VI

CHAPTER 6

Samantha who woke up first saw that the sun was up by the window. You can hear the sound of waves and the birds.

Looking to her left side, she traces the facial structure of the man she is falling. She traces his nose, till his chin and smiles.

"I think I love you" she whispered.

"Good morning, mi bella" Alexis said with a raspy morning voice, she loves to hear whenever they sleep together.

Last night they were too tired to do anything, so they fell asleep cuddling. Alexis stretches and yawns, still feeling sleepy. She was exhausted, from the auction down to coming here in the middle of the night. They arrived at Viareggio almost one in the morning, they finished settling in bed by 2 am. They both took a quick shower, Alexis helping Samantha to dry her hair, while they looked at the stars then finally decided to rest.

"Let's go have breakfast then look around the place" Samantha invited the still lazy Alexis, who is laying on the soft couch. She pulled the tall guy off the couch and started walking where the breakfast buffet was.

She is hungry, it's not so early in the morning. They woke up late last night. Samantha picked up some fruits for her plate, a piece of roasted chicken and sauce to dip. While Samantha is busy choosing her food, she looks at the man with widened eyes.

Alexis' plate is full like a mountain, now she is holding a saucer with desserts, a small slice of chocolate cake, and a slice of tiramisu that occupy more than half of the saucer. Alexis settled to the vacant table, left her plate and got something to drink, Samantha saw her holding two glasses. One glass of orange juice, and one glass of iced latte. She walk to their table and settled her plate. She looks at Alexis who hasn't started eating yet.

"Why didn't you eat first?" She asked, looking at him slurping the iced latte.

"I'm waiting for you, here." Alexis pushed the glass of orange juice in her direction.

They both ate and talked, planning what to do in a few days on this beach. Probably sunbathing or looking around the town and buying something as souvenirs.

The two explore the beach on their first day, enjoying the sun and getting tan. Alexis carried Samantha to her shoulder and got the two of them in the water. Alexis laughing at her bella giving her a death glare, complaining she ruined her sun dress they just bought from the nearest shop.

Alexis runs away from the other girl who is chasing her. The two run, giggling and enjoying their time together. When it is time for them to go back to their place, they first look at the beautiful sunset while holding hands.

Samantha leaning on Alexis shoulder while looking at the sunset, feeling the water waves hitting her feet. Alexis kisses her bella's forehead, seeing their beautiful shadow, Samantha snaps a picture of it. She will cherish the moment they are spending before Alexis leaves Italy.

Now having their dinner at a diner near the beach, Samantha showed Alexis their pictures she took the entire day, and then the sunset photo of her and Alexis being romantic.

She sent some of their photos to her friends, showing them having an alone time by the beach. Their group chat is getting noisy with all those chatters. Alexis received a facetime call from her family so she excused herself to talk to them at the living area, Samantha inside their room, laying on bed and busy replying to her friends.

"Did you confess already?" Donna asked.

"Yeah. Yeah. What did she say?" Dina added another question.

"Girls! Let the girl talk geez" Rose replied, Samantha imagining the image of her friend groaning.

"I will tell him tonight," she replied to their group chat.

Suddenly the door cracked open, Alexis standing, leaning and staring at her. Looking at his figure, his eyes with lust and adornment. She walks to the man intertwining their hands.

Samantha pulled them going to the balcony. She wanted to tell him, how she feels, how he made her feel these butterflies.

"Is something wrong?" Alexis asked worriedly. Cupping her face and stare at her eyes. The blue eyes that captivates her green ones.

"I have something to tell you" Samantha said leaning her cheeks to the man's hand.

"Are you hurt or something? I've noticed the gloomy eyes you have since we got here. You look happy but something doesn't feel right too" Alexis stated making her appreciate the man's sensing something is bothering her.

"That is because you are leaving" saying that Alexis' eyes became soft, she embraced her bella, kissed her head, telling her she will come back for her.

"I will come back for you. I feel something inside me whenever I am with you. I am falling for you Samantha" Alexis said looking straight into her eyes.

Samantha didn't feel her tears falling, until Alexis wiped it off her face. "I think I am falling for you too Alex. I've never felt this way before you came, well before my friends picked you up to drink with us at the club" Samantha said, rolling her eyes remembering her friend, who wants to sleep with Alexis if she doesn't like him, Alexis chuckles and gives her another tight hug.

Alexis then told her to wait for a bit, she needed to get something to show Samantha, she waited on the couch, feeling relieved and happy that they both felt the same way. Alexis sat beside her, taking her hand from her lap and holding it. Suddenly Alexis showed her a blue velvet box, showing her two rings inside.

