by P. M. Thomas
“How do you feel?” Gloria questioned her handsome patient, judging by the bloom in his lively blue eyes, the treatment was a huge success.
“Like a new man.” he gladly claimed. For his girlfriend, he would hoist up the weighty obstacles and overcome them with the greatest of ease like the great Hercules himself to his fair, divine maiden.
“Once we get back to the hotel, you deserve a reward for carrying those bags.” his maiden was presenting him a token of her gratitude for his noble and heroic deed in her honour.
Paulo liked the sound of that, it was an incentive to keep his eyes on the tantalizing prize and never waver from his imperative objective of making his girlfriend happy.
She leaned close to his ear, what she had in mind was not for eavesdropping, it was for his ears only. She whispered with a low, racy voice, it send tingles throughout his male body, titillated by her feminine words and promises that only a woman could do for a man. Paulo loved what he heard.
Gloria leaned back, the personal stuff had been said, there was no worry of prying ears now. “What do you say?”
“I say, what are we standing out here for?” Paulo's calm stance was hit with a burst of energy. “Let's go.” he picked up the bags with energetic zest.
There was no time to lose, every second squandered would be less time to absorb themselves in the steamy and sensual action taking the suite and hotel at a forceful velocity and never let it go until the late hours of the night.
The staff and guests were in for another noisy and adventurous day. Any hoping for a quiet and serene break would have no such alleviation. Not until they checked out. Until then, nothing and no one on earth could have stopped the throttle or cushion the force of that youthful couple.
CHAPTER 12
Gloria and Paulo ventured down the side-walk across from the enticing beach on the other side calling out to everyone who walked on by, beckoning them to frolic on its smooth bed of sand and bathe in its cool vast seas. The youthful couple would be answering its impulsive call and bask in its harmonic beauty in good time, at the moment they were occupied by more prior commitments.
Paulo's casual eye turned to the docks to observe the ever sparkling ocean, it always managed to catch his attention and compel him to spend a minute or an hour of his time admiring its pure sheen. It soothed him, drew him in with its mesmerizing waves. He would have lost himself in its clear blue splendour had his eyes not spotted something even more dazzling than the sea itself: Sara Sarracini.
“No way.” he muttered to himself, his mouth hanging wide open upon speaking the last intoxicating syllable.
Paulo stopped in his tracks, he could hardly believe what his eyes was seeing, the woman walking along the docks was the one and only Sara Sarracini. He had marvelled at her beauty, studied every last detail of her visage, knew her to the point of identifying her in a crowded scene crammed with other actors on the frame or distant in a long shot without a second thought.
While she may have been older than when she appeared in those movies, she was still the same woman he adored with an aching passion in his rhythmical heart.
He recognized her flowing golden locks of hair billowing softly in the ocean breeze, her eyes full of emotion and expression breaming out her aquatic blue spheres, her cheekbones holding a strong firmness that made her features stand out, her soft lips full of tenderness widening out to form a breathtaking smile that could warm the hearts of even the coldest, her body was as feminine and elegant as all those years ago, she had preserved her sacred temple and kept it in a perfect condition. She was beautiful as beauty was, everlasting throughout any day, month or year, never to be lost in the ravages of time, beauty was exempt from it, as was Sara Sarracini.
The more he looked at her, the more he was enthralled by her spellbinding grace. No angel depicted in the greatest murals on the earth could convey the true angelic vision that was her. He was filled with a fuzzy solace, she was a blissfully beautiful and a blissfully radiant angel of sheer enveloping divine light that reached out to the whole universe, overshadowing all the stars, suns and moons while illuminating all of the cosmos and its billions of planets with the true face of true heaven.
It was like a fantasy coming true, his wish had been granted, after numerous excruciatingly long years of waiting and dreaming of meeting his beloved Sara Sarracini. He had considered it the impossible, the opportunity of coming face-to-face with a movie star like her was reserved only to his imagination. It distressed him to think reality was so restricted that he could not even speak to a woman on the same planet he thought about every minute of every day.
It was not true, everything was possible, even the improbable. The timing had to be right and the planets had to be aligned, when the elements were in one's favour, it triggered miracles, and there the individual would be treated to the reward of life's big surprise. Patience paid off with riches the likes of which no one had ever perceived.
She was there, on the same island resort, like a miracle, heaven sent for her biggest admirer throughout her entire career. She had never met a fan like him, not until today.
Sara Sarracini would learn of Paulo's existence in the world they shared, and remember him well for the rest of her eventful lifetime.
The sensation of his dream made real sent him in a state of shock, his hands lost their strong grip on the bags, and once again, they crashed onto the ground.
Gloria stopped upon hearing the cacophony strike twice, she rolled her eyes and sighed in a huff. “Not again, what am I going to do with you?”
She turned around to see what mess her boyfriend had caused this time. He may have managed to avoid breaking any of her more fragile purchases previously, but no one dodged striking lightning forever.
