This is a story I have been working on. I was wondering if you'd all like to read it. It's not so great, and nothing too exciting has come about yet. But I'd love some feedback? Thank you guys! And I write it in my journal, so you can always look there for more if you like it!
Ettore Leonardi was having the time of his life. A young and strong man with high hopes and a horrible past, things had finally been turning around for him. Recently engaged to the woman of his dreams and getting the promotion he had been working to get for three years, he felt like nothing could go wrong.
Hearing the washing machine on, "Angela. Angela!" Ettore called down the stairs. He knew Angela must be doing laundry. Since she was hard of hearing in her left ear, she always stayed down there reading waiting for the ring of the wash being done. He just came home from work, tired, hungry and wanting to embrace his soon to be wife.
"I'm getting paid tomorrow and wanted to know.." Quickly he made his way down the steps. "If you wanted me to put half of it away for you t-..." His voice quickly died down, seeing a face he had never seen before. It was a man, older than Ettore, hair short and already turning grey. "Who is this Angela?" He looked over at Angela and the man, who were sitting rather close on the old couch.
Angela quickly got to her feet to turn and face him. Her long golden hair a mess, her brown eyes red from tears. She shook slightly and tried her best to look Ettore in the eyes. "This is Robert... He is my-" Her voice cracked, "lover."
Ettores brilliant blue eyes shoot over to Robert. "What do you mean lover..." He looked back at Angela, whose face was now going pale. He ran his hands over his very short black hair and sighed, holding the sides of his head. His heart and pride felt broken.
"She's leaving you, Ettore." Robert spoke low, going to Angela's side placing his arm around her small waist. He was taller and very pale compared to Ettore and was built more like a stick. Whereas Ettore was built strong and was average in height. "She's been planning to for some time..."
"Angela..." His voice shaking, he made his way to her. "What about the wedding... Why'd you say yes? How..." He had so many questions, but he couldn't do this. He couldn't bare this pain, and it was making him angry. Placing his hands on Roberts shoulders quite fast, he shoved him gently. "Get out of my house!" He looked deep into Angela's eyes, his eyes showing nothing but anger. "The both of you!" He yelled loudly and stepped away from them. "Get out now!" He pointed to the stairs.
Robert took Angela by the hand and tried to pull her along with him towards the stairs. "Come on, dear..."
She hesitated, tears streaming down her plump cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Ettore..." She sobbed and looked down at the floor and spoke quietly, "I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me..." Her free hand reaching for Ettore's.
"Like I could ever forgive you for this..." Ettore growled and pushed her hand away.
Angelas sobs got louder as Robert pulled her along up the stairs. "Oh, God..." She wept.
He watched them disappear up the stairs. He listened to the commotion they were making upstairs, loud, creaking footsteps. He could hear Angelas cries and their muffled voices. The only thing he could make out was Robert saying, "Forget about him."
There was a loud slam. It was the front door, they were gone.
Ettore sat down on the old couch and leaned forward, his head in his hands. All he could think now was why. His anger was beginning to fade, and the pain was setting in. She was the only woman he truly loved, he was going to marry her. He thought she loved him, but all that time she was cheating. They had been together for years, so why had she stayed with him that long? He thought she must have been scared. At times he did have a bit of a temper, but he had control over it.
He started thinking about everything about her. Her small cute laugh, her delicate skin that he loved to gently touch. And it all hurt him very much. All the memories they shared. He remembered how they first met...
Ettore had just enrolled in another school. He went from school to school, since he never stayed too long with his foster-parents, which made him feel unwanted. It was his first day, he was late and felt lost already. He walked up and down the halls, looking for his classroom. He let out a long sigh, about to just give up and walk out. "To hell with this..." He was crumpling up his schedule.
"Are you from Italy...?" A tiny female voice echoed in the empty hall.
"I was born there but moved here with my parents at a young age..." He quickly turned around and saw a small magnificent beauty with long golden hair and brown eyes. "How could you tell?" He couldn't help but look her up and down. What a figure she had, broad hips and a chest that he couldn't help but stare at which made him blush. He shook it off and cleared his throat nervously.
"You have an accent!" She smiled at Ettore. "Do you speak Italian?" She spoke excitedly, voice filled with hope that he knew.
