The Mess Love makes

Chapter Three: Little Spats

Chapter three
                   
         Leo shielded his eyes as they stepped out of the Hotel Dertise. Breakfast had been a trying affair; Hayley acting like she’d spent the night in a freezer, Laura’s bright and happy face annoying the other woman even more, and the two young men trying to make decent conversation. He shook his head. He didn’t understand her… her mood swings puzzled him to no end.
         “So, where are we going, then?” Hayley’s voice was considerably warmer than it had been in the dinning room.
         “Well, we could go visit the Galleria Dell ‘Academia. Apparently they’ve got a good exhibition going on right now.” He suggested. Hayley slipped a pair of sunshades over her eyes, took the map from her bag and began walking.
         “Ok.” She said over her shoulder. Leo gazed after her with a frown.
         “Women.” Alex said at his shoulder. He had obviously seen the whole thing. “Can’t live with them; can’t live without them.” He said, clapped Leo on the shoulder and ran up ahead to slow Hayley down.
         “Too true.” Leo muttered and followed.
Laura joined them a few seconds later.
         “Sorry. Just had to take a picture of that statue.” She apologized breezily.
Alex and Leo grinned at her, appreciative of her naïve attitude. She smiled back at them, until she noticed Hayley’s cool and rivalry glance. However, it was so brief, she could almost put it down to her imagination. ‘What bit her in the night?’ Laura thought, a little stung by the open hostility.
         
         The walk to the gallery was short, and Hayley proved herself an excellent navigator. Getting in was easy, they simply flashed their admission cards at the people sitting behind the ticket desks. They walked around for a while, admiring the paintings, and the sculptures. Leo spent a considerable amount of time in the naked muse painting room. Hayley stood a little way behind him as he mused over the pictures, considering his profile. ‘Why are we so different?’ she thought a little sadly. ‘We are made for each other – his kiss is just so perfect, his smile strikes a flutter in my heart… so why does his attitude push me away?’ Resolve hardened inside her, and she walked towards him. Feeling that the rift between them was still apparent, she wrapped her arms around him from behind as he stared at a particularly inspired picture of a woman laying in what seemed to be a gigantic bowl of fruit.
         “What are you thinking about?” Hayley asked him affectionately. He glanced over at the smiling face resting on his shoulder.
         “Just how I’d love for you to allow me to paint you naked. You know, you can be so… so prude sometimes.” He said thoughtfully. Then, as she began to make distance between them, he added “No offence, love.”

The effect still caused her to withdraw her arms and look at him in obvious disgust. Then, without a word, she wheeled around and stalked off to the other side of the brightly lit room, her hard soled low tan pumps clicking harshly on the marble floor.
‘How dare he!’ she thought, seething.  ‘Prude! Just because I didn’t sleep with him…’ her jaw set obstinately as she pretended to be interested in a picture of an abstract cat. She was unconscious of a single tear sliding down her cheek as she made up her mind to cold shoulder him until he apologized.
         “Hayley!” Alex appeared at her shoulder.  “Are you ok?” he asked in obvious concern. “Have you been crying?”
Hayley reached up to her cheek. It was still damp.
         “No! Of course not. It’s just… warm in here.” She said desperately, fanning herself. Even as she did so, she shivered in the chilly, air conditioned temperature.
         “Hmmm.” Alex said, apparently unconvinced. “Anyway, I just wanted to know if you were getting bored… I was going to visit the café and get some coffee. You want to come?”
She looked at him in surprise, running a distracted hand over the front of her dress.
         “Don’t you want to see the exhibition?”
         “Not really. The coffee this morning couldn’t really be called full of caffeine.” His smile suddenly collapsed. “Unless you don’t want to come of course, which is fine.”
‘Why can’t Leo be gentlemanly and thoughtful, like Alex?’ Hayley thought reproachfully.
         “Well,” Hayley said, glancing at Leo. It was such a normal reaction to her that she didn’t even realise she’d intended to until she had. The sight of him staring lustily at a sculpture of two naked women made up her mind, and she turned back to Alex. “Of course I want to. Thank you.”

