Welcome To Crete Chapter 20

Adam tries to talk to Fay

Oh my god, did he really call her name out? Jen must have been fuming! It was quite flattering though. What was she thinking? It was scandalous!

She glanced up and to her consternation he was looking at her. She swallowed and held his gaze.

Did he know she knew?

Did she know?

A slow smile spread across his face and she looked down but couldn't help the smile that then spread across hers.

After a while she sensed him move away and she threw herself back into her work until she'd lost track of time once more.

"Come on, time we went to the tax offices before they close for the afternoon,"
Adam said, making her jump as he appeared in front of her desk.
"Okay, I've just about finished here anyway," she said casually.
She got up to leave and said goodbye to Ann who winked at her as she left.

There was an awkward silence in the car, which wasn't made any better when her phone beeped again. She took it out of her bag and checked the message. It was from Ann.

He's so infatuated with you!

She closed her phone suddenly and put it back into her bag. Adam looked across at her.
"You seem to be getting a lot of messages this afternoon," he observed.
She shrugged and then turned to him as an impetuous mood hit her. "So you and Jen, is there a new girlfriend on the scene then?"
He shot her a look. "No funnily enough there isn't"
"Ahh, have you had a falling out?" she said with mock sympathy.
"You know full well we have."
She shook her head. "And such a whirl wind romance too."
He looked at her suspiciously. "Fay, I hope you haven't been listening to any idol gossip."
"Adam, gossip finds everyone in this town eventually." She smiled to herself.
He narrowed his eyes at her. "You little minx! Do you make a habit of torturing men like this often?"
She shrugged.
"Well for what it's worth she got me horrendously drunk and seduced me," he sulked.
"Whatever you say Adam.... A likely story," she said under her breath.

They arrived at the tax office and followed an endless number of signs up a winding staircase.
"A word of warning, we still may be at the wrong office. They tend to send you on a wild goose chase in here," she informed him, walking up to the reception desk. "Thelo Afome parakalo," she asked the woman.
"Den ine edo," came the reply.
Fay frowned. "Pou ine?"
"Apo'do," the woman said, pointing in the general direction of the stairs. Fay looked back at her incredulously.
"Pou ine akravos?" she asked.
"Apo'do, apo'do," the woman said impatiently.
Fay turned to Adam. "Apparently it's back where we came from somewhere, don't ask me where because she won't tell me."
She looked back at the woman. "Den milo poli Elinika, milate Anglika?"
The woman tutted. "Ochi."
Fay glared at the woman and she eventually sighed, moving to an office behind.
"Okay, she may be finding someone who speaks English, or she may just be going for a coffee. Who knows?" Fay told Adam.
"Interesting system they have here," he said sarcastically.

The woman came back a couple of minutes later and motioned to the seats behind them.
"Peri meni ena lipto."
Fay sighed. "She wants us to wait."
They sat down and Adam glanced at her. "I thought you said you didn't speak much Greek."
"If I spoke a lot of Greek we wouldn't be sat here waiting for god knows what," she commented.
"Point taken," he said, crossing his arms and slipping down in his chair.

Twenty minutes later and still no one had approached them.
"You want to go ask her?" Fay suggested to Adam.
Adam looked at her in shock. "I don't speak a word of Greek!"
She grinned. "Well you've got to learn sometime, just say 'thelo afome'."
"You're kidding aren't you?"
"No Adam, come on repeat after me," she said teasing him, "Thelo."
"Thelo," he tried.
"Afome."
"Afome, Fay I'm not going over there. The woman gave you enough trouble and you speak some Greek."
"Come on Adam, you should be used to women giving you hell after this morning. Besides you just need to put on that charm of yours and she'll fall into your lap."
He put his arm over the back of her chair. "Why haven't you fallen into my lap yet then Fay?"
She shrugged. "I Guess I know you too well now."
He moved closer to her on the chair and watched her face as she stared straight ahead.
"Think I'll wait and see what happens."

His eyes continued to scrutinize her but she refused to look at him.

God he wished he knew what she was thinking.

He eventually gave up and leant back in the seat, resting his head against its back. Her eyes shot to him and he sensed it immediately looking back at her. She kept her eyes on him for a moment and then moved them away.

What was going through that head of hers?

He moved his hand down to the nape of her neck and tentatively played with the curls that fell there. She kept her head still but moved her eyes to his fingers and then back again. He wound his fingers through a curl for a while and then his hand dropped to her shoulder where he stroked the skin there. Her head turned to him then with a questioning look. He shrugged and dropped his hand.

