CHAPTER 21

"Life is like an ice cream cone, you have to lick it one day at a time."
-Charles M. Schulz

But I was also glad to finally get to the sleeping part of our vacation.
Red houses and green roofs were waiting! At least that's what they say about the countryside.
My well deserved lounger was calling for me, waiting for me to sip cocktails and relax, relax, relax...

The train ride was magical. We watched the sun set behind the hills, most of the houses really were built with red sandstone.
It was about 9pm when we arrived at the station of a little village, well, I suppose it must have been a town to have a train station but it was small, cozy, exactly like I had pictured it. I could see the big women in front of my mind's eye. They were chasing after black cats, swearing and then proceeding to their kitchen so their husband would have something to come home to.
But this wasn't our final destination, it seemed, 'cause Will called a cab.
Another 30 minutes later, I couldn't tell where we were, it was too dark, the car slowed down. Will thanked the driver and handed him some money, then got out and opened the trunk for our luggage.
Sleepy, I unlocked the car door and set my foot outside. The ground seemed sandy, where we close to the beach? When I had gotten out completely, I heard waves crash on the shore, a salty scent lay in the air, pine trees surrounded what's silhouette seemed like a house. A gigantic one.
But why was it this quiet? Of course it was late in the day, still there wasn't even a street lamp or a window at all, as far as I could tell.
The taxi drove away again, Will was still quiet but I couldn't take it anymore. "Where are we?"
"Shh. Save the moment" He walked a few more steps, coming to a halt at the door of the big house. Was this our hotel? Without lights? Very unlikely.
He pulled a key out of his bag, unlocked the door. No, this wasn't..
"This-" he opened the door and switched the lights on. "-Is where we're staying!" He gave me a moment to cope with this information. We had our own villa? Our own mansion? I mean, palace.
I put my bag down on a table in the hallway. My flip flops made annoying sounds as I nimbly took one step after another. White tiles, white walls, dark furniture. There was marble and gold everywhere, a statue of Botticelli's Venus stood in a corner of the living room.
A loud thump signalized me that the luggage was put down in the first floor, probably the bedroom. Only seconds later, another thump told me the door had been closed.
I reached for the black leather sofa, usually not my style but in this particular apartment it fit, like it was made to stand on this very spot. It was soft under palms. Another cupboard revealed fine china, old tea-sets, silverware.
Something stroked my feet, I looked down to find a fluffy white carpet and couldn't resist to take off my shoes. This sounds cruel now, but it was like walking on a cat, like silk but with long hair.
Two big hands touched my waist and woke me up from my trance. Will's chin rested on my right shoulder. I folded my hands on his over my belly.

"Do you like it?"
"What is this place?" I stuttered. Still praying it wasn't some mistake. I thought that I was dreaming but Will's touch was too real. No fantasy could compete with the warmth and fleeciness of his skin, not to mention his scent.
"It's a friend's of a friend's house. He said we can have it for the weekend and all we have to pay for is the cleaning lady on Sunday." This was crazy, insane. Not real. But if my mind offered me such a beautiful dream, why not go with it and enjoy every minute of it. I turned around, held on to Will's neck, his hands moved around my waist to my back, and whispered another thank you. The words I had said so many times that week and still found something new to thank him for.
"Thank you." Whatever he was thankful for, I didn't bother to ask.
I slightly opened my mouth, our faces came closer together until they were just an inch apart. I got up on my tiptoes and reached for his mouth, his sweet lips locked with mine, his breath flooded my lungs. I held the grip on his hair when he hit a wall, jumped up and sat on his hips, my ankles crossed behind him. Somehow he managed to walk up the stairs, carrying me, our lips never losing each other's. His short stubbles tickled my chin. He had to pull away after throwing me on the bed so he could take off my shirt but our lips found each other again immediately. The tiredness had vanished, so had the nervousness of the train ride and the house didn't matter either. It was just us. All night...

I woke up to the smell of fresh coffee and toast. When I opened my eyes, Will was setting a tray on the bed, with fruits, coffee and something that looked like a bagel but the hole was tiny.
Breakfast in bed served by my shirtless boyfriend. I'd never felt so young before. Not even when I actually was.
"Can it get any better than that?" I took a bite of a white peach, watery, fruity flesh tinned down my throat. How come Italian fruits are so much fresher and fruitier than American? It's not like ours are 5 days old and in real life vegetables.
"I don't know, have you looked out of the window yet?" Will interrupted the sensation of tastes in my mouth.

"What's there? Narnia?" What could possibly be outside of that window? The ocean, but I'd seen the ocean before. Curious buy shyly, I moved the curtains to the side and took a glance. It wasn't just some beach, it was our private beach. A little path with flowers led the way from our terrace to the shore, cliffs and big rocks protected it from the wind. The sand looked white as the snow, the water was turquoise and only far away on the other side, I could see people again. I slowly turned around.
"Are. You. Kidding. Me?"
It simply couldn't become more perfect. Sightseeing until my feet were dead and then regaining lost energy at the sea.
"I wanted us to stay here for the entire time but my friend's friend was here himself until yesterday so I thought we might as well explore Europe."
No, 2 days were enough. 48 hours of sand, water, food and Will.
"You're unbelievable" I threw myself in his arms.
"Just trying to compete with you" He embraced me tightly.
But there was no time for hugging! We had to swim and eat and relax. So I threw away my pajamas, hurried in the bathroom an changed into my bikini, dragging Will behind me as I danced to the beach, grabbing a towel on the way.
Our hands touched while we lay at the beach, like two corpses, taking in as much sun as possible.
And it was enough, I didn't need a fancy house as long as nobody talked during my sunbathing time. But since it was already there, I didn't complain either.

"You're sure, you don't want me to get you pizza?" Will asked for the fifth time that evening.
"Yes, look at all those groceries, they'll go bad if we don't eat them. Besides, the closest pizzeria is like 15 minutes away from here. We're in the middle of nowhere, remember?"
"And I would walk 5 hundred miles and I would walk 5 hundred more, just to be the man who walked a thousand miles to get pizza in your mouth." He sang, very poorly, I might add.
"That's sweet, but I'm fine"
I had quickly thrown a short dress over my bikini and didn't want to leave the mansion, even though my tummy practically screamed for pizza. But I didn't want Will to leave either so my tummy just had to deal with the fact that we would have pasta with vegetables for dinner.

"That was delicious, I never knew you could cook so well" Will said surprised, putting his napkin down.
"That's because you never let me cook! And the Italian atmosphere, it inspires me." I looked around, throwing my hands in the air like I was doing a magic trick. He laughed and got up to put his plate in the dishwasher, taking mine with him. I usually wasn't a good cook, he was right about that.
"So what now? Climbing a mountain? Taking a long, romantic walk on the beach? Watching TV? I'm up for anything." I leaned back in my chair, full but my stomach didn't feel heavy.
"I really like that walk at the beach-idea"
I got up, he took my hand, we spun around a few times, dancing to the music in our heads until we danced out of the door, leaving it open cause nobody could get close enough to break in, until we disappeared in the darkness...