4. "I'm not in the mood to listen to you right now, Harlow!"

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4. "I'm not in the mood to listen to you right now, Harlow."

HARLOW

"Stop it!" I laughed and squirmed in his arms.

He threw me onto the couch and continued to tickle my sides and stomach, hovering over me.

"Are you sorry?" He stopped for a moment, but couldn't wipe the irresistibly charming smile off his face.

"No." I shook my head. He continued to tickle me. "Okay, okay! I am!"

"You're what?" He stopped, placing his hands on either side of me, holding himself over me.

"I'm sorry for eating your gelato, Cristiano. I know you loved it dearly." I put an innocent look on my face.

"Dio, perché devi così carino?" He breathed, smiling. I scrunched my nose like a bunny.
N/A- That means, 'God, why do you have to be so cute?'

"I don't know what you said! I'm the only American person in the group." I said and he laughed. "And are you ticklish?"

"No." He replied quickly. I smiled mischievously.

"I think you are! Here?" I brushed my fingers against his neck. He raised an eyebrow. "Here?" I ran my fingers to his stomach--well--abs. He flinched. "Not quite.."

I brushed my fingers against his side and he really flinched. I looked back in his eyes. "Bingo." I began tickling his sides.

"S-stop!" He began laughing but mostly squirming.

He started really losing it. His arms started to give out and he collapsed on top of me. "Oh, jeez!" I wheezed and we both were laughing our heads off, our faces inches apart.

Then what happened next couldn't have happened at a worse time.

"What the hell, Chris?!" Eli shouted.

We both looked at Eli and Zach in the doorway. Eli was infuriated but Zach was amused. We looked at each other Cristiano got off of me and pulled me up on my feet.

"Hey." I said and me and Cristiano were still kind of laughing. We couldn't even look at each other without laughing.

"What the hell is so funny?" Eli crossed his arms.

"Relax, E. I just ate his gelato, which was so good by the way--" Cristiano jabbed his fingers into my side making me squirm and giggle. Eli raised an eyebrow. "He tickled me as a punishment and then I tickled him back and then he fell on me and we both started laughing hysterically. Then you walked in saying 'What the hell Chris?!'" I mocked him in a high pitched tone making Cristiano and I laugh.

"He did used to get that weird squeak in his voice when he was mad when we first met." He commented. We kept laughing.

Cristiano really is acting weird, though. He was all slightly friendly, mostly cold to me just a week ago. Now we're laughing and 'best pals' for no reason. Ever since yesterday when he found out about my trigger finger.

"I don't ever want to see you two that close ever again. Same thing for you and Zach." Eli stated.

I walked over gave Zach a hug. "Zach is my best guy friend! Isn't that right?"

"Yup." He popped the 'p' and smiled happily at Eli.

"What about him?" Eli pointed his thumb at Cristiano who was now....eating my Oreos.

I ran over and jumped on him. "Oh, hell no! My Oreos! Why do you have them?!" I tried reaching for the pack. He outstretched his arm so I couldn't.

"Payback, Bellezza." He put another one in his mouth.

"You....Oreo thief! You have one last chance to give them back, or else."

"Or else what? I'm a grown man and you're still a little teenager." He teased. I'm only 19. I slowly put my hand on his side. "Don't! Okay, fine, here." He gave me the pack. I threw it in the lounging chair of the sectional couch.

We stood up.

"I'm going back to my pent." Eli turned to walk out.

"E!" I called and he looked at me.

I put my hand on Cristiano's right cheek and kissed his left cheek just to piss off Eli.

He rolled his eyes and left. Zach closed the door and released the laughter he'd been holding in.

"It's fun annoying him." I sighed.

"Yeah." Cristiano chuckled.

I smiled at my ringing phone, knowing who it was. It was a guy I met at school, his name was Charlie. I went ahead and answered, the guys talking to each other about something casual.

"Hey, new guy Charlie." I smiled some more. Zach and Cristiano looked up at me, wanting to know who I was talking to, but kept their mouths shut.

Hey, new girl Harlow. What's going on?

"You just saw me yesterday. Not much."

"Aw. Well keep telling me about that hot roommate of yours. He sounded delectable when you were talking about him yesterday."

