Roman Holiday

PART ONE OF TWO

Maja put the phone down and pondered for a moment. 'What do I do now?' She murmered out loud. She'd just finished a phone call from her friend Laura and was now in two minds what to do. Laura and her had a short break to Rome booked and now Laura had dropped a bombshell that her work had told her she could no longer have the time off to go.

Firstly she rang the airline to see what they could do; they said that to do a name change would mean buying a whole new ticket. 'Sod those low cost airlines', Maja swore under her breath. She'd been counting on maybe sweet-talking them into letting her do a name change for free or on the cheap, and then she could take a different friend. 'Oh well', Maja said, 'I'll go on my own then. I'm a big girl I can look after myself!'

A week later and Maja was sitting on the Easyjet flight bound for Rome. The flight was uneventful and she landed on time. After collecting her small weekend bag she found the bus for the centre of Rome. Luckily for her, the next one was just about to leave so she settled back in the seat, made herself comfy and sighed a deep sigh of relief. Here at last.....

MEANWHILE:

Howard had finished his DJ set at a club in Rome called Goa and was still buzzing. It was 7am and he'd eventually finished, cleared his set away and decided to head back to his hotel he'd booked for 3 nights.

He'd decided to book the extra nights on a whim, because he felt he needed some 'me' time away from the DJ'ing and the band. Rome was a good place to do this, because he could do his one set, then he could relax for the other 3 nights in a city where hardly anyone seemed to recognise that he belonged to one of the biggest bands in the world.

He took his few bits back to the hotel - the club had arranged to get the rest of the stuff shipped to his next club he was doing later in the month. He stopped off at the hotel, a nice boutique hotel where he could do his own thing and no-one would notice.

He ran up the stairs to his room on the first floor, threw open the window and let the weak, spring sunshine flood into the room. He then quickly stripped off his clothes and got in the shower.

After his shower he decided that he couldn't sleep, he was still too wide awake, so he went back downstairs and headed off for a walk by the river to wind down.

Maja arrived at her hotel and thought exactly the same thing. After a quick shower she found a map and went back downstairs for a walk. The first place she went to was The Colloseum, a must according to her guide book.

It was fairly quiet when she got there as it was still quite early in the morning. She wandered around the outside taking photos and getting her photo taken with one of the Roman Centurions outside. She knew it was a bit naff, but it had to be done.

She then decided to head for the Tiber to cross one of the bridges over to the other side and maybe see if she could get into St Peter's. The weather was beautiful so she put her sunglasses on and made her way over there, just stopping en-route for a quick take-away coffee. Once she got to the walkway by the edge of the river she found a sign pointing the way to St Peter's and started to cross the bridge. The sun twinkled on the water and it was so beautiful Sheena stopped to take a photo. She slipped her sunglasses off and placed them on the bridge, took the photo and then carried on walking.

Howard was standing on the very same bridge, cap pulled down slightly as he always found fans didn't spot him when he did this. He saw Maja walk up to the edge of the bridge and take a photo.

She was in a little world of her own, with a small smile playing on her lips. His heart felt like it stopped beating and he felt like he couldn't breathe. She was the most beautiful person he'd ever seen and he somehow 'felt' he had to get to know her. She turned around on her heel and headed off the bridge towards St Peter's. It was at that moment Howard saw her sunglasses still sitting on the edge of the bridge. He grabbed them up and pulling the cap down further he followed her quietly.