We don't have to talk about it

“-c’mooon, I can hear you better out hereee!”

Melina all but fell out of the door to the bar, catching herself on the cobbled wall and laughing gleefully. She looked over her shoulder to see Marco follow her out, the ghost of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, and couldn’t control the drunken grin that plastered itself across her face.

 “Much quieter, so nice.” She mused, wobbling her way over to the curb just out front of the establishment and sitting down harder than intended, which drew a sharp hiss from her lips.

“Are you ok?” 

“Mmmm, that’ll bruise-“ Her eyes followed as he sat down the concrete beside her, ankles together and knees drifting apart as he relaxed. Using one arm to prop himself up, he met her clouded gaze with an equally unfocused one.

Earlier that day, Marco had won a pretty important race and the rest of the crew had been absolutely insistent that they all go out for celebratory drinks; that was where they currently were. Melina had recommended a sleepy, hole-in-the-wall type bar that would be perfect. It was quaint, tucked away down the town’s winding roads & perfect for avoiding irritating paparazzi, so everyone could enjoy themselves without fear of getting ambushed by unfortunate photographs. She’d been saving this knowledge for a special occasion and felt a warm sense of pride in her chest when her recommendation was praised.

“You are looking at me funny, what?” He couldn’t disguise the smile in his voice, dampening his usual curt demeanour. It wasn’t like he needed to put on a front for her anyways.

“Oh, just thinking how I am right again~” she teased, her own knees drawn close and arms loosely wrapped around them. “First the strategy, now this!”

“It is a good choice,” he was inclined to agree with her; his eyes wandering to study the bar’s exterior. Its worn walls adorned with climber plants were a testimony to the building's age & succession. It looked fairly ordinary - simple even - and that is what he liked. Whether it was the homely architecture, the gentle ambience of muffled music and hearty chatter trickling from inside the bar, or the fond eyes of the woman in front of him - he felt at peace here.

“You admit it? I’m honoured!” She cheered and veered backwards, the alcohol in her system throwing off her balance greatly, “there is my win for today.” 

He instinctively reached out an arm to stop her from falling back onto the cold pavement, retracting it as soon as she steadied herself. He kept an eye on her though as he was very aware of her instability, letting his mind roam as he did so.

“Now you’re looking at me funny, what is it?”

Marco was quickly reeled back out of his thoughts as his gaze focused back on the rosy-cheeked grin opposite him - from the drinking of course, nothing else. “Something on my face?” 

“No, I was thinking.”

“About what?”

“Nothing that is important; I am enjoying uhh the small noise.” He shrugged, making a note of how the hazy yellow street light fell on her features and made her glow almost ethereally. He’d completely forgotten about the celebration inside - tuning it out - to instead focus on this moment with her.

“I dragged you out here so we could talk without yelling!” Melina laid the side of her head atop her knees and looked at him with fractions of light reminiscent of stars in her eyes.

“What were we even talking about?..” she trailed off into a snort of laughter, “OH! You were ‘critiquing’ Elijah’s carbonara recipe.”

Critiquing was certainly one way of wording it. Marco had been passionately rambling about the correct, authentic way to make the dish; Melina even just mentioning it suddenly lit a fire under him and he became very animated once more, wildly gesturing to convey the words he couldn’t quite form in English. The two of them conversed like this for another hour or so, the conversation deviating from cooking after a while and devolving into tipsy teasing, anecdotes and random subject changes. It was quite a sight, big shot life-of-the-party Marco Ricci sat outside a gathering and chatting to a woman who wasn’t the next top model, neither of them cared though - they were too absorbed in each other's presence.

At some point, the faint humming of an ABBA song floated outside and caught Melina’s attention; she lit up instantly. She tried to get to her feet but rose way too quickly, tripping all over the place and nearly completely stacking it. Without Marco getting up to catch and steady her, she would’ve ended up face down on the pavement. She gripped onto his arms and stood like a baby deer finding its feet, eyes wide and smile wider.

“Holy shit- my life flashed before my eyes! Thank you.”

“You stood too fast! Of course that will happen.” He raised a questioning eyebrow.

“They’re playing a song I like, I want to go and dance!” She still had a hold on his arms and was now swinging them in time with the muffled beat, “you’re boring and don’t dance.”

“Teach me then.” He replied without missing a beat, “show me how it is done!”

Her face briefly contorted into surprise before morphing into determination as she accepted his challenge, “you better keep up then!”

Melina then took his hands, noting how warm they were, and began with a simple step in sync with the song. It was nothing special, and she kept wobbling, but they somehow made it work. The two of them continued to jumble along to the music; Marco eventually did get the hang of it (Melina would officially declare him hopeless if he couldn’t even get this).

Her glee was infectious; he couldn’t stop staring at her, hoping to imprint the image of her smiling face in his mind forever. He briefly came to his senses and felt his cheeks heat up as he realised how often his eyes drifted down to her lips. Marco wasn’t given much time to linger on that thought, however, as Melina suddenly spoke up.

