She who entangles men

8. my P.o.V. - time together

It was an early afternoon of a summer day. I was sitting in my garden with a book on my swinging bench. I was swinging back and forth slowly, as a tear dropped down on the page. I didn't want to stop reading, so I kept wiping my blurred eyes and continued.

My face was wet, when I heard someone whisteling. I looked up and saw Gianluca approaching the gate and leaning over it. But when he saw me, his face became serious and he rushed to me.

"Cassandra!", he said worried and knelt infront of me, "What happened? What's wrong?"
I looked at him, took a deap breath, but burst out in tears again. He sat next to me and put his arm around me back, gently stroking my arm. He took the book out of my hands and put it aside. Then he placed his hand on mine and caressed it. He waited patiently until I calmed down a little bit and I took his hand to examine it and to distract myself.

When I stopped crying, he asked: "Do you want to tell me?"
I shrugged and said: "It's stupid."
"It's not, if you are crying about it", he said.
I sighed: "I am reading this book and certain things happen and I have the feeling, that I am missing something. That I am not acting like I should and that I am not worth it. Especially not worth you and--" I started crying again. He took my hand and led it to his lips.
"Oh, sweetheart", he whispered, "Why would you think this? If you wouldn't be worth it, I wouldn't come, wouldn't text you every day, wouldn't want to see you as much as possible."

He pulled me closer and I leaned on his chest. My teares wetted his shirt. I lied my hand on it and he placed his hand on my head. Then he started singing with his soft voice:

"Toi, parée de mille et un attraits, ..."

I listened to his voice and closed my eyes. He has sung to me before, but mostly in Italian or English, so this French song was so special now. We swung slowly on the bench and he kept singing. I suddenly felt so peaceful. I knew I was cared for. I cuddled closer to him and he tightened his arms around me, not letting me go for a long while.

***

One day Gianluca invited me to his house. It was a sunny day, so we jumped into the swimming pool, splashing around and messing with each other.

I was swimming behind him and splashed water on him. He turned around and caught me before I could escape. His grip was tight and I let him twirl me around. I faced him, his wet hair, shiny eyes and wide smile. He put me up, carried me to the side of the pool and placed me on it. Then he suddenly jumped up, pressed his lips on mine, fell backwards in the water and swam away.

I stayed still for a moment, but then jumped after him and swam closer. I swam around him and hugged him from behind. He took me up and carried me to the grass. We lied down next to each other, letting the sun dry us.

We had so much fun that day. We played games, talked, laughed and ate together. In the evening it began to rain. We sat in the living room, watching the heavy drops and listening to their steady rythm. The thunderstorm got worse. The wind was strong and we saw a lightening. "That will be fun to walk home", I said. Gianluca turned to me and said: "I won't let you go out at this weather. Let's at least wait a little longer, maybe it'll calm down." I agreed and we started watching a movie.

But the storm didn't stop. It was rather late and the movie was about to end, when the TV went black and the lights went out. Gianluca got up and went to the electricity box. "Can't fix this right now. I think, it's around the neighbourhood", he said to me. When he came back, he was holding a few candles and put them on the coffee table. He lit them and saw me yawning. "I see you're tired. Let's go to bed then." I was tired, indeed, so I didn't argue and he gave me a pair of his pyjamas. When I changed, I sat on the couch, in order to lie down, but he stopped me: "You're not going to sleep in the living room, aren't you? It's colder here and not comfortable." He offered me his and and I smirked. I was too tired, so I let him led me in his bedroom.