1
Jessica looked eagerly around the streets of Rome excited to be visiting them for the first time even if it was with her parents but she wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to go to the historical city no matter who it was with. She had travelled to Italy previously spending three months in Florence learning Italian but this was the perfect way to get over her recent break up, a holiday, no work involved she thought to herself as the 21 year old followed her mother and father towards the coach waiting outside the hotel, an anxious looking tour guide pacing up and down outside its doors in the hot sun.
"Names please" he barked as they reached the doors of the bus only noticing Jessica appear behind her parents after he had spoken.
Her mother gave the young Italian man there names although his gaze seemed to be momentarily distracted by Jessica as she stood there waiting to board the coach in her frayed denim shorts, white shirt and oversized sunglasses complete with a bikini underneath for a quick dip in the hotel pool to refresh when she returned.
"Very well" he replied, "My name is Antonio and I will be your tour guide on this trip" he finished smiling his tone suddenly more pleasant. Her parents stepped onto the coach and Jessica took a step forward intending to follow however her sandals stayed glued to the floor as she felt a heavy hand holding her back. Her parents, already aboard the coach, hadn't noticed the tour guide stop her. She spun around turning to face the young man lifting her sunglasses up to push her fringe back so she could inspect him clearly.
"Can I help you?" she asked politely but slightly confused at the same time as her long, wavy brown hair blew in the gentle summer breeze.
"You can help me by going to dinner with me this evening?" he smiled at her cheekily, Jessica felt her face immediately begin to fill with colour, she had come on this trip to get away from men, not to be harassed by them, first there was the hotel's bar man, now this tour guide. She looked up to the coach her face painted with signs of distress as she looked towards her mum and dad for help. Her mum smiled and waved her hand encouraging her to take up the man's offer; she rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Thanks mum" she muttered to herself.
"Pardon?" asked Antonio looking slightly taken aback by her long pause in answering.
"I'm sorry I think I might be busy this evening" she lied looking uncomfortably at the ground whilst trying to reject the guy in the nicest way possible. She looked back up at Antonio her sunglasses still nestled in the top of her head, he looked dejected, as though he wasn't used to getting turned down by girls, especially ones that were tourists. The stereotypical type to fall for the tour guide or bar man on holiday and Jessica had made that mistake once before, she wasn't prepared to make it again.
"Oh come on" Antonio insisted giving her a friendly tap on the arm, "It will be fun; I know the best places to eat after all". Jessica shot her mum another look, the encouragement was still in her expression.
"Oh okay" she sighed again flicking her sunglasses back down over her eyes, "I suppose I could make some time this evening".
"Great!" he replied enthusiastically pulling out his Blackberry "Let me have your number, shall we say about 6pm in the hotel lobby?" he grinned.
"Sure" she replied before reeling off her mobile number.
"I will be sure to call you to confirm later" he called after her as she stepped up onto the coach placing the straw hat she had been holding as to not let the wind steal it back onto her head. It looked like she had a date tonight, so much for her keeping away from the opposite sex she thought to herself as she slumped down into the seat across from where her parents were sat.
"He seems like a nice boy" her mum started pushing for information whilst her dad sat silent, a funny expression resting on his face.
"Yeah thanks for that mum, you could have come and rescued me" I scowled, "You know I came on this holiday for some me time, no males!"
"Oh sweetie I think it will be good for you, something new and exciting whilst you are here, you have to live your life whilst you are young, I sure did" she said revealing far too much information than Jessica wanted to hear.
"Urgh" was all she could muster in response sinking lower in her seat and pulling the rim of her hat forward to shield her face even more.