         A little while later, Laura stared in awe at a wall painting of a garden. Leo came up at her shoulder.
         “It’s fascinating, isn’t it?”
         “Yeah…” she sounded completely off in her own world.
         “I love the use of all the midnight blues and the shadows of the clouds on the grass.” He commented.
         “I feel as if I could walk straight into it. It’s so life like! I love the way it’s painted at midnight.” She looked up at Leo. “It’s so romantic,” She added softly. She felt an almost painful urge to reach up and touch the stubble on his chin, finding his cute and dangerous look very, very appealing. Instead, she looked directly into his deep blue eyes, settling for conveying her message through her own innocent misty blue gaze.

Leo didn’t even seem to notice, as he turned back to the picture. She also turned back, frustrated at his lack of response. ‘What am I thinking?!’ she scolded herself. ‘He has a girlfriend!’ Leo seemed to be thinking about Hayley too, because he suddenly turned around.
         “Have you seen Hayley?” he asked her.
         “Yeah. She got a bit bored, so Alex took her down for a coffee in the café.”
         “Oh. Well, that shouldn’t stop us from having a good time!”
         “Exactly.”
They stood for a moment longer, looking at the magical picture. Then Leo grinned, motioned her to follow him, and began making his way down the oil painting exhibits.

*  *  *  *  *
         
         Meanwhile, Alex sat down at the table, holding two coffees. Hayley put down her pocket copy of Vogue and took one from him.
         “Thanks.” She smiled.
         “No problem.”
Alex sat back and waited for his coffee to cool, whilst his companion sipped hers carefully for a few silent seconds, listening to the hubbub of foreign voices. Hayley looked at the silver, metal round table, the marbled floor, the light blue painted walls, the small child running up and down the café with her mother chasing her - anything but look at Alex and be mesmerized by his intense and beautiful olive coloured eyes again. But finally, there was only so long that you could stay silent for.
         “So, where do you live?” Alex asked Hayley politely.
         “In London. Knights Bridge. And you?”
         “Oh me too!… Higate.”
Hayley nodded equally politely at the familiar place.
         “Knights Bridge…” Alex mulled over the name, tracing an absent finger round the edge of the table. Hayley looked at him questioningly over the rim of her cream coloured coffee mug.
         “Oh, it’s just that you must mix with the extremely posh people. Yet, you don’t speak like it. How come?” Alex told her, suddenly hoping that she would not find it an accusation, or as some sort of offence as some girls would. Thankfully, she didn’t. Instead, she sat back with a dreamy expression, blowing meditatively into her coffee as the steam rose up to warm her face.
         “Well, I used to, I suppose.” She began, thoughtfully. “When I was smaller, maybe 15, I definitely was the typical snotty rich kid from the public school system. But I suppose when started at Oxford University, I had come down from that High horse, because I found that many people couldn’t - wouldn’t - tolerate behaviour like mine. Yes, I suppose that’s it.” She went quiet, thinking over her past.
         “What course are you doing?”
         “Law. I want to be a barrister.”
Alex looked suitably impressed.
         “Are you still at University? Studying Art?” Hayley questioned, flicking her hair over her shoulder with a shake of her head.
         “I’m still in University. I go to evening classes in Art, but I’m studying to be a doctor.”
         “Which type?”
         “A surgeon.”
         “I take it you aren’t squeamish, then?” Hayley said with a smile and a small laugh.
         “No.” Alex laughed, looking her straight in the eye. He liked the cute way the edges of her eyes crinkled up when she smiled, the way her eyebrows spread and the worry lines in her forehead disappeared when she laughed. Hayley was the first to break the stare and looked down into the creamy liquid of her coffee.
         “So…” she began, searching for a new topic. “What nationality are you?”
         “Mainly English, but there’s meant to be a touch of American and a bit of Australian in me, too.” Hayley nodded. Alex supposed it was his turn to ask a question.          
         “Your last name, Cherél…”
         “How did you know that?” she asked, startled.
         “I heard you when you told Marianne.” He explained, touching her hand briefly to reassure her. Hayley relaxed. She didn’t know why she had been so shocked when he’d said her last name. Or why her hand still tingled from the warmth of his.
         “It’s French, isn’t it?” Alex carried on, still speaking of her last name.
         “Yeah. Why?” she asked inquisitively.
         “You don’t look it,” he said, tilting his head.
         “My mother’s Chinese, but my father’s French.”
         “Oh.” Alex nodded.
         “People say I take after my Mother.” Hayley said, not knowing why, maybe as an explanation.
         “Then she must be very beautiful.” Alex couldn’t resist telling her. Hayley blushed, smiling softly and looked away, scratching an itch on her shoulder. His voice had been so gentle, and his eyes so sincere. It wasn’t just a compliment. He meant it. Whilst these thoughts swirled around her head, Alex lowered his head, embarrassed, but keeping his eyes on her until he couldn’t anymore and found himself staring into his coffee cup. It was untouched.
         “I think I’ll just use the ladies’ room.” Hayley announced quietly, scraping back her chair, and flicking her hair out of her eyes again. “…that’s if I can find it…” Alex heard her mutter, watching her back as she walked away. He stared into space, trying to figure out what was causing the spinning in his head. Eventually he gave up and lifted his un-drunken coffee to his lips, tasted and grimaced. He really hated cold cappuccino.

