Free Anarchy of the Heart by Max Sebastian

you
have a better idea, but I think it would be good to take this
slowly, and not blunder into anything."
    He looked at them, as though waiting for
approval or perhaps an alternative idea.
    Feeling that Marco was craving some kind of
mandate to tell them all what to do, Leo said to him: "You probably
know best."
    Marco nodded gratefully Leo's way. He said:
"I think it would be nice for us to get to know each other a little
more, but if all of us are together, maybe we do not quite get to
know each other individually as well as if we were apart."
    Caitlyn wrinkled her brow a little, and Marco
saw that perhaps he wasn't finding quite the right words for what
he meant.
    The Spaniard said: "I think it might be nice
if Sofia took Leo to dinner, perhaps at another nice little place
near here, while I will take the delightful Caitlyn for dinner in a
separate location."
    Caitlyn was nodding, Leo too.
    "Then..." Marco said, his voice rising a
little in pitch as he raised an index finger as though it was a
wand, "then, if all goes well, Sofia will go home with you, Leo,
while Caitlyn will return home with me."
    Leo strongly suspected he was blushing as
profusely as Caitlyn was as they all looked at each other now,
nodding consent to the plan.
    In a low voice now, as if conspiring against
some kind of government forces, Marco said to them: "We will take
things slowly, we will take things steadily, we will not rush. At
any stage of the evening or the night, if anyone is feeling bad,
feeling uncomfortable - perhaps with what is happening to them,
perhaps at what they would know is happening with their partner -
then you can call the others, and it will stop. No questions
asked."
    Like four bandits preparing to rob a bank,
they looked each other in the eyes, approving the plan.
    Marco said finally: "Good. We will get
to know each other comfortably, we will get to know each other
calmly, and tonight perhaps... we will get to know each other
intimately."
     
*
     
    It was almost seven thirty already as they
stepped outside, leaving the restaurant as hungry as they'd entered
it earlier that day.
    "Where are you going to take him?" Leo could
hear Caitlyn asking Sofia as they strolled along.
    "Oh, I know this wonderful place near the
port. We'll have to make sure Marco takes you there some time this
week."
    Some time this week - Leo had been so focused
on what was happening right now, in the moment, he hardly even
considered the fact that if tonight went well, they could be
spending time with Marco and Sofia for the rest of the vacation. It
was going to be quite different from any vacation they'd ever
taken.
    "I'm looking forward to seeing your villa,"
Sofia said, "from what you've said, it sounds lovely..."
    "You'll love it," Caitlyn smiled.
    Marco patted Leo on the back as they walked.
"So, my friend," he said. "We will take things slowly, right?"
    "Right," Leo smiled, "No need to rush things,
huh?"
    "And you know, those butterflies flying
around in your stomach... if they get too bad, you start feeling
the panic eating you up..."
    "I know, then I should call you."
    "Exactly," Marco said, patting him on the
back again. "No one will feel angry or anything at all. And it
would not spoil the vacation."
    "No."
    "Maybe it would just mean we need to take
things even more slowly."
    "Of course."
    Sofia brought them to a halt as a street
turned off towards the old port, indicating that she and Leo were
going to head off in a different direction to Marco and
Caitlyn.
    Those butterflies in Leo's stomach that Marco
had been referring to were busy inside his belly, fluttering away.
Caitlyn tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned to find himself
ambushed by his fiancée, who launched herself at him, flinging her
arms around his neck and kissing him forcefully.
    He opened up into her kiss, breathing in that
same new citrus perfume she was wearing, holding her tightly around
the waist as she embraced him.
    "You know how much I love you, don't you?"
she