Summer Plans

Jeff Carter thought he was dying. He was fairly sure he was actually in Hell. At least that's how it felt. He was currently trying to remember why exactly he had decided to come to Rome in the middle of the summer when it was so hot that he was positive he was going to fry up and die within the hour of being outside. But, it was all worth it for her.

Evelyn Peterson had come to Rome to get away for the summer. She and Jeff had been dating off and on for the past two years, and they had currently been in the on phase for the last year. She had told him a thousand times that she didn't expect him to come to Italy with her. She was fine with him staying in Los Angeles or going back home to Canada for the summer while he had time off, and she would meet up with him afterwards and they could discuss their summers.

But, Jeff wasn't having any of that. He had big plans this summer. Ones that included Evelyn, and he needed to be near her in order to go through with any of them. He had let her go off to Rome for June by herself while he had been in the playoffs, but now that it was July and the NHL season had officially ended, he had joined her.

Part of him regretted the decision. He was sure he was about to die of heat stroke in Italy. He could have waited until she came back to California to do what he wanted to do, but he had decided to chase after her instead. He wiped the sweat that was on the back of his neck off with his hand as he looked around. The city really was gorgeous, with all of its historic landmarks. Jeff would have been more apt to be in a better mood if it wasn't for how damn hot it was.

But, he was on a mission. He had hoped to get her alone, just the two of them, but Evelyn wasn't keen on that idea. She wanted to sightsee with him. So now they were walking around with thousands of other people. So much for getting Evelyn alone. They saw the Vatican museum up ahead, and Evelyn pointed at it, asking him if he wanted to go inside.

He nodded his head, hoping that they would put some air conditioning into something so popular with tourists. Of course that wasn't the case, though. It was still humid and muggy inside, but at least the sun wasn't beating down on them anymore. Jeff looked ahead of him at Evelyn who was walking right in front of him. She had on a spaghetti strap pink dress that lay loosely against her skin, and he wondered how she wasn't sweating like he was. He stared at her back, her shoulder blades moving together as she lifted her arms up to sweep the hair away from her face. He'd always found her back sexy, and he wondered if Evelyn knew that and was doing these subtle movements on purpose, practically torturing him.

He put his hands on her shoulders as they walked through the museum. She would point out things that interested her, and Jeff would nod his head and pretend to care. In reality, his mind was on his plans for her later on. If he ever got her back to her parents' place. They had gone out of town for the weekend, so Evelyn and Jeff had the place to themselves.

They made it out of the museum, and Evelyn turned to Jeff, who now had sweated through his shirt. He was miserable in this heat, but he'd suffer through more if Evelyn wanted to. The things a man would do for the woman he loved. She smiled at him as she asked, "So what do you want to do now?"

"Anyplace that has air conditioning," Jeff mumbled.

Evelyn laughed. "They don't have a lot of air conditioning around here, Jeff. It's not LA. But, we can go get some gelato," she suggested.

"Or we could go back to the house where there's AC," he replied.

She turned to look at him. "You really want to go back?" she asked, and he could tell she was disappointed. He couldn't have her disappointed. Not today.

He shook his head. "No, show me where the best gelato is," he said, taking his hand and rubbing it through his hair that was halfway wet from sweat. She happily took his other hand and guided him down the street, and what felt like five miles later, she finally stopped at a little shop.

"This is the best," she smiled. They walked up to the window and Evelyn ordered using the Italian she knew. Jeff was completely lost when it came to the language, and he relied on Evelyn to translate for him. Once given their cups, they sat down under the shade of a nearby tree.

Jeff looked up at the sky, seeing some clouds forming off into the distance. "Looks like it might rain," he commented as he at the chocolate gelato, which he had to admit tasted better than any kind of ice cream he'd ever had in America.

"Yeah," Evelyn nodded her head. "We can head back after this so maybe we'll beat it before we get back," she told him. "I don't know what you want to do tonight, though."

Jeff beamed brightly. "I've got some plans for tonight," he told her.

Evelyn's head quickly lifted to look at her boyfriend. “Yeah? What is it?” she asked, but Jeff shook his head, not even giving her a hint. “Jeff! C’mon! You can’t just say that and then leave me hanging!” she exclaimed, but he continued to just smile as he shoveled the gelato into his mouth. She crossed her arms over her chest. “Fine, be that way,” she said, though he could tell she was only joking.

They finished up their gelato before throwing the cups away and beginning their trek back to Evelyn’s place. Jeff wasn’t sure how far away it was, but he remembered walking a lot today, so he was sure it was several miles away. The rain clouds were following them, and Evelyn looked up at the sky. “I’m not sure we’re going to beat them,” she said to no one in particular.

