit up and she’s got a huge smile, “we can make a pact and do an initiation ceremony that’s only for me and you.”

I gasp, “okay!”

We run around the yard collecting berries, twigs and rocks. We run deep into the bushes, close together careful not to yank our heads too far in one direction. We stop where we can stand in the bushes panting a little and we sit in the leaves and pine needles dropping our findings in front of us.

“Okay, get two berries,” Roslyn says doing so and showing me and I pick up two. “Squish ‘em up.”

She squishes up her two berries between her fingers, and I do too then she tells me to stay still. She paints her fingers in the berry juice and starts drawing on my forehead, I giggle because it tickles.

“Now you do me, draw three lines, like this,” she makes three invisible tallies in the air.

I cover my fingers in the juice and draw on her forehead, I’m sad to see the juice isn’t bright red like the berry it’s just clear. When I’m done she passes me a twig and takes a deep breath.

“Repeat after me,” she says. “I promise,”

“I promise,” I repeat.

“To only have one best friend,” she raises her stick.

“To only have one best friend,” I raise mine.

“To play with and love each other,” she points to her chest with the stick.

“To play with and love each other,” I point to mine.

“Never lie to each other.”

“Never lie to each other.”

“And always be around.”

“And always be around.”

She crosses my chest with her stick and I do the same to her, she gives me a rock and takes one herself.

“We have to make it official,” she says. “Squeeze the rock as hard as you can.”

“It’ll hurt, I’ll cut myself.”

“Just a little bit, I’ll do it first watch me.”

She clenches her eyes shut and her hand around the rock tight, she winces a little then slowly opens her hand to expose the sharp rock and the scrapes on her hand. She convinces me to do it after whining for a little bit. I squeeze my hand around the rock tight and show her my scrapes. She raises her hand in the air and I raise mine, we clap our hands together and lock our fingers together.

“And now we are and forever will be best, best friends.”

I giggle and squeal throwing my arms around her neck, “best friends best friends best friends!” I chant.

Now I know it was bullshit and that she probably made up everything as we went, but I really thought it was a serious thing then. It created something between us though, we became even more inseparable.

“Do you understand me?” Roslyn asks annoyed.

“Yes Ros I do.”

She sighs, “what’s going on with you?”

“Nothing,” I whine.

“Why haven’t you been talking to me? Are you and Chris okay?”

I sigh and roll my eyes, this is exactly why I didn’t want to talk.

“Gigi!” she demands.

I groan, “I’m fine, we’re fine, everything’s fine!”

She hums, “I don’t believe you. Where’s Chris? Let me talk to him.”

“He’s not even here, he’s on some business trip.”

“Oh. . . Oh! Why haven’t you called me to come over then?” she asks accusingly. “I’m coming over right now.”

“No, no, no, I’m not even at home!” I object.

“Is something wrong?” Carlo’s voice asks standing over me his voice makes me jump.

I turn around and give him a smile and a slight head shake. Roslyn has grown quiet for a couple seconds then she starts up again.
“Who was that?”

“What are you talking about?” I ask her.

“A voice, I heard a guy’s voice.”

God she’s so nosey!

“It- it was probably the waiter, I’m out eating.” I burn red, God I hate lying to her. “Look I gotta go. I’ll call you later, love you.”

“Gigi!”

I hang up before she has time to say anything else and groan again. I feel Carlo’s hands on my shoulders and he starts massaging the knots of tension I’ve grown used to lugging around. I let out a sigh of relief as he massages further down my back.

I smile a small one and hang my head further as he moves his hands find their way back up. Carlo’s fingers massage circles over my neck and shoulders, my mind flashes to the oath Roslyn and I made, we vowed not to lie to each other, my body tenses and Carlo notices, he stops.

He kneels at my legs and places his chin on my now crossed knees.

“What’s wrong love?” he asks.

