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crygimethydgoode · 2 days

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Just Take Me Home chapter 2 - Tia Kofi x La Grande Dame, Plane Jane x Nymphia Wind Summer in Italy college abroad AU

A man who was drawing self portraits walked forward to approach Tia, but Dada swiftly dodged him, lightly guiding Tia to the side.

“Stupid tourist trappers,” Dada muttered, Tia let out a hesitant laugh. “He will not even do a good job drawing you, Jane would do better.”

“Does Jane draw?”

“Absolutely not,” Then Tia was laughing again, and they continued to walk around. Dada spoke again, Tia was a little surprised. “So. Why Italy?”

Ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/55522132/chapters/140973091#workskin

Chapter one: https://www.tumblr.com/crygimethydgoode/748980080883220480/just-take-me-home-tia-kofi-x-la-grande-dame

Chapter two

one of your girls - florence

pop the culture iconography is standing right in front of me

…

“So! In cities like beautiful Florence, we really have no use for the bus. She’s in a parking garage collecting dust right now. Quite beautifully, if I may add. So! Hope you packed some sickening sneakers because we’re going on a walking tour!! Yass!” Jane said in front of the group at hotel breakfast, way too energized for 9am. “AND Gothy gets a good break from driving!!!”

“WHOO!” Crystal cheered, Nymphia buried her head in her hands as she laughed.

“And this tour will be led by me and Dada, not a free guide I found from a budget backpacking blog. How’s that sound?” Jane said, once again the group just looked at her. Tia, Nymphia, and Crystal exclaimed at the same time;

“SLAY” and Jane had never looked happier as she responded.

“SLAYYY!!!!!”

Tia was starting to think maybe the jokes about Jane and Dada not being qualified to be tour guides weren’t actually jokes. To start, Tia had barely heard the tall blonde address the group, it seemed she was just there to hang out in the back as Jane lead, pointing out “Really pretty!” buildings and leading them down what Tia figured was one of the main tourist streets, judging by the throngs of people they were brushing arms with. ��O.M.G! It’s so crowded like Coachella! Kudos to the Italian tourism board.”

Tia desperately wished she hadn’t heard Jane say that. She literally had to stop walking for a moment just so she could rudely laugh. A few guys in the group passed her, Tia realized she was alone in the back. Well- not entirely alone. The other tour guide was there, cigarette hanging loosely from her lips as she walked looking utterly bored. Tia tried not to check her out, but it was hard. Her long toned legs made her light washed denim mini skirt look even shorter, the lilac baby tee she had clearly ultra-cropped herself just barely covering her chest. Tia saw no bra in sight. God she was so fucking hot. Almost too hot.

“Is Florence not doing it for ya?” Tia asked, fascinated by the tour guide who already hated her, who seemed surprised that Tia was actually talking to her.

“I have been to Florence four times now, looks the same every time,” Dada said shortly. Tia had a feeling that was supposed to be the end of their conversation, but she just couldn’t stop herself.

“Ah yes, flashy fashion Florence,” she didn’t even remember where she heard that from, but it made Dada exhale through her nose, maybe a sign of laughter? And Tia let out a small laugh herself. “It is crowded. Perugia was crowded too but- not like this.”

“Well, that is what you get for coming in peak tourist season. It’s not as awful once summer is over,” Dada supplied. Jane said something as she turned left, leading them down a less crowded street. “The sun goes down earlier and the tourists go home.”

“Yeah then the seasonal depression really kicks in,” Tia joked and this time Dada actually laughed, even if it was quiet and short.

“Dada, Tia, YOU GOTTA KEEP UP WITH THE GROUP I DON’T WANNA LOSE YOU!” Jane yelled, the group was already taking another turn about to leave them behind. Dada hadn’t realized how much she and Tia had slowed down. She picked up her pace a little, Tia following closely behind her.

Who was this girl anyways? Dada could feel her eyes trailing up and down Tia’s body, a pale tangerine tube top and low waisted jean shorts making it impossible for her to look away. Dada usually had the perfect plan in place to have the easiest summer being an unqualified tour guide; Act like a mysterious asshole to the people in the tour group so they don’t talk to her at all. But there was something different about this summer. Dada didn’t necessarily mind Tia trying to talk to her, better her than Crystal and Nymphia, or god forbid Vanjie. But Dada usually preferred silence in the hotel rooms or a small coffee shop while the group did whatever. But Jane kept on begging Dada to come, that she couldn’t do it without her.

