Page 39 of More Than Just Friends

‘And now take a photo. You can use it if you miss me.’ He winked.

I fought the wince that threatened to break out on my face, then took a step back and reached into my bag for my phone.

When I tapped the screen and saw the time I gasped. It was already ten to seven, which was much later than I’d thought.

My stomach tightened. I couldn’t believe how long we’d been shopping and I hadn’t even bought a single souvenir or anything for myself. Everything that had been purchased was for Adonis.

Most importantly, there wasn’t long until the sunset meeting point deadline and I still hadn’t checked out some of the other places that had caught my eye when I was wandering down the streets earlier.

Petros had made it very clear that the location we were meeting at got extra busy at sunset and I’d already said to Adonis that I wanted to get there by 6.45, just in case.

‘Are you almost done?’ I asked him as gently as I could as I pretended to take a photo. For some reason it felt wrong to take a topless picture of him, even though he’d given me permission. ‘It’s just that we need to be at the meeting point before sunset.’

‘Do not worry, darling,’ Adonis called out as he returned to the changing room, put on his own T-shirt then stepped back out into the main part of the store. ‘Sunset is not for hours. We have until nine to get there. We will be fine.’

‘But Petros said we needed to get there at least an hour and a half before, so by seven at the latest!’

‘That is not necessary. I have been here many times and it will not set that early. I just need a few more things and I will be done. I want to buy something nice for the excursion tomorrow. Which one do you like the most?’ He picked up two white linen shirts, which looked exactly the same, and held them up.

‘Er.’ I frowned. ‘I’m not sure.’

‘I will try them both.’ He smiled before disappearing back into the changing room.

Half an hour later, after trying on the same shirts three times because he couldn’t choose which one he preferred (no, I wasn’t joking), Adonis decided he didn’t like either of them.

‘We’re late!’ I scolded, trying to keep the venom in my voice at an acceptable level. I was never late. I prided myself on it. And there was no reason for us to be.

I couldn’t believe that I’d finally got to come to this dream village and spent most my time stuck inside, shopping.

And none of it was for me.

Hopefully the meeting point wasn’t too far away.

We set off and I was about to put the location in Google Maps, but Adonis assured me that he knew the way. But nearly forty minutes later, we didn’t seem to be getting any closer. And Adonis constantly stopping to take selfies holding up all of his designer bags didn’t help.

My phone buzzed and when I took it out, Noah’s name was flashing on the screen. I answered it quickly.

‘Where are you?’ he said, his voice laced with concern. ‘It’s almost eight. I thought you’d be here early because you were really looking forward to it. Is everything okay?’

Anger bubbled in my chest. I couldn’t believe it either.

‘I know,’ I said, tears pricking in my eyes. ‘We’re on our way, but we’re lost. I’ll be there as soon as I can.’

I wanted to tell Noah that it wasn’t because of my poor sense of direction. We were late because Adonis was being too stubborn to admit he didn’t have a clue where he was going.

‘It’s already heaving with tourists, so I’m not sure if you’ll be able to get up to the main viewing point. I tried to save you a spot because I knew you wouldn’t want to miss it, but I couldn’t keep it.’

‘Thanks for trying,’ I said, my voice wavering with sadness. ‘I’d better go.’

I hung up, my cheeks now flaming with anger. I couldn’t rely on Adonis to get me there. Even with my shit sense of direction, I was sure I could find it faster than he would.

After getting tired of wandering down the wrong streets, I asked someone if they knew the way and thankfully, they gave me directions.

Fifteen minutes later, we finally arrived, but just like Noah had warned, there were wall-to-wall tourists and it was impossible to find a spot at the best viewing points.

‘We’ve missed the best part!’ I said to Adonis, with my hands on my hips.

‘Do not worry.’ He smiled. ‘The sunset is all around us, darling. You do not need to stand on an old building to see it. The sun is in our hearts and in our minds. There will be other days.’