The Chronicles of City Lights and Modern Love

For a while I just sat and listened to the brothers as they talked between themselves about meaningless things, every asking me a question just so they could laugh at the fact I couldn't talk.

Every time they laughed at me, I laughed inwardly at them for not noticing that I was slowly bringing my handcuffed hands underneath myself. After moving my hands all the way to under my knees, in one swift movement, I swiftly brought my arms down and under my feet so that my hands were now in front of me, rather than behind. I then proceeded to rip off the tape.

“Hold up!” Carmine said, grabbing my wrists and looking me in the eye for a few seconds before saying, “you can keep the tape off if you promise not to stir us up.”

“Fine,” I huffed, before resuming my contemplation of the city lights flying past the window. The car became silent for a while after that.

“What I don’t get is why Neil couldn’t just ask me to come,” I said, breaking the silence. “I would have come, I’m curious; I’ve only met him once and I was half unconscious and in hospital at the time,” I said while discreetly reaching for a hairpin from my head.

“Why were you in hospital?” he asked curiously.

“I hit my head on a letterbox," I answered dismissively, before pursuing with my line of questioning. "Why didn’t Neil just ask?”

“He reckons you wouldn’t have gone," he replied. "I agree with him...You say you would have, but your parents would have talked you out of it or something.”

“You don’t know me,” I said as I sat subtly picking at the lock on the cuffs.

“You’re right, but I know that most people wouldn’t come.”

“I’m not most people,” I said as the lock clicked and the cuffs fell into my lap.

“Huh,” he said looking at my wrists with a confused expression. He looked at me intensely "You’re really not like most people, are you? Your Nonno actually did say you might be a handful,” he said with a smile. “You’re more like him than you think.”

“Hardly,” I replied icily.

It seemed as if the conversation was over, so I turned to look back out the window, but Carmine continued talking.

“So, wait, you hit your head on a letterbox,” he chuckled.

“I jumped out of a moving car and landed on it,” I explained coldly, realising that he wasn't going to let it go.

“You jumped out of a moving car. Isn’t that a bit adventurous for you?”

“You really don’t have a clue, do you?” I turned to glare at him. “You have this picture of me in your mind as this delicate, spoiled child, but you are so wrong. I thought you might have known better by now.”

Silence fell upon the car again, which left me thinking about my letterbox injury. It had been stupid, really. I'd gotten angry with my older brother and his friends one day and decided to just army roll straight out of the car as we headed to the beach. As I ran a finger over the scar above my eyebrow, I turned back to glance at Carmine, whose eyes had travelled to the scar.

"You have got to be one of the most confusing girls I have ever met..." he said quietly.

I ignored him, and ten minutes later, the car stopped and Freddie came around to open the door for me.

“Come on get out, and no funny business,” he said.

I stayed silent and glared at them all.

"Look...just pretend we're a couple shopping together or something," Carmine said as Freddie extended a hand to help me out of the car. I pushed his face away and he stumbled backwards. I stepped out of the car and as he angrily went to close the door, I kicked him in the behind causing him to fall headfirst into the back seat. Carmine sniggered as Freddie got out of the car looking furious.

“Why do you insist on causing trouble?” Carmine asked.

“You honestly think you don’t deserve it?” I asked, before leaning close to him to whisper, “No way am I going to make any of this easy on you..."

He narrowed his eyes and grabbed onto my hand and began dragging me towards the shop.

“I'm actually quite good at reading people, myself,” he said. “You wouldn’t let me harm an innocent bystander, but I’m not afraid to resort to that. So just watch what you say honey."

He smirked and put an arm around my waist pulling me close enough to feel the gun he had tucked into his belt.

“Remember - happy couple,” he said, kissing me on the cheek for a second time.

I wriggled, trying to avoid the break contact with the weapon. "Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?"

We spent about half an hour in the dress shop. I was purposefully being picky by trying on too many dresses, savouring any enjoyment I could get out of the situation. Carmine was losing patience fast.

“Come on Bella, they all look great on you let’s just pick one and get out of here,” he said, trying as hard as possible to play the part of nothing more than a frustrated boyfriend.

“These things take time, be patient,” I retorted, smirking; loving the fact that I was making him angry.

“Alessandra really, we are now in a hurry. You are getting that one and we are going to get ready,” he said pointing out a slinky violet dress. “We still need to go to the jeweller to pick up some stuff.”

“Fine!” I said hysterically. “You obviously don’t care about what I want. I honestly don’t know why I’m still going out with you.”

“You should comfort her, say sorry,” the shop assistant told Carmine.

“Oh, I’m sorry Bella, I really am, you know how much I hate shopping but we really are in a hurry. That dress would look great on you. Come on,” he said, giving me a hug.

“My name is Alessandra,” I said through gritted teeth as we took the dress to the counter. I looked at the shop assistant and she gave us a big smile as she took the dress.

“So is your name Bella…?” she asked.

“That’s what I call her,” Carmine replied putting his arm back around my waist and pulling me close so the gun dug into my side.

The shop assistant made an “awe” noise, before scanning the barcode. She continued to look at us with a huge smile on her face, but her smile faded as I pushed Carmine away and stormed out of the shop.