Bella (6 page)

    
“
Excuse me, is it ok if I sit ere?
”

   I
nodded and the man sat down next to me, I noticed his accent was different.

  
“
Ciao
, my name
’
s Marco. I move here
from Italy not long ago.
”

He must
have been at least 6
’
2; he was wearing a
big thick leather coat and he looked a lot like a young David Essex. He looked
at me.

  
“
What
’
s your name?
”

  
“
Oh I
’
m sorry, my name
’
s Bella.
”
He laughed.

  
“
Bella
…
..Bella in Italian means beautiful and good name
for you. You are
Bella
……
.
”

 I could
feel myself blushing.

 
“
What such a beautiful lady doing out alone on
such a cold evening, or maybe I bad man to ask?
”

We
talked for a while then I looked at my watch.

  
“
I better go home now, otherwise my step mother
’
ll send out a search party.
”
I told him.

  
“
I have a night off on Saturday, can I see you
again?
“

  
“
You don
’
t waste much time do you.
”
I laughed.
“
OK! I`d like that.
”
I told him. I felt happy knowing I was going to
see this gorgeous Italian again.

We started
heading towards my home and I pointed to my house in the distance.

  
“
That
’
s where I live; we haven
’
t been there very long,

but I
already love it so much, it
’
s very cosy.
”

Marco
was a gentleman and walked me all the way home. I decided not to invite him in
though, as we had only just met.

   
“
I pick you up on Saturday evening then, about 8.
Is that ok?  I take you to a good lobster restaurant my friend at work tells me
about.
”

His sexy
accent and his cheeky smile made my knees wobble.

  
“
8 o`clock is fine.
”
I managed to answer.

He
looked at me and said. 

    
“
You have such beautiful blue eyes. I not want to
take my eyes from you.
”

    I
felt myself blush and didn
’
t know what to say.

He gave
me a kiss on my cheek and I felt a warm tingle running down my spine.

 At home
Tammy was in the kitchen making a coffee

   
“
Is that you Bella? Where
’
ve you been so long? I was worried about you.
”

  
“
I went for a long walk along the beach and met
a        gorgeous Italian man called Marco. We talked for ages and then he
asked me for a date on Saturday.
”

Tammy
looked worried.

  
“
Be careful Bella, you don`t know this man.
”

  
“
I will be fine Tammy, stop worrying so much. I
’
m a big girl now.
”
 

The next
morning Tammy cooked me a birthday breakfast.  She
’
d invited all the family to celebrate. We sat at
the table and tucked into a full English breakfast; with freshly squeezed
orange juice and ground coffee.

Tammy
gave me a beautiful gold locket with a picture of my mother and father in it. I
kissed her on the cheek.

  
“
Oh thanks, It`s beautiful, it
’
s the best present I
‘
ve ever had,
”
I told her excitedly.

Lizzie
and James give me a voucher to buy a book: I loved reading, especially snuggled
up in bed on a cold winter
’
s night. Simon and
Victoria gave me a gold watch with my name engraved on the back of it and Ben
gave me a dress he
’
d designed at
University.

  
“
Thanks so much. They are lovely presents.
”
I said.

Later
that morning, Tammy asked me to go shopping with her and treated me to lunch.

   Just
as we arrived back home, Simon arrived in his jeep with our Christmas tree.
Tammy made a start on the food for my party and Simon stayed to help me
decorate the tree. As I reached into the box to take out the last bell, he had
the same idea and our hands touched. It was like an electric shock running
through my veins. I pulled my hand away quickly.

   
“
Bella, I just wanted to hand this to you because
it
’
s your name sake.
What did you think I was going to do
……
.
”
He chuckled.

   That
evening we all laughed and had a few drinks. Lots of food had been laid out on
our big dining room table, sausage
rolls, sandwiches, chicken
drumsticks, and yummy mouth-watering cakes. The best thing of all was my
chocolate birthday cake Tammy had made. Everyone gathered round and sang
‘
happy birthday
.
’
Simon held my gaze
for a few seconds and smiled. My heart always did a somersault when he smiled;
he had such a lovely smile.

Tammy
had made a punch, which left me feeling rather tipsy.

I
decided to go outside and get some fresh air. I sat on the veranda taking in
big breaths air hoping it would sober me up.

The snow
was coming down heavy and fast and looked like a thick white carpet. How pretty
it looked falling down over Lighthouse Cove. I shivered; It was freezing but I
didn`t want to leave just yet.

