Now in Italy (2)

After riding around the city for two to three hours, I was starting to feel hungry.

“Do you want to stop by for lunch? I’m getting hungry.”

“Okay.”

Now that we’d come to an agreement, I pulled up to the parking space and paid the ticket. There were a lot of scooters here that looked similar to my ride to the point that I had to take a photo to make sure that I could return to the right one.

Now that I was done dealing with my ride, we wandered around the street for food. We stopped by what I assumed to be a sandwich store, seeing that there were pictures of sandwiches plastered over the storefront as well as their prices.

Entering the store, we were met with a long line to the counter. After waiting in line, it was finally our turn. I ordered by pointing at what I wanted on my sandwich since I could barely communicate with the worker.

With all the seats both in the store and at the storefront already taken, we decided to eat while we walked, since we were eating sandwiches.

The first bite I took, I expected a sour taste of the mayonnaise, but instead I was met with a creamy and milky taste that went well with the savory salami and the crunchy and salty bread. I didn’t know what that white sauce I ordered was, but it tasted delicious, so I had no complaints and took a second bite.

The spontaneous trip had been fun so far, and I’d taken a liking to driving this pastel blue scooter. Watching the scenery shift as I tore through the wind with great speed felt wonderful.

“The scooter is so fun to ride! I might buy one when I return to England.”

As Lena was chewing on her meal, her brows suddenly raised as if a thought occurred to her.

“You don’t have a car, right? So how do you get to your shoot? Do you use a bus or a tube or something?”

“My manager picks me up with his car, but when I travel on my own, then it’ll be as you said. But after I buy the scooter, I might not have to deal with public transport anymore. And it might get me out of the house more; better than staying home and doing nothing.”

“Do you not like staying home?”

“It’s not that I don’t like staying home.” I paused to gulp down my sandwich. “I just think that I stay home too much. Besides, I don’t really have any hobbies, so staying home is really boring.”

“You stay home too much? I thought actresses of your caliber would always be busy.”

“It depends on the work and the role I get. If it’s an important role, then I’ll be very busy. And T.V. series generally take longer to finish filming than a movie.”

“So how do you choose your work?”

“I look at the offer to see what they’re filming, what role I get, production and director’s reputation, the script.” I counted each point with my fingers. “Then I meet with them to negotiate my pay.”

“So you get to decide which show you can appear on... That’s nice...”

“To be fair, I can decide what I want to appear on because I’m famous. They use my name as a form of promotion in a way. You watch a lot of movies because I was on it too, right?”

Lena nodded as she chewed on her sandwich.

“Most actors aren’t the ones who decide which show they can star in. They have to go through auditions, fighting other actors for a role that may shoot their career into stardom or pay enough to eat well for a week or two.”

I swallowed the last bite of my sandwich and followed with water. I didn’t know why I was feeling the way I felt now, maybe it was the tasty food, being in a foreign country, having Lena by my side or the combination of it all that I decided to open up a little.

“I’m really grateful to be in a position where I can choose what I want to work on, but...” I paused as I was starting to doubt my decision, but I pushed through. “Sometimes... I hate being famous.”

Lena turned to me, head tilted in confusion.

“It gets tiresome when I get recognized when I want to be left alone while I’m out. I hate being interrupted while we’re out together. I wanna wear all sorts of dresses and clothes, style my hair in an interesting way to show off to you. But I can’t do that, not without being recognized.

“Thing is... I’ve never wanted to become an actress either. I’m doing it because I feel like I have to. My mom and my dad are great actors, so I felt like I had to be like them. Everyone around me expected me to do that.”

I took a glance in Lena’s direction. She was holding up an empty wrapper to her mouth, but the lack of chewing motion told me that she was deep in her thoughts.

“Do you regret it?” She asked.

I thought about it for a moment before I shook my head.

“If I didn’t become an actress, you wouldn’t be my fan, and I wouldn’t be able to meet with you like this... And the pay is great too, so that’s a plus!”

Did I say too much? Saying that I didn’t want to be an actress might be too much for a fan. Imagine liking someone for their work only to find out that they were doing it for money or fame, I would be crushed too...

“Are you... disappointed?”

“Of what?” Lena asked after she gulped down her drink.

“To learn that I became an actress for no good reason.”

“No. It doesn’t matter to me why you became an actress.” She crumbled the wrapper. “I support you because I admire you and I like your work. Not because of some grand reason behind your decision.”

To hear that she didn’t mind it comforted me. I’ve always felt like I didn’t belong in the entertainment industry because I didn’t care much for the art of acting and lacked the desire to inspire and entertain people.

I knew there were people who were in it for money, but as a daughter of top stars, I felt like the reason for my stardom had to be above worldly desires like wealth or fame.

“Thanks for supporting me all these years.”

So hearing Lena say that she didn’t expect any grand reason from me put a little weight off my shoulders.

Now that we’d finished our lunch, we headed to the parking space. As I walked, I looked at the time to make sure that I wouldn’t be late returning the scooter, and when I looked up from my wristwatch, I happened to see Lena blowing hot air into her palm before rubbing them.

“Feeling cold?”

“A-A little...”

Now that it was past midday, the sunlight wasn’t as strong as it was in the morning, causing the temperature to drop.

I rubbed her hands to heat them up even a little, and I took off the beanie and mittens and gave them to her.

