Modern Cleopatra: A Summer Love Story [COMPLETE] 📔

LAST SUMMER | CHAPTER XII : Maybe Someday

"Where are you going?" Thia Maria cried out. She was peeling potatoes.

"I'm just going out with a friend, thia. I'll be back later tonight."

"A friend? What friend? Ana, do you know this friend?"

"Cleo's got a secret, mama," Ana teased, smoking the day's first cigarette out the kitchen window.

"That had better not be true, Cleopatra!" Maria bellowed, waving the potato peeler around in the air as she called out to her niece down the hall. "And you," she gestured emphatically to her daughter, "put that cigarette out, I'm cooking!"

Ana rolled her eyes and dropped her cigarette into the empty plastic water bottle beside her. She got up and skipped over to Cleo, who was peering out the villa's front door window.

It was 1:59 P.M.

"He suits you." She told her cousin as she approached Cleopatra sneakily.

Cleo whipped around. "What?" She asked distractedly.

"Theo Dimitriou. You and him, together. I see it." Ana smiled at her cousin encouragingly. "It... makes sense. I can't explain it."

"Yeah," Cleo muttered, turning back to the view outside. "Neither can I."

A car pulled up to the villa's wrought iron gates in the distance: that familiar white Jeep.

It was him.

"Gotta go," Cleo whispered, yanking open the villa's front door and grabbing her backpack. She granted Ana one last delicious grin before she ran out of the house.

As she made her way to Theo's car, pulling open the villa's large black gates and stepping into the street, Cleo felt like the luckiest girl in the world. She didn't know where they were going, but she knew she hadn't felt this excited in years. Just the idea of spending the day with Theo was awakening parts of herself she didn't know existed, parts that celebrated life's small moments and making the most of them.

Theo opened the car door and disembarked from his vehicle, making his way towards her. He was wearing his swim trunks, an all-black pair that cut just above his knee, with black flip flops and a white T-shirt, looking classic and masculine, like an old movie star in his aviator sunglasses.

"Hey," he greeted her warmly.

"Hey." She gazed up at him, returning his smile.

"This is for you," Theo said, opening his strong, tattooed hand before her. In it lay two mini Reese's Pieces, wrapped in golden foil.

Cleo smiled. She had a soft spot for being given little gifts.

"Thank you," He dropped them into her open palm. "But I can't have them both. You'll have to eat them with me."

Theo tsked at her as he opened the shotgun door. "They're both for you. You can afford to eat them. I am getting bigger by the day."

Cleo gazed sweepingly over his chiseled, muscular body. He was delusional; it was perfect. She swallowed, hard.

"Well, I hope we're going somewhere good," she said, changing the subject as Theo powered up the engine. She needed to distract herself pronto from the thoughts that were running through her head, all of which involved her hands on Theo's abs. "I wore my favourite sundress specifically for the occasion."

Theo's gaze flickered over to her out of the corner of his eye, inconspicuous, smooth in his subtle maneuver.

"It is a very nice dress." He stated in his trademark laid-back manner as he pulled onto the road. A small smile played on his lips that said; she wore it for me.