He removed his hand from in front of my face, and my eyes almost bugged out of my head.
In front of me, by the couch, was my brother, Gianni jumping up and down trying to pull his pants up, and next to him was a beautiful red headed girl, wiping her mouth. I was frozen in place, Emiliano was trying to nudge me towards the stairs, but I was way too nosey, not to stay and see how this played out.
Suddenly it dawned on me just exactly what was going on here. I scrunched up my face in disgust, looking at Gianni, and all I could say was "Ew."
Gianni's eyes snapped towards me, and his anger was focused solely on me, "Alessandra, get your ass to your room. Now!" He yelled at me so loud, that I knew he meant business, but I was in shock and my feet stayed planted right where they were.
"Who the fuck is she?!" The now angry red head yelled pointing at me, "And why does she get a room here? You told me Emilio said no more girls spending the night over here!" She yelled accusingly at Gianni.
Now, Emiliano was no longer nudging me towards the stairs, he had put his arm around me protectively, and was holding me tightly. And Gianni, well Gianni's anger was redirected towards the redhead.
"She's my fucking sister, you stupid cunt!" He yelled, but the redhead didn't back down, she was still just as angry.
"I don't give a fuck! No girls, means NO GIRLS! Either that little bitch has to go, or I can start spending the night again," she was proud of herself for her ultimatum. You could really see she thought she was in control of this situation.
But Gianni was even more angry, if that was possible. And when I looked up to Emiliano next to me, his eyes were so dark, they were almost black. They were narrowed and his steely gaze was aimed at the redhead.
Matteo came running in the room, looking around to see where all the arguing was coming from, then he looked at Gianni, "What the fuck is going on here?" he bellowed.
I thought there was some sort of no cursing rule in this house? I guess that was another one of those rules that only applied to me.
"This bitch!" The redhead yelled pointing at me, "Thinks she can stay here, after Emilio's no girls rule. So I told Gianni that she has to go, or that I should be allowed to spend the night again." She said proudly.
"Bitch, are you stupid? She's the reason for the no girls rule. She's the ONLY girl allowed to stay here. What the fuck is wrong with you, Jessica? Where do you find these dumb bitches, Gianni?" Matteo yelled.
I looked over to see Gianni's face was almost completely red, his eyes looked black as night, and he was looking at Jessica as if she was his worst enemy. He was taking deep, heavy breaths, like he was trying to calm himself down, but it didn't look like it was working.
"Who the fuck do you think you are, calling my sister a bitch? You stupid fucking cunt! You will never disrespect my baby sister. You ain't nothing but a few holes for me to stick my dick in. You don't mean shit around here. Trying to call the shots in this house? You lost your damn mind, dumb bitch," he was getting angrier by the second. His hands were by his sides, and they were clenching in and out of fists. It really looked like things were about to get violent.
Emiliano seemed to notice the same thing I did because he finally spoke up, having been quiet through this entire incident. "Jessica is it? I think it's time for you to leave. And as far as I'm concerned, you are not welcome back in this house." He grabbed my arm, and pulled me out of the foyer so she could get to the front door.
"But I don't have a ride home," Jessica whined.
"Walk bitch," Gianni said, looking at her with disgust.
"Our driver is outside. Just tell him, I said to take you home, and give him the address," Emiliano said.
"Ok," she mumbled defeated as she grabbed her bag, and headed out the front door.
Now that she was gone, I thought the whole situation was over with, and I was just about to start walking towards the kitchen, when I noticed Gianni storming towards me with anger written all over his face. He walked right up to me, and snatched me up by my upper arm, and turned me to face him. He bent down, and got right in my face, "Did I not tell you to go to your room little girl?" He fumed.
Fear suddenly washed over my whole body, and I was now a trembling mess. "Uh-um. I-uh. It's just that, well I um..." I couldn't seem to get anything out, there was no way I could form any kind of sentence to explain.
"You know what. I don't care about your excuses. Let's go," he gripped my arm even tighter, and started pulling me roughly towards the stairs.
Now I was having trouble breathing. What was he going to do to me? He was defending me not even a minute ago, and now he's mad at me, and trying to drag me up the stairs. I was trying really hard to breathe in and out, as we made it to the stairs.
"Gianni, you're mad at that girl, and you're trying to take it out on your little sister. I'm not about to let you drag her upstairs to punish her when you are that angry. Let her go," Emiliano said calmly.
"Can't you see she's about to pass out? She's so scared of you right now, she's having a panic attack," Matteo said.
"She disobeyed me. I'm not gonna tolerate that shit. I don't care how scared she is," Gianni yelled, gripping my arm even tighter.
"She disobeyed me too, Gianni. We will punish her, but not like this. Not while you are already so angry at some slut, you shouldn't have even had over here. Or at least should have taken her to your room to handle your business with her." Emiliano was talking evenly, but you could really tell, he wasn't messing around.
