Frenchie easily followed him, giggling softly at his almost amateur movements. "Come on, you really can't think it'll be that simple, can you? Little bit out of your league here?" She teased.
She knew she shouldn't be speaking, that it would only jinx her, but teasing him was too much fun. Besides, there wasn't much she could lord over him, she was going to take advantage of this.
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Adone stopped in his tracks. Setting his hands on his hips, he scoffed, "Being Italian doesn't instantly make me a great football player. I am doing my best." Whatever his best is, it's definitely not at what Frenchie's. It's clearly obvious.
Curling his bottom lip, he kept kicking the ball to the side. He tried to kick the ball. His foot missed. With furrowed brows, he gazed down at the ball then tried it again. This time he managed to kick it decently in his case.
Frenchie trapped it through laughter, trying not to fall to the ground. "I never assumed that you weirdo! But thanks for the confidence boost I guess." She wiped tears of laughter from her eyes and straightened up.
"Okay, idea. Whoever can get three goals on the other person first wins. If I win, you take me to get gelato. You can decide your own term for winning."
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"You're welcome." Adone laughed a little himself. Really he only did so because there is just something about Frenchie's laugh making him do so; perhaps it is contagious. If it is, well he is also in trouble for that now too. Not so good at football and might always laugh whenever she does. Perfect.
"Gelato?" Since when were they playing for prizes? He stood there, with his hands on his hips, trying to come up with his own term. "Fine. If I win, then we make zeppole. Okay, Farfallina?" Three goals, that sounds easy, right? It sounds easy to him.
"Fine then. That's our terms." She stepped forward and stuck out her hand. "No deal is complete without a handshake." She giggled.
This felt so dumb but it was also kinda cute. She felt like the main character of a really cheesy romcom. Like so sickeningly sweet it was gag enducing. But with the way things were going now, she wasn't really going to complain.
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"Good. Very well then." Glimpsing at her hand, he removed his right and firmly shook hers. What is he getting himself into? Her giggles echoed in his ears, sending shivers down his spine. Right, he knows exactly what he's getting himself into.
Adone backed away from her. He knelt down to make sure that his sandals would not fly off his feet if he were to kick the ball. Personally, his expectations are not high, but you never know. His knees cracked as he stood back up. "Okay. I am ready."
She snorted at the cracks. "You sound like an old man. You sure those old bones of yours can handle a girl like me?" She teased, raising an eyebrow at him. Was she taunting him? Yes. Was it out of spite? Maybe a little. Would she regret it? Considering earlier, probably not.
For now, she returned to her ball and scooped it up to balance it on the top of her foot for a couple seconds. "And I'd lose the sandals. They'll fly off and take someone's eye out. Trust me, I've learned from experience."
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An old man? Adone may be a bit of an old soul, but that's cause he hangs with Nonno a lot; he is far from being old. In an attempt to mirror her, his left eyebrow quirked up. "They sure did last night," He pointed out. "Plus, I have a long one that's sturdy, never cracks." He winked before throwing his head back with laughter immediately after.
Eventually he stopped laughing at his own joke. Taking a few deep breaths, he nodded then proceeded to take his sandals off. "So you took someone eye out with a sandal?" He asked, shaking his head. He quickly sat them down on the side then returned to his previous spot. "Better?"
Frenchie rolled her eyes at his joke, though her cheeks did stain a light pink. "Boys…" She mumbled under her breath before looking back up at him. "And no, I've never hit someone with a sandal. Someone once hit me. And it hurt. A lot."
She stretched her arms above her head bending backwards until she had just about folded herself in half before standing up straight again. "Alright, let's get this over with, I want my prize." Sue chuckled.
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Taking a deep breath, he looked over at her. His eyes scanned for face, as if to see where she would have been hit by a sandal. "Oh….Are you okay?" He asked. A habit of his. Even if someone talks to him of an injury from decades ago, he will always ask that question. Then he'd add on, "I'm sorry."
Watching Frenchie stretch, Adone decides to follow in suit. Like the professionals, he did one arm crossed over the other as well as a few leg stretches. He shook his head, "Hey, we have not even started yet. Do not give yourself sfortuna, okay?"
She waved him off with a smile. "Nah, I was fine. Almost broke my nose though, that was scary." She laughed. "But it's cute that you care." She didn't even realize she said it, her mind already moved on.
She did a couple more stretches before raising an eyebrow at Adone. "And who's the one who should be giving himself luck? Unlike you, I'm actually good at this game."
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Adone squinted. There goes that c word again. So far, in the last twenty-four hours, he has been called this word, "cute", by the same girl. He doesn't know how to feel about this. On the other hand, his face hasn't been pinched or his hair hasn't been constantly fluffed yet. And yet, his heart feels like it's having small palpitations.
"I do not need luck, all I need is strategia. Okay?" He shifted his weight onto his left foot. Walking off to the side, he took his shirt, gently folded it, then sat it on top of his sandals. Rolling his shoulders back, he sighed, "My mom is going to kill me if I get that shirt ruined from playing football."
"So are we going to play now, or what?"
