Awakening the Mobster

by Rachiele, Amy

  Knock, knock...

  Vito calls out, “It’s your Pop.” The doorway is empty.

  “Fuck!” Antonio curses, and crawls off me. His pants are tented and his chest is bare. I blush. Still sprawled out on the bed, I turn away.

  I can hear Vito and Antonio out in the hallway whispering.

  “You can’t go out there like that. Erin is on the couch,” Vito says.

  “Get me a pen and a piece of paper,” Antonio says, his voice husky.

  “Hey Pop.” (pause) “Everything’s okay, so far.” (pause) “Yeah, I can do that. Where was he last seen?” (pause) “Got it.”(pause) “I will. Love you too, Pop. Bye.”

  “I gotta go after a runner today,” Antonio says to Vito. “You’ll have to stay with the girls.”

  “What do you mean? All the way out here in bum-fuck nowhere? Fanabola!”

  “Pop did some checking on someone that has been evading Donny for a while. They think he’s here. I gotta check it out. He owes Popa lot of scarol.”

  “Marrone,Tonio! Your work is never done,” Vito says.

  Listening to their conversation, I lie on my side. Vito is right. Antonio’s life is never going to change.

  Chapter 6

  Scarol (ska-roll): money!

  Megan:

  Around six, Antonio comes back. His eyes glint with that chilling look that fascinates and scares me. He says nothing as he walks in. He just scoops me into his arms and kisses me. His body slowly releases tension as he melts more into my arms.

  “You are so calming,” he whispers in my ear.

  Vito had taken Erin and me to the library on campus today. It was an amazing building, lined floor to ceiling with every book imaginable. I signed up for a library card, and we checked out a couple of books. Vito just stood by watching and listening. He scanned our surroundings like his was guarding rockstars.

  The only time he wasn’t on total hyper-vigilance was when he was watching Erin. A few times, I caught him reading over her shoulder. I immediately thought that he just felt really bad for my sallow-faced, duped sister. Then I saw something in his gaze as he studied her that I didn’t like.

  My strength and wits returned today. The queasiness and shock of the past couple of days are finally waning. Wrapped up in Antonio’s arms last night was comforting and powerful. I am actually excited to meet some students on campus tonight.

  Antonio goes to shower, and Vito is cooking in our kitchen. He is opening drawers and chopping vegetables. The smell of homemade pizza wafts through the suite.

  Erin comes out of her room holding a novel she is reading and sits down at the table. Vito has his back to her getting plates out. He turns and yelps, “Shit! You scared me!”

  I truly don’t think that happens too often with Vito. And I highly doubt my fourteen-year-old sister, very soon to be fifteen, would be the one to scare him. She lets out a small giggle. Holy Crap! That’s a good sign.

  We all converge at the table and Vito cuts the pizza. It smells heavenly. He has made it with all fresh ingredients — basil, hand cut tomatoes, mozzarella and ricotta cheeses. He slides a piece onto a plate for me. It is perfect. I hold the pizza to my mouth and bite. Boy, can Vito cook!

  “This is absolutely delicious,” I tell him.

  “I don’t know about that, but it’s better than the crap we had last night,” Vito says, humbly. Wow, is he embarrassed at a compliment?

  “Yeah, it’s good, man,” Antonio says, agreeing with me.

  We all clean up together. Antonio steals kisses as we work.

  We dress and get ready to go to Dillon Hall. I pick a tight fitting pink cashmere sweater and jeans.

  Erin eyes are vacant. Her face makes her look like she’s been dead for three days and no one told her to lie down. I put some gloss on her lips and blush on her cheeks. It helps a little. She dresses in jeans and a sweater too. I brush her long red hair for her. As I move the brush down her long hair I speak softly to her. My sister has never looked her age. She can pass for seventeen or eighteen easily, even though she is tiny.

  I finish getting Erin and myself dressed. I grab our jackets off the bed and head out into the living room. Standing by the door waiting are Vito and Antonio. They both have leather jackets on.

  Antonio looks yummy. His wavy dark hair is brushed but it is ruffled like he’s rubbed his hands through it about ten times. A pack of cigarettes sticks out the side pocket. He smiles at me.

