"Toothbrush?"

"Yes, Mom," I sigh out. "I've got everything."

"Pajamas? You always forget your pajamas."

"I won't even need pajamas. It's hot as hell in Greece."

"So you're gonna make Vi suffer at the sight of you in your boxers. Poor girl."

I cast a look at her.

Her smile breaks through. "I'm kidding, honey. I bet she's not complaining at all. Anyway— what about your pillow?"

"Of course I've got my pillow." I hold it up, then clutch it tighter below my arm. "Trust me, I've got everything. Sage made me a whole list of things I had to cross off."

She relaxes a bit. "Okay, if you say so. Ohh, I'm just so anxious! What if your flight gets delayed? What if something happens to you? Is Vi's foot really healed? Are you—"

"Mom, I promise, it'll be okay," I assure.

"Sorry. Why does your first vacation without your parents have to be so far away?"

I shrug. "We'll make it some good eleven days and we'll be back before you know it." Crouching a bit, I look at her stomach. "How many weeks now?"

Today, it's the thirteenth of March, Wednesday. Sage's birthday is the nineteenth of March.

I turned nineteen almost two months ago already. Somehow, Sage got me more presents than she gave me on Christmas. From the smallest handmade things to more perfume.

She's searching for a job, so I don't know where she gets the money from. I do know she has had a piggy bank since her sixth, and she puts most of her money in there. She refuses to take anything out of it unless it's for presents.

"Thirty," Mom says. She lifts her shirt up, revealing the belly that is actually really big by now. "That's seven to twelve more weeks."

"I can't wait." A smile grows on my face. Then it gets replaced with a slight pout. "Why have all of you felt the baby move except for me?"

"Maybe you should take your time and not be so impatient. Your father held his hand on my stomach for twenty minutes before he felt something."

"Okay. I'm not leaving to Greece until I feel the baby," I say, pressing my hand to her stoma—

"Hey! You'll be late to your flight. You can do it when you get back." When she pauses, she frowns a bit. "I asked Vi for a list of baby names. Can you tell her to give it to me? I hope it's finished already."

"Will do."

☯︎︎

Once we're safely sitting in the plane, Sage pulls out the picture of the list she made. I've been asking what she suggested since I saw her. Now she can finally show me.

FOR A GIRL:
- Sadie
- Cora
- Saoirse
- Jade
- Maya
- Cecile
- Faye
- Estella (Stella)

FOR A BOY:
- Nolan
- Rome
- Cassian
- Silas
- Luca
- Clyde
- Seth
- Jett

"Jade," I say. "Absolutely perfect."

She shrugs. "I like them all. That's why I chose them."

"I'll have a Sage and a Jade."

She blinks at me.

"That's awesome, isn't it?"

"And then what, our child will be named Emerald?" She asks dryly.

"No, Clover or Hazel."

"Boys also still exist."

"Briar and Ash."

Her eyes squint a bit. "You've thought this through."

Now it's my turn to shrug.

"Are you sure blue is your favorite color?"

"Of course. That's my point. They're not going to steal blue from me."

"Wow, Steph." Sage chuckles in my shoulder. "But besides from Jade, which ones do you like?"

"How do you even pronounce that one?"

"Seeuh-shuh. Kind of like Sasha."

"...Seesha?"

"Sort of."

"How does that turn into..." I mutter, staring at the 'Saoirse'. "Okay, definitely not an option. Way too hard."

"What about the boy names?"

I inspect them for a while. "I like Nolan, Jett, and Clyde the best."

"Me, too. Do you want to know how long it took me to choose a few boy names? Way too long! Why are they so much harder than girl names?"

I shrug. "Seems like my parents also went with the most popular name of the year or something."

"I like your name, so it's okay." She snuggles closer to me, head resting against mine. "Let's watch a movie. I'm going to be sick if we talk the whole time we're flying."

Right. The flight is ten hours long.

I throw my head back. "I won't survive that."

"Don't start whining now. I thought we were free from crying babies," Sage teases.

"Not for long," I say, ignoring the fact she's referring to me as a crybaby. "Mom only has like seven weeks left of her pregnancy."

"Yes, Thomas, I know that." She turns on the little screen in front of us, scrolling through the list of movies they have. "Hm. Which one?"

"Just click one. I don't care."

"I asked you something and you're supposed to properly reply."

"I replied properly!" I defend.

"No, you did not," she murmurs below her breath. "Okay, this one."

