Leda, would you like to take a walk, with me?

by Clarica

It's the summer of 1987 in Sardinia,Italy. It's the last night of the holidays for Leda and her family. She has just said goodbye to Ezio, the most handsome guy she had ever met. She's entering her room when something unexpected happened and changed everything.

My first FANFICTION about

AN ITALIAN ADVENTURE

BOOK ONE of THE ITALIAN SAGA

by Gaia B Amman

–THE ITALIAN SAGA FANDOM–

TITLE: "LEDA, WOULD YOU LIKE TO TAKE A WALK...WITH ME?"

Subtitle: 'My very first crush on Ezio'

Author: Clarica (Claudia Mosconi)

Paring: Leda&Ezio

Genre: Romance and Humor

Rated: PG-13 just to be safe

Summary: It's the summer of 1987 in Sardinia, Italy. It's the last night of the holidays for Leda and her family. She had just said goodbye to Ezio, the most handsome guy she had ever met. She's entering her room when something unexpected happened and changed everything.

Author Note

Thisone-shot short fiction takes place right at the end of the last Leda&Ezio scene in chapter 18, page 172 of the paperback version of the book. I envisioned it like a sort of off-screen scene that could have really happened between them. I was deeply affected by the interaction between Leda and Ezio in the contest of the entire AIA story. Maybe I have a thing for first times, and this one reminds me so graciously about my own ones as the audiobookcemented myenduring love for this impossible, too young, romantic match.

I completely fell for Leda and Ezio 'together' the very moment he said – I quote from the book, "Well, Leda, you have the most amazing eyes that I've ever seen." Personally, I read their end in chapter 18 as an open invitation for me to write my own conclusion about them in that specific 'last-night-of the-summer-holidays' situation. I heard a little voice inside me calling, "Claudia, Claudia, write something more about us...your own Leda&Ezio ending." So I did it, and what follows is the result of that little challenge with myself. I hope you like it.

Technical note: I took the liberty to give a name – Sara – to the 'staff girl' who ran the mini club in the Sardinian touristic village, since I've borrowed her for this fanfiction –I hope the author doesn't mind. There are some swearwords left in Italian in the AIA original novel. In this short story, when I felt I had to, I just wrote the first letter of the word in question and I'll let you guess the right meaning. 'Starry' is the nickname that Leda and Viola gave to their mom.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of this story. They totally belong to Gaia B Amman. I just love them so much. And, as my amazing beta reader and best Clois writer– Jade4813– once wrote, I quote, "It's so much morefun to play in someone else's sandbox!"

Thanks to: My amazing beta reader Jade4813 for the edit of this story.

xxxxIt's a Leda&Ezio thingxxxx

My last day in Sardinia was almost done and the flashy colored Swatch on my wrist signaled my last nightly curfew. Every bungalow inside of the little touristic village was surrounded by a white-stone walking-path with a low matching wall on the external side where Viola and I had often sat on in the afternoons, I reading one of the books Starry had selected for the holiday and my sister listening to her music with her bright new Walkman.

I could still see Ezio and Franco from a fair distance, with their back at the little square piazzetta. They were pretending to start a fight with each other. Faces growing serious and focused on the opponent, they were kicking and jumping like two boxers in a ring.

I found myself smiling at them, as I lingered my eyes one last time on what I could still catch of 'gorgeous Ezio' from my spot before the door of my room. "This is the very last time you can steal a good glance at him without blushing, Lee." I told myself.

My family and I had stationed in Sardinia for two entire weeks, but I didn't have any picture of Ezio and me together, so I wanted to fix him in my mind as much as I could.

Out of the blue, I remembered that Sara, the staff girl who ran the mini club, promised to send me a copy of the only single shot she took the very first day Ezio and I met, after the ping pong final match.

It framed an incredibly handsome and smiling Ezio with the gold medal flashing brightly on his 'so-well-defined' bare chest and, on his left side, a 'smitten-by-the-sun' and moody me with my silver one dangling free on my undeniable 'flat valley'. Yes, I know, it was so embarrassing, for me at least.

