Florence: Where It All Began

Chapter 27

You find a dress shop and immediately start looking for a black dress. You find a couple and head to the changing room to try them on. The first one is a mid-thigh length one, pretty, but nothing special. You put it on and go out to show Tony.

"Looks nice. Do you like it?" He asks.

"Eh, it's okay. I definitely wanna try the other one before I decide."

"Alright, go on."

You head back to the changing room and put the next one on. This one is an off the shoulder, side slit, floor length black dress. As soon as you put it on, you love it. You walk out of the room and find Tony looking at some shoes.

"What do you think of this one?" You ask.

He turns around and puts down what he was looking at.

"Wow."

"Is that all you have to say?"

He stands there for a moment, just smiling at you.

"That's the one." He says.

Taking a few steps towards you, he continues looking you up and down.

"You like?"

"Uh-huh."

You laugh and turn your back to him.

"Can you zip me up, I want to make sure it fits."

He lifts the zipper and you feel the dress form to you.

"It's perfect." He says.

"Okay, good. I'm going to go take it off so we can get going. Unzip me?"

"Sure."

You go change back into your regular clothes and hang the dresses back on the hangers, leaving the shorter one behind. You walk out and head to the register to purchase the dress before Tony even realizes you're out. You check out and they put the dress into a bag for you before you walk over to him.

"All set." You say.

He looks down and sees the dress already in a bag and looks back at you, disappointed.

"Did you buy it already?"

"Yes."

"Why did you do that? I was going to buy it for you." He says.

"I know. But I told you, I don't want you paying for everything and then making these other big purchases. Besides, I've been needing to get a good dress anyways, so I did. No biggie."

"Okay, I guess there's nothing I can do now." He chuckles. "At least let me carry it for you?"

"I suppose you can do that much."

You start browsing the shops again and eventually make your way back to the bench you were sitting on earlier. You see a man selling bags of bird seed for feeding all of the birds in the area. Tony buys a couple and you sit down and start feeding them, laughing at their impatience.

"Okay, okay, take it easy!" Tony says.

You start laughing at the birds starting to swarm Tony and he begins to panic.

"Just throw it on the ground and they'll leave you alone."

He does as you say and they all flock to the pile of seed.

"Jesus," he says, smoothing his hair down.

"Oh, for God's sake, they're just birds."

"You try having 20 hungry birds coming at you all at once and see how you like it."

All you can do is laugh at him and after a few seconds he starts laughing with you.

"It's not funny." He says.

"Oh yea, then why are you laughing, huh?"

"You've got a contagious laugh, what can I tell you?"

You sit there and talk for a while, observing the birds and the people walking by. Then out of nowhere, you hear someone calling your name.

"Amy? Is that you?"

You turn around to look behind you and to your surprise you see one of your old college roommate walking over to you.

"Lisa? What are you doing here?!" You ask.

You stand up to give her a hug as she walks over.

"My husband and I are on vacation here. Amy, this is Mike."

"Hi, nice to finally meet ya." He says.

"It's nice to meet you too," You say.

"What are you doing here, I thought you were in D.C. living your dream." Lisa says.

"Well, I'm not actually in D.C., I'm in northern Virginia, but close enough. And yea, I still live there but I guess I'm here on vacation too." You say, looking at Tony.

"That's great. Who is this?" She asks, peaking around you.

She looks over your shoulder and sees Tony standing there watching the two of you.

"Oh my God." She says, her face going white.

You and Tony look at each other and laugh.

"Lisa, Mike, this is Anthony Hopkins."

Tony reaches out to shake their hands.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you."

"Sir, I'm a huge fan of yours. You'll have to excuse me, I'm a little in shock." Lisa says.

You all laugh.

"Amy, what the hell?! How do you know him??"

"We met when I was on vacation in LA, I guess about 6 weeks ago." You say.

"Yes, then she started stalking me and followed me here," Tony says, laughing.

"Very funny." You say.

"We've seen y'all shooting Hannibal here so we knew you were around. Never expected to meet ya, though!" Mike says.

"Well they let us out to have some fun every now and then. Do you guys want to sit?" Tony asks, gesturing to a nearby table.

"Sure," Lisa says.