Chapter 4: Ezio

I was going on a date with Ezio. I am still shocked that I was able to get a date with him, let alone how easy it was. It surprised me that he was the one who asked me and not vise versa. I continued to get ready for my classes for the day. My guess was that today was going to be a very long day because I was too excited for tonight to come. I walked out and closed the door behind me. I was off to school, but I stopped at the school's bulletin board. It was always nice to take a quick look and see what was going on. If there was anything new. There was a flier advertising a new apartment space for rent. I took the little slip of paper with the number on it. It wouldn't hurt, plus I wanted to try and find a new place to live. I wasn't fond of living with Cesare for much longer, especially after that incident. I slipped the piece of paper into my pocket and started to walk again.

It was after a few minutes of walking that she finally arrived at class. Today it was pickpocketing basics with Volpé. I let my books fall down to my desk and I then soon followed my plopping down into my seat. I looked over at the others have what seemed to be a weird conversation about something or other. I listened in closer to what Malik, Altaïr and Jones were talking about.

"Here. I got you a present." Malik gave Altaïr a tiny, dull pencil. Altaïr threw the pencil at Jones and it fell to the floor not so gracefully.

"I don't want it."

"Why would you throw it at her?"

Jones picked the pencil back up and off of the floor. She placed it on the top of Altaïr's desk. He then threw it onto the ground again.

"You're so mean." Malik placed the pencil on Jones' desk. "Here Jones. Have a present."

"Thanks Malik." Jones placed it nicely on her desk.

"Look Altaïr. See. She takes the present even though she doesn't want it."

Jones turned her gaze towards me. It made me a little on edge because she gave that mischievous smile like she was planning something. "So have you and Ezio figured out when you two are going to have your date?" Perfect. Now everybody here knows. As much as I am looking forward to going out with Ezio, I didn't particularly want everybody to know about it. I like to keep my private life to myself.

"You're bluffing." Altair said, "Ezio wouldn't go out with her."

"Well then you don't know what happened between the two of them in the infirmary when Evangelina was injured. If you did, then you would know."

"But Ezio doesn't date anyone."

"Ezio use to not date anyone. Now it's more like Ezio only dates Evangelina."

"I'd like to see proof of that."

"Sure. Evangelina?"

"We're going out tonight. Happy?" I admitted.

"See I told you. That's also why I can't hang out this evening is because I'm helping her get ready for the date tonight. We can't have her looking like a mess can we?"

"Jones please. I don't need any help. I'll be fine by myself."

"I don't think so. I'm coming over to help you get ready for your date with Ezio and I'm not taking no for an answer. You'll regret it if you don't"

"Fine. Can we please at least change the subject now."

"Alright."

We sat there chatting about random gossip about the other assassins and the templars until the class actually started. The actual lecture about pickpocketing wasn't much better either. I mean, it wasn't that hard of a concept to understand. The time was just dragging on by and it felt like ages, but class was finally over. Jones and I walked back to my dorm room together.

"So do you think that I have a chance to be with Ezio?"

"You put yourself down, way to much. Perhaps if you had a little bit more confidence in yourself and your abilities you and Ezio might actually become more than just friends."

"I do have confidence. Perhaps it is because I am sometimes a bit shy and nervous around other people."

"Well you're shy and nervous because of the lack of confidence in yourself. If you did believe in yourself, you wouldn't be shy around others. That's the way it works."

"I guess you're right."

"I am. Trust me."

"Ok. Then how do I gain more confidence."

"Don't be afraid of what others may think of you. Just do whatever the hell you feel like doing."

"Easier said than done."

"I was just giving you some advice. You can take it or leave it."

"Alright. So what do you think I should wear."

"I think because it's more of a casual date, that your good pair of jeans and the red, frilly blouse."

I changed out of my robes and put on my clothes that I was going to wear on my date with Ezio. I then walked over to the computer chair and pulled it over closer to the dresser. Before I sat down I opened up one of the drawers and pulled out a straightening iron and pointed it towards Jones. I looked at her with probably a not-so-graceful puppy dog face.

"Will you do the honours?"

"If you really want me to, then I guess I will."

I plugged the cord into the wall and then sat down on the chair. I stared in the mirror and Jones slid the straightening iron over all of my hair. It slowly began to straighten out and become less of a wavy mess. Once it was fairly good, Jones stopped and placed it on top of the dresser carefully. I looked up at her in the mirror.

"How do I look?"

"You look like someone who is about to go on a date with Ezio."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"I would say a good thing. If it was a bad thing, we would still be working at making you Ezio ready."

I gave a slight sigh of relief. Jones unplugged the straightening iron and placed the cord beside it to leave it cool down. I turned around and leaned back in the chair. It wouldn't be too long before I would hear a knock at the door and I wasn't entirely sure if I was ready for it. Despite being an assassin, I certainly got nervous and scared easily.