It was bad enough that she had to see Antonio for dinner never mind the fact that for most of the day he had been dragging her around the hot, busy streets of Rome insisting that she walk upfront with him. Her feet ached and she could feel a large sweat patch beginning to develop where her leather bag had been resting on her side as she trudged along listening to Antonio spout information about the city. It had been interesting at first but she would have much rather explored the city on her own she thought as she looked into various shop windows catching a glimpse of her slowly darkening skin, the fact that she was half Indian as well as partially Italian a bit further back in her family history might have had something to do with it. She however was pleased with the outcome, she loved having a tan it made her look slimmer and healthier, well she thought it did anyway whether that actually was the case was a different question all together. However it was the coach ride back to the hotel that really finished the day off with a bang, literally seeing as though some idiotic driver had decided to run a red light causing a massive pile up on the road surrounding the Colosseum. Not only did they not get to go but they had been stuck there for hours in a coach whose air conditioning had decided to stop working leaving an irritable Jessica trapped listening to Antonio ramble on about some crap in her ear. If only there was some way she could discreetly put her earphones in without him noticing or it looking completely rude she thought to herself just as the coach lurched forward in response to the now slowly moving traffic. Her face suddenly lit up at the prospect of getting back to the comfort of her hotel room before she remembered her dinner date with Antonio which immediately put a dampener on things.
They finally arrived back at the hotel around an hour later, exactly 6pm on the dot. Jessica attempted to rush off the coach without being seen trying to blend in with the queue of people exiting the vehicle in hopes that Antonio would somehow miss her and completely forget about everything although she knew this would be unlikely. She stepped off the coach only to bump straight into Antonio who had been eagerly waiting for her by the doors the entire time.
"Do you just want to get off now?" he asked with excited eyes, if he thought he was going to get some tonight he was sadly mistaken, Jessica thought to herself as she studied his expression.
"Should I not go change first?" she asked trying to delay things further.
"No, no." Antonio insisted; "You look beautiful as you are" he smiled. Jessica looked for her parents but saw the back of them slowly disappearing back into the hotel lobby, they must have presumed that she was leaving straight away because of the delay, and it looked as though that was going to be the case.
"Well okay then if you are sure" she replied unenthusiastically, she was really not in the mood for this especially not after the day she had had, she felt exhausted. She blamed the miserable English weather for this, she wasn't used to this kind of heat, it just tired her out.
"Great, well I just need to go and sign out, wait here?" Antonio half ordered half asked.
"Sure" she replied as he disappeared off into the hotel. She sighed as she looked around the square situated in front of the hotel for a bench finding one resting next to a large fountain. She made her way over to it and dropping her bag on to it she sat down on the hot concrete feeling the backs of her legs heat up as they made contact. The sun was still out and the temperature was still hot, the only difference from that morning was the sun being at the other side of the sky and there were now more shadows scattered across the square she observed as she waited impatiently for Antonio to return.
"Ready to go" she heard Antonio's Italian accent approaching behind her, she stood from the bench, picking up her bag and looked down behind her to the backs of her legs which had turned an unattractive red colour from the heat of the bench, perfect she thought to herself as she gave Antonio her best, enthusiastic smile that she could possible muster given the current circumstances.
"Yeah lets go" she replied tossing her bag over her shoulder and following Antonio as he walked quickly across the square, she struggled to keep up after the amount of walking she had already done that day. "Where are we going?" she called from behind him.
"You'll see" he turned around shooting her a grin as he made his way over to a red scooter, she paused for a moment and pointed at the scooter.
"We're going on that?" she said sounding horrified at the prospect, "But I'm wearing shorts? What if I fall off? I say goodbye to the skin on my legs?". Antonio laughed at her as he tossed her a helmet which she somehow managed to catch.
"This is how everyone here gets around, don't worry you will not fall, I will drive very safe" he smirked arrogantly before sliding on his helmet. He threw his leg over the scooter and kicking away the stand he started the engine. "Come on" his muffled voice sounded from the helmet as he pushed the visor up to look at her. He was a good looking guy, typical Italian looks with the dark hair, dark eyes and tanned skin. Jessica could see he was muscular under his fitted red t shirt and tan combat shorts but still slim, boyish would be the word she would use to describe him she thought as she approached the scooter cautiously. She pulled the strap of her bag so it pulled in tight to her body before throwing her leg over the scooter herself and placing her feet in the footholds. She was reluctant to put her arms around Antonio's waist however she knew there was no way she would feel safe just holding onto the bar at the back and with that niggling away at her she loosely placed her hands around him as they set off into the busy streets of Rome.