Disco Balls and Plane Tickets
Chapter 16
Melissa: Tiny slits in the cold stone dungeon walls glowed from the bright light from the outside world. I thought of all the prisoners who were wrongly accused, a tear almost coming to my eye. Taylor wrapped his arms around me and placed a kiss on my cheek as I closed my eyes and was again transported to the past. It was this kind of thing that made me think that maybe the renaissance wasn’t such a cool time to live in. “You amaze me,” he whispered in my ear sending a shiver down my spine as I bit my lip, returning to the 21st century as I opened my eyes. “Why’s that,” I grinned flirtatiously. He laughed, “you’re so pure, Melissa. So…caring and genuine. You’re like no one else.” I laughed as that warm fuzzy feeling came rushing back full force. “Have I mentioned that I really love you,” I told him. I laughed, “I love you too.” We followed the tour out of the dungeon and back into the light outside the cold castle prison. The sun quickly warmed my shoulders. “It’s so hot,” I whispered in Taylor’s ear. “This concludes our tour,” the guide announced to the group of tourists before blabbing on about the gift shop and an endless amount of “thanks for visiting.” We found our way back to the city quicker than expected and plotted our next stop at a top art museum in Venice. We stepped out of the taxi onto the gray sidewalk in front of the Venice Museum of Art. Taylor bought us both tickets as we walked into the great lobby a few stories high. “Whoa,” my eyes glided up the length, resting on the ceiling. “Long way up,” he commented. “Oh, yea.” He laughed, I took his hand and we walked the length of the long hallway towards a Monet exhibit. “This is so pretty,” I pointed to one of the landscapes. “Yea,” he spouted off in some artistic language that made me feel stupid. “Yea,” I smiled and nodded. He laughed as I continued to label them all “pretty” as we made our way through the exhibit. When we finished the Monet exhibition, we took a seat on a stone bench and pulled out a pamphlet on the museum in search of something else holding interest before wandering around aimlessly. “Oh, look! Van Gogh,” I yelled skimming the smooth paper with my index finger as I rose from the bench. Laughing at my sudden outburst he took my hand and we started searching for the exhibit hall. “Ya know, I did an biographical essay on Van Gogh once,” I blabbed on, “ he’s brilliant and he had a really hard life.” “Is that so,” he laughed again. “Yea, and I’m babbling on like an idiot.” He laughed even more at this, “you could never be an idiot. You’re too perfect.” I blushed. “Why thank you,” I giggled as he stopped mid step to kiss me as people looked on. I laughed at the thought of him not caring about other people’s opinions or even about privacy. It was like he didn’t care if everyone knew, as if he was actually proud of me. I liked that feeling; I didn’t want it to ever leave. “Van Gogh,” the exhibit sigh read above Italian words that neither of us could read. We stepped into the colorful hall and my eyes lit up. “Wow, they don’t have this back home,” I laughed. “Nope.” We strolled to the first painting, the postman. I felt like I could say something other than, “It’s pretty,” for once. “He really captures the emotion of the subject. The colors are great, very vivid and the shadowing is good too. Its like you can tell what he is feeling,” I looked at Taylor and the expression of shock on his face. I laughed. “I’m impressed. You never cease to amaze,” he eventually got out. “Of course not. Can’t stop amazing. That just wouldn’t be fair,” I grinned, giggling. “Nope,” he smiled, taking my breath away with a kiss once more.
Chapter 17