radicalducati 122. Happy Hour
122. Happy Hour
EMMA's POV :
- - - Three Weeks Later - - -
"Good morning, baby girl,"
I woke up to Ian's hand softly caressing my cheek. I pried my eyes open and saw that it was barely sunrise out on the window.
"What time is it?" I stirred lazily and pulled the duvet up.
"About 6 AM,"
"6 AM?" I gaped. "It's a Saturday, Ian. Why are you up at 6 AM?"
"Because of this," he pulled a breakfast tray from behind him and placed it on top of my stomach. There were pancakes, coffee, eggs, and juice. There was also a single red rose and a tiny hourglass on the tray. "Happy birthday, baby girl," he smiled and kissed the top of my head.
"You made all this?" I asked him. The coffee and pancake looked enticing, I couldn't help but steal a little taste.
"Yup. And it's your twenty fourth birthday," he said simply. Picking up the hourglass, he then said, "So, today I'm spending a whole twenty four hours with you and you can do absolutely whatever you want,"
"Whatever I want?" I narrowed my eyes at him.
He nodded his head firmly and stated, "I'll say yes to whatever you want, for an entire day,"
A smile formed on my face as I studied his expression, waiting to see if he was joking. But Ian just stared at me with an 'I'm deadly serious' look.
"Oh my god!" I squealed in excitement. "Are you serious?"
He just smiled and shrugged as he said, "So, what's the first thing you wanna do?"
"Hmm... actually I might have a list," I said as I pulled my diary from the bedside table. I flipped it all the way to the end and showed him the list I made.
"You and your lists, why am I not surprised?" he chuckled as his eyes scanned the page.
"It's an itinerary I made before we came here. It's got a list of places I wanna go see with you," I explained.
"Most of them are in town. If we go right now, we can do at least five of them before sundown,"
"Seriously? Wait, I'm not dreaming am I?" I looked at him again, and he just gave me a bored stare.
"Stop asking me that. This is not a dream," he replied. "Today is your day and I'm letting you have your way,"
With the biggest smile on my face, I downed the coffee and shoved a mouthful of pancake into my mouth before muffling out, "Give me five minutes I'll get ready!"
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Actually, I was supposed to be leaving back to New York City by now, but since my birthday was coming up, I decided to push my luck and asked Diana for an extra week. To my absolute surprise, she said ok. I promised I would get her a lovely gift when I return. But until then, I was the luckiest girl alive because I got to spend my birthday with Ian in one of the most beautiful cities on earth.
We started the day by driving to the Florence city center. Our first stop was the Florence Cathedral. Located in the center of the old city, the Duomo stood out for miles and created an imposing sight amongst the other medieval buildings.
As I gazed at the exterior and front facade of the Cathedral, I couldn't help but stare in awe at how incredible they looked. The building was covered in white marble and red, pink and green polychrome designs. Ian and I went inside and took the steps leading up to the dome on top of it. We could see the entire city from way up here. The view was just so breathtaking, it was hard to describe.
After the cathedral, Ian rented a Vespa so we could ride around town easily. And with that, he was checking off another thing on my bucket list. We rode around town for a little while and stopped by to get a gelato. I thought I had great gelato before in New York City, but gelatos in Italy were on a whole new level.
After our gelato break, we decided to hit the second spot on my itinerary list, the Ponte Vecchio. Ponte Vecchio was basically an extremely famous and old bridge located in the city of Florence. Spanning the river Arno, the bridge was noted for the number of shops that were built into the sides of the bridge. It was decorated with rows of historical buildings and a plethora of shops that lined the main walkway.
Walking onto this fantastic structure, Ian and I took a look at the various shops and vendors. There were so many good jewelers, are dealers, and souvenir shops. Ian also got me some classic Florentine cameo earrings as a birthday gift. I loved them so much, they were now my favorite accessory to date.
