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AUGUST 7TH, 2017 — ❝ I — LIKE — YOU. ❞

Greece was everything Eloise had imagined it to be.

The food was great, their hotel was wonderful, and sightseeing with Tom was even better. He understood that she wanted to take things slow, but Eloise was still afraid to tell him she was asexual.

The time will come, she reassured herself, the time will come and everything will be okay.

Right now, Tom was going to a shop to get Chris and Mark some souvenirs, which made Eloise laugh, but over the time of their trip, she'd been collecting souvenirs for her friends and father, too.

She was sitting on the couch on the balcony of their hotel room, that overlooked a cliff and the ocean. It was absolutely beautiful here. Eloise was currently jotting down ideas for a new novel, a fantasy novel that involved lots of traveling and a bit of romance. It was no secret that none of her books featured sex.

It also wasn't a secret that her science fiction and fantasy books weren't as beloved as her fiction books. Eloise looked up, remembering how people reacted to her first sci—fi—thriller, and put down her pen. The hate she'd received for that still upset her and made her uncomfortable.

So many people hadn't thought about how much time and energy she'd put into that book—it had been a spin off of Stars Awaken, an idea gifted to her by her father. People had called it unrealistic, for having three out of five characters coming from different races, one a robot, and another white.

Eloise had wanted to write a diverse novel, and so she had done so.

But the critics had plagued it with bad reviews, that the sequel practically drowned in them. There was supposed to be a graphic novel, and movie adaptation—but both of them had gotten canceled. It was a miracle the third and final book in the series had been published by Tor. If they hadn't, she would have had to self-publish it.

But, thankfully, in the year of 2017, it was being looked at for an adaptation. And she hoped it would be picked up.

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When Tom returned from the shops, he found Eloise in the kitchen of the tiny house they'd rented. "What are you making?"

"Oh, I'm just eating an orange," Eloise replied, turning around and showing him. He laughed, placing his bags on the table, and asked, "Did you get any writing done?"

"No, I got some planning done. I came up with a new idea for a book," Eloise replied, grinning. Tom came over, putting his arms on her hips, and exclaimed, "Ooh! Tell me about it!"

She laughed, and said, "Let's sit on the couch, and I'll show you what I have written down."

He smiled, and she set her orange on the counter, and then took his hand, leading him over to the couch on the balcony. "It's so beautiful here," Eloise said, sighing as they sat down. Tom smiled, sitting down next to her, and said, "I love it here. It never ceases to amaze me."

Eloise looked over at him, and smiled, and then handed him her journal. She watched him flip through, reading the words. He smiled when he started to realize that these ideas were drawn straight from their vacation, and he asked, "So, what are you calling this one? Do you have any ideas?"

"I don't know yet. I'm not sure, but I know I'll come up with something. Besides, I was wanting to ask you a question as well," Eloise admitted, and Tom looked over at her, handing back her journal. It was a question Eloise had been afraid to ask, but then she said, "In December, I'm releasing a book. I'll be going on a book tour for it around America, and possible around a small portion of Europe. Would you . . . Would you like to come with me?"

"You'd like me to come with you?" Tom asked, surprised. He got out his phone, texting his agent to ask if he was doing anything in December. "It would appear that my schedule is cleared for December through February." He put his phone away and grinned at her.  "I would love nothing more than to come along with you, Eloise."

"Good," Eloise replied, grinning. "Because I've kind of done something spontaneous."

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That "something spontaneous" was something Eloise had never done before.

She'd bought them tickets to go to Disneyland in California. "Not that there was anything wrong with Paris's," She rushed to explain as she saw Tom looking at the tickets on the table, "but I just wanted to go back to Disneyland with someone I really, really, liked."

Tom looked up, and asked, "So, when are we supposed to be going?"

"October 1st through the 7th. I, uh . . . " Eloise looked down at her feet, embarrassed. "I called your agent to see if you were doing anything those days, and he said you weren't. So, I booked us a room in the Grand Californian."

