Faking Ever After

13. Finn

CHAPTER 13

Finn

I woke up alone in Percy’s room and Percy’s bed. Although I had tragically tangled the sheets between my legs, I could tell his pillow hadn’t been used last night. The early morning light filtered through white curtains and the clamor and clatter Nektaria created while preparing breakfast was enough of an alarm clock.

As I sat up, the moments of last night welled up from my memory. Nasty business. I hadn’t been able to contain my disappointment, although I had only been disappointed because I hadn’t been thinking clearly. Perhaps I owed an apology. Or ten. Perhaps.

I wondered what I would say if anyone asked where Percy was. Perhaps he had slept in a spare room. Or my unfiltered disappointment cured him of his flying anxiety and sent him back to New York.

Walking in circles, I considered my options, but the safebox was on my mind enough to give me chills. I headed to the storage nook and punched in the code I had set. The date my father received the phone call that ruined his life.

It had been a day like any other. Except, around eleven in the morning, a colleague called him in panic, telling him all was lost. The platform that was touted as a revolutionary way of investing, but only if you acted quickly before its value increased exponentially, had simply disappeared. All that talk of regular people pouring their hard-earned money in. The idea was that the little investors would build this shiny project full of fancy, meaningless words spoken very quickly in a super excited voice. Afterwards, billionaires would notice the momentum, pour their money into the project, increase the value for everyone, and the riches would be unheard of. They were, ultimately, unheard of, but not in the way everyone had believed.

My father barely survived the news.

My sister’s education was suddenly up in the air.

My mother rescheduled her accounting work so she could do evening hours cleaning offices.

And I set out on a revenge spree, which had taken me to Greece to cover my tracks. While my family suffered, I bathed in the Aegean Sea and daydreamed of running my fingers through the sun-kissed locks of Percy’s hair.

The USB drive was safely inside the safebox. It hadn’t been moved. It sat there like an invisible wall between me and Percy, between me and my family. I had taken it to do something good, but all I’d done so far was run away and lie.

A knock on the door startled me. I tossed the drive back into the box and crossed the room. Turning the knob carefully, I discovered Dimitrios standing tall, smiling, with a large picnic basket hanging from one tree trunk of an arm. “Good morning, Finn,” he said in that booming voice. “If you need a few more minutes, I can wait.”

I shook my head and frowned. “A few more minutes for what?”

Dimitrios pressed his fingers against his lips and guilt crossed his face. “Was it a surprise? My, my. Percy will have my head.” He cleared his throat. “I am to drive you.”

My first thought was that I would be taken to the nearest port or airport with a one-way ticket home, but I dismissed it, considering Dimitrios was holding this picnic basket like it contained gold.

“And you’re driving me…where?” I cocked my head.

Dimitrios dragged his pinched fingers over his lips, zipping them and giving me a tight-lipped smile.

Percy was up to something, and I couldn’t tell if it was good or bad.

Still, I found a laugh to share and told Dimitrios I would be ready in a few minutes. Dimitrios left me and I hurried to wash my face and brush my teeth. Then I changed into nicer clothes and joined him downstairs, where Nektaria was busy carrying out breakfast.

Within ten minutes, we were in the car and driving along the narrow and cracked roads away from the beaches and into the mountains. Dimitrios played music, which first struck me as a combination of sounds that had no business existing near each other. Still, as Dimitrios tapped the wheel to the rhythm of the folk songs, I understood that there was something like harmony in there, just simply not the sort my ears were used to.

We drove along the curvy roads and Dimitrios occasionally pointed to places we passed. Demeter’s Temple, or the Temple of Dionysus, and a monastery so high up in the mountains that it seemed impossible it had been built there at all. The marble quarry looked like it was shaped by the hands of gods, a chiseled side of the mountain with blocks upon blocks of marble. “To us, marble is like any other rock,” Dimitrios explained. “You will see.”

And he wasn’t lying.

We went high up, though the peak of the island was not our destination, and through villages that buzzed with more life than I had imagined existed on a barren rock in the middle of the sea. And when we neared our destination, I stared out the window with unrestrained wonder. Marble. It was all made of marble.

The town hung from the side of the mountain, deeply inland and greener than any other place I’d seen on Naxos so far. As Dimitrios drove nearer, I discovered I could still be more surprised. Even the paved streets and protective walls on the edge of the town were made of marble.

