Harbinger Of Glory

....

Now that he was getting closer, he couldn’t help but suddenly feel unwell in his stomach.

”Am I nervous?” Leo muttered as he stood outside the door to her room and for once did something he wouldn’t have admitted to doing, which was glance down at himself once, then straighten his jacket, then decide the jacket was fine and stop fiddling with it.

He knocked, still as a few seconds passed.

Then the door opened, and Vittoria was there, and Leo couldn’t help but feel the muscles in his face stretching.

Vittoria smiled back before saying, ”Come in,” while taking a step back.

He nodded and came through, taking in the room briefly before settling into the chair near the window.

Vittoria ignored the other chair in front of him as that would seem a bit too formal and sat on the edge of the bed facing him, tucking one leg beneath her, and for a moment neither of them said anything.

She watched him watching her before she spoke, when she couldn’t take his stare anymore, which said something since she was a model who had gotten used to uncanny and various kinds of stares.

”What?”

Leo shook his head.

”It’s just that you look different.”

”Different how?” she asked while leaning forward with a small smirk on her face.

”Prettier. Than the last time.”

Vittoria scoffed, though the smile stayed.

”You wouldn’t have to say that if you’d reached out more often.”

Leo gave her the wry smile before looking down at his feet and then back up.

”Are you ever going to let that go?”

”Maybe, but not anytime soon,” she said plainly.

Her eyes dropped briefly to his thigh, and at the same moment, he asked, ”When are you leaving?”, she also asked how his thigh was.

They looked at each other and laughed before she gestured.

”Your leg first,” she said.

”It’s alright,” Leo said, shifting slightly in the chair.

”I’ve been straining it by playing in the games, but my physio ran some tests last week and said the activity is actually keeping the muscles working. Speeding the recovery up a bit.” He paused.

”That’s why they’ve been managing my minutes. Twenty, thirty at a time. It’s not ideal, but it’s something, and the club needed it, so I can’t complain”

Vittoria nodded slowly before Leo nodded at her.

”Your turn,” he said.

”Since this was impromptu,” she said. ”I wasn’t planning to be here this long. I came to support you, and since that worked out somehow,” she paused, ”I’m leaving tomorrow.”

Leo’s expression shifted for just a second, something crossing his face before he got it back under control, but not fast enough.

Vittoria caught it, looked at him for a moment and then looked down, before a small smile came that she didn’t try to hide.

”Almeno, progressi,” she murmured, almost to herself.

Leo heard a bit of it and looked up, but he wasn’t fluent enough to get what she said.

”What did you say?” he asked, but she just smiled and said nothing.

”Really, what did you say?” he pestered, but she looked out the window, and after seeing her not intending to answer, he gave up!

Finally, she turned back to look at her, still with a smirk on her face, before Leo spoke again.

”So,” he said, leaning back in the chair. ”What do you want to do?”

Vittoria stared at him for a while, seemingly in thought or maybe just looking for an excuse to look at Leo.

A minute later, she rose to her feet.

”I want to do what you want to do,” she said resolutely.

”You sure?” Leo asked as he also got to his feet, towering slightly over Vittoria, who now had to crane her neck slightly to look at Leo.

”Yes, I am sure,” she ended.

--

A couple of hours later, Vittoria shifted on the bench and looked down at her feet.

”You were right,” she said.

Leo smiled without looking at her. ”I know.”

”Don’t do that,” Vittoria replied with a scoff after seeing the smug expression on his face!

”Living with Mia and Sofia,” he said, ”you learn these things. It’s for my own peace of mind!”

Vittoria laughed, leaning over her lap while Leo stared at her, wondering if what he had said warranted that much of a reaction.

She leaned back up again, meeting Leo’s stare as her laugh faded, leaving the two looking at each other, and neither of them looked away immediately.

Leo’s eyes stayed on hers for a beat longer than the conversation required, and Vittoria’s gaze dropped for just a moment, briefly, to his mouth, and then back up.

A feeling sat between them in the space that neither of them named.

Then they both looked away, not at anything in particular, just away, and the park continued around them, indifferent and unhurried.

The silence lasted long enough to become its own kind of conversation before Vittoria broke it first.

”Will you come see me off?” she asked casually, except that she was finding it hard to look at Leo when she said that.

Leo, on the other hand, glanced at her after her question.

”What time’s the flight?”

”At three.”

Leo was quiet for a moment, enough for Vittoria to now look at him.

”I can make that,” he said finally as she nodded, and something in her expression settled.

”That’d be nice,” she said simply.

The silence that followed afterwards felt easier than the last, as it seemed that they had run out of any more words to say.

Then Vittoria stood, turned to face him, and held her hand out toward him.

Leo looked up at her from the bench, the angle making him tilt his head slightly as the last of the evening light caught her face.

”We should go,” she said once more before proceeding to flex her fingers in a way suggesting that Leo should take it!

He looked at her for a second longer.

Then he reached up and wrapped his hand around hers, as she tugged on it gently like she wanted to help him to his feet.

They began walking without deciding on a direction, her hand still in his, but neither bothered to think too much of it!