She gasps and looks him in the eyes. Her green eyes shining while looking at the rings. "I got this today from the town, while you were busy shopping for our clothes, I sneak and buy the rings"

Alexis took her ring from the box and put one of them to Samantha's finger, and it fits. Alexis was about to put the ring to her own finger but her bella spat her hand, and let her do it. Samantha slid the ring into Alexis' finger.

"This is a promise ring, that I will come back for you. And when I come back you're coming with me to meet my family" Alexis said with a smile.

"You have not asked me to be your girlfriend yet and you are planning to introduce me to your family? What a snail" Samantha teases her again with that animal.

She only chuckles to her bella. Alexis then asks her to be her girlfriend to make them both official. Samantha called her friends to show the ring and to tell them about the news, the girls cheering, feeling happy for their best friend.

The twins ask her to let them taste Alexis, which the two earned a smack on their head. The three are staying at the same house they rented while in Italy. Samantha sometimes stays over to their place, but since she has Alexis, she rarely comes over.

Alexis feels happy again, after some years of being alone and just sleeping around, when she travels to different places. Now she meets the girl she falls into. She can't wait to tell her mom about her, and so she can't go on blind dates too.

If her mom knew she finally got a girlfriend, she would stop bothering her to go on blind dates. She is going to tell her cousin Julia too, the cousin she is super close to.

They both stayed for another two days before they decided to come back. Alexis received a call from her abuela, knowing that she accomplished getting her hands with the plate.

"Please come back as soon as you can Mija" her grandmother said via facetime, Julia beside their abuela holding an ipad, while hearing some more noises in the background.

"You let me stay here for a month to look for it, can't I stay until that month is up?" Alexis asked wanting to stay longer in Italy. Her mind is thinking about Samantha.

"I know I did, but Mija..." Her abuela paused and sigh "in two days come back here" her grandmother said and ended the call.

Two days? I supposed to have eight days left to stay here. How am I going to tell her I need to leave in two days?

While Alexis has a troubled mind, Samantha and her friends are having girls day out. They miss having the four of them together. Samantha decided to treat them to lunch of their choice, the three argue which place most especially the twins, Rose shaking her head groaning to her twin friends being so childish.

Until they all decided to eat Mexican food, they liked spices. They ordered soft and hard shelled tacos and quesadillas.

"You're glowing Sammy" Dina pointed out.

"Yeah. Is that the look of being in love?" Donna added her twin sister's statement.

Samantha blushing in front of her friend made them gasp, she is blushing red unlike when she is drunk, it is a darker shade of red.

"You're blushing," Rose said laughing, teasing her friend who turned to the other side to avoid Rose, but when she whipped her head to the other side, Donna wiggled her eyebrows while also teasing her.

They all laugh at their blushing friend, they know she is happy now.

"So when is Alex leaving?" Rose asked after swallowing her chicken taco.

"In the next eight days she will fly back to the states" Samantha replied then sip her water.

"Why don't you fly back to the States too?" Dina asked curiously.

"Yeah, we are all from there too, you can just fly back here whenever" Donna added as she finished devouring her cheesy quesadillas.

"I know, but I have work to do here too. There are a lot of auction events coming up for the next three months, I can't just ditch that" Rose nodded understanding her.

"We'll it's up to you. We all stay here or go back home. You are our boss too." Donna stated while pointing her fork to Samantha.

Four of them are all in the same path, the three are working in the background, while Samantha is their front when it's the auction time. Three of them are the ones who talk to the artifact and artworks owner who wanted to let their pieces get bid. Rose is the researcher of each item, and Samantha is fond of knowing the history behind each piece. While Donna and Dina are the ones who have eyes to the bidders, and talk to their intel's to let the riches know there are rare collections to be auctioned.

While the four were enjoying their afternoon, Samantha received a text from Alexis.

'I want to see you' reading it made her smile wider, her friends saw her face, giggled, they said "Go get him tiger" while pushing her to go away. She feels a little embarrassed, she has crazy loud friends.

Samantha hailed a cab and told the driver the address. Rose drove the four of them to shop and then to have lunch. With a quick ride she went to where Alexis' hotel is. She is excited to see Alexis, since they came back they haven't seen for almost two days, she has been busy attending some events other than the auctions.

She knocked on the door for a bit, it took Alexis some time to open.

"Who's there?" Alexis said as she opened the door, Samantha ended knocking on her forehead, not noticing she was standing in front of her.

"Ow! Not again" Samantha giggled to her reaction, Alexis suddenly hugged her so tight, inhaling her scent. Alexis kisses her collar making her moan.

"You want to see me for this?" Samantha asked with a raised brow but still smiling. Alexis who is still hugging her nodded murmuring a yes.

They spend a few minutes being that way. Samantha noticed her man being so clingy today, it is always her clinging to him. Even though she feels something different she let Alexis clung into her, when she got up and walked to the fridge, Alexis followed her, it is like he doesn't want to let his eyes off of her.

