He cocks his head, watches me for a moment, then says, “I needed to hear that. I feel like meeting you today was meant to be.”

Meant to be. It does feel that way. But I’m not about to admit it. “I don’t know. That sounds an awful lot like something a kidnapper would say.” I jokingly back away.

He lifts his fingers toward his mouth as if to continue the decimation of his nails, but he catches himself, lowers his hand, and instead says, “Come out with me for a drink.”

My heart is thumping so fast. I want to say yes. But there’s a small tug at the back of my mind telling me that he’s too handsome, too sophisticated to actually be interested in very average me. I can’t help but wonder if he’s taking interest for another reason. He does know an awful lot about Renaissance history….

No. I’ve given him no reason to suspect who I am. He’s asking me out for real.

“A drink sounds lovely,” I say.

When we exit the museum, the sun has mostly set. The days are short during these winter months.

Mom would not be happy. Me going out with a boy was definitely not something she had in mind when she agreed to let me go on this assignment during my winter break. To alleviate my guilt, I send her a quick message saying that I’ll call her before I go to bed. I’ve been good about calling her daily, though I don’t know why I bother since she’s always too busy to talk. I also text my aunt who I’m staying with to let her know I’ll be back late.

Apparently, in addition to art, Michael is also extremely knowledgeable about Florence, and as we walk to a restaurant he recommends, he tells me about the different churches and piazzas we pass. We stop a few times to listen to buskers filling the squares with their crooning covers of every generation’s greatest hits. I even hear a rendition of “Mona Lisa Smile,” the single that skyrocketed Kor from playing the underground Columbia University music scene to the top of the Billboard charts last year. He’s still pissed about it, considering that everyone thinks it’s a love song, and he insists that it is not a love song.