The Tales Of Esmeralda

Chapter 17: "Ooooo! Farma Boy's Got A Cruuush!"

"Ya know, I can carry this all by myself," Petros said to Sebastian as they walked to Petros's home.

"Okay but who's the one to bump into me while holding these?" Sebastian asked.

"It's not like it was my fault!"

"Hm, yeah you're right. I was looking up at the sky... But shouldn't you have been able to see me? You're tall. You notice things."

Petros's cheeks got redder. "Oh well... The pile of firewood covered my face so I couldn't see anything..."

Sebastian raised an eyebrow. "Soo you do need help?"

Petros looked down at the ground. "Yes..."

"Hmph!" Sebatian declared quietly as he looked away from Petros with a smirk. Petros shook his head as he shook with light laughter.

~~~~

"DAD!" Petros yelled so suddenly that Sebastian jumped, almost dropping the firewood.

As Sebastian and Petros approached the small wooden house the front door opened. A man an inch taller than Petros with short, curly black hair and bottle green eyes like Petros opened it.

"Yes Petros?"

"Where do you want the firewood?"

"Just take them out to the barn. We'll sort them afterwards."

Petros nodded in agreement.

Before Petros's father closed the door he noticed Sebastian. "Oh, hello. Who is this?"

"My name is Sebastian, sir. Sebastian Alexiou. I was just helping Petros out."

"Ah yes, of course."

"Sebastian, this is my father, Mister Giannopoulos," Petros introduced his father.

"Please, Sebastian, call me Galen. Petros, Alec and Elias are out back if you or your friend wish to help them."

~~~~

"Who're Alec and Elias?" Sebastian asks Petros as they put the firewood down.

"Uh, my two younger brothers," Petros explained. "I'm the oldest of seven."

"Oof," Sebastian said. He was the middle child of three. That was bad enough.

"Yeah. I have my siblings Talia, Alec, Marjorie, Alexandra, Elias, and Aphrodite."

"Wow. Are you at least pretty close age wise?"

Petros made a face that spoke for him. "Noot exactly. Well, uh, I'm eighteen now, and Talia's seventeen. Alec's fifteen, Marjorie's twelve, Alexandra's eight, Elias is seven, and Aphrodite is five."

"Oh your poor mother..."

"No no she's cool with it... Usually... She says she's done though, thank the gods. I can't deal with another sibling."

"Neither can I, and I only have two."

Petros laughed. "No. Six siblings is much worse. And we're girl dominated."

"Both of my siblings are girls."

"Ah! So you know how girls can be?"

"Warriors they are. Seriously a shame that they can't fight in wars."

"We'd probably win some more," Petros said with a smirk.

"Yeah and all of those bastards fighting us will be sorry."

Sebastian and Petros kept joking like this in the barn, laughing until their stomachs hurt.

~~~~

It was getting dark. Sebastian had to start heading back to town to get to Esmeralda and Yolanda. And more importantly, Triana.

But Sebastian soon found out that he didn't know his way around.

"Ahh, dammit!" Sebastian said. He then sighed. "I don't have anywhere to sleep..." His head drooped down.

"Sleep with me."

Sebastian's head snapped back up at Petros.

"I mean like... Stay. Over. At my place. My parents won't mind. You'll either have to share a bed or sleep on the floor, however."

"I don't mind. As long as I can sleep."

~~~~

The Giannopoulos family fed Sebastian before bed. He officially met the mother (whose name was Zandra) and the rest of the family. They were all nice and obviously related.

Sebastian then slept in Petros's bed with Petros, seeing as his bed was the largest if you didn't include his parents'. Sebastian found this...both extremely loving and extremely awkward. He liked Petros, more than he'd like to admit, and sleeping this close to him just got his feelings feel as if they were about to explode.

He closed his eyes, dreaming of a life with him and Petros together and happy, and went to sleep.

~~~~

The next morning Sebastian could see the stables from Petros's house. So Sebastian then said good bye to Petros before leaving.

Petros watched as Sebastian walked away, hoping to see his beautiful face again...

Petros then continued on with his daily chores. His first chore was to make breakfast for everyone while his parents were out buying supplies for more clothes and blankets. The usual visitor in the morning came: Adrienne, the girl who delivered their clean clothes to them every day.

"Hello Adrienne," Petros greeted her with a smile.

"Hiya Pet!" Adrienne said, much to Petros's dismay. "How are ya?"

"I'm good," Petros said, smiling again.

Adrienne noticed the difference in his smile and gave a suggested smile. "Who was it?"

Petros raised an eyebrow. "Pardon?"

"You like somebody! Who is it, hm?! Oo! Is it that new girl that came into town? The one with the red hair? Ooo! Or maybe the one with the blonde hair?!"

"What?"

"Yeah! Yeah, they were journeying in with some guy with black hair about my height."

That's when Petros started to blush. He looked down at his food, hoping Adrienne wouldn't notice.

Unfortunately, she did.

"Ooooo! Farma boy's got a cruuush!"

Petros blushed even more. "Shut up... He was cute, okay?"

Adrienne laughed as she asked for all the details. The more Petros talked the easier it got to admit that he indeed liked Sebastian Alexiou.