|24| Radiatori-1

|24| -  "His dark sense of humour cracks me up." - While Nathan and I had had ups and downs, arguments, tears, new firsts and uncomfortable encounters with his colleagues over Christmas, nothing in Italy seemed to have changed. That included our group of British friends, who made Jasmine and I feel like we'd never left. "I was hoping she'd have mellowed a bit by now," Abbie said as Meg strolled away from the table for a cigarette. "But she's still as miserable as ever." "Maybe she just doesn't like us," Ant said. He leaned to top up our glasses, leaving Meg's. "Who can blame her?" Abbie said. "You're fucking annoying." Ant just smirked and placed the jug of prosecco back in the centre of the table. Their banter had only intensified since the last time we met up, leading Jasmine and me to speculate privately about a budding romance. Speaking of budding romances, Jasmine and Sean had their heads ducked in some form of deep conversation, completely oblivious to the rest of us. At least, almost completely oblivious, as Jasmine reached out for her newly-filled glass without drawing her eyes away from Sean. "How's Nathan?" Abbie asked me. "Is he coming to visit soon? We should all go out for drinks together when he does. Not enough eye candy around here..." She shot a sideways glance at Ant, her lips twitching in amusement, but he seemed far from offended. "Izzy's hardly going to want to bring her boyfriend along if she knows you're going to be drooling over him," he said. "I do have some dignity, you know. You're not uncomfortable with it, are you, Izzy?" I smiled and shook my head. "Not at all. Drool all you want." "So, not that I stalk you on social media or anything," Abbie continued, "but I saw some photos over Christmas where he really reminded me of someone, and then it started to bug me, you know? Like, I couldn't work out who he looks like. But New Year's Eve, we were at the cinema, me and some girlfriends, and the trailers came on, and then it clicked." She paused, as if for dramatic effect, and Ant rolled his eyes. I, too, was curious. If Nathan had a famous lookalike, then it was the first I'd heard of it. "Well?" Ant prompted. "As fascinating as that build up was, just spit it out." "Thor." "Thor?" I repeated. "As in Chris Hemsworth?" "No, the other one." "Liam Hemsworth?" "Yeah, he plays Thor, right?" "No, that's his brother. Chris." "No, I'm definitely thinking of Liam." "Possibly, but I think it's Chris who's Thor, right, Ant?" Ant leaned back in his chair. "Don't ask me. This conversation couldn't get any more annoying if you both tried." "So, who does he look like, then?" I asked Abbie. "Why are you asking her?" Ant said. "He's your boyfriend." "Because I'm so used to seeing his face every day that I don't associate it with celebrities. It's interesting." Meg returned to the table, her eyes flickering between the three of us with mild interest. Abbie grabbed onto that like a moth to a flame. "Meg, don't you think Izzy's boyfriend looks like the hot guy out of Thor?" She frowned. "Chris Hemsworth?" Ant groaned and rolled his eyes. "Oh, give me strength..." We ended up Googling it, discovered a new Hemsworth brother in the process, but finally discovered that Abbie had been referring to Liam the entire time. I flicked through the images, searching for similarities, but could only notice the very obvious things like their strong jawline and similar shades of hair in certain photos. Having a lot to catch up on, the six of us stayed in the bar drinking prosecco for several more hours. We bought a few more carafes, without stopping to think about the quantity we were consuming. My glass was rarely empty before being topped up, but that was probably where I went wrong. With each jug costing so little, each purchase seemed so insignificant price-wise that it barely registering how many we were buying. But I was happy. I'd dreaded returning to Italy, but now it didn't seem so bad. I was surrounded by fun people, enjoyable conversation, tasty food, and even Meg seemed more bearable. We chatted about school, about university, about friends and family. It was fine. She was nice. What was everyone's problem with her? We downed the rest of our prosecco and spilled out into the square. Abbie and Ant had their arms around each other, and Jasmine cuddled up close to Sean, her hand hooked in the crook of his elbow. Meg didn't seem as chatty as we crossed out of the square and into one of the main streets towards our respective apartments. In fact, she barely said a word to me. So I was surprised when she randomly grabbed my arm and yanked me across the pavement. Then I felt something hard ram into my side, sending me hurtling towards the ground. My knees took the brunt of my fall, but the pain didn't immediately register. What did register were the people crowding around me, hands touching my shoulders, words gushing into my ears. Some in English. Some in Italian. None of them comprehensible. Everything spun. Was I disorientated from the alcohol or the fall? "Fucking idiot." "What were they thinking?" "Is she okay?" "Some people honestly don't give a shit." "Have they literally just carried on out of here?" "Just give her some air, for fuck's sake!" Then something I did recognise. A familiar scent and a calming presence. Cascades of bright red.