“Well Jane, you like being a tour guide all of a sudden. I dont,” was all Dada had to say to that. But of course she wasn’t gonna leave Jane on her own like that, knowing that Gothy still refused to go on the tours, opting to rest in her room instead. So far Dada only regretted it a little. She watched Jane in the front, pointing things out excitedly to Nymphia. And Crystal, who was walking slightly behind them on the sidewalk, just as invested in the conversation. Yes. Better Tia than those girls. Although Dada knew they were a little group together, Tia, Nymphia, and Crystal. It seemed like it only took them getting drunk together once to become a tight band of thieves, going everywhere together, staying in each other's hotel rooms until they could barely keep their eyes open. Dada could hear them saying goodnight last night, she hadn’t closed her door yet, just in case.

“Tia, get your ass up here!” Nymphia yelled. Tia obliged without a thought, running to the front of the group, leaving Dada in the back. Whatever. Hate to see you go, love to watch you walk away.

The rest of the walking tour went by quickly, except for Nymphia’s incessant complaining as she bolted up the large staircases turned into a trail going uphill to Piazzale Michelangelo, the best (and most touristy) spot in Florence to watch the sunset looking over the city.

The group stayed up there a couple hours, taking photos, going to the different vendors, eating way too much Gelato in Nymphia, Tia, and Crystal’s case, and of course watching the sunset, hiking back down right before the sun dipped below the clouds so they’d have enough sunlight to see.

It was nine pm when they arrived back at the hotel, everyone sweaty with sore feet from walking under the hot Italian sun all day. Tia realized she really was gonna be getting her steps in on these trips. Jane wasn’t kidding about having good walking shoes.

“I only brought platform crocs,” Crystal whispered, horrified, laying on her bed in the hotel room. Tia and Nymphia cackled while Crystal just laid staring at the ceiling, spiraling. “I’ll have to buy sneakers tomorrow. Italian sneakers. If we even get free time, what if Jane makes us do a twelve hour day again? I’m so tired. I’m so tired and it’s only the third day. Oh no. Is Italy gonna break me? No. No, I’ll be fine. Fine. Nymphia, why did you EVER complain that they weren’t coming on the tours? We’d be able to do whatever we wanted then,” Crystal rambled but Tia could barely hear her over her and Nymphia’s laughter.

Luckily, they did get free time the next day. After breakfast they only had to walk five minutes to an art museum, Jane claimed it was super famous, the Uffizi Gallery. Tia thought it was cool enough, she was more interested in the architecture of the rooms than the actual art. After pretending she knew what she was supposed to be looking at for a couple hours, she was relieved when Jane told them to go off and find some good Gelato or a charming bookstore, or “Maybe... maybe find yourself. Meet at the hotel at six so we can all walk to dinner together! Bye sisters!” Tia honestly couldn’t decide if she liked their tour guides or not yet. At first she thought Dada was rude, she thought Dada hated her. But yesterday they had actually talked and it was kinda… nice. Yes, Dada’s accent was thick and she was sometimes a little hard to understand, but she took her time speaking and the most interesting things came out of her mouth.

Tia figured Dada didn’t hate her… hopefully. Jane liked their little group enough, but sometimes she’d come up with some out of pocket insult that could actually be hurtful if they weren’t laughing so hard. Crystal thought Jane was just really funny, Nymphia swore she was a secret bitch. Tia just figured she liked the attention, whether it was good or bad.

Dada was the complete opposite, keeping her eyes downcast, the constant cigarette smoke surrounding her body like some sort of force field. Her furrowed eyebrows basically spelled proceed with caution. At least when she was with the tour group. There were a few times Tia saw Dada laughing brightly with Gothy, teasing Jane about her new nickname before dissolving into giggles.

There was something about her that Tia couldn’t quite put her finger on. Something about her that Tia needed to get to the bottom of. Actually, no. Tia needed to just mind her own business and leave Dada alone like she wanted. But what if that’s actually not what she wanted at all? Why did Tia care so much? Whatever. She was broken from her thoughts by Nymphia slamming a pack of cigarettes on the little wire table they sat at outside some gelato shop.

“Do you wanna smoke this whole pack of cigarettes and do absolutely nothing? Please please please please?” She pleaded, Crystal let out a laugh as she opened the pack, putting a cigarette between her lips. Nymphia reached across and lit it for her.

“I gotta get sneakers, but other than that, absolutely!” Crystal responded, her feet up on the extra chair. “My feet hurt so bad. Which I don’t get, because I would wear my crocs to work all the time and they never bothered me. So. I’m pretty pissed.”

