Ah, Chapter 2. What can I say about Chapter 2? Oh, I must tell you that the part about American Express not being open on Mondays? Absolutely true. It happened to me. Flew across an ocean, only to discover that I didn't have any money until the next day. In fact, everywhere that Meredith and Derek go in Rome I have been to. Just reading this again makes me nostalgic to go there again. sigh.
He doesn't know why he felt compelled to flirt with a perfect stranger on the steps of the Piazza de Spagna. He certainly shouldn't be flirting with anyone, never mind someone who clearly hadn't wanted anything to do with him. But something about this grumpy little person with frazzled honey-blonde hair and a tiny little frame amuses him, calls to him, and makes him want to spend just a little more time with her.
He certainly had been paying his own mind, eyes closed even, when she had rudely disrupted his alone time. He would have never even known she was there if she hadn't let out that cute little explicative. And when he had opened his eyes, she had looked so cutely disgruntled that he couldn't help at least trying to make her feel better.
His admiration of her had shot up about ten degrees though when she had plainly ignored him. Normally it would have galled him to no end. He wasn't used to being ignored by anyone, especially a beautiful woman. But when she had turned that dazzling smile his way, he would have forgiven her anything. He honestly couldn't say what he had said after that because he had been totally captivated by her. The way her eyes looked green and luminous one minute and blue the next. The way she covered up her vulnerabilities with brashness and prickliness. But if you truly wanted to see what was going on within her, you just had to stare into those cool depths. Disconcerting, to say the least.
So by the time she had dropped her hands into her lap and given out one of the hugest sighs he had ever heard, he was a goner. Then she had given him the most wonderful thing ever: an in. She didn't know where her hotel was. He didn't know where it was either, but he was certainly going to find someone who did. There was a certain someone. It didn't matter. As long as he got to spend a little more time with this fascinating creature. It was just an espresso after all, right?
"So, we need to take the Metro." He says as they descend the last of the steps, and he starts to veer left toward the station.
She comes to a quick stop though and stares at him suspiciously. "Wow, wow, you didn't say anything about the Metro."
He just loves the way she stands there with her hands on her hips, actually thinking her little act will deter him from getting her to do what he wants. "Well, my friend is at the Capitolino. We could walk there but it might be time for an aperitif rather than an espresso by the time we get there." He argues reasonably at the same time projecting a little bit of the boyish charm he knows he possesses.
"Fine." She agrees reluctantly and they continue to walk along the square.
They walk companionably for a few minutes, neither saying a word, when he suddenly realizes that she has no luggage.
"Did you leave your luggage in one of the lockers?" He asks as they pass into the mouth of the metro station.
She looks down, as if to check that no she does not have her luggage, and then does the cutest thing he has ever seen: she blushes. "Oh no." She sputters as the blush continues to grow. "I left in kind of a hurry."
He is momentarily shocked to realize that someone made an entire trip to Europe without an ounce of luggage. No change of underwear? She'd probably slap him if he asked her that though. Addie would have died without her complete Louis Vitton matched set, hand bag and all. This woman had what he would consider a stylish knap-sack and seemed unfazed. This was getting more interesting by the second!
"Must have been some hurry." He half mumbles to himself, but it rewarded by her giving him an impish half-smile.
They come upon the ticketed turnstiles, and he quickly punches two metro tickets before she can say anything. He can tell she wants to say something, but he pretends to not notice her discomfiture and blithely leads them on. They push their way into the crowd, but he makes sure to keep a close eye on her as they are pushed along onto the train by the teaming masses. She looks so bewildered by it all, but covers it all with a cool demeanor.
"So what's your story then?" He asks as they come to some semblance of resting. The train is so full that he finds himself almost pushed up against her. He can even smell some kind of flower scent coming from her hair as the train jostles them onward to their destination.
"I don't have a story." She responds vaguely, but with a beguiling smile.
"Oh, so you travel across entire oceans without changes of clothing all of the time. I see, boring ole me. I would be desperate without a clean pair of socks." He teases as he tries to pry some information out of her.
She laughs a little at his obvious attempt at a joke, but only responds, "I'm just a girl on vacation. Here to see the sights and all that jazz. What about you?"
What about him? Oh crap. What is he supposed to tell her? Oh yes, I'm just on my last week of freedom before I settle down into a life of marital and princely duties. She'd bolt so fast his head would probably spin.
