As if the sky were a faucet, slowly draining the vibrant colours into a vacuum of nothingness. Mobile phones were pulled out to capture the sunset as the background of the old city. The old buildings were lightened up, giving that extra effect on photos.
Without even noticing, Jane was walking around with a satisfied smile on her face. A moment like this made her realise how lucky she was to be there in Italy, living her best life with the best people around her. Life was good.
"Honestly, this is giving me a different perspective of the city," Luna confessed and looked around. It was just the place she lived in, nothing too special, but this made her look at the village from a different perspective.
"It looks so more magical," Jane added and looked at Luna. "And we live here."
"I know, right." Luna snapped her knuckles. "Okay, for the last time, do I look good?"
Jane scanned Luna's outfit and face. "Yes, you look stunning."
"Thanks," Luna nervously said and looked down at her outfit; she was wearing a white jumper and blue jeans. "Just checking."
"No worries, Lun. You don't have to be nervous, they're just people, and they don't care what you are wearing."
"They're Mick Schumacher, Callum Ilott and Robert Shwartzman, yes," Luna shot back.
"So? They're just people," Jane shrugged. "I know this is a big deal, because you watch them race, but they are all really kind. Just relax, no sweat." She shared a warm smile. "Tonight, when we are home, we will freak out."
"Woman, I will scream the lungs out of my body tonight. It's just weird you know them. It just makes it weirder when I freak out because then I will be known as that weird friend." Luna took a deep breath. "No sweat."
"It'll be fun."
The entrance of the festival was located at the big square, and that was seeable. The square was filled with many people, a lot of them were waiting on friends. Marcus had sent Jane a message that he, Mick, Callum, Robert, Cate and Justine were waiting somewhere near the fountain in the middle of the square. Jane and Luna squeezed themselves between the people and looked around to spot someone they knew.
Jane's eyes lit up when she saw Marcus. Their eyes met, causing them both to smile. "I've found them," she said to Luna. She grabbed Luna's wrist and walked over to the group of people. "Hey!"
"Hey, girly!" Cate happily said when she saw Jane. "You look beautiful!" Jane was wearing blue jeans and a knitted sweater.
"Thanks, you too!" Jane said and gave Cate a hug. Cate was wearing blue trousers, a pullover and a jacket. "This is Luna, my best friend. Luna, meet everyone," she smiled at Luna.
"Hello," Luna politely smiled. Her voice was calm, but she was panicking on the inside. She looked at Jane, who warmly smiled. "Nice to meet you."
Robert gave Luna a nod and widely smiled. "Hey, I'm Robert," he introduced himself. "Nice to meet you too."
While the group introduced themselves to Luna, Jane looked at Marcus and stepped towards him. "Hey," she smiled.
Marcus wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss on her cheek. "Hey, you look beautiful," he whispered in her ear.
"Thank you. You handsome yourself too," she softly said and looked at him. She gave him a kiss and let go of him. "You smell good," she blurted; it wasn't her intention to do that, but it just happened. The cologne he was wearing, smelled amazing.
A shy smile curved on his lips. "How was your day? And have you heard anything of the assignment?"
"Nope, nothing yet," she answered his second question. "And it was an okay day, studied for a bit, cleaning the house and stuff. How about your day?"
He nodded."Yeah, same... Besides the studying part."
"Alrighty, shall we go?" Mick asked the whole group. "Before everyone does the same."
The group agreed on that and moved to the entrance. Even though the evening was a couple hours in, they were early for the evening event. Nobody minded it, they could walk around in peace instead of getting annoyed by other people. Luna handed out the printed tickets, and everybody scanned their ticket.
Luna quickly walked over to Jane when they were the first two who went through the entrance. "Jane," she whispered, and her eyes rounded. "Is this real?"
A massive smile grew on Jane's lips, and she nodded. "I know, right?"
"I actually met them. Like... I met them," Luna whisper-yelled and deeply inhaled. "And they are kind. I really need to act normal, but how can you not freak out?"
Jane looked over Luna's shoulder. "Act normal; they're here," she quickly said. "However, we can go to the beach next week. I only have project left," was her coverup line.
