"Is this cute blondie not riding with us?" Max sneered at Conan.    "Fuck you guys! I will sit with the women."    Conan pushed Rhea and sat next to her, facing me. I was beginning to wonder if something was going on between the two. While Marcus looked like his mom with lighter hair and skin, Rhea looked like her dad; hazel brown eyes with thick wavy hair that was dark brown. Her dark olive skin was glowing with health and right now it looked like her eyes were sparkling when she looked at Conan.

    A nice drive to some random destination around sunset time is one of my favorite memories with Jonathan. We used to hop into his mom's old car after classes. Sometimes we ended up at the rustic coffee shop where we broke up, and sometimes we used to leave town on a whim. One time we drove up to Milwaukee on a Friday evening with no set plan, well we had plans to go to a mutual friend's birthday party somewhere in Downtown Chicago. Somehow we ended up visiting all the best fall foliage spots in Wisconsin over that weekend. Life was spontaneous and carefree when I was with him.    I found myself reminiscing these good old times unexpectedly. I think every time I lost hope with Marcus, my mind shamelessly wandered back t

"This is a special casserole made with lamb brains, plenty of cheese, and I topped it off with this beautiful sea urchin that you can all see." My stomach lurched in disgust. "And oh! The most exciting one is coming up, I am sure Allena will love it; not sure if you ever tried it before Allena but peacock meat and eggs are considered a prized possession in Rome. They are very expensive." I was horrified by the names of the dishes rolling out of our host's tongue the following day at dinner. We stopped at some noble ally's home for food and bed who apparently loved to host fancy dinner parties. "... mixed with honey, nuts, raisins, cheese, and mint..." I tried to shut him off from my mind while looking for a simple salad on the dinner table. The host was trying to impress Marcus's father by cooking the most exotic and weird dishes that the Romans ostensibly loved. And then to my horror, he asked two of his servants to serve a little bit of everything into all of our

"What's so great about sunsets? Why do you love them so much?" Marcus asked me warmly, staring at the evening sky. He saw me get excited every day of this week around this time. Today's sunset was extra special. Rain clouds cleared out and the sky was painted in bold and fiery hues. Also, it was the first sunset that we were watching together, without sulking or ignoring each other. "It's not just about the sunsets," I told him, unable to express myself any better than that. We were huddled together in the corner of the boat. We had an early dinner and Marcus refused to stay away from me the entire time. He said it was to make up for all the lost time. I have been sitting on his lap all evening because he wouldn't have it any other way. Everyone, especially Rhea and Max, looked at us whenever they were bored and mocked us for being so extreme. We got on their nerves every day with our petty squabbles until this noon. "You two apparently like to do it everywhere except

"This should be made illegal! It's totally unacceptable!" Marcus protested. I was with him on this one. After sacrificing a pig and throwing nuts and what not at me saying fertility a hundred times, these people won't let us sleep together now. We both looked at our parents in disapproval. "Avia says today is not an auspicious day. The propitious time for it passed mid-afternoon." Maia tried to explain and Marcus looked at his grandmother threateningly. "Why didn't you tell me then, Avia? What can be more auspicious than the fact that we two are willing? You know how long it took for us to get here." "Ahem! Not long at all." Quintus chuckled. "Considering how you felt about her less than two fortnights back, I have to say this is going too fast!" "I know what I felt, and I was a piece of shit then. I am glad you aren't the in charge here, Quintus." Marcus scoffed at him and turned to my family. "Let's go with the rules of Allena's culture this time." He looked at m