Sara had pinned it on the white wall at the entrance of the mini club, so that everyone could see it. Great score, really.

With a hint of sadness in my heart, I forced my head toward the bungalow's door facing me, prepared to lay sleepless down on my bed, replaying every single moment I'd shared with Ezio and, maybe, dreaming of him and me, both ten years older and finally together (even though I didn't know what together meant exactly) when, abruptly, my face bumped against the soft of my Mom's breasts.

"What the C...?" I half-yelled at her, without thinking. "Leda!" she scolded me.

I immediately stepped back a little, sitting on the low wall behind me and mumbling some kind of apology for my lack of graciousness.

After the shock of that unpredicted impact, my attention was soon intrigued by the sight of Dad's arm placed protectively around Starry's waist. Mom was laughing at something Dad had just said, while he was gently leading her out of the room.

Something was wrong with that lovely depiction.

I didn't recall when it was the last time I noted Dad showing a clear sign of affection toward Mom. Not that he had ever treated her any badly, really, but he was generally a reserved guy and they always seemed to gravitate on different planets, so I was surprisingly pleased to see them in a good mood after what recently happened with my sister. Then, I remembered the prodigal return of my dad from the abyss of the sea that very morning and I thought that the magic of the last-night-of-the-holidays had worked out eventually, even for them.

"Where's Viola?" I asked, looking at the couch in front of the kitchen island. Since she was grounded, after what she had done with her decrepit light technician Renzo, and thanks to the huge white cast fastened around her broken leg she now had to wear, Viola couldn't go out of our bungalow without any additional help, so she had made a habit to sit on that thing.

"Well," Mom started tentatively, "some friends of hers knocked about an hour ago. They offered to escort her to the bar in front of the amphitheater, to enjoy the Dance Show together and say goodbye to everyone."

"And you just let her?" Saying I was surprised wasn't enough to describe how I felt.

"It's the last night of our holiday here, after all, Lee," Mom tried to justify.

A renewed hope roused in me, "This means that I can stay out a little longer too?" Mom scanned Dad's face, searching for his consent and then turned to me, "I guess so...right Carlo? Maybe Lee needs to say goodbye to her friends too..."

"All right then," Dad scoffed. I could tell he wasn't thrilled by the idea, but he didn't want to argue with Mom either, now that they were on more than friendly terms. Fixing his gaze on me, he ordered, "but no more than the half of an hour. And keep an eye on your sister too."

I couldn't believe my ears. My parents were holding hands, in a good mood, and they allowed Viola and me to stay out a little later than usual. I had to sign that lucky circumstance in some way for future reference, just in case.

Mom informed me that she and Dad would have given a try to the Night Dance Show organized by the entertaining staff. That really astonished me. Maybe, there had been a time in which my parents had shared something together, for real, and that last night in Sardinia a mystery occurred and enchanted their mood for the best.

Note to self: remember to thank Jesus for the unexpected twist of events.

xxxxIt's a Leda&Ezio thingxxxx

From the amphitheater in front of the piazzetta the characteristic Latin rhythm of the song La Bamba began to fill the night air. The movie had been a great recent success in the theaters and you could hear the song everywhere at the time. It was a Saturday night and, apparently, all of the guests in the touristic resort agreed to meet there.

I was still reasoning with myself about my new options when I saw Ezio and Franco approaching along the walking path directed to my bungalow. Were they proceeding my way? Oh C...! I wasn't prepared for that.

They caught Mom and Dad leaving our room and their path crossed in the middle, at a very short distance from me. Ezio flashed his adorable and confident smile at me, firing my nerve endings in a single shot. He raised his hand in a sign of greeting and recognition...of me. I felt my face growing purple – it had started to be a habit with him. Oh M...!

This was going to be awkward, very awkward.

I automatically thought Dad was going to kill me.

An instant vision of my plans for the night (note to self: getting another chance to spend a little more time with Ezio) flushed down the toilet.

