章节文本
“你确定你把所有东西都拿好了吗？”
“是的，爸爸。”斯泰尔斯深深地呼了口气。“得了吧，就几个星期而已。”
“一个月，斯泰尔斯。整整一个月。”
"斯泰尔斯咧嘴一笑，耸耸肩。“不过。还有几个星期呢。”
"他爸爸没理他。“你有你的枕头，对吧？”
““是的，”斯泰尔斯哼了一声，觉得好笑。“莉迪亚拿着呢，这样我就能给我老爸一个合适的拥抱了。”
当机场的人群在他们周围散开时，他们互相凝视着。斯泰尔斯无法停止对着他爸爸担忧的神情微笑。这是他第一次出国旅行。
“过来，”他爸爸哼了一声，将斯泰尔斯紧紧地拥入怀中。“如果有任何事情发生，你就给我打电话，好吗？”
“当然。”
“等你到了给我打电话。”
斯泰尔斯笑了。“你会在睡觉呢，爸爸。”
“我不在乎。我想知道你平安抵达了。”
“我们在伦敦着陆时我会给你发短信，到罗马后我会给你打电话。我保证。”
“我会想你的，小家伙。”
“我也是。”
当扬声器中传来斯泰尔斯航班的最后一次登机通知时，他们还在拥抱。
“爸，我真的得走了。”
他们分开时，他爸爸点了点头。“别惹麻烦，”他爸爸命令道。
“爸，”斯泰尔斯抱怨道。“我都二十二岁了。过去四年我一直自己生活。我能照顾好自己。”
“你还是会惹麻烦。很多麻烦。”他爸看了他一眼。“确保你总是和斯科特在一起。”
“嘿！”斯泰尔斯惊叫道，感到被冒犯了。
“来吧，上那架飞机。”他几乎是把斯泰尔斯的包塞给他。
“为什么你总是更信任斯科特而不是我？”
“你想错过那架飞机吗？”
“该死，”斯蒂尔斯再次看钟时咒骂道。
“祝你旅途愉快，儿子。”他爸爸给了他一个短暂而亲切的微笑，然后又快速地拥抱了他一下。
“我们会的，”斯蒂尔斯说着，声音中充满兴奋，边说边往后退。
“别忘了打电话！”当斯泰尔斯离他只有几英尺远时，他爸爸喊道。
“我会的！”
斯泰尔斯笑着跑向大门，脸颊都笑疼了，他的朋友们已经在那里等他了。他们为这次旅行计划了好几个月，这一天终于到了。
“斯泰尔斯！”斯科特看到他时喊道。
“我来了！”
***
斯泰尔斯不耐烦地在座位上动了动，抱怨道：“还要多久？”
“三个小时，”莉迪亚在他旁边的座位上说道。
“真的吗？！”斯泰尔斯目瞪口呆地看着她。“我在这里连二十分钟都待不下去了，更别说三个小时了！”
莉迪亚放下书。“斯泰尔斯，从我们离开后你就没安静过。”
“我们中没人指望他能整整十个小时都不动。”斯科特说道，而斯泰尔斯转过身去看他咧嘴笑。
“而且我们还得赶另一趟航班，”基拉提醒他们。
斯泰尔斯仰头向后。“我要死了。”
“你想让我把你打晕吗？”杰克逊提议道。
“这主意不赖，”斯科特若有所思地说。
“什么？！你会允许他打我？”
“不！我的意思是你去睡不会有坏处。我们都睡了。”
斯泰尔斯摇摇头。“我做不到。我太兴奋了，睡不着。”
“我要把他打晕，”杰克逊警告道。
“再看一部电影你就会好起来的，”丹尼在斯泰尔斯前面的座位上说。
“I’ve watched all of the good movies already!” Stiles peaks from his seat to look at Danny and Jackson’s screens. “What are you two watching?”
“Princess Diaries,” Danny replies. Jackson groans next to him at the same time that Stiles bursts out laughing; the lady next to their seats eyes him with irritation.
Stiles tries to stop laughing, tears threatening to fall down his face. “Why would you watch that?”
“I like that movie,” Kira says from the back.
Scott pokes Stiles’ head. “Maybe Jackson is hoping to be a Prince too.”
If possible, Stiles laughs even more at that. Next to him, Lydia makes an exasperated sound. “Stiles.” Uh oh. He knows that tone. “If you don’t stay still until this airplane lands, I’ll switch places with Jackson.”
Jackson promptly turns to look at her. “Why are you punishing me?!”
“You wouldn’t,” Stiles says at the same time, horrified.
“Try me.”
Stiles swallows hard and sinks into his seat. He takes his headphones out and starts picking another movie. Behind him, he can hear Scott and Kira giggling. Traitors. Stiles thinks about turning around and saying something, but one glance back at Lydia changes his mind.