He shook his head. "I picked the accent up from them. And I know a few words. They didn't get the chance to teach me very much..." His voice died down as he bit his bottom lip, looking at the floor. He quickly looked back at the girl. "I-"
She cut him off. "Oh, bummer! But that's really cool! Oh, I'm so sorry! You're new aren't you?" She got rather close to him.
"Yes!" He said loudly, unable to control his voice being too nervous. He tried to straighten out his schedule. "And I'm a bit lost..." He smiled sheepishly at her.
There were footsteps coming towards them and fast. Ettore looked in the direction they were coming from, but it was already too late. They pushed past the girl and tackled Ettore. "Get away from my girlfriend!" They yelled in Ettores face.
He looked at them. An acne covered boy with angry green eyes and brown hair. They held Ettore down weakly, who looked frightened from being caught off-guard. "She was just talking to me." He tried to speak defensively, pushing the boy off of him with no problem. Getting back on his feet, he brushed off himself.
"Oh yeah right! I saw you looking at her!" He looked over to her and held up his hand. "And you! You were supposed to meet me twenty minutes ago, you little b***h!" He slapped her face with the back of his hand, making her fall to the floor.
Ettores eyes widened and his hands went into a fist. "You don't ever hit a woman!"
Before the boy could even look at Ettore, Ettore's fist smashed into the side of his face, making him slam his head into a locker. He hit the floor hard and didn't move. He was still breathing, but he'd be knocked out for a while.
"Are you alright, Miss..?" He kneeled down next to the girl and held his hand out to her, waiting to hear her name and if she was alright.
"Angela, Angela Curtis." She gently grabbed Ettores hand and looked up into his eyes. She was stunned by his looks and his eyes. "I'm good..."
"Well, Angela...Let's get you to the nurse, and get you some ice. And then we'll tell them about...your boyfriend." He helped her up slowly, looking her up and down making sure she was okay.
"Thank you..." She couldn't take her eyes off him. "What's your name...?" She asked shyly.
"Ettore Leonardi." He said with great pride.
With a sad look on his face, Ettore remembered that later after he met Angela, she explained to him why she was meeting up with her boyfriend. He was trying to talk her into having sex with him, and she was hesitant over it. But she couldn't stand him bothering her anymore, and she was going to give in. Ettore was glad that he met her and in his eyes, he saved her from that monster. Angela did feel stuck in that relationship, mostly because her boyfriend at that time was abusive.
He still remained on the couch. He had lost track of how long he had been sitting there. He forgot about his hunger, and he was growing tired. His body felt too heavy to get up, and he slumped over to his side and started falling asleep. Trying his best to shake himself awake, he couldn't keep his eyes open anymore.
"Dad!" Ettore cried out in a shrill yell. A dark figure had broken in through his window and was making his way over to him and fast. They grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and carried him that way, slightly choking Ettore. His eyes tried to wander and look around seeing where they were taking him. The dark figure kicked a door, it flew open with a loud bang. Ettore was shaking with fear, knowing where he was now. They brought him to his parents room.
Two dark figures were holding his parents, a gun to his fathers head and a knife to his mothers neck. He gasped once the gun went off and watched the blood splatter and fly. And then his mother fell to the floor, blood pouring under her from her neck.
"No!" The seven year old Ettore tried to get away and get to his parents, but they and the dark figures disappeared.
He fell to the floor and cried, alone and scared.
There was a flash of light, and a beautiful angel appeared. She sang softly into Ettores ear and held him in her lap, rubbing his back. He looked up into the angels eyes and he smiled, knowing who the angel was. "Angela..."
Covered in a cold sweat and gasping for air, Ettore sat up, eyes wide and his heart pounding. He didn't want to relive that moment again, when his parents died. But when Angela had showed up in his dream, it calmed him. He wanted her back, but wondered what made it so that he'd lose her in such a way. Was he not good enough? He worked hard to make a good life for her. Or maybe he wasn't a good enough lover. He shook his head, trying not to think about it too much. The pain kept swimming back and forth to him.
He looked at his wristwatch, it was only 6 A.M. He didn't have to be at work for another two hours. It would be a long morning for Ettore, and he prayed to God he could get through it.
With a deep sigh, he got off the couch and made his way up the stairs slowly. His body still felt heavy, which would make things even harder for him.
Going towards the kitchen counter, he saw on the table the engagement ring he gave to Angela. He closed his eyes tight and bit his tongue hard, turning the other way towards the hallway. He'd have to skip breakfast or pick something up on the way to work. "Son of a b***h..." He whispered to himself, voice filled with pain.