Dimitrios parked the car under an old sentinel that provided plenty of shade. A few paces before us was a little platform with a viewpoint of a green canyon beyond the protective railing. And by the railing, on a marble bench, sat Percy Davenport.

He was beautiful. It was no wonder I couldn’t get him out of my mind. Every time I looked at him, the realization slammed me anew. It was unfair that anyone should be that pretty. The smooth skin that was starting to tan, those defined lips and high cheekbones, that sharp jawline, and his piercing blue eyes. There were streaks of sunkissed highlights in his hair.

Percy wore a cream linen shirt and brown linen pants paired perfectly with brown leather sandals, the straps wrapping around his ankle like he was some ancient philosopher. Or warrior. He certainly had the body fit to be a Spartan hero.

Only when my door opened, I realized Dimitrios had left the car and carried the picnic basket. Percy looked at the car and I slipped outside. A gust of gentle wind moved the locks of my hair around. I ran my fingers through it to free my eyes.

Percy hopped onto his feet and tucked his hands into his pockets. “Hello,” he said with a smile that was so warm and welcoming that I almost believed we weren’t pretending. We’d had an awkward disagreement just twelve hours ago; I wasn’t sure what to expect from this meeting.

His sweet dimples threatened to leave me without oxygen until I forced myself to inhale. “Good morning.”

“And the basket,” Dimitrios said, handing it over to Percy.

“Thank you,” Percy said patiently, and Dimitrios saluted with two fingers, then returned to the car. He waved at us as he pulled back onto the road.

“There goes our ride,” I said.

Percy laughed softly. “Good.” He set the basket on the marble bench. There was silence for a short while as the wind lifted from the canyon before us and billowed Percy’s partially unbuttoned shirt.

I wondered if he knew what he looked like. Did he do it intentionally? He was like a lonely dreamer, a poet who was consumed by his own thoughts, who was in love with his own melancholic heart. He was ridiculously handsome, but he treated it in such a casual, unimportant way that it seemed effortless. He looked like he didn’t care either way about his appearance and simply stumbled out of the bed, robed in perfection.

“Do you like the view?” he asked.

I stepped toward the railing. The land sloped steeply from there down to the bottom of the mountain.

“This is one of the rare places where there’s a bit of a forest on the island,” Percy said. “The Ottomans burned it down in several invasion attempts and the forests never recovered.”

I placed my hands on the railing. It was cool to my touch, lacquered black and polished clean. Although I gazed out at the bright blue sky and deep green canyon, my attention returned to Percy. “Maybe I overreacted last night,” I said.

Percy chuckled softly and shook his head. He turned to me swiftly, one hand sliding out of his linen pocket. “This is for you.” In his hand, a small, black box with a white bow and ribbon rested.

I sighed. “Percy, really, you don’t need to…”

“It’s not a payment, Finn. It’s a gift,” he said in a warm and patient voice. “Take it.”

I hesitated, gazing into the burning glaciers of his irises, and then took the little box.

“You didn’t overreact,” he said as I pulled the ribbon loose. “In fact, you’re more patient with me than most guys have been. I…” He paused and scratched the back of his head. “It takes me a while to see what everyone else sees, Finn.” Then, smiling, he added, “Open it.”

I pulled the lid off the box and discovered a small, black cushion in the box. On it, a golden bracelet with an intricate Greek pattern of infinity awaited. I pushed it forward as I gasped. “I can’t…”

“I saw it, and I thought of you,” Percy said kindly in a tone that made me believe his words meant more than they would on a piece of paper. They carried a weight of importance I still didn’t dare to believe in. But when Percy put one hand under mine and the other over it, gently nudging them both and the box in them back to me, I realized I wasn’t just a silly dreamer. “I thought it would look great against your skin.”

That it would, although a gold bracelet was too much, even if he did suggest it was a first-date gift.

“And I thought, ‘He’s so beautiful. He should wear it.’” He kept his smile on, although a sliver of anxiety rose in his eyes. “Can I put it on you?”

I managed a nervous nod.

Percy’s hands were steady as he pulled the bracelet off the cushion and wrapped it around my right wrist. He hooked it and took my hand in his, pulling it closer to him and taking a good look. The weight of the bracelet surprised me. I had expected it to be light and thin, but it was not.

