Someone Else

Chapter 28

***Matteo's POV***

I wake up in the bed alone. The apartment smells like freshly baked cookies... My stomach growls.

Yawning, I go into the bathroom to brush and then go out to the kitchen.

Princess has that ridiculously big pot that's almost as tall as she is out again. This time it's sectioned off into four and every part is a different flavor.

"Goodmorning, princess." I said, kissing her forehead.

"Goodmorning, bello." She said smiling brightly. "Breakfast is almost ready!"

I grin and take a chocolate chip cookie from the bowl. When I bite into it, chocolate and a hint of nutmeg melts into my mouth which pairs nicely with the soft cookie with a slight crunch at the edges. Delicious, just like I expected.

"Do you wanna know how I'm making sure they won't go stale?" Princess whispered despite us being the only ones here.

"Of course."

She giggles and puts a package of white bread on the counter. "It's bread! To keep the cookies moisty! Plus, the cooler should keep them warm anyways, these are just for us today."

Weird heart flutters, check. "What are the flavors?" I asked her, sitting down on the stool.

"Chocolate chip, gluten free cinnamon toast, marshmallow with rice crispy, and chocolate peanut butter." She said proudly.

The first cooler is almost full, how long has she been up? There must be two thousand cookies already done.

The timer dings and she quickly takes a baking sheet out of the oven. I see the familiar curve of my favorite pastry. Croissants.

"Now let these cool for twenty minutes before even thinking about taking one." She reminded me of the last croissant accident when I picked one up and burned my hand. Sue me, it was calling out my name like a siren.

Two weeks ago another oven was brought in while she was at the grocery store. Then she called me to come down quickly.

In the trunk of her Mercedes was dozens of bags of flour, sugar, cinnamon, chocolate chips, cereal,... bringing everything up took seven trips. She decided day two of the festival, she had to make something new.

Where does she get all this money? She'd told her parents to stop sending money and won't use mine. She has published four books, yes, but she's donated almost one hundred thousand dollars. I haven't asked her how much her income is, I'm nervous to.

She doesn't work and spends most of her time at school, doing schoolwork, cooking or cleaning; and yet she is wildly successful. It is a bit emasculating.

It's about time I asked, the curiosity is killing me. "Amor, can I ask you something?" I blurted out.

She looked up from her mixing bowl and and smiled. "Yes, Matt?"

Just say it. "How much do you make?" I asked, regretting I did. Why did I phrase it like that? I'm an i***t.

She blinks at me for a minute before bursting out laughing. "I didn't use my credit card to pay for these things!" She exclaimed.

Exactly why I'm asking. "I know, princess. But you buy and give a lot of things and you never use the card I gave you..." I sound like I'm complaining. I partially am complaining that she doesn't spend my money at all!

"Oh, sciocco." She mumbled, blushing. "I am a best-selling author. One of my books sell an average of 30 million copies worldwide. And I have 4 series."

Series? "So how many books is that?" I asked. I should really read what she publishes.

She grinned. "A total of twelve, sciocco." She sang. "But I only get 12 percent. Every single copy is sold at 15 dollars not including tax. You can do the math."

"Fifteen dollars a book, twelve books, thirty million copies per book at twelve percent..." I mumbled, doing the math in my head. 648 thousand. "Amor!"

She jumped. "What?"

"At this rate, you will become richer than I am!" I whined.

"Those stories I've been working on since I was 8, it takes a long time to write a book. I've published most of my ideas already, now I have to come up with new fresh ones and write them out and develope them...it's very difficult." She said, smiling. "I don't know, I'm not really working on my writing now, I'm focusing solely on my degree and the community."

So she's a saint and a prodigy, that's just great! I eat a delicious croissant and glower.

This woman has many layers just like this croissant. Delicious and addicting overall, with layers of slightly sweet and savory butter and dough. Living with her has turned me into a philosopher.

She cuts one some croissants and puts smoked sausage, thinly sliced tomato and spicy mayo in it. "A new combo." She said, urging me to try it.

I take a bite and damn it, it's delicious. "You need to stop that."

"Stop what?" She asked, her big eyes innocently wide.

"Driving me crazy." I grinned.

