My Biggest treasure

8

Am I too early?

Alexa wondered for almost the twelfth time.

The reunion with her friends - that "club of losers", as Luke used to call them - had gone quite well as could be expected. After Yanai's last comment and a couple of insults from Jax towards the "bastard", no one else had mentioned him again. That had been a bit better for her. She knew that her friends still considered him part of the group, despite the 180-degree turn in his personality, and his expressing himself that way was something else.

She arrived at her house after six o'clock and according to her too late. Girlish things, after all. She was able to manage to take a quick bath, pick up and girdle the dress she had bought so far in advance (and the fact that Yanai had accompanied him to choose it and have the opportunity to notice his slight hint of envy, made it something more than exceptional), brushing the hair and try to fix it in a little more formal way, something that was far from putting the typical ribbon behind the bangs. And after a few minutes of narcissistic suffering caused by her blessed hair straightener, she managed to get ready just before seven.

What she had told them had been the only and necessary truth.

Yes, Luke had invited her to dinner, and yes, he had said that he would pick her up at her house. What she didn't count on was the sudden call, which she didn't hear due to the hubbub at Yanai's house. The call was repeated, turning into a text message. Two simple words that modified her itinerary a bit.

"Wait for me there."

She did not tell anyone, just as she did not mention anything about that box of dangos that she had bought in the week. Jax did not remember and she did not see it necessary to comment on such matters. That was purely personal, she didn't know why, she just knew.

She left her house twenty minutes ahead, which seemed more like seconds to her. Again, a vile fleeting moment for any girl. She arrived at fifteen to seven at that little cafeteria, just three blocks from the Kuri Gakuen. The place used to fill precisely with students, during the class period, of course. Now it was moderately crowded mostly in pairs and the occasional group of three or four people.

She asked for a glass of water while she waited for him. The heat had dropped and the air conditioning environment helped a bit more. She pulled the pocket mirror out of her handbag. All in order.

And where was he?

She wore a discreet wristwatch with red bands. She looked at him, just curious.

Seven fifteen minutes.

That? Maybe the damn clock ran fast. What if it's six o'clock and not seven? ... damn ... Have I made a fool of myself?

She then took the phone out of her. She always brought the watch with exact punctuality, like the indicator of the mobile.

Seven sixteen.

Maybe she was late.

She put the phone on the table, staring at him as if she was challenging him. She finished the glass of water and noticed that the lights of the establishment began to turn on.

Seven twenty.

She took the phone and dialed. It would be a yes or no, but it would be an answer after all. The call was in progress and was cut off. No, there was no damage on the line. If there was, she wouldn't even have connected the call.

She made another attempt.

Dialing… dialing… and hanging up.

She sighed, clutching a napkin tightly between the knuckles of her right hand. The third is the charm, the old saying went. Call in progress ... and an untimely "cut".

She put the artifact back on the table. And she rang.

It wasn't a call, it was a message ... A stupid, indifferent, dry text message.

"I won't be able to go. I have a lot to do. See you later."

Is that all you can think of to say?

Things to do, too busy, unfinished business. Everything.

He didn't even remember ...

She gently bit his lower lip and exhaled as if he had been holding his breath.

She asked for the bill, smiling just out of courtesy. The napkin in her hand was shredded, as was she.

He didn't remember ...

XXX

"Wow ... so the prodigal didn't get to sleep last night either, huh?" –Shis c****d his head toward the copilot.

"Hmph" Santino agreed. He was looking at nowhere in particular, from the window  "For me, he may live as he pleases. If you want to get into trouble with the family, do it, I don't give a damn"

"It's age," Shis snapped, putting one hand on the wheel and the other comfortably resting on the top of the window. "Remember how we were when we were seventeen. We also got into trouble"

Yeah, but we didn't have to rub shoulders with Kuri's scum

They were on the avenue next to the main one, heading to Santino's house after spending half a day in the office trying to figure out the incredible maneuvers of Tobi to emulate David Copperfield and do his great act of disappearing the residual balances of Lux Ad Worx. And the very perfidious one seemed to manage to hide the damn accounts. They found nothing at all.

"Stop," Santino's voice sounded more imperative than usual.

"That?"

His disdainful eyes on the crowds of the streets, acquired a glow of interest, located in a lonely shadow, walking on the sidewalk, almost so close to the wall that it seemed that he wanted to disappear into the texture of it.

"Stop now."

And Shis stopped the car in the middle of the avenue and the green light, taking a few "displays of affection" from some drivers.

"Are you crazy or what?" Shis spoke to the air. As soon as he addressed his cousin, he had already got out of the car, leaving the door open politely and disappearing into the crowd, walking like the devil's soul. "s**t!"

XXX

It was her, she could feel it even in the middle of an ocean of people. Her hair, loose and arranged with a pair of bobby pins in the fringe, the dress a soft shade of red. It was her, it was ...

"Alexa"

She called. She didn't raise her voice, in fact, barely heard himself. The young woman walked fast as if her inertia and gravity had no power over her slim figure.

"Alexa!"

The second attempt was more promising. He managed to get ahead of her a few meters and after the puzzled gaze of some passersby, he was able to manage to attempt to stop her without the act itself looking like a melodramatic soap opera scene. Her hand brushed her delicate fingers.

Alexa had remained motionless, just like that, simply and simply still.

"Alexa ..." he sounded calm, dry. But not disinterested "What…?"

The young woman's gaze was fixed on the pavement. A few strands of the fringe slipped under her barrette and covered part of her face, but Santino caught a superfluous glint in her eyes.

Was she ...?

"Ah ..." She lifted her face, almost obligingly. She pretended to emulate a kind of smile, but it only looked like a flat line on her lips. "Hi ... Santino ..."

The glow intensified, accentuating the green of his pupils.

She was crying ... or is she trying to pretend that she wasn't.

"What happens?" he still sounding calm, even though deep down inside he had an untimely urge to go and smash the bastard Luke's face. He didn't have to be exactly a genius to know the cause of such a particular reaction.

The answer had frozen in her throat. Her fist was clenched so tightly that she felt her fingernails weakly cling to her palm. She opened her mouth but said nothing. The ground beneath her feet seemed to wobble, as did her entire world. She took a step, unsure and shaky. Where to go? Where to run? She only managed to get closer than four inches. She wanted to scream, cry ... disappear.

She did not do it

Her hands gripped his back and he buried his face in the comfortable hollow of her neck. She held him tight, in mute comfort that he knew she would never berate him for.

Her fists were still clenched and he stifled a groan. She did not cry. There was no reason to do it; she felt humiliated, mocked, shattered ... and angry.