Chapter Seventeen

1239 Words
Kate was beginning to think of her own future. She had just watched someone leave everything they know, to start a new life in a foreign country, which can change your perspective somewhat. She envied Alegra's ability to just be, without any fear of what could go wrong. If Kate was being honest, it had crossed her mind on more than one occasion. Those crazy thoughts were almost always brushed off, but something was forcing her to pay attention this time. Her father had always told stories of how his parents left Italy for a better life and here she was, considering staying in the exact place they had once left behind. She had never really thought about how difficult it would have been for them until now. Kate knew she held a direct line to her family and friends in her back pocket, she was never truly alone. It would have been especially difficult for them to leave everyone behind in those days. The thought of returning home to deal with the aftermath of Elise and Ryan's affair wasn't all that appealing, but neither was staying in Rome without a job or a decent place to live. She couldn't keep eating ham sandwiches for breakfast every day, or continue paying a ridiculous nightly rate for a hotel room when it didn't even contain so much as a tea kettle.  Kate's thoughts turned to the rumbling in her stomach. Looking down, she noticed she was still in the same black cami and cream shorts she had worn the night before. Too tired and too hungry to bother changing, Kate made her way down to the dining room; she would head back up and shower after breakfast.  She was up a little later than usual today, having gone out celebrating with Alegra last night and only arriving home in the wee hours. After having a little too much to drink, she had stumbled back to the hotel and spent what felt like an eternity trying to open the door to her room. By the time she had made her way inside, all she could manage to do was remove her sandals and crash onto the big comfy bed. Nursing a mild hangover, she headed straight over to the percolated coffee, partially drinking half the cup and refilling it before selecting her breakfast and taking a seat at one of the empty tables. After devouring a ham and cheese panino, Kate was still feeling a little hungry. Considering it was almost lunchtime, she decided to finish breakfast off with a choc-hazelnut croissant. Kate had been a little too heavy-handed with the hazelnut spread as it was starting to drip out in clumps every time she took a bite. Eh, it's worth the mess, she thought as she scooped up the runaway globs of spread with her fingers. The croissant was still warm and fresh, flaky and absolutely delicious. Kate was about to head back to her hotel room and get ready for the afternoon. She did a double-take, making sure she had her bag and phone in hand before walking out of the dining room, something she had now made a habit of doing. As she was about to make her way up the stairs, she was halted by the sound of Mario calling out to her. "Signora Kate, please before you go upstairs you come here, I have someone I want to meet to you." Kate stepped back and walked over to the front desk where Mario was standing. The man he was talking to held a stack of flyers in one hand, with more pages still making their way out of Mario's printer, one by one he added them to the pile in his hand.  "Ah, here she is, the young lady, you find her bag three weeks ago," Mario said to him. As he turned to see who she was, her stomach sank. Kate could feel a nervous sweat building in the palms of her hands and every part of her wanted to scream out "NO!" Not wanting to seem rude or completely ungrateful, Kate composed herself and thanked the man standing in front of her, who just happened to be Raphael. She quickly let Mario know that they were already acquainted. How was she supposed to hate him now that he had saved her from her own carelessness? Why did it have to be him, why couldn't it just be a random gorgeous guy who she could take out for a nice coffee as a thank you, maybe they would end up getting married and she would have his cute little curly-haired babies. Babies... huh?  The romantic meet-cute Kate was playing out in her mind was suddenly interrupted. "Katerina, how nice to see you. I was just here printing some more flyers for my class. Care to take it again?" He said with a smirk. "Raphael, has anyone ever told you how hilarious you are?"  Kate wanted to slap that smirk right off his face, but he just laughed at the sarcasm in her question. Mario, who was still standing there witnessing the awkward exchange of little digs between the two of them, excused himself to assist one of the hotel guests with their room keys. Apparently, Kate wasn't the only one who was having trouble with the old door locks. "Well I have to be going, I have a class in fifteen minutes and don't want to be late for a new group." Kate said nothing, instead, she simply pointed to her naked wrist and shook her head at him. He waved goodbye and she watched on as Raphael stopped to pin one of his flyers to the hotel noticeboard on his way out.  Kate walked up the stairs and back to her room in disbelief. She only knew three people in the entire city,  it could have literally been anyone else. She wanted to call Alegra and tell her what had happened, but she was at work and wouldn't finish her shift until five. Kate didn't think she would appreciate being interrupted for this kind of information on her first shift anyway. She had already told Kate that she was being childish, that she should just get over it and that Raphael was a really nice guy. Maybe he was? Kate opened the door to her room and headed straight for the shower. She removed her shorts and cami and placed them on top of the huge pile of clothes already in the corner basket, she really needed to pay a visit to the laundromat this afternoon. Kate turned to enter the shower and caught a quick glimpse of her face in the mirror, she was mortified. Hazelnut spread was smeared across her chin, it was dry and had begun to flake from the movement of her face. Wasn't it enough that he had seen her in the same clothes she wore to class yesterday?  Kate jumped into the shower, the warm water instantly calming her down. Her thoughts wandered from Raphael to what she would be doing this afternoon... laundry perhaps? To Alegra and how she was doing on her first day and finally to the office. Kate had been slack checking in recently, it had been over a week but she knew Nina would always call if anything came up. She decided to call her tonight, even if just to have a chat.
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