Broken Hearts On Boulevard Unirii novel Chapter 56

We spent all afternoon at the beach. We made a picnic there with the sandwiches and soft drinks we had brought along. Everyone seemed happy. Sofia had forgiven Gert for his shameful behavior the night before and sat next to him holding his hand.

Claudio and Roxana went into the water. From a distance, I could see them embracing, jumping and repeatedly kissing each other. Elia and Fabrizio sat next to me on the beach, expressing their satisfaction with the trip.

"After Bulgaria, this is paradise," Elia said. We all agreed.

Angelo was very depressed, partly because of the theft of his car, but more so, because he was not getting along with Elena. Since our return from Bulgaria, she had become irritable, impatient and terribly jealous. Whenever Angelo talked to a girl, she would go into a jealous rage and start crying.

I put the towel that I had brought from my room at a distance from the rest of them to have some privacy. Elia came to join me and together we sat on the towel and talked.

"What do you say, Giorgio?" Elia asked.

"What are you referring to?" I asked.

"Don't you feel as if you are twenty years old?" he asked.

"Not exactly twenty; maybe twenty-one," I replied. Elia laughed.

"Tomorrow it's all over," he said in a sad voice. "Gert, Claudio and I are returning tomorrow to the boring routine of our daily lives. Afterward you will return and finally Fabrizio will also return. Vacation is coming to an end."

"Enjoy the present moment. What will be, will be. Think about 'now' and don't worry about tomorrow," I told him.

"Don't tell me you don't think about what's going to happen next," Elia commented.

"Think, I certainly think. I'd rather not talk about it. The thought causes me heart-break," I responded.

One of the young men took out cigarette paper, began to fill it with tobacco blended with what looked like marijuana, rolled it. He made several cigarettes and gave them out to whoever wanted. The atmosphere began to warm up, and we all started smoking, or at least tried to. Gert, who didn't smoke, began coughing violently. Nonetheless, he didn't give up and tried again. Fabrizio took an entire cigarette for himself, as he loved spinello.

Mirella got up to dance and tried to drag me along, but I refused.

She went to one of the young men who was dancing in just a bathing suit and danced with him. She suddenly took off her shirt and threw it aside and stood there topless. She wiggled her body with the music, shook her breasts and made them flop up and down. She didn't resist when the young man caressed them. She removed the cigarette that he was smoking from his mouth and took a drag of the intoxicating smoke. She then approached Elena and began stroking her erotically and rubbing against her body. The guy came over, hugged them both and placed a kiss on Mirella's breast. She showed him her other breast and he kissed that one too. He hugged her, took her hand and pulled her to the sea, where she threw off her skirt and her underwear and went with him into the water.

I didn't comment when my friends looked at me in surprise. I just shrugged, as if saying that it really didn't bother me. The truth of the matter was that it hurt me a lot and I was burning inside. But I had no right to complain or say a word. After all I was married, older than she was, perhaps even older than her father.

I sat alone drinking a can of lukewarm beer, realizing that for me it was all over now, while for the rest it would end tomorrow.

All the way back to Bucharest I didn't exchange a word with Mirella who sat next to me. When we arrived to the city, she asked to get off in the centre, near the car rental agency. She left the car with her bag and said, Ciao. I didn't answer her; she turned her head back, looked at me for a few seconds, and then slammed the door shut.