I was looking at Gianni, silently pleading with him to let go of my arm. I could almost feel my circulation cutting off. He looked at me with anger, but when he noticed how tight he was squeezing my arm, his eyes suddenly softened, and he let go. Then he grabbed my chin, and made me look him in the eye, "Don't think you're off the hook, little girl. I won't ever allow you to disobey me. You will be punished, you understand?"
"Yes sir," I nodded my head, my whole body still trembling.
"Go to your ro-," I didn't even let him finish, I quickly ran up the stairs and out of sight.
Once I made it to my room, I leaned against the closed door, and slid down it, taking a deep breath trying to calm my racing pulse down.
I sat there for a minute just looking around, trying to calm down.
I noticed there were no shopping bags on the floor. We bought a lot of stuff today, and I know I saw a couple guys carrying my bags upstairs. And the rest of the bags Emiliano had delivered to the house should have been here by now. I wondered if maybe they moved my room to somewhere else, or maybe Emiliano decided I couldn't have them anymore.
Then I looked at my desk, and there sat the boxes that contained my new lap top, iPad, iPhone with all the accessories, and the 32" flat screen TV he bought me today.
So I walked into the closet, and sure enough, all my clothes were hanging up in there. My school uniforms were all neatly hanging up on the left side, with the school approved shoes underneath them on the shelves below. And the other clothes and shoes were on the right side. On the back wall, there was a coat rack that had my new jacket, and backpack hanging on it.
I walked into my bathroom, and noticed that in the shower, there was shampoo, conditioner, and a body wash, with a brand new loofah. On the counter was a set of bathroom accessories like a toothbrush holder, a stack of small plastic cups, to rinse your mouth out, and a soap dish, all matching to the dust pink color of the bathroom. In the drawers, were things like brushes, a hair dryer, a straightener, a curling iron, pony tail holders, and a few more things, I've never had before. I wasn't even sure I knew how to use them. I've always let my hair air dry, but I guess they expected me to look a little more presentable now. I guess I would need to watch some YouTube tutorials to find out how all this stuff works.
I was really hoping for makeup today at the store, but Emiliano wouldn't even discuss it. The answer was a definite no.
When I was finished investigating the bathroom, I made my way back to my room. Then I saw the gorgeous dresser that definitely wasn't there this morning. It had a huge mirror in the middle of it, with 7 drawers below. I started opening the drawers, and found my underwear, bras, and socks. The next row had my PE uniforms, along with the t-shirts, and the last row of drawers had my sweats Emiliano bought me today.
Someone had definitely put a lot of time and work into organizing and putting away all of my new things today. I definitely owed someone a huge thank you.
I looked over to the bed to notice, only one of the many stuffed animals was left. It was a giant stuffed bear. He was brown, and had a hat on his head, like a ball cap. He also had a grey hoodie that had "Alessandra's Bambino" written across it in calligraphy. It was so adorable, and I knew that it must have been from when I was a baby.
I went to sit on the bed, picking up the bear, holding him close to my chest, cuddling him.
I must have been sitting there for a few minutes when I heard a knock on my door.
"Come in," I called through the door. I gripped the bear tightly, as I was sure that it would be Gianni or Emiliano coming to tell me my punishment, and I wasn't ready for it. But I was wrong, as Lauretta walked through my door, smiling warmly at me. She closed the door and walked over to me, reaching out to touch the bear.
"I knew you wouldn't remember him, but he was your favorite when you were a little girl. If someone tried to take you anywhere, and not bring him, you would cry and cry until someone got him for you. Emiliano got him for you on your first birthday, while we were all still in Sicily. You named him, 'bubby' because that's what you used to call Emiliano."
"Why did I call him 'bubby'?" It was very interesting to me to hear about me when I was little, with my brothers. I can't even imagine what they would have been like as little boys. And I wonder would they still be as strict with me if I had grown up with them.
"Well, when you were born, Emiliano immediately claimed you as his. He was 14 at the time, but very mature for his age. You and he were very close, he adored you, almost as much as your parents did. You were like his personal baby doll. He was the one who was trying to teach you how to talk, but he wanted you to learn English and Italian. So he would teach you the Italian word, and then teach you the English version. He taught you fratello and the English version, brother, but you couldn't say brother, so you said bubby, and then that's what you started calling him and your bear," she was chuckling by the end of her story, and had a look in her eyes, as if reliving some fond memory.
I sure wish I had memories like that. I wish I could remember my brothers when they were younger. I would have never guessed that Emiliano and I were close. It sure would have been nice if I had grown up with him like that. I wonder if it's possible for me and my brothers to be close ever again. I seriously doubt it, they all seemed closed off and cold. I don't think I have it in me to break those walls that all of them have built up.
"I want to keep him. Of course, I don't remember any of that, but it's such a sweet story, that I will think of it, every time I look at bubby," I said, smiling sweetly at her. She sort of reminded me of the way I used to wish my mom would be.
"Well, Emiliano has requested your presence in the kitchen. He says you haven't had any dinner yet," she sighed.
"But I'm not hungry," I desperately wanted to get out of seeing Emiliano again. I knew I was in trouble, and I didn't wanna face that tonight.
