Claiming Olivia II (5 page)

I reached into my purse for my phone, and pulled up the camera on it.

“Take another one with my phone,” I said handing it to him.

With a grin he held it up and told me to smile again. This time I decided to look like I was deep in mock thought with a finger to my lip and an arm wrapped around myself. When Alejo handed the phone back, I sent the picture to three people and dropped the phone back into my purse.

“Come on,” he said taking me by the hand as we left the Colosseum. “We can see it again on the way back, but there’s something I want to show you.”

“Where are we going?” I asked excitedly.

“You’ll see when we get there. It’s only a short walk away,” he replied with a laugh and putting his around my shoulders.

It was a ten minute walked filled with laughter on his end at the wonder on my face every time he pointed something out. But when we got to where he wanted to take me, I felt tears in start to well in my eyes. Never had I seen anything more beautiful than what we were finally standing in front of.

“Trevi Fountain,” he said with a slight bow.

I stood in the center of the architectural masterpiece taking it in in silence and brushing away a stray tear.

Alejo chuckled and gave me a quick squeeze before sitting on the small concrete wall that divided the waters and the visitors to the fountain.

“So, this is the story of this fountain. Apparently a long time ago, in the BC era, there was a young virgin girl who found some thirsty Roman soldiers and led them to a source of pure water. One of the Emperors, I think Augustus, had this built and named it Aqua Virgo to honor the girl. I’ve never seen it before because I’m not interested much in legend and folklore, but I thought that you would enjoy it,” he explained with a shrug.

I kept my eyes on the fountain and the splendor of it all. Moving forward, I rested my hands on his shoulders and he chuckled as he put his hands on my sides. I just stood there and stared in awe at the craftsmanship of Ancient Rome.
That looks better than most of the stuff you see these days.

Alejo patiently sat there while I spent the next half an hour just staring at the Fountain with tears streaming down my face in happy silence. I hoped the three people I had sent a picture of me in front of the Colosseum would one day get to come see something as beautiful as this. I think that was the reason for my tears, besides the obvious beauty of what I was seeing. That I was here and they weren’t with me.

“I think I’m good now,” I said with a laugh when I snapped out of it. “Was there anywhere else we were going?”

“The Sistine Chapel,” he replied getting to his feet. I bit my lip because I wanted to see the Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica desperately but I had already promised someone else I would see it with them. Still, I let Alejandro lead me away from the crowds of people by the Trevi Fountain before I tugged his hand to get him to stop walking.

“I can’t,” I said making an involuntarily sour face.

“You can’t what?” he asked raising an eyebrow.

“Go to The Sistine Chapel with you. I just ... I promised someone else that I would see it with them first,” I explained in a rush.

“Ohhhh,” he said, a knowing smile crossing his face.

“Not Mitchell,” I replied rolling my eyes.

“No explanations are necessary, Olivia,” he replied as he brought my hand to his lips and kissed it softly. “We should probably go back to Venice then. The ferry will be leaving soon and we can get back before the sun goes down.”

I nodded and he hailed a taxi. When we got in the back seat, I turned around to look at the Fountain as the driver pulled away and felt a sense of serene happiness again. Something about that damn fountain made me feel like everything would be okay, no matter what I decided.

The ferry ride back to Venice was silent on both of our ends. Alejandro sat on one of the benches that were along the railings and I stood at the front of the ferry, leaning on the rail watching Rome disappear, almost entirely from view.

I had spent this time with Alejandro thinking about what life could possibly be like if I stayed with him. Would it be trips to exotic locations whenever I wanted? Would it be fancy clothes and cars, even though he himself was very humble? Or would it be the love that I was craving; the love that filled you so much it made you want to cry. The love that told you that nothing would ever be wrong with the world no matter how terrible a place it could be as long as you stayed together. The love that promised forever and a day and would never let you down.

I didn’t know yet.

