The Diary of the Russo Sisters: Childhood Memories and the Unexpected [Three]

Romeo Lombardi hated it when the Esposito brothers started bickering. It always made him feel uneasy, awkward, and really uncomfortable. He pulled out his iPhone and logged into his yahoo account to check his e-mail.
Carmine and Adriano were always arguing over petty ass shit that usually consisted of Adriano doing something stupid. This time, it happened to be over a crisp white Armani dress shirt that Adriano took out of Carmine’s walk-in closet without asking. Thievery was another one of Car’s pet peeves and he hated it when his little brother pulled shit like this.

“You’re wearing my fuckin’ shirt!” Carmine said through gritted teeth.

“So,” Adriano declared as he folded his arms and leaned back against the chair he was sitting in.

Carmine narrowed his baby blues and said matter-of-factly, “Are you fuckin’ stupid Dre? It’s my fuckin’ shirt that you’re wearing you fucktard. I thought I told you to ask me if you could barrow my shit.”

“Dam Car, I didn’t think you would trip about a fuckin’ shirt. I’ll get it dry cleaned later.”

Romeo glanced up from his phone and looked over at his best friend. Carmine was heated and he had to force himself to tare his gaze away from his little brother’s façade. What he really wanted to do was reach across the table and slap the shit out of Dre’s pretty face. Romeo sighed. What was he going to do with these two?

Angry, Carmine decided that it was justified to take advantage of the ugly ass hostess who just so happened to be walking past there table at that precise moment in time. Since her earlier encounter, she had been avoiding their table and he happened to take note of that. “Excuse me,” he said rather harshly, “if you’re lookin’ to get a tip from us, you better go find our fuckin’ waiter? I want my fuckin’ food and two more bottles of Opius One.”

The hostess looked like a deer in the headlights. Carmine raised his brow and glared at her dumbass. “Are you dumb?” He asked her.

She looked taken aback and her brown eyes widened in shock. “I, I, I,” she stuttered, failing to make a complete sentence.

“Well, are you?” He inquired; leaning closer towards her, his penetrating gaze was callous.

“No.” She finally managed to say.

Rome felt sympathy towards her. She hadn’t done anything, well; except for being his stalker, but other then that, she was innocent. When Carmine wanted to, he could be a real dickhead.

“Then go find our fuckin’ waiter. Now!” He barked.

“Okay,” she said as she quickly scurried off towards Da Nico’s main kitchen.

Carmine’s intense eyes stared her down tell she disappeared behind the double doors. A deep sigh escaped his lips and he finally glanced away muttering, “Dumb ass whore” and a stream of incoherent curses under his breath.

Romeo wrinkled his brow. Sometimes he didn’t understand why Car was such an asshole for no reason, then again, he did understand. He just wished he didn’t. Carmine was a complicated being. So was Rome. Maybe that was why they hit it off so well the first time they meet. A small smile curled at the corner of his lips as he recalled their first encounter.

“Daddy, I don’t want you to leave,” five-year-old Romeo said as he held on tightly to his father’s large callused hand.

“Romeo, let go please.” Alonzo Lombardi said in a soft yet commanding tone to his panicky son. It was his first day of kindergarten and his father understood why his son was so edgy.

“I don’t want you to go, Daddy stay.” He said as he tugged even harder at his father’s hand.

Romeo was whining, trying everything in his power to make him stay. A heavy sigh escaped Mr. Lombardi and he leaned down to his son’s level. “Look son,” he said gently, “you have to be a big boy. Will you be a big boy for Daddy?” He asked him softly.

Romeo stared nervously into his father’s emerald green eyes. Being a big boy meant everything to Romeo. If he was a big boy, he’d be just like his father. Oh how he longed to be just like his Daddy. “Okay,” he murmured faintly, as if embarrassed by his momentary weakness, “I’ll be a big boy.”

“Good,” Mr. Lombardi said as he smiled at his son. “I’ll see you at dinner.” He said as he stood up and walked towards the classroom door. “And Romeo,” he said as he turned towards his son, “Louie will come and pick you up after school.”

Romeo nodded and stared down at the tile floor. I have to be a big boy, he thought to himself. When he looked up, his father was gone. He wrinkled his brow in disappointment. He pulled out a small blue chair, sat down on it, and folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the table. Don’t pout, be a big boy, he told himself. Bothered about meeting new people, Romeo ran his hands through his messy black locks nervously and glanced around the room, an uneasy feeling seeping into the pit of his stomach.

“Hey.” Someone said pulling him out of his thoughts. He glanced up, his bright green eyes falling upon a boy with messy dark brown hair and the most vivid aquamarine eyes he had ever seen. He was wearing a green t-shirt and a pair of light blue denim jeans.

“Hey yourself,” Romeo said as he looked at him skeptically.

“What’s your name?” He asked quizzically.

“Romeo, Romeo Lombardi.”

The boy smiled. “I’m Carmine. Carmine Esposito. Can I call you Rome?”