"Yeah, nah, if I pass this assignment, I can go too," Luna quickly switched off her fangirl moment. "Thanks for the invitation." It was a different way of thanking her for saving the moment.
Jane gave Luna a nod.
"Luna, how did you manage to get those tickets? They were sold out in five minutes," Cate curiously asked.
"I work at the bookstore over there," Luna said and pointed at a store on the square. "My boss is part of the organisation, and he got tickets for all of my colleagues, but they all already had tickets or couldn't go. And I was like: I can find people who want to go."
"You are an angel," Justine gratefully smiled. "We really wanted to go, but we were too late."
"Luna to the rescue," Robert said when joining the group. He waved with a map in his hands. "There are different routes. I don't know if there are any preferences or buildings we absolutely want to see?"
Cate gasped for air. "The flower garden!"
"Is there a flower garden?" Jane asked immediately. "I mean, yes!"
"I really would like to see the church," Luna mentioned.
Callum looked at the map together with Robert. "The red route is the one with the garden and the church."
"Rotta la Ferrari," Luna blurted. Everybody looked at her. A proud smile grew on her face. "Anyway, let's go!"
"Route the Ferrari it is," Mick smirked.
»
The group left the festival. They had been walking around for a couple of hours, learning about the buildings, get to know each other more, but most importantly; having fun and enjoying the evening.
Everyone was discussing the tour. Marcus was talking to Jane and Callum, while Mick, Justine and Cate were discussing their favourite spots and Luna and Robert were talking about something else; music and their favourite music festivals.
When the group passed a house, Jane looked behind her and locked her eyes with Luna's. A smile grew on Luna's face, and she gave Jane a nod. There was music coming out of the house; the music they both liked at the moment. Luna started to dance around for a bit and whistled along with the song.
"All these things that...we took for granted. We've lost dancing."
Once the drop came, Jane and Luna separated from the group and started to dance around. It was seeable Luna felt way more comfortable now than at the beginning of the evening, and it showed; she was herself. Just like Jane, it wasn't the shy girl anymore.
The group stopped walking and looked behind them, they all watched how the two girls were dancing around like they were on their own. The music became louder, and the owner, and his friends, of the house joined them.
Jane walked over to Marcus and grabbed his hand. "Come," she cheerfully said.
Even though it was dark, Marcus noticed the twinkle in her eyes. It made him smile. "I can't dance, but fine," he giggled.
"That doesn't matter," she smiled and looked behind him. "Go on, it's a good song," she mentioned and walked back to the group while holding Marcus' hand. "I can't dance as well," she whispered in his ear.
"It really looks better than my dance moves," he assured her and laughed. He followed her dance moves and looked around, more people joined the group, just like their own friend group.
Nobody was a good dancer, but that made it more fun. Laughers filled the space. It was a good way to end this evening; just fun, nothing else.
Jane closed the gap between her and Marcus and wrapped her arms around his neck. She looked at him and smiled. Marcus wrapped his arms around her waist. Around them, they heard people singing along, laugh and clap, but that didn't take their moment away. They both started to realise they meant something to each other. Perhaps this was the moment that changed their status from seeing someone to meaning something to each other, more than liking each other.
"Thank you," he whispered and placed a piece of hair behind Jane's ear. "I couldn't imagine a better tour."
"Thank you." She gave him a short kiss. "I don't think it would be this fun if you weren't here."
Marcus gave her another kiss and hugged her. This was the first time someone made him feel like this. It was all very new, but it felt very good. The entire evening, the group had been teasing Marcus and Jane, and he started to realise they did that because it was all so obvious.
"Please, get a room or something," Callum said and looked amused at the couple.
"I really don't have to witness the happening," Cate added and tried to hide her giggle.
"No, thank you!" Luna shouted.
"They're too innocent," Mick added.
Jane let go of Marcus and straightened her face. She decided not to react to it, knowing it would cause only more reactions to it. She looked at Marcus, who was precisely thinking the same. More laughter filled the area.
The song ended, and Luna exchanged a few words with the owner of the house in Italian. The vibe was amazing; there were no worries at all. Luna laughed and thanked the man for the bottles of beer and snacks he gave her.
"I mean, who doesn't like this?" Luna asked and handed the others a bottle of beer and a snack. "Perfecto."
