My Summer Romance

by Bella Donnis

  “They don’t serve Vino di Giordano here.” Alessia said, a touch of irritation in her voice. “I’ll be speaking to my mother about that.”

  I thought she wanted nothing to do with the family business.

  “Alessia, why are you suddenly so interested in whether or not a small restaurant in Firenze offers your family’s wine?” Marco spoke loud, pushing his glass of wine to the centre of the table, splashing drops over the side.

  “I was just saying.” Alessia said in defence.

  “You can’t be half in and half out. It’s not fair on your parents, your family’s legacy and it’s certainly not fair on me.”

  “I know, I know.” Alessia spoke in a soothing tone.

  “You can’t keep doing this Alessia. You have to make your mind up one day.” Marco pulled his wine back toward him and took a gulp, though I wasn’t sure what the gesture was meant as. The drinks had only just begun - What would the rest of the night have in store?

  “May I be excused a few moments?” Alessia stood and walked in the direction of the bathroom.

  After a short silence, Marco finally spoke. “I’d do anything for that girl, absolutely anything, but my God, is she ever stubborn. She could have it all, everything, but what she really needs is some sense knocking into her. She’s about to throw everything away – generations of work because she’s confused.” Marco lingered on the final word, as though he was repeating to me what Alessia had said many times to him. All that he missed were the air quotes with his fingers.

  I understood part of what Marco was saying, even some of the ‘between the lines’ stuff. But if Alessia was confused, then that more than made two of us. “Look, Marco, I really don’t think this is any of my business.” Even though I really did want to know what was going on.

  “I’m sorry, I’m not trying to involve you. Ignore what I said.”

  The food arrived and the three of us ate with the Duomo looming overhead. We each ordered spaghetti with differing garnishes; I ate a fresh rocket and tomato salad, Alessia a tuna and onion mix and Marco had some strange looking sauce that I couldn’t decipher. As always, a large plate of crusty bread lay in the centre of the table and we each had a small side plate containing olive oil for dipping. The conversation stayed away from any loaded topics as Marco was happy enough talking about Firenze’s past as well as the city’s hopes for the future.

  As we wiped our plates clean, a second bottle of chilled white wine arrived which Marco then opened and served out between us. He then sat back in his chair and looked content to allow us girls to talk amongst ourselves.

  “What made you take fashion?” For a while now I’d wanted to know about Alessia’s life up north in Milano, as well as a few other things.

  “I’ve always had an interest in colours and in fabrics. There really are an endless amount of places you can go and visit in the fashion industry. A job at any half-baked Italian fashion house can enable you to travel the world.” She spoke minus the passion I’d witnessed when she talked of getting away.

  I wouldn’t ordinarily have pictured such a girl, a tomboy sort, to have been interested in fashion, but then again, I also imagined that Alessia was full of surprises. “I guess being Italian offers you considerable advantages working in that industry?”

  “Yeah, you are correct, kind of an unfair advantage really. Similar to being a chef – You say you’re Italian and people automatically assume you’re a good cook.” She laughed. “The truth is I can’t cook shit, that’s why I have my dad, or my flatmates in Milano.”

  Now it was my turn to laugh. “That is what confused me about you, Alessia, you really don’t seem like the typical girly girl.”

  “You’re surprised I’d take fashion?”

  “A little bit yes.”

  She didn’t answer her own question, which further reinforced in my mind it had something to do with escaping Tuscany, the vineyard and Marco.

  My vision was drawn to Marco due to the movement of his arm refilling his wine glass. He appeared deep in thought, his glassy eyes staring a hole through Alessia.

  I took hold of my wine glass and spoke as I stared at the fluid. “So, what do you do for fun usually? I mean, up there in Milano?” I tipped the wine to my lips and swallowed a small quantity of the liquid.

