Il Destino [part 2]
Il Destino: Notes at the Master Post and with Part 1.
Part 1
“I was able to get us on the next flight back to LA, so make sure you pack everything, since we’re leaving early tomorrow morning,” Jensen told Steve the next morning. After spending most of the night either in tears or fits of rage over Jared’s lie, he had gotten to work early that morning, determined to reclaim the life he had almost left behind.
“I know, and I’ll pack in a while. I just feel too lazy right now.”
“Alright. I’m going out. Between the things you bought for Chris, and the things that I bought for Danni, I think we’re going to need to mail some stuff home, so I’m going to go see if I can get some boxes. I’ll be back in a while, and we can go out for lunch or something.”
“Yeah, that sounds good. It’s a perfect day out there,” Steve replied. He waited until Jensen had left before picking up his phone and dialing.
*RRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGG*
Chris scrambled for the phone which had somehow ended up under the coffee table at some point. He had been searching throughout their apartment, looking for some sign of where Steve had gone or even why.
“Hello?” he said, waiting for a response.
“Hello?” he said again, still waiting for the person on the other line to say something. He closed his eyes before speaking again. “Steve?”
Chris thought he heard a slight noise on the other end, and pressed on, hoping that it really was Steve. “Steve is that you? Where are you? Just come home Steve, please. I miss you.”
The only answer he got was a click as the call was disconnected.
Steve looked at the phone he was still holding. He began to dial their number again, but a knock on the room door prevented him from actually dialing. “It’s open,” he called out, dropping his phone back onto the bed.
Instead of anyone entering the room though, there was another knock at the door. Groaning, Steve got up and headed for the door. He opened it and was immediately met with the largest bouquet that he had ever seen before. It was a burst of color, filled with flowers in every color, and it felt so out of place that Steve didn’t know what to do.
“What the hell?”
“Steve?” said the voice on the other side. The flowers were moved to the side, revealing Jared standing there. “Is Jensen here?”
“Boy, you’ve got a lot of nerve showing up here after what you did last night.”
“Look can we talk? I need to explain everything, and I know Jensen won’t listen to me, so you’re my only hope. Help me Steve, you’re my Obi-Wan, my only hope.”
Steve glanced from Jared, to the phone, to the flowers now sitting on the dresser, and back to Jared. “Okay, fine. I’ll give you ten minutes to explain why I shouldn’t hurt you for betraying my best friend’s trust,” he said, sitting back down on the bed.
“Thank you. Okay. I am not supposed to be here in Italy, but I am. And my boss, was not supposed to get chicken pox at 42 years of age, but he did, and they sent me here, with this little English-Italian dictionary. And I’ve been dying of boredom. You can only take studying average Italian fashions before you start to lose your mind. So, I went to see a movie. But in my opinion, Will Ferrell is not that funny when he’s dubbed in Italian. Then WHAM,” Jared said, pausing in his storytelling and pacing to make sure Steve was still listening. “Someone hit me. And I turned, and I saw him. The most gorgeous eyes that I have seen, and then he was gone.” Jared gave up on pacing and sat down on the opposite bed to finish telling Steve his story.
“So I ran after him, praying that I would get a chance to talk to him. And I did. He lost his shoe, I was able to chase him down and return it to him, and then I talked to him. And before I’d really even gotten to know him, he was ready to run again. To run after that name; so I prayed, ‘Please, God, don’t let him just leave like this. Give me something to hold onto.’ And I got a name. Granted, it wasn’t my name, but I figured it was a chance, and so I took it.” Jared stared pleadingly at Steve as he finished up his story.
“That was an amazing story,” Steve replied. “Was it a lie?”
“Oh C’mon! You know, he told me he loved me last night; it’s not just me! And I really just want to talk to him, but he keeps hanging up on me, which yeah, I get, but I can’t just let him go, not after we just the most amazing night together. We’re meant to be together. I know we’re meant to be together. He has to know it too!”
“Jared, I know you think you’re in love with him, but this is all just crazy. He is here running after a guy he’s never met and you lied to get close to him. None of this really points to an amazing, love-filled relationship that will last forever, you know.”
“Yeah, but-” A knock on the door drew their eyes to the still open doorway, and Jeffrey Morgan who was standing there with a slightly disappointed look on his face.
“Hello, Steve, I’ve returned from my other store, and I thought that you might be free to have some lunch with me and maybe wander around the city, but I see you already have plans,” he said, looking pointedly at Jared.
“Jensen’s friend,” Steve quickly replied, getting up from the bed. “I’m free, I’m totally free. And yeah, I’d love to go for lunch.”
“Are you sure? Because I really don’t want to interrupt-”
“Jensen’s friend. I’m ready,” he said, grabbing his wallet and cell phone. “We can go now if you want.”
“That sounds perfect. Shall we?” Jeffrey said, gesturing to the hallway.
“Yeah,” Steve replied before turning back to Jared. “Jensen should be back by evening, but I wouldn’t try to talk to him in here. There are way too many things that he could use as weapons.”
“Thanks,” Jared called out as Steve walked out with Jeffrey. “Maybe I have a chance after all,” he said to himself.
After lunch at a local café, and another couple hours of touring the city seeing some of the sights, Steve and Jeffrey had decided to break for some coffee and biscotti at another café that seemed to overlook the entire city. Despite the fact that they barely knew each other, there hadn’t been any awkwardness whatsoever, and the conversation had flowed from discussion about work, to vacationing, and even Jensen’s decision to come to Italy in the first place.
“So do you like being here more than you liked being in the U.S?” Steve asked. “I really like it here, but I don’t think I could live here forever.” Actually he knew he couldn’t live in Italy. Not knowing that Chris was still in California, even if he did love someone else. He took a sip of coffee to distract himself from his train of thought and looked over at Jeffrey who hadn’t answered his question yet.
