The Old Soul

Most Likely Italian ♦ Colton & Chastity

Colton smiled up at her as she spoke, trying his best not to laugh too hard at her. “Horrible? I’m sorry I’ve disappointed you, love,” he laughed out at her. He shook his head as she continued. Nodding with her, “I try my best not to steer anyone wrong, Chastity. No myself on the other hand, I make terrible decisions for myself.”

Digging into his plate once again he joked, “Now to finish this horrible plate of food.” He looked back up at her giving her a wink.

Chastity frowned at him. “I don’t think you make horrible decisions. I mean,” she started, finishing off another bite of her food, “you came here, so you couldn’t have made that awful of a decision, you know?”

She giggled as he quipped at her. She had a few more bites left than he did and finished them in due time. “This really was wonderful,” she said, leaning back in her chair slightly. She was grateful for him- she really was. Even after just a few hours with him, she felt better.

#Colton #para2

Most Likely Italian ♦ Colton & Chastity

Colton started at his plate. As he twirled his fork into the pasta it hit him that he hadn’t sat across from someone at dinner like this in ages. Cori was the last date he’d formally been on, and the turn out of that ghosted over his thoughts. Sneaking a look over at Chastity he smiled to himself. Stop thinking ahead you fucking idiot. She’s a nice girl, if she’s smart she’ll get away when she can.

Halfway through, he spoke up to her, “So, how’s my recocmendation?”

#para2 #Colton #sorry this took so long to reply to

Chastity smiled as she bit into her pasta. She had been right- moreover, Colton had been right. Alfredo had been the way to go- it was amazing. She chewed the chicken pieces thoughtfully, glancing at Colton every once in a while and flashing him a smile, making sure he was enjoying his food too.

She looked up from her dinner when she heard his voice again. She eyed his food. He was about half-finished; she was about a third of the way finished. She glanced down at her own food. “Clearly it’s horrible,” she quipped wryly. She took an abnormally large bite and then murmured, “Yuck” with a smirk on her face. Swallowing, she added, more serious this time, “Seriously though, you make a mean recommendation. I will be listening to you more often.“

Most Likely Italian ♦ Colton & Chastity

Setting his glass aside, he nodded to her, “Well if you don’t know, then we have all night to find out.” He gave her hand a squeeze and winked at her before letting go. He chuckled as he spoke up, “Yes. That’s the plan, love. Make our own stories, find what you want, and just have too much fun for our own good.”

He eyed the waiter as he brought two plates to them. As they were set out in front of them, he smiled “I’d try to speak Italian again, but I may just speak out an insult. And I’m far too hungry to get kicked out of here.”

She nodded in agreement, not saying anything as he squeezed her hand. Her brown eyes met his for a moment and she sighed. Make our own stories. Have too much fun for our own good. God it had been awhile since she’d had fun.

The next thing she knew, the waiter was setting their food in front of them. She rolled her eyes back into her head excitedly. “Yum,” she said, looking at the food in front of both her and Colton. “it looks so good, I think I’m gonna cry.”

Most Likely Italian ♦ Colton & Chastity

Colton drank some of his wine and chuckled at her answer. “Why don’t you get back into it, love? Maybe after a few glasses you’ll be singing like a bird.” Kicking back the last of his glass, he started pouring another giving her a smile, “That’s what you need. Distraction and some drunk singing, yeah?”

He reached his hand out to her, “Does that sounds alright to ya? It’ll be fun, I promise.”

She watched in surprise as Colton finished his wine and poured another glass. She raised a curious eyebrow and looked at her own glass. She had finished about a quarter of the wine he’d poured her. She returned his smile and shrugged. “I don’t know what I need. Wish I did. But I don’t.”

It was as simple as that really. She didn’t know what she needed- what she wanted. She hadn’t sang in months; surely her voice was out of shape. She saw him extend a hand to her and took it, holding his hand in hers as she took a bigger sip of her wine. “I mean,” she said hesitantly, “maybe it’s not such a bad idea. We did say we were going to make our own story, right?”

Most Likely Italian ♦ Colton & Chastity

Colton nodded along with her words. It was horrible what she had gone through. He thought he had it bad because his mother was never around, but she wasn’t dead. The bottle of wine was set on the table and he immediately poured a glass for her, sliding the full glass to her. While he poured himself a glass he added, “I really am sorry about that, Chastity. I’m sure they wouldn’t want you sulking around. Getting back into things is the best way to get on with you life.”

Setting the bottle down he chuckled, “So singing? That’s your thing? That’s impressive, love. I can barely make a church choir.”

She put her hands in her lap, avoiding Colton’s gaze after she finished speaking. Surely she’d done it- surely she’d gone and ruined their outing. Everything had been going so well. But no- she had to go and bring down the mood. She looked up when the waiter appeared with their wine bottle. She forced a small, grateful smile at Colton as he pushed a full wine glass towards her. Why was he being so quiet?

