Chapter 45
Ariana
Laica has been gone for a few days now. Tony, Luciano and I eat dinner together each night and I don’t recoil every time I see him now which is nice, but I still wish Luca was here. We message every day and call me selfish, but I like having all three of them around. I got the splints taken off yesterday which means I can finally start to do some stuff for myself again but my hands don’t want to cooperate, it’s like they don’t even know that they’re mine anymore, Camilla says I need to do some rehabilitation to which I told her I wasn’t going to act like a cripple any more than I already am, she laughed at my frustration and assured me there were things I could do myself to help and gave me a list of activities she’s hoping I can master by the time I see her again. I love a good challenge so I’m not backing down. It seems stupid but I’ll do it anyway. Tony had work this morning and he set me up with everything I might need in the room while he is gone but with both him and Luca gone for the moment I want to see if I can take care of myself, I very awkwardly moved myself from the bed to the wheelchair and after about 15 minutes I’m able to wheel the chair to the door, I lift my hand to the handle and thankfully it’s one that pulls down, so I don’t need to wrap my hand around it and it’s easy enough. Then comes the task of moving the chair backwards and opening the door. Another 20 minutes later and I’m in the hallway fucking sweating, my hands are sore and every time 1 grip the wheels to move it takes so much effort to hold them in place and push down I slip a lot and bang my hands and arms on the wheel and finally make it to the staircase and fuck me sideways I didn’t think of the stairs. The first task on Camilla’s list was to make toast, I’m not sure if she counted in all of these other obstacles that would stand in the way of me making stupid fucking toast.
“FUCK!” I scream out in anger and the door slams down the hallway, and I glance up through angry tears to see Luciana running my way in a towel dripping wet. He swipes his messy black hair out of his eyes and comes to a stop directly in front of me kneeling down.
“Angel Jesus Christ are you OK? What’s happening?”
“Toast!” wail out as 1–cry.
“What has toast done? I’ll shoot the fucking toast! Bastard!” He’s dead serious and I can’t help but laugh through tears. Idiot. He slowly raises his hand to wipe my face.
What’s going on Angel?”
“I just… Camilla said… these stupid hands… the fucking door and the bloody chair and then the stairs and I just needed to make toast!”
“Alright we’ll make toast. Just give me one minute.” He runs back to his room, and I don’t miss the way his back muscles move as he does. He comes back out less than two minutes later and then he carries me down the stairs into the kitchen, placing me on the bench and getting all the stuff and bringing it close. I fumble with everything and reject his offer for help. Toast is my opponent, and I will win this. After way too many swear words and too much time I have brutally buttered, burnt toast in front of me and I scrunch my nose at it. So many emotions threatening to spill again and I am so tired of being helpless and pathetic. I take the knife and begin to violently stab the fucking toast, breaking the plate underneath and sending the porcelain flying across the room.
“Whoa whoa there!” Luciano half yells frantically, avoiding flying shards and jumping his way over to me to take the knife.
Fucking toast!”
“Yes, stupid fucking toast. Fuck the toast.” He says and throws it at the wall behind him. “This is rehabilitation, right?=
I nod at him and look down at my stupid hands.
“May I suggest something that might be better than making toast?”
I am cautiously eyeing him, and he opens his arms in question. I raise mine in a silent understanding to take me wherever it is he wants to go. He carries me around a few hallways and then turns and stops in a room with an open entryway it’s completely glass, the walls the roof just glass and it’s surrounded by trees and shrubs and flowers on the outside making it feel like you’re inside of a rainforest. The floors are white marble and there’s lanterns that sit around the edges of the room. I bet this place would look freaking beautiful at night and in the center of the room is a black grand piano.
“What is this?” I say as he sits me down on the stool in front of it.
“You once told me that you loved to play music but hadn’t had any instrument to use for a while, I had intended to fill this room with every single instrument possible until things went to shit, and then I wondered if you would even accept them from me so I hadn’t bothered to buy anymore but yeah… well, I guess now this might just be the perfect way for you to strengthen your fingers and enjoy something you love at the same time. Call it motivation.” He shrugs.
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Chapter 45
“This is perfect, thank you Luciano.” I say as I softly touch the keys.
Luciano left a while ago but ended up returning with paperwork and is now sprawled out on the floor working. I don’t miss the opportunity to snag a photo and send it to Luca, he would laugh so hard at that. I’ve managed a few tunes, very slowly and sloppy but it’s working to motivate me more than the fucking toast.
“All right Angel, that’s enough for today. Lunch and then rest.”
I raised my eyebrow at him who does he think he is trying to tell me what to do. He raises his hands and mocks surrender.
“Not my orders, I’m just following them!” He says showing his phone with messages from both Luca and Tony demanding that he makes sure I am eating and taking a nap. Three against one doesn’t seem fair, not in this situation at least.
