Page 17 of Blue in the Deep Blue Sea

She stopped.

The moment her eyes found the water, panic flashed across her face. Her body locked in place. Her knees trembled, and her stare sank into the dark blue stretching beneath the docks.

I never knew why she was so terrified.

But her fear gave me more than enough ideas for getting even. Every single one of them ended in the deep blue sea.

Payback time.

At least for now, I have to stay back. She can’t know I’m looking for Gianni too, just for a very different reason.

Lorenzo snapped his fingers at me as he dragged a fork full of risotto to his mouth. He chewed slowly.

“That’s Gianni’s sister?”

“Yes.”

“Do you remember how ugly she was in school?” he laughed. “We used to pull her pants down to check if she was a girl or a boy. She always wore Gianni’s clothes.”

No. I don’t remember.

“She grew up fine,” he said with a chuckle. “I might give her a chance for one night.”

“You forgot the rules, Lorenzo.”

I raised a brow.

“You’re no fun today.” He took another bite of his risotto before leaning back in his chair. “It’s like she sucked all the joy out of you.”

He wasn’t wrong.

“I’m putting up with her bullshit just because of Gianni.” I let out a slow sigh, my gaze drifting back to the port beyond the window, but she was already gone. “I can’t stand her.”

“No one can,” he laughed. “Out of our whole friend group, only Gianni has1two nice words to say about her, and those words are,‘She’s my sister.’” He shook his head, still grinning. “I pity the man who ends up with her.”

I just crossed my arms, lost in the gust blowing toward the sea. It churned the water into waves, rocking the little boats until they moved gently against one another. My mind slowlydissolved into a current of memories until we were back at the Light Festival in 2001.

Gianni dragged us there because he wanted to keep an eye on her. He was always convinced she wouldn’t be able to take care of herself, yet he ended up surprised every single time. Every boy who approached her walked away with his head down, staring at the floor as if questioning every decision that had led him to her. She was brutally honest with everyone, and the words that came out of her mouth could cut even the coldest guy to the bone.

That night she seemed more relaxed because Gianni had decided to give her a few shots of tequila, hoping she’d be easier to deal with since we fought like cat and mouse whenever we were in the same room. Instead, it only made things worse.

As the festival slowly wound down, I knew she always slipped away with Annie to write stupid little messages, seal them inside bottles, and throw them into the sea. She liked being alone while doing it, but I wanted to get under her skin so badly that I convinced Gianni we should tag along.

We reached the cliffs on the opposite side of the Amalfi Coast. Before the fireworks began, he had the brilliant idea of playing truth or dare with the empty tequila bottle.

The first spin landed on him and Annie. Of course he chose dare, and of course she told him to take off his shirt, which only irritated little Miss Know-It-All Gabriella, who had been picking truth every single time. Then, unsurprisingly, the bottle landed on her and me.

“Truth or dare?” I asked.

“Truth.”

“Why are you such a bitch?” I asked without a second thought.

“Here we fucking go,” Gianni muttered, rolling his eyes as he got to his feet.

Annie crossed her arms and shot me an annoyed look.

The whole night she hadn’t been able to keep her mouth shut, and now she chose this moment to go quiet. Just as that thought crossed my mind, she parted her full lips and spoke so softly it was almost swallowed by the wind.