One Step to You

by Federico Moccia

  “That boy was here this afternoon. I’m sure of it…”

  “What boy?”

  “The one who beat up Accado, the one who convinced your daughter to skip school. Stefano Mancini. Step, Babi’s boyfriend.”

  “Babi’s boyfriend?”

  “Can’t you see how she’s changed? Is it possible that you never notice a thing? It’s all his fault. She sneaks out to go to motorcycle races, she counterfeits notes for her absences…Plus, did you see that bruise under her eye? I think he must be beating her too.”

  Claudio stood speechless. More problems. Could that young man seriously have beaten Babi? He needed to do something, intervene somehow. He’d have it out with him. Yes, that’s what he’d do.

  “Here.” Raffaella gave him a sheet of paper.

  “What is it?”

  “The license plate number of that boy’s motorcycle. Call our friend Davione, give him the number. He’ll get us the address, and you can go talk to him.”

  Now this would mean he’d actually have to do it. He clung to one last shred of hope. “Are you sure that it’s the right one?”

  “I saw the bike in front of Babi’s school last time. I remember it perfectly.”

  Claudio stuck the slip of paper into his wallet.

  “Don’t lose it!” Those words from Raffaella were practically more of a threat than a piece of friendly advice.

  Claudio went back to the living room and let himself collapse onto the sofa in front of the television set. A married couple was discussing things that were really their private business in front of a guy with long hair. What made them want to go and air their dirty laundry in front of everyone on television? He couldn’t even bring himself to do it at home, all alone, in his kitchen.

  Now he was going to have to go and talk to that young man. And he’d probably beat him up too. He thought about Accado. Maybe he’d wind up in the same hospital room as him. They could keep each other company. That thought didn’t cheer him up much. He didn’t really like Accado all that much.

  The show was interrupted by a commercial break. Claudio got out his wallet and went over to the telephone. Stefano Mancini, aka Step. That boy had cost him ten million lire and two cans of beer. He pulled out the sheet of paper with the motorcycle’s license plate number and dialed the phone number of his friend Davione.

  Then, as he waited for someone to answer the call, he thought about his wife. Raffaella really was unbelievable. She’d seen that boy’s motorcycle once or twice, and she could remember the tag number perfectly. While Claudio had been driving that Mercedes Benz for a year and still didn’t know his own license plate number by heart.

  “Hello, Enrico?”

  “Yes.”

  “Ciao, it’s Claudio Gervasi. Listen, I’m sorry to bother you but I need a favor.”

  “Ask away.”

  For a moment, Claudio wished that Enrico weren’t so damned accommodating. It’s really true, when you don’t need a favor, that’s when everyone’s happy to do it for you.

  Chapter 26

  Babi couldn’t figure out whether that light tapping on the wooden blind was a dream or reality. Maybe it was the wind. She shifted in bed and heard it again. A little louder, but precise, like a signal.

  Babi got out of bed and went over to the window. She looked through the tiny spaces between the extended slats. Illuminated by the light of the full moon was Step. Surprised, she tugged on the cord to raise the blind, doing her best to make as little noise as possible.

  “Step, what are you doing here? How did you manage to get up here?”

  “It was really easy. I climbed up on the wall and then shinnied up the drainpipes. Come on, let’s go.”

  “Where?”

  “They’re expecting us.”

  “Who is?”

  “The others. My friends. Come on, don’t keep asking questions. Let’s get going! This time, if your folks catch us, it really is going to be a problem.”

  “Hold on. Let me change into something.”

  “No, we’re not going far.”

  “But I’m not wearing anything under my nightgown.”

  “So much the better.” He laughed.

  “Come on, you cretin. Hold on a minute.” She half shut the window, sat down on the bed, and quickly got dressed. Bra, panties, sweatshirt, a pair of jeans, her tobacco shoes, and then she was back at the window. “Let’s go, but we can use the door.”

  “No, we’ll go down this way. It’s better.”