But despite my worries, as I reconnected my visual skills to the reality in front of me, I watched Dad dismiss my friends with a pat on Franco's shoulder.

I couldn't still fully trust that friendly scene, though it did look authentic.

Dad didn't pay me any mind. There was a huge difference between the way he considered me and the way he controlled my much older sister Viola. I would always be his little girl. That probably meant he had safely frozen me at the age of six, maybe seven year old and nothing more, just like a picture in a baby album. There were two young boys looking for me, but Dad was used to me hanging out and playing with boys. I was a child, a tomboy, so everything worked perfectly fine in his mind, I guess. In other circumstances, I would have been disappointed at his reaction, but that night I blessed him for that.

I noticed that Starry got a completely different perspective of the situation. She gave a quick glance at Franco, immediately discharging him, to focus on Ezio with a suspect care.

I was frying out of my comfort zone and I started shaking a little. Had she already figured out that I had a 'thing' for Ezio? Why did Mom have to be so intuitive?

Dad was already moving on along the path, when Starry smiled at Ezio, reciprocating his gesture of greeting and then, she did the unexpected. Suddenly, she turned my way and mouthed without a sound, "He's really handsome, Lee. Good choice." I'd never thought I could be more embarrassed than that precise moment, but I was wrong. Later on that night, a series of events even more 'peculiar' happened to me.

xxxxIt's a Leda&Ezio thingxxxx

Once I judged that my parents were safely gone, I chose the opposite direction to reach the center of the little village, followed by my smiling bodyguards Ezio and Franco.

"So, it wasn't so bad meeting your dad, huh?" Ezio startled me, wearing a satisfied smirk. His reference to our last conversation, only a few minutes ago, made me so hot that I had to close my eyes to regain some sort of coolness. I wanted so desperately to act like a girl for Ezio, but despite my effort, the little dork in me made her unwanted and random appearance.

With no warning at all, he had sprouted beside me like a mushroom in a wood. I looked straight ahead, trying not to lose my concentration. I was pretty sure that only one peep at his perfect face had the power to make me forget where I was and what I was doing.

"And your mom too," he added, continuing on the same tone. "She's beautiful, by the way. I can see how you two are related." He winked, staring at me with steady eyes.

"Okay!" inserted Franco, passing the two of us, "Is my presence here a little too much?"

"What?" I played my 'dumb' card, but he went on ignoring my fake question, "And I'm feeing a little uncomfortable about it...see you later guys." He threw an I-know-better look at us and ran away toward the piazzetta.

"Where's he going?" I instantly asked to cover as better as I could the tangible fact that I was utterly alone, with Ezio.

I was BEYOND hope. I had the most gorgeous boy that I had ever seen by my side and I had no clue how to act or what to say. I was entirely out of my element.

"Don't worry," Ezio chuckled, waving a hand at his friend, "we'll catch up with him and the others, but later."

Later? What did he mean by 'later'? Oh M...! The moment that less than an hour ago I had dreamed about so vividly, and with very different scenarios, now was there, so real that I could feel it.

Ezio slowly shielded in front of me, stopping my move. I felt his eyes on me in question mode, "Leda," he paused, his voice like a gentle whisper, "would you like to take a walk...with me?"

Despite the sweetness of his request, a sneaky sensation grabbed me that very second. Why did I let my insecurities get in my way in the most inappropriate moments? For no apparent reason I felt utterly uncomfortable and a little scared. The first unconscious reaction would have been run, far away from him. A little part of me asked what Atreyu of the Neverending Story would have done in my skin there.

What did I know about Ezio? Could I trust him? And about what, anyway? I felt once again divided, with tons of doubts, and I wanted Mom, Dad and even Viola at that point, to protect me and to take me home with them.

Then, I sensed the light touch of a bigger hand sliding against the back of my much smaller one. I spied on the hand, gently rubbing the knuckles of mine, and I found my eyes tracing a path toward the smiling ones of Ezio.