Frenchie froze up when he suddenly tugged his shirt off, her sudden blush running down her neck to her chest. She looked away, covering her eyes. "Ah! My eyes! They burn! Warn a girl next time before you just start removing clothing." She huffed, hoping her voice didn't show her embarrassment or how her hands were shaking in time with her heartbeat.
She couldn't explain why seeing Adone like this suddenly made her stomach twist in ways she didn't know it could and her face flush hotter than ever in her life. Her assumption was that she'd only ever seen this kind of thing in movies or books, she never thought it could actually or would actually happen.
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It is his fault for not giving a warning. He covered his mouth until the laughter was suppressed. Adone just could not get over the look on Frenchie's face. It is "cute" to him. Lowering his chin, he looked down at his chest before returning his gaze to her. "Okay, I will always give warning from now on," He said. "But really, if I fall with that shirt on and get different kinds of stains, I will be six feet under after dinner."
Trust him whenever he says he is smart, but his brain is still a loading computer. Like something hitting him behind his head, he realized something. His face was flushed. His breathing was slow and deep. "You know…" He walked up to Frenchie, booping the tip of her nose. "I could go put it on if you want to, unless you like what you see. Am I still cute, Farfallina?"
Staring down at her, he gently kicked the ball to the right. Once he got it a little bit away from her, Adone acted quickly by kicking it into the makeshift goal. He swung too far out than normal then ended up losing his balance. "Cazzo," He muttered to himself after falling onto the ground.
She only blushed harder, not that she thought it was possible but apparently it was, at his question. As she struggled to find her words, he caught her off guard and scored. Though she did appreciate his falling over, considering it silent punishment for his teasing. "That's what you get for distracting me." She giggled, trying to tame her blush.
"And who says I was calling you cute? When did I ever say that?" She raised an eyebrow as she went to retrieve her ball. "You said it earlier too, how prideful of you to assume it was you I was talking about."
(I👏want👏their👏relationship👏)
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Quickly, he got back up again. See? He knew he would fall; he probably would've ruined his shirt. She is blushing and that is making him blush too. Her giggles sent a shiver down his spine. Gazing at the ground, he rubbed the back of his neck while taking deep breaths.
His lips went to the left side as he titled his head. Adone looked up as if to recall a memory then glanced back at Frenchie. "Just moments ago. You were bouncing the ball and complaining about your neck because of those 'damn tall people'." He strolled right up to her. "And then I believed you said, 'Him and his stupid, cute face.' Unless you danced with some other tall Sicilian boy with a stupid, cute face….then I must be 'prideful' as you also said."
(i ship them so much)
Her stomach twisted at being caught red-handed but she refused to let him win. Not like this. This was supposed to be her day, her story. She had to say something to throw him off, it was too soon for this.
She reached up and pushed him back by his face. "You're also assuming I'm talking about last night and not something that happened before I got here. Again, prideful." She retrieved her ball and easily got her shot around him to score. "Now we're tied."
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"Che cos-" Adone stumbled back a bit before standing still again. He watched as she scored. Shaking his hand, his hands went back to resting on his hips. Prideful? He isn't being prideful. No way in God's forsaken name is he!
Storming over, he took the ball back and rolled it far enough to kick. Except, he swiftly kicked it into his goal. "There, 2 to 1." It wasn't a mistake though, he just used it to get back into their conversation. "No I am not assuming, I knew that you were," He stated.
"Last night you said you haven't danced with any other boys before because you are not a good dancer. That whole time we were dancing, we were looking into each other's eyes. You barely looked away and that's why you're neck is stiff because of me, one of those damn tall people, and my stupid, cute face."
She sucked on her teeth for a second before dribbling the ball back into the field. "You seem to forget that I'm 5'4". Everyone's taller than me and I don't need to be dancing with someone to have to crane my neck up to look at them or find them cute."
She slid through his legs to make an easy shot to the goal. "Tied again. You make a lot of assumptions. Are you always this unbearably overconfident or am I just lucky today." She snorted with a roll of her eyes.
(She's so cute when she's in denial)
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He laughed, "No, I don't think that I would forget." She must be playing some sort of other game with him too. Well, he certainly will not let her win this. He might be letting her win their whole football game, but he is not going to let her win this other game they're playing. Hmmm well….Maybe, just maybe, but he will not admit defeat yet.
Adone smirked. He rolled his shoulders back and proudly responded, "Both, apparently." Turning around, he kicked the ball into the goal again then turned back. "Now, Farfallina, what time do I 'pick you up' for gelato?"
(she is, i love her so much)
She stumbled over her words for a minute, her face flushing pink. "How about sunset? I don't know times here and nothing good happens in a tourist city before sunset so that sounds nice." Frenchie tried to fight back her smile at the idea of going and getting actual gelato in an Italian city but she couldn't, grinning excitedly.
"But I guess I should let you get back to work. Don't need you getting in trouble because of me. Even if it would be pretty funny to watch Aunt Lina chew you out for not taking care of her pansies." She laughed.