He pushed the bathroom door open the rest of the way and turned on the bright light. He held his hand over his brow, trying not to look up. It was still pretty dark out, and his eyes were still tired. He blinked a few times, getting himself used to the light.
He looked himself in the mirror, still wearing his clothes from yesterday, his favorite red button-up shirt and black pants. He sighed at himself, he looked a mess already. "My God, Ettore..." Dark rings under his eyes and he was very pale. He started taking off his clothes and leaned over the tub, reaching to turn on the water. He turned it to cold and splashed some on his face to wake him a bit. He sniffed and shook his head. He stepped in the tub and pulled the curtain shut. He turned the shower on and shivered once he felt the cold water hit his body. He quickly turned it to hot water. And that's when he started to think of Angela again. They had made love in that shower. Ettore gasped and placed his hands against the wall to hold himself up and held his head down low. "Get over it. It's just a shower..." He told himself in a low growl.
He felt a little stupid for that hitting him like it did.
He quickly washed himself and got out of the shower. He grabbed a towel from the rack and dried off, making his way to his room. Unsure how he'd react when he was in there, he took a deep breath when he stepped in. And he looked around and then closed his eyes. All of Angela things were gone. The dressers were left open, some of his clothes hanging out. The closet wide open, only his clothes and empty hangers left. He went and got a pair of boxers and put those on, sitting on the side of the bed. The side Angela slept on. That area smelled like her, and his eyes watered slightly. He looked at the bedside table. The picture of Angela and him was gone, just the picture frame was left.
His heart skipped a beat as he stared at the empty picture frame. And he felt empty, too.
He choked a little and stiffened up, he stood up and shook the feeling off. He went to his closet and grabbed the first shirt and pair of pants he saw. A white shirt with a black bird and jeans. He didn't care what he was wearing to work, and if they had a problem with it, they could just fire him. And he only worked at a bookstore at the mall. He was either on the floor stocking shelves, helping customers or working on the stores website. Nothing too formal about that, at least he thought so.
He got dressed slowly, still feeling heavy. He went and put a pair of socks on and went back out to the living room.
As he was going to get his sneakers by the door, his eyes darted towards the wall behind the couch. All the pictures with Angela were gone. His jaw clenched tight and he tried to hold back his yell, but it came out fast. "What's the matter with you?! You leave me and take everything that'll remind me of you?! Like that will take the thought of you out of my damned head, Angela!" How he wished she could hear him.
He put on his sneakers in an angry fashion, jamming his feet in and swearing a couple of times to himself. He grabbed his keys off the hook by the door and unlocked the front door. Opening it he let out another swear and slammed the door shut behind him. He walked out to his car and sighed, calming down.
Making his way to punch in, Ettore was stopped by his manager. "Hello Mr. Leonardi! I wanted to ask you a question." She didn't seem to mind what Ettore was wearing today.
"What is it?" He looked at Kelly Storm, the sometimes uptight manager of Storm Books. Her father owned the place and decided to make her manager of this branch.
"I lost the wedding invitation and wanted to know when it was." She said with a huge smile on her face.
Ettores face grew pale. "The wedding is off..." He said quietly, no pride in his voice. When he told everybody at work about the wedding, he was very proud. Proud of the woman he loved, proud to be with her, proud to marry her. And of everything about her and the wedding.
"What? Why?!" Her voice got high and upset. She had gone on a double date with them shortly after their engagement, and she saw how much in love that Ettore and Angela were in.
"She left me last night-" He took a deep breath and looked Kelly in the eyes, " for another man."
"Oh, Ettore...I'm so sorry." Kelly shook her head slowly, looking at the floor. She looked at Ettore sympathetically. "If you need anything..."
"No, no. It's alright, Ms. Storm. Thank you though. I'm just fine."
"Are you sure?" She looked him up and down. "Sure do not look the part of being fine-" She paused for a moment and spoke quietly, "Not even dressed for work..." She tried not to scowl at that but looked at Ettores sad eyes. "It's okay though. I will let this one slide." Kelly made herself smile at Ettore.
"Thanks again." Ettore was going to walk away but Kelly stopped him.
"We have a new employee, Ettore. And well, you know a lot more than anybody else...Do you mind training her?"
