summer boy ~ tal fishman ✓

~47~

I smile a big smile for the picture. 'I love it here' is what it should show. I went into all the fancy and expensive stores now. My feet are sore and my cheeks are hurting since my parents want a picture of me with literally everything. Everything. I swear, if my mom would see a cute garbage bin, she would probably force me to take a picture with it.

I let my smile drop again. They took the picture, I can be myself again. I do love it here, but taking a picture of me with everything forces me to smile way more than I usually do. My cheeks aren't used to that. My mom smiles at me. 'Mom, can we please sit down somewhere for a cup of coffee?' I ask her. 'Sure, sweetie, pick something', she responds, leaving me very relieved.

I look around me and see cute little shops and cafés everywhere. One catches my eye, though. It's small, but not tiny and it's busy but not crammed full. Just a perfect in-between. Plus, they sell ice cream. And coffee. Two things I was going for.

I walk over and sit down on an empty chair while my mom and dad take the seats next to me. I drop my shopping bags on the ground. They did tend to get a bit heavy after walking with them for a while. 'Are we going back anytime soon?' I ask. 'Well, my plan was to stay here so we can go to some restaurant in this part of town', my dad answers.

What he means by that is that we probably should go to a different place than the pizzeria we went to nearly all week. Yes, we've been here a week now. It feels like a short period of time and at the same time, it feels like it has been ages.

I sip from my cold coffee. The coffee here is amazing. I usually don't really like coffee, but this is really good. The iced coffee is great. Just like the food. I wish I could take a personal chef with me for my ice cream, pizza, and coffee. I'll lure him to the States with a lot of weird promises. That'll totally work.

I feel my phone buzzing in my pocket. I connected to the free wifi they had here, so I'm alive on the internet again. Meredith can't stop texting me about some hot French guy. I smile at my screen. My parents are discussing whether we should pay another visit to Il Duomo, the Cathedral. We've already gone there two times now. I think I've seen it by now.

Suddenly, my phone starts buzzing again. Tal's contact appears on the screen and I start smiling even wider. 'Be right back', I tell my parents. They probably don't know I'm gone because of their planning they're doing. I pick up the phone.

'Hi babe!' I squeal. 'Hey girl', Tal responds. I smile. 'How's it in Hawaii? Did you need to reject some pretty Hawaiian girl already?' I hear him chuckle on the other end of the line.

He starts talking about his vacation and how he has done all kinds of cool stuff. I tell him we're still walking around in Milan. And that I can't wait to see him again. He replies with that he misses me too. It's the same conversation we've had a few times now; we tell about our days and then we start talking about how we miss each other for a few minutes before one of us has to go.

The same happens this time. I hang up because my parents have been interrupting me several times telling me to do so. They've decided which restaurant we're going to eat tonight and we start walking in the direction my father's phone is directing us. Hopefully Google Maps knows it's way around here.

I open my eyes again and stare at the ceiling. The week has been flying. I hope the rest of the time does and doesn't at the same time. I can't fall asleep. I know that Tal is probably asleep right now and Meredith and I have nearly no time difference and seeing it isn't past 2 AM, she's probably still awake.

I pick up my phone and squint my eyes at the bright light. I call Meredith but she doesn't answer her phone. I sigh and lay back down after placing my phone on the nightstand next to the large bed.

I close my eyes again and try to fall asleep. It's night. I should sleep. The only problem is a picture floating in my mind. It's the picture of Tal I took when he was with Mouse, the first week of the vacation. It's the most adorable thing on my phone– after Mouse as a kitten; nothing can top that. I search for it. When I found it, I just keep staring at it until I feel more tired. And with that in mind, I try drifting away into sleep again.

It somehow worked, I think while waking up. I lay in bed for a few minutes before standing up and changing my pajamas into appropriate daywear. I mean, it's Milan. One of the biggest fashion capitals. I need to at least look presentable.

I walk out the door and feel the fresh air on my skin. I smile. It's a little colder than I thought it would be and my crop top isn't doing much to keep me warm. I'm glad I put on jeans instead of shorts, though.

There aren't that many people on the streets. The people that are walking there, aren't really of my age. Most of them are families with children. I smile at them. I love children. If they behave, that is. I make it to the park and sit down on the first empty bench I see. I like to go people spotting here. No-one knows me here so I mind less when they catch me staring. That sounded so creepy.

I see a girl with an adorable outfit. I want to tell her that but I can't speak Italian for the life of me. After a few moments of debating whether I should go up to her, she already left the park. I grab my phone and text Tal a good morning text. It's morning for me. I get a reply the second I put my phone back into my pocket. I smile at the text telling me to call him. I do so.

He picks up and I can hear his voice with waves on the background. 'Let me guess, you're by the sea. Am I right?' I ask him. He chuckles. 'How'd you guess? Wait, let me guess. You heard the waves?' he repeats my words with a high-pitched voice. 'Bingo!' I laugh at his imitation of me. 'And my voice isn't that high.' 'My voice isn't that high', he repeats in the same high-pitched voice. I laugh. He sounds so stupid with that voice. But it's cute-stupid, not stupid-stupid. That didn't make any sense.

'It's so pretty on this beach, it's kind of hidden but not really and-' he stops right after I hear a thud. 'Are you okay?' I ask worriedly. He doesn't answer, just gasps and calls Adi's name a few times. 'Is he okay? Tal, what happened? Tal?' 'I'll call you back', he says before he hangs up.

I furrow my brows. I'm really worried now. What happened? Tal didn't tell me. Hopefully, Adi and him are going to be fine. Should I call him? Probably not. If something bad happened, he has to focus on that first. I know that is the right thing, but I can't help but wish he had told me what was going on. Now I'm going to be worried sick for the rest of the time until he calls me.

I stand up from the bench and start pacing around. I don't know where I'm headed. I text Tal multiple times but he doesn't respond. It's probably something really bad, Julia. Let him be. I somehow walked to the hotel and I walk through the door. My phone is still in my hand, ready to answer the phone if Tal calls.

He hasn't called, and it's been more than an hour. My parents have woken up, but I don't think they've noticed me pacing around my room yet. You probably can't hear footsteps from the other room, right?

I hear a soft knock on my door. I'm still sunken in thought but open the door anyway. I walk over to the bed and let myself fall on it. I stare at the ceiling in silence until my mother breaks it. 'What's wrong, sweetie?' she asks while looking at me with a worried expression.

'Well, I was talking on the phone with Tal and all of a sudden I hear some thud and a few seconds later he hangs up saying he'll call me later but he hasn't yet.' 'He probably has a really good reason to not tell you what happened. Maybe he didn't want you to be worried', my mom reasonably remarks. 'Then what am I now? It is not working.' 'I'm sure he has got a good reason for it. Now, go put on your swimsuit and go to the swimming pool. You can clear your thoughts there.'

I nod and she leaves the room again. She's probably right. He must have a good reason not to contact me. I hope.

But I also hope nothing's really wrong. I don't even know what I'm hoping for. I think I'm hoping for them to be fine and contact me quickly, but I'm confused at myself. I breathe a deep breath and feel myself getting a bit calmer. I should probably stop panicking so much. But that's easier said than done.