Ciara awoke feeling like there was a sodden blanket laid over her emotions. Memories of the previous night came flooding back and her heart started feeling heavy in her chest. She might be going back to Ireland today, never to see Jie again. The depth of her depression made it hard for her to even move from the bed. She stayed put, intending to wallow in misery for even longer when her mother came out of her bedroom and pulled open the curtains letting the brilliant sunshine flood into the room. Ciara squinted as the bright light assaulted her eyes.
'Come on, up out of bed,' her mother said.
Ciara slowly pulled herself into a sitting position in the bed and swung her legs over the side. 
'Get dressed now, there's eggs in the fridge and bread for you for your breakfast,' her mother told her.
Ciara nodded. Her mother's commands added stress to her misery and she sat nearly paralysed staring at the floor.
Her mother took a look at her and sighed heavily before going back into the bedroom she shared with Ciara's father.
Ciara buried her face in her hands for a second before summoning the willpower to pull on some clothes and get her breakfast. Despite it being as sunny and bright a day as any during her stay in Crete, the world seemed a darker place to Ciara as she ate at the little table in the apartment's kitchenette.
Her parents came out of their room.
'Right, we're heading down to the beach now Ciara,' her mother said. 'We'll let you know our decision later on.'
And with that, they left.
Ciara sat at the table, brooding over what her parents decision might be. She thought again of how she was potentially never to see Jie again and this time a fear gripped her heart. How was she supposed to go on with life in Ireland knowing he was out there and she couldn't be with him? She would have her memories of what had happened here in Crete and would be forever haunted by thoughts of what might have been. She felt her face pale at the thought and sobs welled up in her gut, wrenching through her as tears started pouring down her cheeks.
'Ciara? Ciara?' she heard a beautifully familiar voice coming from outside.
She stopped and looked up in shock.
'Ciara?' came the voice again.
She got a sudden flashback to sitting in school studying Romeo and Juliette, which made her a bit giddy for a moment. She leapt up from the chair, ran out onto the balcony and there was her golden sun god. He'd come to visit her in her confinement, how romantic. She smiled.
'Hey,' Jie said 'What's going on? Kirsten just told us you wouldn't be around anymore.'
Ciara felt anger bubbling up in her gut at Kirsten.
'She told them,' she spat out.
'Told who what?' Jie asked.
'My parents. She told them that I've been hanging around with you last night when we were having dinner,' Ciara explained.
'Oh,' Jie said, his eyes widening in comprehension.
'They're really angry...' Ciara said 'They told me I have to stay in the apartment and they might be sending me back to Ireland.' Ciara started crying once more.
Jie muttered a curse.
Ciara walked over to the balcony railing and reached out for him. He reached back and then they were hugging. Ciara held on tight, crying the more she thought of how this might be the last time she ever did so. She looked over Jie's shoulder then, hoping her parents were down at the beach and not anywhere where they could see this happening. She pulled back from the hug and looked Jie in the eye.
'I'm sure you'll have a lovely rest of your vacation without me though,' Ciara said. 'You still have your friends here and everything...maybe you could even patch things up with Kirsten...'
Suddenly his lips were pressing hard against hers. Ciara felt a light and a heat flood through her whole body. She was lost in the moment and the sensation of his lips pressing against hers.
Jie pulled back and Ciara found herself unable to stop smiling. Jie smiled an intimate little smile in return.
'This is even better than Romeo and Juliette,' she said in her delirium.
'What?' Jie asked in bewilderment. 
'Nothing,' said Ciara, leaning in to kiss Jie again.
They kept kissing and kissing, each one addicted to the taste of the others lips. 
Ciara wanted it to go on forever but then worry started creeping into her mind. She broke away and looked around anxiously. If her parents came and caught her and Jie like this she would be straight back to Ireland for sure.
'What's wrong?' asked Jie.
'You have to go...' Ciara said
'If my parents come back and find you here...' her voice got higher in her anxiety.
'It's okay, it's okay,' Jie reassured her.
He hugged her tightly.
'Everything will be alright,' he said into her hair.
Ciara still had her worries but for the moment let his words soothe her mind. She smiled up at him.
'You've gotta go now though,' she said again.
He looked around himself now and then back at Ciara reluctantly.
Ciara forced herself to stay calm and not let any of her tears out or he would really never leave.
'It's okay, I'll see you later hopefully,' Ciara said, summoning her own strength for Jie's sake.
'You'd better,' Jie said, smiling.
He kissed her one last time before jogging off.
Ciara watched him go, her vision getting blurry as her eyes teared up. She hoped so much that that was not the last time she ever saw him.
She walked back into the apartment. She was happy, so happy, that she had had that moment with him. She lay down on the bed, closed her eyes and relived it over and over again. She just hoped now that it would not be something she had to relive for the rest of her life because she could not really see Jie any more.