"Not a problem..." He didn't really feel up to it, but since she said it that way, that gave him a bit more pride in himself. "Send her my way." He watched as Kelly walked away towards the back of the store. He'd wait right where he was for now. He was over by the comics and graphic novel section, something he used to be into when he was younger. He looked at some of the titles, seeing if he recognized any of them. Nothing was really catching his eye, so he sighed and went around to the side of the shelf. He gently leaned against it, hoping not to knock it down. He ran his hands over his face, rubbing his tired eyes.
"Et..Et..Ettore Leo...Leonardi?" A shy female voice stumbled.
"Yes...?" He moved his hands away from his eyes and saw a girl, maybe in her older teens. She was short, only coming up to the middle of his chest. Her blond hair with a tint of red was down just below her ears. Her eyes were a deep shade of blue mixed with grey. Her lightly freckled cheeks red with embarrassment. She was just so small and innocent looking.
"You're going to train me?" She couldn't make eye contact with him, her eyes kept going from him to the surroundings around them.
"Looks that way." Ettore couldn't help but chuckle, almost charmed at how shy she was. He stepped away from the bookshelf, sighing. "Kelly didn't tell me your name." He tried to look the girl in the eyes, but she kept looking around. "You know...you should make eye contact with your superiors" He laughed, trying to get her to get comfortable with him.
"I'm sorry! This is the first job I've had and I don'-" She blurted out, her face growing even redder from embarrassment.
"Whoa, kid, slow down. It's alright...Just tell me your name so I know what to call you..." He lowered his voice, trying to calm her.
She bit her lip and looked up at Ettore, moving her hips from side to side, nervously pulling on the sleeves of her blue sweater. "I'm Camilla Eden...And I'm not a kid. I'm nineteen years old." She said quietly and blushed, finally looking him in his eyes. She was almost instantly struck by how good looking he was, for the first time actually looking straight at him without her eyes darting in every other direction.
Ettore couldn't help but watch her hips for a breif moment. She surely did not look nineteen. Maybe sixteen, but not nineteen. "It's a pleasure to meet you then, Camilla." He flashed her a smile and turned away, getting ready to speak. "I've never actually trained anyone..." He started looking at the graphic novels again and motioned her to come that way.
Camilla pushed her hair behind her ear and slowly went to Ettores side. Her eyes seemed to light up when she realized what section they were in. "Oh, I love manga!" She said in an excited tone.
"Really now?" He scratched the back of his head and stretched. He let out a long yawn. "I used to be really into this stuff..." He looked at Camilla, whose eyes were still lit up with excitement. He stared at her, she was a very cute girl.
"Oh..." She noticed Ettore staring and a deep blush grew on her face. "Cool..." Her voice was filled with shyness again.
He tried to stop staring and thought for a moment. "Hey, what's your favorite manga...?" He smiled at her, really interested to find out. He also wanted to make her open up, or else she'd be too afraid to help customers. And he did not want her to be afraid to talk to him.
Her body jumped a little as she looked up at Ettore. "My favorite would have to be...Chobits." The blush stayed on her cheeks constantly, which Ettore tried not to chuckle at the whole time.
He nodded at her. "That...I've never actually read. My fianc-..." His voice trailed off and his smile turned into a frown in mere seconds. Angela never really let him read a lot of graphic novels or comics. she kept telling him it was childish. He had stopped reading them for her a long time ago, so he was missing out on a lot of the ones that were popular these days. He started to realize that Angela never really let him do a lot, and that made him somewhat angry. But that anger was covered by the pain of thinking about her again.
Camilla saw him frown. "What's wrong?" She asked in a concerned filled voice.
He stepped back, suddenly feeling like it was hard to breathe. He gasped, "I'm fine." He closed his eyes and took deep breaths, letting them out slowly. Repeating a few more times he looked at Camilla, smiling slightly, but still looking sad. "...Let's get to work, okay?" His heart was pounding, and his face felt hot. He turned and started walking, Camilla following behind him having a hard time keeping up. "Well, Camilla, we try to keep things alphabetically. But they need to be in their right section. Sci-fi must be in one spot, same with the manga. You got that...?" Ettore slowed to a stop suddenly.