"You don't know me as well as you think Fay."
She kept her gaze on the desk opposite. "Really?"
"You know why I ended up with her last night don't you?"
"Sure, I understand all about men's frustrations."
"Hey, it's nothing to do with that. And women have just as many frustrations Fay," he pointed out. He watched her profile. "Look I'm not the womaniser you make me out to be. I haven't been with a woman for a while."
"Well, you'll be all right for a bit then now, won't you?" she said sarcastically.
He shook his head and rolled his eyes. "I wanted to be with you, you know that. She wouldn't leave me alone."
"Well maybe you should have left her alone," she said suddenly turning her head to him.
"Why, are you jealous?" he asked suddenly.
"No, not in the least. It's none of my business who you sleep with," she replied casually.
He suddenly became impatient with her. "Are we going to continue with this awful tension? Because despite the mistakes I made I actually thought we were getting on really well."
Her eyes fell to the floor as she considered his comment.
"I know that we have only recently met but I feel I can trust you and that means a lot to me," he said with sincerity.
She could feel herself weakening then so she finally got up to speak to the woman behind the counter again.
"Downstairs! Fine," she growled at the woman.

"You're not going to believe this but after all that, she's told us to go downstairs, floor two. Why she couldn't have just said that in the first place beats me!"
Adam sighed and moved back out into the corridor. "Come on, lets take the lift," he said as the lift door opened and a couple walked out. They entered the lift, along with two more women who joined them. They began to descend but stopped on the fourth floor and the door opened to another group of people who pushed their way in.
"I don't think this lift will carry any more people," Adam said under his breath.
"I think you're right," she replied, looking up at him. He grinned down at her as two more people began to enter on the next floor and she was nudged towards him.
"Fate is conspiring against you today Fay, you're going to have to get closer to me."
She rolled her eyes and he laughed, putting his hand on her back and moving her towards him to make more space.
"It's not that bad is it?" he asked.
"I just hope to god no one else gets in!" she replied wryly.
He grinned. "Don't go taking advantage of me now Fay, I'm only a weak willed man remember," he said teasing her.
"Ha, very funny."
His eyes flitted over her face and he bent his head to her ear. "Of course if you can't resist, what's a man to do?" His lips brushed her ear as he spoke.

Suddenly they noticed that the lift was emptying and Fay went to move out but realized as she did that they had gone past their stop to the ground floor.

Oh good grief!

She pressed the button for the second floor again.
"We've gone past haven't we," came Adam's voice behind her.
She stood facing the door, trying not to laugh. Adam on the other hand laughed loudly.

This is ridiculous!

She put her head down, barely stopping the laughter that was building up inside her.
"You're laughing aren't you?" he said, trying to get a glimpse of her expression.
"No," she managed to get out.
He caught her by the waist and turned her around to see the smile on her face.
"It's you distracting me again!" he chuckled as he began to tickle her in the ribs. She burst into laughter then and tried to get his hands away.
"Don't do that, I have very sensitive sides!" she howled.
"And that information is supposed to make me stop is it?" he grinned, tickling her more.
She grabbed hold of his hands and held them at arm's length.
"Come on, no fair!"

He watched her smiling and panting for breath.

He hoped she was okay with him now. No more arguments from then on.

They got off at the second floor and once again Fay asked a woman at the front desk where they needed to be. The woman was a little more helpful this time and she pointed to a long queue of people at the other end of the room. They both looked at the queue with disdain but moved to join it nonetheless.
"Fay, you didn't tell me it was going to be this torturous, perhaps we should have put aside a whole day!"
"For future reference, all offices run like this. You probably won't even get much sorted out today but you'll be one step closer in the long, long process you'll have to go through."
His eyes widened. "Good god, it sounds horrendous!"
She patted his arm. "It's okay, I'm here to give you my best expert tips on how to get the most done in one visit."
He looked down at her hand on his arm with a smile and then suddenly grabbed it, putting her arm through his.
"You won't leave me here alone will you?"
She giggled. "By the way what time is it?"
He looked at his watch. "Five to two, why?"
"Errr... well... I hate to tell you this but they close at two."
He looked a little shocked for a moment. "Yes but surely they will see everyone in the queue first. Won't they?"
She gave him a doubtful look and gestured with her eyes towards the line, which was now beginning to look more like a crowd as people gave up queuing and began pushing to the front.
Adam sprung into action. "Come on Fay, we've got to beat them to it!"

He pushed her in front of him and urged her forward with his hands on her waist.
"Adam, we can't just push past like this."
"Why not? They are. Looks like it's survival of the fittest in here. Here, get into that space." They weaved past some more people and slotted into a gap further down the queue. "Look there's an old lady over there, I'm sure we could get past her."
She looked back at him with a shocked expression. "Adam!"
He laughed. "I'm only joking, but if we can get that far we'll let her go first."
"Are you serious?"
"Deadly serious," he said aiming for the woman and getting a few angry glares on the way.
"Oh no, the man is preparing to shut," she exclaimed.
"Oh hell, dive for it Fay!"
She laughed backwards at him and shook her head. "You know that we aren't going to make it don't you?"
"Don't give up now!" he said desperately.

They finally only had two people between themselves and the counter when the man put a closed sign on the desk and walked away. She turned around to look at him.
"Well that was a very good example of what usually happens in a tax office. It's a good learning experience," she laughed.
He put his hand over her shoulder and turned them back towards the exit.
"And we were so close too!"