From London to Rome

Chapter 3

I must have sat on my bed for over an hour, my thoughts racing through my mind. I still haven't eaten anything, and my stomach is not too happy about it. Finally, I give in and order some food. I'm absolutely not in the mood to cook dinner, luckily there are plenty of delivery options in the area. Slowly, I start to grasp what has happened to me today. I go from a state of shock to a feeling of utter happiness. My heart starts racing again when I think about him and his charming smile.

While waiting for my food, I decide to put away the books I just bought. My eyes fall on the receipt sticking out of the copy of Sapiens that he bought for me. I take out the receipt and notice something written on the back of it. With surprise in my eyes, I read the words, written in clear, bold letters.

'It was nice meeting you. We should do this again sometime. Luca'

This can't be true. First of all, he liked meeting me. And he wants to meet again. My legs are shaking making me sit down on my desk chair so I won't fall. I must be dreaming. Some sick dream from which I can wake up any minute. This is too good to be true. Or it must have been someone who looks just like him. yeah, that must be it. Luca would never do something like this. It must be some sick joke or something.

Only when I look at the writing on the receipt a second time I notice a phone number scribbled at the bottom. As if Luca Bianchi would ever give his phone number to some girl he'd just met in a bookshop. I could be a stalker, or much worse even. He knows how many girls are obsessed with him; he would never give his private phone number to some random person.

Just for fun, I add the number as a contact on my phone. Using WhatsApp I can see the profile picture connected to the number, a useful feature every student doing group work has used more than once. The picture that shows up next to the contact is a picture of Luca, but I don't think I've seen it before. It's not one of the many pictures I've seen on Instagram. It's taken somewhere inside and Luca looks super relaxed, smiling widely at the person taking the picture. I can see the tattoos on his arm peeking out from under the sleeves of his shirt. He is so cute. The way his mouth curls when he smiles. His eyes smiling at the camera, tilting his head back. Before I realise what I'm doing I send him a message.

'It was nice talking to you today. Thanks for the book :)) Great profile picture!'

Of course, I regret it immediately. Like seriously, how could I pick that emoji? Why did I say something about his profile picture? I didn't even say my name in the text. I feel so dumb, so stupidly idiotic. He is never going to respond to this. Why the hell would he?

Oh god. He is online. No. No. No. I turn my phone off immediately. I can't deal with this. I just have to forget it, act like this never happened. Luckily my food arrives at just the right moment. I get comfy on my bed, put on a movie and try to ease my mind a little. I'm not very successful though. I keep looking at my phone, wondering if he at least read my message. No. I have to be realistic. I take a book instead. Of course, it's Sapiens. Like this doesn't remind me of Luca.

Once again today, I'm being stupid little me and I turn my phone on again. Before my internet is fully connected I open my chats. I immediately see that the message has been read, but it takes a few seconds before new messages start coming in. I have two texts from Abby, my best friend, I'm about to open them when my mouth drops to the floor from my phone starting to buzz again to notify me that I got more new messages. Luca sent me three messages. My phone clatters on the floor, my hand still shaking. I quickly grab it from the floor, luckily the screen didn't break from the drop. I look again, but I actually have three messages from Luca. My heart rate is unbelievingly high, my breathing is out of control, but still, I decide to open the chat. I have to open it someday. So maybe it's best to just get over with it.

'I'm really glad I met you, Skylar.' 'And thanks. I like your profile picture too' ';).'

I almost choke on my noodles. Oh shit. What is my profile picture? Usually, I have some pictures with me and my friends, but I have no idea which one I currently have. I'm a little afraid, I usually don't look that good in pictures but I got lucky this time. It's a picture my sister took of me last summer when we were at the beach. I look pretty decent, so at least I don't have to worry about that.

I text him back, asking about the books he bought today. I was way too preoccupied earlier to see which books he had in his hand at the register. He tells me about the three books he bought, giving me a description of each of them. He tells me he reads a lot of historical fiction and fantasy, but that he likes non-fiction as well from time to time. It turns out we actually read a lot of the same books.

We text back and forth for a while until he asks if I want to call instead. This has me freaking out all over again. With texting I can take my time to gather my thoughts, think about how I want to respond. When calling you don't have that time. You need to respond right away or else there will be these awkward silences, and let that just be what freaks me out.

Still, I accept his offer to call. I know I can call with my friends or my family for hours, without any awkwardness. Based on how easily we talked earlier in the bookshop and how easy the conversation flows when texting, I decide to risk it. What do I have to lose anyway?