Florence: Where It All Began

Chapter 29

You arrive back at your hotel and once you're on your floor, you see a man standing outside of Tony's door. As you make your way closer to him, you still don't recognize him.

"Tony, who is that?"

"Looks like Ridley."

"Your director, Ridley?"

"Yes."

You get a few feet away from him and he turns around and smiles at you.

"Perfect timing," Tony says, laughing. "Everything alright?"

"Yea, everything's fine. Who's this?" Ridley asks, looking down at you.

"Oh, this is my friend, Amy. Amy this is Ridley Scott."

"Nice to meet you, Amy."

"It's nice to meet you too! Is everything with Hannibal going well?"

"Yes, it is. I'm sure Tony has told you about it."

"He's told me some but I think he's leaving most of it a surprise."

"That's true, I am." Tony says. "However I did recruit her as an extra for the opera scene coming up."

"Oh, very good. We'll be looking forward to having you on set."

"Thank you, I'm looking forward to it too."

"Tony, do you have a moment to talk?" Ridley asks.

"Of course."

Tony hands you the room key along with the bag with your dress.

"I'll be in, shortly."

"Okay. Nice to meet you, Ridley."

"You too."

You walk inside and start putting the few things you bought away. You take your dress out of the bag and hang it up in the closet in your room and then go back to sit on Tony's couch to wait for him. A few minutes later, he walks in and sits down with you.

"Everything okay?" You ask.

"Mmhmm, he just wanted to talk over a few logistical things for Monday."

"Okay. So what do you want to eat?"

"Sushi?"

"Yes!."

Tony orders the food while you change into your pajamas. You go and lay across the bed, waiting for him to change and for the food to arrive. When Tony finishes in the bathroom, he walks over and lays down on top of you as you're laying on your stomach.

"Oof," you say, not expecting to feel his weight on you.

"Hi."

He starts nuzzling your neck and tickling you as you lay there, completely helpless.

"Stop!" You say laughing.

He laughs and starts growling like an animal in your ear, driving you crazy because he won't stop tickling you. You try to squirm out from under him but he's got too good of a hold on you and you can't budge. So you try a different tactic and reach your arm back behind you and pinch his side, tickling him back.

"AHH, hey! I'm supposed to be tickling you, not you tickling me." He says.

You keep going until you feel him get weak from laughing and you are finally able to wiggle your way out. He rolls onto his back and keeps laughing, completely red faced, while you turn the tables and climb on top to straddle him.

"Aha! I got ya!" You say, pinning his arms beside his head.

He just keeps laughing, finally giving up, as you hover over him there, smiling at him. You realize as you're looking at him just how much you like him. Talking to Lisa today really made you stop and think for the first time that you may actually be falling for him. It's utterly shocking because you've not known him for very long, yet you know that he's the kind of man you've always wished for. All of the thoughts and feelings culminating inside your head makes you want to kiss him and with the position you have him in, it makes it so easy. You lean down and bring your lips to his, kissing him softly. After a moment, you hear a knock at the door and have to stop. You pull your lips away and rest there for a few seconds with your forehead against his.

"You okay?" He asks.

You nod your head yes and give him another kiss before letting him up to go answer the door. You realize that you absolutely have to talk to him tonight about Jenni because you need to know if you're on the same page about things. You feel your eyes start to well up with tears as nervousness overwhelms you and you make a bee line for the bathroom, sneaking in before he sees you. You rest your arms on the sink and stare at yourself in the mirror. Amy, get yourself together, girl. You wait for about 30 seconds to make sure you've calmed down and gained your composure. You walk out to Tony sitting at the table, sushi all laid out for you.

"Wow, this looks great, but you sure got an awful lot." You say, giggling.

"I'm starving," he says, stuffing his face.

"Yea I guess you are."

He takes a few more bites and then takes a deep breath before breaking the silence.

"Did you have fun today?"

"Yea, I really did. I had a great time with you and then running into Lisa and Mike, that was such a treat."

"I'm glad."

You finish eating and clean up the plates and stuff while Tony goes and gets into bed.

"What are you doing, are we going to bed already?" You ask.

"I thought you might want to read a little."

"Yes please. I'd like to finish it before the movie comes out."

"Do you remember what chapter we're on?"

"I think fifteen or sixteen? Something like that. I think I dog-eared the corner so you should be able to find right where we left off."

You finish what you're doing and then go crawl into the bed.

"Read to me," you ask.

"Okay."

Tony starts reading and you start getting pulled back into the story. After a short while, your mind drifts to the conversation you know you need to have with Tony and you can no longer focus on what he's reading. You place your hand on his arm to stop him and take the book from him, marking your place before you set it on the nightstand.

"What are you doing?" He asks.

"I need to talk to you about something."