After a long day on the boat, Bartok and I usually spent the early evenings napping, watching Sex and the City season 6 on my laptop, and evading Gianni (who tended to conveniently burst into our room when he heard bath water running and one of us happened to be naked). Once we felt clean and rested, we’d begin drinking in bed, usually splitting a bottle of wine. Then we’d get ready to go out in an operation called “try on everything each of us owns at least twice.” I loathed many of my cute outfits since they’d lost their novelty. But after seeing my clothes modeled by Bartok, they’d grow on me, and I’d want them back. Hence, even once we felt satisfied with what we were wearing, a heated negotiation would ensue about who could borrow what. Make-up, shoes and accessories were dealt with in a similar manner.
Our first night out on the town with our ever responsible chaperone Gianni we were introduced to a group of Capri natives which included Prince M and Nefertiti. Prince M, not to be confused with the prince-like sons of the singing king of Capri, was an actual French-Neapolitan Prince with five last names, official lineage and his family’s royal coat of arms frescoed above his Capri villa’s fireplace. Since it had been a life long ambition of Bartok and mine to become princesses, Prince M appealed to both of us - A LOT. It helped that he had a great tan, shaggy brown hair, sexy sunglasses and a smile that made you want to melt. He also spoke perfect American English since he had spent many years in California surfing. Our obstacle was the unusual woman Prince M had in toe. Bartok and I immediately referred to her as Nefertiti since her real name was unpronounceable and (for those of you who’ve studied art history) this girl looked exactly like Queen Nefertiti of ancient Egypt. For those of you interested in a visual or the history (which is quite fascinating) you can follow the link here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nefertiti
Since Bartok and I both craved Prince M’s undivided attention, we realized it would be best to first team up and find out what the deal was with this caramel, exotic, model-esque beauty Prince M had following him around (and apparently staying with him). It’s quite impressive to be lanky and six foot two with a shaved head and still look like a sex bomb (which Nefertiti did.) She’d have to be eliminated.
We went to an impressive bar/trattoria where the famous singer from Capri was casually bellowing out tunes for some “old friends.” This chubby sixty-year-old bore no resemblance to his two sons who we’d spent the afternoon drooling over, but at least we’d heard the famous man sing a classic. Another upside of the evening was that Bartok and I had skillfully engineered who was where along the bar and had Nefertiti trapped in a corner with Gianni, allowing Prince M to focus his attention on us. Several rounds of drinks were purchased.
Some women have opposite tastes in men and therefore rarely find themselves competing for the same male’s attention. For Bartok and I, this was NOT the case. What we find attractive in the opposite sex is actually frighteningly similar, so we are often in the situation of fighting tooth and nail for the same guy. The good news is that Bartok and I, while sharing similar personality traits, consider ourselves equally attractive but in entirely different ways. We look nothing alike. In fact, we have opposite hair, eye and skin color. We get quite competitive over men in a good-hearted way, yet once a man chooses between us we let it go, never taking the man’s decision personally but rather attributing his selection to his personal preference for chocolate or vanilla. Halfway through the night, I was ready for Prince M and I to start picking out names for our boats and children and deciding on a new color scheme for his royal living room. Bartok still preferred Brad. Nefertiti’s lack of English (or Italian for that matter) meant she was continually sinking into the shadows as we hopped from bar to bar, stopping in one picturesque Caprese ally to (surprise surprise) smoke a joint. Prince M was perhaps master of the “canne.” When we’d attend his friend’s thirtieth birthday party later in the week, we’d see that Prince M had not only had a cake made for his buddy, but had topped it with thirty joints as opposed to candles. That gave the birthday boy a smile.
Somewhere around bar number three, Bartok got drunk enough to point blank ask Nefertiti is she and Prince M were an item. Nefertiti’s answer was negative. A day and half later Nefertiti returned back to Naples. Victory.
The nights that followed went something like this: After our power nap and complex dressing ritual we’d head to Prince M’s for dinner at around 11 pm. Dinner in Capri never occurred before 11 – period. Prince M’s family owned a large complex of intertwined villas a pleasant fifteen-minute walk from the center of town. Prince M, being their one and only child, was entrepreneurially renting the majority of this space and living in only one section of the villa with his entourage which included his friends from South America who worked the grill cooking delicious meat and various other friends from Naples in the “music business” who played on Prince M’s professional DJ system 24 hours a day. Food was eaten outside on Prince M’s outstandingly large balcony where he’d set up half a dozen mattresses and low Japanese tables so we could all eat reclining like Roman emperors and empresses, occasionally leaning back to soak in the stars. Blankets and booze were also provided, as was abundant amounts of weed. Prince M scampered around the house supervising the cooking, spinning his favorite trance songs on the DJ table or indulging in his favorite hobby – photography. On his boat and at his house, Prince M was constantly snapping pictures with a Nikon camera that looked like it was worth more than my Milan apartment. In the evening, slide shows of his photographic work would be displayed on a large Apple computer near the DJ booth.
After eating and lounging in our outdoor beds, seeing some shooting stars, and drinking ourselves into a stupor, we’d head out to Capri’s town center at around 3 am. Leave your villa to go clubbing before 3 am and you were labeled a loser. Capri, being a rather tiny island, had only two discotecas – both of which were indoors and insanely small. One had a rather upscale name (which I can’t remember), something like Cabana or Executive. The other, and the place we always ended up, was called Number 2. I shit you not (no pun intended).
Bartok and I spent many evenings questioning our Caprese friends about why the most famous and lovely club on the island had such a disgusting name (after three bottles of wine and heavily spiked vodka cocktails, saying “Number 2” made Bartok and I both crumble to the ground laughing). We explained that in English Number 2 meant excrement. Prince M didn’t find it that funny and all the other Italians just looked at us quizzically before returning to their drinks. Again, since the island was so small, no matter who went out with who, inevitably everyone (Gianni, Boris, Vegas, Prince M, Brad) ended up wasting at least two hours in Number 2. At 6 am the club would wind down and everyone would migrate to the main piazza to watch the sun rise while enjoying a brioche and cappuccino at an outdoor cafe. One morning, we were lucky enough to watch dawn break at Brad’s house (i.e. the famous Caprese singer’s mansion. Brad, despite looking thirty and good enough to eat, was actually only a nineteen-year-old college student living with his parents for the summer.) His family’s villa was at one of the highest points of the island (we needed a caravan taxi to get there) and to this day remains the most beautiful house I’ve ever seen: Three stories of a chic, modern, yet innately Italian décor, tons of windows, acres of gardens, an infinity pool and five balconies. At around 7 or 8 am everyone would stumble home, sleep till 11, and be back on the boat at twelve noon to repeat it all from the top. We were beginning to understand why Gianni had been here three months and had no intentions of leaving.
Coming up:
The arrival of some unexpected guests…
A boating “accident”…
Prince M chooses his princess…
And the crisis-situation in which I met Mr. LC…
To Be Continued…