A Macchiato in the Morning After
#48 of Roman Life
All yuou need after a night full of passion is... a bit of coffee!
Hey everyone!
Here there is the story I forgot to post yesterday due to stress, being a bit sick and just plain forgetfulness! And it is also a new chapter of Roman Life woooooooot! Hope you will like it!
Thank you Gritou just... because you are you!
P.S.: The final exam should have gone well enough for those that care!
"YAAAAAAAWWWWNNNNNNN!" Luca showed his tonsils in the manner only wolves could, as he was waiting his coffee at the counter of the bar. Apparently he had been the first arriving at the basilica, and since he felt like indulging himself he had gone to the bar across the piazza to savor some freshly made black beverage.
"Had a rough night dottò1?" The rabbit manning the coffee machine asked him as he was busy preparing that magical concoction, his tall ears turned a bit to listen to the answer.
"Y-you could call it that." The lupo replied, blushing as images of his activities with Edward flashed in his mind. It had been a very... interesting night, full of... twist, a night he hoped to repeat soon.
"Tié2 dottò, 'sto marocco3, it's gonna help!" The lapine turned and smiled at him, delivering what had been asked for. The dog regarded the small glass full of coffee, cream and chocolate, adding some sugar to the mix and idly mixing the whole thing, but still not drinking it. His mind was still on the events of the night and...
His phone buzzed on the counter, where he had left it, swift moves of his digits opening the text that had just arrived.
Are you at work yet?
The lupo just smiled, typing is negative answer and explanation of taking a coffee at the cougar. He had left him at the metro, just half an hour before, and the texting had started almost right away as the feline was riding back to his place to get some rest and to study, or so he had said.
Edward really needed some rest after what they had done in the night... and in the early morning... and in the shower... All thanks to youthful stamina, for sure. And the aching boner that was hardening in his mutande4 at the mere thoughts showed him that he wouldn't have minded a nice helping of feline-
"'Morning." A familiar rumble came from his right as the dark figure of Ale approached the counter, tossing the receipt on it. "Un espresso5, please."
"Ok dottò!" The rabbit welcomed the order, already busy preparing the small cup of coffee for the rottie, who put a couple of juice bottles on the wooden surface.
"Good morning Ale, what's with the juice?" The tall canine asked, curious as he looked at his friend. The buff restorer seemed to be as tired as he was... and if the little smile was any indication, for quite the same reasons too.
"Well, you had a guy tonight at your place; I guessed you need to get back liquids." The rottie explained. Luca looked at the rabbit in front of them, unconsciously seeking a bad reaction to such a line, but the white furred man didn't moved an ear, nor any of his features as he gave the espresso to the Rottweiler, who gulped it directly without a sugar but with a satisfied grunt.
"You think I need to rehydrate THAT much?" The lupo asked, motioning to the two bottles as he drank his own marocchino before it grew cold.
"Of course not, one it's for me, sciocco6." The buff restorer jabbed back, almost making the coffee go in the wrong hole. This time one long ear quivered in front of them, probably because he was assuming the night before had seen two gay debaucheries going on in different place.
"You left Clara pretty satisfied, scommetto7." He poked his friend, trying not to sound fast in saying that. The barista seemed to calm down, even though he seemed all too intent in washing some glasses and cups; maybe he wasn't in the mood at hearing young people talking about sex, at least not early in the morning.
"Yeah! I got my share of tail." The rottie grinned, now taking a good sip of his juice, the label declaiming it to be 100% Sicilian oranges. "But I am sure you had been busy under Edward's tail, eh?"
Luca cringed internally and almost expected a glass to be shattered, but he couldn't let the other win and retaliated accordingly. "I guess that you did it in strange ways yesterday, weird that Clara allowed you".
"Nah we did it the old fashion way! And you too, I am sure! Unless the one having his tail toyed with was you..." Ale suggested salaciously, and this time the rabbit's ears jumped at such description of sodomy. It actually had left the lupine without a reply and with his own hearing apparatus doing a mad dance, powered by the familiar ache that interested his butt at the moment.
