Love in Portofino

Monday morning brought little sparrows who sang until midday tirelessly, going from branch to branch. The sea was calm today and the sound of children playing on the street could be heard from her upstairs bedroom. She had gotten up early with new ideas for her book and was now cooking an omelet and occasionally jotting up some notes on characters and plot ideas.

Putting the plate on the counter, she quickly went to the garden to gather some lemons. Picking a few she found to be in good condition, she sliced them into two and started squeezing them into the glass. The golden liquid flowed into the cup as she trotted around to find sugar.

After breakfast was done, she went to the closet she called hers for the time being and chose a white short sundress decorated with pink Chinese Peonies. Gathering her things and putting them into her hand-knitted bag, she exited the closet and looked around for her perfume.

She had been given this perfume by her friend Narcissa who was the head of the company “Draconian Perfumes: Perfumes for every occasion”. Funnily enough, Narcissa had named this perfume “Superstar” after her book had come out. She had said that an elegant woman needed an elegant scent and gifted her a box. She now smelled like jasmine and oranges wherever she went.

Being reminded of her friend, she checked her messages as she exited the villa. Narcissa and Regulus were supposed to come this week. The latter had called her last Tuesday and gathering from her voice that she was bored, had invited himself and his cousin. Ajda couldn’t complain, she had missed them anyways.

Just barely managing to avoid toppling a little girl to the floor, she opened the voice message from the contact “Narcissa, the hottie” with a green heart emoji next to the name and was met with Narcissa’s sweet voice telling her they would be here around 1 pm and asked her where would they meet up.

Ajda wrote a short text saying she would be waiting at the restaurant DaV Mare, on Piazza Martiri dell'Olivetta. The restaurant had crazy views and delicious meals. She had frequented there on evenings whenever she felt fancy and the two cousins were the epitome of fancy. Coincidentally, she had met them in a restaurant that was closer to the DaV Mare three years ago. The pair had found her intoxicated at the bar and had asked her what was her deal which she replied “I rejected my boyfriend’s proposal”

They then sat next to her and ordered some more alcohol saying that this was a special occasion that needed beverages and many tears to get over. Ajda wasn’t necessarily sad over the events. Antoine Avery wasn’t someone she had seen spending her life with. Sure, they had fun and she cared a lot for him but marriage was a different topic she was NOT ready for. But she had mourned their relationship with the two cousins nonetheless.

She had seen on Instagram that Antoine was getting married and had decidedly not looked at social media for the remainder of the holiday. Of course, Antoine would be getting married. He was the heir to one of the biggest British Companies and Mr. Avery was a severe man who constantly pushed his son for his own gain.

But no matter what she thought about their family dynamics, the young couple looked very happy as they posed in front of the Eiffel tower. Ajda recognized the blonde-haired girl as Esme Parkinson who was not only kind but also very smart. They had briefly met at a formal party Regulus had invited her to. Esme had tripped on the carpet and had fallen straight at Ajda’s feet. The brunette had helped her to her feet and asked if she was okay.

Esme had bruised her ankle and her pretty heel had broken. Ajda had gone to the kitchen and asked for ice. Returning to the armchair she had helped the injured girl to sit on, she had given the ice to her and inspected the broken shoe. Her heels had constantly broken when she was a teenager as she bought many uncomfortable shoes, which were the only ones she could afford.

Gently kicking the heel into its rightful place, she had taken out her right shoe and tried it on. It didn’t break. She turned to the girl who sat, watching the standing girl with her bright green eyes and Ajda had offered to swap shoes so that she wouldn’t bother with heels when she was clearly injured.

Esme nodded and wore the black flats Ajda had worn throughout the night and thanked her. They had made conversation and Ajda had learned that Esme had majored in mathematics and her mom was the owner of the company that hosted this party. She had been very interested in Ajda’s book and had told her that she would read it at the first chance.

They had separated after the party and swapped numbers (just like shoes) and had promised each other they would meet up sometime when their hectic schedules would clear up. Last year Esme had been to a book signing she was on and congratulated her. They had laughed a bit about their last encounter and Ajda had invited her to a coffee.

The green beautiful heels in her closet had always reminded her of Esme Parkinson who was lovely inside and out. She had fumbled when the Instagram post had come on her feed and decided not to write anything for fear of Esme or Avery being uncomfortable. After all, she was the ex in this situation.

Reaching the lively beach, she sat on a free sunbed close to the water and got out of her dress. She always found it more effective to wear her bikinis under her clothes. Changing rooms made her want to vomit with all of the sand on the floor and the humid atmosphere dancing around the little box.

Getting out her book from her bag, she continued reading where she left off in her last session. Her next book would be about mythology so she wanted to gather all of the knowledge she needed. The Myth of Sisyphus got her interest piqued. She loved Albert Camus’ works, Between and Betwixt being her favorite.

“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.” A deep voice interrupted her reading session.

