Ticket to Verona

two

~Leonardo

I stormed through the doors into gate 4. My second in command decided to look for pretzels and just messaged me saying that the only vending machine that had them was in gate 4.

Idiot.

We have a private plane, why is he running around looking for pretzels?

My plane has been delayed for hours now. Originally we were told it would only be around 20 minutes so we waited at the airport but now it's going to be at least 2 hours and me being in a good mood sent my driver home. Although I'm the Boss, I didn't see the point in calling him back.

As I walked in to find Enzo, I saw a small, brown haired woman. She was singing some song with her headphones in and her eyes were closed as she sang her heart out.

She seemed to be the only one in this gate besides my imbecile of a best friend whom I still hadn't found.

I walked closer to her slowly, a sudden urge to sit down and talk for hours, to protect and hold her.

I stood in front of her, towering over her small frame on the chair, her legs underneath her as she was still singing. I cleared my throat to get her attention and a look of shock or fear overcame her face. She scrunched her nose up and furrowed her eyebrows and slowly opened her eyes, a sorry expression on her adorable face, like a child who got caught drawing on the wall.

Her eyes were beautiful. An amazing shade of green.

"Sorry. Was I singing out loud? I thought I was the only one in this gate." she said in a gentle, angelic voice.

I let out a small chuckle "yes you were but don't worry. You have a lovely voice."

A tint of a blush came to her cheeks and I had to suppress a smile. God, I've just met her and I'm already smiling?

"I'm sorry again mr-" she stopped herself, tilting her head, hinting me to say my name with a small nod of her head. God, she was adorable.

"Leonardo."

"Well, Leonardo, it's nice to meet you. I'm Aria." she smiled before holding her hand out to shake. I shook her hand, still trying to contain the smile attempting to make it's way to my face.

"So, you flying somewhere?"

For the first time in 6 years, I laughed. Granted, it wasn't an actual laugh but still.

"Yeah, I'm flying home. What about you?" I replied. For some reason I'm keen to know everything about her.

"Oh yeah me too! I've been here for two weeks and that's more than enough time away from home. You know what they say, home is where the heart is!"

My heart is with you.

Shaking those thoughts out of my head, I took a risk and asked a question I never thought I would ever bother to ask any girl ever.

In a soft voice, softer than I thought I could speak, I asked a question that made me unnaturally nervous.

"Do you want to get some coffee?"

I held my breath as she widened her eyes before adorably mumbling a reply.

"Great." I actually smiled this time. I pulled her along with me to my lounge, listening to her little giggles the whole way. She was tiny compared to me and had to run to keep up with me. I noticed this and slightly slowed my pace down to match hers whilst also trying to ignore the warm feeling I felt with her hand in mine. It felt so perfect, so, right.

I led her through the lounge, not missing the smile she gave to the steward on the way in. I was right, a literal angel. I led her through even more to the living space and the cafe. It was normal to me to have all of this, seeing as I own the damn airport, but to the person next to me, it seemed amazing. She stood still for about 5 minutes just staring until I broke the silence.

"Aria?"

"Hm?" she hummed whilst still staring. She turned to look at me with her eyes still wide, a sheepish smile on her face.

"Are you okay? You kinda.. zoned out" I asked while admiring her gorgeous face.

"Um yeah, sorry, it's just, wow." she nervously laughed before walking over and sitting at the table I was standing at. I sat opposite her and called the waiter over. Within a few minutes we both had our desired drinks in front of us.

"So predictable." she whispered

"What is predictable?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Her eyes widened and she started to stutter. "I said that out loud?"

I chuckled, "Yes b-Aria." Don't call her baby, stupid. You have known her all of 45 minutes "Now, what is so predictable?"

"Your drink choice. It's just so, blah."

"Blah?" I asked.

Very suddenly, she burst out laughing. in between breaths I managed to figure out that she thought that I looked like I ate something sour. She was shaking her head so much that her hair got caught in her necklace so she proceeded to take it off and put it on the table beside her drink.

I took another sip from my drink. "So, Aria, what is boring about my drink?"

She cleared her throat and took a sip of her drink before speaking "Well- um, It's just so predictable you know, big tall guy in a business suit has a black coffee because he doesn't eat. You know like he doesn't have time to eat because he's too busy and won't waste time chewing if you know what I mean. Not that I think you're not eating! Or that you're fat! Oh my god I just called you fat! You're not fat, you're gorgeous. Wait no, handsome. Oh no. I just told you you're handsome. Well you are handsome and your eyes are soooo pretty and your jawline is sharp and yeah you look like a Greek god but-"

I started to laugh which snapped the beauty out of her rambling. She looked at me with wide eyes, slapping her hands over her mouth after she realised what she had just said.

She's so perfect.

"I-I'm so sorry, I rant when I'm nervous or-"

I laughed yet again and lent over the table to tuck some hair behind her ear "It's quite alright amore, I find your rambling quite adorable."

She opened her mouth to respond but she was interrupted by an announcement over the speakers.

"Flight 251 to LA is now boarding. Flight 251 to LA is now boarding. Please can all passengers make their way back to the gate. thank you."

"Oh my goodness! That's my flight! Sorry Leo, I have to go, hey that rhymed! Anyway, Thank you for the drink! It was lovely meeting you!" she yelled as she ran out of the room leaving me confused and excited over the cute nickname.

At that moment, the pretzel obsessed man walked through the door.

"Leo, who was that?" He asked with food in his mouth, staring at the door she had just ran out of.

"Aria." I mumbled, turning back to look at where she had just been sat.

"Who the fuck is Aria?"

I picked up the necklace she left on the table, putting it into my suit pocket.

"The New Donna of the Italian Mafia."

~~~

Author's Note

umm idk yeah ig :)

<3