All Tomorrow's Parties (10 page)

Laine with her beautiful blonde hair and blue eyes and Ella with her rich auburn hair and porcelain features were attracting attention all the way along the main strip.

“Anyone would think these men had never seen a woman before”, barked Ella.

“Senora, we ‘ave, but none quite as beautiful as you bellisima!” said a heavily accented rusty voice.

Both girls jumped. Spinning around they discovered a very tall, athletic looking man dressed in white linen, wearing a rather large gold chain.

“Ah just the man!” exclaimed Ella, jumping straight in in her best terribly posh English accent.

“I’m looking for my fiancée’s family. Their name is Manchelli and they own a farmhouse up towards Venice, do you know them? Their family are originally from Sicily?” Well she has certainly convinced me, thought Laine with a dry smile.

“’Scusi, scusi senorina I I I don’t know the family but I ‘ave ‘eard of them…maybe if you ask in the bar they will know them. I must go now, ciao”, and with that the man in his finest white linen was making a quick exit down Main Street.

“How did you do that? Very impressive!’ laughed Laine.

“Well I had read that Italian men are a very macho bunch but two things they value are honour and respect. Obviously the book was right, if an Italian man thought you were already spoken for, and to one of his own countrymen no less, well I’d say the book was right.”

“But what about all that stuff about farmhouses and who on earth are the Manchellis?” said Laine looking a little puzzled.

“Oh that was just a calculated guess. I figured Manchelli is a good common Italian name. I read that in a book as well. There must be some farms around here somewhere, adding the bit about originally coming from Sicily, well that was a moment of genius - everyone knows that Sicilians are rough and tough and some are even mafia-related so I figured it couldn’t hurt to let him think that my fake fiancée’s family were rough around the edges.” Both girls looked at each other and burst into fits of laughter.

“You are a piece of work Miss O’Mara, I think I’m gonna learn a lot from you”, said Laine, and with that she gave a courtsey to her friend, who returned the gesture with a bow.

“I think this calls for a gelato”, said Ella, opening the door to Raimondo’s ice cream parlour.

The lemon sorbet was out of this world. Laine had never tasted anything quite like it.

The lemon was so sour that it made her ears hurt, yet at the same time its smooth texture made the inside of her mouth feel as soft as velvet. She was not a big fan of ice cream but now she understood why so many people loved it.

“As good as sex, wouldn’t you say?” said Ella, who had opted for “fragola” (strawberry) ice cream.

“Oh way better, I never knew ice cream could be soooo good”, said Laine.

“It beats Mr Whippy and his 99s any day”, the girls giggled as they continued to walk up the strip savouring their ice cream, occasionally coming up with a lewd comment about Mr Whippy and his 99s.

Gelatos in hand they turned left towards the beach. Most of the tourists had started to pack up for the day and head back to their apartments and hotels. They all looked different shades of pink, some even a tad sunburnt. The smell of coconut oil hung heavy in the air, with an occasional whiff of coffee and cigarettes thrown in for good measure. The girls found a couple of spare sun loungers and sat looking out over the Adriatic. The sand was pleasantly warm from the day’s sun

“This is perfect, thank you so much Ella for sorting all of this out, it’s just what I needed”, said Laine.

“You’re welcome sweet pea, I realise how much I needed it too.”

Sitting eating gelato and watching the sun slowly set over the sea, Laine felt completely free. She was not someone’s daughter who was always in the wrong or someone’s girlfriend who was an appendage of her other half. She was Laine Marshall, 19 years old, and she was sitting eating gelato and watching the sun go down over the Adriatic. She had been in Italy less than 24 hours but she knew that whatever happened she could not go back to her life how it was.

She didn’t need to sit and analyse it, she just knew. Maybe, just maybe, this was what growing up was, she thought. Perhaps the realisation that change was coming and embracing it was what it was all about. She knew change was coming, just as the birds know when the seasons change, so she knew her halcyon days of innocence were becoming a distant memory.