  The wooden chair legs of Alessia’s chair scraped against tiles as she pulled a touch closer toward me. I hadn’t noticed that her body had half turned to face me and I had no idea when she’d repositioned herself. Her legs were crossed, one leg making small bounces off the other, her toes springing mere inches from my legs and I knew that if I dared look down, I’d have a bird’s eye view of the inside of her thigh.

  “Oh, just the usual stuff.” She spoke slowly while continuing to bounce one leg off the other. In a way it was endearing. In many respects, Alessia was mature for her age, yet had many childlike qualities she obviously never grew out of. “I meet with friends; we drink, we talk, we laugh.” Her gaze scanned lower down my face and for a second I wondered if she was looking at my lips, then she shifted her attention toward her wine, which she took without even glancing at Marco.

  Marco had meanwhile become a blur in my peripheral vision and I hoped he didn’t consider me rude for not involving him in the conversation. I turned to ask him a question about what he did in his spare time, when I felt a hand on my knee.

  “And then there’s my part time job.” Alessia said, her hand which still lingered was chilled from her wine glass, the chill resonating up my spine, yet what I felt deep in my pussy was no chill, but something extremely hot. For more than a second, I felt paranoid that what was happening down below, the emerging slippery discharge between my legs, would somehow show on my face. Alessia removed her hand and I dared not look straight at her, but from the corner of my eye, I truly believed I saw the faintest curl emerge at the corner of her mouth.

  “Tell me about your part time job.” I said, staring at the table but wanting so badly to look at her. And I didn’t know if the reason I couldn’t look at her was owing to my own fears, compounded by the moisture between my legs, which was even now running to my brain, or because Marco was sat watching and listening to us.

  “I work as a personal trainer in a gym. I really love helping people achieve their dream look.” Alessia said, almost as if nothing was amiss.

  I thought of Patrick and how we’d met while he was working out in the gym. I’d always had a thing for fit men in tight tops; I was after all a hot blooded woman. Only now, it was images of Alessia in tight fitting lycra, lifting weights and stretching that flashed through my mind. Finally things were beginning to make sense. It wasn’t that Alessia looked like an athlete, but she certainly was toned in all the right places and in that moment, I realised just what it was that had been driving me insane about this girl.

  “Well, that certainly explains why you look so fit.” I said, quite feebly, almost managing to acknowledge her lean torso with my eyes.

  “I put in a lot of hard work, but I’m pretty sure I get the desired results.” Alessia said as if she was tempting me to check out her body as she sat next to me, one of her long slender legs pulsing off the other.

  Even though I truly wanted to take in her specifics and fine details, to do so would be to further acknowledge my emerging interest in another woman. Not only that but there was still the matter of Marco. What was going through his mind right now? Did he think Alessia was flirting with me, or was this all in my head? After all, I’d been wrong about her and her intentions as short a time ago as this morning.

  “Tell me about yourself.” Alessia continued. “I can tell you’re also in pretty good shape.” This time I was ready and waiting for any physical clue as to what was going through her mind. I watched as her eyes scanned down my chest, lingered on my hips and thighs, then returned slowly back until our eyes met. There really was no doubting what I just witnessed and felt, as though her field of vision was like tiny hands pressing down on my skin.

 
Marco guffawed, the scrape of wooden chair legs on tile shook me from Alessia’s spell. “Of course! Everything makes perfect sense now.” Marco stood and leaned over the table, bearing over the two of us.

  “Marco? What makes perfect sense?” I asked, but I thought, in some ways I hoped I knew what he referred to.

  Marco now stood straight and ran his hands through his hair, the neat little bun on the back of his head becoming dislodged. “I just can’t believe I never saw it before. It was right in front of me the whole time.”

  Alessia stood, tinges of fear flecked through her face; was it because she had upset Marco or because she’d been discovered? “Marco, wait!” She pleaded.

  Marco retrieved his bag from the floor, turned and stormed out. Alessia made a quick apologetic glance at me and hurried after him.

  *

  “I know where he’ll be.” Alessia told me as I emerged from Salvo’s.