“Ok, and now a spin!”

“A spin??”

“Yeah!”

He looked at her in disbelief, “I do not think that is a good idea-”

“Why not?!”

“You are thinking of my skill too high, and you are not steady”

“What’s the worst that could happen? Nobody’s watching.” She shot him a challenging smirk, “Just raise your arm above your head and I’ll do the rest”

Sensing that she wasn’t going to give it up, he did as Melina said and raised one of his arms up; helping her through a very disjointed twirl. He held her in place once she stopped spinning - which was the right move as her eyeballs seemed to move on their own accord and she started to lean dangerously to the right. 

She laughed, her hands placed on his chest, and tried to discern the real Marco out of the three currently floating in her vision. “Hooo just give me a moment… There we go. See! Wasn’t that difficult! You’ll be on a dance show before you even know it.” Melina tilted her chin upwards slightly as she spoke to him, smiling yet again and staring at his stupidly long eyelashes. 

Her energy quickly dissipated after the dizziness wore off and the adrenaline fizzled out, meaning the weariness of such a frantic day had begun to catch up with her. Removing herself from his grip, she pottered towards the propped open door and stopped right before she rejoined the inviting buzz to turn around and speak to him, “I think I’m going to head home, I’m just going to say byeeee to Laurin.”

“I will walk you home” He spoke without thinking again.

She paused, leaning her head against the cool brick and looking at him with a sort of unreadable fondness, “... thanks, I won’t be long.” With that, she disappeared back inside to search for her friend.

It didn’t take her very long; Laurin isn’t exactly the toughest to spot in crowds thanks to his height and tendency to hover on the edge of whatever’s happening. Squeezing through her colleagues, Melina made her way to where he was standing and waved enthusiastically to get his attention. She could see he was starting to reach the end of his tether too and wouldn’t have been surprised if he decided to leave soon after her.

“Everything ok??” She held his arm and used it to push herself closer to his ears so Laurin could hear her better.

“Mhmm, thinking of going soon.. I’ve shown my face and stuff.”

“Ah, I thought so.” She grinned at him, “That’s ok though! I came to let you know I was walking back anyway, we can go together if you want?”

He shot her a specific look and asked, “Are you not going with him?” Laurin then nodded towards a rather awkward looking Marco standing outside, idly scanning the surroundings with his hands shoved deep in his pockets. He looked back to Melina and chuckled at her sheepish expression, “I saw you two out there; you go home now and I’ll stay here a little bit longer.”

“Are you sure? It’s really nothing; I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

“I’m sure, just tell me about it tomorrow.” He smiled down at her and watched as her own smile grew a bit more, spreading to her eyes and giving way to two small dimple imprints on her cheeks.

“Of course, who would I be without a debrief?” she gave him a quick hug, “I’ll see you later!”

Laurin’s chest swelled as he watched her go. He’d caught glimpses of the two of them talking & ‘dancing’ outside - specifically glimpses of how happy Melina looked in his company - and was glad to see her actually enjoying herself instead of hiding her hurt.

As promised, Melina wasn’t long, reappearing moments later and tripping on the step exactly like she did the first time. She quickly regained her balance and wandered back over to where Marco was standing waiting, poking his side once she reached him and making him jump.

“AIE Siii u cazzo-” He all but leapt into the air, not expecting her to surprise him like that. “[Aie don’t do that to me! You nearly gave me a heart attack oh my-]” He complained rapidly in Italian, gesturing like a madman.

She doubled over in a fit of giggles, gripping onto his shirt to keep her from gravitating towards the floor. It took her a while to fight out what she was trying to say, “I got.. I got none of that- oh your face! Hilarious…”

He rolled his eyes and frowned, very obviously embarrassed thanks to the telling blush on the tips of his ears. 

“Ready to go?” Marco quickly attempted to change the subject and move on from his sudden outburst.

“Mhm! I don’t live too far away, we just need to go down this road.” Melina began ambling off in the direction of her apartment, leaving Marco to falter for a second. He’d just assumed they were going back to his like they’d done many times previously - he was used to hosting people after all. He’d never actually been to Melina’s place before. There wasn’t much time to linger on that thought though, as the distance between them was actively growing and Melina wasn’t walking in the straightest of lines; He strode forward to catch up with her and try to correct her gait. She was chatting away and giggling but he was too focused on keeping her from tripping to pay much attention.

After a while of wandering down stilled town roads, Melina began to slow; a mixture of sleepiness and aching feet weighing down her steps. She had to pause for a moment and perch on the nearest wall, “Why did I choose to wear these shoes… My feet are killing meee.” Her eyes fluttered shut for a moment; she was nearly home but honestly, this wall was kind of comfortable…

“-lina?”

“Mm?” She opened her eyes and tuned back into her surroundings. “Sorry, I just needed a rest. These shoes aren’t great for walking in-”

“Are you wearing uhh, socks?”

