Cherish

Chapter Seven - Fields & Forbidden Feelings

The morning light crept through the gap between the curtains, pinching my eyes open I quickly realise that I'm in bed with Damiano. For a moment I was confused why I was here, until the pain from my head sent memories from last night flooding back. Who was she and why would she want to hurt me?

I saw another side to Damiano last night, he was gentle and delicate in the way he held me wanting me to feel safe. I'm desperately trying not to fall for this man but he's making it hard. I'd never been so disappointed to see the sun. I never wanted last night to end. The innocence and danger intertwined with pure intentions and boundaries crossed. Maybe in another life time he would feel the way for me that I feel for him, but not in this one; at least not now. I have to keep reminding myself that this is a friendship and if I mess this up I lose not only him, but my chance to stay in Italy.

I gently lift his arm that's draped over my waist and slowly get out of bed. Treading lightly across the floor hoping not to wake him before reaching the bathroom. I turned on the light and saw myself for the first time with a bruised and grazed forehead. Brushing my hair back with my hands to get a better look I notice a red tint to my blonde hair. Turning on the shower and just letting the hot water hit me for a while trying to process everything that had happened and everything I feel. Gently wrapping my hair in a towel careful not to tie it too tight since finding more bruises while washing my hair. Walking back into my bedroom Damiano is sat on my bed.

"Sorry, I just wanted to make sure that you're okay." He says with a small smile.

"Thank you I'm fine, I think I'm going to stay here today I don't really feel like doing anything." I say brushing past him to find some leggings and a comfy t-shirt.

"Absolutely not I'm taking you out for the day, I won't let you be a prisoner in this hotel. Get ready." He says while standing up abruptly and walking to the door.

"Damiano wait, where are we going?"

"Stop calling me that it's so formal, call me Dami... oh and none of your business." He winks and closes the door.

Dami Dami Dami I want his name to linger on my lips like the taste of alcohol.

Slipping on a pale yellow midi dress and white converse I throw my handbag over my shoulder and head into the main living room. The others left earlier this morning so Dami sat alone twisting his rings not noticing me walk in. I take a few steps closer and he looks up with a smile, eyes lingering on my dress for a second before saying "let's go".

Walking out of the hotel Dami pulls some car keys out of his trouser pocket and aims it at a black convertible parked on the road. "I thought we should explore in style." He smiles opening the passenger door for me. The car has the distinct new car smell making me feel almost nauseous so I put down the window as soon as he put the keys in. "I can do one better." He says with a wink, pressing a button to take the top down.

We start to drive slowly through the built up neighbourhood we were in, the sun on my face and the wind in my hair we sit together in comfortable silence. After around ten minutes we find ourselves on an open road no houses or cars anywhere in the distance just rolling fields as far as the eye could see. Dami slowed the car down and pulled in next to a wooden gate before promptly getting out of the car to open my door, offering his hand to help me out.

"What are we doing here?" I ask looking around.

"You'll see." He smiles and walks towards the gate.

Dami climbs over the gate and watches me do the same gently lifting me down so I don't fall. We walk for a while down an overgrown field, making me wish I went with the leggings, before reaching a tall and likely very old tree. Dami sits down patting the soil indicating for me to sit next to him, still confused I look to him and smile before he points at the tree. I notice D.D was carved into the bark as he runs his fingers over the initials.

"When I was younger, I was bullied quite badly." He paused so I nod for him to continue.

"I would come here when I stayed with my aunt for the summer, this is a place that I always felt safe to be myself, and not who people want me to be." He looked down and starts fiddling with the grass.

"I'm so sorry about what happened to you at the show last night, but I promise you I will keep you safe. Always."

"Why did she want to hurt me?" I ask with a serious expression.

"That's for the police to figure out, stop worrying your pretty little head about it." He says standing and offering me his hand.

"Now, last one to the car pays for the ice cream." He says before jogging backwards laughing.

I catch up to him neither of us able to actually run because we were laughing too much. If anyone saw us they would think we were absolutely mad. Maybe we were, but in this moment I didn't care about a single thing. Meters from the gate Dami 'tripped' allowing me to overtake him. We get in the car still laughing to the point I almost got a stomach ache. On the way back to town I put the radio on Riptide by Vance Joy began to play through the speakers. Normally I would skip this song because I've heard it too many times but it just fit the mood perfectly, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the music before turning the volume way too high for my bruised head. But the wide smile on his face was the only pain relief I needed, singing on the top of our voices as if our life depended on it. We drove past an elderly couple who smiled at each other before he squeezed her hand as though we reminded them of their younger selves.

We park outside of the ice cream shop and I spend the next five minutes deciding what I wanted before settling on strawberry.

"It took you that long to pick the most boring flavour." He laughed while walking next to me.

"I'll have you know that strawberry is a classic so you take that back." I say with a frown as he laughs.

We sit on a wall dangling our feet over a river below us just watching the world go by. It feels as if I've known him all of my life, while this might not be the case, I hope I know him for the rest of it. Dami takes our serviettes to the bin and returns with a serious expression grabbing my elbow walking me back in the direction of the car.

"What's wrong? Is everything okay?" I say trying to keep up with his pace.

"Yeah it's just hot and you shouldn't be out in the sun for too long after a head injury, I want to get you back to the hotel." He says almost pushing me in the car and slamming the door.

He turns off the radio pulling away so abruptly he almost hit a car passing us. He checked the rear mirror every couple of seconds as if we were frantically looking for someone. The energy was different, it felt serious so we spent the journey in silence. This time, not comfortable.