  “What are you, crazy? I’m scared to do that. I could slip and fall and die. You know what would happen if my folks woke up to the sound of me screaming, followed by a thud? Come on, follow me.”

  Babi led him through the darkness of that sleeping apartment, tiptoeing along on soft wall-to-wall carpeting, carefully turning door handles. She deactivated the burglar alarm, took the house keys, and they were out. A slight click from the front door as it shut behind them, slowly pulled closed to prevent any loud noises. Then down the steps and into the courtyard, onto the motorcycle, rolling downhill, the engine off to avoid being heard. Then, outside the gate, Step put the bike in gear, put it in second, and hit the gas. They shot forward, now far from her sleeping home, safe and free to go where they pleased, together—while the rest of the world believed them fast asleep and alone in their own beds.

  “What’s this?” Curiously, Babi dismounted from the motorcycle.

  Meanwhile, Step pulled something out of the top box. “Follow me, and you’ll see. Don’t make any noise, that’s important.”

  They were on Via Riccardo Zandonai, just above the church. They walked through a narrow gate. They followed a dark path running between bushes.

  “Here, go under this.” Step lifted a piece of metal mesh that had been torn away at the bottom of the fence. Babi ducked under, taking care not to get caught in the mesh. A few seconds later, Step was beside her. They walked along in the darkness on newly mown grass. The moon lit up everything around them. They were on the grounds of an apartment complex.

  “Wait, where are we going?”

  “Shh.” Step put his finger to his lips, urging her to be silent.

  Then, after climbing over a low wall, Babi heard some sounds of distant laughter or someone talking. Step smiled at her and took her by the hand. They went around a hedge, and there they saw it. In the light of the moon, light blue, transparent, calm, edged in by the dark of night, a large swimming pool.

  In it were a number of young people. They were swimming while taking care not to make too much noise. Little waves lapped at the sides, every once in a while overflowing onto the surrounding grass. A strange breathing sound could be heard, that water coming and going and then vanishing down into the void of a little grate.

  “Come on.”

  They approached the swimming pool. A number of young people greeted them. Babi recognized their wet faces. They were all of Step’s friends. By now, she’d even learned a few names. The Sicilian, Hook, Bunny. That was easier than the usual rounds of introductions where everyone was named Andrea or Fabio or Marco.

  Pollo was there, too, and Pallina also swam over to the side of the pool. “Damn, I was certain you wouldn’t come. I lost my bet.”

  Pollo pulled her away from the edge of the pool. “You see, what did I tell you?” They laughed. Pallina tried to push him under the water but couldn’t do it. “Now you have to pay.”

  They swam off, splashing each other and kissing. Babi wondered what they’d bet, and a few vague ideas occurred to her. Then she focused on a far more serious problem. “Step, I don’t have a swimsuit.”

  “Neither do I. Just my boxer shorts. What do you care? Almost no one does.”

  “But it’s cold,” she added, trying to come up with some other excuse.

  “I brought towels for afterward, I’ve got one for you too. Come on, quit stalling.”

  Step took off his jacket. Before long, all his clothing was lying on the ground. “Look out, or I’ll throw you in full
y dressed, and that’s just going to be worse. You know I’ll do it.”

  Babi looked at him. This was the first time she’d seen him undressed. Brushstrokes of silvery moonlight highlighted his muscles even more. Perfect abdominals, squared-off, compact pectorals.

  Babi stripped down to her bra and panties. A short while later, they were both in the water. They swam along, side by side. Babi started to shiver a bit. “Brrr, it’s cold.”

  “You’ll warm up. Just be careful not to go under the surface with your eyes open. There’s a lot of chlorine in the water. It’s the first swimming pool open in the neighborhood this year, you know that? So this is a sort of inauguration. Summer will be here soon. Nice, isn’t it?”

  “Beautiful. It reminds me of those films Bruce Weber made with the whole Dillon family, when they went pool-hopping and would go swimming on the grounds of mansions at night.”

  “Those films who made?”

  “Bruce Weber…”

  “Never heard of him…We’ve been doing this for years now. Come over here.”