I sigh and shake my head, this is so stupid, “nothing. . . I hate lying to my sister is all.” Even though I’ve lied to her many, many times before so why the hell is this time any different? What is wrong with me, why is my brain trying to guilt trip me? Ugh! Brain you’re being very unfair right now!

Carlo gives me a sad smile and rubs my thigh, “I think I understand what you mean. I feel almost sick if I must be untrue to my mother.”

I twist my mouth to the side stuck in thought and Carlo rises to his feet and extends both his arms beckoning to place my hands into his.

“All you need to do tonight is relax, come back upstairs with me.”

I place my hands in his, stand and follow him upstairs and back into his room. He waves a hand in the direction of the bed indicating I should take a spot so I do at the end of the bed facing him.

He smiles at me, “I am going to collect a couple oils, I’ll be just a few seconds.”

He walks over to the dresser, opens a purse sized black box and clanks through bottles. As he does that he picks up a little remote and turns on the surround sound. Jazz fills my ears, I close my eyes and take a deep breath letting the vanilla fill my nose.

A couple seconds later and Carlo’s oily fingers are making circles on my temples. He massages behind my ears and down to my neck. His fingers gently massage against my cheekbones and forehead and quietly he asks me to slowly lie down on my back so I do.

I feel a weight difference beside me, my eyes are still closed as I try to even my breathing. His hands now work at my shoulders and chest, then he pauses, I flutter my eyes open to look at him.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

He shakes his head, “nothing my dear.” He smiles a little, “it’s just that I’d like to give you a better massage but I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”

“No, no I’m not uncomfortable this is really relaxing,” I sit up, my hair falls framing my face.

Carlo smiles, sits on his knees on the bed beside me and shakes his head slightly then he leans in for a kiss. He kisses me sweetly and caresses my cheek.

He pulls back just enough to free his lips and gently his voice says, “I am afraid you’re missing what I mean.”

Slowly his hands go to my waist and under my shirt, I suck in a breath has his hands slide up my bare belly pulling up my shirt. I quickly clasp my hand on his and he pulls back again.

“We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” he kisses my shoulder now.

Oh but I want to, I want him so bad!

I slowly release my grip and look into his eyes as I guide his hands further up, his fingers now burn against the exposed parts of my breasts. I pull off my shirt and reach behind me and unclasp my bra, he slides it down and off my arms, slowly his hands draw near again and he fills both his hands.

Carlo massages my breasts in his hands, leans in and whispers, “lie back,” against my lips so I do.

Carlo oils up his hands again and massages my shoulders, down my arms to the tips of my fingers then he makes his way to my stomach. He slides his hands around, putting pressure in some spots then his hands are on my breasts again massaging. His fingers pull at my nipples, I close my eyes and find myself moaning. Carlo’s lips now go to the center of my chest as it heaves up and down. I feel his lips and the tip of his tongue at my nipple and another moan slips from my lips, his thumbs slip into the waistline of my night shorts and he slides them off. Oiling up again he starts at my toes now, loosening and cracking my feet and his hands go up my legs then my thighs, I suck in a breath as he gets higher and higher I’m almost quivering when he stops and tells me to flip over, I do. Re-oiled he works down my neck, back, butt, legs and feet which tickles a little. So I giggle and Carlo laughs a little too then I feel his weight on me. I turn my head back to look at him, his arms are on either side of me as he holds himself up and he leans down and kisses me hard. His bare chest and stomach are against my back as he kisses me and puts hand in my hair. I feel him against my bare butt, I flip over and wrap my legs around him.

“I want you Carlo,” I whisper.

He almost buckles at the sweetness the sentence carries and kisses me with tongue now as one hand frantically pulls down at his pants and the other searches for a condom on the bedside table. When successful with both tasks we share another hot kiss and Carlo looks at me sincerely.

“I’ve wanted to make love to you for what feels like forever.”

And with that he pushes himself in me. We share more moans, kisses and eye contact as we move as one together making the most passionate love I’ve ever experienced in my life.