I continued to walk up the bleachers, feeling completely dejected. I wasn't used to not being chosen. It was Betty's choice and I trusted her judgment. As much as I wanted to see her one last time, I couldn't bare seeing her in Henry's arms. Henry won; he was the one who made Betty's hands sweat. I glanced at my own palms. They were sweating.
The ride to the airport was unbearable. I didn't utter a single word as my family dropped me off at JFK. I feigned a smile for my mother and gave my sister a stronger hug than usual. Perhaps she understood why.
"I was beginning to like her, Gio." Nella whispered in my ear. I nodded and sighed.
"GIO! Wait Gio!" My heart skipped a beat as I turned to my name being called. The girl who spoke my name ran past me and into the arms of her lover. She kissed him over and over and walked into the airport, hand in hand.
By the time I got through security, I had hope that Betty might still show up. Anything was possible at this point. I looked at my watch and saw that I only had about 45 minutes until my flight took off. My phone suddenly rang and I looked down eagerly at the unknown number.
"Hello, Betty?" It was silly of me, seeing as I already knew her number, but that was hope speaking for me. "Oh, no this isn't Pedro…" I hung up, feeling defeated.
"Sir, would you move it along already?" A portly man behind me asked.
"Sorry…" I muttered as I walked under the metal detector.
Twenty minutes later, I found myself boarding the plane, without her. Now, any hope I had of her choosing me over Henry was completely gone. I found my seat promptly and caught hold of the flight attendant.
"Hello sir, my name is Beatrice, but just call me Betty for the flight, how can I help you?" She smiled sweetly at me, just like Betty would have done. I cringed.
"I think I will just call you Beatrice. It's such a lovely name anyway. Could I have a coke and rum?" I asked, with a hint of pain in my voice.
"Sure, if you could wait for us to take off then I will come back with that coke and rum." She gave me a pillow and walked away. I closed my eyes and let go of all thoughts I had about Betty.
"Excuse me…mind if I squeeze through?" Her perfume caught my nose before I even opened my eyes. For a split second it smelled so familiar. I opened my eyes and saw a beautiful red headed girl who was wearing a black dress.
"Oh, I'm sorry, are you the window seat?" I stood up as she brushed past me and sat down to my right.
"Well since we're going to be sitting together for such a long flight, perhaps I should introduce myself. I'm Caroline." She offered her hand and I took it.
"Gio." I replied. She was extremely beautiful, there was no denying it. Instinct made me look for a ring, when there was none, I relaxed.
"What brings you to Italy?" She asked. Her voice was sweet and interested.
"Family. You?" I replied.
"High school trip." She smiled. When she saw me move uncomfortably, she laughed. "I'm joking….I'm going on business." I couldn't help but laugh now. She was witty, just like Betty.
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Today we will be featuring a wide range of entertainment movies for your viewing pleasure. Our first movie will be Titanic, followed by Under the Tuscan Sun, then Much Ado About Nothing, and finally Moonstruck. We hope you enjoy these movies and thank you for flying Air Italia." A voice over the intercom spoke and then translated it into Italian and then French.
"Talk about sappy movies…" Caroline grinned and nudged me.
"You had me at 'hello'" I grinned.
"Jerry Maguire." Caroline answered immediately. "A bird may love a fish, signore, but where will they live?"
I thought for a moment. "Ever After." I glanced at Caroline. "What? I have a sister alright?" I grinned as she chucked. "Only you, you're the only thing I'll see forever. In my eyes, in my words and in everything I do." I choked a little because I thought of Betty.
"West Side Story." She smiled. "I am just a girl standing in front of a boy asking him to love her."
"Notting Hill." I answered promptly, only because I had just seen the movie. "You may only call me "Mrs. Darcy"... when you are completely, and perfectly, and incandescently happy." I grinned. This one was too easy.
"Pride and Prejudice all the way. That's the movie version though." Caroline laughed and touched me on the shoulder. It was strange, but I felt nothing. "Ok, 'I might respect you, Earnest, I might admire your character, but I feel that I could never give you my undivided attention.'"
I thought for a moment. I had heard that somewhere before. "Ah, the Importance of Being Earnest." I replied.
"AH, you know Oscar Wilde?" Caroline looked amazed as I nodded.
"I often surprise people." I grinned as the flight attendant placed my coke and rum on my unfolded tray. "Can I buy you a drink?" It came out of nowhere.
Caroline smiled at me. She had green eyes. Finally she shook her head. "Nah, it wouldn't be a good idea. You're getting over a girl after all."
I shook my head. "How did you know?" I asked her, feeling astonished.
"…because you have that look in your eyes. It's alright…I'm getting over a guy." She smiled, but looked out of the window sadly.
"Well why don't you and I just watch sappy movies together then? It would pass the time on our 10 hour flight." I grinned as she nodded.
The next 10 hours seemed to slip by rather quickly. Not once did I sleep, because Caroline and I laughed at every cheesy line in each romantic movie that we saw. I learned that I wasn't attracted to Caroline, but merely found companionship in someone who knew what I was going through.
