In A 100 Days

This much tension between friends is normal. Right?

"Fuck you Damien Jackson! I hate you so much, you moronic, idiotic, forgetful, stupid-"

"You know you're insulting yourself too right?" Damien smirks cockily at his furious twin sister, but then shrieks when she pummels him harder.

"That's my girl. "Val says proudly, clapping her hands. "Hit him harder!"

"The encouragement of an unstable and violent individual's assault against another helpless individual is a crime!" Damien cries, shielding himself at even heavier blows from calling Keisha unstable.

"This is what you get for forgetting to call us our taxis" Ethan shrugs. Lee only nods in firm agreement.

We had come out the airport, exhausted from our 13 hour flight to Rome that we all had to get up hella early for, expecting two white cars and their drivers waiting to help us load our luggages into the car and drive us to the hotel Diego said he'd booked. I knew I should have trusted my gut's bad feeling when Damien offered to arrange our taxis.

"Any chance that Rolls Royce and Range Rover are here for us?" Caleb asks glumly, obviously not counting on it. I sigh longingly at the two sleek black cars that pull over at the front of the airport, then furrow my eyebrows in confusion when Diego walks to the Rolls Royce and taps on the window.

Keisha stops her attack on her brother and we all watch in curiosity as Diego and the young woman who's driving exchange a few words to each letter in Italian. Diego then turns back to us grinning, and slings his duffel bag over his shoulder before heading to a wary Keisha and taking her suitcases.

"Our transportation" he says as if that one word is good enough explanation. At our still mystified faces, he laughs. "I called my maid and asked her to send over two of my family cars to come pick us up, cause I'm not stupid enough to believe that Damien of all people can organise taxis." Diego throws a look at him.

Damien holds his hands up defensively. "Hey, at least now we get nice cars to take us to the hotel. You should all be thanking me!"

We all roll our eyes and Diego scoffs before his eyes focus on Keisha. "After you Principessa. Which car do you want to take?"

"Don't call me princess" Keisha mumbled. "And the Range Rover is pretty cool." Diego smiles, and takes her hand before leading her away to her chosen car.

The rest of us split up and walk towards the cars we pick. I can't help but frown a little when I see Caleb heading for the Rover with Damien and Lee as a Ethan, Val and I opt for the Rolls. But I quickly smooth the lines on my face when I remember the scene at the Diner two days ago.

After our driver helps load in our luggage and Valentina's many bags, we all get in and drive off. Val stretches and leans back leisurely in the passenger seat and rests her hands behind her head, eyes closed. From the rear view mirror I notice the lingering glance the driver makes at Val. She slowly cracks opens her eyes and catches her staring, and the driver quickly focuses on the road again, a tint of red in her cheeks.

A small smirk plays on Valentina's lips. "Can I ask you something L'amore?". The woman nods, swallowing nervously.

"Can I play us some music?" Val questions, lazily waving her phone around. Ethan and I instantly exchange a knowing look, wondering if the music she was referring to belonged to a certain band.

"Yeah. Sure. Ok. Of course. Go ahead" the woman rambles,  clearly nervous. Val smiles and taps away at her phone, connecting it to the speakers.

Both Ethan and I groan when Chase Atlantic's 'friends' begins to play, our suspicions confirmed. "Quiet you two" Val says in a sing song voice, blatantly ignoring our annoyance.