Dancing To Happiness

<> I answer off the top of my head before she investigates too deeply. I don’t even know what to say, why I’m feeling so melancholy is a mystery to me too.

<> Frances exclaims approaching and kissing me on the forehead.

<>

Frances kisses also Robbie on the forehead and we head for our bedrooms.

I sink my head in the soft pillow and before falling asleep I send a text message to Max:

Good night, I miss you! Kisses

He answers me immediately:

I miss you too. Remember to be a good girl and don’t get too close to other guys when you’re at the beach. Good night!

I smile and finally fall asleep.

The weekend goes on in a big way: sun, sea, beach games, junk food, disco and a lot of light heartedness I really needed!!! It has been all too short and Turin with its monotony awaits us.

<> I hug the wonderful woman who has allowed us to spend a terrific weekend and we leave. Of course I’m the designated driver but the truth is that I don’t mind so much after all. When the road is free-flowing and I have music to keep me company, I feel like the mistress of the world. Meanwhile Robbie fell asleep. I won’t wake her thus I can lose myself in my thoughts without arousing indiscreet questions.

Back home we all head for our rooms. We have to rest and prepare psychologically ourselves for the beginning of a new week of hard work.

II

The alarm goes off and I jump from the bed watching the time with sleepy eyes. Damn! It’s already time to get up! It’s only Wednesday and I feel tired as if it was already Friday, wearing the weight of a week . I snort, stretch myself on the bed and try to gather my strength to face another long day. Summer is not long over and the city has resumed its rhythm: people running after public transport, drivers who insult each other to the car horn and students of all ages with a backpack and with the indolence that can be seen from their expressions, just like me today. Sooner or later I want to take a day off and lounge in bed all day making me only cradle by idleness.

This traffic light doesn’t want to turn green! While I wait to cross the road I’m bewitched by a celestial vision. There’s a guy in front of me on the other side of the road who’s waiting to cross. He’s handsome to take your breath away, like someone out of a billboard. Brown hair with shades of wheat colour, eyes as blue as the sky in a summer day and he is as tall and mighty as a Greek God: it’s impossible not to notice him. I hope he didn’t perceive my steady gaze. We cross the road in opposite directions and for a moment I meet his eyes. I feel like a fifteen-years-old girl and, overawed by that magnetic look, I blush. I proceed in my direction and try to get rid of the embarrassment, but when I come in the classroom I still find myself trying to get that wonderful vision out of my head and to take my stupid smile off my face. I start even to feel guilty towards Max. What would he think of his girlfriend dazed at the sight of another man?

The morning drags on heavily between long or boring lessons. Time seems not to pass and my clock is there to remind me that every time I watch it. Luckily it’s time to take our lunch break.

<> Roberta asks, intrigued by my attitude of teenager with the head in the clouds.

<>

<> she asks with curiosity.

<>

<> Robbie snorts. <> we both laugh.

The first part of my day is over. Now I have to run home to help my mother and then dedicate myself to dance. Sunday I’m going to have a dance recital and bad impressions aren’t allowed. <> I say to myself aloud.

<> my mother screams.

<> I answer, caught unawares by her agitated tone and diverted in an impetuous way from my thoughts.

<>

<> I ask with curiosity.

<>

Sometimes I think my parents have really a lot of work with this huge three-story house. The ground floor consists of a hall, a very large dining room, a living room with a fireplace where we usually gather to watch TV or to converse and receive guests, a large American-style kitchen and then my favourite room: the gym where my parents placed a huge mirror all over the wall and a sound system. On the first floor there are the six rooms with bathroom that we rent and my father’s office. Instead, on the second floor there’s my bedroom with external bathroom, my parent’s bedroom with service and finally the guest room. On the top floor there’s a very large terrace where in summer we go to sunbathe and sometimes to eat with friends. Fortunately we have a housekeeper who helps us. My mother is a tireless woman, she takes care of everything, even to prepare meals for the kids. Maybe she would also need to go on vacation and take some rest.

We changed the sheets and cooled the room. Now we just have to wait for the guest.

<> I ask my mother with the hope that I can duck out.

<> she says mildly. Finally she relaxed.

<> I go away giving her a kiss on the cheek.

Before going down I go in my bedroom to wear a black jumpsuit. I go to the kitchen to get some water and then I run to the gym. “From this moment on no more distractions, Isabel!” I turn on the stereo and begin to warm-up.

Heaven Out of Hell by Elisa fills the room and finally the song and I are one. There’s nothing more exciting than getting carried away by music. It makes me feel free, happy and able to fly. I will never stop dancing. It’s the thing that makes me happy the most.

While I’m vaulting I feel observed. I stop and see a silhouette reflected in the mirror. It’s behind me leaning against the door. I can’t believe my eyes! I’m a heap of conflicting emotions. That look overawes me! How is it possible? Usually no one affects me this way. I’m paralysed, unable to utter a single word in amazement. Ironically that wonderful Greek God that I met this morning at the traffic light is here, in my gym, and he’s looking at me with a beautiful smile! I’m going to melt like snow in the sun. He has tousled hair that gives him a very sexy air, wears a grey cotton long-sleeved shirt and black jeans and holds a black leather jacket. He could easily be a model. He has a well formed and lean body. I’m practically making him the X-rays! I don’t know how long he is there staring at me. I continue observing that wonder in front of me for I don’t know how long. It seems as endless moments have passed and I feel rather embarrassed. Luckily my parents come to save me.

<> my mother says, noticing my discomfort.

<> I say almost stammering. Luckily I can pretend that it’s shortness of breath due to the physical activity from which I have been interrupted.

<> Matthias says to dampen the formality of introductions but without taking his eyes from mine.

<> I answer with an ironic and perhaps slightly hateful tone: as far as he makes me happy about the fact that, unconsciously, with that sentence he helped me overcame the initial frost or paralysis in which I had fallen. I don’t want him to realize how much he affects me.

Mentally I thank my parents who invite him to visit the rest of the house and soon I take advantage of this to take the reins of my self control back and to metabolise what happened. I turn off the stereo, wipe the sweat from my forehead and head for the hall to reach the stairs and go to take a shower. I don’t know if I’d like to freshen up for the sweat in the gym or if I need a cold shower to recover from the hot flush that has possessed me when I have had the vision of that beautiful man.

Also Matthias is in the hall to retrieve his luggages.

<> I ask him putting shyness aside.

<> he answers smiling at me

I almost melt again looking at his face. I smile too and climb the stairs taking the steps two by two to avoid further contacts with his eyes. What the hell is happening to me? I feel like an idiot. Not even in adolescence a thing like that has ever happened to me.

I meet my mother near my bedroom and ask her: <>

<>

While we are speaking he comes to us and my mother helps him to settle down in his room.

<>

<> I take what I was asked and while they’re still in the room I hear my mother who’s talking with Matthias.

<>