That little gesture, unconditionally, was definitely my green light. The fears and hesitations which poisoned me the second before had been completely reset, kaput. But I couldn't talk, so I simply stared back at him, flustered. I thought that my face had turned crimson too around that time, but it was night and the spare lights along the path were so fading that our skin looked bluer than any other color anyway.

"Come on," he suggested, eager to move on, "there's another way to get to the amphitheater, and I want to show you a place first."

Now, I really felt immersed into a mysterious and exciting adventure. I was pretending to be like one of the kids in the movie The Goonies who was about to explore a new and unknown island with the boy of her dreams guiding the lead.

We cut down a narrow passage between two bungalows, where a forgotten and rough track was half-hidden by some typical Sardinian sharp bushes. After a short walk, we popped out on a solitary open beach that I had never noticed during our past days there.

Ezio pointed toward a very huge and high rock on the left, "Are you ready to climb it?" he proposed. "Naturally," I replied collecting the courage I had always been used to before Ezio entered the picture. Seriously though, climbing rocks, hills, mountains? I had been in tons of missions like that with my little gang – The Quartet. That was something I had always been familiar with, but combining it with this new disrupting and extremely handsome boy I had a devastating crush on was a totally different matter.

I started my new task with Ezio behind me. "Dear Jesus," I mentally prayed, "please, don't let me fall or – worse – slip and land in Ezio's arms. Amen."

I wasn't sure I would have survived such a great proximity to any part of his body –for a second time.

I reached the top eventually, without a single scratch on my knees and it was a first for me.

From that higher position the view in front of us was stunning. The full moon over the sea illuminated everything around us, and on the other side of the rock there was a little bay with a dark and quite hidden cave.

"This is my secret place." Ezio explained, sitting down in a yoga position, "Sometime I come here in the night to watch the sea. Do you like it?"

"It's beautiful." I didn't know what to do next, so in the end, I sat down beside him, careful not to touch any little inch of his body, though my body was teaching me a lesson about how to react near a gorgeous guy like Ezio.

We sat there in silence for a little while, rocked by the perpetual moving of the waves and the muffled sound of the music from the Dance Show in the distance.

'Beautiful faces, no cares in this world

Where a girl loves a boy and a boy loves a girl'

A light breeze carried some lines from the song

La Isla Bonita and suddenly Ezio asked, "Do you know Madonna?"

"Well," I paused for more emphasis, "let me put it this way, I have an older sister obsessed with music and I'm pretty sure Madonna is one her favorites so yes, I'm used to her."

"I like her music," he clarified with enthusiasm, "and when you understand the lyrics it's even better."

I replayed the words of the song that I had just heard, trying to translate them in the best way I could and, as the meaning settled down on me, I blushed, hopelessly.

"Oh sorry," he added, "I keep forgetting you're much younger than me. Are you in some way familiar with English?"

"Yes, of course," I promptly bit him back. "I know something," I didn't want to look more inexperienced than what I really was, so I blathered out, "In September, we'll have a new English course at school to get used to a new language and my class will..."Ezio turned to stare at me for a second and I inevitably lost the train of my thoughts. Oh M...! He lifted his hand, as to take something from my hair, but he changed his mind in mid air, looking away.

"My mom is an English teacher," he told me as to fill a void, "did I ever tell you that?" I shook my head, sucking on my bottom lip and dislodging my gaze from his mouth. I was now aware that I had been studying it for no justifiable reason, and I needed a new subject to focus on, so I directed my eyes toward the beauty of the sea where he seemed lost too.

"She teaches in middle school, so I've learned my first words in English since I was little." He didn't tell that for lack of modesty, but just like something that had casually happened to him.

"Wow! That's awesome!" I encouraged, my crush on him expanding into a huge, imaginary heart over my head, like in the cartoons.

Ezio had it all. Not only he was the most gorgeous, tall and confident fourteen years old boy that I'd ever seen, but he could also speak another language, and 'the' English language, to reach the top of my preferences. I was unbelievably impressed.

