Page 44 of Pomegranates and Olive

We lay silently for a while, our shoulders touching. It was comfortable, and I forget for a moment how much he annoys me, until he opens his mouth again. "You were a good kitchen wench today, by the way."

I glare at him. "And you weren’t altogether repellent, I guess.”

"You’ll come to learn that I am the opposite of repellent. "

"Doubtful, but yeah, I thought you were going to make it difficult for me."

"Why?"

“Because you’reyouand so far you've been a bit of a pain."

His lips curl into a smirk. “I’ve enjoyed you flirting with me.”

“I haven’t flirted with you!”

“Alright I enjoyed you kissing me.”

I poke him in his side and he swats my finger away. “Stop it!”

That only makes his smirk wider. “Stop what?”

“You’re trying to make me hate you again.”

Something in his expression tightens and he sits up, breaking the contact between us. "I'm just having fun, Russo."

"Why do you have to do that?"

"Maybe I'm protecting myself." He grumbles something under his breath before taking a swig of his beer. “Fine... I’m sorry. If it happens again just yell Negroni at me.”

“Like a safe word?”

“You really are a little dirty, aren’t you, Russo?”

“NEGRONI!”

"Fine! Fine! I’m changing the subject."

"Good idea."

He lays back down beside me and stares up at the sky. "I used to love watching the stars."

"Yeah? Me too."

"When we would camp here as kids we'd lie on the sand and see nothing but stars. There was always something magical about being able to see them so clearly. You could never see them clearly in London, or Istanbul for that matter… too much air pollution."

"I grew up in the suburbs so we never had a sky quite like this one. Warriewood was one of those places that time forgot. It was forever stuck in the 1960s —" I snort softly, "— but then we got a Macca's."

"Maccas?"

"McDonalds."

He chuckles. "Right."

I point out a bright orange star. "There's Mars."

"I see it."

We are both silent again until I ask, "So what happened last night that made you and Aydin disappear so suddenly?"

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