My Italian Nightmare

Chapter 19: Date Night

Friday, 15th of October 2021

"You look...stunning" I blushed and looked up, smiling. "Thank you. You too", I said and began walking up the staircase to the gallery. Stephan smiled back at me and followed me up the stairs.
"I'm pretty excited", Stephan said and looked for his face-mask in his coat pocket.
"Me as well", I said and waited for him at the entrance, my vaccination pass ready. "I haven't been to a gallery in ages." After we passed the entrance, we were welcomed by a woman in an expensive looking dress suit that smiled at us and nodded.
"Welcome at the Contemporary Fine Arts Gallery. You are free to take off your masks after you passed the entrance. Can I offer you something to drink?" She pointed at a round table in front of her, on which about 30 glasses of white wine (or was it champagne?) were placed. I turned to look at Stephan, who nodded and I smiled under my mask. I took it off and said: "Thank you and yes, we would gladly take something to drink." The woman smiled and handed me a glass. As Stephan took off his mask, she was visibly stunned and her eyes widened a bit. She smiled in a particularly sweet manner as she handed him a glass and held eye contact with him for a second too long. I rolled my eyes.
"Is there a possibility we can leave our coats somewhere?", Stephan asked and the lady nodded. "Of course, let me show you." She directed us to a small room with a man who gave us little labels for our coats. The lady made an effort to help Stephan out of his coat, while I stood beside them trying to stifle a giggle. After we walked back to her table and we picked up our glasses that we had left there. "I hope you have a good time at the exhibition", she said and smiled a last time at Stephan, ignoring me and we thanked her and went into the next room. "Well, wasn't she nice", Stephen said genuinely and took a sip from his glass. "Ohh, it's definitely champagne - how noble."
"Yeah", I said and took a sip as well. "So nice." I tried to suppress the irony in my voice. We began to walk through the room, looking at the art pieces and reading the descriptions underneath. I regarded Stephan from the side. His brown hair fell on his shoulders in soft curls and as he read one of the signs, his long, thick lashes cast a shadow on his cheeks. He stood there in a nonchalant manner, hands in his trouser pockets. He wore a dark suit with a white shirt and a striped tie, but it didn't look tacky or overdressed, it looked natural and elegant. Suddenly I understood why the lady at the entrance had made such a fuss about him. He was an extraordinarily handsome man, while at the same time seeming to be unaware of it. Very different than...him.I pretended to read the sign as well, but my mind was wondering off. I hadn't heard from Teo since our video call on Tuesday. I still knew what he was being up to, obliviously. On Wednesday they had played a concert in Paris. I was very intrigued to text Teo who the hell had chosen his outfit, because shorts paired with ankle boots was a truly horrible decision. I shivered thinking about the photos. Today they would play a concert in Stockholm. Teo had not been exaggerating – they were really busy. Edoardo had not texted me, even if I had kind of expected it. I didn't know why, but I felt a strange curiosity, even interest towards me from his side. I couldn't explain it, but I was kind of intrigued to find out. Because I was also curious towards his person, as he still remained a mystery to me since the last time we met. Stephan started walking up to the next exhibition piece and I followed him. Try focusing on the date tonight, no thoughts on them. No thought on him, I told myself and tried to shake the thought out of my mind.