"Is something wrong Alex?" She is now worried. The guy in front of her avoided her gaze.

"Tell me, please" Alexis sighed, came to her and hugged her again, swaying the both of them. She is patiently waiting for him to talk. Alexis guided her to sit on the nearest chair.

"I got a call from my grandmother" she paused and looked at her beautiful girlfriend, who's green eyes were staring at hers. "... I need to go back after two days," she said with a sigh.

Samantha felt a pang in her heart, the man is going away in two days. She doesn't know how long till they will see each other again. Alexis kneeled to the ground and looked at the green eyes she adored.

"We will facetime everyday, I promise. I will fly back here as soon as I can" she reassured her girlfriend. Samantha nodded and gave Alexis a sad smile. She didn't know that their time together would end in two days, and doesn't know when they will see each other again.

Samantha texted her friends that she will stay over at Alexis' place, they are supposed to have a sleepover on one bed, just like they always do, but she only has two days left to spend with his man.

Playing the ring that Alexis gave her, she focuses her eyes on it, and believes that Alexis will be back. They cuddled together to sleep, they wanted to cherish the days they still have.

The days have gone so quick and it is time for Alexis to leave. Samantha, with her friends, came with her to the airport. Alexis hugged, and kissed Samantha's head many times, smelling her scent, she knew she would miss the girl a lot. Before she left the two kissed passionately.

Her friends gave her a hug, telling her that Alexis will be back to be with her soon. It has been a week since Alexis left Italy, Samantha and her friends become so busy, they still do talk via facetime, telling how their day went.

They both adjusted to their different time zones. They sometimes fell asleep talking to one another. It was hard for the two of them, but they want to work it out.

"Good morning mi bella" Alexis greeted her girlfriend. It's past eight (8) in the morning now in Florence, Italy while it's past 11 pm in L.A.

"I miss you, my snail" Samantha greeted her while smiling.

"You always call me a snail... It's unfair! You're a beautiful swan, while I'm a snail?" Alexis pouted while complaining, making the girl giggle. She misses her bella. She wanted to go back to Italy, to kiss, to hug and feel her girlfriend.

The two talk for a bit until Samantha cuts the call, she says she needs to go attend another event this morning and will be done by afternoon, and have dinner with the organizers.

The days have passed and it is her abuela's birthday. Family gathered, together with family friends, and business partners. It is her grandmother's 70th birthday. As everyone gathered around, Alexis came to her cousins.

She saw her cousin Glenn and Julia talking to a male and female in their twenties as she walk and came into their group, Julia called her "Maxxy, here"

"This is our cousin Stefano and Gianna, the children of aunt Felicia, mom's sister" Alexis greeted them and shook their hands. She saw pictures of them with Glenn and Julia on the frame of his uncle's house.

"Guys this is our cousin Alexis, we all played together with your cousin Stephanie when we were little. I've found pictures of us in my moms photo album" Glenn said letting us remember the past but I couldn't remember.

I guess they noticed the confused faces of me and Julia. Glenn and Stefano laugh at our faces. I look at Gianna who is quiet, she looks almost the same age as ours.

"Gianna, right?" I asked to be clear. She nodded, and excused herself to them and talked to her for a bit.

"You can call me Alex, I'm 23. What about you?" I got us a glass of champagne while walking to a not so crowded place.

"Gianna, I'm also 23." Just like what Alexis thought, they are about the same age.

"So you too don't remember what Glenn and your brother are talking about?'' She disagreed with her and said, "I can remember that memory. I, you and Julia are five, I am older by about six (6) months. My brother was nine (9), Glenn was eight (8) and our cousin Stephy was eight (8) also. The six of us were skinny dipping, we have a photo of us six at our house, my mom always told us that story so how can I forget" Alexis listening, trying to remember, but she can't.

"It's okay, we were little. Well I also remember you have a dick too just like my brother, in that picture you were holding a water gun, posing like a superhero but naked" Gianna said, making Alexis' eyes widen, and blush for an embarrassing photo she had.

Suddenly a flash was noticed by them, Glenn took a photo of them two chilling at the cocktail table. After that Glenn left with Stefano, as Gianna said, they will be going for a hunt. That only means they will look for some girls to have fun.

The night went well, everyone showing abuela their gifts. And of course her grandmother made Alexis show her gift last. She said she wanted to save the best for last. When she opens the box where the 16th century plate is placed, her smile goes wide, and eyes twinkling. Abuela is so happy to have it for her collection. Her love for artifacts and artworks, if Samantha is here the two of them will be so close, just by talking about art pieces with history.

Suddenly Alexis received a notification. Glenn tagged her to the photos he posted online. She didn't look into it, maybe later before going to bed. She looks at the sky and the stars, thinking about what her girlfriend is doing right now.