Bette was overthinking all these things in the hot Santorini sun. Tina had taken her here after the said stressful school year to relax and unwind. They would spend eight blissful days by the pool, doing one excursion only. It was perfect.

It was the first week of July and it wasn’t too busy at the hotel. Tina had booked Kamari Beach. She couldn’t afford the luxury of five stars with her teacher’s wage, but Bette didn’t care about that. She knew that there were much shabbier hotels than this one. It was clean and interesting – they had got lost numerous times. Their appointed room had been under ground level, giving both of them the feeling they were staying in a basement. The room was tiny and they didn’t see how they’d be able to get rid of their suitcases and still walk around. The only window gave sight of a wall that came up to the path. Tina, who felt she deserved more for the money she had given, had immediately gone to the reception. They had arrived at night, so that night they had spent in the basement-like room, but the following morning they got appointed a room that had three beds and thus offered enough space. Both women were elated when they saw their new room had enough space, a more spacious bathroom and a small terrace which gave sight to beautiful trees and was actually on the first floor.

The food was okay, the pool was large enough. Bette had enver known that Tina was so fond of swimming, but she enjoyed it tremendously. She always tried to prepare herself for the sight of Tina emerging from the pool, the droplets of water streaming down her body that was glistening in the sunlight. She always failed to prepare for that. 

They soon found their routine. They would get up around 8 am to get their breakfast. With breakfast, the first obstacle of the day came. There were three waiters. They had made up names for each of them. Firstly, there was Manuel, an older Spanish-looking man, not very tall. His black hair wasn’t as volumous as it had probably once been and his skin was very tanned, obviouslt exposed to the sun for many years. He was friendly and polite.
There was also Kenny. Kenny looked like an enormous dork. He never smiled, just did his job with all the seriousness he could probably muster. His forehead was high and his hairline rather to the back of his head. As Manuel, he was polite, but he wasn’t as charming and loose as his older colleague.
Finally, there was Hairy. They called him like that because Tina had seen his name plate on the first day, misreading ‘Hairi’. Hairy looked like a cheesy country singer, always a smile he probably thought charmed all the ladies plastered on his face. He did everything with large gestures, winked and chatted with all the female customers, even the old grannies. To Bette and Tina’s annoyance, he obviously hadn’t noticed that they were a couple. They had kissed in front of his face, but he seemed to think it was just a trick to keep him off. He had already asked Tina if she wanted to join him for a drink one night, the next day he tried to pick up Bette. He was shameless, cocky, self-assured, blind for reality and absolutely disgusting.