Chapter 265: Not This Again!
(SASHA)
Tyler’s favorite restaurant in Rome is a hole-in-the-wall place in a side street a little ways from the touristy areas near the Forum. The only main course on offer at the restaurant is filleti di baccalà, although there are a few other appetizers on the menu, along with several side salads or cooked greens.
At first I’m taken aback; I expected fine dining, despite Tyler insisting that my jeans and black shirt were fine for where we were going. As for him, he’s in jeans as well, but wearing a white tee so thin that I can see the pink of his nipples underneath. Against his glowing tan and dark hair, it makes a tempting combination. And we do fit in perfectly with the crowd around the restaurant, all casually dressed.
The meal, when it comes, is maybe the best fried fish I’ve ever eaten. The sides of thick-cut fries and sautéed chicory are perfect accompaniments. The restaurant is tiny, Tyler and I bumping knees under the table as we eat, but somehow all the more private for it although the room is stuffed full of people. The chatter and the sizzle of frying fish cover our conversation perfectly.
Afterward, there’s a gelato bar down the end of the street, where we each take our picks and then end up swapping when I prefer Tyler ’s salted caramel and he prefers my pistachio. The gelato tastes both sweeter and fresher than any I’ve had before, although I’m pretty sure it’s the environment, the atmosphere, the fact that I have Tyler close to me, smiling up at me, making me fall a little deeper in love every moment.
"What next?"
"Well, later on we’re gonna dance at this awesome gay club I found online," he says, taking my hand. "Thought we should check out the Roman nightlife while we were here."
"Keeping an eye on the international competition? I’m in. But it’s a little too early for a nightclub, and after all that food—"
"Oh, it’s a long walk to get there," he tells me. "Correction: it’s a long, moonlit, romantic walk through the ancient parts of Rome to get there. We go this way first—"
He must have memorized the directions, because we’re carrying dumb rather than smartphones with us, only capable of calls and texts, and no map. Harder to trace.
"You picturing me walking these streets with some Italian hottie other than you? No, honey. Only for you would I ever walk through a bunch of old rocks and ruins."