Her playful smile quickly changed to a look of intrigue as Paulo overlooked the docks, his eyes staring in amazement. She was halfway along the path, she had no idea she had been leaving him behind. Whatever was out there, it had the soles of his shoes glued shut to the concrete ground.
“Paulo?” she called out as she headed to the idle statue in her boyfriend's clothing.
Gloria stood beside him, looked closely at his face petrified like stone. “Hey, Paulo.”
He did not say a word to his girlfriend, he was completely transfixed on the wondrous sight ahead. Everything and every one else was muted and invisible to his eyes and ears.
“Earth to Paulo.” she said louder into his ear hole, sending her sharp words down there to beat at his drums, that would get his attention, no doubt, she figured.
Surprisingly it did not, Paulo still did nothing. It was like he was temporarily outside his own body, roaming around in an astral form while his physical shell was unoccupied for the time being. All that was missing from him was a sign saying 'Back in five minutes'.
“Come in, Paulo.” Gloria increased the volume in her voice to no avail.
He remained locked in his trance. She was losing her patience with him. She could not stand being ignored, she loathed it when he did not listen and respond to her vital words. She would get a response from him if it killed her, or him.
“Paulo” she balled at the top of her lungs, there was no possibility of him remaining entranced after that ear-splitting outburst.
Surely enough, it worked wonders. The deafening sudden boom shooting down his ears and through his body sent Paulo almost jumping out of his own skin.
His neck whirred to the source of the commotion: his fuming girlfriend Gloria. Her rising temper simmered at the fact she was victorious, she had triumphantly put a full stop to his trance. The drastic measures always did work the best.
“Nice to have you back.” Gloria remarked with a hoarsely dry sarcasm. “What's got into you?”, she demanded an answer, if he was ogling another woman who resembled Sara Sarracini, there would be trouble and the entire island would know about it from here to eternity.
She was half right about one thing, he was spellbound by another woman. The one and the onl
y. Paulo could accept no imitations when it came to the real Sara Sarracini. As she was about to understand.
CHAPTER 13
He looked over his shoulder to the docks, directing her to see for herself. “It's her.” Paulo spoke in a slow, dazed voice like he was deeply hypnotized. In a way, he was. The minute he laid eyes on the illustrious diva in the flesh, Paulo was placed in her powerful spell with no means of breaking free from it. Not that he had any intentions of freeing himself from the starlet's enigmatic attraction, pulling him towards her.
“Her?” asked Gloria with a grit of the teeth, she could see a scene on the verge of being acted out. He was glued to another woman, that was the last straw. Their little session in the suite would be postponed permanently. When they returned to the hotel, the only noise that would go on behind closed doors for the rest of the occupants to hear would be a long heated argument about his obsession with Sara Sarracini and habit of prying on any woman who had a passing resemblance to her.
She would bring a case of tough love down on him, he would have to give up watching, reading and thinking of his infernal diva, otherwise she would leave him and he could spend his days obsessing over a woman he would never have, not in a million years, he was out of her league, not to mention age group. Then with realizing he was a fool to put an actress before his own girlfriend. He would regret his mistake of taking Gloria for granted, come crawling back to her, begging for her to take him back and she would refuse him several times to make him suffer and pay the severe consequences for being an ungrateful boyfriend, and then when he had endured the penalty of his crimes enough to the point of becoming a broken shell of a man, she would consider having him back.
And then she would lay down her laws that had to be upheld without any questions asked, otherwise she would leave him in an instance and not take him back. There would be no third chance, one wrong move and that was it. Gloria would have control over her boyfriend, he would see she was the one holding the leash around his neck and like a loyal dog, he would have to do everything she commanded.
Gloria was a control freak and was content with that, she relished everything going her way since she was a little girl, anything else could go down the highway for all she cared. Her parents had to get used to it, so would Paulo.
For the present time, Paulo was unaware of her dominating plans over him. He was far too invested in a more pressing matter of importance to him. “Her.” he said, sharper and intense, it was all he could say in his bewildered state.
“Who?” snapped Gloria, she was growing tired of his nonsense, she had some disobedience she had to attend to.
“Sara Sarracini.” he brought himself to speak her immortal name full of divinity, it sent his heart to rise to his neck. Saying her name filled him with euphoria.
“Another look alike?” just as she thought. Paulo would be in for an earful when they got back, there was no hope for him. She would see to that.
“No.”
Gloria stalled to reply, he had to be imagining things. She was starting to change her mind. Perhaps he needed medical help to get him over his frenzied addiction to the actress.
“The real Sara.” his hand floated outward, it almost had a mind of its own, he had no control of it, he was lost in a dream, his body was acting on its own by pointing at the heavenly docks where his angel was seen.
“Where?” sneered Gloria, looking at the docks. She couldn't see his adored diva anywhere, as she was starting to think, it was all in his deluded head. Some therapy to heal his mind from Sara Sarracini would do him a huge favour, and herself. She had it up to the high heavens with hearing endlessly about the obscure movie star.
