The third day of the new year. People have already celebrated the holiday with their families, and now they are celebrating with friends. We drove up to one of the villas, which is lit up with New Year’s lights. The door is opened by a maid, apparently.


    “Ah Vico, come in.”


    “The girl is with me,” he says.


    “Salve!” she nods to me in a friendly manner.


    Vico helps me take off my jacket, and patiently waits for me to change my shoes.


    “Let’s go,” he takes my hand. I look at him questioningly.


    “Have you never had a boyfriend, except for the object of your affection? Are you blushing again? I guess I’m right. Okay, just be natural, we should look like a couple.”


    “Oh, Vico, ciao!”


    A cute guy comes up to us, not as handsome as my companion, of course, but also cute.


    “Oh, and who is this? Another little girl? This is the first time you’ve come to us with someone else.”


    He looks at me with interest.


    “She’s not bad. Nice dress, signorina!”


    “This is my girlfriend, Christina. Be nice to her! How’s Mia?”


    “Oh, sorry, Christina! I’m Leon.”


    “Nice to meet you, Leon.”


    “You’re not Italian? Your Italian isn’t perfect, I noticed.”


    “Yeah, it’s not that good, sorry. I’m Scottish.”


    “Don’t worry, some of us speak English well, and the rest of us, I think, will understand. Bro, seriously? I’m glad you finally found someone. Such a handsome man can’t go alone. Mia is great, she’s just recovered from a difficult period, she’s already better now. And her tummy is starting to grow. She’s still nervous, but we’ll manage.”


    “Mia is his wife,” Vico whispers in my ear. I nod.


    ”I’m glad to hear she’s better, bro. We’ll try to be quieter.”


    “Oh, Mia insisted on this party, I suggested she cancel while she was pregnant.”


    We go up to the billiard room, where the bar is located. We are met by three more guys and four girls. One of them is sitting in a chair.


    “How are you, my love?” Leon approaches the girl sitting in the chair. She smiles and whispers something in his ear.


    “Ciao, Vico! It’s been a while.”


    The others greet us too.


    “This is my girlfriend, Christina. Take care of her.”\


    They look at me with interest.


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    “Wow,” Mia finally says, “Vico, you surprised us. I’m Mia. And this is Agatha, Renata and Carla. The guys are Stefano, Nero and Edmund. But I don’t think you’ll need their names, you can hang out with us. Vico, you don’t mind if we steal your girlfriend, do you? She seems a little embarrassed. You probably haven’t interacted with people like us often. Tell us a little about yourself and let’s go have a drink. Carla, will you pour me some juice?”


    I look at Vico for support. He barely noticeable spreads his arms. I wasn’t ready for such close communication. I’ve never had any female friends. And it’s hard for me to communicate with them. But I have to. Especially since Vico promised to help me with the studio, and while I have no income, the money I’ve been saving is gradually decreasing. If this continues, I’ll have to go home soon. And I’d like to stay in Rome longer. And even more so, I don’t want to ask Jack for help, I don’t deserve it. I’d like to communicate with them as equals. Okay, I won’t hide my sin, I don’t want to see John, otherwise I won’t stand it. I feel too much love and pain towards this man.


    “Hey? Are you okay?” Carla waves in front of my face, it seems, “Blue Lagoon, beauty.”


    “Grazie,” I say.


    Tell us how you met. We all know that no one can win the heart of this cold stone. Karla and Renata tried too, but nothing worked.


    Mia looks at me curiously. I drink the cocktail through a straw, perhaps faster than necessary:


    “It’s simple. His mother introduced us.”


    “Wow, it’s not that easy to earn his mother’s approval,” Mia tells me. It seems like I’ve grown in their eyes now.


    “Another cocktail?”


    “Can I have one?” I ask.


    “Of course,” Renata says, “Leon’s parents have a whole bar here. Plus, they own a distillery.”


    “Wow,” I’m surprised.


    “By the way, Vico is the youngest here. How old are you?”


    “Twenty-three.”


    They laugh.


    “In that case, there are two of you,” Mia says.


    It turns out that everyone here is between twenty-seven and thirty.


    “Don’t worry, we’re still young and don’t worry about age. Excuse me, signores, I’m going to step away. I don’t think I’m feeling very well. But I’ll be back soon,” she continues.


    “You’re not very talkative,” Carla notes, “Renata usually doesn’t talk much either. Long Island?”


    “I think that’s enough for her,” a male voice sounds in my ear, “right?”


    Vico’s black hair tickles my cheek.


    “Do you want to steal Christina from us?” Mia asks him, laughing. She just got back.


    “I think that’s too much for a first acquaintance. So I’m taking her.”


    He picks me up and throws me over his shoulder.


    “Hey, what are you doing?” I’m indignant.


    Everyone laughs. I try to hit him on the back a little, but he doesn’t pay attention to me.


    “It seems like our rock really fell in love,” I hear one of the guys.


    I feel very uncomfortable. But fortunately, it doesn’t last long. Vico opens one of the doors and puts me down on the floor:


    “Sorry. I think I overdid it a little. I want to read before bed. And you really shouldn’t drink anymore. What if you say something unnecessary,” he justifies himself.


    “It’s okay. I’m a little tired, so you came just in time. But there’s only one bed, what are we going to do?”


    “Don’t worry, I told you I wouldn’t touch you. It’s big. Let me help you change?”


    “Um…”


    “You’re such a shy girl,” Viko laughs. His bag is already on the nightstand. He takes out his T-shirt.


    “Are you asking me to sleep in this?” I ask him.


    “What, do you want to ruin your cute dress? The bathroom is over there,” he points to the side.


    I came back two minutes later. Luckily, Viko is broad-shouldered and long, so his T-shirt looks like a dress on me. He has already climbed into bed, and I can only see the upper part of his body in a tank top and his pumped-up arms.


    “What are you standing there for? Come here,” he tells me.


    I come over and sit down on the bed. I put my phone on the nightstand. I need to fall asleep faster.


    “Hey, wait!”


    Viko sits up abruptly on the bed.


    “You’re like a child, honestly! Turn your back.”


    I obediently sit down with my back to him. He touches my hair with his hands.


    “Now don’t move,” he warns.


    “Oh, I would have gone to bed anyway,” I grumble discontentedly.


    “Shut up already.”


    Vico carefully removes the pins from my hair, and they fall over my shoulders.


    “This is the first time I’ve done such strange things,” he comments, “you have to take care of your hair. It’s beautiful.”


    After all the pins are removed, he hands them to me and returns to his book.


    “Tomorrow we will ask the girls for a hair tie and a comb. Mia will probably have something. She and Leon have almost settled here.”


    “Okay, buona notte,” I say, and turn away from him. I need to sleep. Luckily, the dim light from the table lamp doesn’t bother me at all.