"At least it's useful," he commented, as though answering to an untold question, "I still don't know who I want to be or what I want to do when I'll grow up, but I know that I want to go in the US and make a living there."

"So it's a plan, then," I gave a sort of closure to his statement.

"Yeah, it's my plan," he confirmed, breaking into an irresistible smile. That smile was for me and only me, I guessed. Because he had confided me his secret project in his secret place and I had been the accepting recipient of it.

I felt like I was living in a dream – the moon, the sea, Ezio and me on a high rock, me sitting so close to him. The scent of his musky skin tickled my nostrils. Wait a minute. What the heck was he trying to do now? I saw his beautiful face moving closer to mine. The moment was pregnant with anticipation, but right when I had already considered that getting a kiss from Ezio wasn't such a disgusting thing, after all (I instantly blamed myself for my bad comment on Viola and Renzo's kiss), we heard noises, flashlights highlighting the rock where we sat and loud talking of people, probably coming from the dark cave facing the little bay near us.

"Really guys," a semi-drunk male voice chuckled maliciously, "wasn't this the best hiding place to make out with a girl?" The rest of the little group erupted in fragrant laughs and hissing sounds.

Ezio smiled awkwardly, retracting a little. My special moment lost forever. He stood up, offering a hand to help me, "I guess my secret place is not so secret anymore."

When I surged on my feet too, he concluded, "It's time to get back, Leda. This way." He preceded me, indicating a different way to leave the rock and I trailed him in silence, ruminating in my head what the hell did it mean 'to make out' with a girl.

xxxxIt's a Leda&Ezio thingxxxx

My delayed curfew was approaching. At exactly a quarter to eleven Ezio and I reached the square piazzetta. The short pomegranate tree in the middle casted a long shadow in front of us, illuminated as it was by the high white floodlight at the side of the amphitheater. The place was still full of people and I looked toward the bar searching for Viola.

When I spotted her eventually, she looked like a young queen on her throne, surrounded by her trusted damsels. Her huge white cast was safely positioned on another chair in front of her and all of her friends were taking turns to write something 'memorable' on that provisional thing. I thought I envied her for a moment or two.

Renzo, her decrepit light technician, was working on the lights at a fair distance, but my expert eye intercepted the furtive and quite frequent glances the two of them threw at each other. Dad had stated that 'that flirt' (Dad's precise words) would have found another girl as naive as Viola in a batting of eyelid, but it seemed to me that Renzo was genuinely interested in my sister.

As Viola noted me too, her gaze landed on Ezio beside me. She acted in a way that reminded me so much about Mom before. When her inspection on my gorgeous friend was done, she lifted both her thumbs up and smiled, "Good catch, Lee. He's so hot."

Really? Unbelievable! Same reaction and quite the same words. Did I mention before that Viola and Starry looked more similar with the passing time?

I hoped that Ezio didn't get a single word from my sis, more distracted by the noise, the people around us and the laud music.

When I heard Whitney Huston singing I wanna dance with somebody who loves me, Ezio grabbed my hand, "Leda, I see Franco with Dora over there." He guided me through the waves of people moving wildly. The dance floor was so crowded that I couldn't see anything. I felt puzzled and more disoriented, but Ezio's strong hand held on tight mine. "I don't want to dance!" I yelled over the thundering volume of the music. I was a little scared that he would have tricked me into dancing with him in the end. Well, to tell the truth, that idea wasn't totally unappealing –in one of my dreams about him the other night I did envision him with me swaying together on a slow song, but that was a fantasy and not the reality I was living. He promptly stopped and turned my way, giving me the most gentle but firm expression I had ever seen on his face. "I'd never do anything to make you really uncomfortable, Leda." I felt his hand squeezing mine, and my mind went blank for a full minute.

"Hey guys!" The high-pitched voice of Dora/Carmen interrupted us. Her waving hand in the hair was the only sign of her presence that I could barely see from my miserable height, but for sure Ezio had caught her better from his towering one. Quite unexpectedly, a little opening through the crowd allowed us to get to the opposite side of the dance floor, where Dora and Franco seemed waiting for us.