   Simon
came outside and sat down and put his arm around me. My heart quickened with
excitement.

  
“
I haven
’
t had a chance to talk to you lately Bella, I miss our
chats.
”

He gave
me a kiss on the cheek, his breath felt warm against my cold skin. I wanted to
turn and kiss him on his lips, instead I said nothing; I got up quickly and ran
inside.
What is wrong with me
, I thought. My feelings for Simon were
getting stronger and they were definitely not the feelings I should
’
ve had for my own brother. I felt extremely
confused.

   We
woke up the next morning to a white Christmas.  I helped Tammy prepare the
dinner while we sang at the top of our voices to all the Christmas songs on the
radio. Later that day we all sat down to a big dinner of roast turkey. After we
moved to the living room to open our presents and enjoy glasses of mulled wine
which we drank while continuing the festivities.

I told
Victoria that I
’
d met an Italian man
called Marco and that he was taking me on a date on Saturday.

  
“
Italian
…
You lucky girl! Where did you meet him?
”

She
asked.

  
“
I met him a couple of days ago when I went out
for a walk on the beach. I was sat down day dreaming and he just sort of
appeared.
”

  
“
What
’
s he like Bella?
”
She asked inquisitively.

   
“
He`s incredibly good looking, and has an really
sexy accent. I like him but its early days, after our date I
’
ll be able to tell you more.
”
I answered.

She
turned to Simon who was sitting directly opposite me.

  
“
Bella`s got a date on Saturday with a sexy Italian.
”
She informed him. I could feel myself blushing.
He was looking directly at me and for some reason he didn
’
t look too pleased.

  
Saturday arrived and I felt somewhat nervous. I decided to wear the dress that
Ben had made for me. Victoria offered to style my hair and Lizzie did my
make-up. When I looked in the mirror, I couldn
’
t believe the reflection looking back at me. I
sprayed myself with my favourite perfume that I`d got for Christmas from
Lizzie.

   I sat
by the living room window nervously waiting for Marco to arrive, he actually
arrived five minutes early.

When I
opened the door he whistled at me and said 

  
“
You look stunning.
”

As he
escorted me to his car he held on tightly because I was afraid I would slip. He
was a real gentleman and even opened the car door for me.

   He
drove along the shore merrily whistling along to the tunes on the radio. He
pointed to the restaurant where he worked.

  
“
That`s where I take you.
”

The
lobster restaurant was on top of the cliff overlooking the bay. We sat by the
window, and had a lovely view of the
whole town; it looked so pretty.
 
The
lobster Marco ordered was mouth-watering, along with a nice bottle of
Chardonnay to accompany it. We had a lovely evening; chatting and laughing.

We
finished the meal off with coffee, mince pies and a small cognac.

     
“
Tell me about your family
“
I asked Marco.

 For
some reason he looked uncomfortable with my question and changed the subject,
so I decided not to push.

  
“
Let us go for walk, it`s a beautiful night.
”
He proposed. We walked along the promenade hand
in hand. The night was clear, the stars were out and there was a full moon. I
joked to Marco.

   
“
I might turn into a werewolf.
”

He
looked confused.

  
“
Werewolf!
What is werewolf?

I
laughed and tried imitating a werewolf until he understood.

  
“
You are funny lady.
”
And we both started laughing.

I hadn
’
t felt so content in a long time and for once I
realised I wasn`t thinking of Simon. We walked along the beach, It was
freezing; Marco stopped and pointed to a shooting star.

     
“
Make wish Bella.
”
          

When I
closed my eyes to make a wish, I felt his soft lips brush mine, and the
excitement rushed through my body. I opened my mouth beckoning for more and we
kissed until we could kiss no more. I felt so excited and content. I didn`t
want those moments to stop.

We
walked back to Marco
’
s car and he drove me
home.

The
small light in the hallway was shining through the window and I decided to
invite Marco in for a nightcap.

Tammy
had gone to bed, and Ben was studying quietly in the dining room. Marco went
outside to look at the view from our garden while I poured the drinks.

   
“
What amazing view you have from ere Bella.
”
He shouted.

All of a
sudden I could feel eyes drilling into the back of my neck. I turned round to
see Simon standing there and he didn
’
t look very amused.

     
“
Who is he Bella?
”
He demanded.

Marco
came back in, and Simon looked at him frostily; I could see that he looked
uncomfortable, so I introduced him to Simon. He put out his hand to shake Simon
’
s however; Simon was very rude and left the room
without saying a word. I felt extremely embarrassed.