All I Want Series Boxset, Books 1-3: All I Want for Christmas, All I Want for Valentine's, All I Want for Spring (41 page)

Holly and Rosanna were about to see panicked Tori, and she wasn’t looking forward to it. Or maybe,
just maybe
, she could style it out.

Mind over matter. She was going to be good at this.

Rosanna wasn’t wearing a helmet, just an assured sense of superiority.

“Okay — like I told Holly, the Segway is an electric scooter and you control it with your body,” Rosanna said, her Italian lilt making her draw out vowels and shorten consonants. “Find your balance and you won’t move. If you can stand on the ground, you can stand on a Segway. You follow?”

Tori nodded from her vantage point standing on the ground, even though she didn’t follow. It seemed to please Rosanna though, who was already up on her Segway, handling it as if it were her second skin.

“If you want to go forwards, you lean forwards.” Rosanna leaned forwards and the machine moved.

Tori nodded again, feeling the sun on the back of her neck. She should have put some sun lotion on before they started, her neck was already nearing sizzling point.

“If you want to go backwards, you lean backwards.” Rosanna demonstrated once again.

“And to stop?”

“To stop, you just find your natural balance point and you stop — just do the opposite of what you were doing before.” Rosanna showed Tori how to turn and stop. She was smoothness personified.

“So there are no brakes?” If Tori had been feeling iffy before, her sense of panic was rising now. How did you forget to include brakes when you were designing something like this? Surely that was a no-brainer? 

“No, but it’s easy to stop,” Rosanna replied, zipping off, stopping, reversing, then stopping. “See?”

“Not exactly,” Tori muttered, getting up onto her Segway. Which immediately started moving backwards. The panic that had been steadily rising in her chest lodged in her throat. “How do I stop again?”

Rosanna grabbed the Segway by the handle.

Jolted, Tori gripped the handles even harder, her knuckles white with exertion. She swallowed down to stop herself letting out a small scream in Rosanna’s face. If that was going to happen, she at least wanted to be moving when it did.

Tori glanced over at Holly, who gave her a thumbs up, grinning broadly.

Holly
loved
stuff like this. Which meant that Tori had to try to love stuff like this too, now that she was her girlfriend. Or at the very least, she had to fake it for a little while. Even when every cubic inch of her wanted to jump off, run to the nearest bar, order a large Prosecco and call her mum. Yes, she might be 27, but she was still a mummy’s girl at heart.

“To stop, you just do the opposite — you were going backwards, so lean forward.” Rosanna looked Tori in the eye, her gaze kind. “Don’t panic, you’re fine. The maximum speed is 20 kilometres an hour, so nobody is going to get hurt, believe me.”

Tori wanted to desperately. This was fun, she reminded herself.

This was a
fun activity
.

She was trying new things.

Holly was here and she was going to be fine. This was the two of them were sharing a new experience together, which was a
good thing
.

Tori spent the next five minutes stuttering up and down the gardens they were using to practice, Holly by her side the whole time.

All the while, Tori could feel Rosanna casting a watchful eye their way.

“It’s true what she said, you know,” Holly told Tori. “Just remember, you’re in control. And you’re not going to die.”

“Easy for you to say,” Tori muttered as her Segway bolted forward and threw her backwards. She winced, gripped the handle and regained her balance. A small ball of vomit worked its way up her windpipe, but she choked it back down. It might not be life and death, but would Tori be the first to vomit while on her Segway? It was way too early to ask Rosanna.

Rosanna hopped onto her Segway and buzzed in front of Tori and Holly. “Okay, you got the hang of it?” She was nodding enthusiastically.

She reminded Tori of one of those nodding dogs.

“Just follow me and keep close, okay?” Rosanna said. “We’re going to have a brilliant next two hours!”

Two hours?
Two whole fucking hours
? Tori had braced herself for one hour, but two? She trailed her eyes up and down Rosanna’s long, golden legs. If nothing else, the view was going to be impressive all the way.

Leaning forward as instructed, they glided out of the gardens and behind some tourists going up a small incline. Tori was keeping up, following Rosanna closely. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad, after all.

Her brain sent a signal to slow down as she approached the tourists, so she twisted the Segway’s handle to brake. Only, there was no brake and she wasn’t slowing down.

How did you slow down again?

Her mind was blank.

