𝐄𝐳𝐫𝐚 | 18+

32

"Straight out of an episode of H2O Just Add Water, my friend." I laugh.

He chuckles and I take a quick picture.

"Alright, you can get up now if you want." I say.

"What? All that just to get up?" He asks. I nod so he quickly gets up, the sand crumbling off of him.

"I swear to fucking god the entire beach is in my asscrack." He seethes, running to the water. He dives in and gets all of the sand off before coming back out. He shakes his head once he reaches me, getting me wet again.

"Should we head back?" He asks.

"Sure. It's almost seven." I say, looking at the time on my phone.

"Oh, fuck. Yeah, let's go."

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"I don't understand why we can't just print more money..." I say, as we would through the center of Corfu town. The towns in Europe are so cute, Ezra told me they were like this in Italy too. The roads are all made of stones and the roads are very tight an narrow besides the main one that's wider than the rest, there are openings called 'piazza's' in Italy but it's easier to call them pizzas, and all of the buildings are very old. There are small tourist shops all throughout town where you can buy cute souvenirs like keychains, magnets, and mugs.

He's currently taking me to a restaurant that's called Bellissimo, which is Italian, where you can order traditional Greek foods, so we are dead set on trying the Souvlaki.

"I don't know, bellissima. Why don't you ask the government." He suggest.

"Good idea. I'm going to show up to the central bank and ask why they don't print more money."

With my feet, I focus on stepping solely on the stones, without touching the cracks.

"Did you believe the thing about stepping on a crack and breaking your mothers back?" I ask, looking over at him.

"No." He shakes his head, briefly looking at me.

"I did. I always walked on grass." I say.

"That's cute." He says, a smile on his lips. His cheeks are slightly sunburnt as are his shoulders and chest. I specifically told him to put sunscreen on after we'd gotten out of the water but he insisted that he didn't burn. Newsflash, he does.

"So, where is this place?" I ask.

"Right around the corner...up there." He points to some place in front of us.

"Have you ever been?"

"Yes."

"I've never been anywhere outside of the United States. I moved from the West side of the States to the East when I was seven and that's about it. I've always been curious about Europe though. I really wanna go to Italy, some time, try some real lasagna." I nod to myself, my sundress swaying in the light breeze. There's a soft hum from the chatter erupting around us, coming from several other tourists.

"You want to go to Italy just to try Lasagna?" He chuckles.

"Absolutely." I respond sarcastically.

"There's a lot of things to visit in Italy, Pisa in the North, Rome towards the center, Pompeii down south. And Milan is the main place for fashion so if you're into fashion I'm sure you'll like that." He says.

"What about Venice?"

"Well, Venice is amazing, yes, but it's full of tourists all year round and it kind of takes the beauty away from it. People from Venice don't even live there anymore from all the tourism." He explains. I never knew that...

"Where are you from? North, South?" I ask.

"I'm from the North, Tuscany." He responds.

"That's so cool. If I were Italian I would go around randomly telling people and just showing off."

"You would?"

"Probably not, but it's the thought that counts." I shrug. He chuckles.

"How do you say fuck you in Italian?"

"Vaffanculo. Or vai a fanculo, but vaffanculo is much more efficient." He says. I chuckle at the fact that he's being so formal about something like that.

"Vaffanculo." I repeat, trying it on my tongue.

"Yes." He says. I giggle when a lady walks past us, looking at us offendedly.

"What is your favorite animal?" I ask.

"Snakes." He responds. "You?"

"Probably panthers. But I like flamingos, otters and snow tigers a lot, too." I say. I try to keep up with his pace but one of his steps are practically two of mine.

"Those are cool. I had a snake, growing up." He says.

"My grandma had a chicken, if that counts." I chuckle, admiring the old buildings. He catches me looking at them.

"Venicians built most of these buildings. Hundreds of years ago, people from Venice came down here and claimed it, so they built a bunch of stuff here." He explains, seeing that I was looking around again.

"Really? What happened after? Like why isn't it a part of Italy, now?" I ask. I never thought I'd be asking questions related to history but here I am. In the end, all you need is to find the right person to explain it to you. My teachers would make all of the subjects so boring but when I got home, I would ask my dad to explain them to me and he would make it so much more interesting. It was fun because he was interested in it too, so it pleased him to talk about it instead of being forced to, like my teachers were.

"I don't remember. I think I fell asleep, during that class." He chuckles, scratching the back of his neck.

"Oh," I laugh. "What other places in Italy are nice?" I ask, curious to know more about his home land. Hearing it from someone who studies about it and from someone who actually lived there are two entirely different things. When Ezra speaks about Italy, I can easily tell how much he adores it.

"I think Lerici is one of my favorites. The beaches are really nice and there's a nice sidewalk that you can walk on. And what's cool about it is that the sidewalk is raised from the beach, so you'll have the buildings, the roads, the sidewalk and then a five foot drop to the sand." He says. "Or the Dolomites. Some people go hiking there in the summer, but skiing there in the winter is a blast. The slopes are amazing and so are the people." He explains.

"Hm." I hum, showing interest. We pass by a shop with dozens of shirts with Corfu written across the front, and some with band names and movies.

We're stopping there on the way back.

"Have you been to Sicily?" I ask.

"No, but I've been to Sardegna. The beaches there are fantastic." He smiles.

"What other places have you been to?" I ask.

"Uhm...Italy, The States, the Netherlands, Spain, France, Greece, Moscow, England, Germany and Mexico." He says. Wow, he travels.

"What?" I gasp. "Are you kidding?"

"Nope. I'll take you, sometime. The tulips in Holland are amazing. They blossom mid March and mid May." He says.

"That would be so awesome." I smile.

We round the corner and we're met with the cutest restaurant I've ever seen.

word count: 1782
☂︎︎☂︎︎☂︎︎☂︎︎☂︎︎☂︎︎☂︎︎☂︎︎☂︎︎☂︎︎

i wrote this chapter last night but he enjoy :D the wifi here is rly bad istg it's so frustrating, but anywho. What countries have u been to?
Stay safe <3
-S