“Yes, only crazy people wear boots without socks underneath.”

“Walk in the socks, you can wash them.”

She paused for a moment, “yes actually.. Good idea.” Not wasting another second, she slid her boots off to reveal a pair of heart patterned socks. Melina looked visibly relieved and pushed off the wall to get back on her feet, “ok I can keep going!” 

Before she could process it, he’d bent down and picked her boots up. She looked at him slightly confused & he returned the look.

“I can carry those-“

“It is ok, I don’t mind.”

“Well then, thank you~” she beamed at him, making a mental note of how a mellow summer night suited him. Melina then began to start walking again, mildly weirded out by the feeling of the pavement on her feet, but it was much more pleasant than the blisters her boots were giving her. Marco fell into the same gait as her and the two walked back in a comfortable silence that Melina occasionally broke just for the sake of talking nonsense with him.

“We should go visit the beach tomorrow!” She suggested as they turned the final corner approaching her apartment building, “it’s been faaaar too long since we last went together and - if I’m being really honest - I missed going with you.”

“Let us see tomorrow how you are feeling, but I will go with you.” If you looked close enough, you could see a small downturned smile accompanying the furrowing of his brow.

“I haven’t drank that much; the walk back helped me get a bit better!” As she said this, she tripped on one of the stairs up to her flat and gripped onto the handrail.

He raised an eyebrow and said nothing, the silence speaking enough for him.

She met him with an outraged gasp, fumbling in her purse for her door key, “don’t look at me like that! I am fine, just a bit wobbling.” Melina then located her key and brandished it like some secret weapon, letting the two of them inside the place she shared with Laurin.

Flicking on a few lamps as she moved through the space, Melina headed in the direction of her bedroom. It was almost like she possessed some sort of magic, flooding an otherwise dim area with an inviting yellow glow simply by passing through.

Instead of leaving her shoes and heading off, Marco mindlessly followed after her; his eyes travelling all over the walls & surfaces as he absorbed the interior of her flat. Albeit not his usual style or preference, there was something endearing about being able to see traces of her in the space she lived in. It was a strange feeling, being in such a personal space, but at the same time a part of him wanted to linger a while longer; make his mark. He did eventually end up in her room, hovering awkwardly by the door after he put the boots down in the first spot he could see, and found himself studying the various wall decorations scattered around. There were many photographs of her & friends; he wondered if he was in any. Before he could find out the answer, Melina re-entered her room with a glass of water that looked like it’d been spilled once or twice, “never been in a girls room before?”

Marco made some sort of noise in protest, ultimately coming up with no verbal response. Instead, he watched as she intensely focused on putting the cup down in the right spot without getting any water anywhere. Once she did, she straightened out her posture and muddled her way to a cluttered vanity to fumble about for makeup remover. She then tried to wipe away the makeup on her eyes, but moved sort of like a ragdolled video game character.

“Would you like some help?”

“Nooo no, I am very capable, thank you!”

“I know, but you are moving like the jelly.”

“Trust me, I got this” she looked at him through her mirror, swivelling around once the majority of the makeup had been scrubbed away. “See~”

Melina subsequently got back up, “I’ll see you out, I need to go that way to wash my face and stuff anyways.”

He suddenly remembered where he was and nodded diligently, stepping out of her room and journeying back to the front door. After he’d opened it and turned around to say his goodbye, Marco was met with Melina leant against the door staring at him with an affectionate smile.

“You didn’t have to see me home, thank you. I really appreciate it.”

“It is nothing, I wanted you to be safe.” He shrugged, playing it as nonchalantly as possible.

Her smile shifted into something more unbelieving as she pushed herself off of the door, placing one hand on his shoulder so she could reach up to press a chaste kiss just below his temple, “and congratulations, again.” 

Marco stood there dumbfounded, replaying the sensation of her lips against his skin over and over so he wouldn’t forget it. “… Thank you.”

Melina resumed her earlier position, enjoying the feel of the cool door against her burning cheeks. She couldn’t believe she’d done that, clearly still under some influence (alcohol or attraction, who knows); regret was already seeping into her veins. It was too late for that now though, and it wasn’t like she didn’t do this with a lot of her friends! This was just.. different.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then?” She broke the tension with a tentative question.

“If you are feeling ok, then yes.”

“Well, until then I guess. Goodnight Marco.”

“Goodnight Melina, sleep well.”

She gradually closed the door as she saw him begin to walk away, her heartbeat thundering in her ears and mind going haywire.

As she padded about getting ready for bed, she continued to overthink - completely unaware, of course, of how Marco had to pause and run a hand through his hair at the end of the hallway, his face a deep red and heartbeat thundering in his ears just like Melina. 

The only time her worries stopped clamouring for attention was when she finally sank into her mattress and felt her eyes flutter shut, the overlapping chatter replaced by a simple “goodnight Melina” playing like a beautiful broken record.