12. Lila
TWELVE
Lila
The walk into town stole my breath away more times than I could count. With each step, the view transformed before us, revealing vibrant blue water and cascading white-washed buildings that seemed to glow in the sunlight. The scents of blooming flowers filled the air, and the distant sound of waves lapping against the rocky shore added to the allure.
Every fifteen feet or so, I had to stop and snap a new picture. I couldn’t resist. Nigel and the other boys were right alongside me, holding up their phones and gaping at the spectacular views. Harrison, on the other hand, hung back. While he did take one quick picture at the first stop, I could tell he was getting a little irritated. To his credit, though, he didn’t make a single snarky comment.
Honestly, after spending more time with our roommates, he was probably thinking twice about how annoying I was. Nigel, Mark, and Will were a bundle of energy, and then some. They even asked Harrison to get in a group shot with them while I took it. He said no at first, but when they begged loudly and dramatically, he finally moved beside them, frowning. I giggled when I snapped it.
Had I ever been that energetic? I could hardly remember myself at twenty, and what memories I did have usually involved my ex sucking the joy out of my college experience. Maybe sometimes I had a hard time grappling with the fact that I was still single, but I said a silent prayer that at least I wasn’t still with that nightmare of a human.
Everyone we passed on the walk—myself included—was dressed in light blue and white linens. Even though I hadn’t known we’d be going to Greece, I had packed a blue and white checkered sundress that felt perfect for wandering the narrow streets of Santorini. Harrison’s all-black outfit of a T-shirt, shorts, and Converse stuck out ever so slightly, but it did make him look more like a local than a tourist.
Just on the walk over alone, three different people had approached him speaking Greek. His dark features probably hadn’t helped their confusion. Or the fact that he looked like a Greek god...
“Go on, you two,” Nigel waved at Harrison and me. “Go stand over there for a picture.”
“I’m good.” Harrison lifted up a hand.
“What? You don’t want a picture with your girlfriend and that epic background?” Mark asked.
“We aren’t together,” I offered weakly, as Harrison cringed. Why that thought unsettled him so much was something I’d never understand.
The boys should have known we weren’t together; I’d already mentioned it twice on the walk over here. But they seemed to have the collective short-term memory capacity of a goldfish. Either that, or they really weren’t all that interested in conversation.
“Whether you’re together or not, it’s silly not to get a picture,” Nigel insisted before lightly grabbing me by the shoulders and placing me in front of a short stone wall, with the cliff below descending into the water as a backdrop. He held out his hand for my phone.
I smiled in defeat and gave it to him. Nigel turned around and handed it to Harrison. “If you won’t pose for the picture, mate, I’ll do it for you. Lily needs something to remember this by.”
They also either were convinced my name was Lily or had decided it was a cute nickname. I chose to believe the latter, and had stopped correcting them the second time they called me that.
To my surprise, Harrison pushed my phone away and brushed past Nigel to stand next to me.
“You don’t have to,” I mumbled, a little embarrassed by the whole display.
“If I let that dingbat near you, he’s probably going to try and cop a feel,” he whispered.
That broke the tension, and I laughed.
“That’s beautiful,” Nigel said. “Get closer together. Look like you like each other.”
I only came up to Harrison’s chest. I went to reach my arm around his waist, but then at the last second, I hesitated, leaving my arm hovering just behind his back. He glanced down at my awkward position before shaking his head and placing an arm around my shoulder, tugging me into his side.
I had never felt my stomach do an actual cartwheel before, but the instant his body pressed against mine I almost lost my composure.
“Smile,” Nigel said, with a big grin as if to demonstrate.
I complied, tilting my gaze up to see if Harrison would as well. While no teeth were shown, the corner of his lip did tilt up. I supposed that was the best I would get.
“Brilliant. That’s a good one.” Nigel snapped a few more before walking back over and standing next to me. “Now, just a quick one of the two of us.”
“Oh, uh.”
I smiled instinctively as Nigel leaned into me and snapped a few, strategically angling the phone so Harrison was out of the shot.
“Um, that’s a good one,” I said when Nigel finally handed me my phone again.
