Tutti Italia: A Novel (12 page)

The girls had spent the better part of the day going
through all the shops, and had had a blast together.  They were on their way
home, and the sun was shining brightly.  Elena pulled over at a gelato stand
and the two of them sat out on the warm wooden benches, enjoying the scenery
and their treats.  It was late afternoon before Elena dropped Rachel off at her
dorm with all of her purchases.  Rachel was most excited about her cross stitch
pictures that she’d just picked up.  She smiled all the way up to her room. 
When she got in, she hung up her new clothes, put the tables and chairs in an
empty corner of her room, and put her new crafts on the shelf behind her head. 
She was almost finished with the one she’d been working on before, and now she
had even more motivation to keep going on it.  She put her shoes by the door,
then popped a movie in on her laptop and started working on the one she’d
already started.  She got hungry around five in the evening, and she decided to
go over to the food court.  She’d done a lot of walking around today, and she
just had a craving for something greasy. 

She ordered Taco Bell and got it to go so that she could
make it back to her room and watch some more movies and sew.  Jason texted her
at about seven thirty, asking her if she had any plans.  Rachel quickly wrote
back saying that she didn’t, and he told her that he was on his way to meet
her.  Rachel put on some makeup as fast as she could, fixed her hair again, and
put her shoes on.  By the time that she got to the foot of the stairs, Jason
was just crossing the parking lot.  He looked up and she waved at him with a
smile.

“Hey.  Wow, that was pretty quick.  I hope that I didn’t
interrupt anything that you had going on?”  He looked up at her sheepishly. 
Rachel threw her hands up to stop him.

“Don’t worry!  All I was doing was watching movies and
sewing.  That’s nothing too important.  Don’t worry about it.”  Jason visibly
relaxed.  Rachel could tell that he was wanting to spend time with her, but
that he didn’t want to take up all of her time so she couldn’t enjoy other
things.  That was exactly how Rachel felt.  She’d been afraid to text him about
the movie because she didn’t want to monopolize his free time.  “So, you gonna
tell me where we’re going or is it supposed to be a surprise?” she teased.

“It’s a surprise.  That way you can’t run out on me.”  He
grinned at her mischievously.  That was interesting…  What could he possibly be
taking her to that he was afraid she wouldn’t want to go to if she knew what it
was ahead of time?  Rachel was busy brainstorming the answer to that while the
two of them walked along the sidewalk, heading towards the general direction of
the gym.  She was looking around her now, trying to figure out where they were
going.  It couldn’t be anywhere far away because they were walking.  Jason led
her to one of the buildings that she’d walked by before when she was taking her
stroll.  She’d chalked the building up to some office building or community
center.  Now Jason was leading her in through the main doors.  The carpet was a
rich crimson color and very plush.  He led her into a smaller room, and she
could see that there were long tables in two rows, with lots of chairs
surrounding each table.  There was a bar in the back corner, along with a dart
board, and a few televisions that had different sports games on them.  She
looked next to the door that they had just come in from, and saw that there was
a table set up with a lot of audio equipment.  There was a plump woman behind
the equipment, straightening out little slips of paper, and testing
microphones.  There was a large screen on a stand that could be rolled around
in the middle of the dance floor.  Rachel’s eyes lit up.  This was a karaoke
bar. 

“You brought me to a karaoke bar!” she burst out.  Jason
looked at her and was trying to decipher if she was happy about it or
disappointed.  “I
love
karaoke!  I didn’t know that there was anywhere
around here that did it.  How did you know about this?”  Jason visibly relaxed
at her outburst of enthusiasm. 

“Some of the guys that I work with come here on their days
off, or after work.  It just depends on which shift they’re working.  I thought
it might be worth checking out, but I’m a chicken and I didn’t want to go
alone.”  Jason’s cheeks flushed.  He looked like he didn’t want that last part
to slip out, but he hadn’t been fast enough to block it. 

