If you haven’t read it, part 1 can be found here.
“Ciaaaaooooooo!” came the call as the three of them rounded a hedgerow. A bombastic ball of well-tanned Italian energy bowled into the group before they had the opportunity to collect themselves.
“Ciao Steffi!” Ele was first off the mark, grabbing the frizzy haired girl in an embrace, swift kisses planted and rapid Italian exchanged. Ele’s Italian was much better than Jasper’s of course, as is usually the case with the more outgoing. Jasper was too embarrassed to make mistakes and so never had the opportunity to learn from them. Ele made mistakes left right and centre, and so learnt extremely rapidly. Emily had an unfair advantage, being half Italian herself the language was in her blood, and as any Italian will tell you, this is the only way of truly understanding it and so her greeting to Stefania was as fluent and fluid as if she’d grown up there.
“Ciao” Jasper managed awkwardly “come stai… I mean va?” he managed, stai being the formal version of the phrase more suited to your boss or the pope, not the way you greet a friend of more than a year. Steffi chuckled and gave him a hug anyway.
“Come come! Sit, Massi and Claudio have just gone for food but Ally…” she didn’t need to say where Ally was because they could hear her, or more specifically they could hear her dog Iona. Clearly she had caught the scent of the three newcomers and was doing what all Border Collies do best: completely freaking out. They came out from behind the tree and there they were, the slight Swiss girl grappling with a black and white merry-go-round of insane canine energy, spinning at a velocity that would make most particle accelerators jealous.
“Please don’t wind her….” Ally started, but it was too late, Jasper had rushed forward with a slightly unmanly squeal and had grabbed the dog, who was now bouncing up and down, trying to coat every inch of him in kisses “…up” she finished defeated. It was safe to say that Jasper was a slightly awkward man when meeting people, greetings with humans were never his strong point, he was far too English and never got the nuances of kissing or handshaking or friendly hugging, which often left him (literally as this morning had shown) flat on his arse. Dogs on the other hand… well dogs he knew. Dogs were always down to party, all you needed to do was make it known to them that you were too, and as a result he now had a border collie trying to climb onto his shoulders whilst howling loudly, despite the frowns of her Swiss owner. “Jasper noooooo why do you always do this?” she said with a slight smile through the frown.
“Do what?” Jasper said with a grin and feigned ignorance as he stood; dog across his shoulders panting happily as she surveyed the ground below with a self-satisfied bark. Ally rolled her eyes and gave him the lead, planting a small kiss on his cheek which the dog intercepted with a lick. They settled down on the rug, artfully laid out with books and bottles strewn across it in an instagrammable fashion, though of course this was Italy and social media hadn’t quite reached this far yet. The chat was happy, and slowly others joined them, the two Italians Claudio and Massi arrived in a chorus of ‘Ayoooooo’ and ‘Ciaoooooooo’ and more enthusiasm from the dog, particularly when the mountain of cold cut meats and cheese was unveiled which led to a moment of animal wrangling that Hercules himself would have been proud of. A group of people Jasper hadn’t met joined too, friends of the frizzy haired Stefania and quickly followed by the older couple in the group, Stefano and his wife Chiara and the latest addition, little baby Marrella. The noise grew louder, the wine bottles grew emptier and bellies grew fuller.
Jasper leaned back on his elbows and smiled. The sun was lancing down between the leaves above him, dust and pollen caught in the almost physical presence of the beams of light, the brittle grass providing a satisfying coarseness to the ground under his hands. He reached over to scratch the dog behind her ears and she flopped relaxedly onto his lap, eyes closed as he gently petted her. He closed his own eyes and breathed in, the smell of the dry cracked earth permeated the air, combining and dancing with the meat and cheese aromas that came in waves, wafting on the slow breeze. Sounds of groups like theirs layered on one another from around the park in a constant happy babble, the screams of children and the sonorous booming bass of fathers performed as an orchestra with delighted laughter and the squealing of bicycle brakes. There were very few places in the world he would rather be than right there in that park, with his friends, his new Roman family all shouting and laughing and arguing with one another in that blissfully content way that conversation flows when a group is relaxed, waves crashing and coursing around the group, whipping white before running calm again. The wine helped too, though Jasper had been discreetly laying off it. Despite the extreme happiness and serenity he was feeling, he was strangely on edge, his impending meeting with Giulia a constant niggle in the back of his head, a knot of… was it anxiety or excitement? He couldn’t tell, he didn’t care, and either way wine was not a good idea at that moment, as the minutes ticked away and the cloudless sky beamed blue.
