Doing nothing more than necessary, I made it through the conversation. Rutilo asked "What do you think about the house, Martino!?" I looked around and then at him. It had to be a trap. "It's nice. Thank you for inviting me into your home. I don't really know much about interior design." I said. That was the truth. Rutilo rolled his eyes. "Are you sure about that?" he pressed. I smiled and said "There's no reason to lie to you. I really don't know. I like it just as much as Emilio does." He just sucked his teeth. I was not going to bite at such obvious bait. Nicolò quickly jumped in to start a different conversation. Both he and Emilio were doing their best to cover for me. I was lucky to have them. I bet they might have tried to mock me otherwise. "Is it true that you guys met Brando in that fag brothel?" Auberto asked. Emilio said "It's true. Nicolò works there as a bodyguard. Martino and I go there sometimes to cheer him up. Nobody likes hanging around whores you don't want to fuck." Nicolò and I both nodded our heads. Ignazio scoffed. "That's the only reason you hang out there so often?" he probed.
Feeling the pressure, Emilio chuckled nervously. The others just looked at us. I cleared my throat. They were doing their best to cover for me. I had to do the same for them. "Nicolò works there for your family. He really can't help it. Emilio and I are way too busy working to spend time with him outside of work. The best compromise is to visit him at his job. Nothing happens and he can talk to us while watching the place. It is not the best situation in the world, but loyal friends from childhood like us can make it work." I said calmly. "Yeah! If it wasn't for them there, I'd have have gone and done something crazy. Especially when one of them keeps trying to make a pass at me!" Apparently, Tommy liked him. I thought he was just interested in the younger bodyguard and wanted to make friends. Then again, I was not there 24/7. The group engaged in homophobia for a bit. This was not the time or place to push back. I could just keep quiet. A woman came to the door. It was Brando's only sister. She told us that the meal was ready. We then started to leave. Brando waited until we were left. "Behave."
Getting undue hate from an NPC was not going to stop me from having a good time. I sat where I was told to sit and kept quiet unless spoken to. It was really Emilio and the lieutenant's mother's party. All I had to do was let him shine so he could soak up some praise and admiration from this family. We were served well. There was salad, garlic bread, spaghetti and meatballs, and a desert of gelato. It really was delicious. The lieutenant's family asked him a whole lot of stuff. They wanted to know his ethnic background, his family, where he came from, where he got his skills as a doctor from, who we were, if he was single, if we were single and if he was looking for work. As an orphan, there was not much to say for the first few questions. He credited me for all his skills. I tossed it back to him saying "Emilio is modest. We learned on the job together. He is just as good as I am. Maybe better." That seemed to raise their opinion of him even more. That was when he introduced the both of us. I let Nicolò go first to see what to do. He was the one actually employed by the family. I simply followed his lead.
