Greece and Roses

Chapter Seven

It was 7:15 when I realized that Anastasios would be over in less than twenty minutes, and I was nowhere near ready. I quickly jumped out of my bed, and attempted to tidy the small room before he came over. I smoothed out the sheets, opened the blinds and shoved my dirty clothes into a laundry basket in the hall, turning to look downstairs

"Anastasios is going to be over in.." I paused, glancing down at my phone "five minutes?! Please do not bother him. Especially you Ma"

I dashed back into my room, and slipped my baby brown sweater on over my shorts, grabbing the bag of cheetos and a case of sprite from my mini fridge.

I began to climb the ladder up to the roof, when I heard a pebble hit my window. I popped my head out of the trap door, as I spotted him chucking huge pebbles at my window frame.

"What the fuck?" I yelled at him from the roof. "Get up here idiot."

He quickly dropped his pebbles into the sandy road, and began to scale the orange tree with ease.

"You brought the Cheetos right? He asked,pulling himself up onto the roof.

"Obviously" I said, dangling the bag up in front of his face. I schooched back onto the beanbag chair I had brought up earlier that morning, as he stood up gently, pushing himself back to sit beside me.

"I brought uno?" He said, pulling a smooth pack of black cards out of a grey plastic bag.

"Ooo yes I love uno. You deal."

He began to shuffle the cards together, as I crawled over to my vintage record player, placing a disk onto the track. La Vie En Rose began to play softly, Daniela Andrade's silky voice singing softly, as she covered the original by Louis Armstrong.

"What's with the dinosaur?" Anastasios said, pointing to my record player. "Your go by the way"

"It is not a dinosaur," I said, grabbing my deck of cards and slapping down a yellow five. "It's vintage"

"Sure weirdo"

Five games later, he had beaten me every single round. Uno may be my favourite game, but that didn't make me any good at it. He began to collect my cards, and loop an elastic around the deck, returning it to his bag when I proposed my idea.

"So, as you know even though Nafplio is beautiful, the beaches suck"

"Mhm"

"Well, how would you like to retire to the isle of Dokos for a whole day? I could drive us there, and then we could take a ferry to the island and rent a car in town. Hardly any tourists vacation there, so it would be completely private! Woul-"

"Uhm yes?! That would be so much fun."

"We just have to ask Pandora and Athena to come with us."

"You want me to bring Ceaser and Cyia?" He said, ruffling through his pockets for his phone.

"Oh my god yes! I haven't seen them in forever! How are they?" I said

"Well, they're dating, for one"

"Wait, really? I thought Cyia was with Derik?"

"Not anymore. He moved away, Canada I think?" He paused "Was probably for the best, if i'm being honest. He was kind of an asshat. He dumped her like five times, and then came crawling back" he said, crossing his legs together.

"Wow. That sucks"

"Ya." We sat there in silence as the sun set, before he spoke again.

"My mom died."

I turned, to look at him, as he stared down at his hands.

"What? Oh my god that's awful Tas, i'm so sorry."

I swept him up in a warm hug, scooching over so that my arms could wrap around his chest properly.

"I'm so sorry. Do you want to talk about it?" I looked deep into his crystal blue eyes, as they began to water.

"She had cancer. It seemed like she was getting better, but.."

He said, as he looked off into the distance, biting back tears.

"I'm so sorry Tas" I said, nuzzling into his arm gently. I didn't know what to say.

"It's fine. I-it was last year. We've all had time to heal I guess but.."

"It still hurts." I finished for him.

"Ya. She was just such an amazing person. She always made me feel better, and now she's just..gone."

He looked down on me, as I hugged him tightly.

He sighed, as he pulled away and gently, and rolled over onto his back to look at the bright stars, as they illuminated both our faces gently.

"I've missed a lot huh" I said.

"I guess so."

We both lay there for a long time. When I finally checked my phone it was 10:00, and the sky was a deep black. I turned to look at him, as a smile spread over his face. I could tell that even though he was sad, he was going to be able to get through all this. That's just the type of person he was.

With the ocean splashing in the distance, I stretched up, and laid my arm against the cold concrete, staring at the sky.

Suddenly, I felt a warmth, as Anastasios found my hand gently. Apprehensive, he slid his thumb over my palm, before taking my hand , carefully in his. He looked over at me, as if to ask if this was ok. I flashed him a sweet smile, as I gave his hand a gentle squeeze, butterflies rippling through my stomach. I let out a happy sigh, knowing that neither of us would have the guts to let go, for many more minutes.