As if sensing something was amiss, Rosanna looked over her shoulder and both eyebrows shot up as she saw how close Tori was to her.

“Keep your distance!” she barked in her Italian brogue. “Lean back to break!”

Tori did as she was told, and felt herself slowing down. Relief seeped through her being. Crashing into Rosanna within a minute wasn’t optimal.

But then Tori started gliding slowly backwards.

And Holly was behind her.

What if her Segway suddenly became possessed and she slammed into Holly and killed her?

Please don’t let me kill Holly, she thought.

Tori didn’t kill Holly.

But that didn’t stop panic filling her ears as she sailed past Holly backwards, almost in slow motion, like she was in some terrible comedy cartoon.

Holly reached out and tried to grab her, but missed.

“Rosanna!” Holly yelled, as Tori continued her reverse journey, people scattering to both sides as she rumbled backwards down the slope and out of control.

Should she just let go and jump off?
Probably not the best idea: Tori could just imagine the runaway Segway ploughing into tourists.

Was she going to kill someone, if not herself? It was a possibility.

Rosanna turned around and swivelled on her Segway, chasing Tori down the hill. “Lean forwards!” she shouted.

Rosanna was beside Tori in seconds, just as Tori was about to run into the back of a woman with impossibly glossy hair.

Tori leaned forward so much, she almost fell off her Segway, her body now inclined like a ski jumper.

The woman jumped out of the way at the last moment. “What the hell are you doing?” she yelled in smooth English, which jolted Tori. Why did she know that voice?

Rosanna reached over and grabbed her handle.

Tori came to a stop.

“Don’t lean
so
far forward,” Rosanna told her, her voice remarkably restrained.

Then Rosanna turned to the woman Tori had nearly run over. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “She’s just learning to ride the Segway. I apologise.”

The woman took off her sunglasses and drew herself up to her full height, which still wasn’t as high as being on a Segway.

And that’s when Tori realised why she knew the voice — because she knew the face and the body.

It was Cara. Tori’s cheeks burned with embarrassment. Of all the women in all of Rome, she had to try to nearly run over Cara. All she could hope was that Cara wouldn’t recognise her with a helmet on.

“Well maybe you should teach them somewhere a bit less crowded?” Cara said, shaking her head. She was just about to carry on when she took a step closer, peering upwards.

“Tori?” she said.

Tori didn’t think she could be any more embarrassed than she was at that moment. Her toes curled in her trainers, her vocal chords curled in her throat.

Devoid of a voice, she nodded. She just wanted the ground to swallow her up.

Cara let out an exasperated sigh. “Well,
fucking hell
. If you don’t want to sleep with me, there’s no need to take it
this
far and try to kill me!” She shook her head, turned and stormed off.

What had Tori done so wrong in a previous life to run into Cara again, almost literally?

If Tori had felt hot beforehand, it was nothing compared to now. Her hands slipped on her Segway handles, and two beads of sweat raced each other down her back, causing her to wriggle as they pooled at the top of her bum.

Rosanna, who was still holding onto Tori’s Segway, had been silent up till now.

“Friend of yours?” she asked.

Tori winced, as Holly drew level with her. “Something like that,” she told Rosanna.

“You okay?” Holly asked.

Tori nodded, even though she wasn’t. “I just need to take better aim next time.”

Holly laughed, and that broke the tension in the air.

Rosanna looked from Tori, to Holly, then back.

“We’re going to get you back up and running, okay?”

Tori nodded. “Okay.”

She wanted to cry.

“I’m going to let go, and you’re going to find your balance and stand still.” She focused on Tori. “Is that okay?”

Rosanna was holding tight to Tori’s Segway, with Holly a concerned onlooker over Rosanna’s shoulder.

“Ready?”

Tori nodded decisively. Precisely the opposite of how she felt inside, but what else could she do? She was halfway up this particular mountain, now she just had to get down the other side. Nearly running over Cara was a sideshow she could debate later. For now, it was operation Segway.

Rosanna let go. “Remember — control it with your body. Let your body do the talking.” Rosanna raised an eyebrow at Tori as she swayed side to side on her Segway. “It’s like dancing — you like to dance?”

“Love to dance,” Tori replied. Only, the dancing she did was generally on solid ground, there was a huge difference.