  Vito is twice his normal size in his jacket and his normal size is big. It makes him look broader and unapproachable. I push a reluctant Erin in front of me.

  We had to park on the street because of all the hall parking spaces are full. Antonio holds my hand. It is dark out, only the beams of street lights are visible, and the shadows of buildings and bushes surround us.

  The party is much more rowdy than I envisioned. Tons of people are here. There is a riotous essence in the air. Music is blaring and thumping. Every single person inside and out is carrying a plastic cup. Girls are wearing strapless or sleeveless tops and no jackets despite the fall chill.

  A steady stream of people crosses over the threshold to the dorm, coming in and out. It dawns on me that finding Troy will be like finding a needle in a haystack.

  Antonio and Vito are cautious scanning the crowd. I’m watching the flirty glances and nods of approval these college girls are giving my boyfriend, and that makes me want to scratch their eyes out. I should be empowered and hopeful since I will be coming here next year. But I’m not. I am territorial and leery.

  Even Vito gets the stares. My sister is only watching the ground. She’s not meeting anyone’s eyes. She definitely doesn’t want to be here. Maybe this was a mistake.

  Antonio and Vito stand out like chocolate chips in vanilla ice cream. Everyone here is paler and with a myriad of different hair colors—blond, red, light brown. Actually, in the looks department, Erin and I fit right in. Antonio and Vito are the ones who don’t blend in. But they always look like they could have starring roles in the Godfather movies.

  Come to think of it, won’t Antonio be the Godfather someday, the Mob Boss of Palmetto? That’s unsettling. I tighten my grip on Antonio’s hand.

  “Hey, Meg!” I hear. It’s Troy.

  “Hey, Troy,” I say. “How did you find us?” Troy’s wearing comfortably worn jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt. He’s seems in his element, relaxed. The college life agrees with him.

  “I spotted your Italian henchmen first,” Troy smirks.

  A crowd starts chanting and yelling from under one of the spotlights glowing from the building. The group is in a circle and the circle moves with whatever is going on inside it. The yelling gets louder, then part of the circle scatters. Two guys fall over on the grass, grunting and hitting each other. Cheers erupt as the guys bang the crap out of each other.

  Antonio pushes me behind him then tugs on Erin’s arm. She is frozen watching the fight. The onlookers move and shift with the fighters, and they’re getting closer.

  Vito gently moves Erin farther away, and Antonio and I follow. Troy shifts with us to a new location...just far enough away to observe.

  “What’s going on?” I ask Troy.

  “The Gauntlet,” he says matter-of-factly.

  “Huh?” I ask. Not liking the sound of the word Gauntlet.

  “It’s simple, really. Two guys step up to run the challenge. Five girls line up with five beers. Each challenger drinks them as fast as they can. Then they run over to arm wrestle Bubba and Jake over there.” He points to a couple of guys at a folding table. “The first one to win, if they win, runs to the circle and fights the last guy standing from the last round. They fight their way to the Irish flag over there.” He points to a tiny flag on a stake in the grass which is barely visible in the dark. First one to grab it is the winner.” Troy says triumphantly.

  “Cool,” Vito says.

  “Cool?” I exclaim. “That’s barbaric!” Antonio, Vito, and even Troy give me weird expressions. I laugh
at myself. Considering the turns my life has taken, it is just boys having fun.

  “No one is forced Megan,” Troy reassures me. “It’s their choice. And if you can’t make it through the first trials you can’t do the last, the fighting.” True.

  “Have you done it?” I ask him.

  “No, no... I’m too pretty for that.” Troy says joking, as he motions towards the ruckus of fighting.

  Antonio snorts. He moves behind me and wraps his arms around my waist, a loving and possessive gesture.

  “The next one is just about to start. See the girls lined up over there?” Troy asks.

  We walk towards two lines of girls holding large plastic cups. Two guys stand at the end, shirtless and barefoot in the cold. They are pumped up, hooting and hollering. The word ‘GO!’ echoes through the crowd.

  The guys run to the girls and start drinking. They are gulping and sloshing the beer all over themselves. After they finish each cup, they ceremoniously throw them down on the ground. They move down the line fairly quickly. Cheers and chanting follow them. One guy even wastes precious seconds kissing one of the girls. “Ooooh...” resonates among the spectators.