“As long as it cools this place down, I’m game for anything,” Jeff commented. It was still hotter than Jeff liked. You would have thought he would be used to the hot weather living in California, but that did not prepare him for the ultra hot summer of Rome.

Evelyn squeezed his hand that she was holding. “You really need to get past this weather thing you have an issue with! You’re in Italy! It’s gorgeous here, look around!” she encouraged him.

“Well we should come back in the winter then,” he mumbled. “Then I can enjoy everything here.”

Evelyn chuckled. “You’re a little busy in the winter,” she reminded him, poking him in the side. He didn’t waste any time in picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder. “Ew! Jeff! You’re all sweaty!” she squealed, making a scene in public, though they were further into the countryside so there were less people around. “Put me down!” she exclaimed.

“Sorry honey, but if I’m hot and sweaty, then you get to deal with it, too!” he said, continuing to carry her in the direction they were walking. He wasn’t exactly sure where they were headed, but he just kept walking. Eventually, he set her down, needing her directions. “Okay, time for you to lead again,” he told her, as she smoothed out her dress.

She stopped and looked around. “Where are we?” she asked. Jeff laughed, assuming she was joking. “Seriously, Jeff, I have no idea where you’ve gotten us,” she added seriously, and Jeff stopped laughing. Of course he’d get them lost. All he wanted was to get back to her house and finish up his plans, but he couldn’t do that.

“You really have no idea where we’re at?” he asked her, and she shook her head. “Okay, then I guess we go back in the direction we came from until you can recognize where we’re at,” he shrugged his shoulders, taking her hand and walking back.

They could soon hear the thunder, and Evelyn looked over at Jeff, who groaned. “So much for the plans,” he muttered as the first drop of rain came down and hit him square on his face.

“I’m sorry!” Evelyn explained, feeling bad that she had ruined whatever plans Jeff had made. She had no idea what he was up to, but he didn’t seem too happy to be stuck out in the rain. “At least the rain will cool us off,” she added with a smile.

He turned to look at her as the rain started to come down harder. She put her hands up over her head, trying to hold off the rain from her hair, giggling in the process, knowing it was hopeless. He laughed as they were suddenly caught in a downpour, their clothes completely soaked and sticking to their bodies, with Evelyn’s hair matted to her head. He had to admit she was just as gorgeous as ever.

“Fuck it,” he mumbled, and Evelyn looked at him curiously. “I wanted to do this the proper way,” he began, but still Evelyn had no idea what he was talking about. “I had it all planned out. A romantic dinner at your house. I was even going to make it for you.”

“Jeff, that’s sweet,” she began, but he shook his head, cutting her off.

“Then we were going to go outside and just look up at the stars,” he continued, and Evelyn smiled at him, touched that he’d put so much thought into a date night with her. “And, then I’d do it. But, that’s not going to happen, so why wait any longer?”

She grabbed her blonde hair that had turned dark from it getting wet, wringing as much water out of it as she could. But, it was useless, as seconds later, it was drenched again from the rain. She squinted the water out of her eyes as she watched Jeff reach into his pocket and then get down on one knee seconds later. “Oh my God,” she whispered under her breath.

“Ev, I know this isn’t the most romantic, but I love you, and I don’t want to wait any longer. Will you marry me?” he asked her, opening up the box to show her a gorgeous ring.

She nodded her head quickly, a big grin spreading across her face. “Yes, Jeff, of course!” she exclaimed as he stood up and put the ring on her finger before pulling her into his arms and spinning her around. She had to admit this seemed to be something out of the movies. Except that neither of them were comfortable in their wet clothes and the fact that they still had no idea where they were.

He kissed her before setting her down on her feet once again. “What do you say we try to figure out how to get the hell back to your place?” he asked with a laugh. She nodded her head as she grabbed his hand and started walking back towards where they came from. The rain suddenly slowed down and eventually stopped, and they saw a rainbow in the distance. “Oh, so if I had waited ten minutes, I could have proposed with a rainbow instead of pouring rain,” he stated.

“The proposal was perfect,” she assured him, looking down at her ring. “Oh! And I know that house! I know where we’re at!” she said, suddenly turning to the left and starting to halfway jog in that direction. “We’re almost there!” she told him, pulling him along behind her.

Just as she said, they were standing in front of her front door about ten minutes later. He stopped her from going inside for a second, pulling her in for a romantic kiss. “Sorry about getting us lost,” he apologized.

“I think it all worked out,” she beamed at him, looking at her ring once again. “Let’s get inside and celebrate,” she said, walking inside and immediately taking off her dress, letting it drop by the door. Jeff couldn’t get inside behind her fast enough.