Scott was right. He had a lot of fun that night with his friends and he didn't think once about his ex. After their dinner, they moved on to the beach bar which belonged to the hotel and had more cocktails, danced and just had fun.
Since they were all a little tired from their day on the beach, they only stayed until midnight, but it was enough time for Scott to get tipsy enough to be able to stumble into his bed and fall right asleep. His phone was still lying on the table downstairs and he didn't mind.
Mitch, who had not drunk as much, kept an eye on his best friend and made sure that he brushed his teeth, drank some water and once he was in bed and sleeping, the smaller man went into his room. He heard Avi talk in his room and remembered that he had wanted to call Esther to talk about some family schedule.
On the way to his room, Mitch picked up Scott's phone and took it with him, not because he wanted to hide it from him, but because he didn't want him to turn it on and find another toxic message while he was alone. Because he couldn't sleep, he did some research on the ouzo thing Scott wanted to do. With the drama surrounding Nick, they had forgotten to ask at the reception and he decided to do it first thing in the morning.
~
When Scott woke up the next morning, he felt both disoriented and slightly hungover. He turned around and smiled slightly when he found a bottle of water and a pill on his nightstand. This was Mitch's doing and Scott loved his best friend for this.
He took the pill and emptied half of the bottle and then got up slowly. He looked for his phone but then remembered that it was downstairs and that it would be better to leave it there for the moment.
The blonde walked out on the balcony to enjoy the morning sun for a moment and was surprised when he saw Avi sitting there on the floor with his eyes closed.
"Good morning, Scott," the bearded man said suddenly, startling him.
"Good morning. What are you doing?"
"I'm meditating. It's the perfect way to start the day and especially with the sound of the sea it is very calming" Avi said.
"I didn't know you meditated," Scott replied. "Isn't it super complex and difficult?"
Avi shook his head. "Not at all. At least not for me. For me it is mainly about taking deep breaths, think or not think at all... there are no fixed rules. You should try it if you're interested. Just ten minutes of breathing and relaxing can make a huge difference sometimes."
Scott looked around and shrugged his shoulders. "Can I join?"
Avi chuckled. "Sure. Sit down."
Scott nodded and sat down about a meter away from the bearded man, cross-legged. "Okay and now?"
"Now I'll start a timer for ten minutes, you close your eyes and focus on your breathing. This is how I started. Just let your thoughts flow free, okay?"
Scott nodded. He was curious to try this and even if he didn't like it, ten minutes would be over quickly. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on his breathing. At first, it wasn't easy, there was so much that distracted him. The sound of people talking to one another. Was that Kirstie? A plane flying over them. Eventually, he wondered how much time had passed, but he didn't dare to open his eyes and distract Avi. Instead, he tried to shift his focus back to his breathing and it worked so well that he was surprised when he heard the soft harp melody coming from Avi's phone. Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked at the bearded man.
"And?" the bearded man asked.
"It's interesting. It was hard to focus on myself at first but then it worked all of a sudden" Scott said.
Avi nodded. "That's true. It was hard for me yesterday because of the new surroundings and sounds. Usually, I meditate in my garden early in the morning or in my bedroom if I am doing guided meditation" he explained. "I'm planning to take a real course eventually to learn some more, but for now I just need meditation as a ritual to start the day more relaxed."
"That's an interesting concept," Scott said. "I feel like even if it's only been ten minutes it has changed something. My head is clearer, I feel energised."
Avi smiled. "That's great."
"Mmhm..." Scott hummed. "I mean it could be the pill Mitch laid out for me, but still..."
Avi chuckled. "Probably a combination of both" he replied. "I sometimes feel that it helps with minor issues, though. Sometimes I wake up and feel some sort of pressure in my head. No headache, just some discomfort. And if I meditate it usually goes away." Avi stopped there and scratched his head. "Sorry if I am bothering you. Just tell me, okay?"
But Scott shook his head. "You're not. I like it when you are excited about something. And this meditation stuff sounds interesting. Do you mind showing me which guided meditations you use? So I can learn more about it?"
Avi nodded. He was happy that Scott was so interested in something he liked doing. "Sure."
"Oh, and if you find a course I would be interested as well?" Scott asked.
Avi smiled even wider. "Sure," he said.
Scott chuckled. "Well, between you teaching me how to play the guitar and us going to a meditation course together we'll be spending a lot of time together in the near future," he remarked.
Avi shrugged his shoulders. "I really don't mind, Scott," he said. Quite the contrary. While he hadn't planned to push Scott to do these things, he was pleasantly surprised that they now might have two hobbies to do together and an additional three days in Athens during which they would probably spend at least one evening together without Kirstie and Ben. Enough time to talk some more and maybe find even more things to do together.
"Good morning everyone."
Mitch's voice pulled the bearded man out of his thoughts. "Good morning, Mitch."
"What's going on up there? Did you forget how chairs work?"
"We meditated," Scott replied. "It's great, you should try it eventually. Helped with my hangover. Thanks for taking care of me by the way. I think I shouldn't have had the last cocktail."
"You deserved every single one of them" Mitch replied. "Talking about trying things: I just was at the reception and booked our ouzo tour. It's going to be the day after tomorrow at four in the afternoon. They only had two offerings for a private tasting and the other one would be the day before our yacht trip."
Avi laughed. "Not a good idea," he said. "Even though I think we won't come home wasted. They'll probably make us spit the stuff out like they do at wine tastings."
"Oh no, I won't spit out anything" Scott interjected, causing Mitch to raise an eyebrow.
"Thanks, but that is just too much information, Scotty" came Kirstie's amused voice from the terrace right next to theirs.
"We were talking about ouzo," Scott replied immediately.
"We all know that this applies not only to alcohol" Mitch commented.
"True, but last night we all witnessed that it applies especially to alcohol" Avi added to save the situation and to get rid of the images forming in front of his inner eye.
"Killjoy" Mitch shot back. "Anyway, since we're all talking right now. Breakfast in fifteen and then we'll hit the city?"
"We're in," Kirstie said while Scott just nodded. Once Mitch was back inside the house, he turned to Avi.
"I should get dressed. But thanks for allowing me to meditate with you. Can we do it again tomorrow?"
Avi nodded. "Definitely."
~~~~