Romeo thought for a moment. He grinned before replying, “Only if I can call you Car.”

Carmine smiled. “Car and Rome. I like it.”

“Rome,” Carmine said drawing him away from his reverie.

Romeo blinked, coming out of his trance-like-state. “What?” He asked looking around frantically.

Car laughed and a boyish grin appeared on his face. “What the hell were you thinking about? I was talking to you for a minute.”

Romeo ran his hands through his messy locks and smirked sheepishly. “Things,” he said, reaching for his glass of wine.

“Things.” Carmine repeated.

“Yeah, things.”

She want that lovey dovey (lovey dovey)
That kiss kiss (kiss kiss)
In her mind she fantasize bout gettin’ wit me
They hatin’ on me (hatin’ on me)
They want this this (kiss kiss)
Because she mine, and so fine
Thick as can be

Car rolled his pretty blues and pulled out his sleek red iPhone from out of his pants pocket. “Talk to me,” he said into the receiver.

Rome took sip of his wine and glanced around the restaurant. His eyes landed upon the two hot twins that walked into the restaurant earlier. They were whispering to each other in hushed tones. He could hardly make out what they were saying, something about a myspace. God, myspace. He hated myspace. Everyone and their mom had a fuckin’ myspace. It was ridicules. Every time he logged onto his account he’d have a gazillion messages from a bunch of gold diggin’ bitches. You know the type; have naked girls with fake ass tits in lingerie. Don’t get things wrong now, Romeo loved looking at half-naked women, well, most men (with the exception of gay men) liked looking at half-naked women when given the chance. Rome’s logic however, always got in the way. There’s something iffy about women putting pictures of themselves on-line, especially half-naked photos. He rolled his eyes at the thought. What the hell was wrong with women these days? Didn’t they realize that they were sexually exploiting themselves to fit the negative stereotypes that men placed upon them? Than again, a vas majority of the gold diggin’ tricks that messaged Romeo on myspace were unworthy of his attention anyways. They had to do something to grasp his interest. You see, Romeo was the type of guy that liked a challenge and non of these women were on his level.

“Here you are ladies,” The waiter said tugging Romeo away from his tirade. He glanced over in the general direction of the twins. The waiter sat down two cherry cokes with chocolate ice cream on the tabletop. Yuck, he cringed at the thought of the two combinations. That’s just gross.

“Thank you.” The blonde said softly, her voice was serene and almost too angelic for her tough girl persona

“You're welcome.” The waiter said as he handed her a straw.

Romeo’s cell phone vibrated, indicating that he had received a text message. He looked down at his phone and touched the mail icon on the screen.

You should come over tonight, it said.

He sighed. Why was Chelsea texting him? They broke up months ago.

What the hell do you want, he typed quickly.

His phone vibrated again. The text read, I miss you. You’re all the think about at night.

Romeo rolled his eyes and quickly typed, If you miss me, then why the fuck did you cheat on me Chels? Its been six months since we’ve talked. I hope you know you’re too late.

“Hey, I know that guy, that’s Angelino Lombardi,” the waiter said loudly, “Do you know him?” The waiter asked a little too ecstatically.

Romeo’s head snapped up in full alert. Why were they talking about Angelino Lombardi? He narrowed his eyes and listened. He wasn’t the only who heard their conversation. Carmine was listening intently as well.

“You know him?” The brunette twin asked.

Genuine curiosity. Interesting, Romeo thought. His cell vibrated again but he ignored it. Chelsea’s bitch ass could wait.

“Yeah, well, I kind a know him. He comes in here every Friday evening around 7:00pm. He leaves great tips too,” said the waiter.

“Every Friday, huh?” The blonde muttered.

“Yeah, every Friday. He was in here over an hour ago. Do you know him or something?”

“You could say that.” She said cagily, folding her arms across her chest and leaning up against the tabletop. She looked away from the waiter; her and her sister stared intently at one another for a long time.

Rome started deconstructing the conversation he had just overheard. They were looking for his uncle. Why? The brunette was holding something. What was it? A letter perhaps? No, it couldn’t be. It must be a picture. If it was a letter, the waiter wouldn’t have been able to decipher the handwriting. It’s a picture. It has to be a picture. Where the hell did they get it from?

Question after question kept coming. Why, why, and why repeatedly. Should he say something? Should he let the twins know that he was the nephew of Angelino Lombardi, or should he simply just mind his own business and act like he didn’t hear anything. They would think he was nosy. Shit, he was fucking nosy for listening in on their entire conversation. Keep quite, don’t say anything, he though to himself.

His iPhone vibrated again and he looked down at the screen. He had two new messages. The one from Chelsea he ignored. The other he squinted at. Carmine. Why the fuck was Carmine texting him when he was sitting one seat away? Dumb ass. He touched the mail icon and read the message.

Were you listening?

Romeo’s sea green orbs meet with Carmine’ s azure ones and he nodded. He glanced back over at the twins, an astonished expression possessing his handsome face. It’s a small world, he thought.