The couple in front, Americans by the sound of them
Everyone always assumed we were married, or at least partners. But our relationship was one of friendship; deep, since-we-were-born friendship. Admittedly, we were each others' first kiss, but that was at the age of nine, so surely doesn't count.
Bobby and I – my name's Grace, by the way, - Bobby and I were born in the same hospital, in the same ward… in fact, our moms were in adjacent beds. Bobby was first and then, an hour later, me. We were both premature by about a week, so our folks got to know each other while we stayed in the hospital. As it turns out, they lived quite close to each other, so made plans to meet up after they'd left the hospital.
Over the years as we grew up, Bobby and me were playmates. We were often brought to each other's home by our moms, who'd become good friends, we went to pre-school together, elementary school, middle school, high school… I remember I was absurdly jealous of his first girlfriend, in middle school. I'd been used so long to having all his attention for my own… of course, a few weeks after that I got a boyfriend, and forgave him.
People in high school found it odd we were such close friends. He was really into music and drama, stuff like that, while I preferred the sciences. Still, it didn't push us apart at all, not even when we discovered that our friends didn't actually like each other all that much. Mine found his a bit too loud and outgoing, and his thought mine dull and uninteresting. But we survived high school, friendship still intact.
It was hard, knowing we'd be going to different colleges – him for music and me for biochemistry – so we decided to spend a year travelling in Europe first. I remember feeling so excited on the plane over to France… we were going to go down through France, loop through the top of Italy then up through Switzerland and Germany to Austria, through the Czech Republic, Poland and Belarus to Russia, and fly back to the US.
Well, France was amazing. We landed in Paris and booked into a hotel, then went and saw the Eiffel Tower. The next day we hired a car and went to visit the Louvre… Bobby had a better time of it than I did. That Mona Lisa really isn't all that, is it? I liked Toulouse a lot better, and Lyon was beautiful.
Italy started pretty well. We stopped in Turino and went to the Egypt Museum, Royal Palace and Basilica. The next day we lazed around in a big park – the Parco del Valentino, I think it was called. Next we drove to Savona, a seaside port, and stopped there a few hours. We spent the rest of the day in Genoa.
Our plan was to visit Volterra the next day for the festival, then go to Firenze and Bologna. Well, we managed the first bit.
There was such a queue of traffic outside Volterra – it seemed everyone in the area was there that day. Bobby pulled over well outside the city, and we made our way past all the cars on foot… it was maybe a bit cruel of us to wave at those stuck in the cars, but it was funny.
We'd made our way maybe half-way to the city when we met her. The woman was stunning… she was supermodel-tall, with bright blonde hair that on anyone else, I think, would have looked fake. Her eyes were the most beautiful violet… Anyway Bobby, being male, dragged me over to start a conversation.
"Ciao" he greeted her. "sei… molto bella." His stumbling Italian gave him away, and she turned a brilliant smile to him.
"Inglese?" her voice was almost more beautiful than the rest of her, if possible. Bobby nodded dumbly, so I spoke up.
"Actually we're American." Bobby glanced over at me, and managed to regain focus.
"Uh yeah, American, not English." He managed. She smiled again, and it was even more dazzling than the first time.
"Would you like a guide to the city?" she asked, voice melodious. Bobby just gaped at her, leaving me to answer. His obvious enthrallment had been funny at first, but it had steadily gotten more and more irritating.
"That'd be great." I said, "I guess all this" and here I gestured to the line of immobile cars "is because of the festival?" She smiled again, and this time it was a little… off. Somehow… predatory.
"Yes." She nodded. "St. Marcus Day always attracts a great many visitors to our city."
She set off towards the city, and we followed. Slowly, Heidi (she'd introduced herself as this since) gathered more people to her, and together we entered the city of Volterra. But I'll leave that to someone else to tell.