Orange Blossom

Chapter 16

"Did you say Zagara...?" I asked wide eyed, staring blankly at him then toward the flower.

"Yea... It's popular here in Sicily. Hotels, perfumes, almost everything is named after it," he said looking at the flower as I was.

"Oh...," I said blankly looking away from the flower into the distance.

"Yup, well, what kind of flower are you named after? Well...I mean, what's it's significance behind it?" he asked crossing his arms.

"Uhm..." I hesitated.

"I...actually think that I'm named after this," I said holding the flower up, "Well, I am. I just never knew..."

"Your name's Zagara?" he asked with an eyebrow up.

"Yea," I said confidently.

"I get it, so instead of Zagara, you go by Blossom?"

"Yup, I mean my Mom and my friends either call me 'Orange' or 'Blossom'. Never at the same time... Only one of my friend's called me 'Orange Blossom' before," I answered.

"You never knew that was the meaning of your name?"

"No..., I never knew," I said both to him and myself. So I was named after Sicily, Italy's flower...? My Mom just told me that ever since she's heard it, she fell in love with it. She had to have known the meaning, right?

I shook my head from that thought and decided to change the subject.

"Anyways, what about you? Where does Daniel come from?" I asked grimacing at him.

He realized that I was getting uncomfortable and kindly stopped before taking it any further.

"I was named after my grandfather on my father's side. And I was just wondering, are you half Italian?" he asked with weary eyes.

"Yes, I am. My mother's Mexican and my father's Italian," I said taking a breath before saying his nationality. It's sounded so foreign coming out of my mouth.

"My father's French, Dutch, and German. My mother's English and Native American. My godfather is the one who lives here, who I work for. He's close friends with my dad," he said.

"Oh, that's cool. Where are you from originally?" I asked

"Grand Rapids, Michigan. You?"

"San Francisco, California."

"City, girl. Interesting."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, I just can't imagine crowded streets, big buildings, and bad traffic," he said with a laugh.

"Don't forget old naked men running across the street," I added.

"Are you serious?"

I laughed. "So serious!"

He made a disgusted face and I started laughing even more. Daniel is such a good guy. I know there are better adjectives to describe him, but I just can't get the words out right.

"Well, I gotta get going," I said grabbing hold of my luggage, not believing that I've been running around with it, "It was nice meeting you and thank you for the sight seeing."

"No problem, Zaga-Blossom. I had fun," he said not calling me by my government name because it made me cringe.

"Uhm, it'd be cool to hang with you again!" I said giving him a hug goodbye.

Once his arms instantly wrapped around my waist, I was melting. His smell, his warmth, his grip...everything felt so perfect. Okay! Stop! Blossom, stop!

After a good minute, I let go of him and could feel my cheeks burning up.

"Uhm..," he said almost looking as if he was flustered.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No, really, it's-"

"No, it's not. I should go."

"Wait," he said grabbing a hold of my hand. I looked at his hand, surprised of how gentle he was and looked back up to him.

"Sorry, uhm. Meet me back at the bakery...well whenever you'd like. I honestly go to Roberto's every morning for coffee and even pastries once in a while," he said letting go, with a shy grin.

"Sure, another day," I said shaking my head and grinning back.

"Well, see you!" he said, waving.

I waved back and headed the opposite direction he was heading. I pulled out my phone looking up a nice hotel near by and decided to walk there so I can take in more of the gorgeous city of Italy.

As I was walking, I couldn't help but think about Daniel's piercing brown eyes....

~

It was 7:55 P.M. by the time I made it to the hospital. Immediately, I checked in and got ready to take another bath. My muscles kind of ached from all that walking, but I knew that a nice warm bath would take the pain away.

Right after, I dried up and changed to my pajamas. Once I jumped into bed, my eyes closed instantly, reliving the day I had with Daniel in my dreams.

-

Sorry, for the short chapter! Will update again soon!!! :)