"You know very well that excuse won't fly with him, caro. You are already paper thin, and he's not going to let you miss any meals. Now, it's nearly 7:30. Your bedtime is coming soon, you need to go down and eat. Don't make him come looking for you," she said with a stern tone to her voice.
"Yes ma'am," I muttered, putting bubby down, and heading towards my door.
I prayed I didn't see Gianni on my way to the kitchen. It was bad enough that I had to face Emiliano, but to face Gianni as well, was just all too much.
Just as I thought I was in the clear, I had made it all the way down the stairs without seeing Gianni. I walked in the kitchen and there sat both of them at the kitchen table waiting for me.
"Finally! The princess makes an appearance. Excuse us for taking up so much of your time, your highness, but we've been just sitting here waiting on you for the past 15 minutes," Gianni said with such disdain in his voice, and his eyes were expressing that same sentiment.
"Uh.. well I Uh.. I'm s-sorry. I d-didn't know you w-were waiting on m-me," I stuttered out, wishing that I could run back to my room and hide away for the rest of the night.
"Lauretta didn't tell you that you were wanted downstairs?" Emiliano asked.
"W-well y-yes s-sir.." I started but was cut off by Gianni.
"This disrespect will not be tolerated, Alessandra. You knew damn good and well that you were supposed to come straight down here when Lauretta told you. Not take your sweet ass time," he said giving me a very cold look.
"But..." I started.
"No Alessandra! No excuses! Now sit your little ass down. We have to talk," Gianni yelled.
I could feel the tears burning my eyes, but I blinked them back as fast as I could. I bit the inside of my cheek, trying desperately to control the overwhelming urge to break down. No, I wouldn't let my brothers see me lose it like some little girl. They would never relax their rules if they kept looking at me like some weak little girl. I had to keep it together.
I started walking towards the table to sit down when Emiliano stopped me and pointed towards the microwave, "There's some left over shrimp scampi warmed up in the microwave. Grab it, and a drink, and then come sit at the table. You have to have dinner."
I did as I was told, and then walked over and sat down across from them. I was looking down at my plate, moving the food around with my fork, waiting for them to start talking.
"Eat, Alessandra," Gianni said with anger lacing his voice.
I started taking slow bites, and drinking my lemonade, not daring to look at them. I could feel their eyes boring into me while I slowly, painfully ate as many bites as I could get down.
When I was about halfway finished, I pushed the plate to the side gently.
"I c-can't eat anymore," I said looking down at my hands.
"Alessandra, you know better than to look down while speaking to us," Emiliano suddenly has this icy tone to his voice, and I instantly looked at him.
It was proving very difficult to look at him, the look in his eyes was terrifying. I felt like he was going to shoot sharp icicles at me with his eyes. I was fidgeting nervously with my hands and my legs were bouncing rapidly, while I waited for someone to put me out of my misery.
"Calm down. No one is going to hurt you. We talked about the rules last night. Now, you're going to learn of the consequences. I didn't think we would need to do this so soon. But you aren't going to be hurt, Alessandra," Emiliano's voice has softened quite a bit, as he looked at me, his eyes did the same.
I put my hands on my knees to attempt to stop bouncing them. Once I finally got myself calmed down, I looked at them to see what else was going to be said.
"You know very well that we don't tolerate disobedience of any kind in this house," Emiliano started, "I understand, you might have been in shock. But that's no excuse, once I told you to go to your room, you should have immediately done so."
"And then you were told by me also. You should know, I won't play with you little girl. You're lucky Emilio and Matteo were there to save your ass today, or I definitely would have punished you immediately. I'm not the one to be played with." Gianni gritted out, looking at me like I was some deviant.
"I'm very sorry," I was just waiting for them to get the punishment out of the way. I mean, what were they gonna do? Were they gonna punch me? Make me sleep outside? Lock me in the closet for hours? That's just some of what Jason used to do to me, and I handled all of that, so I could surely handle whatever they were gonna do to me.
"Ok, well I've thought about it, and decided that you will spend the next 3 days in your room. You will only come down for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You will not have your tv, lap top, iPad, or phone, until after your 3 days are over," Emiliano sighed.
I just sat there staring at him with a bored face. He was grounding me? Seriously, he was taking away the electronics that I didn't even ask him for. Didn't even really want them. Well, maybe I wanted the TV, but I guess I was just in for a boring 3 days. I wonder if they have a library so I could at least read. Well, now wasn't the time to ask. I guess after Friday, I would have the TV back at least. I guess I could spend 3 days sleeping. That would be nice.
"You're so lucky it was Emiliano who decided your punishment this time. Disobey, or disrespect me again, and you won't be so lucky little girl," Gianni spat out.
"It won't happen again," I promised.
"Good. Now clean your plate into the trash and put your dishes in the dishwasher. Then go up and get ready for bed." Emiliano said.
"Yes sir," I said and did as I was told.
I ran straight up to my room, and collapsed on the bed in tears, hugging bubby close to my chest. I slowly drifted off to sleep while the tears slid down my face.