Where Do We Go From Here?

The flight to Santorini felt like it’d never end. The flights—since we did four switch off’s—one from LAX to Seattle, the second from Seattle to O’Hare, a third from O’Hare to New York, and finally the last switch off from New York to Brisbane before enjoying a somewhat smooth boat ride from the mainland to the small, yet cluttered island of Santorini. However, my entire trip over was spent with thoughts of Tony lingering in my mind. He saw us off at the airport, in which we dragged out our goodbyes with sweet kisses and promises that we’ll call at least once a day.

“God, it’s so beautiful here!” Callie exclaimed as we boarded off the boat with our luggage in hand.

Santorini can be described as small, but just as most Grecian islands, it is compact with a city made of white stone next to a glittering blue ocean with a blazing sun hanging lazily in the clear, blue sky.

“It really is, huh?” My mother commented.

My father carried the bulk of our bags as we saw Yia Yiá and Aunt Aethra waiting with the jeep. Yia Yiá looked the same as ever, but Aunt Aethra looked paler and thinner from what I last remembered.

“Opa!” Yia Yiá exclaimed happily. “My beautiful family has returned!”

Yia Yiá pulled my father in for a hug first, kissing him on both cheeks before moving onto my mother, then to me, and finally Callie, whom she’s acquainted with.

“Oh my goodness.” Aunt Aethra began “Is this Verity?” She asked.

I smiled while nodding yes.

“You look so grown up!” She exclaimed before proceeding to pull all of us into a hug.

“Oh, Aunt Aethra, this is Callie. She’s my best friend from San Diego.” I explained.

Aunt Aethra smiled warmly. “Welcome to Santorini.”

Driving the jeep up, I could see my extended family cluttering the inside of Paraklésis. I could see my cousins and aunts and uncles, all of which looked older and more mature. I could hear the boisterous conversations coming from the open windows and the laughter ringing in the air. The occasional bumping of chairs into the walls made me realize that my clumsy, hilarious, loving family was all in Paraklésis at the moment.

Aunt Aethra spoke of her brief visit to Thailand and how she contracted Malaria, which explains why she looked a little under the weather.

“If you could get a regular job then you wouldn’t get sick.” Yia Yiá chastised.

Aunt Aethra just shrugged off her comment. We entered into Paraklésis Inn and suddenly our entire family erupted into burst of cheering and “opa’s”. I laughed as I embraced each and every one of my family members. With each hug I offered, I introduced Callie to my family, refreshing their memory since they haven’t saw Callie since we were in junior high. Once the introductions were over, Yia Yiá showed us to our rooms. The great thing about owing an Inn is that we had a free place to stay whenever we came over to Santorini. Yia Yiá reserved the entire third floor for my family. My parents took room 32 while Callie and I were across the hall from them in room 31. I collapsed on the quaint twin bed upon entering the room while Callie flopped onto hers.

“Your family is amazing.” Callie commented as we remained unmoved from our current relaxing position.

I smiled. “They’re amazing.”

“So what’s the first thing on our agenda?” Callie asked.

I glanced at the clock on the night stand. It was still noon and we—meaning the entire family—wasn’t planned to do anything until dinner time.

“You wanna check out Santorini?” I asked.

Callie sat up with a broad smile on her face. “Yes!”

“Okay, I’ll ask one of my cousins if we can use their mopeds.” I replied while sitting up.

Retracting myself from the very comfortable bed, I padded down the hall and knocked on Marcus and Alexander’s room—they were sharing a room together. Marcus answered the door, his hair was now crew cut since he serves in the military.

“Verity, what can I do for my favorite cousin?” He asked.

I playfully rolled my eyes at him. “My friend Callie and I want to go look around Santorini, so I wondering if I could borrow your moped for a few hours.”

Marcus looked at me with a wary expression. “No, but I will accompany the two of you to town.” He offered.

“Do you really think that we can’t handle ourselves?” I countered.

Marcus snorted. “No, but it’ll give me some peace of mind if I’m with the two of you.”

Sighing, I said “Fine, but I don’t know how the three of us will fit on one moped.” I pointed out.

Marcus rolled his eyes. “Well it’s a good thing there’s more than one moped at our dispense.” He replied sarcastically.

“Cool, I’ll let Callie know.” I smiled then walked back to mines and Callie’s room.

“Marcus is coming with us.” I told her while grabbing one of the satchels I packed.

For the occasion of being around my family, I had worn a blue summer dress that seemed to match the color of the ocean. Pulling my hair back with a hair tie, I draped the satchel over my shoulders. As usual, Callie looked radiant as she sported a yellow baby doll tee with white shorts. We made our way into the hall just in time to see Marcus walk out as well.

Marcus drove the vibrant red moped, so it’d be easier to spot him through the crowd, while Callie and I hopped on the pale blue one. We weaved through the steep roads that Paraklésis Inn happened to be perched on, slowly making our way to town. Santorini is a beautiful city with white stone that made up most of the buildings here. We zoomed through the crowded streets before coming upon an outdoor mall. Callie gasped as she saw the many maxi dresses that hung from their hangers.

Marcus stood off to the side, chatting up some local girls while Callie and I tore through the outdoor mall—mostly Callie since this was her element, I just humored her as we scanned through the displays of maxi dresses. I was mostly interested in the bracelets they had on sale, especially the hand woven ones. After spending a good two hours of browsing, Callie bought herself two maxi dresses while I settled on buying a handful of woven bracelets, mostly because I didn’t want to leave empty handed.

It was then that Marcus took us down to the harbor where we basked beneath Santorini’s heat. Thankfully, Callie and I had worn our swimwear beneath our clothes. Climbing onto the rocks that jutted out from the cliffs, we jumped into the ocean and swam in the clear blue waters. We swam until Marcus called us out, holding up two towel which he probably bought from the vendor stationed near the harbor.

Drying off while soaking up more sun, Callie, Marcus, and I drove back up to the Inn where the smell of Yia Yiá’s famous family recipe wafted through the air. That night—after Callie and I showered—we had dinner in the back of Paraklésis where Cadmus had fashioned the area into a woodened floor, roofless, dining area.

Notes

Filler alert :3

Happy 4th of July for anyone who celebrates this holiday! Stay happy and be safe! <3

Thanks for reading guys and hopefully the next update will happen tomorrow since I'm off all weekend. However, I will probably spend it cleaning up the new house I will be moving in with my boyfriend. We found a pretty great place with a lot of space so our dogs can roam around.