Chapter Seventeen
It’s our last stop of the trip, and the idea that we’ll all be home soon makes everything around us feel surreal.
We’re spending our last few days in Delphi, once home to the most famous oracle of the ancient world.
Lucy has convinced everyone that we should split the prize money no matter who wins, and the vibes in the group already feel smoother.
Amalia and George walk, hand in hand, ahead of us, which only makes the surrealness all the more palpable.
Bodhi is trying to convince us all to spend the prize money on an art lesson series in the fall, with the new college students joining via video call, and he’s persistent enough that even my clumsy fingers are seriously considering it.
Melanie bounces around the group, chatting with everyone. It’s the only sadness left. She’s become such a part of the group that it’s hard to imagine leaving her in Greece when the rest of us pack ourselves onto our plane home.
The ruins at Delphi are a temple dedicated to Apollo, so I bury my feelings in photographing finds related to Artemis’s twin.
After a tour of the archaeological museum, where I spend way too long obsessing over the bronze chariot driver, Ms. Barlowe releases us to explore the grounds.
They’re split between several key sites.
I’m torn between wanting to spend these last few days hanging out with Melanie and stinging a little at the knowledge that I threw away the opportunity to spend our remaining time kissing her.
In the end, I venture alone down the grassy hill to the marble remains of the Temple of Apollo, close to where the Oracle at Delphi would have delivered her advice.
I wish she were still here, I think as I sit on what’s left of the temple’s marble steps. At this point, I would take the advice of a woman breathing in vapors from a chasm in the mountain. Anything seems to be better than the inner workings of my single brain cell.
I’ve made such a mess of this summer. And even though things are better with Liam, I so regret the precious time I wasted panicking over nothing instead of enjoying the trip and what could’ve been a delightful summer romance with Melanie.
Instead, I’ve ended up alone on a pile of ancient rocks, yearning for the advice of the Pythia.
Ancient rulers came to her to avoid calamities, and I sure could use a road map on how to get around disasters of my own making.
I’m brought out of my thoughts by a footfall behind me, and I turn to see Melanie walking toward me. She grins as she sits on the steps next to me.
“Contemplating the future?” she asks, nodding toward the ancient path to the oracle.
“You laugh, but, yeah, pretty much,” I tell her.
“What’s on your mind?” she asks.
I glance at her. She’s staring at me, her wide brown eyes flicking over my face. I have no idea how honest I’m allowed to be.
But hiding my feelings has not served me well this summer. I take a deep breath and decide to make Paige, if no one else, proud.
“Honestly, I feel like I’ve royally screwed up this summer,” I admit. “I regret not being all the way in on us from the start. I should have been.”
She blinks twice. The silence between us stretches long, and then too long. Enough that I regret opening my stupid mouth, no matter what Paige will say about it in our next session.
But then Melanie bites a corner of her lower lip, her brow furrowing. “Do you really mean that?”
“Very much,” I tell her. “My vision was clouded by all these worries and thought spirals, and I couldn’t see us clearly. Which was so unfair to you. And to what could’ve been. I’m so sorry.”
She nods slowly, and then all at once, she reaches out to take my hand. The weight, the warmth of her fingers still feel so right against my palm. Like they belong there. I blink fast to keep the tears from falling.
“It’s not too late,” she says quietly.
“Isn’t it?” I whisper. “I ruined the time we had together.”
“You’re getting on a plane in a few days, not dying,” Melanie says. The laughter in her tone buoys my hopes. Could she really be so willing to forgive all the mistakes I’ve made?
The grace of it feels almost too much to bear.
“Do you really think we could make it work?” I ask, and she nods. “Are you sure you want to, after everything I—”
I can’t finish my sentence, because her lips are against mine before I can make it to the end of my next word. And, well, who am I to argue?
I pull her closer, one hand wrapping around her waist and the other curling into her hair, craving more of her warmth. I can feel her smile against my lips, and I never want to stop kissing.
We finally break apart, but our limbs are still tangled together. We stay that way for a long time, breathing each other in as the afternoon turns to evening around us.
And just now, even I can’t find anything here to worry about.