Not Going Out: The Power of Love

Venice - Chapter 4

Despite the foolish antics caused by Steven at the airport's arrivals' gates - the honeymoon had soon got off to the best of starts, thanks to a very cheerful hotel receptionist who spoke very good English. The honeymooners were now booking at a hotel aptly named Hotel Venezia. Lee hadn't visited Italy before - in fact he hadn't travelled as far as the Lake District, however he was up for the challenge of learning everything that needed knowing about this wonderful looking place. However he didn't wish to make a start just yet, as he wanted to see what TV channels might be included on the widescreen tv in their booked hotel room.

"Please don't make me go out alone on the streets of Venice without you Lee, otherwise I might choose to run off with a waiter, maybe one I might take a liking too." Of course Lucy was testing him, to prove how much he really did care about her. Needless to say, her comments seem to work their charm on him right away.

"No chance of that happening. I'll do a Gangnam Style on him, if he even tries to chat you up. Well I did promise you a good honeymoon and that we'll go on those gondolas as many times as possible, then that's what we're going to do, just after I try to work what's going on this Italian soap...Obviously that bloke is a womanizer and that woman's asking for an affair...I think..." Lee started to get engrossed by the Italian soap drama he had switched the tv onto.

"Oh goody. So much for that promise." Lucy sighed. She felt their honeymoon would no doubt have it's many ups and downs - Depending on whether Lee chose to lounge around and relax in the hotel room - no she couldn't bear thinking of that possibility and so a few minutes later, she came up with a very cheeky yet clever enough plan, to coax him out of the room for most of the days they'd be spending there.

"It's not my fault Lucy, it's these sodding soaps they're to blame...they don't half suck you into their soap world. You know Tim and me once placed a bet between ourselves on who was the father of Michelle Fowler's baby in Eastenders. That's £2.50 I lost to your brother." Lee recalled a time, where he wished he hadn't got talked into on certain fun bet suggested by his now brother-in-law. - god calling Tim this from now, was really taking a while to get use to.

"You don't have a fear of rivers do you...by any chance Lee?" She asked, with an intrigued expression.

"No, why do you want to know anyway?" He frowned his eyes before giving a curious look. She was up to something, given how she'd began to fish for any secret phobias he hadn't told her about. Well since the both of them became a couple, he figured they still had so much to discover about each other.

"Oh it's in case, we both might perhaps hilariously fall into the river sometime. Remember that time on your dad's boat, you landed straight in the water. You weren't exactly happy after that."

"No I wasn't. As a matter of fact, I had considered one or two ways to make sure my dad did the same, would have worked if only he hadn't woken up and embarrassed me. Well he's always has been asking to get arrested himself by the fashion police after all." Lee then underlined the one or two things, he felt that his dad still unfortunately embarrassed him because of - firstly, his cheeky & naughty manners in front of women and secondly, his complete honesty which had gone awol since 1990.

"That doesn't surprise me about your dad. So Lee, are you coming out with me or are you going to laze around, like Homer Simpson?" She asked, hoping he wouldn't choose the alternative.

"Give over I'm nothing like Homer Simpson...I'm more like James Bond...Shaken but not bored off his arse.." Lee mentioned another one of his clever remarks. "Alright, I'll let you take me around the city, just as long as we can stop off and look for an English pub afterwards."

"You know, I think we should head off in search for the nearest beach. Besides I'd love to get a tan." She grinned to herself. Her delightful grin was soon noted by her husband - which added to the curiosity, as he became convinced she was indeed, cooking up a saucy plan for him.

"Hope you're not seriously suggesting I should strip off and strut my stuff on the beach because let's face it, I haven't actually got Captain America's 6 pack chest underneath this particular shirt of mine here." Lee didn't wish to take his top off - just yet. - well to tell the truth, that was only ever going to happen for Lucy's benefit of course.

"Well that would be for a fine treat to see, while we're on the beach together but then again I'd rather you left your top on and saved the best till last." She willingly toyed with him and soon wondered whether perhaps she had blurted out too much detail.

"Who are you and what have you done with the real Lucy?" Lee asked.

"Listen, enough chit chatting and let's get ourselves out of this room, before roles reverse between and I end up being the one sitting where you are now, watching that ridiculous Italian soap." Seeing as the day was still young, she didn't want them spending the first day of their honeymoon in Venice - facing the prospect of being stuck in their hotel room and annoyingly speculating like two wannabe Sherlock Holmes - over what on earth this certain soap was all about, on the widescreen tv.

They got their answer soon enough when, a rich Italian millionaire made a grand entrance on screen. - this character's looks surprisingly resembled Lee's, in the most interesting of exceptional ways.

"Blimey, my father's got some explaining to do to me, if it turns out this shoe shuffling, smug git bloke is my brother." Lee said. Before there was any slight possibility of him having doubts about stepping foot out of the hotel room., she quickly grabbed hold of his left hand and yanked the remote control from the grasp of his right hand.