“Something to show our future kids.” He winked at me again before crossing the path to join Mark and Will, gawking at one of the vendors.
I chuckled as I scrolled through the photos Nigel had just taken. When my eyes lifted to meet Harrison’s, I found him scowling at me.
“You know this isn’t some romantic comedy, right? You’re not here to meet your future husband and move to Europe on a whim.”
“Are you jealous?” I taunted, keeping my voice confident even though my whole body quivered at the thought.
His frown deepened. “Not even close. I’m just reminding you that dipshit over there is not a viable option.”
“Be serious,” I snorted. “I feel more like I’m chaperoning a high school field trip than meeting the love of my life.”
“Well, knowing you?—”
“I’m a romantic, not delusional.” I shoved his chest and the deep lines between his eyebrows finally softened. “Do you want to see the picture or not?” I held up one of the shots of the two of us and he studied it.
“That one’s getting framed, for sure,” he said.
We certainly looked like an odd pair, him with his dark outfit and me with my bright sundress. My smile was almost embarrassingly huge as Harrison smirked nonchalantly next to me.
“I’ll send it to Oliver,” I said, firing off a text.
Harrison chuckled. “He’ll love it.”
Almost immediately after I’d sent the text, I had a response.
Now that’s an attractive couple.
I clutched my phone to my chest, but it was too late. I knew Harrison had seen it. I didn’t know why I was embarrassed, though. Oliver always made jokes like that; I was sure he’d made plenty to Harrison while I wasn’t around.
Still, the implication had me blushing so hard I hoped it looked like a sun-kissed glow instead of my obvious unease. But Harrison said nothing, and we resumed wandering the streets.
When we got to the food stand Maria had suggested, we all fell into line. Apparently, Nigel, Mark, and Will had already eaten there, and informed us it was indeed well worth the wait.
When I finally took a bite of the warm sandwich, my eyes closed in pure pleasure.
“This is so freaking delicious,” I said, covering my mouth with my hand.
Harrison nodded in agreement, yet remained as aloof as ever. His constant composure left me feeling a little deflated. Why couldn’t he ever just let loose?
“Mmmm,” I moaned exaggeratedly, leaning closer to Harrison.
“Everything alright?” he asked, brow furrowed as he took another gigantic bite of his pita.
“Is this not the best thing you’ve ever eaten?” I pressed.
“I’m already planning on coming back a third time,” Mark chimed in, and Will agreed.
“It’s good,” Harrison said, as we all raved. I gave him a pointed look. “What? It’s a sandwich. What do you want me to say?”
“Could you be any more bloody serious?” Nigel asked, laughing and nudging me in the ribs. “How do you get on with this guy?”
“You met me five seconds ago. I’m not always serious.” Harrison’s glower made us all burst into laughter.
“Five seconds, five months, five years, it’s all the same, I reckon,” Nigel continued.
“It’s true,” I said. “I’ve known him nearly a year and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him laugh.”
“I laugh,” he insisted, although he looked like he barely believed that himself.
To be fair, I’m sure he laughed sometimes. Like maybe once a year, in the safety of his shared living quarters, with only Oliver present as a witness.
Making Harrison laugh felt like a challenge now. One I would likely fail, but a challenge nonetheless.
We continued on, in and out of the winding alleys and stores. There were a few times I held up a souvenir to Harrison to get his opinion, but he would just shoot me a harsh look.
I insisted on stopping at one of the jewelry vendors while Mark, Nigel, and Will moved ahead. I was enthralled by all of the delicate necklaces on silver chains. Many of them held a dainty charm depicting an evil eye with white and blue crystals, a symbol I’d seen everywhere since arriving in Greece. I wanted one to commemorate the trip and this looked perfect.
The shopkeeper appeared next to me, having noticed my interest in the necklace. “It’s to ward off evil spirits, you know.”
I smiled as she returned to the counter.
“She’s lying. She’s just trying to make a sale,” Harrison said, leaning against the door frame of the shop. He was already glancing down the narrow street, obviously eager to leave.
My smile fell, but I tried to keep my resolve. “I think I’ll get this one.” I held it up to my neck and looked at my reflection in one of the many mirrors.
