The Americans just stared, leering with big stupid grins. I made a face at them, then turned and kissed Lauren again. She pressed in her tongue."This ...lace kinda sucks," I said, "Let's get outta here."We drank, paid, and left. We went north up a narrow street and past a little piazza with a garden and a fountain. Lauren walked close to me. She held my hand, leaning into me. When I stopped, she turned to me, nuzzling her head against me, and we kissed. I stopped several times."So," Fi asked. Recent adventures had been fueled by alcohol and a lack of faith in the goodness of men. Heart broken, and mailed to me like a cheap postcard from Graceland, I was cocooning myself in the protective bubble of friends, alcohol and distraction. ‘You have the most beautiful green eyes’ he said and his gold band of promise was ignored. His look would caress my shoulder from across the room, his toes innocently touching mine were secretly begging me to allow him into my world of words, scars and. That only made me want to run my tongue over them and feel just how amazing them were. “Cool,” I let out, trying to sounds cool but really just seeming like some idiot seventeen year old girl who had no idea how to talk with men. We sat there in silence after that for almost an hour. I had no idea what to say to him or even knew if he wanted me to talk, so I decided to pull out my laptop and write a little bit. It was just something that I did to pass the time, and it usually passed it by. ]"Sure. Last minute shopping?" Yeah. I just thought of something I wanted to get for Kat, and couple of the others need to do some last minute stuff as well," she replied."Okay. Just be careful with all that snow out there. Just because it has 4-wheel drive doesn't mean that it's going to work that much better on this kind of road." We'll be careful," she replied sincerely.I just nodded, and watched her head off with Angie, Amy, and Mei. As I stood there, a pair of arms worked their way around.