"Shut up, Charlie!" I said hushed, my cheeks turning red. "They could hear you."

"Oh he's there!" He talked louder. I'm pretty sure they could hear him, as they looked up again. "Harlow, what were you saying yesterday, about how I--"

I quickly covered the speaker of my phone, embarrassed at what he was about to say. They looked at me, a hint of shock and anger flashing through their expressions, but quickly hid it.

I put the phone back to my ear. "Charlie, I gotta go. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye, Harlow! Tell your eye candy I said 'call me'!"

I laughed. "Bye." I hung up. I looked at them and Zach was ignoring my conversation with Charlie, and smiling. Cristiano wasn't even close to smiling. He was glaring at me, yet his face was stoic. "Who was that?" He tried holding back the anger in his voice, sounding softer.

I gave him a small smile. "Just Charlie. I met him yesterday at school." As I told him this, his hard look softened, as if just realizing something. I furrowed my brows, before smiling and continuing. "What do you want to do today boys?"

"We are not boys." "We are men." Cristiano finished Zach's sentence. He did the same in smiling and forgetting my call for a moment.

"Says the guys that were playing tag at the beach last week. Let's go to the mall." I went to go get changed out of my tank top and shorts.

I put on my blue ripped skinny jeans and a red long sleeved crop top that had two white stripes on each sleeve. I slipped on my Timberlands. I put on some cat eye eyeliner with my classic blood red lipstick before going back into the living room.

Cristiano was already ready to go. He looked extra 'brooding-bad boy-ish' in his black ripped boyish skinny jeans and white t-shirt that hugged tight around his muscles, accompanied by a leather jacket. "Ready?" He noticed I was close to ogling him but chose not to say anything. He just smirked. That was annoying enough.

"Well, duh." I crossed my eyes at him. They both chuckled as we walked out and into the elevator.

A thought popped into my head. I had to ask.

"Hey, Zach?"

"Yeah, cupcake?"

"Are you like Cristiano?" My question made both Cristiano and Zach turn to look at me.

"Like me?" Cristiano frowned. The elevator doors opened at the lobby with a ding.

"Nothing. Come on."

****

We got in Cristiano's car and I was in the backseat, with Zach in the passengers'. Every several minutes I'd look at the both of them. I really couldn't believe I was in a car with two Mafia men.

I looked up at Cristiano. He looked at me in the mirror for a few seconds before focusing on the road again. Something flashed in his eyes.

We arrived at the mall and Cristiano got out. Zach turned to look at me in his seat.

"What did you mean in the elevator?"

"Are like him? Do you just use girls for sex before throwing them away?" I looked him in the eye, but he looked away with a sigh, answering my question. I shook my head and got out of the car. I walked faster past Cristiano.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked behind me.

"You." I walked faster. A sick, horrible feeling rose in my stomach. In that moment, I remembered what I hated the most about guys like them. They're just selfish pigs. Heartbreakers. For all I know, Cristiano and Zach probably just wanna get in my pants.

I went inside, the smell of new clothes and delicious food hitting me. I could hear the guys close behind me.

"Harlow." Zach called quietly. I ignored him. "Harlow." He called again. I kept walking.

"HARLOW!" Cristiano's deep, loud, booming voice echoing in the mall, making me jump.

I turned around before hissing at him, "What?" There was an angry, cold look in his eyes unlike just a couple of hours ago when we were laughing our heads off. It was worse than the look he gave me after my call with Charlie. The look on his face scared me even more, making me take a step back.

It reminded me of Francisco. But now was not the time to think about ex boyfriends.

"Don't ignore us." His voice still stern and aggressive. He grabbed my arm and pulled me into the empty hallway where the emergency exit was. Zach followed.

Cristiano pushed me against the wall, but not too hard, before letting go and crossing his arms, daring me to try and walk away. But I couldn't even if I tried.

My heart wanted me to get the hell away, but my brain and nervous system told me that if I wanna live, I should stay. Brain wins right now.

Zach stood right beside him, but Zach wasn't as scary looking. He was pissed, but not scary.

"I ask again, what's wrong with you?" Cristiano's words surprised me, I thought he was going to start yelling at me for some reason. He's mean and pigheaded like that sometimes.