***
They land in London at 7 A.M. and Stiles is so sleepy that he can barely walk through the airport. Lydia looks like she’s waiting for him to mutter the word “ sleep ” just to be able to murder him. She must have it all planned by now.
Their next flight is in two hours so they have time to properly stretch their legs out, and leave messages at home. It’s the first thing Stiles does once he’s able to connect to a local carrier.
07:37 AM Stiles: Landed in London. All good. I think Lydia might kill me before I get back.
And then because he doesn’t know if his father will believe him, he sends another one.
07:38 AM Stiles: I’m joking. Scott’s got my back. I think.
The flight to Rome is mostly quiet. Mostly . Stiles and Jackson are forced by Lydia to sit together after Stiles is spotted yawning five times in a row.
“Why do I have to be punished?” Jackson whines.
“If we crash and Jackson steals my life jacket, I’m holding you responsible!”
“I don’t mind sitting with Jackson, and Kira can sit next to Stiles.”
“The window seat is mine, asshole.”
“Stilinski, stop fidgeting! I’m kicking you out of this plane.”
Everything abruptly stops once Lydia threatens to have Jackson sent to stay in Stiles and Scott’s room. They both remain so still that not even the adrenaline of almost arriving to Rome is enough to keep Stiles awake. He sleeps during the rest of the flight and throws a fit when none of his friends wake him up for breakfast.
***
“Ciao, potresti aiutarci a trovare questo hotel?” Stiles frowns as he reads from the dictionary his dad got him.
The brunette girl turns around and whoa — she’s gorgeous . She smiles shyly as she sees Stiles and Scott, gaze dropping to the paper Scott is holding.
“Actually, that’s the same Hotel I’m heading to.”
Scott gapes at her. “You speak English!”
“Thank god!” Stiles sighs in relief. “If we have to depend on Lydia to speak for us, we’ll be spending the entirety of our vacations going to random Italian runway shows.”
Danny snorts. “You’re lucky she’s not here to hear that.”
Scott ignores them. “Do you think you could help us?”
“There’s a bus stop over there,” the girl points to the exit further on the right. “We need to get the bus 102 and after that, it’s a five minute walk.”
“Walk?” Stiles groans. “I can’t walk. No walking.”
“We could share a cab?” Kira suggests.
“That’s perfect! You could tag along with us— I mean,” Scott falters a bit, “If you want to, of course.”
The girl’s smile widens. “I don’t mind.”
Stiles has to take over the situation or when Lydia comes back with Jackson, they will still be clueless about where to go. “Great! That’s settled then.”
“What’s settled?” Lydia asks from behind, giving Stiles a minor heart attack.
“We were trying to figure out how to get to the hotel and—” Scott pauses. “I’m sorry, we didn’t ask your name.”
“Allison,” the brunette replies.
“I’m Scott and these are my friends: Stiles, Kira, Danny, Lydia, and Jackson.”
On the ride to the hotel, they learn that Allison is actually American, but she’s been living in France for the last five years. She’s travelling alone, which Stiles can’t help but notice pleases his best friend. But the person who immediately clicks with her is Lydia. By the time they’re checking in, Lydia has already invited Allison to have lunch with them.
***
“Wait, if you’ve been here five times already, why not visit other places?” Stiles asks.
Allison shrugs. “I was still just a teenager and too dependent on my parents. My aunt was going to marry an Italian and live here. It was supposed to be a big thing and it lasted for quite some time... But it was called off in the end.”
“I’m sorry. That was probably hard on your family,” Scott says with his puppy eyes.
“I guess. I don’t remember much,” she adds. “I was young, but I always loved to come here. I want to revisit a lot of places.”
“You could be our guide,” Lydia proposes. “Kira and I could use another girl in the group to balance things out.”
“It’s not like we aren’t already satisfying all your wishes,” Jackson mutters.
Lydia kicks him under the table, but doesn’t drop her smile. It’s mildly terrifying.
“You don’t have to!” Scott hurries to say. “If you want to be alone—”
“I think it could be fun,” Allison cuts in. “I don’t mind the company.” And the way she and Scott smile at each other is a lot more predictable than any modern version of a Romeo and Juliet story.
Stiles grabs another slice of pizza as the group starts planning their first stops.
Allison points out more places they absolutely cannot miss and that’s how they end up changing part of their plans to visit a city called Betonia. Apparently there’s a wedding coming up, but not just any wedding, a royal wedding. Stiles didn’t even know Italy had a royal family, to Lydia’s indignance. Kira and Jackson knew, but that’s because they read Lydia’s magazine.
