MILK UDDERS, part 10

“Who the hell do you think you are?” Emilia was grunting when Bianka turned her face.

“Look who’s talking!” her mother replied angrily. “You think you can come in here and try to push me around?”

“You started with the innuendos and looking where you shouldn’t have!” the Italian brunette spat out.

“Oh, please, you’ve been dropping hints since the very first moment,” Sarah groaned back. “And don’t play innocent, I’ve caught you staring more than once.”

Bianka arrived in time to grab Schnee and, on the other side of the border, she saw Melania stopping Oscura before she lunged forward. A surge of adrenaline flooded her body as she watched her rivalry with the other girl spread to dogs and mothers in an out-of-control fire. Part of the white-haired beauty wanted to just let her bitch go and have her and her mother jump on the Italian women there and now, but as soon as her eyes met Melania’s, she felt some sort of wordless agreement with her—not like that, not in those terms.

“Mutti,” she said in a firm voice. “It’s not worth it, let’s just go home, okay?”

“Let’s leave it alone, mammi.” Melania put a hand on Emilia’s shoulder. “We have to finish the move and prepare for the cattle fair, remember?” Her dark eyes wandered to Bianka for a moment, even though she was supposedly still talking to her mother. “It’s very important to get ready to give it all at the fair, you know that.”

“We have to get ready too.” Bianka touched her mother’s back to calm her down, though her eyes remained on Melania’s. “With the price crisis, you know that we have to show the whole Pass that we are still the best milkmaids in the area.”

“Good luck with that,” Emilia grunted in irony.

“Yeah, good luck to you girls at the fair, too,” Sarah replied with identical venom.

“Come on, let’s go.” Bianka almost had to push her mother and Schnee, but eventually all three got moving. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Melania doing the same with her family, which didn’t stop the brunette from casting one last, defiant glance her way as she lost herself in the night.

The tranquility of the Alps didn’t return with the new neighbors out of sight. Entering the house, Sarah kept muttering in annoyance, with Bianka and Schnee coming in after her. The door closed, shutting out the cold and the night, but not what had just happened.

“That asshole!” her mother shouted, nervously moving from one side of the living room to the other. “That smug, arrogant asshole!”

“Mutti, please relax,” Bianka said, raising her hands. “Tell me what she did.”

“She didn’t stop…. She was all the time…. The way she was talking to me….” The nerves don’t let Sarah connect her ideas. “She was looking me up and down, most of all…. Oh, you should have heard her insinuations! And she thinks she is…. Aah! If she only knew…. I can’t stand her!”

If Bianka hadn’t crossed paths with Melania that night, she would have had no idea what her mother was trying to say, but the fog of frustration and animosity surrounding the other woman’s words didn’t hide the reality behind her, a reality in which she had immersed herself as well.

“I’m so sorry if I screw up your friendship with that Melania girl, love,” Sarah spoke up. “I’m sure she’s nothing like her mother, but I don’t want to have anything to do with that family.”

“Don’t worry,” Bianka replied in the most neutral voice she could. “My relationship with Melania is what it is, and it hasn’t changed, so you haven’t screwed anything up.”

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Choosen by Pedro Roche. Words: 621 words.

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Pedro Roche, you can choose from which text story you want the next part: from this story or from another one, and I'll put you in the queue.

Those of you who have not yet chosen which story/s you want, let me know so I can put you in the corresponding queue.

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LATER TODAY: AI Art: MEMORIES OF A FIGHT