“Hm, I guessed the size,” Percy judged proudly. As he held my hand, something like warmth had traveled up my arm. The bracelet caught a bit of sunlight and glinted in the way only gold could, making my heart stumble. This was easily worth as much as everything else I owned put together. Twice.

“I don’t know what to say,” I blurted, shaking my head. In truth, having my hand in his melted my heart away just as much as receiving a gift.

“Do you like it?” Percy asked simply.

I lifted my gaze from the bracelet to meet his eyes. “I love it.”

“I’m glad,” he said. “It looks really good on you.”

“I like the pattern,” I said, untying my tongue a bit more.

Percy nodded. “It’s supposed to symbolize the waves. See how each goes over the one that went before it? And it continues without an end.”

“Thank you,” I said after a moment of silence.

Percy released my hand and tucked both of his inside his pockets. “Did you have breakfast?”

My stomach rumbled at that exact instant. “Actually, no. I was kidnapped from your room very early.”

“Perfect,” Percy said happily. “We’ll eat together.” He crossed the space between us and the basket on the bench before I could ask him what all of this meant. He peeked inside the basket, under the red and white checkered cloth that hid its contents, and shared a delighted smile. “Nektaria packed a thermos of coffee.” His happiness over coffee matched mine. He picked up the basket, then gestured toward the town with his head. “I want you to meet someone.”

My heart sank a little. I’d imagined us being alone now. Although, I really needed to learn to trust Percy. So far, he hadn’t let me down, even if some of my expectations had been too high to begin with. It seemed that even those were being met with the slightest of delays.

As he started walking, I hurried to catch up. I decided I would follow him wherever he wanted to take me. He had already brought me to the highest peaks of the island, far away from his family and the noises of a busy seaside town, and I didn’t regret it.

“But Percy,” I said, walking shoulder to shoulder with him. “About last night.”

He smiled again. “It was on me, Finn. I misunderstood pretty much everything I could misunderstand.” We crossed the street and reached the heart of the town. From here, the marble-paved street stretched out, and vehicles were banned. There, at the edge of it, Percy stopped and looked at me. “I want to fix it, Finn. And I should start by saying that I’m sorry. I brought you here as a guest, so I felt a certain sense of responsibility for your comfort. It clashed with my feelings, so they had to be kept in check. I couldn’t let myself make an awkward situation for you when you’re going to such lengths to help me. And I am slow to pick up the more subtle kind of cues.”

“Feelings? What feelings?” I whispered, not daring to hope too much even though that very hope was leaping high in my chest.

Percy hesitated, then smiled. “I think it’s better to show you.”

My heart tripped when Percy offered me his hand. I embraced it softly and walked when he walked. To our right, steep stairs rose toward the residential part of the town, each step made of marble that aged gracefully and shone under the bright sunlight of a fresh new day.

The street we walked on was created for perfect leisure to the last detail. Bars and restaurants with little terraces had their doors open, servers sweeping the leaves and needles from the street. Artisan shops sold their arts and crafts, from a pottery store to a marble store to a bronze store. Sculptures, paintings, and all sorts of fabrics and trinkets were on display, each catching my eyes as much as the last one.

To our left, beyond the terraces, was a waist-high wall, and over it were grassy and rocky slopes.

Percy greeted someone with his head, his hands occupied. “Kalispera, Nikos. Is my friend around?”

“He is around, Mr. Davenport,” a wiry man with a white beard and hair replied. “You know where to find him.”

Percy thanked Nikos, then hurried slightly. In a few minutes, we passed the terraces and walked along the wall. “Here,” he said, and placed the basket on the wall, then hopped over it. He extended his hand to help me over the wall and I took it gladly. Scrambling over it, my curiosity kept growing, but so did Percy’s smile.

Percy continued to hold my hand as he lifted the basket and led the way down the slope to where a few short trees provided a bit of shade. Although it was only eight in the morning, the sun was starting to kiss the earth a little too passionately.

“There he is,” Percy said with the sort of delight that was reserved for the oldest and best of friends. Was it this ex-boyfriend of his hiding behind the tree? I couldn’t put the dots together if it was. But then, as we came around the tree, Percy named this friend of his. “Hello, Zeus.”

