Broken Soul ☆ Daniel Ricciardo

2 | Dancing at sunset

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Slander - Love Again:
'Sunsets, I'm dancing with your silhouette. You undress, I'm falling back in love again'

"Hi, my name is Daniel.." He said while getting their attention. "My friends and I couldn't help but notice you ladies didn't have drinks, so we wanted to offer you some. Would you like to join us at the bar?" He asked and he showed them his signature smile while pointing at his friends on the other side of the dancefloor. Daniel saw the girls exchange a few looks before he heard one of them say: "Of course, why not?". Mission accomplished.

"So, as I told you earlier, my name is Daniel and these are my buddies Michael and Nick". Daniel said when they got to the bar with the boys. He noticed the girl with the pretty smile was a little shy and kept more distance than the others. He stepped back as well and let his friends take over from here. "I'm Gia and these are my girls Isabel and Emilia, we've just arrived here today". Gia said while shaking the boys' hands. Michael ordered a round of drinks and asked them where they were from and why they were visiting LA. Gia and Isabella started explaining their need for a break and chatted with Michael and Nick while Daniel noticed Emilia grabbing her phone and keeping herself out of the conversation. "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, your friends seemed quite keen to come to the bar, but maybe you rather stayed dancing?" Daniel asked her quietly and when she glanced up he saw some hesitation in her eyes. She seemed nervous, fiddling with her bracelets and chewing her lip after putting her phone back in her purse. "N-No, it's fine. It's fun to meet new people anyway". He heard her say, but her voice gave away her insecurity.

Emilia, her name fitted her perfectly. She was stunning and he couldn't keep his eyes off of her pretty hazel ones. Daniel didn't really understand where her nerves came from, but he wasn't going to push her to do anything she didn't want to. He started talking to the others, asking questions and trying to engage Emilia in their conversation. "So what do you do for a living?" He asked her. "I'm a freelance social media manager. My clients include these two.." Emilia said while pointing at her friends. "And some other Italian models and business owners. I take care of their Instagram schedule, brand deals and opportunities and such.." Emilia said, still not looking any of them in the eye. "That sounds cool. And you started your own business doing that?" Nick asked and she nodded. "Yeah, I started about two years ago and haven't stopped ever since, hence why these girls dragged me on this holiday with them". Emilia let out a small giggle and it was the most beautiful sound Daniel had ever heard. "Well, we would love to show you girls around the area sometime, if you would like that?" Michael said and Gia clapped her hands enthusiastically. "That would be amazing!".

They had moved over to a booth a while ago, all six of them getting along really well. The girls sat on one side and the boys had sat down across from them. Michael had taken an interest in Gia and they had been talking non-stop since they met. Nick and Daniel took their seats across from Isabel and Emilia and they were discussing living in Italy at the moment. "I love the culture, the food is amazing and it's just a beautiful country". Isabel said and Nick nodded. Daniel noticed Emilia was still a little quiet. She had come out of her shell some more as time went by, but she seemed to struggle to look at any of them. It made her mysterious and his curiosity grew even more. He wanted to get to know her, but it seemed like that would be quite difficult. Daniel thought of the perfect plan to get her to loosen up a little. "Does anyone want to dance? The night is still young". He said and the girls got up immediately. He was happy to see they grabbed Emilia and pulled her to the dancefloor with them. This had been the best night of his summer break so far.

----

"He is so cute and look at those muscles.." Gia whispered in Emilia's ear while eyeing Michael up and down, a smile forming on her face. Emilia laughed at her friend. Gia was known to be a flirt and it wasn't surprising to see that it didn't even take a full day for her best friend to start a holiday romance. Emilia had been a little hesitant at first, when Daniel approached them. She had sworn off men ever since she broke up with her ex-boyfriend. She had her fair share of heartbreak, pain and suffering in that relationship and she wasn't ready to ever do that again. It made her build a wall around her and that wall only seemed to keep out the opposite sex. It was like something in her brain shut off the moment a man started talking to her. But she had to admit, these boys were quite nice. They danced for a while and Emilia laughed at the stupid moves her old and new friends were doing. She was having fun and it made her realize that she hadn't felt this happy and free in a really long time. It wasn't until she saw Daniel walking over to her, that her wall came up again.