CRAVING U (The Rook Café) (22 page)

“I heard about Zovigo going to
San
Carlo
.”

Marika tensed.

“Hit?”

“Bullseye,” she admitted.  For some
reason, this unknown yet oddly-familiar boy made her feel strangely safe.

“Are you Zovigo’s girlfriend?”

She flinched.  “No.  No, I wouldn’t say
that.”  Incomprehensible subconscious motives all of a sudden made her reveal
an intimate and very personal detail: “In truth, it was more than that.”

His only reply to her naive confession was
a gentle smile, while he waved at his teammates as they left the stadium one by
one.  He stayed put, seated on the bright yellow pavement in front of the snack
bar, watching her.

Marika stared back, intrigued by his
gentleness.  After all, he didn’t even know her.  Even his body, long and thin
and sinewy, gave off the impression of sensitivity.  But the crash of a soccer
ball into the nearby chain-link fence broke the spell of her hypnotic
daydreams.  “What am I doing?”  she said aloud, giving her head a shake.  “I’m
sitting here pouring my heart out to some stranger and I don’t even know your
name!”

“You’re absolutely right.  My bad.  Let me
introduce myself.”  From his seated position, he did his best bow in the
ancient tradition of chivalry.  “My name is Federico Brunelli of Marostica, at
your service.”

More and more confused, she pulled out a
fact from geography class:  “The town with the living chess games!”

“And excellent cherries,” he added,
smiling.  “Will you now tell me your name?”

 “Marika.”  She blushed innocently.  “Nice
to meet you.”  She shyly shook his hand.

Surrounded by the semidarkness of the
stadium parking lot, they fell easily into conversation, getting to know one
another.  At least half an hour passed before Carlotta spotted Marika’s
silhouette peeking out from around the corner of the snack bar.

“Finally!” she gasped, trying to catch her
breath.  “I’ve been looking for you forever.  We’re all going to the....”  She
stopped short when she noticed the guy next to Marika.  “Hi!” she spluttered,
surprised.

“Hi, I’m Federico....”

“Yeah, I know.”  Dario had just caught
up.  “We’ve met before.  This is Carlotta.”  His manners were gruff; he
recognized the guy as the number 7 who had shown up
Brenta
and Matteo in
the previous meeting between the two teams.

Marika slid off her scooter, speaking to
her cousin.  “Federico’s playing at
The Dark Crow
tonight with his
band.  There’s a showcase of young rock bands going on.”

“Really?”  Carlotta took an excited step
closer.  “That’s so cool!”  Her reaction was to be expected, considering her
recent passion for goth rock.

“It’s a kind of Battle of the Bands.  The
winning group gets a full day’s use of a professional recording study for free.”

“If you guys want, I can put your names
down on the guest list as friends of the band.  The club is cool, and the music
should be great.”  Federico flashed another broad smile in Marika’s direction. 
It looked as if he planned on venerating her presence all evening.

“No thanks, we’ve already got plans.”  No
one had time to even think before Dario refused the invitation for all
present.  “Good luck!  See you around.”  He grabbed Carlotta by one hand and
Marika by the other to pull them away, but his better half dug in her heels.

“What plans?  Nothing that we can’t get
out of. “  She smiled knowingly at Federico.  “Marika and I will be there, I
promise,” she said before dragging off that unfortunate soul who called himself
her boyfriend.

“What did I tell you?  I knew Carlotta
would be thrilled about the idea.”  She watched her cousin giving her man a
good drubbing.

“Yeah, she’s pretty cool,” Federico
commented, lost in his own thoughts.  “So the only reason you’re coming is to
make her happy?”

“Perhaps,” she replied, nymph-like.  “No,
come on, I’m only kidding!”  She had noticed immediately the way his eyes
clouded and his features became pained.  But she was enjoying this game; it
made her feel alive.

Federico seemed unwilling to say goodbye,
but finally tore himself away.  “I’ll leave three tickets under your name at
the door.”  He slipped a motocross helmet onto his head, never letting his eyes
leave her face.  “OK?”  He still wasn’t sure that she wanted to come.