*  *  *  *  *
         
         After trailing around the Gallery for about two hours, Leo had come down to the café. He scanned the large, silver and blue filled room. Laura ran ahead of him, searching for her brother. Soon enough, Leo spotted his girlfriend giggling over a magazine with Alex. Their conversation confused him as he came into hearing distance.
         
         “Oh, now look at that!” Hayley was heard to say, with a suitably impressed expression.
         “Nah, wouldn’t suit you.”
         “Oh, really?” she teased.
         “Mind you, it doesn’t suit her either. Or maybe I just do not like it. Red really is not my colour…” Alex amended thoughtfully, running a hand through his hair. Hayley laughed a full-hearted laugh that was not like the girlish giggle Leo was used to hearing.
         “But, look. This one’s got a big…err… prosterior.” Alex was saying now.
         “Oooh, how proper we are! You forget that we are in Italy!” she pronounced as if he were a half-wit, before examining the picture closer. “I highly doubt if more than two people in this room would have understood you if you’d cried ‘she has a massive arse’! And she so does not! I’d give anything to look like that.” Hayley protested.
         “Well, then, I’d have to say that I’d probably feel like vomiting if you did.” Alex told her, his face alight with humour.
Hayley pulled an exaggeratedly exasperated face at him, grabbed the magazine from him, stood up and whacked him hard on the head with it.
         
         “Hey, what’s going on, Hails?” Leo asked her, coming up and putting an arm round her waist from behind.
         “We got bored, so we were looking at my magazine. Had a good time?” Hayley said to Leo, dodging his attempt to kiss her on her cheek.
         “Yup. And I see that Alex took excellent care of you.” Leo commented, eyeing Hayley’s flushed and happy face.
         “Yes.” She offered no other explanation, slipping from his grasp. Leo knew better than to ask for it, fearing for another dreadful argument. Instead, he turned to Laura who had been chatting excitedly to Alex about the instruction class they had stumbled across.
         “It was in oil painting, you know!” She exclaimed.
         “Oh?” Alex said, amused by her enthusiasm.
         “Yes, and that’s my weakest style! But now I know what I’ve been doing wrong! I’ve been using the spatula in the wrong type of stroke…” She broke off as Alex began to laugh at her. She frowned.
         “What?”
         “I’ve been telling you that for six months! And then you go and watch some stranger that can’t even speak English…” he broke off, chuckling. Laura frowned for a moment longer, seemingly thinking back to the not so distant past, playing with the hem of her top as she did so.
         “Oh yeah!” she suddenly cried, breaking into musical peals of laughter, too.
‘Why can’t Hayley learn to laugh at her faults, and not chide me for pointing them out to her?’ Leo thought uneasily. ‘I wish René and Steve were here to tell me how I can amend it.’

Leo knew he didn’t really need his friends. He knew he had to have that ring in her finger before they returned for home. But he also knew that what he felt that day was a rift that he knew was pushing himself and his girlfriend further apart… and he didn’t know how to put it right again.

*  *  *  *  *

         “Wow.” Alex muttered as he looked at the floor of Basilca di San Marco.
         “Yeah. It’s amazing.” Hayley agreed. Laura was snapping away with her camera.
         “It must have taken ages to mosaic ALL of this!” she exclaimed, putting her camera down.
Leo smiled and glanced sideways at Hayley who was chatting to Alex. He couldn’t stand the way Alex was looking at her, like she was this wonderful person who deserved complete and utter adoration. Alex was almost radiating with adoration. And he couldn’t believe that Hayley was lapping it up. She was acting like an affectionate cat, nearly purring and staring at him with large, innocent eyes; she spoke with this sugary sweet voice, practically dripping with honey. Well. There was only one thing to do, Leo thought. Find comfort from someone who appreciated him. Like Laura.

