My Italian "friend"

A trip to Italy

"Milano 19.10, boarding now." I red and walked over to the lady in the desk with my boarding card and passport.
"Welcome, seat?" the flight attendant asked and I answered "29E". She pointed in the direction and I smiled at her in return. 26, 27, 28, 29 and 29E, great, but then the struggle to place your bag at the shelf. I looked around me hoping to see a flight attendant that could help me when a voice to my right was audible "Can I help you with your bag?" I turned around and saw it was a man in his thirties smiling. "Oh, yes. So kind of you, thanks."
"No problems."
I sat next to the aisle and to my left there was an old lady and on the other side of the aisle there was the man who helped me.
I was on my way to Milano because one of my best friends was getting married.
The wedding was on Saturday and today it was Monday but as one of her maids I had and wanted to help her.
The other maid was also one of my best friends and she was already there.
"Excuse me? How long does this flight take?" It was the old lady talking.
"I'm not really sure but around 3-4 hours, I guess."
"Thank you dear, I'm Betty LaRini."
"Pleasure, Claire Holmes."
The lady smiled "A pretty name suits such a pretty face."
I smiled and picked up my book but Betty didn't think we were done speaking.
"I'm on my way to meet my boyfriend. We met on dating site because my husband, very rich , died years ago. I was devastated." I looked around and I caught the man who helped me with my bag trying to hide his smile.
I gave my book a new try but Betty started talking and it was not polite to ignore people so I realized it was going to be a long flight.

Three hours later I ran off the plane to get away from Betty. God, she told me everything about her life, everything. Yes, even the parts that you didn't share with others for many different reasons.
"I've never heard someone talking constantly for three hours." someone said and laughed. I couldn't help but laughing with the man who helped me with my bag as we waited for our luggage.
I saw my luggage and said goodbye to the man.
"Where to?" a taxi driver said as soon as I stepped outside.
I gave him the address and it was only twenty minutes from the airport.
I texted Celine and Rachel to tell them that I was here. "I'm in Italy and I'll see you tomorrow."
They replied quickly:
C:"I'm so excited to see you in your dress!"
R:" Tomorrow is beach day. I want eye candy."
I laughed at her text because Rachel was kind of obsessed with boys and had been since middle school.
"Are you single? :o" I asked Rachel because she almost never was. She had this thing that she always needed to have a boyfriend.
R:"It's temporary ;)"

I paid the driver and looked at the apartment building, it looked nice from the outside. I had rented an apartment for about three weeks, it had been a long time since I last took a vacation so it was about time. I took the elevator to 11 and it was door number 7. I opened the door and closed it behind me. To my left was a bathroom with toilet and right in front of me was a living room and a balcony. There was a spotless kitchen, another bathroom with a shower and a bed room with a large bed. I stepped out at the balcony and looked at the dark but calm sea and sky with stars. This was going to be perfect and I lived fifty meters from the sea&beach.

I woke up with a hungry stomach realizing that she was nine o'clock. I took the elevator down and luckily there was a supermarket in the same building. I bought some bread, butter and orange juice, I was eating it on my balcony as my phone beeped.
R: I'm outside your door, let me in."
What? I stared at the door and then there was a knock. I opened it and there she was. We gave each other a big hug and she took a seat at the sofa.
"This is just perfect!" She said and I agreed. "Wait, how do you know where I live? I just arrived." She smiled and I rolled my eyes. Rachel had a way of finding out things, I didn't  know how she did it but it worked.
"Stop thinking and go change to your swimwear. I've packed lunch and stuff." Rachel pointed at her bag and thirty minutes later we were at the beach.
It was a great day with sun, a little wind and small waves. We red, swam, gossiped and played volleyball with some guys. It was afternoon and it was almost time
for us to leave the beach, we had to try our dresses for the wedding today. But right now, we were playing beach tennis.
We played good and I could feel how the guys we played volleyball with were watching us.
The ball was behind me so I hit it from behind with more power and then I turned around but Rachel wasn't having the ball.
She tried to keep herself from laughing as she nodded towards the lifeguard who had the ball. I sighed and made my way towards him. "Sorry, didn't mean to hit you. Really sorry." I smiled apologetic and the lifeguard turned to me. He was quite handsome with curly brown hair, chocolate brown eyes and a lot of muscles. He dropped the ball in my hand "I get it. You want me, but really? Are you really that desperate?" I stared chocked at him. "Excuse me?"
He rolled his eyes "I know women like you, you play in front of me to get my attention..."
I cut him off, starting to get really angry at this ignorant pig. And by the way he was not that handsome.  "To get your attention? Wow, you have high thoughts about yourself. Ever thought that maybe we like to play?"
He smiled mockingly "Sure but that doesn't make you a good player or a hot one."
"And you're..." I'm cut off by Rachel who interrupted "Thanks for the ball and we should get going." I glared at the lifeguard who smirked while I was being steered away by Rachel. "I wasn't finished with that guy." I said but Rachel held up her finger to silence me."Tell me later, we have to hurry up now if we want to get there in time." She was right. I really wanted to get there in time and I really wanted to meet Celine. It had been almost half a year since we saw each other.