And all that colour! One of the boys was dyed platinum blonde, while one of the girls had flame-red locks interspersed with tufts of electric blue. Giulia felt pretty inadequate with her naturally wavy, long brown hair!
Meanwhile, a stunning brunette had emerged from Aleâs room. As soon as she saw Giulia, she blushed, stumbled over and offered her hand:
âHi, Iâm Stella,â she ventured.
It was a pretty embarrassing situation, particularly for the girl. Giulia gave her a big smile and handed her a cup:
âHi, want a coffee?â Stella relaxed and gratefully accepted the drink.
A tall, willowy girl with close-cropped dyed blonde hair rubbed her big blue eyes and looked around with a sense of bemusement. She turned questioningly to her partner, a dark-haired boy with incredibly neat hair and equally sleepy big blue eyes:
âWas ist das?â1 she said.
The boy shook his head, rose slowly to his full height of what must have been a good six-foot-two, approached the table, looked Giulia straight in the eyes and said, in English:
âDo you speak English?â
Giulia was a bit miffed. She was Italian, clearly, but of course she could speak English!
âYes I do,â she replied, keeping her cool and handing out yet another cup of coffee. The boy thanked her with a broad smile, sat back next to the blonde girl and whispered something to her in German.
âWowâ, Giulia said to herself, âquite the range of nationalities this year! Remind me to congratulate you, Ale, if you ever deign to join us!â
With the smell of the coffee infiltrating their nostrils, the boys and girls started to queue up for a cup, rattling off a string of names that Giulia knew she hadnât a prayer of remembering.
âGiampaolo, pleased to meet you.â (the boy from Rome).
âOh, hi. Iâm Alessio.â
âMorning, Iâm Benedetta.â
âHey, Iâm also Giulia!â (she wouldnât forget that one).
âMy nameâs Roberta, great to meet you.â
Then there were a couple of Lucas, a Francesco, a Michele, two Valentines and an Edoardo.
Lastly, in English: âNice to meet you. My name is Andreas.â
And: âHallo, Iâm Simone.â (the leggy blonde).
Suddenly, a voice made itself heard above the music and conversation:
âMorning, guys! This is my mamma, Giulia. Sheâs pretty cool, huh?â
âSon, if Iâd waited for you to introduce me, Iâd have been waiting all day!â she replied.
As always, Ale hurried over to his mother, gave her a big kiss and ruffled her hair:
âWhen are you going to go Rasta like me, Mamma?â he asked for what felt like the millionth time.
âYouâd look awesome! Like a Marley-esque cougar who showed up to the Summer of Love fifty years too late!â
His words were met with a chorus of boos, and as Giulia, overjoyed that Aleâs friends had taken her side, returned to the kitchen to put more coffee on, someone changed the music and No Woman, No Cry came blaring out.
âThis oneâs for you!â yelled Giampaolo, poking his head round the door. âYou are one hot mamma!â
It seemed like the kids were only too happy to stick around a while longer.
As Giulia put yet another coffee on, her mind drifted to the beautiful sea waiting for her just a few metres away, but she had no desire to see the motley crew outside her house leave just yet. Leonardo appeared at the door:
âGuys! Thereâs plenty that needs doing in here! Giulia canât be expected to do it all by herself now, can she?â
Within seconds, the kitchen was full of boisterous kids, one of whom went to the sink to wash the cups, another grabbed a dishcloth to dry them, one of the girls (Roberta?) seized hold of a broom and proceeded to drag it around the floor, in between everyoneâs feet, and someone else did some sweeping of their own, lifting Giulia up into their arms and carrying her carefully outside to the patio.
âYou stay here, sit and relax. We do everything.â
Andreas looked at her with his intense blue eyes, made sure she was sitting comfortably on the rattan couch and disappeared back inside.
Giulia closed her eyes and shook her head: âWow, some guys know just how to push your buttons, donât they?â she thought to herself with a frisson of excitement. âSo strong, so tall, dark and handsome...â She snapped out of it, feeling almost ashamed at having such thoughts. âDonât be so stupid, Giulia,â she reprimanded herself, âheâs just a nice, polite young man, nothing more.â As she relaxed and stretched her legs out onto the table in front of her, happy that sheâd kept herself in check, she saw Andreas out of the corner of her eye, coming towards her with a steaming cup of coffee.
âHow much sugar?â he asked, sitting close to her.
âOne, thank you.â
He added the sugar cube, took the teaspoon, stirred the coffee and handed it to her.
âDo you want a cigarette?â he asked, producing a pack of Camels from his pocket.
Giulia managed to muster a nod. She was loving all this attention, but wasnât it a bit unusual? Or perhaps she was just imagining things as always. Sheâd been avoiding suitors for so long that she could no longer distinguish between kindness and flirting! She looked up to the sky, then as she turned towards Andreas for him to light her cigarette, she met his gaze: an ocean of blue she could just drown in...
âMorning, Mamma!â
The cheery voice of her confident fifteen-year-old son, Daniele, brought her crashing back to Earth and her role as a forty-something mother.
âSweetie!â she cried, knowing full well it would put his nose out of joint, âI see youâve managed to join the land of the living! Iâm guessing you overdid it a little last night?â
âMaybe a bit,â Daniele admitted freely, âbut Ale said I could go down to the beach with him and we had such a good time. We lit a bonfire, loads of people came and began to sing, then loads more people turned up! Have you seen how many friends weâve made?â
He was bursting with pride that he and his older brother had been the catalysts for such a memorable evening. Giulia looked at him fondly, well aware how important it was to him that Ale, eight years his senior, treated him as an equal.
âYeah,
