"This boy is going to be the death of me," Winter grumbled into her new stress pillow.

She was surprised she actually survived two days with Carter in Athens. The museum director had let them get a taste of Greece before they had to retrieve the mask. On their first day, the day they arrived, they took a quick two-hour nap and did just about nothing besides eating at a restaurant thirty seconds away. And the day after they went around on the metro to visit other parts of Athens to get a quick view of the whole place.

They had just come back from walking around and seeing what the locals were up to. It was almost impossible to walk down the street and not make eye contact with anyone. Winter was reminded of when she would break apart anthills and thousands of ants would come spilling out of the dirt. She would take a jar and quickly scoop up the ant-filled dirt.

    Winter was a history nerd and forced Carter to buy two tickets that gave them access to the ancient ruins that riddled the city. They visited the Acropolis, Kerameikos Archaeological Site, Stoa of Attalos, Temple of Hephaestus, the Ancient Agora of Athens, Hadrian's Library, and the Roman Forum. The whole thing took almost two hours. The walking was fine. It was just navigating their way through the city. The moment they got back to the apartment, Winter collapsed on the bed.

    They had just got back from visiting the Acropolis. Winter smiled as she looked back at their hour-long visit. She kept running around, telling Carter what the building meant to the ancient Greeks and other special discoveries that were made. Obviously, she took several pictures. Whenever she wanted to picture something that was out of her reach, she would drag Carter off the marble bench he was sitting on, and make him take the picture. While they were there, Winter decided she would create her own special picture collection. She dubbed it "Sunglasses in Greece".

    Her memory wasn't as good as Carter's, which was why she always took photos. Of course, she could just Carter what happened at a specific time but Carter couldn't be with her always. She had to learn to ride her bike without its training wheels.

    "That doesn't make sense, does it?" she thought, "Whatever, it's not like anyone can read my mind. Or can they?"

    After that thought, she had looked at the sky. Carter looked at her, obviously confused.

    "What?" Winter asked him.

    "Why are you looking at the sky like it said something?" he hugged her from behind.

    "Why not? It makes me seem more interesting to other people. Or it makes me look weirder. At least it keeps people away from me, right?" she turned toward him.

    Carter furrowed his brows, "You do know 'weirder' isn't a word, right?"

    "But you understood me, yes? Therefore, it is a word. Know what shouldn't be a word? Bologna," Winter pronouncing it as "bo-lahg-na".

    Carter let go of her and thought about that, "Yeah, you're right. More weird sounds strange doesn't it."

    "Yes, yes it doe- Oh wait!"

    Carter groaned and ran after Winter, who had just taken off after seeing something.

    "See this?!" she pointed while jogging.

    "Yes, I do. It's an old temple," Carter answered.

    "Well, yes, but THIS is the Erechtheion!"

    "Say what?" Carter looked like he was about to laugh.

    "Yeah, yeah, I know. Haha! It sounds like erection! Woo! That's hilarious!" Winter faked a laugh, "Haha! C'mon, let's get this over with."

    Carter burst out in laughter, "IT'S CALLED THE ERECHTHEION! OH GOD, WHY?! OF ALL THINGS! HA!"

    Winter looked at him unimpressed, "You done?"

    "Yeah, yeah, hold on. Almost done," he put his hands on his knee to support him as he leaned over and whispered, "Oh gosh, they called it the Erechtheion. Mmmmm, I can see it already, 'Hey, Ma! I wanna go to the Erechtheion!'. Oh, their poor parents. Ha! Nope,  uh uh uh, not gonna laugh. Not gonna laugh. Alright. I think I'm done," he stood back up.

    "Really?"

    "You're right, I'm not," Carter said through his teeth as he grinned and scrunched his nose, "Pshh, alright. Now, I'm done-done. Double done."

    "Alrighty," Winter pointed towards the statues that faced the crowd, "See those ladies?"

    "The one with no arms, right?"

    "Yeah, them. They're called Caryatids. Caryatids are an umbrella term for any draped female used to support a structure."