“I bet your job didn’t have cobblestone floors and steep hills, idiot,” Nymphia pointed out, Tia let out a laugh. “I need to find Jane at some point tonight and propose an itinerary for tomorrow. She’s doing such a bad job planning, I don’t understand. Aren’t these companies just supposed to have some set itinerary? ALSO, did you know the first ever Gucci store was opened here? In Florence? Why were we wasting our time at art museums today? I’m getting pissed off…”

“What’s pissing you off?” Jane came up behind Nymphia, putting her hands on the back of her chair. Nymphia jumped slightly but stayed composed, refusing to turn around. Instead she leaned back in her chair, head brushing against Jane’s chest. Tia looked away, feeling like she wasn’t supposed to see that. What the fuck? Crystal stood up.

“I’m going to Foot Locker, I’ll be right back. Love you girls,” she left without another word, high fiving Jane who immediately took her seat next to Nymphia.

“So what’s pissing you off Nymphia?”

“You.”

“Why??” Jane asked like she was going to love the answer.

“Did you know the first Gucci ever is here? In Florence?” Nymphia asked like she’d been waiting to confront Jane about this all day. Maybe she had.

“No, I actually didn’t. That’s cool! Are you gonna check it out with your freetime?” Jane suggested. Nymphia glared at her.

“No. My feet hurt from being forced to walk all day. Take us tomorrow, I’m resting right now. I also wanna go to the Carousel that you refused to stop for yesterday. And you need to find me the best Gelato shop in the city or you’re fired,” she said, and this time Jane looked unimpressed. Dada walked up the group without a word, sitting in the chair across from Jane, Tia to her right. Where was Crystal?

“These all sound like things you could be doing right now, not tomorrow when I already have our day planned,” Jane said evenly, Nymphia passed her the cigarette without even thinking.

“No. I told you, I’m resting my feet. Your plan for tomorrow is probably stupid anyways, if you even have one. Gucci, carousel, gelato, maybe a WINE TASTING, it’s the perfect day,” Nymphia insisted, not backing down. And Tia knew, despite only being around her for five days, Jane wasn’t gonna back down either.

“Well actually those all sound awful and I’m not changing my itinerary for you. So. Either rest your feet or go to Gucci. Cause we’re not going tomorrow.”

“Fine. You’re fired.”

“Good morning my friends! Did you all sleep well? Great! Good job bringing your luggage down on time, Gothy and Dada are loading it up right now. We’ll be spending the day in Florence, then leaving around five for dinner at seven in Bologna which is going to be a pretty sickening affair, if I may say so myself. After dinner we’ll be off to Venice, hopefully arriving before midnight. But enough about that, let’s live in the moment, amirite? We’re gonna begin today with a very important historical landmark. Did you know that the first ever Gucci was opened right here in Florence, Italy?” Jane said to the group at hotel breakfast the next morning, her face bright red and Nymphia’s grin as cocky as ever.

Soon Jane was leading the group through the busy streets of Florence. She walked backwards, Dada to her right this time, back to the group. Tia, Nymphia, and Crystal stood behind them in the front, and Nymphia’s grin would indeed remain all day.

That day, Tia had the best Gelato she’s had yet, explored the first ever Gucci store opened, sampled sweet wines at a little wine shop, and of course she rode on that stupid carousel in the city center, getting off after a round even though Jane, Nymphia, and Crystal were committed to staying on until the workers forced them off. Turns out Nymphia’s genius itinerary wasn’t quite long enough to get them to five pm, even with a break for lunch.

Tia didn’t see anyone else from the group until she spotted Dada sitting on an otherwise empty bench. Not knowing where else to go, Tia approached her. She was surprised when Dada stood up, walking to meet her halfway.

“You’re smart for getting off, they will be so sick in ten minutes. That Nymphia girl makes Jane stupid,” Dada said, Tia let out a surprised laugh. Maybe Dada really didn’t hate her. Maybe she was just a little shy, much like Tia was back home.

“When did Jane give into Nymphia’s itinerary?” was all Tia could think to ask. She didn’t really know what to say to Dada, she had no clue how to interact with her. Things were going okay so far…

“The minute she said it. Jane is an idiot.”

“Nymphia hates her. She won’t stop talking about it. She even asked her mom to submit a formal complaint. I think she was joking though, I hope she was,” Tia and Dada began to stroll through the plaza, walking past the different street vendors and artists. A man who was drawing self portraits walked forward to approach Tia, but Dada swiftly dodged him, lightly guiding Tia to the side.