"…so she picked that guy over you, wow." She looked amazed as I shared with her my recent loss.
"Well, Henry can offer her more than I can, I guess. What girl wouldn't choose Italy over a ring?" I asked her.
"Well, if it helps at all…I chose the other guy over the ring in my case. I had fallen for two different guys. One guy offered me New York while the other proposed. I chose New York and now I'm running away from it. Turns out he forgot that he asked another girl to New York as well." Caroline grimaced.
"Sorry." I apologized for the guy. I knew I wasn't that type of guy. "Good luck with all that. Love can be a muddled mess sometimes." I grinned.
"Yeah, it can definitely be a muddled mess." She repeated and glanced out of the window.
'Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats and make sure your trays are in the upright position. We are about to land in Tuscany. We hope you have enjoyed your flight with us today and enjoy time under the Tuscan sun." the voice over the intercom announced as a few people chuckled.
"Well, it's been nice knowing you." I turned to Caroline and grinned.
"Same here. Thanks for making this long 10 hour flight a little shorter." Caroline replied as the plane raced down the runway to a stop.
"Ever been to Tuscany?" I asked. She shook her head.
"No, I've never been. I hear that renting villas are the in thing." She smiled.
"For tourists, anyway." I grinned. Our plane finally stopped at the gate and anxious people got up and collected their things. "Well, I guess I'll see you around. Seriously, thanks for everything. I feel a little better." I said honestly.
"Me too. Who knows, maybe we'll see one another again, Gio." She replied as I stood up and let her leave before me.
I spent about 15 minutes standing in the aisle waiting for other people to unload on the plane. There were annoying children who decided to pitch a fit and then there were old people as well. After what felt like an eternity, I was able to actually move my legs and walk. I thanked the flight attendants and walked through the connector that connected the plane to the actual airport. I smiled as people were warmly embraced.
I continued to walk past happy people. My carryon bag suddenly felt a million times heavier. Tuscany would allow me to forget her though. I would be seeing my millions of aunts and uncles and telling them all about my deli.
"Gio…."
I would be able to tell them about my successes.
"Gio…."
Things would work out. My aunts and uncles were great Italian people.
"Gio! GIO!" I finally realized that someone was calling my name. I was in Italy, so naturally Gio was probably like our version of John. I kept walking.
"GIOVANNI ROSSI!" The voice was persistent. I couldn't make out any familiarity because the airport was loud in general. I hesitated, but thought I would go ahead and take a chance of looking dumb if it wasn't me. I slowly turned. My heart skipped a beat.
"Gio…" She raced up to me, completely breathless. It was her. It was Betty. I knew her smile in an instant.
"Betty, what are you doing here?" My voice faltered because my heart was racing.
"Did you know that Delta can get you here 10 minutes faster?" She responded as she caught up with me. We stood there looking at one another for a moment.
"No, I didn't know that." I felt like I had missed a step. I hesitated and looked down at her hand. The ring was no longer there. "What are you doing here?" I repeated myself. I hoped she wasn't joking and that Henry would pop out of nowhere, the perfect timing he always seemed to have.
"I choose you, Gio. Maybe I realized it a little too late. You're the one Gio. You challenge me, you love me, and you annoy me. I would say that's a nice package.
"Are you being serious?" I was hoping this wasn't a dream. I looked up and saw Caroline smiling at us from afar.
"Gio, I've never been more serious. I'm sorry I'm late. I had to switch over my ticket…but good thing I work at Mode." She smiled.
"This is a joke…I know…" I was cut off.
"Woof." She replied.
"What the hell was that?" I asked.
"It's our thing…remember?' She grinned. "Stop making excuses already."
I finally realized that this was for real. I took her hands in mine. "Welcome to Tuscany." I replied with a grin. We stood there for a moment and she released her hands from mine.
"Sweaty palms." She replied embarrassingly.
I grabbed her hands. "I happen to find sweaty palms attractive." I grinned as we drew into a passionate kiss. It meant more to me than any other kiss I could have shared with her.
"So Delta never fed me…mind if we grab something to eat?" She asked after we parted.
"What do you have in mind?" I asked, lost in her eyes.
"Well I don't know…whatever Italians eat." She replied.
"We drink wine and make love, Betty." I replied instantly.
"Pity, I was looking forward to having a chicken salad sandwich." Betty grinned.
"Have I told you how wonderful you are?" I informed her.
"No you are more wonderful." She grinned.
"No, you are." I responded. I knew where this was going to go.
"No, you are." She caught on with a grin.
"I'm hanging up now." I smiled and held her close. "Hanging up on all other relationships that is." I looked up at Caroline suddenly and smiled and then took in Betty with my eyes and kissed her again.
Who knew that I would be spending this summer, under the Tuscan sun with Betty. Sometimes the consequences that stem from the truth aren't as bad as we think they'll be.
The End