  Kissy-Guy finishes first and runs to the arm wrestling table. Sweat and beer fly off him as he shakes his head trying to clear it. He sits down and lines himself up for arm wrestling.

  The other guy, quite ungracefully,trips into the table. He is fighting the fuzziness of the beer. Kissy-Guy is already immersed in wrestling. He is struggling to gain an advantage. The challenger doesn’t have a chance; he can barely keep his hand straight. His opponent is laughing at him.

  Vito is watching this whole thing delighted. Finally, Kissy-Guy flips Bubba or Jake’s arm to the table. Then he runs with difficulty to the waiting crowd on the other side of the grass. Standing in the middle is the winner of the last round.

  Kissy-Guy gets a punch in and tries to run towards the flag, but the challenger grabs his legs and flattens him to the ground. They struggle, punching and kicking. We watch and, occasionally, I hear Antonio snickering in my ear. He thinks this whole gauntlet thing is funny.

  “How ‘bout a little fun, Tonio?” Vito says mischievously, rubbing his hands together like he’s waiting for his Christmas gifts.

  Erin is quiet and shakes her head. She still hasn’t looked at Troy.

  “Nah, man,” Antonio says chuckling. He is nuzzling my neck. “I already beat the shit out of someone today.” Troy’s head swings around to Antonio, shocked. I reach to touch his hands that are laced across my stomach. His knuckles are swollen and rough. It never dawned on me that he might have caught the guy his dad had him chasing. “You go. I’ll stay with the girls.”

  Vito’s face lights up. Oh yeah, it’s Christmas! Then he grins at Troy, “Where do I sign up?”

  Troy and Vito walk away from us, heads together, talking. I think Troy might have made a new friend.

  A few people converge on them as Antonio, Erin, and I stand back towards the road. We still have a great view though. Through the throngs of people, we see Vito emerge shirtless and barefoot.

  “I guess there wasn’t a very long line,” Antonio says is my ear.

  “I guess not,” I say. “I’m nervous.” Antonio shifts me so that I can see his face.

  “Don’t be,” he says smiling.

  Erin takes my hand, apparently worried too.

  Someone yells ‘GO!’ and Vito and his challenger are off. Vito is much broader and larger than his opponent, definitely more cut. They’re on beer two. Vito chucks his cup to the ground smiling. Beer three.The pretty girl who hands him the cup tries to steal a kiss. Vito shuts her down by waving his finger at her in a nuh-uh gesture. The crowd gives a low “Oooooh...” The dissed girl gets angry. The guy next to Vito is slowing down. Vito keeps going. His body is quickly getting slicked with beer.

  Beer four and five are a blur. “How is he not affected?” I ask Antonio. Vito is running to the arm wrestling table. He sits down not even fazed by the alcohol he just chugged.

  “We’ve been drinking a long time,” Antonio says with mirth. “It started with the wine Nonna makes in her cellar. It was downhill from there.”

  Vito slams the arm of the wrestler onto the table with little effort. It happened in seconds. WOW!

  He runs to the other side of the grass. Kissy-Guy was out. This guy had won two rounds at least. Without ceremony, Vito punches the guy square in the face. He goes down hard, like a sack of potatoes. Vito runs right by him to the flag and grabs it. He holds it up. Everything happens so fast. The crowd, Erin and I stand with our mouths open, dumbfounded. Antonio cheers for his friend, breaking the semi-silence.

  “Woo-hoo, Vito!” he yells.

  Vito marches over to us. Antonio and Vito clasp arms and slap each other on the back. I feel cold with the loss of Antonio’s arms. The smell of stale beer emanates from Vito. Erin glances up at him. He puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder and smiles down at her.

  “How was that?” he asks. “You need a little entertainment.” He is grinning wickedly at her. She pushes his arm off her shoulder and walks away.

  At that moment, tons and tons of people from the party come over. Smacking Vito, high-fiving him. Girls wiggle their way closer to him, flirting. Gushing about how they’ve never seen anything like that. We are encircled with people. I am uncomfortable.