“Stupid tourist trappers,” Dada muttered, Tia let out a hesitant laugh. “He will not even do a good job drawing you, Jane would do better.”

“Does Jane draw?”

“Absolutely not,” Then Tia was laughing again, and they continued to walk around. Dada spoke again, Tia was a little surprised. “So. Why Italy?” Tia faltered for a moment, thinking to herself before talking, not really sure what she was even saying.

“Well… my family was scared about me traveling… Italy seemed safe enough. My cousin went a couple years ago, she loved it. I didn’t wanna go to France because they seem really stuck up… I would drink way too much in Germany, or smoke and party too much in Amsterdam, and… well… Italy is a cool place. I don’t know, it just felt right. And Eat, Pray, Love was a great movie. So,” Tia somehow came up with. All of these were true, she supposed. She didn’t know how to say that she didn’t care where she was going when she chose a spot, she just needed to get out, sick of living with her boring roommates at her boring university. It was then Tia realized Dada was staring at her, brows raised in surprise, a smile playing at the corner of her mouth.

”Did you just imply I’m stuck up?” Dada asked, she didn’t sound offended at all, if anything she sounded amused.

“Oh my god-,” Tia instantly burst out laughing, it hitting her what she had just said. Dada failed to fight back a smile.

”Wowwwwww…” she trailed off laughing.

“I’m sorry,” Tia wheezed out pathetically, those cigarettes already taking a toll on her lungs.

“Mmhm.” Dada hummed, hoping Tia knew she was just fucking with her. She turned to see Tia grinning back at her, she understood. “Good answer, though, some people come because they think they will find themselves, like Jane. Or because they think it is the most beautiful place in the world, which… it isn’t.”

And right before Tia could let out a surprised laugh, a young American woman wearing a hiking backpack approached them, a film camera in her hands.

“Hi, I’m so sorry to bother you-” she began, but of course Dada was too quick for that.

“I forgive you,” she said smoothly as she once again led Tia around her, who was a mess of giggles as they walked quicker past the different vendors until finally circling back to the carousel.

“You’re awful! I was about to get discovered!” Tia joked, and Dada couldn’t help but laugh, shaking her head. Jane, Crystal, and Nymphia were off the carousel at this point, walking up to Tia and Dada. Dada could see the rest of the group at their designated meeting spot just out of the corner of her eye. Their time in Florence was coming to an end.

Jane and Dada led the group back to the bus, it was just a short walk to the parking garage Gothy had left it at. She could hear Tia talking to Crystal and Nymphia behind her, she had a feeling Tia knew she was listening.

“A man wanted to paint my portrait, and a lady was totally gonna ask me to be her model for a photo shoot. And do you remember that lady at the Gelato shop? She was totally flirting with me. I- yeah the MILF. She was flirting with me!” Dada was glad Tia couldn’t see her face, her mouth twisting into what could only be described as a fond, knowing smile. Without turning around, she spoke up.

“They only want your money, Tia. Nothing more,” Dada said dully. Nymphia and Crystal laughed, Jane just looked at her in surprise. “People know tourists love to tip.” Dada had no clue what possessed her to say this, all she knew was that she desperately wanted to see the look on Tia’s face, whether she was amused or shocked or… whatever. At this point Dada had reached the doors to the bus, waving to Gothy who was in the driver’s seat waiting for them. As Gothy opened the doors, Dada finally turned and looked at the group. And of course, Tia was right in the front.

“Yeah right. These cities are all gonna fall for me,” she said, a dazzling smile on her face as she hopped up the stairs. And Dada felt like she just had the wind knocked out of her, she couldn’t stop smiling. Jane could only look at her and laugh, pushing her on the bus after everyone.

After eating a long, seven course, “the most expensive one on this whole trip, probably” meal in Bologna, a tipsy Nymphia, and fairly drunk Crystal and Tia got onto the bus with dead sober Jane and Dada. “Who said I was a bad tour guide? Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Jane bragged to no one who was listening as the bus took off. Tia immediately fell asleep, and she was just sober enough to stop herself from thinking about Dada too much.

Everybody loves you, baby

You should trademark your face

Linin' down the block to be around you

But, baby, I'm first in place

Face card, no cash, no credit

Yes, God, don't speak, you said it

Look at you

Skip the application, interview

Sweet like Marabou

Look, look at you

Give me a call if you ever get lonely

I'll be like one of your girls or your homies