  They swam to the side. Babi noticed that there were bottles all over the sides of the pool. They’d been opened only recently.

  Step grabbed one. “Here, have some.”

  “But I don’t drink.”

  “It’ll warm you up.”

  Babi took the bottle and tipped it back. She felt the cool liquid, slightly bitter and sparkling, drain down her throat. It was good. She handed the bottle to Step, smiling at him. “It’s not bad. I like it.”

  “I’ll bet you do. It’s champagne.” Step took a long drink.

  Babi looked around. There were at least twenty or so people in that swimming pool. They’d all formed into small groups at the edges of the basin, right there where the bottles were. She wondered if that was all champagne. Where had they found it? No doubt it, too, was stolen.

  “Here.” Step handed back the bottle. She decided not to give it too much thought and took a drink. But she gauged it wrong and a little too much went down her throat. She practically choked, and the champagne with all its sparkling bubbles went up her nose. She started coughing. Step burst out laughing and waited for her to recover.

  Then they swam together toward a corner of the pool across the way. A larger hedge there protected that nook from the rays of the moon. It only let through the occasional glint of silver. Soon those glints were trapped in the tangles of her wet hair. Step looked at her. She was beautiful.

  He kissed her cool lips, and they were immediately locked in a clinch. Their nearly nude bodies now pressed against each other completely, head to toe, for the first time. Enveloped by that chilly water, they sought out and found warmth between them, learning each other, feeling the thrill of it, pulling apart occasionally to avoid creating too much awkwardness.

  Step broke away from her, took a brief sidestroke across the pool, and soon swam back with a new catch in his hands.

  “This one’s still full.” Another bottle. They were surrounded. Babi smiled and drank from it, this time slowly, careful not to choke. It almost tasted good to her.

  Then she found his lips. They continued kissing like that, sparkly and bubbly, while she felt herself floating but couldn’t quite understand why. Was that the normal effect of the water or was it the champagne? She gently let her head fall back, resting it in the water, and for a moment, it stopped spinning. She could and, at the same time, couldn’t hear the sounds around her. Her ears, with tiny waves lapping at them, wound up underwater from time to time, and strange and pleasant muted sounds reached her, dazing her even more completely.

  Step held her in his arms, swinging her around him, pulling her through the water. She opened her eyes. Brief surges of water caressed her right cheek while small, spiteful splashes reached her mouth now and again. She felt like laughing.

  High above, silvery clouds moved slowly across the infinite depth of the dark blue night. She pulled herself up and threw her arms around his powerful shoulders and kissed him passionately.

  He looked her in the eyes. He put a hand on her forehead and, stroking her hair back, uncovered her smooth face. Then he moved farther down, along her cheek, down to her chin, along her neck, and then even farther, to her breasts where the water lapped against them, shivering with cold and excitement, and then still farther down, where just that afternoon he’d first dared to graze her with his fingers.

  She hugged him tighter still. She put her chin on his shoulder, and with her eyes half-shut, she looked past him. A half-empty bottle was floating in the pool. It was rising and falling in the water. And she imagined the message rolled up inside: Help. But don’t save me.

  Then she shut her eyes and started to tremble, but not just because of the cold. A thousand emotions swept over her, and suddenly she realized. She was the one who was about to need rescue.

  * * *

  “Babi, Babi.” She suddenly heard someone calling her name and shaking her hard, so she opened her eyes. Right in front of her was Daniela. “What’s wrong, didn’t you hear the alarm clock? Come on, get moving or we’ll be late. Papà is almost ready.”

  Her sister left the bedroom. Babi turned over in her bed. She thought back to the night before and sneaking out with Step, riding on his motorcycle, and swimming in the pool with Pallina and the others. Getting drunk. Being in the water with Step. His hand.

  Maybe she’d just dreamed the whole thing. She touched her hair. It was perfectly dry. Too bad, it really had been a dream after all, a beautiful one, but still nothing but a dream.

