After a day and a half of delayed flights and multiple airports, George had finally made it, with friend in tow, to the beautiful island of Santorini.
"Let's go to the beach straight away after we check into the hotel," said Annie, George's super chic friend from NYC.
"Okay," George answered, although his voice hinted he was so tired nothing really mattered. He was just so happy for a vacation. Work sucked, his personal life sucked, and well, everything just kind of sucked.
After checking into the hotel and going out to the black sand beaches, George let his worries go. Who could hate life when everything around him was so spectacular? The huge mountain of rock jetting out from the ocean, the little resort town behind him, the crystal clear blue water in front of him, he simply forgot everything and let out a sigh of happiness.
"Come on, let's get an umbrella," Annie said, as she sprang up behind George and grabbed his hand. They skipped and ran to the nearest umbrella, depositing themselves into two comfy lounge chairs. They both shed their cover ups revealing a girl in a sexy bikini and a boy in a chic boyshort Lycra swimsuit.
"Oooooh, don't we look sexy," Annie chided.
"Look who's talking, Ms. I'm About to Bust Out of My Top," George retorted.
"Bitch!" Annie joked.
They lay in the hot sun, soaking in the rays, helping their pasty complexions take on some deeply needed tans.
"So I made dinner reservations tonight in this little town of Oia," Annie said, interrupting George's drifting thoughts.
"Really?" came the groggy reply.
"Yeah, it was recommended by Conde Nast Traveler. It is supposed to be really good and have excellent views of the sunset, overlooking the caldera."
"Sure, whatever," George replied, as he drifted back to sleep.
*****
"Shit!" George awoke with a start, as cold water dripped on him.
"Ha ha," Annie laughed, standing over his chair, letting water drip from her hair onto him. "The water is fabulous. You have to go in now!"
"Fine," George got up, stretched quickly, and then ran to the water after feeling his feet start burning from the hot black sands.
"Damn, this is hot. It's like walking on burning coals," he said, as he watched Annie jump in ahead of him.
He took his time as he got used to the cool temperature of the water. He finally jumped in and swam out until he could no longer touch the bottom. This trip had made him think a lot about his life—primarily his personal life and how dead it was. It would be so nice to go on consecutive dates again (not just be a one date wonder). He hadn't been on any dates in a while, let alone been touched by another man. It was sad really. He wasn't into the whole random hooking up or having a 'fuck buddy.' He was really old fashioned, meaning he liked the whole let's have sex in the committed relationship sort of deal. It could sound boring to some, but that's the way he operated.
"What-cha thinking about there buddy?" Annie asked as she swam over in his direction.
"Oh nothing, just how much you are going to hate me when I do this!" George replied as he sent a splash in the direction of her face.
"Hey! Not fair!" As she splashed back.
*****
After a few minutes of the splash war, they called a truce and Annie retired to her lounge chair while George continued to fight the ocean currents. He looked out at the blue surrounding him and thought about all of the promises he made his friends this summer. This was supposed to be his summer of ho-dom. Although it was against his better judgment, he had decided he would give it a go if the situation presented itself.
He swam back to shore and he and Annie gathered their things and went back to the hotel. They dressed for the evening, Annie wearing a brown jersey knit dress and George a midnight blue linen shirt and linen khakis. Both looked the part of the American tourist, but it bothered neither of them. They hopped on the bus and headed to the town of Oia.
"Oh, I can't wait," Annie said happily. "I have been waiting to try this restaurant since we made our travel plans to Greece."
"Okay," George said. He didn't care one way or another where they ate. But if his friend was happy, that's all that mattered.
They found their way to the restaurant, a small place with an upper and ground level patio overlooking the caldera and the Mediterranean. They were seated by a friendly Greek woman, who placed them on the upper patio near the railing, so they had an excellent view of the impending sunset.
"This view is amazing!" Annie commented, elation resounding in her voice.
"So is he," George commented as he looked around the restaurant spotting a tall man, mid 20's, his hair fashioned in the chunky spikes—the "in" hair fashion in Europe. He had a good day or two of stubble on him; a patch of chest hair shown through his oversized untucked white Oxford shirt. A gold cross glinted in the diminishing sun, his long legs accentuated in tight black pencil jeans and his sporty silver Nike tennis shoes.
"Oh God, here we go again," Annie commented, "I am so going to buy you an escort. I can't take you when you get like this."
"Oh, whatever. He's straight. It's fine." George retorted. Being in Greece, his gay-dar was not working at all because most of the European men looked gay anyways, so he just didn't bother.
Elena, the woman who had seated them, brought them menus and following her was the swarthy man. George looked up at his face, into his big brown eyes; the man smiled and George just melted.
"My name is Gianni, and I will be helping Elena tonight," Gianni said in his accented English, as he put some water and bread on their table.
As Elena and Gianni walked away, George commented to Annie, "I usually don't like hairy guys, but damn, he is uber hot!"
"Will you just decide what you want to eat and stop drooling over our waiter!" Annie exclaimed, exasperated at her friend.
"Sorry," George said. "I will stop talking about boys. It's just there are so many cute ones here and I can't tell if they are gay or straight, and I am horny."
"TMI!" Annie said, glancing up from her menu.
George just smiled and they continued with ordering and eating their meal, while Annie watched the gorgeous sunset and George watched Gianni help the other patrons. Toward the end of dinner, Annie raised her glass and made a toast.
"To best friends," Annie said, raising her wine glass.