For lunch, we went a little fancy as Ian took me to a Michelin starred restaurant near the Basilica di Santa Croce. The restaurant was so lovely and it had an outdoor seating area. The food was some of the greatest food I've ever tasted in my life. It was no wonder that the restaurant was voted the 32nd best in the world by the British Restaurant magazine in 2008.
After lunch, Ian and I continued our city adventure, riding on our Vespa. The next stop on our list was the Uffizi Palace and Gallery. Located just off of the Piazza della Signoria, this palace slash art gallery was a renowned art museum and was considered one of the most important Italian museums in the world. The building itself was a marvel and the inner courtyard featured a series of intricate columns and arches that were adorned with marble statues. Inside the museum, there was an immense collection of Renaissance art from artists such as Botticelli, Da Vinci, Titian, and Raphael.
Ian was losing his shit inside this museum. I enjoyed watching him more than I did the paintings. If it were up to him, we would be spending an entire day and night in this place. But since today was my day, we only stayed for a few hours before heading out to our next destination, the Boboli Gardens.
By the time we reached this gorgeous garden, the sun was already setting. The sunset combined with the green trees and fields only made everything ten times more beautiful. A true escape off the city, the Boboli Gardens featured a myriad of different sections including a main lawn with a fountain and obelisk, a selection of worldly trees, plants and flowers, and several large ponds complete with water features.
Ian and I spent the evening walking around the garden with our hands clasped together. We just talked about random things and I couldn't help but notice how everything around me was so darn beautiful. I wanted to pinch myself because I still couldn't believe that this was real life. It felt like I was in the movies or something.
"I have the best day today," I said to him as I swung our hands together. "Thank you for my twenty four hours,"
"Twenty four hour's not over yet," he said to me and stopped his tracks, grinning that gorgeous devilish smirk.
"What do you have in mind?"
The smile on his face grew wider as he said, "Come with me?"
I just replied with a laugh, "Like you even need to ask,"
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The night was still young, and so were we.
Ian took me to a dance club in the city. It was so cute, we were reliving my birthday moment from six years ago when I first met him at that bar in Emory. He got me a drink and we started dancing. By my second drink, I was totally lost in the music, so I just let my body do the talking. I was feeling amazing, grinding up against Ian's rock-hard body.
I can't get over how much I was enjoying Ian's body on me. He knew exactly how to move his body. It was smooth, yet solid movements.
After a while of dancing, I suddenly felt a little sick. Ian said I must have drunk too much. I didn't quite remember what happened next, but the next thing I knew, I was standing outside the club, puking my guts out. Ian was holding my hair back and he had a bottle of water in his hand.
I felt much better after I puked though. I wanted to go back and dance some more, but Ian insisted that I was too drunk, so we decided to walk around and get some fresh air. The fresh air did wonders for me. I was feeling much better and I got sobered up real fast. We were just walking aimlessly through the streets when I noticed a tattoo parlor on the corner of my eye.
"You're not getting a tattoo," Ian said in a warning tone, as if he could read my mind.
"But I wanna get a tattoo," I whined.
"You're too drunk for a tattoo," he chuckled.
"I'm not drunk, I swear," I pulled his arm to the direction of the tattoo parlor. "I really want it, I've been thinking about getting one for some time now, actually"
"Really?" he narrowed his eyes at me. "What tattoo are you getting anyway?"
Smiling a mischievous smile, I told him, "You just have to wait and see,"
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About forty five minutes later, I came out of the tattoo parlor with a bandage on the back of my neck. I didn't let Ian watch me get the tattoo because I wanted to surprise him. So, as we stood outside the tattoo parlor and under a street light, I finally let Ian peel the bandage down and see what I got. It was a simple and small tattoo consisting of the words:
with you, anywhere.
"You like my new tattoo?" I turned around and asked him when he was quiet for a bit.