She blushed and we have a nice breakfast together, talking about what we're going to do tonight.

___________________________________

The turnout today is better than yesterday, much more people, a lot of familiar faces.

I use tongs to put cookies into white paper bags and watch my love sell wristbands and give out cookies at the same time, all with a smile. This smile is real and I feel so proud of her and of myself. We've healed each other.

"These are really good, boss." Jude said, eating his seventh chocolate peanut butter cookie.

"Your break is over, go give out cookies." I snapped at him.

All my men are going out with bowls full of cookies and the situation is very funny to me. I've seen these men kill and smoke and torture people, now they're wearing aprons and doing community service. Even more funny is myself, the one who's done the most bad s**t, immensely enjoying this because my girlfriend hasn't stopped smiling for two hours now.

My job is the hot chocolate, which I pour into these edible cups that princess bought for an insane amount of money.

"Attention: wristbands for the Food Festival are completely sold out. I repeat: wristbands are completely sold out!" I hear Princess say. "There are free cookies and hot chocolate in the front, the cups are edible and delicious!"

Julius comes back for a cookie and bag refill and goes out into the field again.

I noticed something that was surprising. Amor doesn't count the money they pay and yet last night when we counted, there was not a cent missing. I had the wrong impression of homeless people and I was ashamed of myself for assuming we'd be short by thousands.

She comes back glowing and eats a chocolate chip cookie. "I hate that this is the last day of Food Fest, I hope they do this again next year without me." She said pouting.

"They would be stupid not to, you've raised sixty thousand dollars so far."

She laughs and gives me a quick kiss. "I have to do my rounds now, don't forget to stir the bottom of the pot!" She said before going into the main area.

There are so many people here, the air is warm and filled with talk and laughter.

The cookies go very quickly, princess had the idea of placing an open cooler with tongs and bags set up at the stall in addition to us going out and giving them to people. She made four coolers full of cookies, there's only one left. That's twenty thousand cookies she spent over ten hours baking in two four layered ovens.

If she had charged three dollars for one cookie, we would already have around thirty thousand dollars. These cookies are big, as big as my fist, they could sell for ten dollars at a Starbucks.

Before we got here, she withdrew a thousand dollars, all in fives. I noticed that she carried along an empty bowl in and grinned.

In half an hour she comes back with a bowl full of food and calls back Julius, Paul and Jude.

We sit in chairs around the stall and eat while she serves the hot chocolate.

My favorite tonight is still her cookies.

There are only about a hundred left and only twenty minutes left until the festival is over.

A lot of kids hang out around here, homeless kids and teenagers are kind of camping out a few feet away from our stall toward the back and they periodically send someone to fill up bags of cookies and get refills.

"Attention Food Festival teams!" Amor said through the megaphone. "Fifteen minutes left until the festival is officially over and then please stay for half an hour to know the first, second and third place!"

"So this is a competition too?" One of the kids asked.

Amor smiled at them. "Yeah, crazy right?" She said.

"What's a famous author like you doing giving out cookies?" A girl asked.

The answer to that is very complex, I wait to see how Amor responds.

"I'm the oldest seat on the student council. This is my event." Amor said proudly. "The teams are competing for job interviews but this is a collosal opportunity whether you win or lose. You can advertise at your stand, learn how to interact with customers and there are employers here, I personally invited them."

"Why do these Ivy kids have to compete to get job interviews?"

Amor smiled at these homeless teenagers warmly. "Because the criteria that employers look for is not in the college but in the person. If you go to Harvard and graduate, a kid who went to community college might have the advantage when it comes to getting jobs. You wanna know why?"

They don't have an answer because it sounds so ridiculous. I eat a cookie to hide my smile.

"Because of their work experience of course!" Amor laughed. "If I were an employer, why would I choose a kid who only knows how to study over a kid who can study and work at the same time? Of course, Harvard, Princeton and Yale look very pretty on a CV but that doesn't guarantee you anything! The rule of success, for me personally, is knowledge and experience and expertise; in that exact order."

"What does that mean?"