"I hope I am not stumbling on a pissing contest about your sexual life, ragazzi." The quite recognizable voice of Sara chimed in, magically appearing at their side waving a small piece of paper like a flag. "Un caffé macchiato8."
"Of course, dottoressa9." The lapine barista nodded, seemingly grateful of her arrival that beckoned a stop to the conversation, giving the back to the clients. The two men stayed in embarrassed silent, the rottie seemingly realising only now of what they had been talking so loudly; Luca was just relieved they hadn't gone any further than that, he was sure they would have crossed some line if the squirrel hadn't saved the day.
The silent was too oppressive, though, and the lupo felt the need to fill it with some chatter. "How did your evening with Lidia go?" He asked, hoping that the memory of the tigress would be enough to forget about the previous conversation. Speaking of cats, is phone vibrated, a quick glance telling him the cougar was teasing that Italians were 40% coffee from how much they drank it, but it wasn't the moment to properly answer him.
"Like always, she went off for some adventure, freeing me to go back home." She answered, accepting graciously the cup off coffee and sipping it with elegance. "I don't need to know what you did with Edward, all the bar know that by now."
The remark fuelled a blossoming blush on Luca's cheeks, his ears flattening for the shame; his friend seemed to take pleasure in seeing such a turn an event, grinning widely as furs of Rottweilerian persuasion used to do. "There had been some gay lovin'". He teased, not properly knowing where to end it.
"Shush you, else I will tell Clara you bragged about your night together." The rodent reprimanded the bigger fur, earning a proper ashamed expression from him. "Though I am not sure she would be that bothered..."
"P-probably not much..." Ale stuttered, proving that he wasn't sure how his girlfriend would have reacted, his ears flicking as he noticed something. "Wait, how did you out with Lidia? And how does Luca know about it?" He hastily asked, as if those questions had utter importance.
"We went out for some beer, to chat about girly stuff." Sara sniffed, seemingly offended the rottie hadn't inquired about that before. "And we had stumbled on Luca and his date by chance."
"Yeah, I was quite surprised to see you two appear, così all'improvviso10." The lupine confessed candidly. Not that it had ruined the evening but it had been... quite the unexpected shock to see his co-worker and the outrageous bigger-than-life tigress.
"Oh, what a coincidence." Ale commented flatly, surely still traumatized by the memory of the feline in heat.
"It was." The squirrel agreed, lazily taking another small sip of her coffee. "I was quite surprised you parted with the cougar in good terms, after such an argument."
If the tall, triangular ears hadn't been flat before they would have ended up like that now, as they tried to bury themselves in their owner's skull. Luca's eyes shifted around, faintly recording that they were still the only patrons of the bar, as the rottie exclaimed a somewhat dramatic "You had a fight with Edward??????"
"Yeah, quite the heated one. Though, I guess that ended up fuelling other activities later." The short restorer smiled in a wicked way, adding her own personal jab.
"Angry sex is the best, sure, but you saw those two fighting?" The Rottweiler stayed on the subject, ignoring the pained expression on his taller friend. Luca would have preferred that no one had noticed him and the mountain lion arguing, though only deaf people would have ignored them at that locale11...
"Yes, but I didn't quite understand why, or how it... escalated to something else. Care to explain, Luca?" The rodent's attention shifted completely on the wolf, her eyes boring holes in him along with the rottie's, who seemed to be very interested about it. The lupine actually could see the gears running in his friend's mind, instigating angry reactions that were, as of now, muted by curiosity.
"Well, it was just silly.... He said a stupid thing, and I got angry." The lupo tried to be vague, not wanting to disclosure the true reason behind his anger, not to his friend at least. Sighing, he decided he had to throw them a bone, a good bone, to avert the revelation that the Rottweiler had been the cause of the fight. "And I asked him about la sua fidanzata12."
Those words echoed in the bar, the other two quite engrossed by them. The big canine seemed extremely curious, then again, he was the one who had insisted the most about question the cougar about her. "Go on, what did you discover?" Ale said, his paw motioning him to keep talking.