He was standing behind her sunbed and wore black sunglasses, making it hard for her to see his eyes. The dick™, she had decided on calling him that, was attractive there was no denying that. With curly black hair, Grecian features, and a lean figure, he resembled Alain Delon. Who was also an attractive dick himself.

But beauty without class was quite foul anyways. He was as desirable as a mountain troll, in her mind. He could get on the floor and beg for her to be with him and she would make a kind gesture with her finger that universally meant: please, do fuck off.

He continued, “And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”

Her favorite quote on those devilishly pink lips made her feel funny inside which she linked with wanting to barf because of his presence. He now wore a black tank top paired with black swim trunks. With pink cheeks and bright eyes, he meant trouble which she would surely stay far away from.

“They make you read philosophy on Dick School?” Ajda drawled, unimpressed. “Now you’re going to talk about Nietzsche and how misogynistic you are due to your just lovely understanding of nihilism, aren’t you?”

The boy snickered and stared at her with a funny look “You go on a lot of dates with philosophy bros, I assume?”. He tutted, “It was obvious you had bad taste from the book you’ve written but this just proves it.”

Growling, Ajda gathered her stuff and got up from the sunbed she rested peacefully on a moment ago and started moving to look for another place she could read in silence. The Dick™ of course followed after her because, well, he was a smellfungus.

“'Women Who Love Too Much' was not too bad. For the first time, I see you’ve researched for a book you were writing.”

Turning around suddenly, she fumed. How dare he? Sure, not everyone had to like a book. She had despised many books in her life but had never left a bad fanmail or harassed the writer on social media or anything. She had done it out of respect, he seemed too stupid to possess.

Narrowing her eyes, she looked into his mirth-filled ones and said “I understand you don’t like me as a writer and that is completely fine but if you’re unsatisfied with my writing style, be constructive in your criticism.”

Moving away once more, she found a lone corner far away from the waters now and plopped down there. Pleased to see the mountain troll not behind her anymore, she hummed to herself as she began writing chapter 18. This book, she wanted it to be a murder mystery. It was unheard of her to write mystery but mythology just asked for it. But that meant that she had to study the genre first and she was totally done with reading about detectives and murderers. She would stick to her romance books, thank you very much.

After about an hour, she felt as if she had enough writing for the day. It was common for writers to feel sick after a long writing session and writing every hour for a whole month had made her want to hurl right there. If she had to look up a word she ridiculously forgot, like table, or if she had to research a horrifying thing on google she was sure the FBI agents were sending judgy looks for, like searching how poison affected the bladder, she would retire.

Deciding to go for a quick swim, Ajda left her sandals next to her new sunbed and stepped onto the hot sand. The little sand molecules betrayed her cold feet and she had to rush to the cool sea like an uncoordinated duck. Praying to God people hadn’t noticed the embarrassing scene, she reached the shore and sighed.

The azure sea calmly swooshed backwards and forwards. The seagulls moved to the rhythm the town seemed to have. She could see a few boats here and there, far away from the part people chose to commute in. The Mediterranean sea was always warm enough and relaxing. It often felt as if the blue goddess were massaging her and welcoming Ajda into her homeland.

Getting away from the shallow parts she dived in slowly and opened her eyes. The salt left a good burn on her sights that would surely be red tonight. She could see colorful fish, at least she assumed it was fish it kinda looked like little blobs that moved around. Diving deep enough that she could touch the sand below, she inspected the area around her.

More than eighty percent of the ocean was unmapped and unexplored. This fact always itched a part of her brain that wanted to observe every area the blue goddess had resided in. With unknown creatures and possibilities, the deep waters were an enigma. She had read a study on how scientists were now working on creating a living place there and has been hooked ever since.

Reaching her lungs’ fullest capacity, she was met with the crowded beach once again. A few teenagers played volleyball on the right side and tons of people rested on sunbeds on the left. She could see fathers playing with their daughters and mothers chatting with their sons. The sight seemed straight out of Edward Henry Potthast’s painting “Happy Days”.

Her attention caught a young man just beside the shore, waving his hand. She couldn’t quite make out who it was from where she was, moving closer she scoffed. Was he for real?

Reaching a part where she could now confidently walk she got out of the waters the hair on her arms stood up with her and her teeth trembled like a lost child. “What now?” she sighed.

“Nothing, just saying hello to an old friend.” He smiled slightly.

“Do you insult all of your friends?” She trembled.

“Oh, all the time.” He took in her drenched form and threw her something she caught just in time. “I fear they might leave me with the amount of bullying I put them through.”

Looking at the very warm white shirt, she caught his eyes which seemed to ignore his sudden kindness. Putting the warm shirt over her body which trembled like a leaf, “It’s a wonder how they stayed with you for all these years.”

Chuckling, he took over her form that was now wrapped around his shirt and turned around, and started walking back to his sunbed (which was her old sunbed, that asshole!) “Do shut up, book girl”.

“Oh fuck you!”