As she watched the sun setting she felt she had reached a turning point, the path not yet clear for the journey ahead but definitely most definitely change was here. She would embrace whatever life was to throw at her, just as she always had. If she had been at all religious she would have known that in those circles it was called faith – knowing at the root of your being that you are on a path, the end out of sight but trusting that the path is good and everything will always work together for good. The lapping hum of the waves gently brought her thoughts back to the here and now. Whatever was to come would be good, she told herself.

Back at the apartment, the girls sat on the balcony and enjoyed some pasta and a few bottles of Frascati that they had picked up at the local store. They worked through their guide book methodically, deciding how to spend the next ten days. With the wine flowing Laine laid bare her thoughts about her life with Danny and how Tony had somehow managed to sweep her off her feet.

“Ella, I’m confused. I know Danny and me, well we’re over, I know that, but he doesn’t, and I really don’t want to hurt him. At the same time Tony is waiting in the wings ready to make me his princess or something, I’m not sure I want that either.” 

A sense of desperation had crept into her voice.

“My dear friend, it sounds to me that what you need is some time on your own to figure things out, this is exactly what this holiday is about – no men to go messing things up eh?” said Ella, who was starting to sound a little bit sloshed…again.

“You’re a good, good friend Ella O’Mara, everyone needs a friend like you”, said Laine, now sounding equally sloshed.

The girls finished off their third bottle of Frascati ( they had brought four bottles in total with the plan of perhaps one per night!), and danced around the living room singing a variety of Human League and Simple Minds songs before crashing at about 3.30am. Happily drunk, they had enjoyed the first day of their Italian holiday. The wine had flowed, the conversation had been heart felt and the dancing, well, the dancing had been extraordinary!

Giggling voices was the first thing Ella heard when she awoke. A bit disorientated, not recognising the white lime-washed ceiling of the apartment, it took her a few minutes to figure out where she was. She knew it must be quite late, the apartment felt like an oven. The searing light escaping through the blinds was fierce. It had already heated up a half empty glass of water that sat in its path on the coffee table. Voices were coming from the apartment below. Ella made her way over to the balcony and looked down. A table had been laid for lunch – two girls and two boys were enjoying a glass of wine. One of the boys, a beautiful dark Italian-looking man with raven hair, glanced up at Ella and winked. Shocked and feeling a bit like a voyeur, Ella rushed back into the apartment at such a speed that she fell over the coffee table and went crashing to the floor. The cold marble was a welcome relief for Ella who was now very hot and very bothered. Laine appeared from her room.

”What are you doing down there Ella, you still drunk?” laughed Laine.

“No, very funny”, said Ella, picking herself up off the floor. “I just didn’t see the table”, she mumbled.

Laine stepped out onto the open balcony. I really am on holiday, she thought as she started to stretch.

“Buongiorno”, said a voice from below. Laine peered over the balcony to see the same sight that Ella had seen, only this time it was just the startlingly good-looking chap who had winked at Ella.

“Oh hello”, said Laine, conscious of the fact that she was in her rather short nightie.

“Is your friend alright? Only I think I gave her quite a start?” The voice was as smooth as silk, with a beautifully crafted Scottish accent.

“Yes she’s fine thanks. I was convinced you were Italian but you’re English”, giggled Laine

“No I’m Scottish”, said Italian/Scottish man who was now talking to her. “We’re all heading down to the beach if you and your friend would like to join us - we’ll be down by CJ’s bar if you fancy it? My name’s Andrew by the way”, said Italian/Scottish man whose name was Andrew.

“My name’s Laine and my friend is Ella, and yes we’d love to join you at the beach”, said Laine with a new found forthrightness.

“Great, we’ll see you there”, said Andrew, winking once more. Was he aware he did that? Laine wondered.

Back in the apartment Laine realised Ella had been listening behind the balcony doors.

“Oh my god Laine, he’s Scottish and gorgeous. I reckon he’s taken though, as there were four of them on that balcony earlier and, well, they looked couples-ish”, said Ella forlornly.

“Well that explains why you fell over the coffee table”, said Laine.

