"Come on, get up!" I cried and shook Robert. I was like a child. "Come on we're supposed to go to that lake and waterfall!"
"I'm up," he yawned, then went right back to sleep. I groaned and hit him with a pillow.
"I don't care if we're in a different time zone, get your lazy ass up!" He just groaned. Finally, after a minute, he got up. As soon as we were ready, we were heading to the Rhine Falls.
"Can you believe that not that long ago we were fighting a war near here?" I asked as we interlocked our fingers.
"It's crazy," he agreed, "this is beautiful, though." I nodded.
"Yeah," he sighed and rubbed a thumb over my hand. "You brought your bathing suit, right?"
"Mhm," I nodded and looked at the backpack he was carrying.
We'd done a lot in Switzerland. A lot of it was sightseeing in nature, because the whole country is beautiful. But then we were off to Milan, Italy. The first thing we did on the day we checked into the hotel was go to a soccer game. I don't think Robert loves the sport like I do, but I know he at least likes it. It always made me sad that it isn't nearly as popular in the U.S.
The game went great! We had fun and it was exciting. Robert definitely likes football more, but he can deal with it. It's not popular outside the U.S., anyway. But after that we went to get something to eat. There was a little café on the way back to our hotel, which I happily stopped at.
We sat down when our coffee was given to us and were waiting for our food. We sat at a table under the night sky just talking and being with each other. When the waitress brought the snacks out for us, I thanked her.
"What brought you guys here?" she asked politely.
"We just watched the soccer game," Robert answered, "we're on our honeymoon."
"That's cool! Where are you two from?"
"America," I smiled.
"But...you have an accent."
"I was born in Germany," I explained, quickly getting nervous. Her face immediately changed and I could feel myself wanting to throw up a little more.
"You're German?" she asked in disbelief. "And you married her?" she turned to Robert.
"Hey, it's really none of your fuckin' business," Robert spat, starting to stand up.
"Robert, it's not worth it," I shook my head.
He looked at me, then at the waitress, then at me again.
"Let's go," I said calmly, "this place isn't even good."
He nodded, walked past the waitress, took my hand, and we left. Quickly.
"I cannot fucking believe that! Ugh," he groaned in disgust. "I'm so sorry."
I shrugged. "Sorry, my hand's sweaty," I commented and wiped it on my pants.
"Don't be," he reassured me. "God, I'm so mad."
"I'm just glad it didn't escalate into anything else," I sighed as our hotel came into sight.
"We're in public, nothing would've happened," he reassured again.
"It's still scary."
"I know. Let's just try to forget about it and have a good time tonight."
"Babe, get up," Robert shook me. "Babe, come on. You know how excited you were to go to that art museum today!"
"I love you, but leave me alone," I grumbled.
I felt him sit on the edge of the bed. "What's wrong? Is it yesterday?"
I waited a moment before rolling over and looking at him. "I'm just scared it's going to happen again. I mean, I had no idea that Italy hated us so much."
"Germany did do some damage to them..."
I threw a pillow at him. "That's not the point."
"Sorry," He frowned and set the pillow on the other side of the bed. "It's not gonna happen often, I promise." I gave him a disbelieving look. "Really! I mean, that's the first time it's happened on this trip. And honestly, most people don't even think that way anymore."
"You're telling the truth?"
"I wouldn't lie to you."
I stared at him for a moment. "Yes you would," I told him, "you'd say anything to get me out of here right now."
"Yeah, you're right," he laughed a little which caused me to laugh. "I want you to have fun."
"I know," I said quietly. I didn't know how to verbalize my feelings. It was so hard to get out of bed knowing there are so many people around that hate me.
"You can't please everyone," he grabbed my hand gently. "All you need to make happy is you. Life is gonna rip you to shreds if you try to make everyone happy."
"It's just so weird," I admitted and sat up next to him. It was progress. "Growing up...you pleased everyone so you don't get in their way. You don't get noticed, because being noticed is bad."
"Yeah, I think anyone will agree that you grew up in a shitty situation. That's not normal, and it's not okay at all. But you don't live there anymore, you don't need to follow those rules. You're free. Do you hear me?" I nodded and wiped at my eyes with my free hand. No one had told me that before. I'd never heard that. "You're safe, you're free. And—and I'll be damned if something bad happens to you without going through me first. You hear me?"
"Yes," I nodded and gave him a quick kiss. "Yes, I hear you. Thank you so much."
"Good."He grabbed both of my hands and started pulling me off the bed. "Now come on!We have art to go look at!"
