easy come, easy go ⇾ joe mazzello

ii

      THE NEXT DAY, JOSEPH went down to the beach bright and early with his siblings, laying out in the sun, waiting. they teased him for the way he kept looking back at the beach houses, taunting him about a girl though they didn't know anything for sure. he simply waved them off each time, proceeding to lay back down.

      olena didn't make it to the beach until the late afternoon, as her titka kateryna and dyad'ko james, and her theíos alexandros and theía mia had arrived. her cousins - lily zlata, cassiopeia phaedra, and orion damianos - would be joining them the next day, travelling from their own apartments across the country. as kateryna and mia fussed over her, her james and alexandros sat back and watched with amused eyes. kostyantyn eventually called them off from her, giving her permission to get ready to head to the beach while the adults talked.

      "pryvit vsim! (hello everybody!)" she greeted as she stood above the mazzello siblings, careful to block the sun and to not kick sand onto them.

      "hi?" his sister questioned, eyebrows knit.

      joseph clamoured to his feet, nearly falling over himself. "hi," he greeted, smiling. "this is john and mary, my siblings," he pointed to the girl and boy with him on the sheet.

      she gave a little wave. "i'm olena."

      "so you're the girl that my brother has been waiting for all day," john stated, eyes squinted.

      olena laughed as joseph's cheeks turned pink, mary saying, "i don't think he's relaxed once. he's been too busy craning his head around every five seconds to see if you were walking down yet."

      "okay, that's enough!" he exclaimed, embarrassed. he wrapped an arm around olena's shoulders, guiding her down to the water. they swam out just far enough that they were a safe distance away from everyone to speak. the water lulled around their shoulders, the water wondrously calm. "i'm so sorry," he groaned, rubbing his hands down his face.

      "don't worry about it," she laughed, head thrown back for a moment.

      "so your middle name."

      "so my middle name," she agreed. "calliope. greek. the chief muse of poetry and eloquence."

      "i like that."

      "what about your name?" she questioned.

      "what about it."

      "joseph mazzello."

      "joseph francis mazzello the third," he corrected.

      she giggled, dipping under the water temporarily before coming back up, wiping the water from her face. "i like that. quite a bit."

      "you do?"

      olena nodded, small smile on her face. "i like names that carry on through a bloodline, like my cousins, whose middle names reflect my grecian grandparents. mine is entirely new; it doesn't have any history behind it in terms of family."

      "and as true as that is, that means that you get to make it your own, give it your own story. there aren't expectations placed on your shoulders to be as your namesake," he pointed out.

      "i suppose." she thought on it, zoning out as she looked at her hands beneath the water. "i liked the idea of carrying the history in the respect that you can build up the stories and continue a legacy. not only, i'm the last kravchenko and the name will probably die with me when i marry. first generation american, and my name will be no more."

      joseph nodded, eyes focused on the way she was moving her fingers beneath the water, fingertips occasionally skimming the surface. "i understand that, i suppose."