She sighed heavily. She sat up on the bed and looked around the apartment. Time was going to pass slowly in here while she waited for her parents. She turned on the television. She couldn't understand a word of any of it but it was better than nothing. She began amusing herself by making up her own facetious storylines for what was happening on the screen. The long haired black dude who was sad that the blonde chick wouldn't eat his cake was complaining to the curly brunette whose phobia of tea shops was causing her to act out in a passive aggressive manner when Ciara heard another voice outside the apartment. Her brow furrowed in consternation, she walked out onto the balcony half hoping and half fearing that Jie had returned for more kisses. To her twin relief and disappointment it was Brandon she saw standing on the grass in front of the balcony this time.
'Brandon?' she said in surprise.
'Hi,' he said.
'What are you doing here?' Ciara asked.
'Jie told me the trouble you're in with your parents. I feel terrible, it's my fault any of us went skinny dipping in the first place and now you're...' he broke off as Ciara cut across him.
'No, don't worry about it, Brandon,' she said firmly.
He was about to say something else but stopped and looked at her.
'Listen, I want to thank you for helping me hang out with you guys when I could,' Ciara said 'I might be in a lot of trouble now but I had so much fun with you guys and wouldn't change any of it for the world.'
Brandon smiled.
'No problem, Ciara,' he said 'You're a sweet girl and we've all enjoyed meeting you.'
He stopped then and looked like he was thinking seriously for a moment.
'Except maybe Kirsten...' he said.
Ciara laughed and Brandon joined in.
Ciara then thought about just how true that was and her laughter died. She felt very sad again and stared disconsolately down at the grass, trying not to cry in front of Brandon.
'We're all going to miss you if you really have to go. Especially Jie,' he said softly.
Even in her sadness she could not help but smile at it his words. She looked up at him.
'I'd miss him...' she wanted to say more but stopped, feeling a sob threatening to burst out of her.
Brandon walked over and patted her awkwardly on the back.
Ciara was unable to hold back the sobs any more and turned from Brandon.
'I have to go,' she said walking fast back into the apartment.
'Ciara wait...' Brandon said.
She kept walking and shut the balcony door behind her. She threw herself down on the bed then, the sobs ripping out of her. She felt angry then, angry at her parents for being so uptight and strict with her. She had been a good girl her whole life, always got good grades, always did her chores, always kept curfew...this one time on vacation when she tried to have a little bit of fun they had to come down on her so hard. She sat on the bed, sniffling when a ping from her phone distracted her from her present troubles. She picked it up and smiled slightly seeing a text from her friend Lisa.
'Hey babe, hws ur hols goin??? Soz I havn't txtd in so long...bn havin sum mad craic in Ibiza!!! Hws it goin wit de hot Aussie??? ;)'
'Mite b cumin home sooner dan I tot :(,' Ciara typed.
'Wat??? Y??? Is sumtin rong???' she got the reply.
'De parents rn't 2 happy wit me,' Ciara typed.
'Y wat did u do?' Lisa sent.
Ciara looked at her friends message on the screen, wondering what she would think if Ciara told her the truth.
'Jst sum skinny dippin nd d hot guy from Oz waz dere,' typed Ciara.
':O' she read on her screen.
'U bad grl ;) :L' came the next text.
Ciara read light hearted text message on the glowing white screen and smiled, Lisa was always able to make her smile even in her down times.
‘Did he teach you the back stroke?’ came the next text followed by a laughing emoticon. 
Ciara felt her cheeks heat.
‘Omg Lisa!!’ she replied, with as many shocked face emoticons as she could fit into the text box.
Lisa replied with more laugh emoticons.
‘Der’s no shame in it,’ she replied ‘I had my own swimming session wit 1 of de guys here just last night!’
Ciara’s curiosity piqued, particularly in light of recent events.
‘Wat waz it lyk?’ she inquired.
‘Wat do u mean?’ Lisa texted back ‘Did u rly not do it wit de Ozzie guy?’
Ciara did not know how to tell her friend who had only just bragged about a recent conquest that she had not made it that far with a very handsome Australian as of yet. 
“We came close…” was all she wrote in the text. 
“Do u think u will?” came the next text from Lisa. 
Ciara heart thumped in her chest as though threatening to break free at the mistruth, but could not bring herself to tell the story of what really happened. 
“I hav to get to stay here 1st!!” she responded.
“Good luck, hun,” she read seconds after hitting send. 
“I'm gonna go now, it's time for more sun on the beach. Chat soon xxx.”
Ciara sighed and left her phone then. She felt then that she would certainly need all the luck she could find remembering her mother's anger last night. 
There was nothing to do now except wait for one of her parents to come and get her. 