She blew out a breath. "I hope you like them."

"Like them? Eloise, I love it! I'm so sorry that this blew out so much of your money, too. I could have helped out with it—"

"No! I don't want you to spend so much money on me. This vacation was already so much," Eloise took a step forward, wrapping her arms around him. "I feel bad that you've spent so much money on the plane tickets, the hotel rooms, and all the stuff we've done. This is me repaying you for all of that. I got a really big paycheck for the first time, ever, and I wanted to spend it on something I'd remember."

Tom wrapped his arms around her, and said, "I can't wait to go to Disneyland with you. Of course, we still have four more days here, in Greece. Where would you like to go?"

Eloise smiled, knowing exactly where she wanted to go. "I want to go to a cave to swim in."

"We'll have to take a quick plane ride over."

She stepped away, saying, "I hope that's okay. And I hope you brought your swimsuit."

Tom grinned at her, and said, "And I hope you brought yours."

↠↠↠↠↠

Tom and Eloise looked at each other before grabbing a hold of each other's hands, and Tom asked, "Are you ready?"

She laughed, squeezing his hand, and put her other hand on her nose, and gasped, "Take a deep breath!"

They grinned at each other before holding their breath, and jumping in. The water was a soft, clear blue, and as Eloise emerged, taking a gasping breath, she saw Tom grinning at her. "We should probably get out of the jump zone," Tom said, and she laughed, laying on her back in the water and swimming away.

Tom swam alongside her, and asked, "Don't tell me you did swimming lessons when you were younger."

Eloise laughed again, and replied, "No, I just liked to pretend I was a mermaid. Swimming in my pool was an escape from reality."

"That's cute," Tom replied, and they sat down on some rocks. "Did you tighten your legs together to make a tail?"

Nodding, Eloise explained, "I was never able to get one of those tails that other girls had. So I improvised, I made my own tail out of old leggings I had."

"Can you still swim like a mermaid?" Tom asked, and Eloise grinned, and replied, "I guess we'll just have to see."

She jumped forward, arching her back, and pressed her legs together tightly. She held her breath, using her arms to pull her forward, and wiggled her legs. And just like that, she felt like a kid again. She came up for air, and looked behind her to see Tom swimming over to her, and he exclaimed, "That was amazing!"

She grinned, and asked, "What hidden talents do you have, Tommy boy?"

He cackled, and then said, "Let's see if I can become a mermaid!"

Eloise grabbed his hands, and they both held their breath before going underwater. Eloise swam ahead, showing him how she arched her back, and stuck her legs together, making sure one wouldn't bend while she swam.

He tried to copy, but wasn't nearly as neat and kept—together as Eloise. After they swam for another twenty minutes together, they climbed a ladder to get out of the cave, and grabbed towels from a worker who was handing them out.

They dried themselves, huddling into each other's warmth under the cloudy sky. Tom looked up, squinting as he said, "Where to now?"

"After all that swimming, I'm ready for a nap. How about you?" Eloise replied, and Tom hugged her, and replied, "I was hoping you'd say that."

She chuckled, and looked around, asking, "How are we going to get back to our house?"

Hearing Eloise say, "our house," made Tom blush, and his mind go crazy. He wanted to hear her say those words more often, but it was way to early in the relationship to bring up living together . . . The last thing he wanted to do was scare her.

"We're going to take the boat back," Tom explained, gesturing towards the wooden staircase that led them down the side of the mountain, and towards a small pier, where there was a boat with other passengers waiting.

They walked over to the edge together, and Eloise turned to Tom again, and said, "Thank you, again. For this trip. For all of it."

He grinned down at her, and replied, "Of course, Eloise. I'd do it over and over again with you."

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this book has almost four hundred reads?! omg thank you all!!!
also, a new thing: if you go back and look at each chapter, they have a song to go along with it :)