“I do like it more over here. Life feels different here. People still work over here, but at the same time it seems more peaceful. Maybe it’s because it doesn’t feel as cutthroat as Los Angeles and New York did, Back in the States, people work day in and day out for months, only taking a break for a couple days a year, sometimes to go to Vegas, sometimes Hawaii, occasionally even Italy. Here people seem to live more, even if they’re working just as hard. Maybe it’s just because the people I work with here understand that work isn’t the only valuable thing worth having. ” He trailed off in thought, and absentmindedly ran his fingers back and forth over Steve’s hand.
“Without love, without romance, happiness isn’t really even possible. You’re not really even living if there’s no love in your life.”
“You don’t need to have love in order to have a life,” Steve replied sadly.
Jeffrey moved his hand up to brush his fingers against Steve’s cheek. “Without love, what sort of life can you have? You can’t really be happy can you? Can anyone be happy if they never feel a connection with someone else?”
Steve looked away, thoughts of Chris flooding his mind despite his best efforts, he was so absorbed in his thoughts, that he didn’t realize Jeffrey had moved until he was sitting right next to him instead of across the table from him. He leaned in towards Steve, cupped the back of his head, and whispered, “Are you happy Steve?”
Steve shivered at the question, and took another sip of his coffee. The bitter espresso reflected his thoughts perfectly. He didn’t know how to answer that question anymore, and that scared him more than anything.
Work was more mind-numbingly boring than it had ever been. For the last three hours, Jared had been watching models walk down the runway modeling everything from gloves, to jackets, to dresses, and now they were on shoes. Jared had tuned out two hours ago, and was instead spending most of his time trying to design a plan that would get Jensen to talk to him again. So far his plan was: 1. Wait in the garden outside his pensione. Jared glanced up at the runway only to find himself face to face with the same shoes that Jensen had been wearing that night. He looked up at the ceiling in frustration and muttered, “God? Why do you insist on torturing me like this?”
“You know you should really pack you stuff, Steve. I mean we’re leaving early tomorrow morning, and I know you. You’re not going to want to do anything that early.”
“It’s fine, Jen, I’m only going to be gone for a little while,” Steve said, walking out of the bathroom dressed for a night out on the town. “We’re just going for dinner, and then we may see some of the sights. Apparently everything looks really different at night, and Jeffrey thinks it’s something worth seeing before I go home.”
“You’re going to be careful, right?” Jensen asked worriedly.
“It’s fine, Jen, he knows I’m in a relationship. I told him that on the way back from coffee, while we were talking about life in California. Nothing’s going to happen; I just like spending time with him. We get along so well that it’s like I’ve known him forever. Plus it’s such a nice summer night, I just can’t spend it packing.”
“Alright, but be careful just the same. I mean, he may be trying to play you just like Jared played me.”
“I highly doubt it. He already knows that we were here chasing a name, and he hasn’t done anything but help us try to find him. And I think you should talk to Jared about what happened.”
“I wasn’t just ‘chasing a name’ and you know it, Steve. Or at least I thought you did. And I don’t like Jared, so I have nothing to talk to him about.”
“I know, Jensen. You were chasing your destiny. But sometimes you can’t do anything about destiny, or fate, or the actions of other people. You can do what’s right for you, but it may not change anything, and it may not solve anything.”
“Are you trying to convince me or you?” Jensen asked him. “Because I think if you totally believed that, you wouldn’t have helped me come here.”
“I don’t know, Jen. I don’t know why I decided to come with you, or why I like spending time with Jeffrey. I don’t even know where I stand with Chris, and I never thought I’d see that day. All I know is that the thought of going out for dinner with Jeffrey has been the first thing to make me feel remotely happy in the last few weeks, so I am going to go with him.”
“Chris still loves you Steve.”
“I don’t know if I can believe that anymore, Jen. Maybe things have changed too much between us. Maybe we’re done, maybe we’ve been done, and we just haven’t realized it until now.”
“Steve, are you ready?” Jeffrey called from outside their room.
Steve walked over to the balcony and waved, “I’ll be there in a minute. Are you going to be okay by yourself?”
“Yeah sure. I’ll find something to entertain me.”
“Yeah. Hey, why don’t you go talk to Jared, clear things up with him.”
“Why would I do that? I hate him!”
“Hate? That’s a really strong word for someone you don’t like.”
“Steve! I can’t stand the guy.”
“Good,” Steve replied, “Because that’s what I told him when he brought the flowers.”
“What?” Jensen asked in shock.
“Really can’t stand him, huh? Have fun, Jen,” Steve said as he headed out to see Jeffrey.
Jensen just stared at him, completely speechless.
“The city is beautiful at night, isn’t it? I think it’s my favorite time to wander around the city. There’s so much life at the end of the day, so many people around just waiting to experience it.”
“Yeah, I guess there really is; it isn’t something I’ve ever noticed before though.”
“Well, that’s probably because you’ve never been to Italy before.”
Steve looked around at the people walking aimlessly down the street, just enjoying the night. “It feels so right, just being here, just enjoying all of this for no reason other than the fact that it’s possible to. I almost wish I weren’t leaving tomorrow.”
“You could stay, you know. I have an extra room in my flat. You could stay for as long as you want to. I don’t want you to leave either.”
“We have to leave though. Jensen’s been running after something he can never find. And I’ve been running from my problems too. There aren’t any answers here, Jeffrey. There are no answers, only more questions. We’re leaving early tomorrow morning for the airport.”
“Let me drive you both. At least that way I won’t have to say goodbye to you just yet.”