"Well no time like the present lazybones, as my dad likes to say now and again...especially to Tim when he guards dad's armchair like one of the Queen's guards ." She declared, as she eagerly lead him out of the room.

xxx

The newlyweds certainly fully enjoyed their first day, strolling hand in hand around the historical Italian landmarks. Of course Lee couldn't resist goofing around and pulling one or two cheeky faces, while they were getting a portrait photograph drawn for them by a local young street artist. Lucy quite frankly wasn't best pleased because of the fact, he couldn't keep a straight face.

As they left and Lee carried the sketched canvas drawing of the both of them, he decided to apologize to her at once, for behaving like a right silly bugger and to give her the low-down on why he couldn't stop pulling the silliest of faces.

"Sorry for the face pulling antics, it's an old habit I've had since I was 10. One of the kids in my class got picked for football over me and me of course I was always told to play as a goalkeeper. So I started permanently pulling faces through boredom whenever I was waiting for the ball to come all the way back to me."

"You know, you don't really need to explain Lee. I understand." She could tell he meant well with his explanation.

"So can we try and find an English bar somewhere around here or do you want us to have some Afternoon Deligth instead?" Lee asked her, as soon as the topic of conversation between them started to develop into something more pleasurable and fascinating than usual.

"Blimey Lucy you look as flushed in the cheeks, like a cute cat amongst puppies...Don't tell me, you've been trying not to picture me naked, since we arrived here this morning?" Funnily enough Lee had only gone and worked out exactly, what was bothering her, from the exact moment they had stepped off the plane together- her naughtiest of thoughts. She had suddenly began to feel encouraged by these particular ones - perhaps making one of them happen for real.

"Oh you know, sometimes a woman like me, can't help feeling hotly attracted to her other half. Oh god I feel like I'm turning into a horny tiger right now!" She yelled frustratingly aloud, much to Lee's and other people nearby actual surprise. "Oh god I think I may have just blurted out way too much information, perhaps enough to get us arrested.."

"Yes you did and now we're going need to hightail it from here." Lee insisted, they better get back to the hotel, in next to no time.

xxxxx

Over three hours or so later, Lee had quietly left Lucy asleep in bed, after deciding to try out the hotel's luxury bathroom facilities in the room, starting with the shower. As the warm water from the shower head sprayed it's across his face and trickled down over his bare shoulders, Lee rather enjoyed this shower quite well. He hadn't had one like this relaxing in years.

While drying himself off, he heard an unexpected knock on the hotel room's door. So after he wrapped a bath towel around his waist and an half-awake Lucy had tiredly mumbled, for him to get answer the door, Lee felt he should investigate. Perhaps the hotel maids or hotel room attendants weren't what you call march into hotel rooms without a care sort of people, in the worry that they might find themselves accused of being keyhole peepers.

Lee immediately answered their hotel room door and soon realized, nobody was actually standing there to greet him. He presumed a few pesky children were simply playing games by knocking on fellow hotel guests' doors. As he went to turn to look towards the bottom of the long swanky looking corridor, his towel got caught in the doorway - which was quite an embarrassing thing to do.

He wrestled with getting it free from the hinge of the door, which only led to him accidentally and hilariously exposing himself. "Lucy, Lucy let me in.. Quick before I caught doing a naked strut down the corridor. " He nodded and acknowledged a male room attendant who was stood smiling and admiring him as he watched Lee whispering against the door. "Oh hello, the wife's asleep and I've only gone and locked myself out." He turned away and then glanced back at the room attendant in surprise. Lee instantly covered his privates with both hands.

A little 30 minutes later and Lee couldn't get over his embarrassment about what happened with the room attendant outside in the corridor, whom Lee had interestingly caught the attention of.

"Oh thank god it wasn't a woman, she'd have screamed the place down, once she saw me walking round like an naked ape from Planet of the Apes." He told Lucy, who was hugging him behind on the bed.

"Well that was very helpful of the room attendant, helping to pick up your bath towel and getting you back in the room. Even though he couldn't quite peel his eyes off your...gentleman's vegetables..." She smirked whilst she was talking to him.

"I really wanted our honeymoon to get off to best of starts, kind of made matters awkward now haven't I?..flashing my bits and bobs in front of this hotel's Italian version of Kenneth Williams. Still like you said, we've got 13 days of pure naughty holiday bliss to look forward to." Lee gave the understandable impression, he would prefer to put this funny yet embarrassing episode behind him. So Lucy didn't say no more about it.

They laid back down on the bed together and snuggled up in each other's embrace. Lee wondered what surprises and delights waited in store for the two of them, over the next two weeks. However they seemed equally keen and determined to enjoy every moment of chilling out in Venice and discovering more wonders about this place's beautiful scenery.

End of Chapter

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