I felt something for Alejo, but if it was love, I couldn’t say for sure. I like to believe that he knew it too. As I glanced at him over my shoulder and saw him watching me with a curious smile, I felt a small flutter deep inside of me. The only way I would know for sure if he was my soul mate would be after I went back to America, back to Mitchell.

“H
ow was Italy?” Sofia asked, a few days later when we arrived at her home.

“Pretty gorgeous, honestly. I’ll have to box you up one day and UPS you there,” I replied giving her a hug.

Alejo smiled as he stepped in behind me and dropped my bags just inside the door. I put my hands on my hips and glanced around the room.

“Where’s Mitch?” I asked her curiously.

“He’s on his way,” she replied with a mysterious smile.

I gave her a suspicious look and she grinned but said nothing further. She told us both to have a seat as she took my bag and headed to the laundry room.

“Hey, Liv?” she called out.

“Yeah Sof?”

“Anything in this bag I shouldn’t be touching?”

“All of it!” I called back with a laugh causing her to groan loudly.

Alejandro laughed with me as he sat down on the couch across from me and crossed his hands behind his head. I waited for him to say something, but he didn’t.

Probably thinking of the last few days in Venice. Awkward and almost complete silence; it’s like we both knew that it could possibly be the end.

Sofia joined us in the living room after she started the first load and sat next to me. I noticed she glanced at the grandfather clock she had in her living room before she addressed us.

“Did you guys have a good time?”

“I believe so,” Alejo said smiling at me.

“Did you get the picture of the Colosseum?” I asked her.

“Yeah! That was amazing. I know how much you’ve always wanted to go there, so I’m glad you finally got the chance,” she said giving me a quick hug.

“We didn’t get a chance to see The Sistine Chapel, though,” Alejo said casually.

“How come?” Sofia asked him.

“Stop fishing, Castillo,” I warned throwing a pillow at him.

He was obviously on the hunt to figure out who the hell it was I had promised the Vatican to so to speak.

Before Sofia had a chance to ask us what was going on there was a knock on the door. And that one simple knock made my heart start racing.

“It’s probably Mitchell; you answer it,” Sof said with a small smile. I eyed for her a moment before I shrugged and went to the door.

As soon as I opened it I got pelted in the face with two plush balls. I swatted blindly before I regained my composure to find Mitch grinning widely.

“In case you didn’t get enough balls in your face while you were gone,” he said with a laugh.

“Pig,” I replied stepping out to hug him. Mitchell’s sense of humor was one thing that I really enjoyed. It was twisted and matched mine perfectly.

“I missed you,” he said quietly, tightening his arms around my waist.

I closed my eyes and hugged him tighter around his neck. I missed him too and I couldn’t say it without being unfair to the situation I was in. Once we let each other go, Mitch stepped into the room, walked over to where Alejandro was sitting and extended his hand.

I stood there nervously because it took him a moment to take Mitch’s hand but eventually they shook hands and I let out a breath I didn’t even know I had been holding.

“How long you here for?” Mitch asked Alejandro as he settled into my place next to Sofia.

“Until she makes her decision. Then I’ll be going back to Spain,” he replied.

Mitch nodded then glanced at me, “Thank God it’s you deciding this and not your friends.”

I shook my head and smiled. He knew that the way our relationship crumbled out of nowhere, the late night phone calls to Sofia, Cassidy, and whoever else would listen to me crying my eyes out, hadn’t done him any favors.

“I’m gonna take you to the coolest place in the world, by the way. Way cooler than Italy or any other country you traveled to,” Mitch declared with a grin.

“Oh yeah? Where’s that?” I asked curiously.

“Home,” he said getting to his feet.

“I’ll give you guys a ride. Will you be alright here by yourself for a little while?” Sofia asked Alejandro as she stood up. He nodded and she walked into the kitchen to retrieve her purse.

I walked with Mitchell to the front door and waited for Sofia who led the way out of the house. For the first time that I can honestly remember, before all of this happened, Mitchell held my hand firmly in his the entire way to the car.