"Only you can do this," Jane chuckled.
The group walked back towards the big square, taking a few shortcuts by walking through narrow streets; they were walking through terraces of some restaurants. They reached a part of the street where it was dark, silent. The pace fastened; even though they were with a group, it didn't feel safe.
A shadow walked towards the group, it was just a passerby, they didn't really notice it; they were all too bust talking to each other. They made space for the man to pass, but he somehow still managed to bump into Marcus.
"Sorry, man," Marcus politely apologised and stepped away, so the man had space to pass him. He looked back at Robert, to whom he was talking to. "Just for-"
The man yelled something in Italian, but everyone could make up it was something like watch out.
Nobody wanted to give this man attention, he seemed drunk.
However, Jane's heart skipped a beat. His voice sounded familiar. She looked at the man while passing him and her lips parted. Okay, keep walking. Her mouth closed, and she swallowed hard. Not now. Jane took a deep breath and looked away.
It didn't stay unnoticed. Cate walked over to Jane and grabbed her wrist. "What's wrong?" She was scanning Jane's face, it changed.
"It's nothing," Jane replied and showed a forced, carefree smile.
"So I mean nothing to you?" The guy stopped walking and turned around.
The group looked behind them, not knowing what was going on.
Luna's face straightened, and her eyebrows lowered, if a look could kill someone... "Keep walking," she hissed and walked through the group. She ended up in front, walking next to Jane. "Ignore it, yeh?"
"I know."
"Nothing? For real, Jane?"
Those words made the group stop walking, they know each other? They looked from Jane, to the drunk man, back to Jane. Looks were shared between themselves; what was going on? Marcus didn't know what was going on, but he had an idea that it could be the famous Leonardo.
Jane pressed the air out of her nose and stopped walking while turning around. "Leave me alone," she sneered. "We have to go." Jane was mocking and almost demanding everyone, Luna, who did the same and the man who kept shouting. Callum looked at Marcus; they both shared a questionably look.
"I'm asking a normal question," Leonardo said and walked to Jane. "And you can give me a normal answer, sweetie." He smelled like alcohol; it was terrible.
"Go home, you are drunk." Jane didn't want to cause a scene, but she was close to losing her shit.
"Just an answer."
"Can you please leave me alone for once?" Her patience was gone. She clenched her jaw, and she looked away.
Leonardo scanned the seven other people who were standing around Jane. "I see you are having fun with your driver, boy," he blurted and looked at Marcus. "And his driver friends," he scoffed.
"Dude," Marcus spoke up. "Did you hear what she said? Leave her alone." That was Leonardo, it couldn't be someone else. He walked towards Leonardo, who just looked at him with an amusing smile on his face. "Go away and leave her alone."
A laugh rolled over Leonardo's lips, and he looked at Jane. "Protective guy, I see," he laughed and pointed at Marcus. "But you are such a strong girl, you don't need him. Or did you became weaker?"
"Leonardo, fuck off. Go to your fucking house, or I will call the fucking police," Jane pressed the words over her lips.
He nodded, impressive. "To be honest, I don't like your attitude. That guy is no good for you."
"Like you were good for me." That was something she shouldn't have said. She swallowed hard. "Just go home...please," she begged.
The smile disappeared from his face. "I'm sorry?" His eyebrows lowered.
Jane gasped for air, just like Luna. He was furious, they had both never seen him like this before. Jane's heartbeat started to raise, and her breath quickened. Leonardo was bulky, people were scared of him quickly.
"Mate, just leave her alone. She asked for it a couple of times now," Callum calmly suggested.
Leonardo ignored it. "You are a whore," he hissed and stepped towards Jane. "And he will find out about it sooner or later." The tone in his voice was threatening.
"Turn around and walk away," Jane managed to say. She acted cold, confident, but she was everything but that. "Don't do this now."
His face darkened. He seemed to swell up. He exploded at her. He just launched himself forward with his right arm swinging around in a giant roundhouse strike.
The fist hit Jane's jaw. She almost lost her balance and had to step away. Her eyes began to water. Everything around her fell away; people were yelling and moving around. But all she could do was look Leonardo in the eyes, sharing the pain and fear she had.