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Does she know how bright her smile is? Adone could just feel the excitement coming off just by looking at it. The way she grins along with how pink her face is, it's a perfect combination. "Sunset is a perfect time…It's great…I mean…I mean…." He shook his head. He has no idea where that was going. "I will pick you up at eight then."
He ambled back over to where his shirt and sandals were. As he slipped his shirt back on, he felt the heat clinging to him. Then he sat on the ground to put his sandals back on. "Oh how kind of you," He chuckled as he picked up the watering can. "I already got chewed out by my mom this morning about last night. She was wondering who's the pretty girl I was dancing with last night."
Frenchie snorted with a roll of her eyes. "Clearly she needs to get her eyes checked. I'm a lot of things and I've been called a lot of things. Pretty has never been one of them. Tomboyish, aggressive, loud, that I can agree with." She wandered to Adone's side, deciding that it was her responsibility to bother him until he left.
She had never seen her aunt's flower garden but she bragged about it in her letters home. And she had a right to. It was a pretty extensive garden that was in pristine condition. Frenchie glanced around the garden and picked one from the side, twirling it in her fingers with a smile. It was an orchid, light blue in color. "I've always loved orchids. I just think they're so pretty."
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Despite having Frenchie there next to him, he went back to work, or at least tried to. He shook his head, "I don't know, I think she's right. She does like tomboyish and loud, those are two of her favorite things….Maybe I need to get my eyes checked then." His eyes wandered around at the flowers and plants. Some he watered yesterday and don't need watered again today. He bit his bottom lip.
Adone watched Frenchie, taking in her grin as well as the way her eyes sparkled. He was not able to fight the resistance of smiling himself. Orchids, speficially light blue ones, he committed the flower to memory. He nodded, looking at her, "I think they're beautiful actually." Immediately after saying that, he went back to focusing on the plants. "Very beautiful underneath the Sicilian sun for sure."
She pulled her hair down from its ponytail to rearrange it, sticking the flower behind her ear. "What do you think? Does it soften me?" She laughed, twirling a piece of hair around her finger and staring off in the distance like a stock photo.
This was nice. Being able to let her guard down a little and just bug someone good-naturedly. It was probably the closest she'd get to feeling at home until she actually went back and could tease her own little brother.
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"Soften you?" Looking over his shoulder, he paused. Almost everything within him did. His Adam's apple lightly bobbed. A soft grin appeared on his face. "You don't need to be softened, you look good, bella. You compliment the orchid," He breathed. "I wish I had a camera so I could take a picture of you right now."
So he let his eyes linger just a little bit longer in order to capture her in the moment. Once the hairs on the back of neck stood, he titled the watering can, watching as the water poured into the soil.
She hid her face in her hands, biting her tongue to not squeal in embarrassment as butterflies threatened to explode out of her stomach. She poked his side instead. "Shut up, now you're just trying to get a reaction out of me." She hummed, flustered and unwilling to admit she liked the attention.
Frenchie had never needed anyone else's attention. Or so she had thought. She thought she was okay by herself, that she was all she needed. But now Adone was here and giving her all the attention she'd never gotten from boys back home. Was that why she liked it so much? It must be. It wasn't that Adone was really cute and his smile made her heart forget how to function for a second. It was just that she was new to things. Yeah, that was it.
(Someone call the dentist, it's too sweet. I'm getting cavities)
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He kept on smiling. Not for the fact that he had caused her reaction, but because of her reaction. Yes, he admits that her face with her hands is one of the cutest and funniest things he has ever seen. And yet, Adone was only smiling until he felt something poking his side causing him to jump.
Still even after calming himself down and taking a deep breath, his gaze returned to her. He shook his head, "No I was not. You should already know that you are beautiful, especially last night too in that dress you wore. You made the dress even prettier. It's true, I swear to God that I am not trying to make you react in any way."
"You think so?" She smiled shyly, bashful now. "I thought it was a bit girlish. I've always been told that dresses make me look younger. I've been mistaken for a child almost every single time I've ever worn a dress. I've never felt pretty or elegant, just kind of like a little girl playing dress-up."
She cleared her throat, trying to regain some composure. What was up with her? One guy gives her attention and she falls apart? Gives some compliments and she melts? Who was this girl, it certainly wasn't Frenchie. Not the Frenchie that made other teams shudder in fear when she stepped on the field. Not the Frenchie that terrorized her neighborhood all summer. And certainly not the Frenchie that had only needed herself to get by for the past 18 years.
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"Mhm," He quickly nodded, hoping that she knew he wasn't lying. Adone did everything in his power to give her his full attention. Wherever it wandered to looking too deeply into her eyes or the way her hair fell down behind her back, he got a shiver down his spine. Briefly, he thought back to last night and the dress she wore. It didn't make her look younger, not at all. "I thought you looked like a beautiful woman. I mean you are one. Even if you haven't felt that way before too. Elegant and pretty isn't needed to be you."
The words he said haven't hit him yet. He just went back to staring into those brown eyes of hers. By the time that it did, he lowered his chin, deciding it would be better to look at the ground rather than turning his back. Something is taking over his mind and it is making him feel like his heart is going to explode. At this rate, it just might.