The movie starts. Again, she rests against me, our fingers intertwined.

Ten minutes later, she leans forward again. "Another one."

Even though I was already getting into it, I nod. "Okay."

She clicks on something else, moves close to me, and watches for another ten minutes before it needs to be another one again.

"Maybe just try to watch for half an hour. Most movies are boring in the beginning," I suggest carefully.

Sage shakes her head. "What about this?"

"Anything's fine to me, honey," I assure. For a second, my heart seems to still. There's nothing wrong with the nickname, it just feels weird leaving my mouth. Mom always calls me that. This isn't the first time I'm calling her this, though.

"Sorry," she sighs. "I lose concentration every time."

Her leg has healed and she has regained most memories she lost, but the concentration thing is a real issue. However, she does sometimes forget little things, like what her favorite mug is, or food, or color.

I hate that I can't do anything about it but correct her. And the concentration is also something I can't help with. Therapy has been considered by Sage and her parents, though they haven't taken action yet. I think that after this vacation, she should go. It's for her own good.

Unless I can make this the best thing ever and she won't have to worry about anything the whole time.

I can get that done.

"It's okay," I say. "We don't have to watch a movie. Maybe try to sleep?"

"I'll try."

☯︎︎

About ten hours later, we're walking below the sun that I thought would be scorching, but isn't even that bad.

"Thomas," Sage begins confrontational, "you said it would like eighty-five degrees."

"Then Google lied to me," I say.

It's like sixty-four degrees.

"What exactly did you search for?"

"Greece weather in March."

"Are you sure you didn't search Greece's weather in May?"

"Uhm... not very sure."

Fuck.

"I packed summer clothes only! Just one pair of long pants and one long-sleeved shirt."

"I am so sorry." I rub my forehead. If there was a wall I could hit my head against, I'd do it. "But we can still make something out of it. Sixty-four isn't that bad."

"But it's the same temperature as in the US right now," she says. "There's no difference now— but okay. Yes. We'll make something out of it."

"I'm sure that when we go to the Cyclades, it's warmer there. We still have to take the boat, remember?"

"Remember?" She repeats with a small chuckle. The sound of it sends relief through my whole body; she's not too upset. "You have paid for this whole trip. All I knew before we left was that we'd be going to Greece."

"Right." I take her hand as we walk onto the port. "Well, relax and let yourself be surprised."

I have actually made a great planning for once! Today, we settle in the villa— we kind of relax and regain energy we lost during all the traveling.

The next day, we'll be visiting a museum before we go swim in the sea.

The day after that, I made a reservation for Sage at some kind of spa.

Then a bus tour through the island.

The fifth day, we're going on a sailboat. We'll stop at some point and go snorkeling— Sage is kind of scared of fish, so I don't know how I'm gonna convince her to do it yet, but it'll be fine.

In fact, she'll probably just try without any complaints, then get scared, but continue anyway.

The fourth day, I decided not to book anything. We can just chill at the villa and in the pool.

After that, it's her birthday. I've got plenty of activities we could do, but I'm going to let her decide, obviously. The only thing I arranged is a dinner at night.

We'll have another day at the villa after that.

Then a cooking class, which will take half of the day already. I think we'll also go swimming in the sea again, after the class.

Another relax day, unless she has an idea on what to do.

Then we have a guide who will show us some culture and history around the island.

Another relax day, and we'll also pack some things, because we're leaving the next day.

It cost me an insane amount of money, but it's okay. It's for her.

And her birthday.

But even if it had not been her birthday, I wouldn't have changed a thing.

"How many activities are we doing?" Sage asks. As she walks, she's almost making little jumps, her flowery dress moving along with her body.

"A lot."

"Do they take a lot of energy?"

"Not an extreme amount. You'll be fine."

"Okay. I guess the weather is actually perfect," she says cheerfully, looking around the place with big eyes. "This is so much more beautiful than the US already, and we're not even on the island yet. Thank you, oh my God."

"Not like I made this country, but yeah, of course. I'm glad you like it." My chuckle gets interrupted when she places a kiss on my lips.

"You're the best," she says. "I love you so much."

Before I can reply, she pulls away again. "Okay, we should make a picture. Our moms have sent way too many texts about our wellbeing already."

MOM ❤️

*click to download picture*
Don't worry, we're fine
We'll call y'all tonight

Oh, not necessary, hun. Just send a text and picture now and then. Other than, enjoy your time together. x

Okay, thanks ❤︎︎