Chapter 16

Jason ushered her towards one of the long tables that
had a free end and held the chair out for her to sit down.  Rachel smiled at
him as he pushed the chair in for her.  Instead of sitting down, though, he
went up to the bar for a few minutes while she sat there, looking around to see
how crowded the bar was.  It must have still been early, because it was nearly
empty.  That was ok with her, though.  That just meant that there were less
people that she would have to steel herself to sing in front of.  She was
watching the woman behind the equipment get everything set up and give it the
once over.  She smiled, then picked up a microphone.

“Good evening, everyone.  I’m Debbie and I’ll be your
karaoke dj tonight.  If there’s anything that you want to sing, don’t be shy. 
Just come on up and put down your name and a song.  It’s easy, folks, there’s
nothing to it.  I’m going to start the night off, and then we’ll see what kind
of lineup we have tonight!”  She pushed another button and the opening notes of
a song came over the speakers.  Debbie launched into the song with everything
she had.  Rachel smiled.  She had a pretty good voice.  Jason came back and put
a fancy looking drink in front of her.  She looked at it oddly.  It wasn’t
anything that she’d ever drank before, but it smelled fruity.

“What’s this?” she asked hesitantly.  It wasn’t that she
didn’t trust Jason, she just wasn’t that experienced when it came to alcohol. 

“It’s called a zombie here, but it’s pretty good.  A little
too fruity for my taste, but perfect for someone who can’t stand that paint
thinner taste.”  He winked at her, and she had to laugh.  Rachel had told Jason
before that she couldn’t do shots because of the smell and the taste of the
alcohol.  It reminded her of paint thinner or the acetate that was in her nail
polish.  She sniffed it again, and put on a look of intense concentration that
made Jason laugh.

“The conclusion is that there is zero paint thinner smell
coming from the drink.  It passes the inspection, sir.”  They both laughed. 
Rachel was starting to think that Italy had been a perfect place for her to
be.  She’d found a good friend that she could spend time with, she had a good
guy that she was pretty sure that she was dating, and she was overly excited
about seeing her new kids next week.  She relaxed into her chair, and sipped
her drink.  It
was
really fruity, and she enjoyed it immensely.  She saw
that he had a beer, and that was ok with her.  Most men didn’t go for mixed
drinks unless it had some kind of whiskey in it.  Debbie finished up her song
to scattered applause, and went back behind the audio equipment.  She read off
a name and a girl walked up to take the microphone.  A new song came on and the
girl started singing.  Rachel and Jason both cringed.  Her voice sounded like
someone was running their sharpened finger nails down a chalkboard.  They
looked at each other and couldn’t help but laugh.  When she finished, a guy
went up and he sang a love song with a really deep, velvety voice.  Rachel’s
drink was starting to get empty, and she was feeling very pleasant.  Not quite
enough to get up and sing yet, but maybe if she had one more…

Jason must have been thinking the same thing because he
excused himself and went back up to the bar to get them both another drink. 
When he came back, a group of guys was waiting to start their song, and they
were obviously drunk.  Rachel already had a smile on her face, waiting to see what
they were going to do.  She was having a blast with Jason, and she was really
hoping that there would be more nights like this.  When a few more people came
and went, and Rachel’s second drink was half gone, Jason told her she should go
up and sing.  Rachel blushed.  She didn’t know if she had the confidence to go
up in front of all these people.  The longer they’d sat there, the more people
had trickled in.  Rachel decided that if she was going to have more friends and
be more outgoing, then she would have to take more risks.  This was the perfect
opportunity.  She stood up, squared her shoulders, and took another sip of her
drink before she started walking over to Debbie.  Rachel was walking away so
she didn’t see the impressed look on Jason’s face.  His goading was only
teasing, but she was actually going to go and sing.  That definitely earned her
brownie points.  A few minutes later, Rachel returned with a grin on her face. 

“What are you so happy about?  I thought you said you were
too shy to sing in front of strangers?” he teased.  Rachel shrugged her
shoulders. 

