La Serenissima

The Ferry Docks

The clock had been staring back at him for the past twenty minutes; sticking out it's non-existent tongue at him and telling him he only had six more hours until his flight back to Los Angeles. Ally had left just a half hour before to run to the university before heading to the Nicoletti's for just a bit before she would be back with him until the ferry came and she would have to push him onto it.

It got him thinking though...did he actually want her there? Not that he didn't...because he did, but just because if she was there, he wouldn't get on the ferry. He would absolutely not get on the ferry. She would push him on, sure, but he'd drag her with him.

Austin shut his eyes, running his hand over his face and through his hair before he stepped out onto the slim balcony of the apartment. His coffee in hand, he sipped on it and scrunched up his nose. After being treated and spoiled with Suzetta's coffee for the past four months, his own coffee was very lackluster. He tended to stick to the instant stuff if he was making it himself but today he actually wanted to make a full pot. He didn't know why he had the urge, but he did and the result was liquid that he was tempted to just pour out over the side of the balcony.

Sticking the cup back inside on the table, Austin switched it out for his camera. He had snapped a picture almost every day from the balcony during his stay and putting the viewfinder up to his eye for the last time, he snapped away. One last shot for the road. Letting the camera hang from his neck, Austin watched below as a few gondolas rowed by under the bridge and families and friends stopped by it, taking in the city's beauty or just waiting for someone to meet them. There was laughter, there was conversation...something that never happened in Los Angeles.In Los Angeles, it was all about getting somewhere and getting there fast. Here, it was almost the opposite. It was stopping to smell the roses and offering a big smile to anyone passing by you. It was appreciating the wonder all around and learning the history. He smiled big as he thought about it all. The learning part was what he picked up from Ally. Personally, he was still all about getting somewhere and doing something productive, but Venice had taught him to soak up all that was around him too. To take notice of the small things and the people.

He leaned over the railing, watching them all as they went by and made up stories of them in his head. He used to do this all the time with his mom when he was little and it never really left him. The two girls on the bridge were best friends reunited, he decided, all because of the way they squealed in excitement upon seeing each other. The man at the edge of the steps was a professor and looked like he was playing hookie for the day with just how much he was looking back and forth in every direction like he was sure someone was following him. There was a dog barking that came flying past, chasing something that Austin had missed completely.

He pulled his camera up again, capturing the shot of the two girls still jumping up and down in the background of the panorama and that was when he began the muse, to wonder about a story for Ally. If he hadn't had truly met her and kept running into her, what would the story be in his mind? Who would she be? What would she be like? What would her lips taste like in the morning? A smirk emerged on his own mouth, thankful he knew the answer to all of those questions -- and her lips tasted like cinnamon.

Hopping back inside the apartment, he glanced at the clock again. Five hours to go. Knowing his landlord wouldn't be by until the last possible second, Austin grabbed the keys and his phone and wandered out. He had five hours left, so why not soak up even more of the city while he could? There were places that he wanted to go again and others that he head missed altogether. Setting a reminder on his phone as he stepped outside, Austin moved right.

Right was the direction of the places he hadn't seen yet. Right was where he'd find more reasons to stay...like he didn't have enough already. Right was the way where he was walking and stopping, walking and stopping and snapping pictures along the way from every angle and at every nook and cranny he spotted. It was almost like he was mapping the entire island; wanting to memorize every bit of it. He could already tell that he'd be probably printing all of them out and pasting them on his wall at his condo in Los Angeles. He also knew that they were a million times better when Ally was in them.