  Apparently, Vito isn’t finished. He has to fight the next guy to make it through the Gauntlet, a sour voice tells him in the din. Troy is ecstatic about Vito’s performance.

  “Dude! You were awesome!” Troy yells.

  I can see the outline of Erin sitting on the grass by herself way away from the crowd. She is shrouded in darkness. I walk over and sit on the grass with her.

  “You okay?” I ask her.

  “Yeah,” she replies, playing with a blade of grass.

  I sigh, “Looks like we could be here awhile.”

  Erin shivers. A body flops down next to her. It’s a guy. He startles us both.

  “Hi,” he says.

  “Hi,” I return.

  He speaks to Erin, “Not happy to be here, huh?”

  Who is this guy? He’s cute. Light brown hair, lean but not too skinny. It’s too dark to see his eyes.

  “No... It’s okay.” Erin says meekly.

  “I’m Jake.” He holds his hand out to shake with her. Oh, one of the arm wrestler guys.

  “Erin,” her voice is so soft, almost a whisper.

  I feel him before I see him. Antonio is hovering over Jake, staring down at him intimidatingly. I know that look well now. Troy appears too.

  “This is Jake.” Troy declares. “He lives in my dorm.” Antonio seems to accept this and sits down behind me. His warmth is cozy and soothing. “Well, Vito is making an impression.”

  “Yeah, college life seems to agree with him,” I deadpan.

  Vito is waiting for his next victim. He is dancing in place, hooting and shouting. Girls try to stand on their tiptoes to kiss him and hang on him. They are giggling and laughing like he’s a celebrity. He doesn’t even acknowledge them, except the really forceful ones, he pushes them aside gently.

  “Too bad the actual studying part doesn’t agree with him,” Antonio says into my ear making me shiver.

  Someone replaced Jake at the arm wrestling table. More and more guys are getting in line to try and beat Vito. The Gauntlet is just firing up. Vito takes down three more challengers. The crowd around him thickens and grows. We can barely see him now.

  Antonio whispers, “I hope someone can beat him soon.” He nuzzles my neck, moving my hair aside. “I want to take you back to the suite to finish what we started.” His words sizzle under my skin. I lean back ever farther into him enjoying his soft caresses.

  I am so caught up in Antonio that I don’t notice that Troy has gone back to Vito, and Erin and Jake are having a quiet conversation.

  “How long are you here for?” Jake asks.

  “I don’t know,” Erin replies.

&nbs
p; “What do you think so far? Is college life all you dreamed of?” Jake chuckles softly.

  Erin, playing with blades of grass, shrugs her shoulders. Then she drops the grass and rubs her arms like she’s cold.

  I’m about to say something when Jake takes off his coat. He gets up on his knees and places his jacket on the front of her. It’s backwards covering her chest and arms. Antonio immediately hardens at Jake’s movements, but doesn’t say anything.

  “Maybe we should wait in the car,” Antonio says. “Or go inside.”

  “Sure,” I say. “I’m getting thirsty.” Antonio unwraps himself from around me and helps me up. He reaches for Erin to help her too, but Jake is already doing that. Hmmmm... Jake takes his coat off Erin and places it on her shoulders.

  Cheers erupt as Vito wins another round. The four of us head into the dorm. It is crowded. We push through, but everyone is close—too close—invading my personal bubble space. I reach for Erin’s hand behind me.

  The hand I reach for is already occupied. Jake has her hand and is maneuvering Erin through the mass of partiers. He is with us, tagging along. Unexpected, but whatever. He seems like a nice guy. We are forced into a single file line, Antonio is leading the way. Plastic cups and beer bottles litter the floor as we enter. The couches in the lounge area are filled with bodies. The music is much louder in here.

  Words that sound on the cusp of a roar echo behind us over the music, “Who the fuck is this?!”

  Antonio swings around shoving me behind him in a defensive move. It’s Vito. Dirt and grass cover his chest that glistens with sweat and alcohol. The crowds of people disperse, and we are all alone in the spacious room, like an island all our own. People are staring at us. Troy comes up behind Vito.

  “That’s Jake. He’s my friend. He lives in my dorm.” Troy slaps Vito on the back congenially. “Come on, some guys from the football team showed up. They want a shot too.”