The minutes dragged on forever in the space between her text conversation with Lisa and hearing her dad’s key in the door. He brusquely told her to come join him and her mother for 
lunch in the taverna.
Ciara squared her shoulders, let out a huge sigh and followed him down, shutting the door behind her. 
Her mother was sitting with a flagon of wine before her facing the sun. 
Ciara hoped that the wine and sun might help in softening her mother towards her. 
She took her seat across from her parents and fidgeted nervously as they ordered their food. 
Taking in their expressions from the corner of her eye she gathered that they were looking quite stern still. 
She continued fidgeting and looking everywhere and anywhere except in their eyes. 
‘Ciara,’ her mother began and she jolted to attention.
Her mother sighed at this.
With seeming difficulty she began to speak again. 
‘As you know we are very upset that you went behind our backs and spent time with the Australians when we had asked you not to,’ she said. 
Ciara felt a stab of guilt at this. 
‘We are especially upset that you,’ she continued. 
Ciara’s face flushed hot and red at this. She started determinedly down at her feet.
‘But you are still our daughter and we still care about you,’ her mother said in a much softer tone. 
Ciara looked up to see smiles on her parents faces. She felt her own lips curving into a smile in return.
‘We took you on this trip to celebrate you ending your school years, and this does mark the beginning of your adult life in a way, so we have talked about it and decided that we are not going to ruin the celebration and send you home. You can stay here with us and spend time with whoever you like, we only ask that you will be careful and respect us enough not to do anything too risky while on holidays with us,’ she finished.
Ciara felt a rush of joy as her mother again and then her spirits were quickly dampened again as she finished. 
Her parents waited expectantly.
She got up and gave her mother a hug and a kiss and then her father. 
‘Thank you so much!!’ she thanked them profusely.
‘Ah that’s alright,’ her father said gruffly but with a little smile on his face.
‘Just promise to be careful, won’t you?’ said her mother. 
Ciara grinned so widely she thought her face would split. 
Pure contentment filled every fibre of her being as she sat and ate with her parents that evening. 
She was staying! She was going to be able to see Jie some more. Her mother’s final cringeworthy request was embarrassing but still fair and totally worth more time even just talking to Jie in this place that seemed to have gotten even more beautiful and sunny all of a sudden. 
She could not stop smiling and her face very nearly split in two at the appearance of a familiar tall blonde figure approaching the taverna from the direction of the rooms. 
Her fresh feelings of gratitude and respect for her parents were the only thing that stopped her from jumping out of her seat and racing over.
Her mother looked at her, observing her suddenly brightened expression and smiled. 
“You should go to him and tell him your good news dear,” she said encouragingly.
Ciara’s father beamed.
‘Thanks!’ she called to them as she leapt out of her chair and raced over to Jie who looked up and smiled as she came towards him with a huge grin plastered on her face. 
He looked over to the table with her parents where she had just come from.
“So, everything sorted with your folks is it?” he asked, still smiling. 
Ciara nodded her head in response to him and he laughed delightedly and grabbed her up into a bear hug. 
“What did you say?” he asked. 
“I didn’t have to say anything!” Ciara exclaimed “I’m just off the hook!!”
Jie laughed and hugged her some more.
“Come on, I will buy you a drink to celebrate,” Jie said making for the bar. 
Ciara joined him and heard him ordering to sex on the beach cocktails giving her a little half smile.
“Are you trying to tell me something here?” she asked him coyly. 
He laughed. 
“Do you want me to be?” he asked in response.
For a moment the words Ciara’s mother had used echoed in her head, but looking into Jie’s sky blue eyes a bubbling excitement rose in her breast and everything else was forgotten. She found herself enjoying Jie’s company and experiencing the pleasant fuzz that alcohol brought for the first time in her life. 
As the evening went on she found herself getting giddier and giddier. The world seemed a perfect place as she chatted and flirted with Jie, the only down part being a cold looking Kirsten walking stiffly past but not before shooting a dark scowl in Ciara’s direction.
By the time the other guests had all gone to bed, Jie and Ciara were lost in conversation. Ciara noticed Jie’s hand on the bar countertop just gently touching her own and her heart started beating so fast. Jie started to lean in for a kiss and all thought left Ciara’s mind until they were rudely interrupted by one of Cretan waiters telling them they had to go as the taverna was closing. 
There was a moon shining tonight. It shone brightly onto the black sea and Ciara felt drawn to the silver sanded beach under it’s light. She felt Jie come up behind her and reached her hand back towards him, feeling the warmth of his encasing it. She smiled and turned. The natural good looks of his face were bathed in the moonlight and were elevated to ethereal beauty in its glow. She felt her breath catch her chest. His lips curled into a smile and he came closer, wrapping his arm around her waist.