"What do you care?" I narrowed my eyes.

His jaw clenched and his muscles flexed. "Why are you so stubborn?"

"Why are you so mad?" I crossed my arms.

He ignored the question and sighed. "I haven't kissed a girl in a week." He mumbled.

I blinked. "What?"

"I haven't kissed or had sex with a girl in a week. You wanna know why?" He looked at me. "Because I've been too....distracted." He breathed with a smile tugging on his lips.

I didn't know what he meant.

I looked at Zach.

"A week and a half." He muttered. A smile spread across my lips. "Am I still your favorite guy?" He smiled.

I laughed. "I never had a favorite guy. Come on, let's get food." Cristiano walked on my left and Zach on my right.

We went to the food court and sat at a table. Zach left to get some pizza.

I looked at Cristiano who was sitting across from me. "Distracted?"

He looked down and chuckled. "You know what I meant."

"No, not really. Please, clarify." I leaned forward with my arms crossed and my elbows on the table. He did the same.

"Can you keep a secret?" He whispered. I nodded. "Truth is, I've been thinking about you. A lot."

I could feel the blood running up to my cheeks, I could tell my cheeks were probably hot red. This made him smirk. "W-why?"

"I have my reasons. What, I can't think about my hot roommate?"

"N-no. Unless you want to be killed by my cousin." I blinked.

"He doesn't have to know." He winked and I blushed heavily. Then he chuckled. "Sei così carino."
N/A- That means, 'You're so cute'.

Zach came back with a small pepperoni pizza. We all grabbed a slice.

We sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes. I decided to break it.

"You need a shave." They both looked at me like I was crazy.

"Who?" Zach asked. They both had stubble on their chins. I felt Zach's chin. I laughed reaching across the table to feel Cristiano's chin.

"The both of you." I laughed again.

"Is it bad?" Cristiano rubbed his chin.

"No. It's not an ugly stubble. It's a cute stubble." I snorted. They rolled their eyes. "It would be cool if midgets had night vision." I blurted. They burst out laughing.

"How did we get from stubble to night vision?" Cristiano ran a hand through his hair.

"I'm just saying!" I shrugged.

"Then that would mean you would have night vision." Zach snorted from laughter along with Cristiano. I hit his arm.

"I'm not a midget! I'm only 5 foot 6 1/2! Just because you two are 6 foot 2, does not mean everyone shorter than you is a midget! Freakin' trees." I huffed. They laughed some more.

****

"C-Cristiano?" I poked my head up to look at him.

"Y-Yeah?"

"We need this in our apartment really baaad." I said as the vibration of the chair ran through my back. We were in Brookstone trying out the massage chairs.

"Agreeeed." He and Zach said at the same time. Our chairs beeped, letting us know our time was up. We got up and walked out of Brookstone.

Someone's phone started to buzz. Cristiano answered his phone. "Si?".............."Si, papà."..... Cristiano looked at me before opening his mouth to answer. But he immediately closed it and his jaw clenched. "Prima di tutto, si chiama Harlow. Non chiamarla qualcosa di simile o di parlare di lei in quel modo! In secondo luogo, io verrò lì domani per discutere di cose. Addio, padre." He hung up before the other person could say anything. I'm guessing it was his dad.

"That sounded rude." I grimaced. I didn't understand a lick of what he said.

"Yeah, Dominic is gonna kill you for talking to him like that." Zach added.

"You know what's also rude? Talking about your roommate in a different language to your father. What's that abou--"

He cut me off and turned to me with that same angry, scary look on his face.
"I'm not in the mood to listen to you right now, Harlow." He started to walk away. I just stood there, shocked.

"Cristiano!" Zach's kind and friendly voice turned completely harsh as he grabbed Cristiano's shoulder. But he just shook him off and kept walking. What is going on?

_________________________

For all you Italian speaking people, don't tell the non-Italian speaking people what Cristiano said. It'll be explained in the next chapter.

On another note, if you noticed that I changed the way to spell 'Cristiano's name, I did. 'Christiano', is actually not how you spell it. It's Cristiano.

Bye, loves!

- COA

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