Fun In The Sun by repgreece (read people like a book TXT) 📕

shrugged, and replied,

“Endaksi.” He then preceded to reach down and open a fridge below the bar to pull out two beers.

Wow, it looked like they were getting their nightcaps afterall, only… should she push her luck?

“Sorry, could I have a glass of wine instead?” she asked the man. The wine would relax her more and then she would be nice and sleepy, ready for bed.

The man frowned with confusion and Nick quickly translated,

“Thele krasi. Endaksi?”

The man nodded, bent again and pulled out a bottle of wine. He opened the bottle of beer and poured a glass of wine for Sal, which she picked up with a grateful smile.

“Efharisto poli,” Nick said, taking his beer from the bar and turning to Sal. “Shall we sit on the balcony?”

Her smile widened. “Yes, why not,” she replied, cradling her much anticipated final drink for the evening, as she headed for the balcony area. Nick followed, but seemed to have an after thought and handed Sal his beer, saying,

“Here, take this and find us a table; I’ll be two secs.”

Sal took his drink and briefly glanced back at him as he strolled towards the bar again. He must be going back to pay. She would pay him for her drink after.

There were a few dining tables on the balcony with the same blue and yellow checked tablecloths as in the main restaurant, but Sal noticed an area at the front of the balcony, overlooking the cliff side and the sea, which had smaller coffee tables and more comfortable, cushioned chairs. That was where they would enjoy their drinks.

Placing Nick’s drink down on the glass-topped coffee table, but keeping hold of her own, Sal sank into one of the chairs and sighed contentedly, taking a sip of her wine. The ruby liquor delivered a slight sweetness on the tongue initially, from the abundance of fruit, however, when the liquid was properly acknowledged by her taste buds, the depth of flavour took over with a wonderful, warming embrace on her senses. Mmm, a glass of wine was definitely the right choice of nightcap.

Moments later, Nick was making his way across the restaurant towards Sal with a pleased grin on his face. Coming up behind her, he ruffled her hair before reclaiming his beer and taking a seat next to her.

“Good times eh Sal,” he said, taking a sip of his beer and admiring the view over the cliff towards the sparkling sea.

“Hmm, definitely,” she replied with a sigh, feeling warm and thoroughly contented all of a sudden.

“Quite a team eh, you and me,” he said, holding up his beer for her to clink.

She turned her attention to his face and smiled warmly, clinking with him. “The best,” she replied, holding his gaze for a moment before returning hers to the view.

He kept his eyes on her however for a few moments, taking advantage of her distraction while the events of the last two days hovered in his thoughts. So much had happened. For a start, he now felt like he’d never left Crete for a moment, let alone for six months. And yet, somehow things were a little different, by no means in a bad way though. He wondered if they would get better still, or whether he ought to appreciate this moment to the full, for fear of a rockier future. But he felt so good that night, and he wasn’t going to let any negative thoughts ruin that.

His eyes lingered on Sal’s face as she gazed dreamily at the view, oblivious of his interest. She was such a dreamer. What was she dreaming about now he wondered? He’d seen her like that before and he always itched to know what was running through her mind. Then, suddenly her reverie was broken, not, funnily enough, by the realisation that Nick was watching her, but because she appeared to have spotted something of interest in the view. She slowly lifted the glass of wine to her lips, without moving her eyes from the object that had caught her attention. She was so animated, she was so… so…so many things, it was impossible to sum her up. One thing was for sure though, he’d missed her a lot, more than he’d realised, or dared admit to himself before that moment. Sitting there, back in Crete, with the stars and the sea putting on a show just for them, all those cold, lonely, soul-searching nights back in the UK seemed never to have happened. And how strange that he’d thought so many times about seeing Sal again; he’d imagined how he would feel, and if she was really as captivating as he’d remembered. Never could he have imagined that after just two days back, he would be there with her, on a weekend away. And before returning, he’d hoped that their friendship would grow, but he’d never envisaged feeling so much affection for her so quickly. Affectionate, yes, that was what he felt for her in abundance…in fact, watching her at that moment, her head tilted to one side with fascination at whatever it was that she’d seen, he realised with such clarity that he’d never felt so much affection for anyone… ever… in his whole life.
Chapter 26

Finally, as much as Nick was enjoying having free rein over just being able to watch Sal, as always, his curiosity got the better of him and, despite not intending to break the spell of the moment, he found himself asking,

“Sal, what the hell is it that you’re so fascinated with?”

