Chapter 55 Books
Yesterday was nice. I spend the rest of the day hanging out with Valeria in her bedroom. We ended up watching a series until one in the morning before we gave up and went to sleep. At this moment, I just finished my breakfast with the Ricci. Everyone except Antonio has left the house to do their own stuff. Valeria goes to her campus to see her professor. Giorgio also has class until the afternoon, just like yesterday. As for Fabio and Mariano, they're both going to handle some business outside.
Antonio and I stay in the living room, not sure of what to do. For the next four hours, we have the house to ourselves until Valeria comes back. Until then, I have to keep Antonio distracted while Dante does his job. He gave me a note earlier that he managed to sneak around the house yesterday. He said he'll be able to disable the security camera for the next couple of hours so he can go around a bit more freely than yesterday. I'm not sure how he did it, but that was what he said. I guess it's probably from his experience with handling the security cameras while he was working in the warehouse. That's good. Why did I just remember about that now? Of course, he knows a thing or two about security cameras. The ones the Ricci have in here are probably not much different from any other security cameras.
"So, what did you want to say yesterday?" I ask.
I remember how Antonio wanted to tell me something before Valeria interrupted us. Until now, I'm still curious about it. I really hope he still hasn't changed his mind about whatever it is, but from what it seems, he won't do it anymore. His eyes darken with hesitation for a second, so that's how I know he won't tell me what he wanted to say yesterday. Damn it. I need to do something to get it out of him.
"It's nothing. Anyway, what do you want to do now? It's cold outside, so we don't really have a choice but to stay inside," Antonio says. As if on cue, I look out the window and the sky is even darker than when I first got here. Damn. I guess it's going to be pouring soon from how thick the grey clouds look in the sky above.
"I'm not sure. You're the host, so tell me," I say, smiling at him. Antonio grins a little and then looks away from me with looks of uncertainty. If what Valeria said about me being his first girlfriend, it's no wonder he's being so awkward right now. Other than the house staff, a few guards, Dante and Carlo, we're basically alone since this place is quite huge.
"I'm not sure either. We don't really have many choices today. It's either playing a video game, reading books, or watching movies. Maybe if it's not too dark and cold outside later, I could take you to the part of the garden by the cliff and watch the view for a bit. For now, those are our only options," Antonio says.
Decisions, decisions. What should we do now? Oh! Right! We'd better hang out in his room again so Dante can roam around the place freely. I can't let Antonio know we're here to spy on the house and his family. I need to keep him company and isolated, which is by staying in his room alone with him.
"Hmm, alright then. Show me your favourite books in your room," I say.
"Are you sure?" Antonio asks.
"One hundred percent. Let's go. I want to see your book collection now. You didn't give me a tour yesterday," I say.
"Alright. Let's go."
Not wanting to waste time, I grab Antonio's hand and pull him with me as we run to his bedroom. We giggle and chuckle on our way to his room, and when we finally get there, we take off our shoes and step into the room, closing the room behind us.
"They're nothing interesting, to be honest. Most of these are old books," Antonio says. In the bookshelves, I see lots of classic literature like Romeo and Juliet and Pride and Prejudice, as well as fairy tales and children's books like Snow White and Jack and the Beanstalk. However, I do see some modern, mainstream books as well. I see The Maze Runner series and The Hunger Games series, as well as non-fiction books about finance and other boring stuff. Interesting. I guess Antonio is into lots of things.
I keep looking through the bookshelves, and then a grin forms on my face as my gaze stops on a specific book title: Twilight. Damn. I didn't think a guy like him would be into vampire romance books like girls do. Don't judge a book by its cover sayings really apply to Antonio.
"You read Twilight?" I ask as I pull out the book from the shelf. Not hearing any words from him, I turn to Antonio, and his face already turns red from embarrassment. His gaze is full of panic as he thinks of an excuse.
Oh my god. He's actually embarrassed. That's cute. With how he puts the book at the very bottom of the bookshelf, he probably thinks I won't notice it. Well, no books can get away from my sight, including the Twilight series and 50 SHADES OF GREY?! Why did he have that one? Oh my. This is crazier than I expected. Well, I mean, yes, 50 Shades of Grey is indeed a fanfiction of Twilight, but I didn't think he'd have the book series, moreover, read it. What got him so interested in that book? I guess being single for too long does something to his brain.
"Uh, yeah. I forgot about that. It's been a while," Antonio says.
"You also read that?" I ask, pointing at the rows of the book series next to the Twilight series. My grin gets even wider as Antonio turns even more panicked and embarrassed.
Okay. I'd better not torture him any longer. It's hilarious and interesting that he reads these kinds of books, though. It's usually girls who read such books, but it's refreshing to know that guys also read this kind of book. No wonder Antonio knows how to treat me wonderfully. Now that I look back at the bookshelves, I can see he does have lots of romance books. That's nice. That means he does learn a lot from these books on how to treat girls well.
"Don't be embarrassed. I used to watch the movies a lot when I was a teenager, too. I guess I can say we were obsessed with vampires and werewolves back then," I say.
"You could say that," Antonio says, still looking embarrassed as he gives me an awkward smile.
"Alright. I don't want to make you uncomfortable and embarrassed any longer. Let's just watch a movie for now," I say, pulling Antonio towards the bed with me. I drop myself to sit on the left side of the bed while Antonio sits on the other side. After I get the remote control from Antonio, I turn on the TV and search for movies to watch.
"What should we watch?" I ask.
"Your choice," Antonio says, seemingly still embarrassed after my discovery of his book collection earlier. That's a good thing, I guess. That means he won't be too worried about what's happening on the other part of the house, wherever Dante is. I hope he's quick enough to do his job. Even though we have lots of time on our hands, we still need to be fast just in case something unexpected happens.
"Alright. Let's watch this for now," I say as I click on the newest romance movie.
An hour passes, and as the time goes by, Antonio and I get closer and closer to each other until we end up in each other's arms as our eyes are glued to the screen in front of us. Together, we continue to watch the movie in silence. Sometimes, our eyes meet one another, and then we quickly look away from each other sheepishly and return our gaze to the TV.
After another half an hour, the movie ends with the main characters kissing each other after three months of being apart from one another. I wipe away the tears I didn't realise I'd shed. Damn. That was a good movie. It's just like any other romance movie, but I'm glad it has a great ending and not a tragic one like I thought it would be.
"Want to watch another movie?" Antonio asks.
"Sure. Let's do it."