Luca wasn't sure how much he could disclose to the other two, and was tempted to ask the cougar on a text. But, in the end, they were tight mouthed and one of them his best friend, even, and both of them had been interested to know that detail, almost morbosamente13. He took a big breath and spilled how many beans he could.
"She isn't his ragazza14... Not how we mean it, at least." He confessed, fledgy moving on his feet, eying the bartender in case such things would exacerbate his mood. "She is his best friend. He presents - presented her like that to avoid... troubles."
"Ahhhhh I see." The rodent simply nodded, understanding the situation immediately and on the spot. The lupine wished that his best friend would be as quick as her, but unfortunately...
"I don't see, why did he lie on that?" The rottie asked in a confused tone, along with a slight tilt of his head that made him look as an oversized pup for a few seconds. Despite everything, such an image almost made Luca laugh, though he luckily retained the seriousness needed for the moment.
"Dear Ale, us people engaged in heterosexual relationship don't have much problems." Sara started explaining, taking that task from the lupo. Not that he minded that at all.
"Yeah, I know that." The dark canine replied, pouting a bit; he sure hated to look like a stupid, even when he wasn't like right then.
"Well, to avoid those problems sometimes people with less... traditional sexuality needs a copertura15, what in English is called a beard." The minute squirrel told him, phrasing herself in the most politically correct way possible. Probably the barista was grateful, since a quick glance from Luca showed that his ears were moving in the most natural ways.
The Rottweiler stayed silent for a moment; working the data he had been just provided. Luca could see on his face the moment when he truly understood, his eyes brightening with the sudden epiphany, like he had discovered the most wonderful thing in the world. He couldn't hold it against him of not thinking of such a possibility before, after all the rottie didn't have to face the same... hardships than the lupine had.
"So, he told us he'd got a girlfriend to avoid a situation like with that stronzo16 of Stanley?" He said, wanting to be clear if he had got it right or not.
"Language when talking about that ciaparàtt17." Sara reprimanded him, though, to tell the truth, the taller canine wasn't sure that she had used a flattering term for the husky herself. That young dog had to do a lot to redeem himself in her eyes.
"So why didn't you tell me she was his Canalis?" The buff restorer asked, his ears flicking a bit. The other two looked at each other, not sure what their friend actually meant by that.
"Canalis?" Luca repeated in an inquisitive tone, now his turn to tilt his head.
"Oh come on! I thought you gays knew all about that stuff! Or that women did, at least!" The rottie chuckled, only furthering the confusion among the other two restorers.
"Well, excuse me if I don't read Novella 200018 regularly. Care to explain?" Sara invited him, finally finishing the almost-forgotten and, by this point, surely cold coffee.
"Come on! It is known that George Clooney hired Elisabetta Canalis19 to play the role of his girlfriend for three years, all to hide his own latent desire to bed other men!" Ale rumbled loudly, almost sounding indignant that his friends didn't know such simple facts.
"Yes yes, sure sure, George Clooney bats for my team... There there." The lupine patted his friend's back, giving some credit to his will of getting such a sex symbol out of the fray with such questionable means.
"I am! Come on! They stayed exactly three years together, and they weren't ever showed to be so... intimate in public!" The rottie replied, his hands gesticulating as to give strength to his point of view.
"Yeah I believe you." Luca replied in a tone that undermined the truthfulness of such a statement. "The important thing is that you got your answer about Edward's girlfriend."
"Yeah... Though I am still not full convinced about that guy..." Ale murmured, voicing the doubts of a friend for someone's hook up. That didn't exactly hurt the lupo, though it wasn't pleasant to see his best friend not approving of his choice of mate, even though, to be sincere, he was the first one not being sure if there would be a good development in such a relationship.
Luca opened his mouth to jokingly reply, something about the fact he didn't have so many doubts about Clara, when his phone ringed, almost cacophonic in the silence of the bar as it vibrated on the counter, almost falling from it before he managed to grab it.
