With Love, From Italy

Leigh was honestly shocked when her leave was approved, entirely prepared to spend a fortnight slaving away without Belle. But a week after she had lodged the request she was standing by the photocopier, daydreaming about the perfect way to murder Ida when her boss passed by, stating that her leave had been approved. She had almost dropped the pile of papers in her arms, staring after him with wide eyes.

Three weeks later and she was standing at the doors to Heathrow airport on a gloomy Saturday morning, a suitcase in one hand and fight details in the other. Heading inside she made her way to check ins, sending a text to Belle to let her know where she was as she waited for the queue to move forward. They were to fly with Belle’s brother, parents, and one aunt and uncle. Leigh was excited, though nervous to be amongst all the family; apparently none of these relatives had brought any friends along. Nevertheless, she was glad to be seated with Belle and her brother, who she was told was only a year older than her.

Glancing around as she approached a counter, she spotted Belle walking towards her, waving to the girl as she placed her suitcase on the conveyor belt. Handing over her passport she turned to greet her friend. “I’m so glad you made it on time for once Leigh.”

“This is regular Leigh, when there’s no devil spawn to slow me down,” she stated, holding her chin high as she took back her passport and boarding pass. Belle laughed, tipping slightly as she was nudged.

“Did you really bring that big a bag?” a tall boy asked as he materialized next to the brunette and Belle shot him a look that could kill. Leigh however took it in her stride, raising three fingers in the air.

“One, I’m a girl. Two, it’s for two weeks. Three, it’s the only suitcase I own,” she said, counting them down and the boy looked at her rather sheepishly. Together the three of them moved off, heading towards the customs entrance and Belle slipped an arm through Leigh’s.

“You have now had the pleasure of meeting my brother, Caleb. Caleb this is Leigh, but I suppose you already assumed that,” she introduced and Leigh nodded her head to the boy. She had guessed it herself, by the familiarity and the similar features. The pair shared the same dark hair and facial structure, though where Belle’s eyes were a deep brown Caleb’s were an almost piercing blue.

“Oh, but the pleasure’s all mine,” he said, struggling to bow deeply as they walked and Belle moved to smack him over the back of the head. As they approached the security check and started unloading their pockets and dumping their hand luggage, the brunette rolled her eyes.

“He likes to think he actually learnt the family charm sometimes, don’t listen to him though. And certainly don’t acknowledge any attempts of advances; he tries it on anything with two legs and a vagina.”

“Hey, I heard that! And they have to be a certain level of attractiveness,” Caleb shot back, and Leigh couldn’t help but laugh as she moved through the security gate. Collecting their stuff at the other end they headed into the departure lounge, Belle scanning the area. “The ‘rents and such are already in here somewhere. We decided to wait out there for you.”

Eventually Belle let out a small ‘ah huh’ and sped up, the other two following closely behind as she approached a row of seats where an older group of people had congregated. As they pulled up two of them turned and greeted them with warm smiles.

“Mum, dad, this is my friend Leigh,” Belle introduced and a man stood up, holding out his hand. The redhead took it, shaking it firmly and uttering a ‘pleased to meet you’.

“I’m John, and this is my wife Belinda,” he informed, sweeping a hand to the lady next to him. “We’re glad you could join us. I can’t remember the last time Belle brought a friend along, usually it’s Caleb, and let me tell you that’s a nightmare.”

“Well I promise not to wreak too much havoc, John,” Leigh murmured and he broke into a rumbling laugh that instantly made her feel at ease. With that everyone shuffled around to make room for the three newcomers, and they settled in for the wait.

Three quarters of an hour later and they had boarded the plane, Belle and Caleb squabbling over the fact that he had taken the middle seat and refused to move when she asked. He insisted everyone had to sit in their designated seats for take-off and she accused him of bullshitting just to sit next to Leigh. The foreigner stayed out of the siblings’ argument, instead talking to Belle’s Aunt Diana who was sitting in the aisle seat of the row opposite. It wasn’t until they were up in the air that she returned her attention, Belle leaning over her brother to offer her a lolly.

“So Leigh, are you looking forward to seeing an Italian summer?” Caleb asked as she munched on the lollies and she nodded, taking a moment to swallow before answering.

“I think I’m going to enjoy it a lot more than an English one, it’ll certainly be a little closer to back home,” she said and he broke into a grin. It was a cute grin, she had to admit, with a slight dimple appearing in his left cheek.

“I’m going to enjoy having a token Australian with us; I think it’ll be my selling point wherever we go. ‘oh hey cool, did you know she’s Australian?’ Yup, it’ll be great.”

“You make me sound like a souvenir; you’re not going to sell me, are you?”

“Hmm, well that depends on how much I’ll get for you,” Caleb said with a smirk and Leigh looked on with amusement as Belle elbowed him less than gently. She was looking at him as if to say ‘are you serious right now?’

“You better ease up there young steed, don’t want to oversell me,” the redhead mentioned, and he burst into laughter as Belle looked at her exasperatedly. Leigh bit down on her lip to try and stop the smile, worried that she was about to cause her a friend a coronary.

“Moving on, Leigh when we get to Milan we’re hiring two cars and driving down to Levanto. It’ll take about two hours, but I’ll try and make it interesting. My cousin and a couple of others will already be there.”

“That’s a Sunday drive for me. Plus it’s Italian countryside, what isn’t interesting about that?” Leigh waved it off, ignoring Caleb who was now wriggling his eyebrows suggestively.

“Us two in the backseat might be more interesting.”

“You mean you in the backseat and us girls in the front,” Belle corrected and he frowned, about to protest. “I’m driving, so my rules.”

Anticipating another argument to break out Leigh pulled the in flight magazine from the back of the seat in front of her, and exchanging a glance with Diana began to focus on that instead. She had a feeling it was going to be a long hour and a half.