"What do you think that Ezio and I will be doing on our date?"

"I'm not sure, but you're about to find out. Good luck."

"What?" A loud knock came from the door. I quickly whipped my head around to see who it was at the door. I saw it open and Ezio's face peered in. That's probably what Jones meant by You're about to find out. She knew that he was either there listening or saw him coming. The Good luck also made more sense now, and perhaps she thought that I needed it to get through the date successfully. I looked back to see that she was now gone. She never ceased to surprise me. It was clear that she had stealthily and ever so quietly, slipped away without making a single sound. That would be her alright. I looked back towards Ezio. He was looking at me with content eyes, while closing the door behind him.

"Are you all ready to go, or do you still need a little bit more time?"

"Oh. Don't worry. I've just finished getting ready. We can get going now."

"Alright. Then follow me."

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see soon enough. I think you'll be happy about it."

He jumped out the dorm window with ease. All I could think was Shit. How am I suppose to do that. I thought that he would have known how terrible an assassin I am and not to do all this shazam that I clearly wasn't any good at. I wondered if he realized that I was still on the no strenuous work list. Not wanting to make the date a drag and just stand there like an idiot, I attempted to do the same. I surprisingly didn't mess up, but there was plenty more time to make a mistake. I continued moving at a slow pace. I saw Ezio waiting on a rooftop up ahead. It was a good thing that he didn't look mad.

"Sorry for going to fast. I forgot that you still can't do much. I'll try to slow down the pace a bit. We're almost there so you should be fine, right?"

I nodded and gave him a slight smile in approval. He smiled back and turned so he could continuing running, but this time at a much slower pace then he usually did. He was right though that we were almost there because he fully stopped a couple buildings later. He stood there facing forward and I walked up behind him to see what he was looking at. I understood now why he didn't turn around to look at me. We stood there for a moment in silence. I took in the beautiful scene of the trees and the ocean floating behind it. I never noticed it and its beauty before now.

"I thought that you might like having our date up here. It's beautiful, generally private, but also not too intimate. This is somewhere good for a first date. Don't you agree?"

"Yeah."

I took a few steps forward, towards the scene in front of me. It was almost mesmerizing. I watched as Ezio walked to the edge of the building and sat down. His legs dangled off the side. He looked back at me and patted his hand on the stone ledge beside him. I walked over to him and sat down so my legs were also dangling off the edge. I continued to look ahead, avoiding making eye contact with him. I was too scared to make that connection.

"Are you feeling any better since I last saw you?"

"I still feel pains every so often, but it's not as bad. I can bare with it."

"It's beautiful isn't it. I come here when I want to escape from everything else."

"Why did you ask me out? Was it because you pity me?"

"I don't pity you at all. That's not it and I'm not sure how you got that notion in your head."

I turned my gaze towards Ezio. "Well maybe it's because the only time you really had any sort of a conversation is when you were forced to talk to me in the infirmary. When you saw me injured and knew that I had a crush on you, you took pity and thought you'd be nice and have this date. It was either that or Jones forced you."

"I'm sorry if that's what you think, but I made this choice on my own part. I didn't pity you and Jones had no part in it."

"Alright. We'll see."

Both me and Ezio looked instinctively back because there was some kind of noise coming from behind us. It was kind of frustrating to know that someone was listening into our conversation. It was a good thing that it wasn't a very intimate conversation or anything like that.

"Who's there?" Some more rustling and noise continued. Ezio stood up.

Ezio stretched his neck to try and look behind the rooftop garden to try and see if he could see who it was. It didn't take too long because Altaïr came tumbling out from behind it. I should have guessed that it was him. He probably was following us to see if we were actually out on a date because he didn't believe us back when we were at class.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you two."

He took a few more steps forward and somehow managed to trip over his own feet. I didn't realize how clumsy he actually was. He was worse than I was. He came flying towards me with his arms pushed in front of himself. My eyes widen as he slowly fell towards me and then pushing me off of the side of the building. I could feel the air rush past me as I quickly began to fall to the ground. I wasn't sure if I would make it past this incident alive. My eyes closed and I held my breathe. I could feel my heart pounding hard, almost pushing itself out of my chest. I remained falling as I prayed and made my last wishes. Thought flashed past my eyes.

Just as I was ready to let go of my life and hit the dirt ground, a pair of arms made their way around my body. I could feel their muscles tighten around me to stop me from falling. I opened my eyes to see that their was a pair of hazel eyes looking back at me. Those caring hazel eyes that belong to Ezio. He had probably saved my life. The Ezio Auditore da Firenze I owed him my gratitude now.

OoOoOoO

This was a really fun chapter to write and from the writer's perspective, it ends on a good note because there is quite a bit that I can write about in the next chapter and it really leaves in tons of suspense! The next chapter is already in the words and the march break is coming so there is going to be a lot more chapter coming within the next little while.