‘Yes yes it certainly does, now where the hell is CJ’s bar? Come on girl, we’ve got to get ourselves together”, said Ella shutting the balcony doors.

“You know Ella, even if they are couples we can still have some fun as friends can’t we?” said Laine.

“Yes we bloody well can, we’re on holiday for crying out loud, it would be fun to spend time with new people.” Ella grabbed Laine’s hands and they both danced excitedly around the coffee table for the second time in less than 24 hours.

Ella and Laine had no trouble finding CJ’s. They walked straight to the end of their road onto the beach and turned left. CJ’s was about 500 yards up on the left. David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” was blaring out from behind the bar and they could hear a variety of chatter and laughter. Ella and Laine looked at each other; they knew this was their kind of place.

Andrew and his friends were sat amongst the sun loungers just in front of the bar. “He is most certainly the best looking bloke here”, thought Ella as she did a quick sweep across the beach bar. Andrew looked up and waved.

“Hi”, he said, “glad you could make it neighbours! Let me introduce you, this is Rod, Tessa and Mary.”

“I’m Laine and this is Ella”, said Laine.

“Here, come and join us”, said Rod, who was slightly shorter than Andrew with brown wavy hair and had an unkempt look about him. The girls sat next to Rod. Mary, Tessa and Andrew sat opposite them on loungers.

Andrew explained they were four friends from Edinburgh who had just finished studying law together. Ella was ecstatic to discover not only were there no couples amongst the group, but also that Andrew was single and definitely had his eye on her.

Ella and Laine cringed when they discovered that the group had been on their balcony the night before and had heard bits of the heart to heart Ella and Laine had been having.

“People say girls are the worst at listening in when they shouldn’t, but trust me it was all Mary and I could do to pull Andrew and Rod inside”, explained Tessa.

“Come on Tessa, how often do we get to really know what’s going on inside a girls mind? It was an opportunity we couldn’t miss, wouldn’t you say Rod?” said Andrew.

Rod nodded in agreement. Laine and Ella blushed

“If I’m honest, well, it was your singing that… well let’s just say it was definitely original!” laughed Andrew.

Laine and Ella stayed at the bar for a few hours laughing and joking with Andrew and his friends. It was obvious for all to see that he was smitten as much with Ella as she was with him. The group of friends had arranged a night out in Venice and invited the girls along. Not wishing to intrude on their new friends they declined politely but offered to meet up the following night to visit the local Trattoria.

Rod suggested the girls might like to try a local Pizzeria called Paolo’s that evening. It was somewhere the group had been to a few times before, and they did a very mean Calzone and great local house wine, which sounded perfect. With that the newly founded group of friends went their separate ways. Ella could hardly contain herself as they walked back to their apartment. It was Andrew this and Andrew that. Laine had enjoyed their afternoon; it was something spontaneous and different. Their new friends were from a different world to the one that Ella and Laine knew. Much of the talk was about dissertations and boring lectures. They had all been impressed with Ella and Laine’s accounts of drunken nights propping up the bar of the Columbia Hotel with the likes of Simple Minds and Heaven 17! Such different worlds, thought Laine.

After a quick shower and a glass of Pinot Grigio, Laine and Ella headed out to the Pizzeria Rod had suggested. The sun had just set and the temperature was balmy with a gentle breeze. The fresh salt of the sea was in the air as they made their way towards Main Street. Both girls had caught the sun; Laine had a lovely bronze glow developing whilst Ella due to her “Irish” complexion was looking rather “pink” and a bit sore.

Paolo’s was easy enough to find. In fact given its grid-like design most places in Jeselo were easy to find. They chose a table outside and settled down to study the menu. The Pizzeria had red and white check table cloths and gave out a “‘homely” rustic kind of feel. Laine understood why Rod had recommended it to them: not too fancy, good vibe and hopefully good food at a reasonable price. Laine and Ella had expressed a desire to stay away from “tourist type” places and Paolo’s certainly appeared to fit the bill. Most things on the menu seemed familiar and there was a blackboard with house specials and “catch of the day”.