Page 24 of It's All Sun and Games

‘Erm, okay,’ I reply, totally bewildered, but trying to do all the right things – whatever they are.

With that, Andrea heads back inside, leaving me standing on the balcony, trying to process everything that’s just happened.

Wow, so that’s Andrea. Oh my God, I can’t believe I’ve spent all these years thinking I was talking to a girl when really I was talking to a boy – and a smoking-hot boy at that. Absolutely mortifying.

I get into the car, grateful for the shade it provides from the scorching sun. Rolling down the window, I let in the cool air, hoping it will help clear my fuzzy head.

Oh, and I still have this random ring on my finger, although I’m sure it’s a family heirloom so I daren’t take it off. I think my finger might actually be the safest place for it right now.

And to think, I thought this was going to be an uneventful trip.

11

As tempting as it is to look out of the car window, to see what beautiful Italian scenery Bari has to offer, it’s hard not to stare at Andrea – male Andrea!

Nothing rocks your world like believing a fact – for pushing two decades – only to find out that what you thought was true wasn’t true at all. It’s like my brain has tripped. I’m trying to recalibrate, to get all the facts in order, but my brain can’t quite adjust to the new information.

Andrea hasn’t been in the car long – not even a minute – but so far all we have done is stare at one another, almost suspiciously, both of us trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle in place.

I’m mostly racking my brains, trying to remember every word I ever wrote to him. Well, I thought he was a teenage girl too, so I most likely said all sorts of embarrassing teenage girl stuff. In fact, it’s probably for the best that I don’t try to remember. Nothing good can come of it.

Eventually, Andrea smiles and starts the car, finally with it enough to regain his motor functions.

‘Okay, so, first of all, if you want to let me know where you are staying, I will drive you there,’ Andrea says, his bemusement present in his voice. ‘And perhaps on the way, I can explain.’

‘Riva Del Mare,’ I tell him, trying to keep my tone casual despite everything that is going on in my brain. ‘In Giovinazzo.’

Andrea fusses with his car’s navigation system. It’s a huge relief when I see the resort is only twenty minutes away from where we are. At least I won’t have to endure this awkwardness for too much longer, should it get worse.

‘Allora,’ he says as he pulls out of the car park, the car gliding smoothly onto a busy road. ‘I think, when they told me I would be writing to an English student, they told me it was a boy. But you are Robin, right?’

Suddenly it all makes sense.

‘Yep,’ I say simply, trying to keep my cool despite the overwhelming urge to ask him to drive me to the nearest beach so that I can throw myself in the sea. ‘And they told me you were a girl. I guess, in England, Andrea is pronounced Andrea, and it’s a girls’ name.’

‘Robin was not a common name in Italy,’ he continues, his voice taking on a thoughtful tone. ‘But I think… I only knew of Batman and Robin, at the time.’

I snort at his comment, the tension between us easing slightly.

‘He may well be the most famous Robin, to be fair,’ I reply with a smile, ‘but no, it’s a name for both boys and girls in England. I guess this is our teachers’ fault.’

‘Still, I feel so silly,’ Andrea says with a smile, and my heart does a silly little flip at the sight of it. It’s a good thing that I didn’t know I was chatting with an absolute dreamboat, or I would have undoubtedly fumbled it.

I can feel the heat rising to my cheeks and it’s not because of the weather. Andrea is gorgeous, like something from a sexy Italian movie. Everything about him is just so flawless – he even manages to make embarrassment look good. From a combination of the awkward situation and the warm weather, I probably look like a boiled English woman right now. I’m so glad I decided to fly in my sundress, so that I would be in the right kind of clothes the second I stepped off the plane, but it’s not doing much to take the edge off the heat right now.

And I’m staring at him. I quickly avert my gaze, like you would if you had accidentally looked at the sun, instead looking out of the passenger window for a moment – not that doing so will save me in any way from his lovely voice. It’s strangely amazing, how effortlessly he switches between English and Italian. His English is impeccable, but it’s that still seriously present sexy Italian accent that really gets me. Each word seems to dance off his tongue. Meanwhile, I cringe at the thought of how I must sound with my Lancashire accent trying to say ‘ciao’.

‘So, your family were expecting a boy to turn up?’ I finally break the silence, needing to fill the air with something, and to try to distract myself from lusting after him. I know, I sound crazy, and maybe it was because I was expecting to meet a girl, but I am totally bewitched.

‘No, they didn’t know what to expect,’ Andrea explains. ‘I took Lucia – my sister – to collect her wedding dress, and we got stuck in traffic. So, while she was in the place, I called my parents and asked them to pick my friend Robin up from the airport for me. I told them to hold a sign with your name on – because I didn’t know what you looked like, to describe you to them. Although I didn’t tell them that part.’

‘Well, if they weren’t expecting a boy, then you might have gotten away with the misunderstanding,’ I reassure him, attempting to lighten the mood.

I look out of the window again, noticing the city views slowly fading into something more scenic.

‘Except…’ Andrea starts, a mischievous glint in his eyes as he laughs his way through the word. ‘I may have told them a little lie. Just a tiny one, but…’

‘Go on,’ I urge him, oh so curious about what he’s going to tell me.

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