CHAPTER 13 - Sex with the boyfriend part 1

**CLARA**

Virginity.

It’s one of the rarest things you can find today, I’m one of those cases, a virgin at 25.

Why did you wait so long?

It’s what I hear most when someone hears about my situation, it’s not something I’m proud of, but the real reason is that I put the idea that sex wasn’t so important.

I thought that until I started dating Pietro, a born Italian I met when I made my international trip almost three years ago, but the problem is that that was the last day we met in person.

I know what you must be thinking at this moment, that I am very crazy to keep a long-distance relationship with a person who lives on another continent and far away from me.

I would also think so, but I fell in love when I met the Italian on my first trip alone, my Italian was not one of the best, but I risked and travel thousands of kilometers to a country that I always wanted to visit and know.

I planned to stay only a month knowing the sights and improving my language, but the unexpected happened, I met Pietro two days after I arrived in Rome.

I was visiting an art gallery that had opened for an exhibition recently and it was there that my attention was attracted by a beautiful painting painted by an artist I had not yet met.

But the mystery behind that screen was just the man I fell in love with, may seem silly, but it was and is still very real.

We had an incredible connection at first sight and we spent all that time left in Italy in each other’s company, I was afraid and afraid to go to a new father and completely alone, but I found Pietro.

Since then every day we communicate via long video calls that last for hours and whole nights, we have a long-distance relationship.

It’s not easy, I miss him and him near me and when things seem to fall apart I seek shelter by starting an online conversation with him.

By his expressions I can perfectly notice that he also suffers from our distance, I even wanted to visit him, but the money is short at the moment.

For all three years, I have remained faithful to our relationship, I trust him fully and I believe Pietro may be doing the same thing.

It was for this reason that I also kept my virginity intact hoping that one day we can meet again, I even started to save money in the account to be able to buy a ticket to Rome, but there is still a long way to reach the value.

A FEW DAYS AGO...

I take a lot of crap stuffed in fats and sugar in the kitchen cupboard taking everything to my room, my colic is killing me and I usually clog up all kinds of food that I gain weight.

I open a chocolate bar packaging taking a generous bite before checking the schedules realizing that it’s time for our usual online call.

I suck my fingers dirty with chocolate and rush to open the notebook and start the call, and as always, it does not take long for Pietro to answer me gifting me with his beautiful image on the computer screen.

“Hey, Amore Mio!"

Like me with the Italian language, Pietro also has difficulties with the Portuguese language, but he made sure to learn a little bit, but there are times when he gets involved with some words or others.

“All right?", I ask biting another piece of chocolate listening to her laugh as she notices my reaction.

“Yes, and you?"

“I’m almost fainting from colic, but I’m fine..."

“I wanted to be there in moments like that, Amore...", he says with a bruised expression on his face.

“Me too, but we have no other option at the moment.", I comment frowning when he makes a strange expression.

“Did you finish the last painting?", I change the subject before I start to get sensitive with this thing of longing and distance.

A proud smile takes possession of the fleshy lips through the notebook, Pietro was working on a collection of paintings that according to him a rich customer was interested in and ordered more exclusive screens from him.

Painting is what Pietro loves most in the world and he has a lot of talent and I noticed it on the trip and in the photos he always sends me about recent works.

“Can I see it?", I leave the chocolate bar aside when he sits down taking the computer before taking it to his studio in a reserved room of his own house.
The notebook screen is filled with several frames of fantastic paintings hanging on easels to dry, it is about modern and colorful frames that present easy-to-understand ways.

I have seen many paintings and paintings that many people can see through them, it never happened to me until I met the works of Pietro that are sensational.

“I will deliver them to the customer tomorrow!", celebrate smiling.

“They are wonderful, good luck, Amore!", I congratulate you with a smile.

Even my pain seems to have diminished while talking to Pietro through the video call, he has this made in me, that makes me forget everything around me when we are communicating.

Everyone calls me crazy for long-distance dating with an Italian, even my parents are against my choice, they think that this is just an illusion and that this relationship will have no future.

I’m an adult and I know perfectly well the choices I made for my life and that was one of them, I try most of the time not to care about the opinion of others about Pietro.

The only one who understands my side is my co-worker Alissa who became my best friend after we met.

Our conversation lasts on average almost three hours and when it comes time to say goodbye I do it with a heartache.

My 26th birthday will be two days from now, Pietro promised that he was preparing a surprise for me when I asked about the gift being a picture he was silent and said that he could not tell details.

And now I’m here lying in bed and looking at the ceiling of the room thinking about such a surprise, when my trip to Italy had come to an end, Pietro made sure to give me a souvenir painting.

And since then I have the beautiful picture that hangs on top of my bed, snorting with a grimace feeling the sharp pain in the foot of the belly returning with more intensity.

I quickly get out of bed looking for another remedy that has an effect against the strong colic I’m feeling, swallow the pill along with sips of water returning to bed then again.

Moaning for the pain that seems not to want to pass, I lie down in several different positions trying to soften the kicks in the belly, I can not sleep in pain so I take the phone and lie on my stomach in bed.

I open the photo gallery looking for a specific photo album, it’s a million photos I took when I went to Rome, I slide my finger for each image missing to visit the country for which I feel an immense affection.