Captivated

The Beauty In Everything

I get up out of our slumber which we seemed to have stayed in for another hour; Now 11.30am I feel so out of my comfort zone/routine, I am not used to staying in bed this long; at home I am up out of bed at around 06.30am every morning in order to care for my horses before I need to start work, horses are a full time commitment so I can't just have a day off and a lie in, so this definitely feels weird with no animal relying on me to get up and feed them. I dragged myself across the room all whilst knowing that Luca is probably watching every step, once I get to the sink I grab my toothbrush and toothpaste and brush away the sleepy coffee filled breath and splash my face with water, waking up even more.

I walk back out into the room to find Luca stood out on the balcony with only a pair of boxers on as I was still wearing his shirt, he was stretching out his arms and I could see his muscles flexing across his back, his tanned skin glowing in the morning sun. "I get what you were saying earlier on, the overwhelming feeling I get here is crazy, like you said its like waking up for the first time in months" he says still not turning around, obviously sensing I was behind him hopefully not realising I have just been stood staring at his sculpted body. "I know, its a feeling I am not used to, positively overwhelmed, I could definitely get used to this view" I reply, 

"Is that the view of me in your bedroom or the view from your bedroom?" Luca turned and said with a smirk and a wink, "Oi! I was talking about the view obviously... Although I don't mean you are not nice to look at... Well I mean in general like its not like I can't stand looking at you but I don't mean you... umm sorry I have dug myself a hole" I let out an awkward laugh, luckily Luca seems to be in a better mood this morning and just laughed along too, "face it, you are allowed to say you are attracted to me" He said not taking any notice of my flustered minute, he stood calm and confident, again looking at me so intently, its like he is reading my mind, studying every part of my body, I gasp, "well I know that and I admit you are, I don't want to lie but even if I say you are it doesn't mean anything. I've made a pact with myself to not get distracted by anyone and focus on myself" I rush through this sentence, it probably doesn't make sense but I don't want to lead him on, this morning has been fun as friends and it was nice to hang out but I don't want to lead him on and putting these boundaries up now is better for both of us as I don't want to hurt him or me... "Thats good because I made the same pact with myself. I've had enough of being burnt by girls and so now its time to focus on myself, I don't want another girl getting in the way. You're a good friend to have on this trip" He replied rather bluntly I thought, but I am glad he feels the same way, I don't have to worry any more.

Luca gives me a quick formal pat on the shoulder before going to walk out the room, "Best keep the shirt, don't want you giving it back to me now and exposing stuff that could lead me on" He smirked as he said that and walked away leaving me no time to respond or even a second thought of what he had just said to me. Desperately not wanting to waste the day and do something I walk over to the chest of drawers under a window in my room and pull on a pair of white denim shorts that are frayed around the leg, and an orange bikini set with gold clasps, pairing this with a loose black linen shirt to tuck into my shirts. I took off Lucas t-shirt and held it in my hands for a minute, should I keep it or hand it back to him?  I think the best thing to do is to walk down to his room and give it back to him. I pulled on the bikini and shorts and threw on the shirt not doing the buttons up too high as I think having the orange bikini top peaking out from underneath a black shirt would go really well together, who says we can't dress up to go to the beach? we'll we going into town later anyway!  I grab some conveniently orange strappy sandals to wear, a fedora style hat and my white beach bag with all I need for a day at the beach before picking up Luca's t-shirt on my way out and headed towards his bedroom door. 

knock, knock, knock, I didn't hear an answer so gathered he must be somewhere else in the house, I pushed open the door, nope he wasn't here and walked in. I looked around, it was still a fairly big room which could fit a double bed but there was no en-suite and the two windows overlooked the sea but obviously there was no balcony. I went to place the t-shirt on a desk that was in the room which led me to come across a sketchbook opened onto a new page with a fresh drawing on it, drawn with ink pen and watercolour; the drawing was on the view from my bedroom, the ends of the bed posts in sight as if you were looking out to sea in the painting, and the French doors framed the sea and jungle around it, with a mountain poking out on the right side of the French door, he had even drawn the messily drawn back chiffon curtains that hung against the doors. 