    "Wait, why are they called 'Caryatids'? That's a really random thing to call something."

    "Well, Caryatids represented women in Caryae, who were subjected to hard labor," Winter snapped a photo of them.

    "Huh, that's cool."

    "It is, isn't it?"

    They stood in front of the Caryatid portico for a little longer. After a while, they headed back to the apartment.

    "Yo, Minty Fresh," Carter called out from just outside the doorway, breaking Winter from her trance-like state.

    "Mmhm?"

    "I'm going to get some food and water that should be able to keep us alive for the next couple of days."

    "Duhmuphphuhavfudo. Athlungasitkepsuhsaliv."

    "What?" he poked head into the room, "What the fuck did you just say?"

    Winter lifted her head from the pillow but kept her eyes closed, "I said, 'Do what you have to do. As long as it keeps us alive.'"

    "Well, alrighty then. Whatever you say."

    Thankfully, there was a little grocery store a short one minute walk away. Winter knew this because of Carter's handy-dandy informative paper about Athens. In it, he had included useful places close to the apartment. Such as stores and restaurants. Even though the grocery store was, if anything, less than one minute away, it took Carter almost ten minutes to return. In that time period, Winter moved from the bed to the couch. It was a grey and very comfy couch. The moment Winter sat on it, she knew only an outside force could get her up. Even so, if she were to fall asleep on the bed, she knew that she would find a way to sleepwalk to the couch. Winter then turned on the TV to see if anything that was in English was on. Much to her approval, NCIS was streaming. A show on her top ten favorites. Of course, nothing could ever be better than Psych or Criminal Minds. After six minutes, Winter heard a knock on the door.

    "Wintah! Open the door, please! I got a goon!"

    Hearing Carter's voice, she swung her legs off the couch so waist up she was still laying on the couch but waist down she was kind of sitting. To her, only a true intellectual could perform such a task. Then, without the help of her arms and hands, she used the momentum of her legs to help herself off the couch. It was like a side-ways kip-up. Truly a strange thing to watch, as Carter would say. All this happened in less than a second. As soon as her whole body was perpendicular to the floor, she made her way to the door and helped Carter bring in food and drinks. After her heard would stop ringing, of course. Winter had no idea why that would happen, but she was convinced it was a tiny little demon who would yell right into her ear whenever she got up too fast.

    "Tonight, we shall feast like royalty!" he said in a booming voice.

    "You got dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese," Winter took out the food from the plastic bags, "And you got boxed wine. Right, tonight we feast like poor college kids."

    "Whatever you say, Minty Fresh. Whatever you say," Carter said quietly while opening the microwave.

    She smiled slightly. Carter had always been on her mind since they first met. They had never really met on their own time but instead were introduced by a mutual friend named Ilizabeth. They always joked about the way her name was spelled. They never really found out why her name started with an "I". Winter would often refer to her as Iliad because of the spelling. Ilizabeth was a pretty girl. She had dark brown hair and eyes the color of chocolate. Speaking of chocolate, Winter remembered she hadn't yet finished the chocolate bar that Carter brought at the JFK airport. It was surprisingly very smooth for American chocolate. She always thought that European chocolate was, for some reason, much finer. Belgium chocolate was definitely the best chocolate.

    "Wintah?"

    "Yeah?"

    "Oh, I thought you spaced out."

    "I probably did."

    "Can you pass the chickie nuggies?" Carter extended his arms and wiggled his fingers.

    "Why are you like this?" Winter said pushing the chicken nuggets across the table.

    "Well," Carter threw a nugget into his mouth, "When you're raised in a family that's, like, super-rich, you eat tiny portions of everything. You try eating small portions of literally EVERYTHING!"

    "Even cereal?"

    "Ohoho, we didn't have cereal. We had omelets, bacon, and avocado," Carter sighed as he shook his head, "Fricking rich people food."