"Oh, just a guy on vacation myself. The sites and all that jazz." He repeats with a sparkling smile. Technically, it's the truth. Well, kind of.
He can tell she isn't entirely satisfied with his answer, but she lets it slide for now. He turns to watch what station they are coming to, when she announces, "Actually, I was hoping to buy some clothes while I was here. Would you have any recommendations?"
He looks down to asses what clothes she has on and an unbidden thought of 'what about nothing on at all?' pops into his head. Bad Derek, bad. He clears his throat and tries to cover his sudden uncomfortableness with, "Well, this season's mauve sundress would be just the thing for you. I would have gotten one myself, but it didn't go with my skin tone."
"You are no help." She reprimands, but with a little giggle that about sets his heart to stopping in his chest.
"Fine, if you don't want my help, I can understand." He says as he fakes deep hurt. What he's really trying to do is fool himself into thinking that strange little flip in his chest didn't just happen.
He looks around in relief to see that they have reached their stop. They push their way through the mounds of people and find it hard to speak as they are shuttled up the terminal and finally out into the welcome sunshine.
They come out behind the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II, and he introduces it to her as, "This is Monument to Vittorio Emmanual, the first unified king of Italy."
"Italy didn't have kings?" She asks in confusion, clearly not a history buff.
"Oh no, Italy was originally a series of city-states that got taken over by some empire after another. It wasn't until this guy, Vittorio Emmanual," He says as he points to the monument, "beat up some other guy in 1861 that Italy became a unified country. It only lasted about 50 years though. The citizens of Rome voted to make Italy a republic in 1946 and the royal family was forced to leave the country." Information that had beaten into him before he could even take solid food.
"Fascinating." Meredith comments as they make their way around said monument and onto the Via dei fori imperiali. She's too caught up in perusing the building to notice the pensive frown marring his features.
His frown gets turned upside down though when he hears a very loud "Duca" from just the person he was hoping to see shouted from across the street.
Okay, she was certifiably crazy. Here she was traipsing after a complete stranger that told her he "knew" someone who knew where her hotel was. Only a few people even knew where she was. He could be a serial killer for all she knew. A sexy serial killer, but a serial killer none the less. She was going meet this friend of his, have an espresso with him, and then she was going to get as far from him as possible. Yep, that was the plan.
For more than one reason: he made her weak at the knees. She had been holding it together admirably on the METRO, at least she liked to think so, when she could have sworn she saw him smell her hair. He had been very nice so far though, paying for her metro ticket, leading her through the crowds, and generally just being very charming and fun to be with. It was just dangerous how charming he was though. One little twinkle of his eye and she felt herself willing to do whatever he wanted. That was so not good. She was here to get perspective, not fall victim to a little twinkling. She blamed it on her lack of sleep. Yeah, that was it. As soon as she got some caffeine in her and could think straight again, she'd put up more a fight. Yep.
She was half-listening to Derek explain about the kings of Italy, wondering just how much longer it would be before she got some espresso, when she heard someone yell, "Duca" from across the street. She would have just kept on walking if Derek hadn't gotten the hugest grin on his face and called back jovially, "Richard!"
She looks across the street to see a very smiling and very happy older black man bounding toward them, apparently just having come out of some café on the other side of the street. He's a little taller than Derek and has a larger frame than him, but he is anything but imposing. He has the hugest grin on his face, obviously very happy to see Derek. Both men smile at each other as only very good acquaintances can do, Richard kissing Derek on both cheeks, European style, and patting Derek on the back all at once.
"I didn't expect to see you this week!" Richard greets Derek jovially, and then after a second adds, "Flown the coupe, have you?"
Derek chuckles knowingly, but then says meaningfully while staring at Meredith, "Yes, my MOTHER and SISTERS were driving me crazy. I thought I'd get out and see some of the sites."
"Ah, yes." Richard says confusedly as he looks over to see Meredith for the first time. Suddenly, his face breaks out into a huge grin and he is way too happy to see her too. "You naughty boy, you." He says as he ribs Derek in the chest, then turns to Meredith and says, "So how long have you know our Duca here?"
"Oh, only about an hour." She says playfully, this man's joviality rubbing off on her. "I've lost the address for my hotel and he is being nice enough to help me find it."
"Oh, so that's what he told you." Richard says with a side-ways glance at Derek. Derek gives him a look that says he has no idea what Richard it talking about, but Richard is having none of it. Richard turns back to Meredith and says, "Let me guess. He's making you have an espresso with him?"