"How come you're still out, Lee?" She addressed me with a flashy, fake smile, "I thought you had an earlier curfew."

I responded with the most awkward grin I was able to perform, "Well, I had a little delay."

A very tight pink tank top underlined Dora's boobs in a way that made you stare at them and it was matched with an equally very short and formfitting black skirt. She was sitting on Franco's lap with her arm anchored around his neck. Dora was thirteen but looked much older. S...!

I looked down at what I was wearing, my favorite 'regular' navy blue T-shirt and my outworn jeans shorts. Did I have to say more?

"So," Franco spurred, smirking at Ezio, "did you get lost somewhere? I thought I would never see you again tonight, man." Franco slapped his best friend's hand while he circled Dora's shoulders with his arm, staring at me. What was he trying to show? I wasn't jealous of Franco. My only concern was about Ezio. How could he be remotely interested in me with that bodacious girl displayed in front of him in such a 'come-and-get-me' style? But Ezio didn't seem to mind her at all. He didn't even return the veiled provocation Franco had so kindly threw his way.

"I think it's getting a little late," Ezio specified glancing at me, "what would you say if I walked you to your room, Leda? Now that I've met both your parents, I don't want to upset them."

"Yeah, it's a good idea." I replied trying to sound casual, but I was actually combusting inside.

"Woo!" Franco chuckled, "I told you he had serious intentions, Lee."

I waved a hand to Dora and Franco and I followed Ezio out of the amphitheater.

His hand was still laced with mine.

xxxxIt's a Leda&Ezio thingxxxx

Before we reached the white-stone walking-path that led to my residence, Ezio and I had to cross a series of obstacles. The little plastic tables provided by the bar,with their discarded drinks and dirty ice-cream packages forgotten over them, made their unpleasant and smelly appearance all around the piazzetta. Sara was passing by holding a tray filled with different orders. She looked exhausted, but when she noted us she approached beaming at Ezio as she whispered in my ear, "So, holding hands, huh? Great progress Lee." She winked at me and flew away. That time I grinned at myself, focusing on my hand entwined with Ezio's.

I looked over at the crowd around us and, as Mom and Dad couldn't be found easily, I lingered on the fact that despite my 'non girly-ness' I had survived such an intimate gesture –with a boy.

xxxxIt's a Leda&Ezio thingxxxx

The little walk toward my last destination was silent. The lights inside of my bungalow, switched completely off, were a quite sure signal that no one was back from the Dance Show yet.

Once we faced the main door under the little veranda, Ezio sat on the low white wall behind us suggesting to do the same, "So, here we are," he smiled, his beautiful eyes searching for mine. "Yeah..." The pavement under my feet got the entire of my attention. I felt his hand catching a rebel strand from my untamed mane as he tucked it gently behind my ear, "It will be very difficult to forget your amazing green eyes, Leda."

I felt paralyzed, but in a good way, and that was when I sensed his light fingertips tracing a little corner on the back of my neck, "Let me," he hesitated, "let me just..." The soft of his thumb outlined my bottom lip as his head tilted on one side and he glued his gaze on me. I just stalled and I couldn't breathe. Then, slowly, he bent down and so deliciously slow he brushed the side of my cheek with his soft, full lips.

Time stopped and froze.

I instantly skyrocketed to heaven coming back to earth simultaneously. I couldn't even guess how hot and multi-colored I looked like then, but seriously? I got a kiss on the cheek, from Ezio.

I didn't have time to process that or act in any way because his warm, compelling voice captured my whole being again, "Maybe next summer, or better in a couple of years, I'll give you a real, proper kiss..." he smirked, and I melted, "until then though, promise me you'll write, okay?"

"Okay."

"Goodbye, Leda."

He lifted from the wall and left, jumping on the other side of the path and fading into the night. When I finally looked up, I saw Viola with her friends nearing from the opposite direction.

THE END

Working with my imagination on THE ITALIAN SAGA by Gaia B. Amman

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