         “So, Laura, lets go have a look around.” He said, glancing again at Hayley with a disappointed smile. Laura smiled, and he felt it was like the sun coming out from behind a rain cloud. With his own girlfriend practically ignoring him, this was a complete change.
         “I swear that whoever designed this must have been obsessed with domes.” She commented lightly, straining to look up.
         “Maybe he wanted to live in a dome.” Leo joked, keeping his face straight.
         “Maybe he did live in a dome.” She replied.
         “Maybe his mum’s head was a dome.” He laughed at his own stupidity.
         “Maybe your brain’s a dome.” Hayley said to him breezily as she walked past them, her voice sugar coated with venom. “And an empty one at that…”
Leo hurried to catch up with her light but fast step.
         “What is your problem?” he hissed, spinning her round so that her face was inches from his.
         “Excuse me?” she answered smoothly, a cold look haunting her eyes.
         “I said,” he repeated angrily, “what is your problem?”
         “I don’t have one.” She stated with true evidence of her class, squaring her shoulders and glancing at his hand on her tense arm. “Except for the fact that you’re practically ripping the skin off my bones.”
         “It wouldn’t hurt if you wouldn’t try and break my hold.” He told her in a low voice.
         “I wouldn’t be trying to if you weren’t holding me!” she spat back, the hurt she was feeling flashing through her words and making him feel as if she’d struck him.

There was a tense pause, in which neither backed down.

         “My God, Hayley, what has gotten into you?” he asked finally, giving her a little shake.
         “What’s gotten into me?! There is nothing wrong with me except for the man who happens to be my partner!”
Leo’s grip loosened with shock at her words, and in that instant she snatched her arm away and stalked off angrily. He could feel the rage burning up behind his eyes, and he walked quickly in the other direction.

Hayley swallowed, and then managed to plaster the resemblance of a smile on her face as she found Laura snapping away with her camera a few feet away from her. ‘Not her fault… she’s just a kid… don’t show your anger…’ she told herself hurriedly, before pulling out her map and burying her tear filling eyes in it.

*  *  *  *  *
         
          Two hours later, Alex and Hayley stumbled out into the sun, laughing over a good joke Alex was telling her. Leo followed with a slight frown. He didn’t find it funny at all. His frown would have been deeper, if a little piece of sunshine had not been keeping it at bay. And that piece of sunshine was Laura. She was now rummaging in her bag to find her sunglasses. She had a blithe smile shinning on her pretty face, and she always seemed to have something to say. Things he would have never thought of. And plus, they were interesting. 

         Hayley watched from behind the veil of her laughter as Leo turned to Laura, smiling as he offered her a piece of chewing gum. Okay, so it was a small gesture, but it annoyed Hayley to no end. ‘If he’s going to be the prize winning worst boyfriend of the century, don’t you let him know it, girl.’ She thought to herself grimly. With a fierce determination that set her chocolate eyes alight with intense and fiery loveliness, she turned back to Alex, and tried to enjoy herself. And it was with pride that she realised it was almost… almost… working. She felt that she was doing pretty well! She took a deep breath, ready to launch into another nothing, but funny story, when something caught her eye. She spun around, wondering if she could put her feelings behind her, and enjoy herself anyway. After a moment of hesitation, she grabbed Laura’s arm with excited relief. Finally, an area she understood, and could feel welcome in.

         “Laura, look!” she cried, pointing, grasping at anything she had, even if it seemed shallow. Both Leo and Alex followed her gaze, and found themselves staring at a very expensive looking shop for very expensive looking evening dresses. They both looked back, confused. But Laura was jumping up and down with delight.
         “Oh my god! It’s the seventh heaven of delight, Hayley!” she squealed, forging some knowledge of the high and pricy. Even to her own ears, she knew she sounded plastic and fake. “All the top designers!”
The girls looked at each other, both with hidden misgivings, and bolted for the shop door. Leo and Alex looked at each other, sighing.
         “Uh oh.” Alex muttered.
         “Too true.” Leo agreed, resignedly. Slowly, they walked towards their slow and painful, as it seemed, death.