“Yeah.”  She stared at him, keeping him
rooted to the spot until her friends came up behind her again.  “See you
tonight!”  She finally let him go.  “Good luck!”

And while Dario huffed and puffed like an
old steam engine, Carlotta came bouncing up to her like she was on pop rocks.  “I
bet he’s the lead singer of the band.”

“Not exactly,” Marika chirped, thrilled
with her performance.  “Lead guitar and back-up vocals.”

“What’s the band called?” Carlotta
demanded.

“
S in S
, which is short for
Scream
in the Silence
.”  She was exploding with energy.  “It’s four guys from
Marostica, all in their last year of high school.  They do a combination of
rock, symphonic, and nu metal, and....”  She felt a thud on her back.

“Don’t you think you’re laying it on a bit
thick?” Dario accused her.  “It’s just some garage band.”

“Oh, are you jealous my love?”  Carlotta
briefly stopped her barrage of questions so as to smother him in hugs and
kisses.

“Of what?” he gasped from under her
sweater.  “A wanna-be boy band?”

“He
is
jealous!”  She started
kissing him even more fervently, forcing him to shut up.  “And I love it!  It’s
so exhilarating!”

Dario let her have her way; but he was not
jealous, at least not yet.  He was simply annoyed by the way this guy was
fawning over Marika while Matteo was off in Milan; it was as if he felt like he
had to play the part of chaperone during his absence.

Nevertheless, the only subject that
occupied their minds during the hours before the concert was the one
represented by a simple existential question that flowed naturally from another
simple assumption: “Emo is back. 
But what exactly is emo?
”  And so,
ditching Dario since he wanted to have nothing to do with it, they dove into
the treasure trove of the internet for information, spending most of their time
on YouTube as they sought to make up for their musical ignorance: emocore,
rock, post-punk, indie, pop, hardcore, metal, and alternative.

“Marika, check this out!”  Carlotta had
found a website dedicated to emo culture.  “It says here that emos are
trustworthy, sensitive, easily hurt, polite, sweet, and understanding.  A new
breed of neo-romantics, faithful and kind, and not obsessed about sex.  They
write poetry and understand the needs of the people they love.  They are caring
and are not afraid to show their emotions....”  She sighed longingly.  “It’s
exactly what you need,” she said, “the antithesis of Matteo, who’s egotistical
and
a cheater.”  She quickly logged in to Facebook, clicking through her friends’
albums.  “Yeah, he’s gorgeous, and so fuckin’ hot, no doubt about it,” she
admitted, smiling slyly, “but a huge asshole with a heart of stone.”

“Drop it, Carlotta.  You don’t know what
you’re talking about.”  She clicked her cousin out of her account, hurriedly
trying to keep inconstant doubts from entering her head.  “As far as being
sweet, nice, sensitive, and polite, Federico is surely that.  Without a doubt! 
But from there to creating a stereotype based on the first crap you read on the
internet is a big leap.  And by the way,” she said sadly, “you’re wrong about
Matteo.  He’s nothing like you say.”

“Are you on drugs?”  She took offense at
being contradicted.  “How can you say that after all the shitty things he put
you through.”

“Because it’s true.  In spite of
everything, in spite of Lucrezia and all the rest of it.”  Her voice was hushed
and strong.  “I still think he’s special.  Maybe he isn’t the one for me, but
she at least should feel lucky to have him.”

“Whatever.”  Carlotta brushed it all off
with a sweep of her hand.  “So, are we going to get ready or not for our night
of rock ‘n roll?”

They were in the bathroom for the rest of
the time until Dario arrived to pick them up. 
To emo, or not to emo...
flirty or innocently sweet... Marika hadn’t felt this electricity inside her
for weeks
.  And it was like a jolt of adrenaline, an impulse generator
which she couldn’t have been more in need of.

Half an hour later, they parked in a huge
grassy area next to the abandoned post-industrial complexes that offered live
music: the entry was surrounded by a huge, disorderly crowd and a long line of
people waiting to get inside, dressed up in gaudy colors like a Chinese dragon.

