Damiano De Luca by Huntington Parker S

Author:Huntington, Parker S.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PSH Publishing
Published: 2019-07-27T16:00:00+00:00

It is not a shame to be deceived; but it is to stay in the deception.

Olivia

Eighteen Years Old

Normal.

Two syllables. Adjective. Conforming to a standard.

Synonyms: usual, typical, or expected.

Antonym: my life.

Turning eighteen felt like it should have been a rite of passage. I didn’t feel any more or less like an adult than I had at seventeen. I didn’t celebrate my newfound adulthood with parties or friends. Heck, I’d forgotten it was my birthday until I woke up the next morning and Angelo De Luca told me eighteen was a little too old for his taste.

Maybe that was why I showed up to prom.

I wanted to feel normal, but in a town of mafiosos and their children, normalcy evaded me. Prom represented my last chance at normal high school memories. The crowded gym and paper decor screamed, “Normal!” The taffeta dresses and matching ties? Normal. Sitting at an empty table, watching other kids enjoy their senior prom? All too normal.

So, why wasn’t I happy?

Maybe I didn’t know what I wanted.

I certainly no longer wanted to be here.

I stood and headed for the hallway, grabbing a water bottle from the refreshment table on the way out. The library entrance nestled at the end of the hall welcomed me. I left the door open, so the hallway light could stream into the library, and took a seat on the floor.

I downed the water and spun the empty bottle, bored out of my mind but too stubborn to leave the only high school event I’d ever been to.

“You’re the life of the party.”

“No self-respecting woman should wish or work for the success of a party who ignores her sex. Susan B. Anthony.”

“Not the kind of party I was referring to.” He stepped closer until his feet were in my line of sight, next to the bottle.

I trailed my eyes up his body, taking in the three-piece suit he wore like he posed in a GQ feature. “No shit.”

“So, you’re in a grumpy mood, I see.” He took a seat next to me and leaned against the bookshelf behind us. “What is it about libraries?”

“Nothing is less lonely than a room full of books.” I breathed in. “And the smell. Definitely the smell.”

He reached beside him and grabbed a random book, flipping through it quicker than he could possibly read. “Why are you here?”

“Why are you here?”

“Really?”

“Do you ever feel like the only real people in this world are the ones in these books?”

“Or maybe the world we’re living in is a book, and we’re just characters.”

I rested my head against the bookcase and closed my eyes. “If that’s the case, someone is reading me, becoming me, understanding me, and maybe I’m not so lonely after all.”

He paused a beat, and the silence burrowed between us. “I’m sorry you feel lonely.”

This was getting too real.

“Why are you here, Damsel?” I nodded in the direction of the gym. “You should be out there with your loyal subjects.”

The lopsided grin he gave me shocked my system, and the calmness I’d always prided myself on fled.

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