Greece and Roses

Chapter Fourteen

The sweet smell of pizza dough and olive oil lingered in the house as me and Pandora sat in her room together, thirty seven hours until we were supposed to be leaving for our plane back to the US. My sister looked at me, as she closed TikTok and switched off her phone, grabbing mine out of my hands.

"We have to do something about this. What the hell is Mom thinking? I mean I would love to stay in Nafplio, but not telling us until almost one day before our flight is insane and unfair."

"I know..." I said, biting my lip and staring at my palms. "But I don't want to scare her away from the idea."

"Well what if we just don't ask her?"

I rolled my eyes back in my head as she continued.

"No, no that's not what I mean. What if we just unpack, don't return the cars, do a lot of baking and stuff, acting like we're not actually going back. Then she'll either say something, or we'll just stay here."

"Or we could just ask Nan." I suggested, making my way to the door.

"Where are you going?" My sister said, as she stood up.

"What I just said. You coming?"

"Obviously."

We both hopped down the stairs and into the kitchen, my heart beating in my chest as I spoke. "Hey Nana. Is Ma home?"

"Den agapité, eínai éxo sto katástima." No dear, she's out at the store.

Perfect, I thought, sitting down at the counter across from where she was cooking, exchanging glances with Pandora.

"Is there something that you girls need?" My grandmother said, as she diced some bell peppers. "I am currently busy, but if it is urgent, I can make time." She paused and looked up at us. "What is it?"

"Nana, we were just wondering if uh-"

"It's not really that important but..."

I glanced at my sister, urging her to say something.

"Come on. Out with it." My grandmother said, annoyance spreading across her face.

"Are we going back home? Like to Cincinnati? I heard you and Ma talking, and we're both so confused, and I don't really think it's all that fair to be hidi-"

"Yes. You are going home." She didn't even bother looking up, as she tossed a stem into the food waste bin, and poured two cups of iced coffee for us, sliding them across the table. "I have no clue where you got that idea from. Now drink your coffee and be done with it."

She raised her eyebrows as we sat there open mouthed, and confused.

"But Nana, I heard you and Ma talking and cancelling flights, you literally winked at me when you saw me listening!" I said, as I picked at my nail.

"I said 'be done with it'." She replied in a strict tone turning her back to us. "Now go enjoy your last nights here and stop creating assumptions out of thin air."

She then waved a towel at the both of us until we retreated back upstairs, my curls bouncing on my shoulders as I turned to Pandora, a frown painting my face.

"This sucks."

"Big time."

We both sat in silence for a while more ,glaring at her bedsheets and moping around before our grandmother hollered from downstairs.

"Deípno tóra!"

Dinner was finally ready, and even though I didn't quite know what to do with my emotions, I figured I would probably make some better choices on a full stomach, I thought, as I pondered over what to do next, vegetarian pizza being scooped onto my plate.

"Tha thélate kápoia mamá?" Olympia said brightly, passing the shrimp to my mother as I sulked in my chair.

"So. How was everyone's day?" My mother asked, as I shoved pizza down my throat, hoping to be done with this interaction as soon as possible.

"Very good!" My grandma said, scooping beans onto Demos' plate.

"Not great, Ma."

"Pretty crap."

Pandora and I glared at the both of them, the rest of our siblings not really catching on. I shoved a last piece of pizza down my throat, before scraping my chair back, and placing my plate by the sink, mumbling a thank you to my grandmother.

Pandora followed quickly after, as we both tossed ourselves down on her soft sofa.

"You can't just sit here all night. It's already 10:30, and you have to go back to your room and suck it up sometime." She said, as I sighed and buried my face in her smooth pillow. I thought about it some more and realized she was right. Taking up her whole couch wasn't going to fix any of my problems and besides if I rea-"

BUZZ BUZZ

I glanced down at my screen, and picked up my phone, Tasio's message taking up my lockpage. I quickly slid the message open, curious as to what it said.

"Hey. Whats up?" he had texted, his icon now a bright green.

"A lot. Remember how I called you last night and I told you I might not be going back to Cincinnati?"

No response.

"Well now I am. For sure."

He began to type, and worry engulfed me as he paused for a second and then resumed.

"Meet me at paralía parádeisos in ten."

"Ok."

I turned off my phone and pondered what I should do in this situation.

"Do you think Nan would be mad if I went to go hang out with Tasio?" I asked, turning my head towards my sister.

"What? Now? Ya, obviously. It's almost eleven."

"Ya, that's true."

I turned to the door, smiling at her as I pulled it open and walked back to my room. As soon as I had reached the frame to my door, I flung a cardigan over my shirt and pushed my hair into a bun before cracking my window, the humid air sweeping over me. Carefully and quietly I pushed my right leg out and onto the orange tree, quickly pulling the rest of my body along with it. As swiftly as I had latched myself onto the tree, I threw myself out of it, landing smoothly on the concrete, but not without a noise. I remained still, as I heard a light switch on, and a head poke out of a window.

"Circe! What the fuck are you doing?!"

It was Pandora. A wave of relief washed over me as I motioned for her to stop talking.

"If you cover for me I'll give you five bucks." I said, as she rolled her eyes and pulled her head back into the window. "I really don't think this is a good idea."

As soon as her window closed, another light flickered on, and I could see my grandmother opening the door and peaking out, just as I dashed out of sight.

NOTES: Sorry for the shitty writing, I think I underestimated how much work online school was gonna be, plus I added like five new things to my daily agenda to stay productive and help my mental health, like 1 hour of yoga, meditation, and daily walks, not to mention the fact that through all of my efforts, my mental health is just 📉 so 😗 love that. Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed and again, sry for the shity writing,but quantity over quality right?

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