  From under the covers, she stuck out her hand and fumbled for the radio. She found it and turned it on. Propelled by a happy old song by Simply Red, she got out of bed. She still felt slightly sleepy, and the strangest thing was that she had a bit of a headache.

  She walked over to her chair to get dressed. Her school uniform was lying there, but she hadn’t laid out the rest of her things. How odd, she thought. I must have forgotten. That’s never happened before. My folks must be right. I really am changing. I’ll wind up being just like Pallina. She’s so messy and out of control that she forgets everything. Well, I guess that means we’ll be better friends.

  She opened her top drawer and pulled out a bra. Then, as she was rummaging through her underwear, searching for a pair of panties that looked good on her, she found a sweet surprise. Hidden at the bottom of the drawer, in a little plastic bag, was a wet bra and panties. A faint scent of chlorine rose around them. So it hadn’t been a dream after all.

  She smiled. Then she suddenly remembered being in Step’s arms. It’s true, she’d changed. A lot.

  She started getting dressed. She put on the uniform and then, last of all, as she was putting on her shoes, she made a decision. She would never again allow him to go past a certain point.

  Finally at ease, she looked in the mirror. She was not having a good hair day, but her eyes were the same eyes that she’d made up lightly a few days ago. Even her mouth was the same.

  She brushed her hair, smiling, set down the hairbrush, and left her bedroom in a hurry to eat breakfast. Little did she suspect that she’d change even more very soon. So much that she’d be able to walk by that mirror and not even recognize herself anymore.

  Chapter 27

  Signora Giacci walked downstairs to the conference room. She greeted a number of mothers that she knew and then went to the far end of the room. A young man in a dark jacket with a pair of sunglasses was sitting in a rather informal pose in an armchair there. He had one leg sprawled over the armrest, and as if that weren’t bad enough, he was also taking a drag on a cigarette in a devil-may-care fashion. His head was tilted back, and every so often he let plumes of smoke rise toward the ceiling.

  Signora Giacci came to a halt. “Excuse me?” The young man pretended he hadn’t heard her, so Signora Giacci raised her voice: “Excuse me?”

  Step finally looked up at her. “Yes?”

  “Don’t you know how to read?” she asked him, pointing to a highly visible
NO SMOKING sign on the wall.

  “Where?”

  Signora Giacci decided to abandon that line of argument. “There’s no smoking in here.”

  “Ah, I really hadn’t noticed.” Step dropped the cigarette butt onto the floor and crushed it out with a sharp rap of his heel.

  Signora Giacci was starting to lose her temper. “What are you doing here, young man?”

  “I’m waiting to talk to a teacher, Signora Giacci.”

  “That’s me. And to what do I owe this visit?”

  “Ah, so you’re the teacher. I apologize for the cigarette.” Step sat up straighter in the armchair. For a moment, he seemed sincerely contrite.

  “Forget about that. Just tell me what you want.”

  “Well, I wanted to talk to you about Babi Gervasi. You really shouldn’t treat her the way you have been lately. You see, teacher, that young woman is quite sensitive. Plus, her parents are real pains in the ass, you understand. So if you go at her like this, then they ground her, and the one who loses out is me because then I can’t take her out, and that’s really not okay with me, teacher. You understand my position, don’t you?”

  Signora Giacci was really starting to see red. How dare this young hoodlum come in here and address her like this? “No, I absolutely do not understand, and most important of all, I can’t figure out what you’re even doing here.”

  Suddenly the teacher remembered where she’d seen him before. She’d had a feeling he might be familiar from the very first, but she hadn’t been able to pin down when she’d seen him. At last it became clear to her. She’d seen him from the window. This was the young man who’d ridden away from the school with Babi. She and the girl’s mother had discussed this matter at some length, the poor woman. And this was a dangerous fellow.

  “You aren’t authorized to be here. Please leave, or I’ll have to call the police.”

  Step got up and brushed past her with a smile. “I only came in to talk it over. I wanted to come to an understanding with you, try to find common ground, but I can see that that’s going to be impossible. There’s just no reasoning with you, signora.”