She sighed in relief when he finally spoke, only to reiterate an apology and echo her thoughts on the matter. “Thanks,” she said, brushing some dark hair out of her eyes and lifting up her glass to take a sip of the wine. It was good- sweet, fruity. Most of the wines she’d tried had been drier, which she had always found to be rather disgusting. She looked at Colton again and replied, “Yeah, I mean- it was my thing. Not so much anymore. I don’t even sing along to songs on the radio or anything anymore.”

Most Likely Italian ♦ Colton & Chastity

Colton laughed to her, “My Italian is rough, but I’m glad you caught on to that much.” He scratched just along his jawline and quietly eyed up and down her torso. “I don’t think we’re supposed to talk about it, but how’d you end up here? You’re a lovely girl, and extremely sweet.. It just doesn’t add up.”

Chastity raised an eyebrow. Wine seemed rather fancy for a simple dinner. Then again, they were in Italy. Everyone here might as well have had wine running through their veins instead of blood. She couldn’t help but chuckle at her own cleverness. She bit her bottom lip. There was no avoiding it anymore. She couldn’t just lie to him about why she was here; lying to him would be almost as bad as lying to herself about all of this. She took a deep breath and began to explain.

“Well,” she said, letting out the breath shakily, “my dads were killed in a car crash this past winter. And after it happened, I lost it I dropped out of college, I stopped singing, I stopped...living. Which I know is the exact opposite of what they would’ve wanted me to do, but at the same time it like...how do you go on? How am I expected to just keep living my life like I didn’t just lose the only two people I had in this world? They were the only family I had, and they’re gone. I sat around for months and months just...moping and feeling sorry for myself. I kind of lost my zest for living. I didn’t know how to live anymore. I know, it sounds cliche, but it’s true. So I thought coming here might help me get back into the swing of things, you know? Maybe inspire me to sing again or something.”

Most Likely Italian ♦ Colton & Chastity

Colton joked at her with a scowl, “I can be scary, Chastity.” He smiled at her with a chuckle, “But I’d rather not turn you away.” He noticed the waiter some to their table, and tried his best at a bit of broken italian and order his plate and wine for the two of them. Looking back at the girl across from him he smiled, “And you, love?”

Despite herself, Chastity felt her face flush. She heard him speaking in what she assumed was Italian. She ordered her food- going with the Alfredo as Colton had suggested to her- and said nothing else to the waiter, watching him walk away. She turned back to Colton. ‘So, I think I heard vino- that’s wine isn’t it?”

#Colton #para2

Most Likely Italian ♦ Colton & Chastity

“Fair enough,” he smiled at her. “After dinner I’ll ask again. Just to make sure.” He looked down at the menu over his arm and back at her, “I just stick to the basics. Alfredo. You can’t go wrong, babe.” Colton rested his elbows on the table as he nodded, “Well, that’s alright. We can change that, with time. Don’t wanna scare you off, love.”

Chastity looked up at him. “I agree,” she said with a smile. She smiled at him, looking into his eyes. She had to wonder why he was here. She chuckled. “You couldn’t scare me if you tried,” she quipped in response to his statement. “I’m sure you’ll make being in Verona quite the experience for me,” she added.

Most Likely Italian ♦ Colton & Chastity

Colton softly smiled at her reaction to the restaurant. Sitting in his seat her leaned his elbows on the table and leaned towards her, “Was it enough to boast about?” He chuckled before leaning back in his chair and looking down at the menu. With his eyes averted he answered her, “The walk down. It turned out to be a nice day, is all.”

He made his decision and set the plastic lined menu to the side. Looking back up at Chastity he joked, “So not one story? Is it because you don’t like having fun? Or is it because risks are just too…. risky?”

Chastity scoffed jokingly. “I’ll decide that after I try the food,” she said, a hint of laughter in her voice. She picked up the menu delicately and opened it, her eyes widening at the vasts election of Italian food. “This is nuts. How am I supposed to choose?” she asked no one in particular.

After some time had passed, she had made her decision but kept looking at the menu. She heard Colton speak and put her menu down in front of her, still open. “Nothing interesting, really. Not on my own, anyways,” she said, trying to brush the subject away.

Most Likely Italian ♦ Colton & Chastity

Colton smiled at her and brought their joint hands over her shoulder, “That doesn’t count, Chastity. First off, I was there and second.. You cheated. And I don’t like cheaters, babe.” He joked before dropping their hands, letting go as they got closer.

The restaurant was quaint. There were only a couple tables and sat outside the door was an older woman scowling at a pigeon. With his hand on the small of her back he led her towards the place. He nodded at one of the waiters and he pulled out a chair for the brunette, “For you.” He sat himself in the seat just opposite to hers, and exhaled in relief, “That wasn’t so bad.”