Winter laughed and proceeded to scarf down her bowl of gooey awesomeness. She wasn't so sure if she had taken her Adderall but she quickly dismissed the thought. Oh, how she loved letting her mind wander to the far reaches of the universe. Adderall limited her wonderful brain. They were the bars that kept her brain activity at a low. She didn't like that. She wanted to be free and move. She didn't like being contained. She hated it. She was a free spirit. She wasn't like girls who liked to dress in skimpy clothing. She needed freedom. She needed clothing that allowed her to breathe and wouldn't crush her rib cage. It just wasn't helpful. And on the topic of clothing, why were women's pants pockets so small? She couldn't put crap in them, but she did have one pair of pants with huge pockets and she loved them.

    "Am I breathing? Do I ever actually know that I'm breathing? Do I have a little thingymabobber in the back of my head just saying 'BREATH DAMMIT'," her brain wondered.

    "Shut up," Winter whispered.

    "What? Do you not like Christmas songs?" Carter looked directly at her.

    "What?"

    "What?"

    "Wait, you were singing?"

    "Heh, what a silly accusation. Nooooooo. I was not singing."

    "Are you drunk?" Winter grabbed the boxed wine and noticed it was full.

    "No! I'm not even supposed to be drinking anyway. Kinda sucks but dat's okey."

    "Then, why'd you get the wine if you're not supposed to be drinking?"

    "For special occasions and controlled drinking. That's why."

    "Wait," Winter shook her head, "Special occasions? What special occasions?"

    "That, my dear Orbit Gum, is a secret surprise for later."

    "But, I wanna know!" Winter pouted.

    "Mmm," Carter drank some water, put the cup down, and continued, "That sucks."

    "You suck."

    "Winter."

    "YES, YES OKAY FINE. SAY IT."

    "That's your job."

    "I swear to Buggy," she put her head in her hands, "I will fucking strangle you tonight."

    Carter looked at her, "You do kn-"

    Winter glared at him, "You better shut up right now if you want to see the sun tomorrow."

    Carter put his hands up in surrender. Winter stared at him until she was very sure that he was not going to say anything else. She picked up a chicken nugget and bit off its head while keeping her eyes on him. He smiled until he realized which part of the dinosaur she ate. Seeing this, he sat up straight and shivered a little. Winter grinned. Oh, the power of chicken nuggets. Used correctly, anyone could control anyone with one.

————————————————————————

    "You gonna take a shower? 'Cuz I am," Carter said closing the bathroom door.

Winter was fine with that since she had already taken one earlier. She changed out of her day clothes and into her pajamas. If a random large shirt and exercise shorts count as pajamas, of course. Well, not a random shirt, per se. The shirt was a gift from Carter a couple of years back. He didn't want it anymore but Winter thought that the design was pretty. She could tell he was secretly questioning her judgment but gave it to her anyway. She yawned, got under the sheets, and started thinking. Although she liked thinking, it took away her sleep time. Which really sucked because Winter liked sleeping. She thought of what they would do tomorrow. Little sleep didn't bother her anymore as it was her normal. The past couple of days, Carter kept begging her to get more sleep. Easy for him to say. Winter stared at the ceiling but moved them away quickly because the lights were still on.

She started to wonder about how her brothers were doing. Markus and Brian. She was pretty sure her parents were also a big fan of history because their names reminded her of Mark Antony and Brutus. Winter smiled as she began to think about names. Perhaps, when she would get married and has a kid, she would name them Justin Time. Just for the fun of it. She could be making Justin's lunch and when he wakes, she could say, "Hey! You're Justin Time!". Oh, how he would hate her. Maybe she should avoid having a kid. That's an option, too.

Kids can be scary sometimes. Especially, teenagers. Winter shivered at the thought of them. To think she, too, was once a teenager. How terrifying. In the wise words of John Mulaney,  "Thirteen-year-olds are the meanest people in the world." And he was right. Winter was absolutely terrified of them. Thirteen-year-olds are only little jerk sprouts. By nineteen, they've sprouted into some mean flowers. Some don't explicitly show that they're mean, but the others, wow. They attack you like the end of the world is just around the corner. Of course, teenagers didn't scare Winter as much as pigeons.