“She had a song that I really like.  I guess alcohol just
makes me more fun.”  She winked at him.  It was almost like she was becoming
the type of woman that she’d always wanted to be, but lacked the
self-confidence to try.  A few more people went up to sing, and Jason was
trying to get the name of the song out of her, but was completely unsuccessful
because Debbie called out Rachel’s name.  “Guess you’ll find out, huh?”  She
winked at him again before she got up out of her chair and walked over to get a
microphone.  Rachel was trying to steady her breathing because she was very
nervous.  They stared at the words on the screen in front of her so she
wouldn’t have to look at anyone and see their reaction to her.  She usually
only sang in the shower, and the acoustics were always better in there.  The
music started to play, the intro bars were being colored in, and when the words
came up on the screen, Rachel opened her mouth and sang.  It wasn’t until the
end, when she gave the microphone back and faced the room, that she saw the
reaction.  Every person in the bar was staring at her.  She was getting very
self-conscious now, and she hurried back to her chair.  When Debbie asked for a
round of applause for her, the sound was deafening.  She blushed again and
ducked her head behind her drink.  When she took a sip of her drink, she saw
the look on Jason’s face and ducked behind her drink again.

“That was wonderful!  I mean, every single person sat in
this bar, spellbound.  You have some talent.”  Rachel blushed even more and
modestly denied it.  Secretly, she was very pleased with the fact that she’d
impressed Jason.  The night wore on, and as it got later and later, Jason
walked her back to her room, and had the courage this time to give her a
goodnight kiss.  He left pretty quickly because he was embarrassed.  Rachel
floated into her bedroom, took off her shoes, and just collapsed onto her bed
with a big, stupid grin on her face.  She was tired, and it was almost midnight
now, so she decided to shower in the morning.  She took off her makeup and
clothes, then crawled into bed.  Even though she was exhausted, she couldn’t
fall asleep right away.  She was getting really comfortable with Jason, and she
couldn’t wait to tell Elena about all the things that they were doing
together.  She couldn’t wait to have girl talk with a good friend.  With that
being her last thought, she fell asleep with a smile on her face.

The next morning, Rachel slept in a little more than usual,
since she’d been out so late the night before.  When ten hit, she finally
dragged herself out of bed and got in the shower.  After she was clean, and
toweling her hair dry, she called Elena to see if she wanted to meet her for
lunch.  She said she would, and Rachel finished getting ready.  Her phone
pinged about fifteen minutes later, and it was a text from Elena.  She asked if
she could take Rachel to one of her favorite restaurants.  Rachel was up for
it, so she replied that it would be great.  She went down the stairs and jumped
in the car.

“I can’t wait to tell you all about Jason!” Rachel gushed. 
Elena laughed and gave her a knowing look.

“See?  I told you he was sweet and handsome.  Hell, if I
didn’t have a boyfriend right now, I would try to get him.”  Rachel didn’t
quite know what to think about that so she said nothing.  “So?  What have you
guys been doing?  Spill!”  Rachel laughed at her friend’s enthusiasm.

“Well, the first time that we did anything together, it was
just dinner at the food court here on base.  He was tired after work, but he
still showered before we went.  Then he took me to a flea market in town.  It
was great.  I was a little nervous to ask him to go with me to a movie the same
night, because I was afraid that he might think I was trying to monopolize his
time.”  Elena held up her hand to stop her.

“If you like someone, you need to make sure that they know
it.  You can’t just hope that your body language and signals are going to be
enough.  You have to be aggressive.  There aren’t that many handsome young men
that know how to treat a lady, so if you find one, you have to fight for him.” 
Rachel laughed.  Her friend was really getting into this romantic knight in
shining armor thing. 

“I finally got up the courage to text him and see if he
wanted to go.  It was a romantic comedy, but he still went with me.  He walked
me to my room after the movie was over and gave me a hug goodnight.  Then
yesterday, he surprised me by taking me with him to the club on base.  They
were playing karaoke all night and I got up there and sang.  It was such a
great time.  I can’t wait to go back next week.  He walked me home again, and
this time, he actually kissed me.”  Rachel was so excited that she wanted to
jump up and down in her seat.  Elena just laughed at her.

“And just think, you didn’t even want to go over there and
talk to him.  I had to practically drag you.  Aren’t you glad that I did?”