Page 67 of Something Like Summer
“It was,” Jace agreed.“But you shouldn’t let it ruin our trip.”
How could it not? AllJace’s money had been taken, and relaxing in a country where youcould get robbed just by getting inside a taxi didn’t soundpossible. “I think I want to go home,” Ben blurted out.
Jace smiled sympatheticallyand sat next to Ben, wrapping an arm around him. “I know you’reshaken up. You have every right to be, but that was just bad luck.Italy is a wonderful country, and the people are fantastic. We justran into a couple of bad seeds, something that could happenanywhere. I can’t let you leave now. I won’t let you go home with abad impression of this place.”
Ben sighed and leanedagainst him. The idea of the long flight home was almost worse thanbeing robbed. “Okay,” he agreed. He was starting to feel better.Being near Jace always made him feel safe.
“You did great with theluggage.”
“Well, I didn’t want tolose your present.”
“My present?” Jace asked.“Sounds good, but look what else you saved.”
Jace unzipped his bag anddug around until he found a cheap figure of a plastic cat. The toysplit in half like a Russian doll revealing a wad of cash inside.“Never put all your eggs in one basket.”
“How much isthat?”
“Pretty much the wholevacation budget,” Jace laughed. “I only had enough in my wallet forthe taxi and a meal out somewhere.
Ben smiled with relief. Hethought he had only been saving their clothes, but now he wasespecially proud of his actions. Feeling more like himself again,he dug into his own bag and brought out a small cellophane-coveredbasket. He handed it over to Jace and waited nervously for hisreaction.
Jace pulled away theplastic to reveal a basket full of fortune cookies. They were alittle misshapen but came in a variety of differentcolors.
“Wow! These look amazing,”Jace exclaimed. “I love the colors. Look, a blue one! Where did youget them?”
“They’re homemade,” Benexplained. They were a huge pain in the ass to make, but theexpression on Jace’s face was worth it.
“No way! What about thefortunes?”
“Check it out.” Ben smiledas Jace broke one open and tossed half into his mouth.
“Mmmm, good. What’s in myfuture?” He examined the scrawl on the little strip of paper andraised an eyebrow. “A thousand kisses willsoon cover your body.” He raised his gazefrom the fortune to look at Ben. “Let’s see if we can make this onecome true.”
* * * * *
Before leaving for Italy,four nights had seemed too short a visit. By the third day, Ben’sleg muscles were shredded and his feet felt on the verge of fallingoff. He couldn’t imagine his condition had they stayed for a weekor longer. There were simply too many sights to see. Ben found itimpossible to rest for very long before the urge to continueexploring overtook him again.
Rome was a fascinating mixof old and new. They visited the obligatory sites: the Colosseum,the Vatican, the Pantheon, and the Circus Maximus. Ben’s favoritehad been the ancient ruins of the Forum. While there he imaginedtravelling thousands of years into the past, the crumblingbuildings restored and proud again, the streets teaming with Romanpeople going about their daily business. Being in the midst of theruins brought home the reality of this bygone era.
Modern Rome had much to offer aswell, especially for a shopaholic like Ben. They ducked intodesigner fashion stores where the price for a pair of jeans wasmore than what Ben paid for rent, but they also found some smallerstores where he picked up a couple of shirts he was certain neverto see back home. The grocery stores were more humble, full ofvariations of familiar Italian staples but new items aswell.
The quality of Italianrestaurants varied wildly. For the first couple of meals, Jace tookthem to back streets where the menus weren’t even in English. Thefood here was exquisite and gave credence to Italian cuisine’sreputation as being among the best in the world. Once, Ben wasimpatiently hungry and allowed a pushy proprietor to pull them intoa restaurant near a tourist attraction, where Ben’s pizza wasflavorless cardboard and Jace’s pasta microwaved.
Having learned his lesson,Ben let Jace choose from then on. Today he had managed to find alunch café that looked like a tourist trap, but was visited almostexclusively by locals. Jace ordered for them in Italian, loving theopportunity to show off his language skills. Ben was more thanhappy to allow him, enjoying the helpless feeling that came withnot being able to read or speak the local tongue.
“To the bravest boyfriendI’ve ever had,” Jace toasted once their wine had beenserved.
“You’re not still going onabout that?” Ben blushed.
“I don’t just mean the wayyou handled the taxi drivers,” Jace said. He considered the wine ashe swirled it around the glass. “How old were you when you firstcame out?”
“Fourteen,” Ben said aftera moment’s calculation.
“I’d say that’s prettydamn brave.”
“Yeah, maybe in thenineties,” Ben countered, “but kids are coming out younger andyounger these days.”
“All right, all right.What about that time at the Greek restaurant where the waiterdisappeared for half an hour and you marched into thekitchen--”
