I sniff, taking us back to the conversation before. “Have you seenShrek?”
He makes a face, scrunching his nose. “I don’t know if I like where this is going.”
I can’t help the evil chuckle that rattles out of me. “I thought you were going to be a real diva like Prince Charming.”
Gus nods slowly before taking his cap off and flicking his curls back exactly the way Charming does it in the film.
I can’t even fight the smile. “See. Can you blame me?”
“What I’m hearing is that you think I’m charming?”
“Ithoughtyou would be annoying and self-serving.”
Gus blows out a dramatic breath. “Well, look at you, judging books by their covers.”
“I was wrong,” I admit, nodding. “You’re only annoying.”
“Ha!”
“You’re not self-serving because you brought me coffees, pastries and painkillers and that is honestly one of the nicest things anyone has done for me in ages.”
His smile softens at this statement. He almost looks sad. “Really?”
I feel like I’ve given something away, something I should have kept to myself, so I shrug. “Yeah, I guess.”
“Oh, Sara,” he sighs, shaking his head. I turn towards the window, cheeks ablaze.
*
We arrive in Kotor three hours later.
I sit in awe, taking in the old fortress, the lush mountains surrounding the city and the bay. As the buildings come into view, a thrill runs through me with the promise of another Old Town to explore. There’s something about these ancient buildings, that make me feel so grounded and light.
It feels like an honour to be able to explore them.
We tip the driver once we arrive, having asked him to take us as close to the sights as possible. I check my phone for an update, but no word from the cruise yet. We agree to head straight to the docks, but there’s no sign of the ship. We’re actually ahead of schedule, for once. With time to spare, we decide to make the most of it. Gus dons his uncanny disguise, with those blacked-out sunglasses and backwards black cap and we spend the day wandering. We walk down narrow streets that lead to a beautiful square, filled with little tables and colourful awnings. Gus must take about a million photos. I pretend not to notice when he turns the attention on me.
We grab lunch at a cute café just as the sun dips behind a patch of grey clouds, drinking copious cups of coffee and fancy pastries with delicious fillings.
“You know I think we should go to the port office,” Isay, after a few hours of sightseeing. “At least we can check what time the cruise is meant to arrive.”
Gus nods. “Ok. Let’s pay and head down there now.”
I smile, taking a final sip. As we head in the direction of the port, steadily, thanks to my ankle, I ask, “What’s with the camera then?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, do you like photography? Have you always done it?”
“Oh right, yeah. It’s what Iwantedto be,” he answers. Which makes no sense because…
“As in you didn’t actually want to be a popstar?”
He shrugs. “It’s not that. I did.Obviously. But whenever someone would ask me what I wanted to be as a kid, I always said a photographer. I used to go through disposable cameras weekly. When other kids asked for sweets or Pokémon cards, I asked for a camera. There was nothing I enjoyed more than picking up that little envelope from the corner shop, full of photos I’d taken, and spend the next few days going through them. Picking my favourites. Working out how to improve them for next time.”
“Aww,” I say, imagining him as a kid, all hopped up on excitement. “That’s actually pretty sweet.”
“Recently, I’ve been doing this thing: playing what ifs. What if the band had never got together? What if we hadn’t been at the local fair where we were discovered? What if I’d actually punched Jax that morning for pissing me off and we all fell out and none of this ever happened? What then?”
