Page 72 of A Grecian Getaway

Demetri: Just landed. I miss you. I will FaceTime with you tomorrow at 6 pm your time.

She couldn’t wait. She texted back.

Noelle: I miss you too, my big bad wolf. ;)

She made herself some scrambled eggs and forced herself to eat a little something before she went to bed. It had been an exhausting couple of weeks. The sheets made her ache with loneliness, but she wasn’t about to wash away his scent so soon.

***

A couple of weeks passed, and Noelle and Demetri kept in touch as best as they could. Noelle was working on one of her watercolor paintings after work when she heard her phone ding.Oh, a text from Demetri?When she saw Claire’s name on the screen, her shoulders deflated a little.Snap out of it. Be happy it’s your friend. Don’t be pathetic. You just talked to him yesterday.

Claire: May I vent?

Noelle: Go for it!

Caroline: This sounds good.

Claire: So I have been substitute teaching at this school for a while now. And there is this certain teacher who is driving me nuts. He is such a jerk. Total Mr. Jerkston. Like, a huge one!

Caroline: He has a huge one! You’ve seen it?

Noelle: LOL

Claire: Caroline! I’m serious. He is driving me crazy.

Caroline: lol! Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

Noelle: Sorry, Claire. What does he do that’s so infuriating?

Claire: For some reason, he doesn’t like me. I mean, I’m a pretty easy person to get along with. I don’t know what his problem is with me exactly. But he always has comments and sort of rude responses whenever we are around each other. And I am a sweet person. You guys, people don’t hate me.

Noelle: You are our sweet Claire Bear.

Caroline: One question. Is he hot?

Claire: What does his being hot have to do with anything?

Caroline: So you are saying he is hot? On a scale of 1 to Niko, where would you say he fit? Niko being the pinnacle of hotness, of course.

Noelle: Oh Geez, Caroline, really? Claire, is he a jerk to everyone or just you?

Claire: Grrrrr. Yes, he is hot, Caroline. Annoyingly so. But it doesn’t change the fact that he is a big jerk. And I feel like he is only a jerk to me. He’s not horrible to me. It’s just the feeling I get when I am around him. Like I bug him for some reason. I don’t get it. I really like this school. So I want to keep working there. I’m pretty sure a full-time position is going to be opening up for next year because the lady I am subbing for is on maternity leave. There is talk that she isn’t coming back. Fingers crossed!

Noelle: That’s awesome news! Okay, since you and Eli decided to just be friends, do you think you guys are attracted to each other, and maybe you’re reading into things a little? You know, like the whole enemies to lovers thing? We’ve read it a million times in books.

Claire: Um NO! Definitely not. No way.

Caroline: 3 denials. We all know what that means. You sound horny too.

Noelle: …

Claire: You guys! How can I sound horny from a text? Texts don’t have sound! He totally gets under my skin!

Caroline: Well, if texts had sound, yours would scream horniness. My point stands. You totally want this guy ‘under your skin.’ Noelle’s right, it’s definitely like in the books.

Claire: UGH! You are no help.

Noelle: I’m sorry, Claire. If you like the school, keep subbing there. Maybe once he gets to know you, he’ll lighten up. Maybe he’s just a rough around the edges guy. Or maybe he has some sad thing going on in hislife. You never know what could cause his jerkiness. I did not know the reason behind Demetri’s resistance to being with me. But once he told me, everything was better, so far.

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