Romeo

13 | Gelato Kisses

As Daniella was walking over, her friend looked at Romeo not happy with him. Not one to back down from a challenge, Romeo held his eyes tilting his head back. Julian was the first to back down, he looked away and shook his head muttering to himself. He looked at Daniella one more time, said something and walked away.

Something about him wasn't right. Romeo realized something familiar in his demeanour. Something he recognized. There was an edge to the way he carried himself, Romeo saw the way his eyes looked around and assessed his surroundings. The hitch in his stride as he walked away. His posture is clearly on guard.

Who was he?

"Hey."

"Ciao, baby."

"What are you doing here?" Romeo looked down at her shorter build and bit back a smile. He allowed a bit of emotion to shine through the cracks of the apathetic mask that he wore. He couldn't help it. Her surprised face was just too cute.

She started walking and Romeo fell in step with her, his hand found hers.

"Let's see... I'm not a student here." Daniella had put him in a good mood. He couldn't pass up a chance to make her smile. Romeo took her black bag and led the way to his car.

"Nope." Daniella played along with him as they walked down the hall towards the stairs weaving through the crowd.

"I'm not a teacher?" He looked at her when she laughed. "Am I a librarian?"

"Not." She laughed out. Her smile was radiant and full of life. It gave Romeo life as he smiled at her. Not a grin, but a full smile that showed his teeth and the wrinkles around his mouth.

"Wow. You should smile more often. You look like a whole new person." Romeo simply shrugged. He does that a lot, shrug things off. But he was working on it, surely it comes off as rude to Daniella.

They walked down the stairs while Daniella led the way. He noticed how cold her fingers were. It was warm outside and she was wearing a sweater. He rubbed her hand gently trying to get the circulation going.

"Should I rephrase the question? Why are you here to see me when I told you I need to study?"

"I wanted to see you. It's been a while."

"It's been two and a half days!"

"Yeah, a while."

He opened the door for her as they made their way outside and Romeo slid on his shades.

"Where are we going?" She asked but again, he just shrugged. He didn't have a plan.

"Are you sick? Your hands are freezing." His slightly calloused fingers traced over the back of her hand as they crossed the street, away from the other students.

"Nah, my hands are usually cold." he nodded, note taken.

Like a true gentleman, he pulled open the door for her.

"Are you hungry?"

***

Twenty minutes later, Daniella and Romeo were walking down the streets of Little Italy with gelato in hand. When he was younger, Romeo's father had taken him to Italy and that trip had possibly been the best three weeks of his life. One of his favourite things about Italy was the food. Although it was too early for dinner and too late for lunch, there's no set time for gelato.

The conversation was easy and light until Danielle asked a question he was not ready to answer. As usual, he gave a vague half-truth and although disappointed, she ate it up. Romeo licked the gelato off his spoon and watched Daniella follow the movement with her eyes. "How can you trust the things I say so easily?"