Rosanna turned on her film-star smile again. “Perfect! Dance with the Segway. And remember: they only move when you do.”

Tori tottered, forward, then back, her machine wavering on the flat ground. But then she found her balance and just like that, so did the Segway.

“Oh my god, I’m standing still! It’s a miracle in the Eternal City!” Tori was grinning over at Holly, who gave her a round of applause. Tori stood upright on her machine, feeling 100-feet tall.

Maybe she could master this thing, after all.

Just then, another tour group swished by them. Seven Segway riders all in a perfect symmetrical line, showing Tori exactly how it was done.

Tori furrowed her brow. “Not quite there yet, am I?” Tori’s face was flushed with exertion and they’d only gone 50 metres.

“You just got on,” Rosanna said, fixing Tori with an encouraging smile. “They’re coming to the end of their tour. By the end, you’ll be riding just like them too, I promise. Ready to go again?”

Tori nodded, before glancing over at Holly. “I hope you’re finding this amusing,” she said.

Holly shook her head. “I just wish I’d had my phone out to video you sailing down the hill backwards, and then nearly running over Cara.” She wiped a tear from her eye.

Rosanna swivelled round on her Segway, coming to a stop in front of Tori. “Okay?”

Holly leaned in and gripped Tori’s hand, before letting go. “You go first, I’ve got your back,” she said. “You’re doing really well. And if you do go backwards again, I promise I’ll catch you this time.”

Tori’s heart wilted with love. If nothing else, Holly had her back, like always.

Rosanna leaned forward and Tori followed. They circuited up the wide pavement surrounded by towering townhouses with shops and restaurants at street level, and then took a left, down a narrow shaded path with high walls the colour of biscuit. With fewer barriers and people to run into, Tori lessened her grip on her Segway handle and settled back for the ride. Until she realised she was going backwards again, but instead of panicking, she leaned forward.

That showed learning.

They exited the shaded lane into a gloriously sunny piazza, busy with tourists having brunch and strolling around Rome.

But all Tori saw were safety hazards, things to bump into.

Focus, she could do this. 

The sky above was cloudless and clear, the sun a relentless ball of fire.

Rosanna came to an effortless stop, before turning to Tori, whose Segway was a few metres away, but still moving.

“Stop for a minute,” Rosanna said.

Tori tugged on the handle but kept coming. She wasn’t stopping. How did you stop again?

“Don’t use the handle, use your body! Lean back!”

The words entered Tori’s brain, but her body didn’t react in time. Tori slid silently towards Rosanna, but the guide manoeuvred out the way at the last minute, before grabbing Tori’s Segway again.

“Are you this bad at dancing, too?” Rosanna asked, a grin tweaking the corners of her mouth.

Tori chuckled at her guide’s bluntness. Rosanna’s strong, tanned forearm had a hold of Tori’s Segway, and they were so close, Tori could smell her floral perfume.

Rosanna straightened up and took off her sunglasses, wiping her forearm across her brow. “Hot Sunday in Roma, no?”

As Rosanna stretched out her arm, she flexed her wrists and Tori spotted a tattoo on the inside of one of them — two women’s symbols intertwined.
Now that was a surprise. Did Rosanna bat for their team, too?

Suddenly, Tori wanted to do better, to not be shown up as the lesbian who couldn’t ride a Segway. She wanted to glide along, hair flowing in the wind, just like Rosanna. Well, strands of hair sticking out from beneath her helmet flowing in the wind, but that was better than she’d been managing so far.

“So, you ready to go on a longer ride? Once you get going, I’m sure you’ll pick it up,” Rosanna said.

Rosanna was relentlessly optimistic, which Tori appreciated. She was horrible at this, but Rosanna believed in her.

Beside her, Holly was showing her own form of belief by snapping a photo of her frowning girlfriend.

“Don’t you dare post that to Facebook or Instagram,” Tori said, wagging a finger in Holly’s direction.

Holly held up her hands as she laughed. “No Wi-Fi, you’ll be pleased to hear.”

It wasn’t lost on Tori that Holly was standing on her Segway hands-free. Frankly, she was just showing off now, but Tori had accepted it. There were some things Holly was good at, and some things Tori excelled in. Holly was great at cooking, getting stuff done and riding a Segway. Whereas Tori was good at… Her mind was blank. It was the stress of the morning. She’d have a think and come back to that one.