Steve looked at him and nodded slowly. “Alright.”
“Could you make sure there’s a taxi here tomorrow morning? We have to check out early, and get to the airport, and I don’t want to be late.”
“Si signore.”
“Thank you,” Jensen said as he headed out of the pensione into the garden outside. He turned away from the building only to crash into the table right by the door. “Ow,” he muttered.
“You just crashed into the table,” a familiar and unwanted voice said from nearby.
Jensen groaned and turned to face Jared, who was sitting on a bench a few feet away, eating an apple. “Thank you, Captain Obvious,” he replied.
“So? It’s a sign. It’s a sign that you shouldn’t marry your fiancée.”
“How the hell is that a sign of anything?”
“You just crashed because you were talking to someone; Danneel works in Public Relations, right? They’re always having conversations, therefore this was a sign that you shouldn’t be with her.”
“I think it was a sign that I was screwed over by a guy trying to talk his way into my pants.”
“Oh, come on, Jensen. What happened to what we had?”
“What we had? We didn’t have anything, Jared.”
“What about ‘I was born to kiss you’ and ‘I love you’ and everything else we said last night?”
Jensen shook his head. “No, you know what? Last night never happened.”
“Of course it happened! I was there too, you know.”
“No, you weren’t who you said you were. So I wasn’t who I said I was, which means neither of us were actually there, and nothing actually happened.”
“What sort of logic is that? We were both there, Jensen! We danced, we enjoyed ourselves, we had gelato, and we kissed. It happened, Jen. You can’t just pretend none of it even happened.”
“Yeah, I can, Jared. You lied to me. You lied right to my face. I don’t have to keep listening to you. After all, we didn’t have anything; not even a summer fling. Jared, just leave. I don’t even want to see you again.”
“That’s really what you want?”
“Yeah, that’s what I want,” Jensen said, turning away from him.
“Well fine. Then I’ll leave. But you know you’re going to miss me once I’m gone,” Jared said as he began to walk away from Jensen. When he had made it halfway to the street, he turned to look at Jensen, hoping that he had turned to look at him too. He sighed when he saw that Jensen still had his back to him. He gave up and continued walking back to the street.
Jensen sighed, and turned briefly to look at Jared as he walked away. He shook his head in disgust at himself, and headed back into the pensione. Hopefully there would be something for him to watch on television while he packed.
“That’s the last bag,” Jensen said. “Thanks for offering to drive us to the airport Jeffrey, I know we both really appreciate it, don’t we Steve?”
“Shut up and get in the car, Jensen.”
Laughing, Jensen slid into the back seat of Jeffrey’s car. After a moment of hesitation, Steve slid in behind Jeffrey’s seat, next to Jensen. Jeffrey had already turned on the car and begun heading down the street when they heard a shout behind them. Jensen turned around, saw Jared chasing after them, and said, “Jeffrey floor it. I really don’t want to talk to him again.”
Jeff tried to speed up, but due to the narrow road, and parked cars, he couldn’t go much faster, so it was only a short time before Jared caught up to them. “Stop the car!” he cried out.
“No, don’t stop,” Jensen retorted. Jared grabbed onto the side of the door in an effort to stay with the car and Jensen.
“Stop the car! I found him! I found Chad Michael Murray!”
“Jeffrey, stop the car!” Jensen said suddenly. Jeffrey hit the brakes almost instantly, and Jared, who was still running alongside the car, went flying. “Whoa!” he cried out, “I was not ready for that.”
“So you said you found him?” Jensen asked skeptically.
"I couldn't sleep last night. For some reason, I was a complete and total wreck." Jensen ignored Jared's pointed look. He had nothing to feel guilty for. Jared was the one who had lied to him in the first place.
"So anyway, I made some phone calls, and found out that Mr. Murray comes through this way every year. According to the restaurant manager, he usually goes from here to a little place called Positano. So I made some more phone calls, since you know I still couldn't sleep, and I found out that he does have reservations in Positano, and now so do we. Did I do the right thing?"
"Where's Positano? Jeff, do you know how to get to Positano?" Jensen asked, ignoring Jared.
"Why can't you just admit that I did the right thing? Why can't he just admit it?" Jared asked Steve finally.
"You did do the right thing, Jared, so get in the car. Jeff's driving."
"I know I did the right thing. But would it kill any of you to show some appreciation?" He glanced into the rearview mirror at Jensen, and nearly missed the hint of a smile that crossed his face.
"Jeff, just drive. I want to get to this Positano place as quickly as possible. It had just better not be a strip club or anything."
“Don’t worry, it isn’t. It’s actually a little town along the coast- I think you’ll both like it there. Jared? Are you joining us?”
“Hell yeah!” Jared exclaimed, “But we’ll have to swing by my hotel so that I can grab my stuff.”
“What? We can’t waste any more time! Are you -”
“No problem, Jared, just hop in,” Steve said, preventing Jensen from complaining more.
“Is this ride going to last much longer?” Steve moaned from the front passenger seat. “I like a nice coastline, but this is ridiculous. Every five seconds we’re going around another bend!”
“Just enjoy the scenery, Steve,” Jensen called from the backseat.
“Yes, this is the best time of year to visit the coast, so the view is spectacular,” Jeffrey agreed.
“There is no scenery. It’s all just a blur. Seriously, are we going to get there any time soon? And why the hell are you driving a convertible along a winding coast?”
“It shouldn’t be too much longer, Steve. Don’t worry, we’ll get there in one piece. Just enjoy the scenery. Because from where I’m sitting, it really is amazing,” Jared said as he stared at Jensen.
Jensen glanced over at him, saw Jared staring and quickly looked back towards the ocean.
