Misfits (#2)

69.*

Violet.

Italy. I've only visited a couple times. Once, to Rome with Sage and our father when I was younger.

The memory's blurred, distant but I do remember feeling lonely when they'd both talk about business and meetings. I could never join in. So I resorted to annoying Sage instead, jumping onto his back spontaneously, forcing him to make daisy chains with me on the bed of our hotel room.

I lean onto the balcony, a gentle breeze sailing through the night air. Tremezzo, Italy is still awake but our grand hotel's pool is mainly dormant since it's the middle of the night. The pool is a while below me but it's enough to make out the gleam of the spotlights and four figures.

Luca's sat with his younger brother on the edge, whilst Ria and Val swim around. I can hear their laughter from here, echoing upwards like a friendly chime in the dead night.

There was a pool in the hotel I'd stayed at in Rome. I distinctly remember meeting a young boy and at the time, because I was nine years old and a tragically hopeless romantic, I thought he was way too cool for me. And then I remember he said hi, smiling at me under black hair and I dropped my book into the pool. I cringe. I was always a charmer.

The balcony doors slide open behind me and I don't need to look back to know who, leaning back against the body that cages me in. Everest's scent smothers me like a warm, nostalgic hug.

It reminds me of the safest parts of my life. Like when the cherry blossoms would surround me in the grove or the audience would clap to my pirouettes. Those were brief, fleeting moments I needed to chase. Now, I find that feeling in every embrace of his. A living, breathing safety blanket.

"What are you thinking about?" He muses into my neck.

I hold his arms that encase me, "You."

I can feel his lips begin to rise against my neck. I turn around. Slinging my arms around the back of his neck, I pull Everest down to me so he's infinitely closer, "Actually I was thinking about a boy I fell in love with in Rome."

"I've never been to Rome." He snaps, "So stop lying."

I can't help my grin at the adorably pissed expression on his face. It's dark and quiet and we're high up on this small balcony, a distant view of Lake Como and the sprawling mountains. The still, nightly atmosphere feels comforting.

"I was like nine. It was a crush on this little boy. And when he smiled at me, I dropped my book into the pool. He literally walked away after that." I run my hands into his hair, "So I don't think you need to worry about me flirting with anyone."

"I would've flirted with you so good if you met nine year old me. He was a stud." He starts to smile, swaying us back and forth, "Would've had you wrapped around my finger from the very start."

"Oh, you are so very sure of yourself, Everest Ronan."

"You were always destined to be mine, Violet Amory." He mimics my tone, smiling beautifully, "If we met then, or now, or ten years in the future, the end game would have been you."

If Everest Jones looked at you like that, like this, I don't think you'd be able to recover. It's the sort of smile that snares a bit of you permanently. You can never get that bit back. It belongs to him irrevocably, once he looks at you like that.

He keeps going, his forearms locked tightly around my lower back so I'm drawn in towards his body, "I would've been in the front seat for each recital. Watched all your weird ass sci-fi movies. Spend all my days with you. And I'd learn to be strong, so I could protect you in that manor."