"No matter what, you have to go to school and you have to know how to study, then you have to work and learn how to survive, and finally you get into college and pick a major that suits what you want to accomplish in life." Amor explained, while still pouring hot cocoa. "But I understand why you're not in school. So tell me, do you have any ideas on how to earn money? Any talents?"

What is she doing?

"I make pretty cool bracelets out of wire and string." A girl said.

"Oh, really? Can I see it? Julius, pour cocoa." Amor said.

Julius gets up and listens to her without a complaint. How come I always get an earful?

Amor takes her chair goes to them. They show her the bracelets the girl made.

"That's actually really pretty, how long does it take you to make them?" She asked, smiling mischievously.

"Finding the material takes weeks but it only take about twenty minutes to make it." The girl answered.

Amor nods. "How much would you charge if you could make enough to sell?"

"I don't know, five bucks?"

"And what about you guys? Any money making ideas?"

"I can paint really well, in the orphanage I saved up to buy some watercolor and a notebook but it was stolen." A boy said.

An orphanage huh? Stealing each other's things in an orphanage is deplorable.

"Are any of you over sixteen?" Amor asked sadly.

"I'm seventeen. We were kicked out of the orphanage to make room for kids, which was pretty s**t but there's nothing we could do." A girl said.

They tell her about where they've been staying and how they get by. Which is taking out the trash for restaurants, washing dishes for spare change and things like that. They can't go to school because they now have to feed themselves.

"I have an idea. How about you guys come work for me?" Amor asked. What was that? Did I just hallucinate?

"You're an author, not an employer." The oldest girl said.

"I can start a foundation for teens only with the money I earn from my books." Amor said, taking out her phone. "I can pay for your materials, canvases, paints, all of that so you can sell them on a website I have made. We split your earnings 60-40 for you and me."

I really don't understand why she's helping those kids. Giving out food is one thing but a whole foundation? She can do it, I know she can. But why?

"That's insane. You're insane." The girl said.

"Wait, wait." The watercolor boy said. "A foundation? How do you apply, how will it work?"

Amor grins, knowing she has their attention. "You create and sell on my platform. I buy you supplies and raw materials, I deal with shipping and such and you get paid sixty percent of whatever your product sells for. You can get paid that day, or monthly or whatever, I don't care about that." She said, typing something into her phone. "I will put up a campaign on Kickstarter to buy out a space for you to work but the rest will be coming out of my pocket. To apply? If you have a phone, send in an email. If you don't, pitch your idea in to me. If course you can work as a team to produce one product and the earning will be split evenly."

She shows them her phone screen. I suspect she already has a campaign posted.

"I gotta go finish my event guys." Amor said, standing up. "I'll be done in half an hour, you can easily find me after to pitch in and apply. Feel free to bring your friends."

She comes back to the stall and announces the event is over and for everyone to clean up.

"Amore, are you sure that's a good idea?" I asked her.

"My money, my right." She said, frowning. "I always have a plan, sciocco, don't worry about it. Plus, I'll have advertisements up soon."

This idea...it sounds like she's been thinking about it for a while. If she's set on this foundation, I will support her no matter what. "Then use my money to buy out the space."

"No, my foundation my money and the donations from crowdfunding." She said. "The public will like this foundation, they will support it. I've already got everything planned out. Can I borrow Bruno again? I need him to make the website for me."

"Of course, princess. Anything you need."

We clean up and count the wristband money. In total we have 3600 dollars. Then we count how much money the stalls have made, minus their 40% and add it all up.

Everyone gathers around our stall and Amor puts the trophies on the table.

"Alright, teams. Are you ready to know how much we raised?" Amor said excitedly. The crowd cheers and whistles. "From the Food Festival, we raised ten times more than last year, a whopping 200000 dollars!"

The applause and cheer is deafening. I'm surprised it's that much even though I counted it. Hundred of people came and went, each probably going to ten to fifteen stalls. The numbers make sense but these are a bunch of college kids selling food for 2 days.

"Third place, with a prize of two thousand dollars, is Little Colombia with Aborrajados! Come on up to claim your prize!" Amor said.

Jude stands by and video tapes as the team comes up and receives their trophy.

"Now for second place, with two thousand five hundred dollars, Takoyummi with takoyaki!"