“Oh, Thank God! Land! Land that doesn’t move!”
“It wasn’t that bad, Steve,” Jensen said with a smile at his friend who was almost moments away from kissing the ground.
“Whatever. Let’s just get in there and find Chad. And then get our rooms. Because I just want to lie down on a bed. Or the floor. As long as nothing’s moving, I’m great.”
Jared laughed and grabbed some of their bags as they all followed Jeffrey into the Le Sirenuse hotel. Jeffrey walked up to the concierge and began talking quickly in Italian, explaining the entire situation. Jensen, Jared, and Steve stood nearby, watching him.
“What if he isn’t here? What if he’s already left?” Jensen asked, beginning to panic.
“Then they’ll probably be able to tell us where he’s gone. It’s worked for us before, remember?” Steve replied calmly.
“Don’t you trust me? I know he’s here,” Jared replied. Jensen just looked at him, and Jared said, “What? You’ll see. I was telling the truth. He’s here.”
“Yes he is,” Jeffrey said, walking up to them. “According to the concierge, Chad Michael Murray checked in yesterday, and he is currently out by the pool. Apparently we’ll be able to identify him by the leather bracelet on his left wrist.”
“He’s here? He’s really here?” Jensen whispered. “I… I can’t believe.”
“Toldja he was here.”
“Well, let’s go out there. We came all the way from California. There’s no point in backing out now.”
The group of them turned and walked out towards the pool. Once out there, they all looked around, trying to identify Chad Michael Murray. They weren’t having any luck until they heard a young woman call out, “Ciao, Chad!”
They looked in her direction and saw another young man just getting out of the pool. He was gorgeous and looked to be around six feet tall, with short brown hair. Jensen was awestruck. He finally had Chad within his sights, standing shirtless a few feet away, and he had absolutely no idea what to do.
“Go talk to him,” Steve hissed in his ear. “At least ask him out, or something. Do not wait for him to notice you this time. You saw how well that worked out for you the last time.”
“You have come all this way,” Jeffrey pointed out, “It can’t hurt to talk to him.”
“Or you know, we could just leave and go get something to eat,” Jared said helpfully.
Jensen took a deep breath and walked towards Chad. “Chad? Chad Michael Murray?” he asked tentatively.
“Yeah, that’s me,” Chad said as he dried himself off.
“Wow. Um. Isn’t this place amazing?”
“Yeah it is. I come here every year.”
“Have you been here long?”
“I got here yesterday. It almost feels as though I never left.”
“Me too. I mean, we just checked in. I’m here with my friends,” Jensen said, stammering. A few feet away, Jared, Steve, and Jeffrey were eagerly eavesdropping, hoping things would work out for Jensen.
“That’s cool,” Chad replied with a smirk.
“Listen, this may seem really strange, but would you like to have dinner with me?” Jensen asked.
Chad paused and looked at him. “Yeah, sure. Dinner sounds awesome. There’s this great little restaurant near here. Cute thing with the entire entrance covered in plants in all different colors. You can’t miss it. How about we meet there at 7 tonight?”
“Great,” Jensen said with a grin, “It’s a date.” He turned and headed over to his friends, but Chad’s voice stopped him.
“Aren’t you going to tell me your name?”
“Jensen. My name is Jensen.”
“Hello, and thank you for called Chase Credit Cards. How may I assist you?”
“Yeah, hi. My boyfriend told me he charged something on our credit card yesterday, and I can’t remember how much he said it was. Could you check it for me?” Chris was desperate by this point. He just knew that it was Steve who had called the other day, but he hadn’t called back, so Chris was determined to track him down.
“Uh huh,” He said, as the total was relayed to him. “And where was that purchase made?”
The city was one that he had never heard of. “Positani? Where the hell is Positani?”
“Positano? It’s in Italy? Steve’s in ITALY? Why the FUCK is he in ITALY? No, I know you can’t answer that. Thanks for the help.” He hung up the phone and stared at it blankly.
“Steve’s in Italy. Why the Fuck is he in Italy?”
It was 6:30 pm, and Jensen was twitching nervously, just waiting to go on his date with Chad Michael Murray. Steve and Jeffrey were going out for dinner together, Jared was going to go do something by himself, and then the five of them, Chad Michael Murray included, were going to go to a yacht party being thrown by one of Jeffrey’s friends. He had assured them all that his friend wanted him to bring all of his new American friends along.
Jensen was wearing a green shirt and black pants that he had brought along with him in the hopes that he would in fact meet up with Chad in Italy. The only problem he had encountered were the shoes. He really didn’t want to wear the shoes he had been wearing the night that he met Jared, but all of his other shoes were far too casual to wear on a date.
The knock on the door startled him out of his dilemma, and he opened it only to find Jared on the other side. Before he could close the door in his face, Jared held out a box. A box that looked suspiciously like a shoe box.
“Wait, I brought a peace offering! I know you need new shoes. There is no way that you can wear those shoes on a yacht without flinging yourself overboard, so I got you these.”
Jensen took them, and looked at them suspiciously. They looked amazing, and they looked as though they fit, but who could tell with European sizes.
“Don’t worry about those European sizes,” Jared continued. “They should fit like a glove.”
Jensen looked at him in surprise, before he sat down to try on the shoes. To his surprise, Jared was right. They fit perfectly.
“They should bring you luck on your date, but honestly I hope your date is a really crappy one. Maybe then you’ll give me another chance.”
“Jared-”
“No, I get that I screwed up. But I’m right here Jensen, we are amazing together; you know that. And I’m standing right here. You just have to look at me and actually see me.”
“Jared-”
“I know. You’re going to be late for your date.”
