Recipe for Love

Chapter 19

Charles

She looked damn good today. Well, not that she ever looked anything other than beautiful, but today her appearance impressed me a little more than usual. Her long wavy hair lay loosely on her shoulders and the light cool wind played with it. I could smell her perfume even a few meters away. The rays of the sharp winter sun reflected in her eyes and her cheeks turned a little pink from the cold.

I shook my head to get rid of the thoughts. What the hell is wrong with me? I put my hands in my pockets to warm up a bit and also because I suddenly didn't know what to do with them. I felt embarrassed and my whole face turned red. "Hello," she smiled at me when finally Joris let go of her, and I just nodded at her without saying a word because I lost confidence in my voice. "So where are we going?" she asked, looking at me expectantly. At that moment I thought she looked like a princess from a Disney movie with those big eyes. I mentally slapped myself again, cleared my throat, and said, "That's a surprise." Anna laughed and got into the back seat of my car.

The truth was that Joris and I hadn't quite figured out where we were going. He forced me to text to Anna to come with us, but the destination of the trip remained unknown even to the two of us. I looked at him, swallowed hard, and started the engine. Joris turned to Anna and thought for a moment. "Anna, have you ever been to Verona?" he finally asked. Anna gasped and clapped her hands enthusiastically. "Are we going to Verona?" she cheered. "I love Romeo and Juliet. It's a wonderful parody of all love-at-first-sight stories." I rolled my eyes and took a breath to correct her that it was one of the most romantic stories ever written. But Anna was already talking about the fact that even Shakespeare himself wrote this play as a parody and that it must be completely clear to everyone. I shut my mouth again so I wouldn't look like an idiot who knows nothing about drama.

I parked in the parking lot, pulled my hood over my head to blend in with the crowd, and then the three of us headed into the historic center to find Juliet's balcony so Anna could make fun of it. "How does that make sense? For two teenagers to fall so much in love in a matter of days that they'd rather die than be without each other? After all, it's complete nonsense," Anna continued in her monologue. She smiled happily at this and threw her arms around dramatically. "I don't know. It seems quite romantic to me," I grumbled and looked at the balcony. There were perhaps a thousand people around. Most of them were taking photos, some were reciting lines from the play, and others were just silently staring and touching the statue of Juliet. "I didn't think of you as a hopeless romantic," Anna remarked, fixing her gaze on me. "I'm not. I just simply disagree with you."'
"Do you have any proof for your claim?"
"I don't know? I just don't think love at first sight is stupid," I grumbled, her negativity starting to irritate me a little.
"You know what? I guess I need to go somewhere on my own. I'll meet you at the car later, okay?" Joris announced out of the blue and before I could stop him, he disappeared into the crowd.

We got out of the most touristy part of the city and bought an ice cream at a secluded stand. "Vanilla?" Anna grinned ironically and dug into her chocolate with caramel pieces. "Why do I feel like you need to roast me at all costs today?" I asked, stopping across from her. She hesitated for a moment and looked down at the tips of her shoes.
"That's not true," she protested feebly.
"And why did you run away yesterday?" I asked what had been bothering me all night and all day. Anna let out a shaky breath and finally looked at me again. She walked a few meters and sat down on an empty bench. I took a deep breath and then sat a few inches away from her.
"You promise not to laugh or get angry?" she asked.
"I promise."
"I didn't mean to be mean to you today. Actually, I would like the complete opposite. I..." She closed her eyes for a moment as if gathering the strength to continue. "It was not easy for me. Most of the guys in my life were jerks who only hurt me. My family is one big mess and I'm not often the best companion either. And you..." She looked into my eyes again and my heart rate suddenly almost doubled. "You're such a pure soul and I just don't know if I want to drag you into this."

If she hadn't looked away at that last sentence, I might have believed her. I would say: "Me, a pure soul? If you only knew." But I didn't believe her. I knew she was hiding something again and it took all my self-control, not to confront her about it.