Florence: Where It All Began

Chapter 34

11 DAYS LATER

It's Thursday afternoon and tonight is the night: the opera. You've showered and done your hair, which leaves only your makeup to do before getting dressed. You walk into Tony's bathroom to find him shaving and you walk up behind him, resting your hands on his sides as you watch him.

"Entertained by this, are you?" He asks.

"I don't know how you manage not to cut yourself."

"I do sometimes. How much longer until you're ready?"

"Maybe a half hour."

You continue to stand there watching him and you start chewing on your lip as your mind starts ruminating over your worries for tonight. The more you think about it, the more you find yourself almost dreading it.

"You alright?"

"Ehm... I'm a little nervous. For tonight."

"Why are you nervous, doll?"

"I don't know, I think I'll just feel out of place. I'm not high class."

"And you think all the other extras are? Come on. It's no big deal, you may not even be on camera."

"That's easy for you to say. You're the big man on set, this is your show."

He finishes up and wipes the excess shaving cream off his face as he turns around.

"Okay, fine, but you're my VIP. That should count for something, don't you think?"

"I suppose. But you know how clumsy I am. What if I trip and fall?"

"Stop with the what ifs. I know you'll fit in and I know you'll be just fine. And if you're not then you'll only be responsible for ruining the entire movie."

"You laugh, "Wow, so funny. You should've been a comedian instead of a cannibal."

"I still could be if I wanted. And you could be my sexy assistant."

"I said comedian, not magician."

You both bust out laughing.

"Oops. Now, go finish getting ready." He says.

You walk back over to your bathroom and finish your makeup. You then take your dress from your closet and start to slip it on.

"Tony! Can you come zip my dress?"

"Yea, give me just a minute!"

While you're waiting on him, you grab your heels and put those on as well. It takes you only a few seconds and you grow impatient waiting on Tony so you decide to go to him instead of waiting for him to come to you. You walk into his room and see him standing at the full length mirror, straightening his bow tie. You stop dead in your tracks because he looks amazing. And while you've seen him in a tux before on television, it's completely different in person and it feels as if your heart skips a beat.

"Wow." You say.

He glances over and sees you standing there looking at him. He turns and smiles, looking at you the same way you're looking at him. You walk over to him and place your hands on his chest, him resting his hands on yours.

"I take back what I said." He says.

"What do you mean?"

"You aren't going to fit in, you'll be catching everyone's eye tonight. You, my dear, look absolutely gorgeous."

"Thank you, but you're the only person I care about seeing me tonight. I can't believe how handsome you look right now."

He smiles at you and gives you a gentle kiss on the cheek.

"Wait right here, I have to get something."

Tony walks over to his closet and you hear him unzip a bag. After a moment he returns, but is empty handed.

"What did you have to get?"

He completely ignores your question.

"Here, turn around, let me zip your dress."

You turn around and pull the dress up into the right spot so he can zip it easily. You feel the zipper slide up and fasten at the top and so you start to turn back around but Tony stops you.

"No, stay there a second."

"Why?"

He says nothing but out of the corner of your eye you see him pull something from his pocket. You wait a moment and see his hands lifting around your head as you feel the cold sensation of something coming to rest around your neck.

"What are you doing?"

You grab at what feels to be a necklace and look down as best as you can. You see the ruby drop pendant of the necklace you both saw at the shops a week ago.

"Tony."

You turn around and see him smiling at you.

"When did you get this?"

"I went back"

"Another day?"

"No, I went back that day. Lisa and Mike were the perfect distraction."

You pause a moment to think of when he slipped away, and you remember.

"You didn't go to the bathroom, you went to the jewelry store."

"That's right. Are you surprised?"

"Yea, I think you could say that. Why did you do this though?"

"I saw the dress you bought for the opera and I knew I had to go back and get it for you. And I'm glad I did because it's perfect."

"I need to see it in better light."

You walk to the bathroom and look in the mirror and see that he's right, it is perfect. You feel him walk up next to you and look down at you.

"See? Perfect."

"It is, thank you so much."

You hug him and feel him kiss the side of your head.

"You're quite welcome, but I have another surprise or two."

"More?"

"Yes, more."

He pulls a rather large black velvet jewelry box from his pocket and opens it up.

"I got the matching bracelet and earrings too."

You take the bracelet out and inspect it before you put it on.

"It's beautiful."

"Here, don't forget the earrings."

You take them from him and put them in to complete the look and you love the way they look on you. You now feel like you will actually look the part tonight, instead of feeling like you're just an imposter with your cheap, grocery store jewelry.

"I wanted you to feel special tonight. After all, this is your film debut, it's a special occasion."

"I can't tell you how much this means to me, thank you."

"Of course. You look stunning."

"I'd give you a big kiss right now if I hadn't just put my lipstick on."

"Well, you can always touch it up," he says, winking.