She jumped then and gave a small laugh,

“Oh nothing,” she replied, taking another sip of her wine.

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Hmm, nothing indeed,” he said suspiciously. “You’re a bit of a dark horse sometimes you know Sal,” he commented.

She swung her head to him then and laughed. “A dark horse, me? You know me Nick; I’m an open book,” she replied, with maybe just a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

That was true; she was in some ways, but…

“Well, yes,” he agreed, “ and that’s one of the things I love about you the most,” he digressed for a moment…

Sal’s eyes widened with surprise for a second. One of the things he loved about her most? Maybe he’d had more beer than she realised.

“…but,” he went on, “when it comes to things closer to your heart, I reckon you keep it to yourself,” he observed, feeling surprised himself that he’d come out with that observation.

Sal went completely still for a moment, a knowing smile playing at her mouth as she searched his eyes, hers shining from the reflection of the lights inside the restaurant.

“See,” he said, pointing to her, “you’re doing it now.”

Sal laughed suddenly, and broke eye contact with him as she lowered her head, chuckling to herself. Nick smiled as he watched her. Then she lifted her head and turned to him when a thought hit her.

“You know what surprises me about you?” she came back.

He wasn’t sure whether to be interested or wary. “What?” he asked.

“Well, you seem so casual about everything most of the time and then suddenly, out of the blue, you come out with deep and meaningful comments like that. I can see you’ve given it much thought,” she answered, observing him through curious, peacock coloured eyes. Nick was just noting how her eyes deepened in colour when she was thoughtful, before what she’d said hit home, and, for the first time in as long as he could remember, he was mortified to feel himself becoming embarrassed. Hell, he was going a bit over the top. What was all that rubbish about her ‘keeping things close to her heart’? Where had all that come from? She must be thinking he was a real jerk. Even more so for the fact that he couldn’t for the life of him think of any kind of witty retort, which usually came so easily to him. In fact, the more the silence grew, and the more he could feel Sal’s eyes bearing inquisitively into him, the deeper the colour of his face became. God, this was unbearable! He ran a nervous hand through his hair and fidgeted awkwardly in his chair.

Sal watched Nick and could hardly believe her eyes. Never had she ever imagined seeing Nick embarrassed. Her first instinct was to make a joke of it, but she instinctively dismissed that idea because of just how embarrassed he clearly was. It felt odd watching Nick cringe at his own words. He was always ready with a good comeback. She felt like it would be cruel to make fun of him now.

Then, at last, something about what she’d previously said jumped back into his head and he clung onto it.

“Casual? Is that what you think? You make it sound like I don’t give a shit.”

Ooops, that might have come out a little more harshly than he’d intended.

Sal’s smile fell from her face and was replaced with something akin to mild panic.

“No, I didn’t mean that,” she emphasised. What was happening? How could everything be so amazing between them and then, literally within seconds, it felt like things were very rapidly going downhill? She had to get the wonderful mood back.

“Hey Nick, it’s me, remember? Your best friend, Sal. I don’t judge people. I never have. You know me better than that,” she appealed. “I was just speaking without thinking, as I always do. Please don’t take it to heart.”

God, he hadn’t really meant for his words to come out so abruptly in the first place, but having Sal appealing to him so sweetly and genuinely made his heart melt.

“I haven’t,” he replied, giving her a wink to prove it. Then he finished his beer in one final swig.

Sal watched the bottle as it fell from Nick’s lips and an idea hit her. Well, it wasn’t really a conscious idea, just something that she failed to dwell on before she found herself doing it. Leaning over the space between them, she took the bottle out of his hand.

Nick released the bottle in bewilderment at her action and his heart picked up its beat. What was she going to do?

Holding the still cold, frosted bottle between her hands for a moment, with a sly smile she then reached over again and took his face in her hands. His eyes widened. He was still hearstoppingly uncertain of what she was going to do next, and acutely aware of her touch: the softness of her finger tips on his face, the slight aroma of some kind of hand cream she must have used and the cold feel of the silver ring on her index finger.

“There, now the fire’s gone out,” she teased, unable to stop herself from acknowledging his previous embarrassment.

He growled and caught hold of her hands, pulling them off his face. “Get back over there and not another word,” he scolded, trying to sound serious but not able to hide his smile.

She saluted him. “Yes sir,” she giggled, pleased that for once she was finally one up on Nick, but also glad that the carefree atmosphere had returned.

Okay, time to take control before she had him blushing again.

“Well, one last drink I think, and then we should go,” he announced.

Sal frowned with confusion. “Err,