Flyers advertising the evening had been
pasted all over the club’s exterior walls:

Saturday Live @ The Dark Crow!

Live music starts at 10!  Midnight to 1 a.m.
Happy Hour!

From 1 ‘til dawn, DJ Doc in the House!

Dario followed on the girls’ heels,
uncomfortable and complaining.  “Hey, did you see how many people are here? 
Come on, let’s head to the
Cherrybomb
and meet up with the others
instead.”  His application was denied.

They had already accepted their fate of
having to wait patiently in line when Federico showed up at their side.  “I’ve
been waiting for you, come on!”  He gently pulled Marika near him so as to
greet her with an intense kiss on her cheek, and then led them all to the club
entrance, climbing over the ropes holding back the crowd.  “They’re with me,”
he said to the bouncer, who let them pass without even raising an eyebrow.

Inside the former factory, the stage
opened out onto a space with original steel structures and raised islands of
couches, chairs, and low tables that were riveted to the ground so that people
could dance on them.

In Federico’s wake, they pushed their way
through the horde of people that were making the club throb, until they reached
a table in the VIP loft, where they would have a great view of the show.  “Up
here, you can avoid the slam-dancing down below.”  He was patient and
attentive.  “The bar’s over there and the bathroom’s in the back.  Have fun!” 
Before heading backstage, Federico had clearly wanted to make sure that
everything was perfect, and that she was comfortable.

He had not even shouted over the recorded
music blaring from the speakers; he didn’t need to.  All Marika needed was to
read his lips and she understood his every word.

All of a sudden, the crowd started
cheering as the lights all pointed toward the stage and a loudspeaker announced
the first band and their playlist:

I Just Wanna Live
– Good Charlotte cover

You Shook Me All
Night Long
– AC/DC cover

Original Song

The Kill
– 30STM cover

Followed by covers of Linkin Park, Muse,
Limp Bizkit, Nightwish, Queens of the Stone Age, The Strokes, Nirvana, Iron
Maiden, Metallica, The Ataris, Simple Plan, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters....

“I’m going to get something to drink,”
Dario said, rising impatiently from his chair.

“OK, thanks, you’re a dear.”  Carlotta
planted a loud kiss on his lips.  “We’ll have the usual....”  And then they
both added in unison, “Strawberry caipiroskas!”

The loudspeaker came alive again.  “A band
from far, far away, reborn here on the stage of
The Dark Crow
: Niccolò,
Eve, Federico, Denis...
S in S
,
Scream in the Silence
!”

The crowd roared its approval as they took
the stage.  Marika and Carlotta shared an astonished glance while Dario whined,
“We’re surrounded by the entire town of Marostica.  What did they do, bus in
their families?”

I Want 2 Hear What You Have Got 2 Say
– The Subways cover

Boulevard of
Broken Dreams
– Green Day cover

Original Song

As the last song of their playlist began,
everyone’s attention was drawn to the female voice of the group: soprano,
vibrant, and amazingly expressive.

Angels
– Within Temptation cover

Eve glowed with a sort of ethereal beauty:
pale skin set off by waves of black, waist-length hair with streaks of
amethyst, and cat-like eyes.

Dario’s glazed stare was easily
explained.  “Ah, so you’re into the music now,” Carlotta said, clearly
offended.

“Why not?  Now I can’t even watch them? 
You two have been giggling and swooning for the last hour....”  He broke into
an imitation of the two cousins: “Oh my God the drummer is so gorgeous!  And
the singer is such a hottie!”  He laughed.  “Even I would look good if I combed
my hair over my face.”

Carlotta hugged him, practically
suffocating him.  Marika kept her eyes on the band.  At each refrain, her eyes
met the sweet, warm gaze of Federico: it was reassuring.  She didn’t lower her
eyes the way she usually did, but met his face openly and honestly: she wanted
him to understand how grateful she was to him for having broken through that
wall of nostalgia and apathy that had made her hide from others and drown
herself in her tiresome sorrows.