*  *  *  *  *
         
         “That looks absolutely wonderful, Hayley!” Laura said admiringly as her friend stepped out of the cubical to ask her opinion.
Hayley glanced at her self in the wall-to-floor mirror at the far side of the corridor, with its identical pearl grey cubical doors, its cream carpet and it is gleaming white walls enhanced by extremely bright lights, glowing from the walls. She tilted her body sideways, bringing her right shoulder towards the mirror to have a look at the fit of the long, slim, red satin dress with its simple lines that fell into place down to her ankles. The golden rose embroidered with golden and black beads (gold to form the petal colour, black to outline it) in the right hand corner had a long black over lapping sequined stem that curved down to her knee, where a deceptively simple but sexy slit started. It was cut in a boat-neck style in the front, not revealing too much cleavage but exposing plenty of skin and her collar bone. Hayley smiled, twisting around to see herself from behind. She loved the way the dress didn’t seem to have a back at all – it started from the waist down wards, and the thin black straps with the golden outline criss-crossed once down the top half of the back, coming from the shoulders. Her chocolate hair blended well with the colour, and she looked majestically and fiercely beautiful. Yet, the expression on her face was dubious.

         “Do you really think so?” she asked Laura doubtfully. Laura rolled her eyes.
         “Of course!” she replied truthfully.
Hayley looked over Laura’s chosen dress. The extremely light shade of Lilac suited Laura’s skin tone and enhanced the blue of her eyes. The low cut front that curved to dip into a small ‘v’ in the middle seemed to mirror her smile. It had a silver, embroidered shooting star on the waist, with the star on the left-hand side, and it’s silvery trail following it round to the right, ending where she hand placed her hand gently on her hip. Ending half way between her feet and her knees, tiny strings of purple and silver beads hung like a fringe from the bottom. It had one shoulder bare, and the other with a thin silver strap.

Hayley grabbed her hand, a little stunned by her companion’s beauty.

         “Let’s go show the guys!” she suggested.
         “We’ll give them a heart attack!” Laura giggled; staring at the dress that cost more than any dress she had ever owned in her life. Hayley smiled and they composed themselves, before moving with a model style walk out the door. Laura hung back, letting Hayley make her entrance first.

         “Finally!” Alex said, exasperatedly. Suddenly, his mouth dropped open in awe as he witnessed Hayley’s first radiant appearance. Leo shot a hard glance at him before moving forwards to praise his other half.
         “Hayley, you look wonderful. Turn around.” She did so, smiling at the long awaited attention. “Yeah, it’s brilliant. Perfect!” His gaze suddenly caught Laura’s quick steps into the room.
         “Laura… you look…” Alex started, doing his duty to his sister, when Leo suddenly left Hayley’s side and interrupted the other man.
         “Wow.” He said softly, looking into her eyes, not at the dress. “You look… you look ethereal.” He said, close to shock.

Alex watched as Hayley smiled radiantly at her boyfriend, but that smile soon turned into a confused an unhappy expression as she gazed at Leo with hurt written all over her. And Alex felt sorry for her, and somewhere in a small corner of his mind that wasn’t thinking of Hayley’s lovely but crestfallen face, he found himself thinking that if he had been in Leo’s place he just couldn’t have resisted her warm smile and open eyes, and wondering how Leo could be so heartless.

Hayley was now looking at the floor, swallowing hard. Alex crossed the floor to stand in front of her, and she looked up at him gratefully. He could see that the smile she gave him didn’t quiet reach her eyes.
         “You look amazing, Hayley. Just wonderful.” He told her softly. Hayley didn’t hear anything but honesty and admiration in his voice, but she could see the compassion in his eyes. And she was determined to turn the situation into one where she could laugh. So she smiled sardonically, and enquired teasingly with a slight tilt of her head,
         “Then you’ve decided that Red isn’t so bad?”
Alex laughed, and laid a hand on her almost bare shoulder.
         “No. You were right. It’s a great colour.”
Hayley tried to laugh, but it came out half way between a squeak and a sob.
         “Excuse me.” She said, biting her lip, lowering her head and walking quickly and carefully back into the changing rooms.