***

After the exhibition, Stephan and I had decided to visit a bar, and as I knew my way around more than he did, I chose one of my favourites. I knew the barkeepers there, as my friends and I went there a lot, at least if it wasn't closed because of Covid.
"Well hello there Arian!", one of the bar-keepers, Paul, greeted me and I waved and grinned. "Hi Paul, how is it going?", I asked and rested my elbow on the bar counter. The bar was quite crowded already, a usual Friday night. But I had seen it way more packed in summer.
"Well you know how it is. Business hard since that shitty virus keeps coming back. But as long as people like you keep coming, we're gonna be just fine." He grinned.
"Is this a compliment towards me or a dig at my excessive alcohol consumption?" I said jokingly and raised my eyebrows. Paul sent me an air kiss and grabbed a glass. "As per usual my angel?" I nodded and grabbed Stephan's sleeve to pull him closer to the bar counter. "This is Stephan, my date for tonight. Stephan, Paul." I introduced them. Paul smiled and waved. "Lucky dog", he said and winked. "So, what can I do for you good Sir?"
"Gin Tonic, please", Stephan said, seeming slightly nervous.
"Two Gin Tonics, coming right away", Paul said and I smiled and went to sit down in one corner where a table was a free. Stephan had sat opposite me with the back to Paul. Paul eyed me up, raised his brow, showed a thumbs up and mouthed "Well done!". I grinned slightly. Paul had seen lots of guys I took to this bar and to be fair, my taste wasn't always immaculate.
"Did you guys...?", Stephan started and carefully turned his head to look at Paul.
"You mean...Paul and..I?" I looked at him and couldn't help but laugh. "Nooo!" I cupped my face with my hand and shook my head. "We're just sort of friends. He just likes to flirt, that's all." "Well, you as well, it seems", Stephan said and the corners of his mouth twitched.
I raised my brows. "Jealous?"
"Oh, I wouldn't dare. That'd be a love's labour's lost." I cocked my head and smiled a little. "Why the hell are you not studying literature anyways?", I asked. Stephan shrugged and brushed his fingers through his hair. I watched him and got the urge to touch it.
"You can't do everything, right. I'm totally fine with some of my interest just being a hobby." I nodded and began to fiddle with a strand of my hair. In this moment, Paul brought us our drinks. "Thank you honey", I said and winked at him cheekily. He grinned back and nodded towards us. I raised my glass and clinked it with Stephan's. "To poor art students", Stephan exclaimed and I laughed. "Amen", I replied and we both took a sip from our drinks.
"Hmmm", I made, "this is why I like this bar so much".
"Is yours so ridiculously strong as well?", Stephan asked and coughed a little. I grinned. "Be thankful, I hate paying for drinks that don't contain a proper amount of alcohol."
"Fair enough", Stephan said and took another sip.
"So what got you into art?", I asked and lit myself a cigarette. Stephen began to talk and we really got immersed into our conversation. Soon we talked about interests beyond our study subjects, about our families, politics, thoughts about ethics and the future; and at no point did I have the feeling that we would disagree on an important matter. We ordered the second round of drinks and then the third. I got lost in Stephan's brown eyes and how he brushed his hair out of his face. I laughed at his jokes and watched his eyes got more and more fogged. I watched him blush when looking at me and his fingers twitched when our hands touched. I felt positively drunk and quite attracted to him. Stephan was one of this people who smoked when they were drunk, so I helped him out a couple times. I watched him held the cigarette between his long slender fingers and fantasized about them grazing over my face.
"Jeez, I'm so drunk", he said at one point at I snickered and nodded. "Oh boy, me too." I brushed my fingers through my hair and looked at him.
"Wanna get out of here?" Stephan looked at me, a little too long, his lips slightly parted, his eyes dreamy and his pupils large and dark.
"Yeah, let's get out of here", he agreed and I waved Paul to get the check.
"I'll go to the restroom real quick, here, please use this to pay okay?", Stephan said and tossed a fifty on the table. "Okay", I said and grinned, watching him leave.
"Well well well, Arian, love, how's it going?", Paul asked and gave me some change, while looking at my face intrigued.
"Well, he's sweet", I murmured and grinned, looking over my shoulder to make sure that Stephan would not suddenly appear. I leaned into Paul and whispered next to his face "But I think he's not the type for a one night stand." I leaned back and smirked, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. Paul's mouth stood slightly open and he stared at me.
"Ari, you dirty little slut", he mouthed and and softly cupped my face in his right hand.
"Not tonight, Paul", I said and shrugged, taking his hand away from my face. Two seconds later, Stephan joined us and put his arm around my shoulder. "Ready to go?", he asked and I nodded.
"Yes. Let's go. Night, Paul", I said and smiled cheekily at him.
"Night Ari", he said and looked at me in a manner that said 'One day I will definitely have to sleep with you'. I poked out my tongue and laid my arm around Stephan's waist as we left the pub. It was a bit hard to walk this way, as Stephan was so much taller than I.
"This Paul guy...", Stephan started and I rolled my eyes, knowing what would probably follow, "he seems reeeaally into you", he finished and slurred his words a bit.
"Everyone's into me", I said causally and poked him slightly in his side.
"Why are you even going out with me", Stephan mumbled and I looked up at him, frowning. "Why should I not? You asked me out."
"Well, are you saying yes to everybody?", he asked and looked at me half-curiously, half unbelieving.
"Of course not", I said insistently. "You're a very sweet guy", I added. "Also...I could ask you the same thing."
"What?", Stephan asked and looked at me confused.
"Why would you go out with me? Almost every time you've met me I've been beside myself or a mess."
"I...", Stephan frowned and looked away from my face, "I've noticed it, but I would never blame anyone for having mental health issues...and if you suffer from anxiety or other problems, I'd rather like to know than ignore it, you know? Those illnesses are just a part of you." He sighed and looked back at me, he didn't look pitiful, but rather empathetically.
"Like last time you told me you were anxious because of the concert, I liked that you were so open about it. Most people would rather hide stuff like that." I felt my lungs tighten and couldn't do anything but nod. We were almost at my apartment complex now and I wish our conversation wouldn't have gone into that direction.
"How was the concert, anyways? What band did you see?", Stephan asked and smiled at me encouragingly.
"Mezzanotte", I breathed and felt my eyes water.
"This one Italian band?", he asked and I chuckled slightly.
"Yeah...this one Italian band."
"I'll have to google them when I get home", he said and I sighed. We arrived at my flat and Stephan took his arm away from my shoulder.
"Will you be fine?", Stephan asked and looked at me, staring at my face, first into my eyes, then very carefully at my lips. I smiled slightly. "You're the one who has to walk back to his flat, don't you worry about me."
He cocked his head to the side and carefully buried his hand in my hair. He leaned down and I looked at his handsome face, his brown eyes dark and glistening. He parted his lips slightly and I allowed him to kiss me softly. His lips were soft and he tasted sweet, a faded flavour of gin and cigarette mixed with mine. I fondled with his hair, which was just as soft as it looked and pulled at his curls carefully. He gasped very slightly and parted from me, brushing his thumb over my cheek. He looked at me intensely and I knew that he would very much like to come up and make out some more. But I knew Stephan was a guy with principles, an old-fashioned gentleman who would take things slow. A guy with self-control.
"Good night Ari", he whispered. "Sleep well."
"Good night", I replied and breathed in sharply. "Text me when you get home."
"I will", he said, smiled and waved before he turned around and made his way through the dark night.