Fifteen

Otto

I almost choked on my drink as I processed Nari's words, wondering if he was being real or if he was just playing a game. "Happy and happier?"

"Well, yeah, I could be happy with my girlfriend," Nari said, holding up one hand before bringing the other one up, holding it slightly higher than the other. "But I could be happier with you."

Crinkling my nose, I turn away from Nari, who instantly knew that he'd said the wrong thing. Instead of reassuring me that he was just bantering, he called the waitress over, flirted a little more, asked for and then paid the bill, before he stood up and started to make his way across the piazza. I followed, despite the fact that I didn't want to spend more time with Nari right now, and wandered the streets of Verona, taking in all the sights that he was pointing out. All I could think of, however, was his words from earlier.

Ok, you could be happy with someone and surely that should be enough. But to go on to say that you could be happier with someone else, well that just went to show how much of a player Nari was. I called him out on it earlier and he denied it all but his words now show a different side to him. 

"I just need to say because it is driving me insane but," I start, pulling Nari to a stop outside a random courtyard. Waiting until his focus is on me, I choose my words carefully so as not to upset him. "If you're happy with one girl, and you could be happier with another girl, do you ever think that you could be happiest with a third girl?"

Nari frowned. "I'm still young. I don't need to know who I'll be happiest with just yet. Live a little first, you know?"

"But from my perspective, isn't how you get a guy the way you lose a guy?" I ask, paranoia filling my mind. "If I steal Max from Amelie, there's no stopping another girl from coming along and stealing him from me, is there? So, by my reckoning, I shouldn't tell him my feelings because I'll be setting myself up to getting hurt in the future. I should let their relationship run its course and then put my feelings out there. Right?"

I don't get an answer to my question. All I get is a strange look, a shrug of the shoulders and a roll of the eyes. Then Nari walks off, heading into the courtyard we'd been stood outside. My head tells me to follow him but at the same time, my brain wants to over-analyse everything I just said, coming to the conclusion that I do, indeed, have daddy issues.  

The way you get a man is the way you lose a man is a mantra that all my father's wives should have lived by, my mother included, but really, barring Ruth from that, unless of course, she was the 'other woman' but became the first wife. Marnie and Claudia and Mum should have seen the demise of their marriages coming because if a man can cheat with you, they can cheat on you. Ergo, if Max could break up with Amelie for me, he could break up with me for someone else. It's standard, right? 

But Max Casek doesn't strike me as that type of person. He's decent; he's been brought up by a single mother and has a deep respect of women because of that. Yes, his dad was and still is, around but it was Lyanna who raised him, who taught him how to treat girls properly, who insisted on Max taking her out so he knows how to be a gentleman on a date. She's taught him better than to be a fuckboy. He's not at all like how my father is. 

And to that end, my brother isn't at all like how my father is. Michael might have played the field when he was younger and introduced me to more girlfriends than I needed to know he had but he never cheated and he never looked at another girl while he was in a relationship. None of his past girlfriends has ever had a bad word to say about him and now that he's in a serious relationship and only had googly eyes for Lyanna, I know he won't stray. 

Michael Taylor is what I need to compare all my boyfriend to, not to Charles Taylor, serial womaniser and utter fuckboy. I love my father, don't get me wrong. I just don't like him very much most of the time. 

"Hey, are you coming in here or not?" Nari's voice breaks through my thoughts. I shake my head. "Dude, we're at Juliet's balcony and you don't want to see it?"

I scrunch up my nose. "Not really. I don't think it's appropriate to glorify Romeo and Juliet as if they are the epitome of love and sacrifice."

"Damn girl, that's cold," Nari laughs. Still, he grabs me by the hand and pulls me into the courtyard, pointing up at the balcony that, if I'm honest, looks like every other balcony in Verona I've seen. "That there, is a symbol of hope for all the doomed lovers in the world."

"Ignoring the fact that your comment seems to be heavily directed at me," I begin, pointedly staring at Nari who doesn't try to deny my statement. "You do remember that Romeo and Juliet both committed suicide in the end, right? How, in any universe, could that be construed as hopeful?"

Nari frowned and opened his mouth to retaliate but quickly snapped his mouth shut. "You're ruining the fun of Verona for me here, Isabella. Truly. You are a hater of love. I've decided. We cannot be friends. But before we leave, take a photo with me so I can post it online."

"No!" I shouted, stomped my foot and promptly left the stupid balcony behind. As I walked, I couldn't help but incredulously mutter, "Absolute fuckboy."