At the sound of Percy’s voice, a tame, big-eyed donkey abandoned his breakfast and hurried—as much as a donkey could hurry—toward us. He ignored me completely and thrust his head under Percy’s arm, rubbing himself against Percy’s leg and cuddling much the same way I wanted to cuddle Percy.

In turn, Zeus received rubs and satisfying scratches behind his ears, braying and snorting and practically prancing around Percy.

“You cannot be serious,” I said in a low voice of disbelief.

Percy simply laughed. “That I’m besties with Zeus? Oh, I’m serious.” He sweetened his voice for Zeus’ ears. “He remembers me. See? He knows who brings the best apples.” Percy lowered the basket to the ground and Zeus immediately moved toward it, but Percy pushed the donkey’s head away playfully and produced a fresh apple from under the cloth. He fed Zeus gently, and I, once again, felt this ridiculous zing of jealousy. Great , I thought. I envied a donkey . It was hilarious and tragic and completely bizarre, but after Percy fed Zeus, he offered to introduce us. “And this is Finn,” Percy spoke to the donkey. “He’s a very nice person, Zeus. You’ll see. A bit of a temper, but he’s sweet as a muffin.”

“A temper?” I asked, outraged.

Percy lifted his eyebrows at me as if to say, “Exhibit A.”

I gave Zeus my hand, somehow expecting him to sniff me. So when Zeus opened his toothy mouth and pressed his wet lips against the back of my hand, I jumped back and squawked.

Percy seemed to find that endlessly funny. “Zeus likes kisses. Don’t you, baby? You love kisses.” He scratched the lower side of Zeus’ neck and head, then patted his behind and made him move a little away from us. “So? Do you like my friend?”

I laughed out loud. “Whenever I think I figured you out, you introduce me to a donkey.”

Percy took the basket again and we walked over to the shade on the lower side of the tree. Zeus was too busy grazing to pay much attention to us, so Percy uncovered the basket. He spread out the checkered cloth, which had been folded several times and was much larger than I had imagined. It was our picnic blanket, on top of which he put the basket and sat down.

I joined him, watching his deliberate movements as he began to unpack the big basket. Cups, the thermos filled with coffee, a plate of cheese, homemade bread wrapped in a clean, damp cloth, cold cuts, various fruits, and three small jars of jams I assumed were homemade by Nektaria and Dimitrios.

As Percy poured us coffee, I continued to watch him. And when he lifted his eyebrows, I asked the question that had been on my mind since arriving. “Why are we here?”

Percy smiled. “Direct, huh?” He thought about it. “I like spending time with you. And I think you like spending time with me. Down there, it’s hectic. There’s this Benny that’s coming today and Richie will probably show up sooner or later. And I figured, I really want us to be alone for a bit, to see where it goes.”

“Where it goes?” I murmured.

Percy tore off a small part of the bread and dipped it in one of the jams, then brought it to my lips. “Try this.”

I did, my heart fuller than it had been this entire year. “Mm, oh fuck, that’s…that’s amazing.”

He laughed softly. “Fig jam. Dimitrios’ specialty.” He let me enjoy the flavors before he continued speaking. “It’s as simple as this. These days I spent with you have been crazy, sure, but the best thing about them was that I got to know you, Finn. I think you’re funny and sweet…”

“And have a temper,” I pointed out, mock-offended.

He laughed. “I like your temper.”

That shut me up very nicely.

“And if you liked me already, I was too cautious about your comfort to let myself see that,” he said. “I only saw an amazing guy willing to cross the planet to help out a stranger.”

Guilt murmured within me as I looked at Percy, then away. “Listen,” I said quietly. “There’s, um, more to it than that. And I can’t get into details, but the gist of it is that I pissed someone off and needed to go away for a bit.”

Percy nodded. “Okay.” There was a trace of worry in his tone and I feared I put him off. Everything I wanted was one right word away from me, but I couldn’t reach for it without telling him some of the truth. I wasn’t just a nice and altruistic guy. I had my agenda, too.

And I worried it would ruin things.

“It’s not serious. I mean, I don’t think it is. And I didn’t do anything bad.” Was it not bad? I hoped to God I wasn’t lying to him. “But he’s a powerful guy and I needed to lie low for a little while.”

