Chapter 2
Just us, traffic and the sun.
"The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine" -Mike Murdock
"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." -Nelson Mandela
"All right, what are we doing here?" We stand outside the building that we-I so much love. The Venice Buona Fortuna is one of the best places to be at. The hotel has 32 floors but the last 3 levels are a bit less traditional. The 30th floor is a casual placer, decorated with an Italian aura. On the other hand, the 31st floor is the fancy area of the restaurant. Last but not least, the 32nd level is the pool and bar area.
From the side of my eye I see Mason's stare shifts from the building to me. I look at him after seconds of silence. "Well you agreed to my challenge, so if you have any interest in figuring out what it is you and I have to go up there," Once again his gaze turns towards the building making me turn to stare as well.
"I haven't agreed to anything yet" I place my hands on my hips.
"Well you kinda did when you hopped in your car and began to follow me" he sends me a wink and almost immediately my heart tightens a bit. Without letting him know how much a simple gesture can get to me I decide to blow a kiss. With that he begins to walk towards the revolving door, he stops right in front of them and signals me to go first (both of us about to go inside the hotel). They say that the eyes are the doors to our souls and on this case I will have to agree. Mason's head is following a women around our age, maybe a little older, whom I might say has breasts way too big of a size for her type of body. Even though his eyes show his true intentions he still waited for me to go first and bowed in a goofy manner. He seems to be hypnotized and at that second a wonderful idea pops into my mind. Such a perfect occasion like this cannot go to waste.
I pretend to bow while he continues to openly stare at the women's breasts or my preferable nickname-boob lady-on the other side of the window. Swiftly my hands are forcefully positioned on his back and shoulders with the porpoise to push him inside the revolving doors; the sudden action takes him by surprise causing him to end up being slammed into one of the windows inside the revolving doors. Starting some of the guests in the process. His lips and face are plastered into the window while the doors keep revolving and I cannot help but to laugh hysterically.
People keep looking at us strangely but I cannot seem to control my laughter. Wow, I miss laughing like no one is watching. Meanwhile, he spins twice with his face glued to the glass before finally snapping out of shock and decides to get inside the Venice Buona Fortuna's lobby without waiting for me this time. Well I guess I deserved that.
What astonishes me more is the mere fact that once he recomposed himself he acted as if the whole scene just being displayed seconds ago had not occurred. That type of confidence was the one that dumbfounded me. It's not that I have low self-esteem, in fact, I consider my self esteem quite high at times.
With that I finally decide to enter the hotel and admire the Italy decor that they've given it. "Well played Stage" his hand reaches his jaw while he opens and closes it; like a fish. Maybe I shoved him harder than what I intended to. Boob Lady turns to face Mas with a seductive smile. Mason looks at her once again and sends her a wink, Boob Lady smiles shyly while shoving (gracefully for males... or maybe just Mason) a strand of hair behind her ear. Many people were waiting for the elevator and Boob Lady was almost the next to hop on while judging by the amount of people we would have to wait for the next one.
"Mason you know I love this place but I am way underdressed." He always loved the fancy area while I preferred the casual floor. When we came here we would mix it up to please the other and obtain what we wanted. We watched how Boob Lady made her way inside the elevator doors. She threw him a wink before the elevator doors closed, sending her up and back to her life.
After that Mason turned to look at me. "Well, good thing we aren't going to Clásica Buona Fortuna," he effortlessly stated. The way his Italian accent rolled out of his tongue send shivers down my spine.
Before I could react he began to walk towards the elevator doors. Around nine people got in while Mas clicked the elevator button. This left me in the center with people in every side-my breath increases drastically. These elevators are not what you would consider small but the plain grey walls surrounding us did not help to keep me at ease.
"Have you ever wonder how long did it take to build the hotel?" He distracts me.
I took a big breath while realizing three people were getting off the floor and one had already left. "It took them a year and nine months," I closed my eyes in an attempt to feel less frightened. "Another hotel wanted to stop them from building Buona Fortuna because it was too much competition so they lost about two three months in that."
"Sometimes it amuses me how you know all this little things no one cares about." He quickly cleared his throat once he saw my (shock) face at his bluntness. "I mean that as a compliment, sometimes people don't appreciate the details."
I let out a small laugh, "Yeah thank you for the clarification. My brain went into comebacks mode." Finally, the elevator doors open and I don't wait a second longer than what I have to. I walk a couple of steps before turning around in circles; taking in all of my surroundings.
The brick walls have some spillover plants surrounding the elevator doors; giving the place some sense of air. The rest of the walls were surrounded by windows except for the kitchen. Every couple of feet around the walls were pillars and those had spillover plants too. The bright colors of each wooden table helped bring the reminder of the Italian theme. They had yellow, red, bright blue, green and white tables located inside of canoes. The canoes were floating on top of the fake river\lagoon that started a couple of feet after the reception greeting. The tables where on top of some platform that prevented water from getting to the people and tables. On top of that was the table and surrounding it they placed canoe edges.
"I see it and I don't believe it!" Linda, the owner standing next to Carl, my favorite waiter, exclaims full of happiness. "You two love birds haven't come here in over a year"
"Oh my Linda!" Instantly I run towards her, embracing her into an enormous hug. "Come on follow me, we'll get you two a table." Carl speaks once Linda finished hugging both of us. Carl locates us on a canoe for two and we order drinks right away. He leaves us with menus even though we probably know it by heart. We have been coming here ever since Mason was 12 and I was 11.
He kept looking at the menu and I tapped my foot with the wooden floor. I kept tapping and making different noises with my mouth to get Walker impatient. "Would you shut up Stage?" He snaps without looking away from the menu.
"Right after you explain the challenge." With that his eyes diverted from the menu and into mine. Smoothly, I winked at him. "All right, but after we eat. Now, tell me what you have been up to for the past year." I could hear Dusk Till Dawn by Zayn on the background. "Well... not much has happened, I am still into dancing, still into painting and I've just started to date Josh Kelso. What about you?" I reached for some water and gulped it as fast and as much as I could, hoping he wouldn't remember who Kelso was.
"Josh... Josh Kelso... huh, I could swear that name sounds familiar. Did you mention him when we were dating or something?" Darn so close yet so far away. "Yeah you actually met him, he was one of my childhood friends." His eyes lit up finally recognizing who I was talking about.
"You are telling me, that the only dude we fought about is the one you are dating right now?" Automatically I wanted to apologize but then I could sense my face growing hotter after the thought. Why would I have to apologize? It has been a year since we dated and he hooked up with the person I despised most in the world a week after we broke up. "Yes. That is exactly what I'm saying, it has nothing to do with you or our relationship and if I could put up seeing you with Rachel a week after we were through you can see me with freaking Kelso." His face changed into a frown but I don't think it has to do about Kelso or what I said, I think it has to do with the way I said it.