"What are you doing?" Shit, I shouldn't be in here looking at this without asking, its his personal things. "Sorry Luca, I came to give you back your t-shirt before I went down to the beach" I said, 

"Didn't you knock or did you just let yourself in? Well you obviously did the latter because here you are..." Luca stood in the doorway expecting a response, "Sorry, I did knock but no one answered so pushed the door open to look in, I thought I was doing no harm. I was leaving straight away but got reeled into the beautiful drawing you did of the view from my room" I was looking at the floor now, he was annoyed at me, glaring at me intently. 

"You can't just barge into someones room uninvited, anything private could have been in here. I don't like people looking at my work" He replied, he must have just come from the bathroom as he was in a fresh pair of boxers, wet floppy hair and his chest bare, I couldn't help but stare, he must work out. I quickly pulled myself out of the trance he always seemed to have on me and went to walk out of the room, not sure how to get past him in the door way, "I am sorry," I whispered as I got closer. This sound of innocence and vulnerability seemed to pull him out of seeing red and put his arm out to stop me from leaving, clasping at my tummy. I stopped and turned to face him. "I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. You weren't to know how I feel about my privacy. I feel like all I keep doing to you on this trip and we are only 24 hours in is apologise to you. You must think I am a jerk?" At least he had the decency to apologise straight away;          "I don't think you are a joke, you must have been treated really badly or feel a lot of hurt to treat the people around you that care about you like shit. I can see where it is coming from but you need to learn to control it otherwise no one is going to want to be around you. After all the shit I have gone through at home with an abusive relationship and financial hardship I can't deal with being spoken to like that." I pointed out, straight to the point. He needs to know where I stand, that's one thing I have learnt over the years. 

"I know, you do know you have the right to not accept one of my apologies you know" He tried to joke with me, unexpectedly he pulled me in for a gentle hug which felt so secure and safe I immediately relaxed into it, forgetting any harsh words he had ever said. I can see a sad and hurt soul in that gorgeous body of his, this morning he was a completely different person but if something happens or is said that he doesn't like he switches to someone unrecognisable so quickly. 

I breath In his aftershave and wrap my own arms around him, he is so tall and I am fairly small so my arms only go around the middle of his torso, my head on his bare chest. "I get the feeling you are special Valentina" He whispers in my ear, "Why do you say that?", 

"You see right through me. You see the beauty in everything... and embrace it" He responds, I hold him even tighter which he reciprocates. No one has ever said that to me before, am I really truly starting to embrace life like I always wished I had?

I pulled away from our embrace, now feeling slightly awkward as to where to go from here, hoping he will say something to break the tension, but he doesn't. He walks past me so he is fully in his room and goes over to his desk and picks up the sketch pad, "Did you like it?" He asked me waving the drawing in the air; "Yes I did, it summed up our morning perfectly, beautiful..." I replied standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, "Do you draw often?" I asked him, "I only draw what I see the beauty in which can be hard at times... I never drew as a child but was taught by Grandma, she was an artist. When she died I felt it was my duty to carry on her passion, so I draw sometimes, it makes me feel closer to her; she practically brought me up whilst my parents forgot about me...

"What a lovely tribute to her", I said, I didn't want to intrude into his private life with his parents so I just gave him a sweet smile. " Come on let's go! The beach is calling our name" I jokingly said, pulling on Luca's arm trying to drag him out of the room; pulling with all my weight he still wouldn't move, "Oh my gosh you're so strong" I laughed at him, he laughed back before slowly inching forward "Well you're obviously stronger, you're practically carrying me across the floor" He said, laughing back and pretending to be pulled along. I carried on walking backwards tugging as a went until I tripped over something, I landed on my bum once again, the culprit? A water bottle. "Shit not again" I said, wincing at the pain the hard wood floor had induced on my bum, "Oh no I'm so sorry... Again" Luca said reaching out to me with his muscled and tanned arms, he grabbed my hands and pulled me to my feet, I lifted myself up with his force and Luca ended up giving me too much momentum and fell onto his chest. "I'm sorry again" I practically whisper into his chest I'm so close; "I don't mind" he whispers back into my ear. 

I push back away from him, grab my bag as I turn around to leave before looking over my shoulder and smiling "Coming?" and I walk out of the room, headed straight to the beach.