  Marco must have ran fast because when Alessia reached the outside, he was nowhere in sight. Thankfully she had waited for me, because let’s face it, without her I didn’t know how I was getting back to the Villa di Giordano.

  As it was, Marco was exactly where Alessia knew he’d be. Walking along the Ponte Vecchio, you’d be forgiven for not recognising you were on a bridge. Both sides were lined with jeweller’s shops, all teaming with tourists, just as the bridge itself was, the old cobbles adding an extra element from a bygone era. At the midpoint, the bridge opened out where the shops gave way to a large opening. Over a hundred people gathered listening to a band that played in the open. Marco stood perched against the wall, facing the singer and as we approached him, I couldn’t help but feel devastated for him.

  Alessia left my side and ran toward Marco, surprising him with a hug from his blindside. I watched from a few metres away as Marco turned round and returned the hug, his face pressing hard against hers. Then Marco pulled away, placing his hands on her shoulders. As he spoke, Alessia nodded while wiping away tears.

  “I didn’t want you to find out like this.” I thought I heard her say through a quiet beat in the music.

  I decided to give them some privacy and turned to face the opening that lay in the bridges centre. Directly above where I stood lay the secret passageway and I followed it along with my eyes as far as possible before it disappeared somewhere in the Uffizi Gallery.

  “Dayna?” It was Marco who startled me.

  “Hi Marco, how are you?” I said, looking beyond him at where Alessia now stood watching the band.

  “I wanted to apologise about before.”

  “No – You have nothing to apologise for.”

  “I shouldn’t have made a scene like I did. But…As you know, Alessia, she…” He was calm and didn’t show any obvious signs of being upset, other than his ruffled hair.

  “Oh, don’t worry about it. I’m beginning to see she has strange powers over people.” I said in jest.

  Marco ignored my joke. “In a way I’m glad. I can now move on with my life. Just as importantly, so can Alessia. I just want her to be happy.”

  “Do you think she has a girlfriend in Milano?” I asked, hoping Marco would know the answer.

  He looked at me without a flicker of emotion showing on his face. “Dayna, I think we both know there’s only one girl she’s interested in. So don’t make this any more complicated than it needs to be. I’m done with complicated.”

  I shook my head. There was one thing that had confused me. “But, you spent the night with her?”

  He laughed and looked toward the sky. “If only we had been doing what you obviously thought we were.” He said after regaining his composure.

  Relief washed through me. Alessia hadn’t had sex with Marco while I was sleeping in the next room. This revelation made me feel ashamed. Yet again I had jumped to conclusions about the girl. The fact was that Alessia was so much better than I ever gave her credit for, than I ever believed she was. Perhaps she was so much better than what I actually deserved.

  Considering all the confusion I’d experienced since meeting Alessia, that I now felt relief as well as a fluttering sensation in my stomach, this release of tension resonated more than anything. Not only was I most certainly physically attracted to Alessia, that the thought of holding her hard against my own flesh sent me insane, but I was also developing powerful feelings that I’d never felt for another person before. Could it really be love, considering I’d only known her a short time and that I’d been wrong about her on numerous occasions? All I knew for sure was that these feeling were new to me.

  Marco laughed. “If I could take a picture of your face. You look truly confused.”

  “That must be my thinking face.”

  Marco opened up the leather bag which was strapped over his shoulder and pulled out a long jewellery box. “I was going to give her this tonight.” He opened the box which revealed a beautiful silver necklace with a pretty pendant in an immaculate design. “It was kind of a last ditch attempt but I see now how stupid that idea was.” He snapped the box shut with a thump. “In a way I’d still like her to have it, but under the circumstances I doubt that’d be wise.” For the first time in the conversation, it looked like Marco might cry. “So I’m going to save this for whoever does eventually come along, however long that’ll take.” He put the box back in his bag. “I’d also like to think I was strong enough to be able to stay around her, you know, be friends. I’m just not sure I have that kind of strength at the moment. I’m not sure if I’ll ever see her again after tonight.”