She found them very interesting but meeting them in real life. Feed one of them, thousands of them gather around you. And the way that they coo. Winter hated that sound. It was always the same. There was never any variation. Observed from the pigeons that Winter had Carter scare away. Speaking of Carter, he was scared of sock puppets. He wasn't scared of them the same way Winter was scared of pigeons. He was just scared that they would leave him alone. And the best way to not be left behind by someone or something is to not befriend that someone or something. How did Winter know all this? Ilizabeth told her.

By now, Carter and she had already slept in the same bed thrice. Usually, she didn't like sharing a bed, but she didn't mind sharing with Carter because he was basically a human radiator. Winter, staying true to her name, was always cold for some reason. She thought about how she should get that checked out. At least she was able to stay somewhat cool in Athens.

According to Carter, Athens was hot. Winter agreed. Though she was always cold, even she could feel the heat. Along with being a good radiator, Carter was also a good thermometer. Whenever it was cold, he would shiver like crazy and attempt to cover up every inch of his skin. Whenever it was hot outside, he would curse about how he really wanted to take off his shirt. Either that or he would separate his arms to keep sweat away from the armpit part of his shirt. Or he would hold Winter's hand. It was like an ice pack that didn't melt. Though Winter didn't mind sharing a bed with Carter, she did mind how much he moved at night. And he moved a lot. He could be sleeping normally at night and somehow in the mornings, you could find his head on your stomach and feet dangling off the edge. And he called Winter strange.

"Huh, Carter and I really different," Winter thought, "I'm cold, he's hot. Icy hot!"

Carter entered the bedroom and turned off the lights. Winter looked at him. Even though it was dark, she could tell he was annoyed. Annoyed at his hair that is. From what Winter had observed, Carter didn't like having wet hair. Whenever his hair was wet, he would always try his best to get his hair out of his face. Once, he asked Winter to put his hair up using a hairband. Winter took her time doing this and made sure he looked his best when she was done. When she finished, Carter had a small ponytail sticking straight up into the air.

"Mmmm, what are we gonna do tomorrow?" Carter said as he got under the sheet and moved to hold her in his arms.

"I'm going to the museum to take a look at the situation. Why? What are you gonna do?" Winter whispered as she closed her eyes.

"Hm, glad you asked. I plan on meeting a really cute girl tomorrow. I met her today at the library place. Why? You jealous?

"No, because at least I get money."

Winter didn't show it but she did feel a bit jealous. She didn't know why but she did. Winter tried to shut up the tiny, green figure yelling and taunting her.

"You'll never be good enough! You're gonna die alone!" it yelled.

"Shah dah fuc ahppp," Winter replied in an annoyed fashion, "If I die alone, you die alone!"

"Not true actually, I have a girlfriend," it said.

Now Winter was truly confused. How was it possible that her imagination wasn't single like her?

"What does she look like?" she asked.

"Well, she's shorter than me. Probably around your height. She has really pretty eyes. They look like chocolate. Not that I'd eat them."

"Heh."

"Mhm, she also has a nice fashion sense. T-shirt and shorts. Basically what I wear. It's very casual and not flashy. She has really nice skin too. Very smooth lookin'."

Winter turned to face him, "What about her hair?"

Carter grinned, "That's my favorite part about her. She has pretty white hair. Oh, and Wintah?"

The green gremlin in Winter's head started to fade, "Well, damn it."

She sighed in relief, "Yeah?"

"Nightio."

"Mm, nightio, Audi."

"Spearmint."

"Kia."

"Please, no."

"Okie dokey."

*Yes, Sunglasses in Greece is a real thing

(The Acropolis)

(Stoa of Attalos)

(Roman Forum)

7-7-20
Oh dang, I forgot I put up the sunglasses pictures... uhhh here take another picture