"Is it your new boyfriend, summoned by Ale's words?" Sara giggled, getting an elbow of merriment from the rottie.
The lupo wished it was the cougar's name flashing on his phone... Instead it was someone else calling, and probably not for pleasure either. "It's... It's the professor." He stated, fear expanding from him and infecting the others. All three of them looked at their watches, their expression being of utter horror at seeing what hour it was.
"Don't tell me he was supposed to come today..." Ale whispered, the sudden whiteness on his face being almost perfectly hidden by his black and tan fur.
"I don't remember he was coming... Come on, Luca, answer him!" Sara said in hurried tones, her small paws ushering him to do as told.
The wolf took a big breath before pressing the button, drawing his phone near one tall ear slowly. "Buongiorno20prof." He saluted his mentor, all three restorers tensed for the most probable scolding delivered by phone.
"Buongiorno Luca. Where are you, at the Basilica?" The familiar voice of the Professor came from the device, putting him in a big dilemma. Was it a trap? Should he fake it or answer with the truth?
"Yes, I'm there, had to run outside to answer your call." The lupo lied out of his teeth, knowing that a lie wouldn't worsen their situation... Or at least not too much.
"Good, don't want to be scolded by the parroco21for talking inside, eh?" His answer was the best outcome possible, since he couldn't detect any irony or reprimand about the lie. Luca thumbed up at the other two, relieving them from the fear that had fallen on their little group in the last few minutes.
"Of course prof, we are all very respectful after all." He replied, feeling his own tensed muscles relax.
"Good boy. Say Luca, is Ale there with you?" Prof. De Angelis asked in his particular tone, so ricercato22 and calm.
"Uhm, well, Ale is inside, he had just started." The lupo said, covering for his friend who looked tensed again from being mentioned, his ears rigid on his skull. "Should I call him?"
"No no no, just wanted to know. If possible, can you and he come to my office at the faculty? Say, around mezzogiorno23?" The request was clear in his voice, and only one answer could be given to it.
"It is possible. Something is on?" The lupo asked in turn, avoiding the desperate gestures of his friends who, most likely, wanted to know what was going on. Sara, on the other paw, seemed completely relaxed, idling looking at her nails as she knew that all the ruckus wasn't about her.
"Yes, important stuff that can't be talked on the phone." The professor told him, without even hitting what this "stuff" was about. "I expect you and Ale at that hour then. See you later!"
Luca managed to mumble an equal greeting before the call was cut off, leaving him curious and anxious about this unexpected and unscheduled talk. The other two were staring at him, one with curiosity, the pair of dark brown eyes with more apprehension.
"So, what is this all about?" The rottie asked hurriedly, expecting him to have the answer that weren't provided in the brief conversation.
"I-I don't know. We were just summoned to his office." He replied, as calmly as possible, trying to figure out all the possible reasons that could be behind such a call.
Translation:
1) Familiar way to shorten the honorific "Dottore", which means doctor.
2) Quite... Untranslatable. Roman shortened way to say "Tieni", which means "get (this)". So, I guess the Roman way to say "here ('s something)".
3) Shortened for "marocchino", which is a particular kind of coffee http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marocchino
4) Underwear.
5) You should know what it is but still http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espresso
6) Silly.
7) I bet.
8) Another kind of coffee, when you put a small amount of milk along with the coffee. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caff%C3%A8_macchiato
9) Female doctor, since the term isn't gender neutral as in English.
10) So suddenly.
11) Local/place, used in Italian also for bar/pub/disco.
12) His girlfriend, more precisely it is the Italian term for fiancé.
13) Morbidly.
14) Girlfriend.
15) Coverage, as said in story it is the closest translation for "beard".
16) Fuckard/shit/bastard.
17) Good for nothing in the Milanese dialect.
18) Italian gossip magazine.
19) Local starlet that reached worldwide (I think) fame thanks to becoming George Clooney's girlfriend http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabetta_Canalis
20) Good morning.
21) Parson.
22) Refined.
23) Midday.