“Is it better?” I asked as I watched her put them on.

“Yeah...”

Looking for the scooter I rented in the labyrinth of scooters, I felt the freezing temperature begin to haunt me now that the tool I’d used to fight it was now on Lena. With the help of the photo I’d taken, I finally found my scooter.

Inserting the key before grabbing the handle, my mind was starting to yearn for anything that would melt the cold from me. Hot chocolate, fireplace, chicken soup, whatever.

Then my mind wandered to the warmth of Lena’s lips from the day I left England. Maybe it was because the day I kissed her was as cold as today, that’s why the sensation I felt on my lips that day suddenly resurfaced at this moment.

I knew that kissing her wasn’t the best way to relieve my cold, but honestly, I was making an excuse to kiss her. I wanted to ask if I could do it, but we weren’t in that kind of relationship yet, and doing it out of the blue like back then seemed weird and a little rude... But then a flash of inspiration came to me.

“You know how I’m starring in a romance movie, right?” I took the key off the ignition and put it in my pocket.

“Yeah...?”

“And in a romance movie there’s usually a kiss scene...”

“I see...” She nodded with a solemn expression.

“You see, I don’t know if I’m ready for it, to be honest. What if I mess up and miss the other actor’s mouth when I go in for a kiss?” I laughed.

“That’s why... wanna help me practice?”

Lena stared back at me from the corner of my eye. She lowered her head and said:

“Sure...”

Hearing her confirmation, I stepped closer, lifted her chin up and pushed my lips towards hers.

The soft and warm sensation of her lips on mine made my whole body shiver as we brushed our tongues against each other.

I pulled back a little so that I could breathe, but all of a sudden, she wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling my head down, making my mouth easier for her to access.

I was surprised by her sudden aggressiveness, but I didn’t mind it and let her continue doing what she wanted.

Our kiss went on a lot longer than I’d anticipated, so I pulled back because I felt like she wouldn’t stop unless I did so and I was right.

As I licked my lips clean, Lena stared back at me, glasses crooked slightly. Her eyes told me that she wanted more, her mouth ajar as if saying she was ready to continue whenever.

Only when I placed my finger on the tip of her lips did she close her mouth and readjust her glasses.

“Why so aggressive?” I asked.

“Because...” Lena wiped her mouth. “You’ll have to kiss another actor soon, right? So I want to make sure that the one you have with me is the best you’ll ever have.”

I was stunned by the reason behind that aggressiveness that I almost forgot to respond.

“I-I see... So you’re jealous, huh?” I chuckled to feign my fluster.

She nodded in response.

Now that we were done with our not-so-quick kiss, we hopped on the scooter and rode away this time to return it. The cold I felt before never went away, and the wind made it even worse, but not to the point that I couldn’t feel my hand, so I toughed it out. 

I felt Lena’s arms tighten around my waist as if she was squeezing the sandwich I ate out of me.

“...Can I– ...Tonight–”

The cold wind was blocking most of her words once more.

“What?”

“Can I stay with you tonight?!” Lena yelled after a lengthy pause. It was as if she was charging her energy during that to let out a yell so that I could hear her request.

‘...So she wants to sleep with me again.’ Unlike last time, when she mumbled out the request while she was drunk, this time she yelled it out without even a drop of alcohol in her blood. Now that she’d made a decision with a clear state of mind, there was no reason for me to reject her request.

“...Let me ask the production if it’s okay.”

After making sure that it was safe, I pulled over to the side of the road to text Cole, asking him to confirm with the production if I was allowed to bring Lena to my room. Almost all actors and staff working for this film stayed at this hotel, so I needed to make sure that the production wouldn’t get me in trouble for bringing in an outsider.

It didn’t take long for me to reach the scooter rental store, and it took even less time for me to return the scooter. As I walked out of the store, I checked Cole’s message to see that the production had given me an okay to bring her in.

“They say it’s okay.”

And so we headed to my hotel. On the way there, Lena called her mom to let her know that she would be sleeping at my hotel for a night.

Turning the corner after we stepped out of the elevator, we met with Cole in the middle of the hallway. Her grip on my hand tightened the moment she saw him.

Cole’s eyes switched between me and Lena before he said;

“Remember, tomorrow’s shoot is at five thirty. Sleep early.”

“Alright, alright.”

And then he walked away.

The moment I entered my room I flopped onto the bed as if my energy hit zero when I stepped through the door. I wanted to let out a long groan and drift into sleep with my makeup and coat on and all, but since Lena was with me, I headed to the shower to freshen up, sparing her of my embarrassing sight.

After I exited the shower, Lena hopped in. The quick shower gave me a small burst of energy, so I pulled out my script to do a small review. I always reviewed my script whenever I had a shoot the next day, assuming I didn’t feel sleepy, of course.

The sound of the running shower was similar to a drizzle, which made it challenging for me to do a mental rehearsal for tomorrow’s scene. I fought a losing battle until the very last breath as I heard footsteps approaching me.

“Are you awake?”

At this point, I wasn’t able to conjure an answer. Soon, I felt something was taken away from my hand before my body was covered by something warm.

“Good night, Rachel.”

A soft sensation pressed against my forehead, followed by a light smacked sound.

I wasn’t able to do, say, or think about whatever was going on around me as my mind drifted into sleep. A very peaceful sleep.