Sofia sat in the driver’s seat, Mitchell sat next to her, and I sat in the back behind Mitch. I sighed as she turned the car on and put it in drive. I glanced at her bay windows and smiled sadly. Alejandro was standing there with his hands in his pockets watching me leave him again.

He nodded at me and I quickly used my forefinger to draw a heart on the car window before we disappeared from view.

I
was sitting in the living room of the small apartment with Mitchell watching him play a video game. I had my legs tucked underneath me and was leaning on the arm of the couch.

It had been three days and nothing sexual had happened.

Not even an attempt.

While I secretly wondered if it had anything to do with Alejo and me, I honestly was grateful. I didn’t want to have to have sex again just to find out my true feelings for someone.

These last few days of simply just hanging out were more comforting than what I had when I was in Italy. Something about being able to just sit there and talk or play video games, or even just lay next to each other and watch a movie until we both fell asleep, made me feel more wanted than any sexual act could.

It was more intimate than anything I could imagine and I loved it. But I can’t deny the fact that I was starting to get horny.

“Here Babe,” Mitch said, handing me the controller.

I stared at it for a moment.

“Why?” I asked taking it uncertainly.

“Because I wanna watch you play. It’s funny how mad you get so quickly,” he replied with a grin.

I stuck my tongue out at him and sat up. I waited for the game to start and then I was off. I was playing a first person shooter and I wasn’t too bad at it. Of course there were certain parts that would get anyone mad and I yelled out in frustration a few times, causing Mitch to laugh good-naturedly.

I held out the controller after my round was up but he shook his head and leaned back on the couch. I shrugged and went for round two. An hour later, when I finally had enough, I put the controller down and reached for my cigarettes.

Mitch grinned and used his lighter to light my smoke. I inhaled, thanked him, and leaned back on the couch again. I found myself gazing out the window, watching the cars going by wondering what could have been so bad that I had left.

This actually seemed like a pretty good life. We sat there and played until the sun went down; that’s when he announced that he was going to the gas station and that’s when I started to remember what the problem was.

“Beer run?” I asked tightly.

“Yeah. Need anything?” he asked as he slid on his sneakers. I shook my head and he stared at me for a moment before he nodded.

“Give me a kiss,” he said leaning down toward me. I obliged and watched Mitch walk out the front door. Because of where the windows were in the apartment I was able to watch him walk down the block and disappear around the corner.

I sighed.

I hope this doesn’t turn into a shit show,
I thought miserably. I was pretty sure that Mitchell, being drunk off whatever he planned to be, was the cause of most of our issues.

I decided to not worry about it as I picked up the controller and went into another online match. I grabbed my cigarettes and lit one during the ten second delay before the game actually started and launched into one of the best games I ever played.

Two more ten minute matches and Mitch finally came home. He set down a large fountain drink in front of me and a new pack of cigarettes before he went to the refrigerator and put a couple of large cans of beer inside.

“Thanks,” I said.

“Yup,” he replied as he sat down to take off his sneakers.

I watched out of the corner of my eye as I opened my straw. He had two other large cans of beer already sitting on the counter and was washing a glass. I stuck my straw into my big Styrofoam cup and sipped, turning my attention away from him just as he popped the first can open.

I couldn’t help but cringe as I heard the sound of the beer emptying into the glass. When he popped open the second can I turned to stare at him. I guess he felt my eyes on him because he smiled as he filled the rest of the glass before drinking what was left in the can and tossing it into the garbage.

Mitch came around the coffee table and set his glass down. He reached over for the controller and I gave it to him as he sat down and left the waiting room that the other players were in.

“That was a good group,” I protested. “They were super easy to beat!”

“I bet,” he replied with a laugh.

I sighed and watched as he went to the playback option to view the games I had played while he was gone.

“Forty four and five?” he asked in surprise. “This I have to watch!”

Feeling a little proud, I sat back against the cushions and tucked my legs underneath myself again. Mitch leaned back too and as the game started he quickly found my player before setting the controller down on the coffee table.