“I should playing in the winter snow but i’ma be under the mistletoe”
“So what are we doing now? Does Richard have you turning into a pumpkin? Or are we going back to the hotel to hit the bar for a few hours?”
As they stood up to leave the small Italian restaurant her brother held out Cecilia’s coat for her to put on, like the gentleman he was. Ceecee’s face was flush from the white wine; as he’d thrown his arm around her in a jovial mood, ready to spend the rest of the evening celebrating his baby sister’s seventeenth birthday. She loved having them all in the city.
He’d picked the restaurant; they’d had pasta and salad with a candle in a far to large slice of tiramisu. She’d picked at everyone else’s dishes and brushed the sauce from her chicken parmesan. There was hardly a single complaint that she could muster from the evening other than the tease it had been to sit across from her brother and Cecilia with Jude’s hand neatly placed on her thigh when it wasn’t folded on the tabletop.
“tanti auguri at te”
The waiter smiled at her as he handed her a bag of leftovers and what she suspected to be another piece of the tiramisu. All things that she wouldn’t complain about. She smiled back at him, bowing her head slightly in acknowledgement.
“Grazie”
As she turned back from the waiter and the table Ceecee and Quincy were already on their way out of the restaurant as Jude lingered behind for her, placing a gentle hand on her back as they started to head out of the dining area following the other pairing. With Quincy and Cecelia’s backs to them she felt him lean down enough to kiss the side of her head.
They were almost out the door when an older woman stopped them. From the looks of her she had to have been one of the original owners of the small restaurant. Probably the reason that it was still open, a family heirloom and a tradition. It was things like this that Waverly loved exploring whenever they were in new places. The reason that she never complained when it came to trying out menus she knew she probably wouldn’t enjoy. Because it was all someone else’s passion.
“baciarsi… baciarsi”
The woman stressed as she motioned above their heads to the leaves that hung above the doorway. It was that that made Cecilia and Quincy both turn around in front of them. Jude’s hand dropped from her back automatically as she turned her head enough to look at him before looking over to her brother.
This was an interesting turn of events, one that she knew was probably not going to go over all that well. But by the determined look on the woman’s face as she commanded them to kiss they probably weren’t going to get out the door without doing so.
“Nonna, you can’t just shout at customers as they leave.”
Looking at the man who had to have been the woman’s grandson, she watched Jude’s face turn into a smile as the pair spoke to one another. The woman still seemed completely animated and insistent as she spoke words that Wave only caught bits and pieces of. Her Italian rusty from the lack of use.
“Well I for one don’t plan on walking out of here with any bad luck”
Jude cut in, she could tell he’d picked up every word of the conversation that had been had in front of them. She watched as he looked over at Quincy for a moment, offering a shrug before turning back to her.
Before she could question anything or sneak another look at her brother Jude’s hands were at her neck, pulling her closer to him carefully as he leaned down and pulled her into a kiss that made her eyes shut instantly. His tongue begged entrance which she more than gladly humored as everything around them melted away from the busy restaurant to her brother and his girlfriend standing only feet away from them.
It was Quincy clearing his throat that made her come back to reality as Jude pulled back from the kiss, dropping his hands as she blinked her eyes open and ran her fingers against her lips, cleaning them up some from the messy kiss Jude had surprised her with.
She wasn’t sure what had made him that daring but she also wasn’t about to complain about it as he turned to the grandmother and said his goodbyes in the foreign tongue that she wasn’t even about to try and make heads or tails out of with her head spinning. Instead, she walked on ahead of him to catch up with her brother’s disapproving look and Cecelia eyeing her more so than she had before they’d left the hotel room.
“Cees do you mind sitting n the back on the way back to the hotel? I don’t know if I trust the two of them to sit together. I’m not quite sure what’s gotten into my best friend tonight.”
Jude’s laugh came from behind them now as he walked to catch up, his arm automatically going around Quincy’s shoulders, pulling him into a headlock as they got out to the parking lot, the pair horsing around for a moment as they made it closer to the car that Quincy had rented for the stay in the city.
“Oh come on Quince, it was mistletoe. You’re just jealous you weren’t standing close enough for me to kiss you aren’t you?”
The boys continued to horse around and she heard the smack of Jude’s lips against her brother’s cheek and she couldn’t help but laugh as Ceecee looped an arm through hers, pulling her back slightly from where the boys fooled around by the car.
“I’d put a little more makeup on your neck before your brother puts together where you got those hickies on your neck Waverly”
With Ceecee’s whisper Wave found herself pulling up the collar of her bomber jacket before running a hand through her hair as she looked straight ahead with a smirk rather than at Cecilia, she knew that alone confirmed what Ceecee had probably expected all day.