Meredith looks over to find Derek almost blushing. She likes this guy more and more by the second. "He said I owed it to him after I woke him up from his sun bath." Meredith confides conspiratorially.
At this, Richard shakes his head and tsks at Derek. He places his arm over Meredith's shoulder and starts leading her away from Derek. Normally, she would have a problem with strange guys taking her by the shoulder. But she likes how this guy ribs on Derek and he seems about as harmless as an overgrown teddy bear.
As they walk across the street, Richard asks her knowingly, "Sitting on the steps, was he?" Richard goes so far to even shoot Derek a wink, who has joined them on her right.
"What can I say? I like the steps." Derek answers non-commit tally, taking good-naturedly whatever ribbing Richard gives him.
"You like 'the view' is more like it." Richard teases, quoting parenthesis in the air around the words 'the view'.
Meredith has no idea what Richard is referring to and she does feel kind of sorry for all the teasing Derek is getting, so she offers, "Actually, he did have his eyes closed, and I did rudely wake him up. I was having a bad day."
"Ah, I see. So you rudely shook him awake and forced your attentions on him. He had no choice in the matter. It is all clear to me now." Richard comments sarcastically as they reach the other side of the street and approach the doors of the restaurant that Richard just came out of.
"No." She says with a laugh, and with a twinkle toward Derek, says "I actually ignored him."
"You ignored him?" Richard responds aghast. "Oh, fatal mistake. Now you'll never get rid of him. No one ignores our Duca here."
There's that word again. "Duca?" She asks Richard, but it is Derek that responds a little too quickly, "It's Italian for Derek."
She notices a funny look pass between the two men, but she can't decide what it means. It's almost like some understanding has passed between the two of them. But then Richard shakes his head and says to her, "Well, why don't you two have your espresso in here, and I'll join you in a minute? Then we can find your hotel and you can tell me what a beautiful bella like yourself is doing alone in one of the most romantic cities in the world. Agreed?"
Meredith can't help but laugh at his extreme flattery and responds with a happy, "Agreed."
"Thank you, Richard." Derek adds sincerely.
Richard will have none of that though. He rubs his two hands together, says, "Okay then.", and takes off down the street.
Both of them turn to smile at the other at the antics of his friend. Derek is still smiling at her when he opens the door to the café and signals, "After you, signorina."
God he loves Richard, but was he trying to get him in trouble? Meredith was already shaky about following a strange man in a strange city; did he really need her to also think he was a heartless ladies man? It was true that before he had made his engagement official to Addie he had had his share of 'adventures'. And it was true that he had had a proclivity to pick up, what Richard called his 'Spanish women' from the steps. It was also true that he hadn't done that in a very long time. And it was especially true that he never brought any of them to meet Richard.
"Thank you." She answers politely with a warm smile that makes him think that he should have tried opening doors for her a lot earlier.
He follows her into the restaurant in time to hear her ask, "So how long have you known Richard?"
The door closes behind them, and he has to blink as his eyes adjust to the sudden darkness. Directly in front of them is a small hostess station, which is empty, and a very long room extending way back to their left. He looks around for the host, but can't see very much in the dimly lit space.
"Oh, probably about five years now. It feels like forever though." He says warmly. "I was on my first trip to Italy, sitting in some café in front of the Pantheon, and Richard happened to be sitting at the next table. We discovered our mutual love of espresso and ended up talking all morning. Now every time I come to Rome I look him up."
"He seems to know you very well." Meredith says with a teasing note in her eyes.
"Yes, well, he did know me in my younger wilder days." He offers semi-abashedly, not being able to hide the sort of pride a handsome man might take in such a history, but not wanting to scare her off either.
"Mhm." She responds non-commit tally, showing her disbelief that these events are in fact in his past.
Before he can even get a chance to respond to her skepticism though, the host appears from out of nowhere and remarks, "Ah, Duca! You escape from the circus, si?"
"Ramon! Yes, I have escaped from the lions den. How are you doing?" He responds back jovially, happy to see another familiar face. Richard comes here almost every day and Derek sees Richard almost every time he comes to Rome, so Ramon knows him very well.
"I am good. Ever since Richard surgeon me, I good as new." Ramon says with a very Italian snap of his fingers. Ramon just then notices Meredith standing a little off and behind Derek, and says knowingly, "Ah, you bring a lady friend with you? You must want best table."
He turns to Meredith to see what she is making of all of this. She is just staring back at him with a very amused/smug look on her face that tells him she does so not believe he isn't some kind of womanizer.