“Yeah,” he whispered.
Part 3
Part 1
“I was able to get us on the next flight back to LA, so make sure you pack everything, since we’re leaving early tomorrow morning,” Jensen told Steve the next morning. After spending most of the night either in tears or fits of rage over Jared’s lie, he had gotten to work early that morning, determined to reclaim the life he had almost left behind.
“I know, and I’ll pack in a while. I just feel too lazy right now.”
“Alright. I’m going out. Between the things you bought for Chris, and the things that I bought for Danni, I think we’re going to need to mail some stuff home, so I’m going to go see if I can get some boxes. I’ll be back in a while, and we can go out for lunch or something.”
“Yeah, that sounds good. It’s a perfect day out there,” Steve replied. He waited until Jensen had left before picking up his phone and dialing.
*RRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGG*
Chris scrambled for the phone which had somehow ended up under the coffee table at some point. He had been searching throughout their apartment, looking for some sign of where Steve had gone or even why.
“Hello?” he said, waiting for a response.
“Hello?” he said again, still waiting for the person on the other line to say something. He closed his eyes before speaking again. “Steve?”
Chris thought he heard a slight noise on the other end, and pressed on, hoping that it really was Steve. “Steve is that you? Where are you? Just come home Steve, please. I miss you.”
The only answer he got was a click as the call was disconnected.
Steve looked at the phone he was still holding. He began to dial their number again, but a knock on the room door prevented him from actually dialing. “It’s open,” he called out, dropping his phone back onto the bed.
Instead of anyone entering the room though, there was another knock at the door. Groaning, Steve got up and headed for the door. He opened it and was immediately met with the largest bouquet that he had ever seen before. It was a burst of color, filled with flowers in every color, and it felt so out of place that Steve didn’t know what to do.
“What the hell?”
“Steve?” said the voice on the other side. The flowers were moved to the side, revealing Jared standing there. “Is Jensen here?”
“Boy, you’ve got a lot of nerve showing up here after what you did last night.”
“Look can we talk? I need to explain everything, and I know Jensen won’t listen to me, so you’re my only hope. Help me Steve, you’re my Obi-Wan, my only hope.”
Steve glanced from Jared, to the phone, to the flowers now sitting on the dresser, and back to Jared. “Okay, fine. I’ll give you ten minutes to explain why I shouldn’t hurt you for betraying my best friend’s trust,” he said, sitting back down on the bed.
“Thank you. Okay. I am not supposed to be here in Italy, but I am. And my boss, was not supposed to get chicken pox at 42 years of age, but he did, and they sent me here, with this little English-Italian dictionary. And I’ve been dying of boredom. You can only take studying average Italian fashions before you start to lose your mind. So, I went to see a movie. But in my opinion, Will Ferrell is not that funny when he’s dubbed in Italian. Then WHAM,” Jared said, pausing in his storytelling and pacing to make sure Steve was still listening. “Someone hit me. And I turned, and I saw him. The most gorgeous eyes that I have seen, and then he was gone.” Jared gave up on pacing and sat down on the opposite bed to finish telling Steve his story.
“So I ran after him, praying that I would get a chance to talk to him. And I did. He lost his shoe, I was able to chase him down and return it to him, and then I talked to him. And before I’d really even gotten to know him, he was ready to run again. To run after that name; so I prayed, ‘Please, God, don’t let him just leave like this. Give me something to hold onto.’ And I got a name. Granted, it wasn’t my name, but I figured it was a chance, and so I took it.” Jared stared pleadingly at Steve as he finished up his story.
“That was an amazing story,” Steve replied. “Was it a lie?”
“Oh C’mon! You know, he told me he loved me last night; it’s not just me! And I really just want to talk to him, but he keeps hanging up on me, which yeah, I get, but I can’t just let him go, not after we just the most amazing night together. We’re meant to be together. I know we’re meant to be together. He has to know it too!”
“Jared, I know you think you’re in love with him, but this is all just crazy. He is here running after a guy he’s never met and you lied to get close to him. None of this really points to an amazing, love-filled relationship that will last forever, you know.”
“Yeah, but-” A knock on the door drew their eyes to the still open doorway, and Jeffrey Morgan who was standing there with a slightly disappointed look on his face.
“Hello, Steve, I’ve returned from my other store, and I thought that you might be free to have some lunch with me and maybe wander around the city, but I see you already have plans,” he said, looking pointedly at Jared.
“Jensen’s friend,” Steve quickly replied, getting up from the bed. “I’m free, I’m totally free. And yeah, I’d love to go for lunch.”
“Are you sure? Because I really don’t want to interrupt-”
“Jensen’s friend. I’m ready,” he said, grabbing his wallet and cell phone. “We can go now if you want.”
“That sounds perfect. Shall we?” Jeffrey said, gesturing to the hallway.
“Yeah,” Steve replied before turning back to Jared. “Jensen should be back by evening, but I wouldn’t try to talk to him in here. There are way too many things that he could use as weapons.”
“Thanks,” Jared called out as Steve walked out with Jeffrey. “Maybe I have a chance after all,” he said to himself.
After lunch at a local café, and another couple hours of touring the city seeing some of the sights, Steve and Jeffrey had decided to break for some coffee and biscotti at another café that seemed to overlook the entire city. Despite the fact that they barely knew each other, there hadn’t been any awkwardness whatsoever, and the conversation had flowed from discussion about work, to vacationing, and even Jensen’s decision to come to Italy in the first place.
“So do you like being here more than you liked being in the U.S?” Steve asked. “I really like it here, but I don’t think I could live here forever.” Actually he knew he couldn’t live in Italy. Not knowing that Chris was still in California, even if he did love someone else. He took a sip of coffee to distract himself from his train of thought and looked over at Jeffrey who hadn’t answered his question yet.