  “Marco, I…” He held up a hand and stopped me in mid-flow, not that I had anything significant to say that would help his aching heart.

  “All I care about is her happiness, so please, just remember that.”

  “Marco, you will find somebody and you will be happy. You deserve it more than most.” I rubbed his arm and I couldn’t help but wonder if I felt him recoil ever so slightly.

  He must have hated me, even though, as of yet, I hadn’t really done anything. Marco seemed certain that Alessia and I were about to embark on a relationship, but the fact was things were rarely that simple. Although it was as if a huge barrier had been smashed through, Alessia and I still didn’t know each other that well. All we had was a burning physical attraction and at least for my part, a deep curiosity. Was that enough?

  *

  It was twilight when Marco pulled the car onto the gravel car park of the Villa di Giordano. I exited the vehicle, went round to the driver’s side and shook his hand. I’d only known Marco a short time, but I was sorry to be saying goodbye.

  Alessia remained in the passenger seat and so I left them in peace. Having known each other their entire lives, I didn’t think the coming goodbyes would be easy for either of them.

  The journey from the city back to the vineyard had been, for the most part, in silence save for the occasional beep of text messages from Alessia’s phone.

  The kitchen lights were on and from the outside, Alberto could be seen doing paperwork with a glass of wine in front of him. I didn’t feel like going inside immediately so I set off down through the vines for a walk. The main pathway that ran down the centre was lit with small lanterns that hung on posts. Where the path ended and the stream began flowing in front of me, the moonlight more than took up the slack from the lanterns behind.

  The water made soothing sounds as it ran gently by and so I sat down on the bank with my feet dangling over the edge. After a few minutes I laid back on the grass and tried to make sense of the day’s events.

  I would need a long time to make sense of today for I’d been taken completely off guard by Alessia and by my attraction for her.

  After around twenty minutes I decided to head back to the house but as I pressed down on the ground with my hands to push myself up, a faint tapping sound came from up the path. The sound grew in volume and then a thin silhouette emerged that grew larger with every passing step.

  My heart raced, the thumping in my chest growing harder and h
arder. I was upright, on my feet and I didn’t even remember standing. And then she was there.

  “I’ve come down here for quiet moments my entire life.” Alessia said, not quite invading my personal space as much as I would have liked.

  “It’s a special place. I like it down here.” Time seemed to slow, my senses heightened, the water louder than before. I really didn’t know what to say, I should have prepared something. Asking about how it went with Marco seemed the obvious and polite thing to do, but I didn’t want to risk damaging this moment by mentioning him. What else could I say, other than…”How are you?”

  “Ok, considering. But I think I need a hug.”

  “I think I can do that.” And I stepped toward her, opened up my arms and wrapped them around her entire body, pulling her close. I felt her arms clasping around my back followed by a sudden exhalation as she squeezed tight. Her head nestled neat in the crevice between the side of my face and shoulder. The smell of her hair, lush spices filled my world. Her skin, warm on my hands through her thin blouse. Our breasts pressed hard against each other. My knees trembled, I was afraid, so very afraid, yet couldn’t let go.

  I felt her winding coils of my hair between her fingers, then she clutched large pinches of my flesh in her hand and rubbed my back hard.

  God, I wanted her now, but this didn’t feel right.

  Then I placed my hands on her shoulders and took a step back. “We can’t do this now, the timing isn’t right. It wouldn’t be fair.”

  “I know, I feel so bad right now.” I hadn’t noticed the tears which stained her eyelids red. And she looked at my lips. I knew I wasn’t strong enough.

  She grabbed onto my forearms, which still kept us at arms-length and then she was moving closer. My gaze switched between her big green eyes and her sumptuous lips. I could smell her breath now, the faintest hint of sweet wine. We paused, our lips an inch apart as if to savour the moment a few beautiful seconds more. Were we really about to kiss?