Smoke a pipe

"Are you gonna cry all night?" Rosalina asked Lily, who lay on her stomach on the large queen-sized bed in her room, burying her face in the feather-stuffed pillows, muffling her sobs with it.

Lily hiccupped and thrashed her legs on the bed, now cringing at herself for being so overly sensitive. She hated it when people raised their voices at her, especially nonno.

There was a time when nonno kept his tone in check when he was around her. There were times he would be kind enough to speak fondly of her, but after that incident, they grew apart, and whenever they interacted; it ended up in bitter disputes like this.

Rosalina crossed her arms and slumped down beside her. "Okay, Miss Waterworks, I'm just gonna stare at your pretty face until you stop crying."

Lily stopped crying and wiped her tear-streaked cheeks. She stretched an arm towards Rosalina. "Come here. I need a hug."

Rosalina rolled over to her side. Lily wrapped her arm around her cousin's slender shoulders, cuddling her. Lily forever loved cuddles.

"I hate clingy crybabies and you are just that, Lily," Rosalina grumbled and pulled Lily's baby-soft cheek.

Lily laughed softly and pressed her forehead against Rosalina's. "And I love grumpy crybabies. You are just that, Rose."

"For the zillionth time, I'm not a crybaby!" Rosalina clicked her tongue, sure she cried, but not as much as Lily. "And your mood changes faster than my relationships."

"You always brighten up mine." Lily beamed.

Rosalina got up from the bed. "I wanted to show you something."

"What?"

Rosalina darted out of the room and came back with a smoking pipe in her hand. "Ta-da! Look what I found!"

"Isn't that nonno's pipe?" Lily exclaimed.

"Yep, it is!"

"Why did you take that? He's going to be furious!"

"Saw it, took it." Rosalina shrugged. She had filled the pipe with tobacco earlier but didn't light the thing. She just cleaned it and blew it a few times until the air flows freely.

Rosalina lit the pipe lighter, dispersed the fire around the tobacco, and took a drag.

"Cazzo! (Fuck!)" She said, coughing violently. She rubbed her chest, feeling dizzy suddenly, and the tongue bite! Oof! It burned!

"Please tell me you aren't planning to start smoking." Lily pleaded.

"I just got curious, you know? I'm not making this a habit." She lit the pipe again, properly this time, and took a slow, steady drag as she had seen her nonno do it. Later, she will clean this up real quick and keep it back in nonno's drawer once she finished smoking.

"By the way, is the old woman pestering you again?" Rosalia asked.

"Yes, she is."

"Nonno is right. You should stop seeing her."

"I have to treat her. She is my patient!"

"Then make it clear you're just there as a doctor, not as a potential wife for her grandson." Rosalina sniped. She hated the Salvadoris and had a deeper hatred for a certain Salvadori named Leonardo.

"I made it clear, but she is just so persistent," Lily said in dismay. She twisted the ring looped around the fine gold chain she always wore. Rosalina watched Lilliana's nervous gesture.

"You still can't forget about Ethan?"

"I don't deserve to forget."

"It wasn't your fault that he's dead. Move on with some other man. It's been eight years, for fuck's sake. Ethan would want that too."

Lily pursed her lips into a tight line. Rosalina saw her trying to avoid an argument. "You're not marrying a Salvadori. They took way too much from us."

"I know, Rose! I know. Just let me do my job." Lilliana held her hand and fiddled with it. "You are going to graduate from college this year, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Any plans on what you want to pursue after graduation?"

Rosalina submerged herself in deep thoughts, trying to figure out what she would pursue next. "I want to be a professional gold digger."

The look on Lily's face was priceless. "Nah, I'm kidding. I wanted to be a model, but I'm too short for that, so I decided to audition for Hollywood." Rosalina laughed and coughed at the same time.

"That's great! I know you will be the next superstar in no time." Rosalina's confidence and fiery spirit could take her far in life, but she just needs some patience and understanding, like Lily.

Rosalina smirked. "You bet."

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