When the Bus Stopped

Chapter 26

"Lucy?" Alessandro gazed around in confusion. Turning back to the brunette beside him he asked, "Did you see where my dinner date went?"

"I don't know. I guess she - like - felt awkward because she was just totally - like - standing there."

Good! Alessandro felt a surge of triumph somewhere in the pit of his gut. He wasn't the kind of guy that liked to make women jealous but then he also couldn't remember the last time that a woman he'd been so taken with had been so uninterested in him. It had stung.

If she wanted to friendzone him, he could quite happily remind her that he was all man.

He'd found himself enjoying torturing her. Seeing her moving uncomfortably trying to find someone to talk to and - failing that - find a place to sit that wasn't surrounded by conservative folk (that would either shuffle away from her or try to involve her in their obviously unbearable conversation). And, from the sounds of it, he had been successful. "I guess I should go find her."

"Or you could stay here. I'm sure she'll - like - come back soon."

He smiled. "You are right. She'll come back." I won't let her have the joy of seeing me search.

"So, you are in New Zealand long?"

"Not much longer."

She smiled. "I'm so happy I came here tonight. I thought it would be - like - a dreadful night."

"And was it?"

"Are you serious? I've had - like - the biggest crush on you since I was twelve!"

"How old are you now?" Judging by her dialogue she must be at least fifteen years younger than him.

"Nineteen."

"Oh. Right." Alessandro stopped himself from rubbing his hands with glee. Lucy Falkwell must be feeling very threatened indeed! So, she wasn't interested in him, and hadn't eagerly embraced his advances. But now she could see that he wasn't going to spend the rest of his holiday here falling all over her... and that there were other (much younger!) women that were over the moon to be spending time with him.

He needed a little confidence boost after all that time in Lucy's company. She had quite a strange knack of making him feel normal. While that was something that he'd loved at first he was starting to feel a little bit peeved. Being normal hurt. "Who did you come here with?"

"My Mum. I think she is out the back having a ciggie but I'm sure she'd really love to meet you. She has your autograph tattooed on her cleavage from - like - years ago."

"Oh."

"She needs to get it touched up though because all of the - like - stretch marks she got when she was pregnant with me made it look a bit more like someone's pen stopped working so they scribbled on her chest till the ink started flowing again. Maybe you could sign it again so she can - like - get it redone?"

"Well." There weren't many things a man could say to a comment like that. "On second thoughts I might go find Lucy."

#

Her phone, vibrating like a ferret in her pocket, woke her. "HELLO? LUCY FALKWELL?" a woman screamed. In the background Lucy could hear a thousand children attending a rage party. "I SAW YOUR AD PINNED UP AT THE LOCAL SUPERMARKET... ARE YOU AVAILABLE TO BABYSIT LAST MINUTE?"

"Of course." Were the two words that popped out. What? I don't need the money! I just need to sew some dog a stretch n grow and then I'm getting the hell out of here! Four days had passed since she had snuck out of Alessandro Magno's glittery gala. She hadn't seen him since. Not that she was too miffed. Heart broken about the disappearance of Detective Daniello - maybe - but as to Alessandro Magno the Narcissist nope... he could have left the country without so much of a goodbye and she wouldn't care.