“I do like it more over here. Life feels different here. People still work over here, but at the same time it seems more peaceful. Maybe it’s because it doesn’t feel as cutthroat as Los Angeles and New York did, Back in the States, people work day in and day out for months, only taking a break for a couple days a year, sometimes to go to Vegas, sometimes Hawaii, occasionally even Italy. Here people seem to live more, even if they’re working just as hard. Maybe it’s just because the people I work with here understand that work isn’t the only valuable thing worth having. ” He trailed off in thought, and absentmindedly ran his fingers back and forth over Steve’s hand.
“Without love, without romance, happiness isn’t really even possible. You’re not really even living if there’s no love in your life.”
“You don’t need to have love in order to have a life,” Steve replied sadly.
Jeffrey moved his hand up to brush his fingers against Steve’s cheek. “Without love, what sort of life can you have? You can’t really be happy can you? Can anyone be happy if they never feel a connection with someone else?”
Steve looked away, thoughts of Chris flooding his mind despite his best efforts, he was so absorbed in his thoughts, that he didn’t realize Jeffrey had moved until he was sitting right next to him instead of across the table from him. He leaned in towards Steve, cupped the back of his head, and whispered, “Are you happy Steve?”
Steve shivered at the question, and took another sip of his coffee. The bitter espresso reflected his thoughts perfectly. He didn’t know how to answer that question anymore, and that scared him more than anything.
Work was more mind-numbingly boring than it had ever been. For the last three hours, Jared had been watching models walk down the runway modeling everything from gloves, to jackets, to dresses, and now they were on shoes. Jared had tuned out two hours ago, and was instead spending most of his time trying to design a plan that would get Jensen to talk to him again. So far his plan was: 1. Wait in the garden outside his pensione. Jared glanced up at the runway only to find himself face to face with the same shoes that Jensen had been wearing that night. He looked up at the ceiling in frustration and muttered, “God? Why do you insist on torturing me like this?”
“You know you should really pack you stuff, Steve. I mean we’re leaving early tomorrow morning, and I know you. You’re not going to want to do anything that early.”
“It’s fine, Jen, I’m only going to be gone for a little while,” Steve said, walking out of the bathroom dressed for a night out on the town. “We’re just going for dinner, and then we may see some of the sights. Apparently everything looks really different at night, and Jeffrey thinks it’s something worth seeing before I go home.”
“You’re going to be careful, right?” Jensen asked worriedly.
“It’s fine, Jen, he knows I’m in a relationship. I told him that on the way back from coffee, while we were talking about life in California. Nothing’s going to happen; I just like spending time with him. We get along so well that it’s like I’ve known him forever. Plus it’s such a nice summer night, I just can’t spend it packing.”
“Alright, but be careful just the same. I mean, he may be trying to play you just like Jared played me.”
“I highly doubt it. He already knows that we were here chasing a name, and he hasn’t done anything but help us try to find him. And I think you should talk to Jared about what happened.”
“I wasn’t just ‘chasing a name’ and you know it, Steve. Or at least I thought you did. And I don’t like Jared, so I have nothing to talk to him about.”
“I know, Jensen. You were chasing your destiny. But sometimes you can’t do anything about destiny, or fate, or the actions of other people. You can do what’s right for you, but it may not change anything, and it may not solve anything.”
“Are you trying to convince me or you?” Jensen asked him. “Because I think if you totally believed that, you wouldn’t have helped me come here.”
“I don’t know, Jen. I don’t know why I decided to come with you, or why I like spending time with Jeffrey. I don’t even know where I stand with Chris, and I never thought I’d see that day. All I know is that the thought of going out for dinner with Jeffrey has been the first thing to make me feel remotely happy in the last few weeks, so I am going to go with him.”
“Chris still loves you Steve.”
“I don’t know if I can believe that anymore, Jen. Maybe things have changed too much between us. Maybe we’re done, maybe we’ve been done, and we just haven’t realized it until now.”
“Steve, are you ready?” Jeffrey called from outside their room.
Steve walked over to the balcony and waved, “I’ll be there in a minute. Are you going to be okay by yourself?”
“Yeah sure. I’ll find something to entertain me.”
“Yeah. Hey, why don’t you go talk to Jared, clear things up with him.”
“Why would I do that? I hate him!”
“Hate? That’s a really strong word for someone you don’t like.”
“Steve! I can’t stand the guy.”
“Good,” Steve replied, “Because that’s what I told him when he brought the flowers.”
“What?” Jensen asked in shock.
“Really can’t stand him, huh? Have fun, Jen,” Steve said as he headed out to see Jeffrey.
Jensen just stared at him, completely speechless.
“The city is beautiful at night, isn’t it? I think it’s my favorite time to wander around the city. There’s so much life at the end of the day, so many people around just waiting to experience it.”
“Yeah, I guess there really is; it isn’t something I’ve ever noticed before though.”
“Well, that’s probably because you’ve never been to Italy before.”
Steve looked around at the people walking aimlessly down the street, just enjoying the night. “It feels so right, just being here, just enjoying all of this for no reason other than the fact that it’s possible to. I almost wish I weren’t leaving tomorrow.”
“You could stay, you know. I have an extra room in my flat. You could stay for as long as you want to. I don’t want you to leave either.”
“We have to leave though. Jensen’s been running after something he can never find. And I’ve been running from my problems too. There aren’t any answers here, Jeffrey. There are no answers, only more questions. We’re leaving early tomorrow morning for the airport.”
“Let me drive you both. At least that way I won’t have to say goodbye to you just yet.”
