Page 73 of More Than Just Friends

‘Do you want to go clubbing later?’ he blurted out. ‘I guess that’s what Mykonos is known for.’

‘I…’ I snapped myself out of the illicit thoughts that had just been swimming through my head and tried to focus on answering his question. ‘I’m not sure that I feel like clubbing.’ I wrinkled my nose. ‘Unless you want to?’

‘Nah. I’m happy just to explore the main town and play it by ear.’

‘Me too. We can do a bit of sightseeing, then just see how we feel…’

My voice trailed off as I realised that the end of my sentence had a double meaning. We’d said earlier that we’d talk about how we felt about each other. And now that we didn’t have any other guests around us, there was nothing to hold us back from discussing everything.

‘Sounds like a plan,’ Noah confirmed.

The silence returned and to avoid my mind taking another unauthorised detour down filthy-thoughts street, I stared out of the window.

I’d noticed on the short journey to the hotel that Mykonos was a much flatter island than Santorini, so I felt more comfortable taking in the sights.

We passed various whitewashed buildings including multiple hotels, as well as restaurants and bakeries.

It didn’t take long to get to Chora and the first thing that caught our eyes when we stepped out of the car were the windmills.

There were several striking cylindrical whitewashed stone structures lined along the seafront with small windows, topped with conical thatched roofs and dark windmill sails at the front.

We headed straight over then took dozens of pictures of the windmills and the stunning sea views.

‘Let’s head over to Little Venice,’ Noah said.

‘Little Venice?’ I frowned thinking he’d got the wrong country.

‘That’s what the area over there is called.’ Noah pointed to some old buildings positioned directly on the edge of the sea with water splashing right at their foundations.

Although they had the traditional whitewashed walls, many had colourful blue shutters and balconies.

Judging by the huge volume of people I could see enjoying food and drink along the waterfront, a lot of the buildings were now bars or restaurants.

‘It’s called Little Venice because the old fishermen’s houses there were inspired by Venetian architecture and if you look at the two- or three-storey buildings and the balconies that hang over the seafront, it has a similar vibe to the views you get in Venice too. We’ll have a look around in a bit.’

‘Cool. And after that maybe we can find somewhere to get something to eat? I’m starving.’

‘Sure.’

Just as we walked down the slope towards the sea and the entrance to Little Venice, I gasped.

‘Oh my God! It’s a pelican!’ I grinned, taking in the sight of the bird with peachy-white feathers.

‘Cool! I was hoping we’d bump into Petros!’

‘Petros? Where? I can’t see him. Isn’t he back at the hotel?’ I asked.

‘No!’ Noah laughed. ‘That’s Petros!’ He pointed to the pelican. ‘He’s the mascot of Mykonos. That’s why you’ll see pelicans on souvenirs and stuff associated with the island. I was reading about it on the boat and apparently the OG Petros was a wounded pelican that was rescued in the late 1950s. Sadly he isn’t alive any more.’

‘Oh no!’ I said.

‘Yeah. Got hit by a car I think, but after that, the island received new pelicans who’ve carried on the tradition. This is where they normally hang out – around the windmills, port and Little Venice.’

‘You’re a right little font of knowledge!’ I smiled.

‘I try.’ Noah did a little bow.

‘Are we allowed to take photos?’ I asked. Noah tipped his head to the crowd of tourists enthusiastically holding up their phones and cameras. ‘Ah, that answers my question!’