“There.” he directed his finger at the radiant beauty walking down the dock.
“The lady in the hat?” Gloria spotted the so-called superstar. She didn't seem so super to her.
A charmed smile curved on Paulo's adoring lips. “Yes. The lady in the hat.”
Gloria watched the supposed diva sceptically, she wasn't at all convinced. “Are you sure?”
“Positive. I'd recognize her beauty anywhere.”
Paulo's expression and tone in his voice said one thing: he was smitten by her. “Amazing, isn't she?”
Gloria spotted it in a flash. Her jealously returned with a vengeance, if it was the real Sara Sarracini, there would be much more than a argument going on between them. She would have him thrown out the window if he dared try anything. And it was not a bluff, her parents knew how ferocious she could be when her temper was at its boiling point.
Gloria looked back to Sara, her biggest rival. “I guess.” she said unenthusiastically, she was trying her hardest to hide her envy, lure him into a false sense of security then let him have it back at the hotel.
“I can't believe she's here.” Paulo could barely contain his excitement. “It's like a dream come true.”
Resentment burned fiercely in Gloria's glaring eyes. It may have been a dream for him, but it was a nightmare for her.
It was the last thing in the world she wanted to have happen during their romantic summer holiday, having to deal with a obsessed boyfriend focusing his energy on a superstar instead of his own girlfriend.
Had she known Paulo was crazily infatuated with a movie star when they met during a party in her room-mate's flat, she may have not been so quick to jump into the sweet talking, charming stud in the cool and stylish gear's arms after being introduced to by her friend during a dance shared between the pair and into his bed in the same night after the party ended at the late hours of three in the morning.
But what was done was done, she was in love with him and would have to fight to keep him. She would let no one take her stud from her, not even a diva. Nothing could be out of her controlling hands, it was not probable.
CHAPTER 14
Sara and Tommaso marvelled at the beautiful, eventful plaza, it was packed full of rural, continental culture, she was basking in a part of the world which had no reliance on computers, mobile phones, video game consoles or internet connections which was linked to all of those, forming the main network that predominated civilization back home.
They had no use for it, why would they want to spend their precious hours gazing into a screen, enveloped in a digital environment, taking to faces on a monitor when they could be out there, in a living, breathing world full of activity, friendly faces and socializing in person, seeing such beautiful sights a virtual web could never replicate, no matter how big and clear the pixels were in an image.
Life had to be lived in the flesh. There was so much a person could do outside with their own eyes, rather than rely on any form of technology to do the job for them. Being an old school kind of woman who grew up loving the outdoors as a girl, all the way to womanhood, she valued the enjoyment of seeing the world and meeting faces in person.
It was one of the reasons why she never bought herself a computer or a mobile to get with the times, she would stand by her values and live the old fashioned way.
Sara hoped one day, the kids of the current generation would comprehend what they were missing, and for once in their lives, turn off their computers, have a break from their video games and pull their heads out their phones to take a read out of the real book of living, they would enjoy themselves a great deal more, she was positive of it.
She noticed an appealing looking small and humble ice cream stand in the distance. It reminded her of the ones from her childhood, and how she used to race to it on her sprinting little legs, eager to taste the chilled fruit flavoured ice on a stick and then savour it even further by sucking the stick until all traces of its quenching juiciness was replaced by the tasteless sensation of the wooden stick.
The refreshing desserts wetted her appetite in the same manner she was accustomed to as a little girl, even at this day and age. “I could do with one of those.” she smacked her moist lips, had it not been for the gloss applied before she left, they would have been as dry as her parched throat.
Being surrounded in a baking summer heat wave, a cool treat was in order to give her some release from feeling as unbelievably hot as she was in appearance to many of the masculine residents and tourists who frequently averted their gazes to take a peek at the classy beauty gracing the island. Many were tempted to come over, had it not been for her lanky personal assistant, they appeared to have mistook him as her partner.
It wasn't the first time Sara and Tommaso's closeness resembled that of a loving couple. They looked well together, suited one another like a perfect match. No other could have been appropriate with either.
Tommaso saw her looking at the stand, drawn in by an insatiable appetite to become reacquainted with an old favourite from her past.
“Cool, sweet, refreshing.” she licked at her lips, coating them in an extra glossy sheen. “The perfect companion to this weather. Don't you think?”
“You're on vacation, why not get one?” Tommaso suggested, selflessly putting her before himself as usual.
Sara looked to Tommaso. He was always thinking for her, never for himself. Looking out for her best interests, no matter where they were. It was admirable, and she admired him for it, but she was also selfless herself. “First, we're on vacation, and not just me. Second, sure, an ice cream would be a perfect start to our trip to paradise.”
Tommaso smiled, she was such a thoughtful angel on earth, he wished he could have kissed and held her there on the spot. Maybe one day, he could. Right now he had the pressing matter of her treat to take care of. “What flavour do you want?”