“Here.” Lydia drops the magazine on the table and reads:
“Principessa Laura Hale attends her last official party before her marriage to Conte Jordan Parrish. Present at the party were most of her family and royals of the neighbouring countries. As always, the lively Principessa made sure to chat with most of the attendees, while wearing a simple, yet gorgeous new dress by the Finnish brand, Ril’s.”
“She’s beautiful,” Kira says, and they all agree.
“When is the wedding?” Danny asks.
“Two weeks after we leave,” Lydia replies.
Scott turns to Allison. “When do you have to leave?”
“Actually,” she bites her lip nervously, “my last stop is Betonia. I’ll be staying there for a while, catching up with friends.”
Stiles notices her discomfort, but doesn’t comment on it.
“We could make it our last stop then. If everyone agrees,” Scott suggests.
“If we move from here to Betonia,” Lydia starts, “we could rent a car and visit the places around it. It’s a center point to most of our stops.”
“I guess that explains why the royal family lives there. We could save a lot of money in transportation and hotels,” Danny adds.
It’s an unanimous decision that also leaves them all feeling even more excited for what is about to come.
After lunch, Allison shows them how fit she is as a guide.
They manage to see and visit more places than they had planned, all thanks to her. Their first day starts off with a bike tour through Ancient Rome where they are able to discover some of Rome’s secret passages, and visit the Vatican Museum in the afternoon. The next day is reserved for Pompeii and, apart from Allison, who had been there already, they are all fascinated by the fearsomeness of Mount Vesuvius.
Every night Stiles has to transfer his photos to his laptop, making sure to email some of them to his father and keep him updated on their visits. And if it wasn’t for Allison, they would have ended up eating pizza every night.
The week flies by and soon enough, they’re getting ready to say goodbye to Rome and catch a train to Betonia.
“I can’t believe we arrived only a week ago,” Stiles says as they watch Rome disappear through the window.
“Soon enough it will be over,” Scott mutters.
Stiles turns around to look at him, “We still have three weeks ahead of us, why are you so gloomy?”
Scott sighs and doesn’t avert his eyes from the window. “I wish we had more time. That’s all.”
Ah. Stiles looks at Allison sitting a few seats ahead of them with Lydia and Kira. “Come on, buddy. Don’t be such a downer. Enjoy the time we all have together and figure out the rest later.”
Scott glances back at him. “There’s nothing to figure out.”
“Not yet.”
“You think I should go for it?”
“Scotty, it’s summer and we’re far away from home! Let things happen and don’t worry too much about it.” Stiles winks at his best friend.
It’s almost night when they arrive in Betonia. The station is filled with little touristy stores selling merchandise for the big royal wedding. When their cab drives by the Palace on the way to their hostel, all the lights turn on like pure magic. Two guards are standing on either side of huge, green gates that are covered with foliage, through which they catch a glimpse of a beautiful, illuminated fountain, much like the one they saw a few minutes ago while they were getting into the cab.
“It’s huge!” Scott exclaims.
“Do you think we could visit the Palace while we’re here?” Lydia asks.
Allison is checking something on her cellphone. “I doubt it. With the wedding and all.”
Kira hums, “They must be really busy. Can you imagine what a royal wedding must be like?”
“It’s just like any other wedding,” Jackson says.
“Well, this wedding is going to take two hours and then the royal family will drive through the city in a carriage with the newly married couple right behind them,” Danny says as he reads a small flyer he’d grabbed at the station.
Stiles leans over him to read more. “Wow, two hours?”
“And that’s just the ceremony at the wedding. There’s also a royal parade scheduled for the day we leave the city.”
“They would have to pay me to marry a royal if I had to spend two hours inside a church with thousands of people staring at me,” Stiles says.
Jackson laughs out loud. “You won’t have to worry about that.”
Stiles pouts. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Any luck with the van?” Scott asks Allison, who’s still checking her phone, ignoring his squabbling friends.
“We might have to get two cars,” she replies. “I couldn’t find any available vans for the next three weeks.”
The cab driver takes that chance to butt in. “I can renti you the jeep di mio figlio— mio son. He is not qui per— the il prossimo mese,” he says in very poorly spoken English.
“Really?” Allison leans forward to talk to him. “How much would the three full weeks cost us?”
The car issue is not entirely solved, but once they arrive at the hostel, Allison exchanges numbers with the cab driver and promises to let him know their decision the next day.
With Allison on board, their sleeping arrangements also change. Kira and Allison stay together, Lydia and Jackson keep sharing a room, and Danny is now sharing a room with Stiles and Scott. They finish the snacks they had bought for the train trip and head to each of their rooms.
Stiles picks the bed by the window, the one giving him a perfect view of the Royal Palace, illuminated in the distance. He’s not fascinated by it, far from it, but he has to admit there’s some beauty in it.