The Japanese team? I'm surprised they didn't get first.

"Now for the moment you've been sweating for." Amor says, opening the envelope. "For all if the money your team made and interviews for the companies of your choice; the first place winners of the Food Festival: Cuba Club with bunuelos who won by a margin of one hundred dollars!"

The team comes up and hugs my Amor before getting their trophy. Everyone looks happy, probably because they all made money and had fun tonight.

They celebrate with each other and someone turns on music.

Amore comes back to where the kids are still sitting. "Don't get too starstruck, I'm graduating this year so there might not be another festival like this next year." She joked with them. "As for the foundation, what pitches do you have for me?" Her work is never over.

I tell the others to go home so I can admire mio Amore talking to the kids.

So far they've said they're going to make bracelets and the boy is going to paint.

"All right, guys. I'll have the space done in three days. Leave me your number and I'll send you the details." Amor said, finishing up the details. "Actually, I'll pick all of you up in three days. Right here then?"

They all agree and the oldest girl gives Amore her number. "Time to d

go home?" I asked, walking over.

"Yup. I already told Bruno by the way, to make the website and put up advertisements on social media platforms." She said, taking my hand.

"Are you guys married or something?" Watercolor boy asked.

Amore smiled at me. "No, he was my stalker but now I'm dating him."

I'd hardly call putting a tracking device into a pen I knew she'd always carry around to be stalking...

"Did you really?" They asked.

"I- no of course not! I said indignantly.

Amore made a tsking sound. "Own up to it already, bello." She teased, patting my stomach. "Oh, I know! You guys should get a hotel room near here for a few days! Here's some cash, get yourselves some new clothes and stuff like that too."

She takes out the giant wad of cash from her bag and gives it to them. That's over eight hundred collars.

"This is too much for three days." The oldest girl said, trying to give back most of it.

"You have friends right? Text me how many and I'll set up transportation." Amore said. "Go buy some new clothes, guys. You're about to be making me money soon enough."

+ + +

I watch as she plays with Dono on the floor with a small stuffed toy shaped like a squirrel. She really loves that dog as if it were her child or something.

Not to mention the stupid dragon that's perched on the bedframe. Every time I open my eyes in the morning I'm reminded she might love that thing as much as she loves me.

She picks Dono up and sets him on my lap and I scratch behind his ears. He barks happily and I glance up at Amore who's glowing. I'm surprised at how big he's gotten for one year old. He will soon be too big to hold.

"Alright Dono, time for bed!" She said, giving him his squirrel.

He takes it and curls up in his bed that's next to ours.

"Principessa, why are you helping those kids?" I asked her as we settle into bed.

She smiles warmly and throws a legs around my waist. "Because I remember when I was a kid and wanted to run away. But I didn't, because there I had food and running water and I would not have that out on the streets." She said, closing her eyes. "So instead, I stayed and I endured and I developed all sorts of mental illnesses. If their parents had kept them, well they would've sucked at parenting too. So those kids are me."

"I understand. I keep forgetting that you used to be so unhappy." I said, running my hand up and down her back.

She chuckles. "That means you're doing a good job."

"Hey, princess, do you want to get married yet?" I asked.

She whines. "I said you have to wait until I graduate."

I laugh and gather her up in my arms. She climbs on top of me and tangles her hands in my hair, giving me head scratches.

I sigh in content and feel the tiredness creep in. When I close my eyes, I can feel her heart beating and her warmth envelopes me.

Her soft hair is against my cheek and I inhale her sweet scent. This girl affects me in ways I can't understand, just her slightest touch can make my heart race or calm down. When we're in bed, just holding each other like this, it's the warmest I've ever been in my life.

Does my touch make her feel like this as well? Do I make her feel warm and loved as well.

"Matt, you're thinking too loud, just say it quietly instead." She said sleepily.

I laugh, only my Amore can read me with her eyes closed. "Am I really doing a good job?" I asked.

"I've never been so happy." She said, kissing me gently. "I love you, sciocco, and I'm also super mega ultra tired."

"Goodnight, princess. I love you most in the world."

She mumbles something before her breathing gets heavy and I smile. Just a few more months and we can get married.