“Jasper!” someone shouted and a slice of prosciutto landed on his leg.
“Hmm?” he said, coming out of his reverie as the dog lazily tried to get the meat in her mouth without moving her head.
“I said you’ve got a date tonight don’t you?” said Em with a wicked grin. A chorus of ‘Ooooo’ went around the group. Despite them being a group with an average age over 30, it’s hard to let school habits die. The urge to blush was successfully suppressed and instead Jasper was able to just smile and turn away from them.
“Maybe it’s a date, maybe it’s just two friends going for a drink together?” he said, feigning disinterest in the whole topic.
“Maybe it’s the result of creepy stalkerish behaviour and Stockholm syndrome finally paying off”
Jasper looked at her with genuine surprise “Goddamn Em…”
“Well if the shoe and/or straight jacket fits!” she replied, grinning.
“Ma Jasper,” Claudio said, he couldn’t speak English, or more accurately Jasper couldn’t speak Italian, so having Claudio present always made them at least feel like they were learning something when they got together “chi e questa ragazza?” who is this girl?
Jasper smiled “she’s… Giulia”
The group sat in expectant silence. Jasper shook his head “you’ll all have to wait and see, it’s not fair to describe someone when they aren’t there to defend themselves. Besides” he winked at Massimo “I wouldn’t want to make anyone jealous” the big Italian rolled his eyes
“Basta Jasper” stop he said with a chuckle; the two had an on-going joke that they were in a relationship, on account of having slept with the same unfortunate woman not too long ago (separately of course), though neither of them knew about it at the time. Rather than letting it become a wedge between them, they had turned it into a joke and now they liked to try and make those around (and one another) uncomfortable with overt shows of passionate affection.
He smiled at the group, but seeing that they wouldn’t let it go he leant forward “It’s hard to describe really, you know sometimes you’ll see someone, whether it’s in the street, in a class, in the office and the world just… stops. It’s not that your heart is skipping a beat, it’s the whole world shrinking and slowing around you, until everything goes quiet, until the only thing that exists for you is that person. You all know what I mean, it happens to everyone right? Walking past someone on the street, having a conversation with someone on a night out, they become the only thing that matters for that one brief, infinitely beautiful moment. That happens every single time I see Giulia. Every single time I walk past that bar there is that inexplicable connection, like a pair of magnets snapping together through an unseen force. It’s as though some people were built, were designed to be in each other’s company and the universe knows it.” He smiled to himself and looked up; the group was staring at him with a mixed set of curious expressions. He cleared his throat. “So yeah, in my own awkward way I finally got off my arse, or fell onto it and now tonight we’re going to go do something together and see what this is all about!”
There was a pause, then Ele leant over and gave him a quick kiss on the head. “Such a hopeless romantic” she said, full of warmth.
“Hopeless being the key word there” said Em, but she was smiling too. “Bravo Jasper, well said.”
The others smiled and the conversation moved on, Claudio leaned over to one of the bilinguals and asked for a translation and soon the laughing and the pasta was back in full flow. Sadly though, all joyous experiences must come to a close, luckily for Jasper, the end of one merely meant the beginning of another. He kept his eyes on his watch, watching the hands eek their slow way around the clock face, apparently time also took the same approach to life as Italians did, it moved when it chose and only then. But move it did and eventually, with the harsh sun sinking low enough into the treeline to be lightly dimmed, the white light of midday giving way to the orange light of early evening, it was time for him to go.