“Are you in danger?” Percy asked, his eyes sharpening with focus. “We can leave for someplace more remote if you are.”

I shook my head. “No, I don’t think he’ll bother to hunt me down.” It didn’t escape me that Percy had offered for us to go. Silence followed. Awkwardly, I snacked on cheese and cold cuts and bread, olives and jam, and contemplated all this mess. I didn’t have much of an appetite anymore. “Look, I can’t tell you more than that. It’s for a good cause. The guy’s shady and he’s getting nothing less than what he deserves, but until then, I…” I shook my head. “I can’t risk telling anyone. Even you.”

Percy nodded.

And that was the end of it. I knew it was the end. I failed to trust him when I needed to, so the very foundation had to be too soft to build on. Next, he would thank me, politely tell me to keep the bracelet and revert to the distance that we had created when we first met.

“If you’re sure I can’t help, then so be it,” he said in a nondescript tone. Soon after, his voice warmed up. “Finn, we all have baggage. I’m thirty. I wouldn’t be going into this fresh as a daisy, either. I’ll take your word for it that you’re safe, but you won’t argue if I increase the security around you.”

For a moment, I thought I had misheard him. I opened my mouth, closed it, swallowed, then tried again. Going into this? “You still want to try?”

Percy smiled brightly and exhaled with relief. “Finn, I’ve been attracted to you since the moment I saw you on the jet. And the way you spoke to me through the entire takeoff, I think my fate was sealed right there and then. Yes. I still want you.” He looked around, then gazed at the distant horizon, his cheeks turning a little red. “I booked us an apartment above Apollo’s Lantern. You’ll love the tavern. They have the best wine around here. I was thinking, with the house so crowded, I’d keep this place ready for us if we ever need a break. You can only swim so far out before Mother sends the Coast Guard after you. And I…”

He was rambling. He had expressed his most intimate wish and some boyish fright propelled him to cover it up with an avalanche of lighthearted words.

The sun had moved our shade off Percy’s face. The light fell on him as if he was blessed by Apollo himself. His lips were red and slick after he’d licked them, and he spoke on and on about just wanting to avoid the overcrowded house. He spoke of some local distillery and the taverns and the wise food choices inland as opposed to the seaside, but I watched him, stunned.

“…so yeah, if you’d like, maybe…”

I didn’t realize I was doing it until I was already in the middle of my leap. Over the plates of cheese and cold cuts and olives, I knelt and bent forward, slamming my lips against Percy’s.

He stopped speaking at once, frozen, shocked, confused. After a single heartbeat, his body relaxed under mine, and we sprawled on the picnic blanket. Percy lay on his back, one arm wrapping around my torso, the other resting on my upper back. He ran his fingers through the hair on the back of my head and pulled me in, my lips pressing harder against his.

The moment’s surprise passed as if it had never happened. He relaxed fully, and I relaxed against him, lying on top of him and kissing him as if he were all the food and water I needed to live. I kissed him with the kind of passion I had forgotten existed in me. Fiercely, heatedly, I gasped and kissed him harder, our lips parting and the tips of our tongues meeting.

The sunlight caressed the back of my head, heating it up, but it was nothing compared to the heat that rose into my face as our kisses grew firmer, more deliberate. Whatever uncertainty and indecision had existed in Percy moments ago was gone, exorcized by the most passionate kisses. He was strong and determined to take all I had to offer.

And when reality caught up with us, and I realized our souls hadn’t actually left our bodies to traverse the astral panels and galaxies, I pulled back, wide-eyed, and looked at him. Silently, I asked if he thought that had been too sudden, but his pink cheeks and deep dimples told me it had been perfectly timed.

“So, is that a yes to Apollo’s Tavern?” he asked with a grin.

Words had dried up in me. But Percy had been right. These things were better shown than spoken aloud. So, in reply, I leaned in slowly, and I kissed him again. This time, it was soft and patient. This time, I didn’t feel like it was the only chance I would ever have, so I did it in a way that allowed me to feel him. I wanted to feel every little bit of him, to taste him, to inhale his scent, to remember just how soft his lips were under mine.

I nodded as I pulled back, sometime later, and smiled at him. “I think that’s a yes.”

Percy smiled.