*  *  *  *  *

         Laura noticed her companion brush past her, eyes averted from all others and her step light and quick, unlike her normal laid back stroll. Leo noticed it too, and quickly stepped backwards from Laura. But it was too late. Hayley didn’t see. She was already inside the changing rooms. Both Leo and Laura turned to Alex, who looked reproachfully at Leo and turned to walk away, to the chair on the other side of the room.

         Laura was confused. She had been as surprised as Hayley when Leo had ignored his girlfriend and chose to compliment Laura instead. She remembered feeling shocked at his off hand manner with Hayley, but her delight had washed those feelings away. ‘He called me ‘gorgeous’, and stared at me like I was the most beautiful thing that he had ever seen’. Laura shook herself mentally.
         “I should go in to see if she’s ok.” She suggested falteringly. Leo nodded.

         Laura braced herself and marched back into the changing room. She expected tears, and tantrums or the cold shoulder, or even just a cold speech.
Hayley was looking at the dress in the mirror when she came in. She turned when she heard Laura’s footsteps. Laura began mentally preparing for Hayley to begin ranting, raving, crying. But she didn’t. She just said mildly;
         “Do you think I should buy it?” She turned back to the mirror and studied the dress. Taken back, Laura nodded.
         “Aren’t you… Aren’t you…angry?” she asked falteringly, unable to stop herself. Hayley stilled for a moment, before controlling her shaking voice, unable to meet Laura’s eyes in the mirror’s reflection.
         “Should I be?”
         “Well, I would be if my boyfriend ignored me.”
Hayley came towards Laura and placed a hand on her bare shoulder, ignoring the flinching movement she made.
         “That’s not your fault. What Leo does is completely independently done. If he has fallen in love with you…”
         “But what if I had been flirting?”
         “You did not force him to respond.”
Laura looked at the older girl; at the clear understanding in her eyes, the serious set of her mouth, and the determined frown that clouded her face. And she hugged her.


*  *  *  *  *

         
         Once out of the shop, they made their way to the fountain where Leo and Alex were waiting for them. Leo gave her a quick peck on the lips and took her hand.
         “Ready?” he asked her with a warm smile.
         “For what?” she replied, releasing her hand. Leo’s smile faded slightly.
         “Dinner, of course.” He told her, searching her face for a sign of relentment.
         “Sure.” Hayley told him, shrugging off the arm he had placed round her shoulders. Leo swallowed nervously.
         “Hayley-”
         “Yes?” She whirled round to face him, pale blue dress highlighting her slim figure, feathered brown hair framing her face, one eyebrow lifted in superior and curious animosity. Leo looked at her, and feeling nothing but a rising unhappiness turned away.
         “Nothing.” He caught Laura's eye. She averted her gaze quickly and guiltily. Alex clapped him on the shoulder in a gesture of understanding.
         “Can we go back to the hotel so that Laura and myself can change?” Hayley asked, making it a general statement, but obviously ignoring her boyfriend.
         “But Hails,” Leo protested, checking his watch.
She folded her arms across her chest.
         “No Buts, Leo hon.” she said sweetly, but with a cold edge.
         “We have to be at the restaurant in half an hour.” he stated firmly.
         “And your point being?” she said, all sweetness gone with out a trace. Alex elbowed him sharply in the ribs.
Leo sighed in defeat.
         “Let's go.”

*  *  *  *  *
         
         Half an hour later, Laura and Hayley drifted out of Hayley's room, in their new dresses and shoes. Alex gave a low, admiring whistle, to which both girls blushed and smiled self-consciously, even though Alex was looking directly at Hayley's slim figure circling as if on a model's catwalk. However, when she shot a hopeful glance at Leo, he only looked at his watch.
         “If we hurry, we can get there in time to still get the table.”
Then, pulling himself together, he offered his arm to Hayley. Hayley paused, looking him in the eyes, long enough for him to appreciate the ice in her gaze, before she walked past him, neatly dodging his outstretched elbow. Laura looked sympathetically at a shocked Leo and hurried to take his arm complacently.
         “Don't worry, she'll come round soon.” She whispered soothingly.
Leo's eyes darkened.
         “I don't care. However much she asks me to sleep in the bed tonight, I'm sleeping on the sofa! As far away from her as possible!”