Goodbyes with Italians, as you may guess, are not a short affair. There’s a lot of kissing, a lot of begging not to leave, a lot of shouting and laughing and restarting conversations so that if you’re not careful you can quite easily find yourself hanging around for an extra hour or two laughing and chuckling and awkwardly standing half in, half out of the room/park. Jasper wanted to avoid this, being British he was far too polite to cut a conversation short and so had developed several other tricks of exiting an Italian event in a quick and efficient way, without being overly rude. The quickest and simplest way was to stand and loudly proclaim that he was leaving, in Italian, whilst blowing kisses to everyone around. This invited them to stay where they were and ensured a swift exit.
“Ragazzi, sto andando via!” Guys, I’m off. There was a chorus of “Daaaiiiii” and “Oh no” but thankfully most people stayed in their seats, probably weighted down by cheese, bread and wine. Only Ele and the dog bounded to their feet to jump at him, giving him a hug that felt like being swaddled.
“Good luck J” she said, her voice warm and encouraging “you’ll do just fine.”
“Thank you love” he managed to say, as ever slightly thrown with just how kind a single person could be.
“Are you still here?” Em called with a grin, “just can’t get rid of you can we? If only Giulia knew…” he laughed, always there to bring him back down to earth, Ele’s warmth blissfully balanced with sarcastic cynicism.
“Love you too Em” he said, blew one last kiss to the group and turned away, a chorus of goodbyes following him around the corner and out of sight.
Rome in the late afternoon was a glorious sight, and although sunset was a couple of hours off still the light was already starting to deepen. The rooftops were starting to glow gold, the pale walls of the buildings glistening as the sunlight slanted down at them, catching windows and hanging baskets of flowers, casting shadows against the whitewash. He made his way through the streets, buoyed on nerves and excitement, distracting himself with marvelling at the glowing sights, though it was hard for him to ignore the knot in his stomach, one which was clenching more and more as he got to the Spanish Steps. The ancient icon of renaissance power was now a gathering point for local students and boozy tourists, as well as those who would like to take advantage of them, and on days like today it was humming with people. He delicately picked his way through the throng, avoiding the more persistent tat sellers and trying his best not to step on the more splayed out students caught up in amorous positions. At the last flight of the ancient staircase though he was accosted.
“Signor signor, per l’amore” For the love the little man said, thrusting a red carnation under his nose. He knew this con, the man would ‘give’ the carnation to your significant other for free, but then come pester you for a donation instead, usually trying to get 5 Euros or so out of you. Though it was odd that he was trying it with Jasper, who was clearly alone. Usually they were from the Indian subcontinent; however this chap was clearly Italian, his small size and bushy moustache almost comical as he grinned toothily at him.
“No, no grazie” Jasper said, trying to push the carnation away
“Per l’amore!” the man said, more forcefully.
“No signor, grazie ma no!” Jasper tried to sidestep the man, but he was skilled in his craft and hopped a step down to stay in front of him.
“L'amore è la cosa più importante, per te signor, gratis” Love is the most important thing, for you sir, free. Usually good at handling the hawkers, Jasper caved, he took the carnation from the man. Maybe it was the nerves, maybe it was the gap toothed grin or maybe he just couldn’t be bothered to keep on this dance. Jasper looked down at his pocket as he fished out a two euro coin, but when he looked up again the little man had gone, vanished into the crowd of drunken tourists below. Jasper stood blinking, holding the blood red carnation in one hand and the two euro coin in the other in bewilderment. Then he let out a laugh, a short bark and he felt the knot in his stomach loosen, if ever there could be a surer sign that tonight was going to go well, then that was it, the moustachioed Italian cupid had shot his arrow and he held the red rose to prove it.
Jasper laughed again and tossed the coin, caught it, pocketed it and skipped down the final few stairs. Yes, tonight was going to be utterly fantastic he thought.