Steve looked at him and nodded slowly. “Alright.”
“Could you make sure there’s a taxi here tomorrow morning? We have to check out early, and get to the airport, and I don’t want to be late.”
“Si signore.”
“Thank you,” Jensen said as he headed out of the pensione into the garden outside. He turned away from the building only to crash into the table right by the door. “Ow,” he muttered.
“You just crashed into the table,” a familiar and unwanted voice said from nearby.
Jensen groaned and turned to face Jared, who was sitting on a bench a few feet away, eating an apple. “Thank you, Captain Obvious,” he replied.
“So? It’s a sign. It’s a sign that you shouldn’t marry your fiancée.”
“How the hell is that a sign of anything?”
“You just crashed because you were talking to someone; Danneel works in Public Relations, right? They’re always having conversations, therefore this was a sign that you shouldn’t be with her.”
“I think it was a sign that I was screwed over by a guy trying to talk his way into my pants.”
“Oh, come on, Jensen. What happened to what we had?”
“What we had? We didn’t have anything, Jared.”
“What about ‘I was born to kiss you’ and ‘I love you’ and everything else we said last night?”
Jensen shook his head. “No, you know what? Last night never happened.”
“Of course it happened! I was there too, you know.”
“No, you weren’t who you said you were. So I wasn’t who I said I was, which means neither of us were actually there, and nothing actually happened.”
“What sort of logic is that? We were both there, Jensen! We danced, we enjoyed ourselves, we had gelato, and we kissed. It happened, Jen. You can’t just pretend none of it even happened.”
“Yeah, I can, Jared. You lied to me. You lied right to my face. I don’t have to keep listening to you. After all, we didn’t have anything; not even a summer fling. Jared, just leave. I don’t even want to see you again.”
“That’s really what you want?”
“Yeah, that’s what I want,” Jensen said, turning away from him.
“Well fine. Then I’ll leave. But you know you’re going to miss me once I’m gone,” Jared said as he began to walk away from Jensen. When he had made it halfway to the street, he turned to look at Jensen, hoping that he had turned to look at him too. He sighed when he saw that Jensen still had his back to him. He gave up and continued walking back to the street.
Jensen sighed, and turned briefly to look at Jared as he walked away. He shook his head in disgust at himself, and headed back into the pensione. Hopefully there would be something for him to watch on television while he packed.
“That’s the last bag,” Jensen said. “Thanks for offering to drive us to the airport Jeffrey, I know we both really appreciate it, don’t we Steve?”
“Shut up and get in the car, Jensen.”
Laughing, Jensen slid into the back seat of Jeffrey’s car. After a moment of hesitation, Steve slid in behind Jeffrey’s seat, next to Jensen. Jeffrey had already turned on the car and begun heading down the street when they heard a shout behind them. Jensen turned around, saw Jared chasing after them, and said, “Jeffrey floor it. I really don’t want to talk to him again.”
Jeff tried to speed up, but due to the narrow road, and parked cars, he couldn’t go much faster, so it was only a short time before Jared caught up to them. “Stop the car!” he cried out.
“No, don’t stop,” Jensen retorted. Jared grabbed onto the side of the door in an effort to stay with the car and Jensen.
“Stop the car! I found him! I found Chad Michael Murray!”
“Jeffrey, stop the car!” Jensen said suddenly. Jeffrey hit the brakes almost instantly, and Jared, who was still running alongside the car, went flying. “Whoa!” he cried out, “I was not ready for that.”
“So you said you found him?” Jensen asked skeptically.
"I couldn't sleep last night. For some reason, I was a complete and total wreck." Jensen ignored Jared's pointed look. He had nothing to feel guilty for. Jared was the one who had lied to him in the first place.
"So anyway, I made some phone calls, and found out that Mr. Murray comes through this way every year. According to the restaurant manager, he usually goes from here to a little place called Positano. So I made some more phone calls, since you know I still couldn't sleep, and I found out that he does have reservations in Positano, and now so do we. Did I do the right thing?"
"Where's Positano? Jeff, do you know how to get to Positano?" Jensen asked, ignoring Jared.
"Why can't you just admit that I did the right thing? Why can't he just admit it?" Jared asked Steve finally.
"You did do the right thing, Jared, so get in the car. Jeff's driving."
"I know I did the right thing. But would it kill any of you to show some appreciation?" He glanced into the rearview mirror at Jensen, and nearly missed the hint of a smile that crossed his face.
"Jeff, just drive. I want to get to this Positano place as quickly as possible. It had just better not be a strip club or anything."
“Don’t worry, it isn’t. It’s actually a little town along the coast- I think you’ll both like it there. Jared? Are you joining us?”
“Hell yeah!” Jared exclaimed, “But we’ll have to swing by my hotel so that I can grab my stuff.”
“What? We can’t waste any more time! Are you -”
“No problem, Jared, just hop in,” Steve said, preventing Jensen from complaining more.
“Is this ride going to last much longer?” Steve moaned from the front passenger seat. “I like a nice coastline, but this is ridiculous. Every five seconds we’re going around another bend!”
“Just enjoy the scenery, Steve,” Jensen called from the backseat.
“Yes, this is the best time of year to visit the coast, so the view is spectacular,” Jeffrey agreed.
“There is no scenery. It’s all just a blur. Seriously, are we going to get there any time soon? And why the hell are you driving a convertible along a winding coast?”
“It shouldn’t be too much longer, Steve. Don’t worry, we’ll get there in one piece. Just enjoy the scenery. Because from where I’m sitting, it really is amazing,” Jared said as he stared at Jensen.
Jensen glanced over at him, saw Jared staring and quickly looked back towards the ocean.
