Free Sunset & Vine: Loose Lips by Per Hampton

rattled, she timidly laid the keys in his large, tan hands. Cino immediately felt a shock wave pulse through him as her soft hand slightly touched his.
    After starting the car and hearing nothing out of the ordinary from the engine, just as Cino had suspected, he said “Perhaps we should take it for a drive around the block to gather the feel of it in action?”
    “Of course, you are the expert.”
    “THAT I am.”
    Victoria went silent and pondered what a fool she had made of herself.
    She began to withdraw from the interaction, hoping to regain some level of dignity from her bruised ego.
    Cino walked to the passenger side of the sleek convertible and assisted with the passenger door as Ms. Steel eased into the intimate two-seater. He then slid his large frame into the driver’s seat and started the engine. They drove off into traffic with an uneasy wall of silence lingering and stinging bewilderment between them. Upon reaching the first stop light, both stared straight ahead in uncomfortable silence.
    With a mixture of humility and authority, Cino stated, “Of course I remember you, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since the moment I laid eyes on you.”
    It had been apparent to him that there were no issues with the car, long before taking it for a drive. It was also obvious that she had sought him out on a contrived expedition on her behalf to locate him.
    “My instincts were spot on from the first time we looked at each other. I felt it,” he thought.
    There was undeniable tension and chemistry between the two of them mixed with wild expectation, which was finally acknowledged by both. Cino was startled by the sound of a blasting horn behind them as the light had long been green. Although he’d been looking straight ahead, the change of light had gone completely unnoticed. He immediately pulled the car over to the curb.
    The intimate pod of the luxurious sports car forced them to look at each other for the first time with open feelings of intense excitement. Cino took his right hand from the car’s gear shift and rubbed the outside of his fingers down her smooth left cheek, staring deeply into her eyes for a moment of intense silence.
    “May I have dinner with you tonight?”
    “I would like that very much,” Victoria replied in a hushed voice.
    “I’ll pick you up. I know a wonderful small Italian place I’d like to share with you.” she continued.
    “Perfetto. What time?”
    “Is 7:30 OK?” she asked.
    “Va bene,” that’s great, replied Cino.
    At that very moment, Victoria would later swear she could count each and every long black eyelash languishing around those big dreamy brown eyes.
    Cino was swimming in beauty again. He now felt at home in his new Hollywood for the first time since his arrival. He was staring at the kind of beauty his eyes were used to. This was the beginning of a serious story. The kind your gut and tells you, “This is what being human is all about.”
    It switches on instincts that you never knew even existed, something like you had never encountered in the arena of love.
    “Victoria Salvaggio. Umm, I like the sound of that,” she thought.
    “E cosi comincia!” And so it begins! He smiled to himself.

Chapter Twelve
    Michael/Mae
    Screenwriter Michael Deeves found all the subtle drama that morning highly entertaining. An expert people watcher, he rarely missed many nuances of human behavior while seated in what could only be referred to as the “bird’s eye view.” He was definitely the cool, silent type. Forever seeking out the characters who live out their lives in his screenplays, he was an observer of the nth degree.
    “I observe my characters from above, almost as if I am in an ethereal floating state while viewing them in action.”
    “Schwab’s is the perfect locale. I have been coming to Schwab’s since childhood having first been introduced by my mother on a Saturday shopping trip. It was about a week after watching Sunset Boulevard for