"Ramon, this is Meredith. I am helping Meredith find her way around Rome. She's having trouble finding her hotel." He explains.
Ramon believes him just about as much as Richard did though. He grabs a couple of menus from the desk and says with a little wink to Meredith as he leads them to their table, "Whatever you say signor. I know a beautiful bella when I see one."
Meredith just giggles. This was so not going the way he had planned.
"Will Signor Richard be joining you today?" Ramon asks as he leads them through an adjoining doorway. Derek sighs as they make their way out of the gloominess of the interior to the wonderfulness of the terrace.
The restaurant had originally been one giant long room and some genius had decided to parse it in half, delegating the side looking over the Foro di Augustino (Augusto's forum) to a little terrace. Little black-iron tables, akin to patio furniture, run along the outside wall, lending a view of the foro from any table.
Ramon leads them to the best table in the house, the center one with a view of the forum in one direction and the road in the other. Derek sits down in the seat facing the road, Meredith in the opposing seat. Ramon hands them their menus and asks Meredith, "I bring you espresso, yes?"
"Yes please." She says with a sigh, suddenly looking very tired. Ramon wanders off, so Meredith turns to him and says, "I think I need an espresso IV."
"I think that could be arranged." He agrees flirtily, but is chagrined to notice she is not really paying attention to him. Her attention has been grabbed by something behind him and to his left. He turns to look and laughs to see Richard coming out of a side wall in the Foro carrying a giant pail of something.
"What on earth?" Meredith asks in confusion. As she's watching, Richard waves to them and starts doling out little mounds of whatever is in his pail onto random spots along the ruins.
"You've never seen a Gattare?" Derek asks.
"Gattare?" Meredith asks in even more confusion, her face scrunching up all cute.
"Cat lady. You've never heard of Rome's cat ladies?" Derek asks again in disbelief. He thought everyone knew about Rome and her cats.
Meredith looks even more confused, looks out at Richard finishing up his job, and turns back to Derek and asks, "You're telling me Richard is a woman?"
"No! No!" He responds, not able to stop the laughter that bubbles out of his chest. He has to hold onto his chest though to keep the laughter from stopping him from getting out, "He's feeding the cats. The gattare, usually women, are people that feed all the stray cats in Rome. The cats live all in the nooks and crannies of the ruins and some kind people take the time and money to feed them. Like Richard."
And sure enough, within a few minutes, little furry bodies start popping up all around the forum. First, one little striped calico appears from behind a sturdy pile of columns, and then two fiery red ones run out from under the terrace. Pretty soon there are close to 50 cats munching away on Richard's offerings, filling up the space immediately in front of them.
Derek watches as Meredith stares in disbelief at the multitude of cats now zooming around on the forum. Then the most wonderful things happen: her face lights up completely and she lets out a wonderful full-throated laugh. God, she's wonderful. He doesn't get to enjoy his little moment for long though because Richard walks up from behind him and jogs him out of his reverie.
Not far behind is their waiter with their espresso. Richard takes his seat on the outside side between them and asks Meredith, "So you are enjoying our little gatto show?", as the waiter passes their espressos out to each of them.
"That is one of the craziest things I've ever seen. And that's saying a lot." Meredith comments, and then sighs with contentment as the fragrant brew makes its way up to her nostrils.
Him and Richard both reach to put sugar and cream in their espressos, and he's about to say something to Richard, when Meredith suddenly lifts the espresso cup and downs the entire thing in one gulp. He must have been staring at her with his mouth hanging wide open, because she looks up at him defensively and asks, "What?"
"Nothing." He answers with a little chuckle, and then turns to Richard to ask, "So how is life treating you old man?"
He watches from the corner of his eyes as Meredith leans back in her chair and closes her eyes in happy contentment. Richard smiles a little at Meredith, but then turns to Derek to say, "Oh you know, a little of this, a little of that. How about you?"
"Oh, you know. Same ole, same ole." Derek answers vaguely, obviously because of Meredith's presence.
"Are you enjoying your first experience of Roma, bella?" Richard asks Meredith, trying to include her in the conversation.
But she doesn't answer.
"Meredith?" Derek calls out.
No answer.
"I think she has fallen into dreamland." Richard conjectures as both men stare at Meredith lying back in her chair, totally relaxed with her eyes closed.
Derek thinks it's the cutest thing he's ever seen in his entire life.