Harrison snorted. “You can’t seriously be one of those people who gets taken in by tacky, overpriced trinkets,” he said.
My face flushed. I set down the necklace and made a mental note to come back to the shop by myself later.
To Harrison’s credit, aside from the occasional snide remark, he followed us around without much of a struggle. I even caught him staring out at the view a few times. Maybe he wasn’t a ball of excitement, but he seemed to be warming up nonetheless.
After another hour I finally checked the time.
“It’s already past one,” I said to Harrison. “Maria mentioned today would be a good day to do the hike to Oia to see the sunset. We should probably get back and get changed if we want to make it there in time.”
“You lot are on your own for that,” Nigel said.
“Yeah, we did that yesterday and my legs are still on fire,” Mark added.
I looked at Harrison, who winced, but didn’t say anything against the idea. He would probably do anything if it meant getting away from our new upbeat travel companions.
“I guess this is where we leave you,” I said, and waved to the guys.
“We’ll see you later tonight, eh?” Nigel nodded. “We can all go out. It’ll be fun to have a group.”
I glanced at Harrison who gave a subtle shake of his head. “We’ll see how we’re feeling,” I said with a bright smile. I’d pretend to placate Harrison for now, but seeing the nightlife was a must for me. He’d have to suck it up, or let me go alone with our new acquaintances.
We navigated the winding path back to our hotel from memory.
“I can’t believe I left you alone for five seconds this morning and you took in a pack of stray puppies,” Harrison said.
“They’re fun.”
“They’re young ,” he retorted.
Giggling, I stepped over a particularly large hole in the cobblestone path. “They do make me feel ancient,” I admitted. “I never thought I was getting old at twenty-seven, but they’ve proven me wrong.”
“All that energy. I bet they don’t even stop back at the room for a nap before their night out.”
“Definitely not. They’re going to keep it going until the early hours of the morning.”
The tension melted away from Harrison as we walked and made casual small talk about the day. Seeing his obvious shift in comfort made me swell with pride, just a little bit. Because despite feeling like Harrison’s least favorite person sometimes, it was obvious now that I was in his circle. Whether he admitted it or not, being around me wasn’t draining him like being around strangers had been. And that felt good.
As soon as we stepped through the archway of the hotel, Maria greeted us with a wave and a warm smile.
“Welcome back. How was town?”
“It was lovely,” I said.
Maria approached us, her gauzy top flowing in the breeze, one that was getting increasingly stronger as the day went on.
“I wanted to ask you two something.”
“Sure,” I said, stopping and feeling Harrison come to a halt directly behind me. He wasn’t touching me, but my body could feel his presence all the same.
“I’ve got three guests arriving today; they just called and were hoping to find a shared room. Only problem is, I only have one bed left in the room you all are in.”
Furrowing my brows, I waited for her to continue.
“But I have a couple of open private suites.” She gestured to the other side of the small property. “I was hoping I could convince you two to take a different room.”
“Oh,” I started awkwardly. “We totally would, but you see, we’re on a bit of a tight budget...”
“It would be at the same cost,” Maria added quickly. “You’d be doing me a favor.” She winked and smiled again. Why did it somehow feel like she was trying to do us a favor, and not the other way around?
“Well, if it’s okay with you...” I trailed off, glancing up at Harrison.
He shrugged. “Doesn’t make a difference to me.”
While he said it didn’t matter, I knew on the inside he was dying for some privacy.
“Sounds good, then,” I said.
“Fantastic.” Maria clapped her hands. “You get your things, and I’ll get you your new key.”
We went back to the shared room and gathered all of our belongings. It didn’t take long, since we’d barely had a chance to unpack anything.
Just ten minutes later, Harrison pushed the key into the lock of our new room and turned it before pushing the door open.
The inside was beautiful, all white just like the last one had been, but there was an archway separating the bedroom from a small sitting room that led to the bathroom.
“Well, isn’t that something,” Harrison said gruffly, dropping his duffle and circling the singular queen-sized bed that was staring us in the face. “Looks like we’ll be living out that one-bed trope after all.”