“So why are you here then?” I already know the answer; I just want to see if he’ll be honest with me.
“Well, to meet you, if I’m being honest.”
“And why did you want to meet me? I’m nobody important.”
He meets my gaze. “No, just the next Don. Not important at all.”
I make a noise of dissent and roll my eyes. “That’s a long way off. Right now I’m just an average college kid, trying to make it to graduation.”
“Well, my father and your father wanted us to meet. So…”
“So here you are,” I say.
“Here I am,” he confirms. He clears his throat. “So, uh, you graduate soon?”
“Yep. In about ten days, actually. Which is so crazy to me.”
Luca gives me that dazzling, dimple-cheeked smile. “I remember that feeling. Like, I’d made all these friends, and it felt like I’d been on campus forever. It was my home, and then I was graduating and supposed to leave it all behind. It was kind of jarring, actually.”
I consider this man for a moment. He seems earnest. I like the honesty in his answer. So far, so good. Not that I’m going to marry anyone anytime soon. But this guy is not horrible so far.
“Your major is business?” he asks after a little bit of an awkward silence.
“Yes. I did the Business Administration track, but specialized in finance.”
“Why finance?”
“Why finance for you?” I ask, turning the question back on him.
He shoves a hand through his curls and grins kind of sheepishly. “I thought it was the best major for making a ton of money.”
I laugh.
“Yeah,” he says. “A super deep reason to choose a career path, I know.”
“And is it? Making you lots of money?”
Another grin. “I mean, I’m doing well. I’ve only been in it for a few years, and New York is not a cheap place to live.”
That just sounds so…normal. “Doesn’t your family live there?”
“They do,” he says. “But I didn’t want to ask them to bankroll my life. I’m on the payroll, of course, for my second job. But I pay my own way.”
Interesting. He has a normal day job. He pays his own way. Maintains a certain level of independence from the family, somehow.
“Now you,” he says. “Why finance?”
“I mean, my dad definitely encouraged it. However, I have an aptitude for numbers, and I enjoy the idea of taking risks. I enjoy building strategies and scenarios, and deciding where to take a calculated risk, a big risk, or no risk at all. It’s interesting to me.”
“That’s awaybetter answer than mine,” Luca says. “And it all makes sense, since you’ll be running an international organization someday.”
I shrug, staying noncommittal to that. “I’m not really that interested in running the Campisi organization. I’d rather have a nice day job like yours.”
Luca makes a face. “I figured you and your siblings would be clawing at each other for the opportunity, and you’re just like,meh.”
“Well, I can’t say my brothers aren’t clawing for it,” I say. “But they’re morons, for the most part, so I think choosing me was just a process of elimination.”
“Well, I have a Columbia MBA, so I’m sure I could step in for you if the role is too big.”
