N.ItalyxReader: With Love From Italy 1

((Note: This is a sequel series to my previous N.Italy Insert: Dear Pen-Pal. The link to the previous series is in the artist comments.))

1: Another Year Passed

"You promised!"

I pounded my fist on the computer desk, and I closed my laptop before tears could run down my face. At that point in my life, nothing was going the way I wanted it to be. I was finishing my sophomore year in college, which was my first year I didn't live with my mother, who had recently been engaged. My father was planning on moving far away, and my sister, who was now a legal adult, was moving even further away than my father. In college, I was going through the stress of changing my major, and I had still yet to make any close friends. To top it off, my boyfriend from Italy, Feliciano Vargas had broken his promise yet again on visiting me over the summer.  

Feliciano and I used to be pen-pals when we were younger. When I graduated high school, he flew out to visit me for the first time. As the summer went by, we eventually developed feelings for one another romantically, which were revealed after my parents announced their divorce. On the day Feliciano returned to Italy, he gave me a promise ring which meant he'd always be there for me, and that he'd do whatever it took to see me again. A year passed after that, and due to financial issues, he could not fly out to see me, and he promised that he'd come back a year later.

That year passed, and he was still in the same financial situation. I understood that finances may take more than a year, but he acted as if it wasn't a big deal. In the end, I snapped at him before he could say anything else. After I had shut my laptop, I stormed out of my dorm. I needed a place where I could relax, and away from Feliciano.

I sat down underneath one of the campus' big oak trees.  My knees were raised up to my chin, and I held Felicano's promise ring in my right hand. At that time, I saw the ring as a big lie. Due to his success rate in getting over here, I had a feeling that I would never see Feliciano again. I wanted to stash the ring back in its box and ship it back to him. A shadow casted over me, and I looked up to see one of my classmates, Arthur Kirkland, approaching me. He was nice, and was the only one who I really talked to. However, I didn't feel close to him like a friend.

"Well hello there, ______," he said worryingly. "Why the long face?"

I started to cry again. "Boyfriend problems."

"The Italian boyfriend you used to talk about all the time freshman year? What did he do?" he asked.

"He broke his promise in coming to visit once again."

Arthur sat down next to me. "Well he probably has a good reason for it."

"Financial trouble."

"You can't be mad at him for a situation that's not under his control."

I sighed. "I'm just worried that I might never see him again."

"Are you," he paused, "going to break up with him?"

I buried my face in my knees. "I don't know, Arthur. I really do love him, but I can't stand the distance."

Arthur was silent for a moment. He inhaled deeply before speaking again. "Well, i-if you ever need someone to talk to again, I'd like to be that person."

I might have been crying, but I smiled and looked at Arthur adoringly. "Wow, thanks," I muttered. "I'll be sure to take you up on that offer."

Arthur smiled at me. "But of course. You're nice, and you look like you could use a friend."

I nodded. "A friend sounds nice right now. Ever since college started, I lost touch with my high school buddies."

He chuckled. "Well it's settled then! I'll be your new friend!"

I spent the rest of that week with Arthur, and we grew to know each other even after a short period of time. I learned about his family, such as how he found his younger brother to be annoying, and that he doesn't talk with his older brother very much. One night he tried to cook for me, and although I hid my real expression for how bland it was, I pretended to enjoy it, to make him happy. Unfortunately, while he cooked, all I could think about was the first time Feliciano cooked for me. I wished I could remember the taste of that pasta he made once again.

One night, Arthur and I were watching a movie in my dorm. Halfway through it, he looked over at me in slight confusion.

"Hey, ______," he said.

I looked over at him. "Yes? Is everything okay?"

Arthur nodded. "Everything is okay. I just noticed that you weren't wearing that ring your boyfriend gave you."

I looked down at my right hand. Sure enough, Arthur was right. "W-What about it?"

Arthur looked away. "It's nothing too important. I just remember you telling me it was a habit of yours to wear it every day."

I couldn't stop looking at my bare ring finger. At the time, I might have been over thinking things, but I saw it as a sign that maybe my time with Feliciano was coming to an end. Ever since I had started talking with Arthur, I had stopped answering Feliciano's messages.

Arthur looked down at his watch. "It's getting late, ______. I should probably get back to my dorm. We can finish the movie tomorrow."

I nodded slightly. "That sounds like a good idea."

When Arthur left, I paced back-and-forth around the dorm, wondering about my relationship with Feliciano. I decided that the chances of us reuniting were slim, so I wanted to take a little break for myself, and I needed to tell him that night, otherwise the feeling would eat me from the inside. I booted up my laptop and logged onto Skype. Hopefully he was online.

I waited for an hour, and he never showed up. It was as if he knew what was going to happen. I decided to go down to the lobby quickly for a snack, and wait a little longer by occupying my time with silly Facebook games.

I came back with a couple bags of potato chips I bought from the snack machine, when I noticed a little icon on my laptop. I was receiving a call from someone on Skype. Thinking it was Feliciano, I rushed over to my seat. I glanced at the screen to see that it was not Feliciano, but his brother, Lovino instead. I answered the call in curiosity.

The screen was black for a while, and I could only hear his voice.

"Argh, dammit!" he hollered, "How the hell does Feliciano get this to work all the time?" I heard fumbling coming from his side. "Do I have to push this?" he asked himself.

Suddenly, the image of Feliciano's brother appeared. It had been a while since I saw Lovino. He and Feliciano shared the same eyes, but Lovino's hair was more brown than red. He also had a strange hair curl like Feliciano did, but his was on his forehead compared to Feliciano's on the left side of his head.

"H-Hi, Lovino," I said softly.

"You better have an explanation for why you've been ignoring my brother!" Lovino shouted.

I started to stutter. "W-Well, you see, L-Lovino,"

"You've been planning on dumping his ass, aren't you?"

I scratched the back of my head. "It's the distance, Lovino."

He groaned. "I saw that coming a mile away, and Feliciano saw it too!  He's been crying for the entire week, and he won't stop talking about how much he misses and loves you and it's driving me insane! Just before I logged onto this blasted program he was bawling about how you could be cheating on him with another man at this very moment."

"L-Lovino, there's nothing that really can be done. Feliciano can't make it over this summer."

"Are you really that stupid?" Lovino interrupted. He sighed deeply before speaking again.

"If my brother can't fly out to see you, why don't you fly your ass over here?"