“Oh, Thank God! Land! Land that doesn’t move!”
“It wasn’t that bad, Steve,” Jensen said with a smile at his friend who was almost moments away from kissing the ground.
“Whatever. Let’s just get in there and find Chad. And then get our rooms. Because I just want to lie down on a bed. Or the floor. As long as nothing’s moving, I’m great.”
Jared laughed and grabbed some of their bags as they all followed Jeffrey into the Le Sirenuse hotel. Jeffrey walked up to the concierge and began talking quickly in Italian, explaining the entire situation. Jensen, Jared, and Steve stood nearby, watching him.
“What if he isn’t here? What if he’s already left?” Jensen asked, beginning to panic.
“Then they’ll probably be able to tell us where he’s gone. It’s worked for us before, remember?” Steve replied calmly.
“Don’t you trust me? I know he’s here,” Jared replied. Jensen just looked at him, and Jared said, “What? You’ll see. I was telling the truth. He’s here.”
“Yes he is,” Jeffrey said, walking up to them. “According to the concierge, Chad Michael Murray checked in yesterday, and he is currently out by the pool. Apparently we’ll be able to identify him by the leather bracelet on his left wrist.”
“He’s here? He’s really here?” Jensen whispered. “I… I can’t believe.”
“Toldja he was here.”
“Well, let’s go out there. We came all the way from California. There’s no point in backing out now.”
The group of them turned and walked out towards the pool. Once out there, they all looked around, trying to identify Chad Michael Murray. They weren’t having any luck until they heard a young woman call out, “Ciao, Chad!”
They looked in her direction and saw another young man just getting out of the pool. He was gorgeous and looked to be around six feet tall, with short brown hair. Jensen was awestruck. He finally had Chad within his sights, standing shirtless a few feet away, and he had absolutely no idea what to do.
“Go talk to him,” Steve hissed in his ear. “At least ask him out, or something. Do not wait for him to notice you this time. You saw how well that worked out for you the last time.”
“You have come all this way,” Jeffrey pointed out, “It can’t hurt to talk to him.”
“Or you know, we could just leave and go get something to eat,” Jared said helpfully.
Jensen took a deep breath and walked towards Chad. “Chad? Chad Michael Murray?” he asked tentatively.
“Yeah, that’s me,” Chad said as he dried himself off.
“Wow. Um. Isn’t this place amazing?”
“Yeah it is. I come here every year.”
“Have you been here long?”
“I got here yesterday. It almost feels as though I never left.”
“Me too. I mean, we just checked in. I’m here with my friends,” Jensen said, stammering. A few feet away, Jared, Steve, and Jeffrey were eagerly eavesdropping, hoping things would work out for Jensen.
“That’s cool,” Chad replied with a smirk.
“Listen, this may seem really strange, but would you like to have dinner with me?” Jensen asked.
Chad paused and looked at him. “Yeah, sure. Dinner sounds awesome. There’s this great little restaurant near here. Cute thing with the entire entrance covered in plants in all different colors. You can’t miss it. How about we meet there at 7 tonight?”
“Great,” Jensen said with a grin, “It’s a date.” He turned and headed over to his friends, but Chad’s voice stopped him.
“Aren’t you going to tell me your name?”
“Jensen. My name is Jensen.”
“Hello, and thank you for called Chase Credit Cards. How may I assist you?”
“Yeah, hi. My boyfriend told me he charged something on our credit card yesterday, and I can’t remember how much he said it was. Could you check it for me?” Chris was desperate by this point. He just knew that it was Steve who had called the other day, but he hadn’t called back, so Chris was determined to track him down.
“Uh huh,” He said, as the total was relayed to him. “And where was that purchase made?”
The city was one that he had never heard of. “Positani? Where the hell is Positani?”
“Positano? It’s in Italy? Steve’s in ITALY? Why the FUCK is he in ITALY? No, I know you can’t answer that. Thanks for the help.” He hung up the phone and stared at it blankly.
“Steve’s in Italy. Why the Fuck is he in Italy?”
It was 6:30 pm, and Jensen was twitching nervously, just waiting to go on his date with Chad Michael Murray. Steve and Jeffrey were going out for dinner together, Jared was going to go do something by himself, and then the five of them, Chad Michael Murray included, were going to go to a yacht party being thrown by one of Jeffrey’s friends. He had assured them all that his friend wanted him to bring all of his new American friends along.
Jensen was wearing a green shirt and black pants that he had brought along with him in the hopes that he would in fact meet up with Chad in Italy. The only problem he had encountered were the shoes. He really didn’t want to wear the shoes he had been wearing the night that he met Jared, but all of his other shoes were far too casual to wear on a date.
The knock on the door startled him out of his dilemma, and he opened it only to find Jared on the other side. Before he could close the door in his face, Jared held out a box. A box that looked suspiciously like a shoe box.
“Wait, I brought a peace offering! I know you need new shoes. There is no way that you can wear those shoes on a yacht without flinging yourself overboard, so I got you these.”
Jensen took them, and looked at them suspiciously. They looked amazing, and they looked as though they fit, but who could tell with European sizes.
“Don’t worry about those European sizes,” Jared continued. “They should fit like a glove.”
Jensen looked at him in surprise, before he sat down to try on the shoes. To his surprise, Jared was right. They fit perfectly.
“They should bring you luck on your date, but honestly I hope your date is a really crappy one. Maybe then you’ll give me another chance.”
“Jared-”
“No, I get that I screwed up. But I’m right here Jensen, we are amazing together; you know that. And I’m standing right here. You just have to look at me and actually see me.”
“Jared-”
“I know. You’re going to be late for your date.”
“Yeah,” he whispered.
Part 3