They’re taller now, rougher. I glare, not caring if it shows. The idea that I wanted to introduce myself thirty seconds ago makes me want to peel my skin off.
Elio squints, steps closer, and his eyes widen. "No fucking way," he says, exhaling smoke. "That’sRavioli?"
I don’t answer. Every time they open their mouths, all I want to do is spit right in their faces.
Luigi gives me that look, the smirk, the sizing me up, the quiet let’s-see-what-makes-him-flinch vibe. He flicks ash off his cigarette. "So, you still cry when someone calls you Ravioli?"
Elio chuckles low. "Poor thing used to turn red like a tomato." Same game. Same tone.
These are basically the same two kids, just taller, more smoke in their lungs, same cheap lines.
Elio lifts his hand, brushes the ash he dropped off my shirt. "Don’t wanna stain you, sweetheart. You might cry-"
Gio’s hand snaps out and smacks his wrist down.
"Back the fuck off."
Luigi raises both hands, smiling. "Relax. It was just a joke."
"Am I laughing?"
I turn to Gio. "I got it. I’m not a baby," I say.
He hesitates, then steps back. My eyes go to Elio and Luigi. "You really wanna dig up that old shit? Because I remember everything too. Every joke. Every time you made comments about my fucking body when I was onlyfourteen."
"I mean… we were just kids, man, we didn’t really know—" "Oh,please. I’m not interested in hearing how hard it was for you to be a shitty person. I was a kid too. But I knew how to be kind. I used to fucking skip lunch to avoid you. I remember crying in bathrooms. I remember hating my own face because of the shit you said."
He looks down now.
"I used to stare at my closet every morning, trying to figure out what outfit would make me the smallest target. Because of you."
I laugh. "You think just because you’re uncomfortable now, we’re even?"
They can’t even look me in the eye.
"Oh, and let’s not skip the part where karma beat the shit out of you, Elio.That’swhat bullying got you? A beer belly and rotten lungs?"
Elio freezes.
"And you, Luigi, you think staying quiet made you innocent? Because it didn’t. It made you useless. Always lurking behind him, snickering like a little hyena, but never brave enough to lead your own destruction. You’re the kind of person people forget was even in the room."
Gio shifts next to me. I see him. He’s staring.
That’s right. Keep watching.
I tell them exactly what they did, and I don’t sugarcoat shit. They look embarrassed.
Good. Let it sting. I’ve spent way too many nights feeling like garbage because of them to care about their feelings now.
If they feel guilty, embarrassed, uncomfortable, good. They can choke on it.
"Two fucking cowards hiding behind each other, picking at someone smaller just to feel big. Pathetic as fuck. You think this place makes you tough? The smoke? The noise? The poker tables?"
Elio stares at Luigi now. Luigi’s jaw is locked.
"I could fold you both with one hand and still have the other free to flip you off."
Gio lets out half a laugh and covers it.
