SuperHero

Italian Hospitality?

An hour later, I was ready to go. Dressed in a short-ish black skater style dress with a full lace back, I slipped on my bright blue heels and grabbed my clutch when there was a light knock on the door. "Coming!" I called out, trotting to the door carefully in my heels; I opened it to find Paul stood waiting. "Hey" I smiled at him, expecting to see Laura. "Hey, you look good" he smiled at me. "Thanks, you too" I replied, making him smile. "The shirt looks good" I told him, noting it was the one that Laura had bought him today whilst we were shopping. "Thanks. She knows what looks good on me more than I do" he rolled his eyes making me laugh. "She ready?" I asked as I shut the door. "Almost, you know what she's like" he said, making me giggle. As much as Laura was my friend, I got on so well with Paul; I was so at ease with him. A few seconds later she came through her hotel room door looking flustered. "Woo, I'm ready" she said, fluffing her hair over her shoulders. I grinned; "you look gorgeous" I smiled at her, "you sure I look okay? My hair wouldn't go right" she said, touching it. "It looks great"

"I told her that" Paul muttered. I looked to him and grinned, "Huh, okay" she sighed, ignoring her boyfriend. "But Vick, you look great! Hulk's eyes are gonna pop out his head!" she squeaked as we walked down the corridor. "Laura!" I sighed at her, but amused. "Will you leave her alone!" Paul told her, making her pull her tongue out at him. "It's all she can talk about" he said, shaking his head. "Tell me about it." I replied as we headed to dinner.

............................

We climbed out of the car in front of the place the force India guys were meeting up, me and Laura already in the party mood. We tottered into the bar in our skyscraper heels ready to dance. "Let's grab a drink and then I wanna dance!" Laura said as we spotted the bar. Paul was following behind us, when he spotted the team in a rowdy corner of the room. "Grab me a coke please" he told Laura and then went off to his friends.

"I feel really nervous for some reason" I sighed as we stood at the bar as Laura tried to grab the barman's attention, which wasn't hard. She looked round at me sharply, "honestly Vick, I promise I won't say anything more about you and Nico." She said seriously. "I just think you guys would be good together, but he's so shy and you can be too, when you really like a guy" she explained, to which I nodded but laughed too. "And he doesn't know that you've been thinking this?" I asked her as she looked back to the barman. "No way, you think he's shy now? If he heard what I said to you he'd explode" she said, making me burst out laughing, strangely that gave me a little more confidence. "Oh hell, I'm not getting served here, Vick, it's your turn" she sighed, annoyed that they ignored her. I laughed, and stepped into her place. We knew that my bright white short hair would catch attention. I stood out too much here in Italy. Even Laura with her pale milky skin and freckles blended in with her long dark tousled hair. But me? Not so much, it didn't help that my hair was shaved on the sides and long on the top, styled back a little punked, like Pink.

Soon I was served, and we were walking over to Paul and the team. "You came!" a voice boomed over to me, looking across the guys I saw the guy from hospitality. "I did" I beamed a smile at the guy. He grinned at me and put his arm around my shoulder. "Let me introduce you to everyone" he said, taking me from Laura, who was laughing at me. The team was like a huge family, making anyone that was friends with any one of them welcome.

..................

I'd just come back from the toilet, walking over to join the guys again when I noticed a familiar tall blonde stood to the side of the group. I felt his eyes on me, and when I caught him looking at me, he blushed a shy smile my way and then looked down to his feet, the two the guys he was stood with, who luckily for him didn't notice him watching me. I gave him a smile back and turned my attention to Mike who was calling me over to some other guys he wanted me to meet.

........................

After an hour or two here, we all seemed to have decided to head out to a bar down the street. There was talk that the McLaren team were out too, so we were going to meet up with them a few bars down.

Inside the next place, it was more like a club, the music was booming and the atmosphere was buzzing. We spotted the McLaren guys as soon as we walked in, they were laughing and joking at the bar and I spotted Jenson Button, being the tallest of the bunch stood talking to some attractive Japanese girl, I was guessing this was his girlfriend. I knew he was taken, but hell he was handsome.

I was soon introduced to everyone and found them all to be as welcoming as the Force India team. I had spent most of the time talking with Jessica and Laura, laughing and having girl talk. But from the amount of drinks I'd had, I needed the loo again.

As I walked back towards the group, by the bar, I noticed Nico walking towards me. "Hello" he smiled at me, with that smile that I'd decided sent me to jelly. "Hi" I replied, looking up at him, dressed in a pair of snug fitted jeans, a pair of canvas trainers and a light grey fitted jumper, he looked good. "You look great" he told me, making me blush. "Thank you" I said shyly, glancing down a little, "would you like a drink?" he offered, "hey, you had her attention all afternoon! We're going to dance!" Laura giggled at us as she grabbed my arm, pulling me away from him, with Jessica following behind. I gasped, looking back to Nico who was watching us laughing.

...........................

A few dances later, we were all ready for another drink. We regrouped at the bar, but there seemed to be a discussion on whether we should head to another bar. As this was happening, I noticed a guy at the bar giving me the eye. I wasn't usually so sure that a guy was looking at me, but I knew I stood out. I tried to block it out and look away, but the longer we were there the more uncomfortable I felt.

I was sandwiched between a couple of the guys so I felt safe, but I didn't like the look the Italian guy was giving me. Still, when he disappeared I felt a little more relieved. That's when I sensed movement from the group and it appeared we were leaving.

"Ahh, ciao Bella" I heard purr into my ear, making me startle. I looked to my left and saw the Italian creep leering at me. Don't get me wrong, I like a nice Italian guy, but this dude was as slimy as they got. I just smiled at him a little and went to move, following the others out of the bar. Being at the back of the group, no one noticed him approach me. "You stay with Gianni for a drink yes?" he whispered into my ear. "Sorry, we are leaving" I replied, trying to be polite, I mean he had only asked me if I wanted a drink...

"Ahh, you must stay, your friends will not mind" he said, slipping his hand onto my hip. I felt my blood run cold as his grip on me tightened as I tried to move away. "Sorry no!" I told him, trying to pull away from him, as I watched my friends leaving the bar. "You are in my country, I show you, uh, Italian, hospitality..." he said, completely ignoring my distress. "SHE SAID NO" a strong firm voice bellowed over us. I sighed in relief as I saw Nico towering above the awful Italian guy.

The next thing I knew, Nico grabbed the guy by the scruff of his neck and yanked him away from me. The little Italian was no match for the strong German. "Are you okay Victoria?" he asked me softly, he face changing from pure rage to his usual tender gentle expression. I swallowed and nodded in reply. "Come, let's leave this place" he said, taking his hand to my shoulder, guiding me out of the bar.

"Thank you" I said a little shakily as we got into the cool night air. "It is okay, are you sure you are okay?" he asked me as we stopped on the side walk, him looking into my eyes, both his hands placed gently on my shoulders. I nodded, looking up at him I smiled a little. "Come, I think we both need a drink" he said, a smile flashing up onto his face. I nodded and let him guide me towards where the others had gone.