Camilla not paying too much attention, ran right into Ettores back. Gasping she lost what little balance she had and started falling back. Hearing the gasp, Ettore quickly turned and caught her in time, his left hand on her lower back and his right arm behind her shoulders. "Be careful..." He stared at her a moment then carefully placed her on her feet and stepped back. Then his eyes spotted Kelly, peaking at them from behind a bookshelf, smiling. His face turned bright red and quickly turned away.
Camilla stood there, her face hot from blushing so much at that moment. She stared at the floor awkwardly, biting her lip. Her heart was pounding, and it wouldn't stop. "Uhm...I've got it. I mean, I understand how that all works...alphabetically."
"Okay, good." He started walking again, fixing a few books back into place. "And this is something you've got to do, too. People like to pull books out and not put them back." He looked over at Camilla. He spoke softly to her, "Okay, Camilla...?"
"Yes, sir..."
"Oh, please just call me Ettore." He smiled.
"Ettore..." She took a step back and looked him up and down, eyes wondering. "How old are you?" Blushing once again.
"I'm twenty-four. My birthday is coming up soon..." His birthday was coming up in two weeks, and the wedding would have been five weeks after.
"Really?" Camilla was catching on, putting books back in their place with Ettore. "I thought you'd be a bit younger than that..." She tried to speak in a whisper, hoping he wouldn't hear.
"And I thought you were sixteen." He patted her on the shoulder and laughed slightly.
She jumped at his touch and blushed even more. "That's nothing new..." She cracked a smile, looking at Ettore.
Shocked at how amazingly beautiful her smile was, Ettore got flustered and started dropping books he tried to put back into place. He let them stay on the floor for a moment and sighed. He had never reacted like this before, not even around Angela. Quickly, he started picking them up.
Camilla helped him, their hands bumping each others gently, trying to grab the same books. They both blushed each time. Eyes meeting as they both stood, they both could feel a connection between them. She couldn't take her eyes off of him now.
But Ettore looked back to the shelves and started to put the books back in their rightful places. "Why don't we see how you'll interact with customers, Camilla..."
Camilla gulped, she was getting extremely nervous now. "Alright...What do I do..?"
"Just go up to one and see if they need help." Ettore turned to face her, but she was looking down, her face hidden by her hair and bangs. He frowned slightly and went over to her. "Okay...I'll show you, then you can just do what I did. How does that sound?" He tried to look at her, but her hair just wouldn't move out of the way. Gently he moved the hair out of her face, giving her a big smile. "How about it?"
She couldn't help but blush and smile as well. "I'd like that very much, Ettore..." Looking up into his eyes, her knees shook slightly under her.
"You'll do just fine. Trust me. Follow me, please." His smile grew larger, and he looked around for a customer. He saw someone near the Romance section and made his way there, he looked back to see if Camilla was following him. She was, and closely.
The female customer was quite old, and she kept looking very closely at the books on the shelf. She turned and saw the two of them near her.
Ettore spoke with a smile across his face. Making eye contact with the woman, "Good morning ma'am, do you need any help finding anything?"
"Could you read the title of this to me...I seemed to have left my glasses at home." She handed the book to Ettore. He smiled and chuckled. "This is Roses." He looked back to the woman.
"Just what I was looking for. I wasn't sure that was what it said or not. Thank you very much."
"Do you need anything else?"
"Oh, no. I must be on my way now. This is all I needed." The old woman made her way towards the cash register at the front of the store.
Ettore turned to Camilla. "See? It's very easy. Nothing to it!" He moved his hands towards her when he spoke.
Camilla smiled and looked around, not seeing anybody over the tall shelves. She walked around one, going in a complete circle. She blushed and looked down. "I don't see anybody..."
"It's a slow day..." He laughed and smiled at her. "We can find something else to do until we come across someone else." He looked at his watch, fourteen minutes until lunch break. Time was going by quick, and he thought it was going to be a long day. Meeting Camilla was making his day seem bearable. "Hey? It's almost lunch..." Ettore's stomach was growling, he hadn't had a thing to eat yet. "Do you have plans for that? Or did you bring something?" His voice lowered and he stared at her.
"Crap...!" She said angrily then looked down at the floor, her cheeks turning slightly pink. "I forgot my lunch at home."
He chuckled and crossed his arms. "Why don't I treat you to lunch then...?"
Camilla's face turned crimson and she stuttered, "I..I-I, o-okay..." She looked up at Ettore and saw him smiling, which made her even more embarrassed and nervous. She looked back at the floor quickly.