"I don't like it," he replied, "I love it so much, I might marry it,"
I let out a sigh of relief as the biggest smile appeared on his face. His eyes were also glistening a little as he said it, like he was holding back his tears. My heart swelled at the thought that he was genuinely happy with my tattoo.
"I'm glad you love it," I said and leaned my head into his chest. "Because I do too,"
"I love it so much, baby girl," he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tight. "I just hope you're not gonna wake up and regret it in the morning,"
"Hey," I protested and looked up at him, "I'm telling you, no regrets,"
He let out a soft chuckle and nodded. "Okay. No regrets,"
I linked my arms around his body and just held onto him for a moment. I felt so happy and so full, like if I were to die right now, I'd die the happiest girl on planet earth.
"I love it so much, I might marry it," his words were ringing in my ears.
And then the thought hit me... today was such a perfect day, and what better way to end this day than to marry each other?
"You know what, maybe it's not such a bad idea..." I muttered out loud.
"What is?" Ian looked at me quizzically.
"Getting married and staying here,"
"Wait, what?" he gaped and peeled away to get a better look at my face.
I stared at him dead serious as I said, "Seriously, what if I just quit my job and stay here?"
"You're joking, right?" he half laughed.
"Seriously, think about it. What if we just screw New York and move here. You can teach with Mr. Rossi at the school and I'll be writing and I'll learn how to make Italian food," I said, pausing for a beat before adding, "Maybe we can even start our own winery!"
"Okay, you're joking," he scoffed.
"All right, maybe the winery thing was a joke, but the rest... I'm serious," I said as I put my hands on his chest, gripping onto him tightly.
Ian was into this idea. I could tell because he was smiling from ear to ear, although he tried to act cool about it.
"What about your job in the magazine?" he asked.
"I'll quit. I hate working for Diana anyway,"
"You're not gonna do that," he rolled his eyes in disbelief.
"Guess what? I'm gonna cancel my flight and..." I pulled my phone from my pocket and my fingers started typing furiously. I was writing an email to Diana, saying that I was quitting my job, and then I hit send. I showed him the screen and said, "I just quit,"
"Baby girl, you're gonna regret that in the morning," Ian shook his head and laughed at me.
I sighed in annoyance as Ian wasn't taking me seriously. Putting my hands on both sides of his face, I forced him to look me in the eyes as I said, "Ian, stop fighting this. Let's just stay here in Italy. We can get married here. We can live in a house on a farm. We can go drinking in the town on the weekends. We can totally live here and be happy,"
The look of disbelief in Ian's eyes slowly softened. He was starting to realize that I was completely and deadly serious.
Narrowing his eyes at me, he cocked his head to the side and said, "Who are you and what have you done to my Emma?"
"Just think about it," I replied.
Ian took in a deep breath and let out a sigh. He threw his gaze down for a while before looking up at me again.
"I want to do that, baby girl. Trust me, I'll marry you right now if I could, but-"
"But what?"
"This is not the kind of wedding you want,"
"I don't care about the wedding," I shook my head persistently. "I care about being with you, in every way, shape, or form,"
Sure, when I was a little girl I dreamed of having a fairytale wedding with a prince charming. But I was not that six year old girl anymore. I was twenty four for crying out loud. Weddings were overrated anyway. What mattered was that I had found my prince charming and we were going to spend the rest of our lives together.
"You're not just saying this 'cause you're drunk, are you?" Ian studied my face intently, searching for any signs of regret that I might have in the morning.
Standing on my tippy toes, I decided to answer him with a kiss. And after the kiss, I pulled away slightly and said, "Ian William Hayes, will you just marry me already?"
He couldn't stop the smile forming on his face. Shaking his head from side to side, he muttered, "Alright, fúck it, let's get married!"
"Wait, really?" I gasped in shock. I didn't expect him to come around that fast.
Smirking that trademark smirk that could turn my knees into jelly, he said, "With you, baby girl? I'll go anywhere and do anything you want,"
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- - - - - To Be Continued - - - - -