La Luna Pallida

iii.

iii. five past ten.

You sat back, practically mirroring his actions, only that one of your hands were leaning on the arms of the chair and the other on the table with your palm holding up your chin.

"Molto bene!", you narrowed your eyes ever so slightly as you touched your necklace, inadvertently directing Elio's eyes towards your collarbone, "Sono in vacanza".
(Very good // I'm on holiday)

"Che bello", he ran a hand through his hair and
licked his lips, delicately, "Perché Crema, amore?", he asked.
(How nice. Why Crema, lover/sweetheart?)

"Qualcosa di nuovo", you shrugged with a smile, what a flirt!
(Something new)

"Mi sembra giusto".
(Fair enough)

You hummed and packed away your notepad, "Sei del posto?", you asked.
(Are you local)

"No", he laughed a little, "è complicato".

"Perché?", you asked why with a slight playful tone. Watching him as he locked eyes with you.

"Boh!", he shrugged.
(Dunno)

You tilted your head to the side, your eyes pleading for the story, "Daiiii!".
(Comeee onnnn)

He sighed with a cheeky smile, rolling his eyes, but complied none the less, "Madre Italiana, Padre Americano; ho vissuto in America, ma mi sono trasferito qui", he threw his free hand around as he spoke.
(Italian mum, American dad. I lived in America but I moved here)

Pausing to take a last pull of his cigarette he then said, "ma", he paused, "eh, no", he brushed off his through process".
(but ... eh, nah)

"No, continuare", you giggled, "e che altro?"
(No continue, and what else?)

"Maaaa, ho anche famiglia francese", he laughed, trying to avoid blowing smoke directly in your face, "come ho detto, è complicato".
(Buttttt, I also have French family // as I said, it's complicated)

You raised your eyebrows, sitting up right in your chair. You looked him up and down once more, biting your inner lip slightly.

Shit. Did you just develop a holiday crush?

"Le riunioni di famiglia sono pazze", he said, "tu ne peux pas boire, tu dois mémoriser trois langues", he raised his eyebrows.
(Family reunions are fun)
(then french)

You laughed nervously now, blushing as you gulped, you couldn't understand part of the sentence.

"Devo dire", he said. You relaxed a little, knowing he wanted to tell you something.
(I have to say)

"Du bist atemberaubend", he smirked.
(german)

Your eyes widened. Was that German? How many languages did this guy know?

Now you had to ask if he knew English because otherwise you'd have no hope and you'd lose contact with this beautiful man forever.

"Non oh capito bene", you stuttered as you looked back at him, "parli anche inglese?".
(I didn't understand well, do you also speak English?)

He let out a light laugh as he sat up, "Sì, Amore Mio". (Yes, my love)

My love. Your heart fluttered. Shit.

You let out a sigh of relief and stopped fiddling with your fingers under the table. "What was it that you said before?", You asked quietly, slightly embarrassed.

"Oh don't worry, it was just something
about the vibe of this place", he waved your question off.

"Right", nodding although you didn't believe him. You looked at your watch, ten to ten.

"So, do you live near here then?", you asked after a moment.

He turned his whole body towards you this time as he begun to speak, "Yeah for the holidays, just down the road, half my family is here right now actually", he pointed to a couple in the crowd of people singing, "What about you, where are you from?".

You smiled thinking of home, "I'm from ___".

"Oh, I've always wanted to visit", he smiled back.

You looked at him curiously, he seemed so genuine and truthful yet also unattached from everything. His green eyes seemed to glow in the dim lighting, it made him look even better.

The singing had quietened down since you'd started conversing with Elio and the group of people had gotten considerably smaller.

"Elio", a female voice drew both of your eyes apart from one another as Elio looked up.

"Nois rentrons à la maison maintenant, vuoi venire?", she said to him.

You assumed this was his mother, you heard 'Do you want to come?'. That was all you gathered though. The first half didn't sound Italian.

He glared at his mother with a look on his face that clearly read 'No?!'. You giggled quietly as his mother made a face of realisation and nodded, covering her mouth.

"Ohhh.... colpa mia, divertiti-", she said sincerely through laughter as she walked away.
(My bad, have fun)

"Maman!", Elio blushed crimson.
Again, not Italian... Damn.

His, or rather, who you assumed to be, father laughed and messed Elio's hair up, before saying, "Ci vediamo domani", and smiling at you as he walked off.

Elio nodded and waved them off, fixing his hair.
"My parents".

Nodding you commented, "Mine are the same".

Elio raised his eyebrows and scratched his jaw. "You wanna go somewhere?", He asked, smiling once again.

You looked at your watch, five past ten, "Sure, as long as you're trustworthy, I don't want to die on my second night here", you joked.

He stood up, offering his hand, "Of course I'm trustworthy, Amore Mio".

You blushed slightly and accepted his hand, standing up next to him. Not much height difference. You appreciated that you wouldn't have to tippy-toe if you were to kiss him.

Oh god.
The crush is imminent.

"lo facciamo?", Elio smiled as his hand waved towards the door.
(Shall we?)

"We shall", you began walking towards the door as you heard Elio quietly shout, "Andiamoooo!".
(Let's go)

Rolling your eyes as you fought back a smile you walked past the last few people in the bar, there was only one person singing now. They had two empties and a fresh glass of beer on their table.

"You have a bike?", he asked as he made it outside of the bar.

"Who doesn't?", you said as you picked up your bike from its resting place on the wall. It was neon orange.

Not the best looking bike but hey at least less people would be inclined to steal it, and it was a hell of a lot cheaper than the rest they had.

As you both hopped on your bikes, you felt a rush of nerves, good nerves. You wanted to make a good impression, maybe you could be friends.

Or more?

___
A/N: my bad it's been a hectic month