Ren gazed into the screen display, waiting for the number to show next to his flight. It wasn’t as if Makedonia Airport was huge. It had two carousels. He would certainly not miss his luggage. It had been an easy flight, despite the pain in his knees. Budget lines were great and all, but none offered enough leg room, especially for tall people.

He looked through the window panes, back at the hangar he’d come from. It felt warm for February, although it could be the effect of being enclosed in a hot, buzzing aeroplane for three hours. Well, he was in Greece, so it had better be warm while he was there.

The screen flashed number one, and Ren made his way to the numbered belt and waited for his luggage to appear. Once it did, he made his way to the sliding doors that led to the arrivals lounge. The moment he passed through the doors, he saw a huge sign that read ‘REN’ painted in balloon red letters. A lean, blonde guy and a big girl were holding the sign over their heads.

The guy must be Jimmy. He waved at them. Once within touching proximity, he extended his hand and introduced himself.

‘Hello, I’m Ren, so nice to meet you, Jimmy.’

The blonde guy put the sign down and shook his head. ‘My name is Antonis,’ he said with a slight Greek accent. He wasn’t particularly built but carried more meat on his bones than Ren. His brown eyes smiled with the rest of his face.

The girl standing next to Antonis took Ren’s hand next and introduced herself as Katerina. She was a curvy girl, a head shorter than Antonis, with jet black hair caught in a messy bun and a lightly made up face that made her green eyes pop.

Ren frowned. Wasn’t Jimmy meant to pick him up?

‘Hi, Ren. I’m Jimmy,’ someone said behind him.

Ren turned to look at the source of the voice. He was shorter than Ren, with raven hair, thick eyebrows, and olive skin. His eyes were a dark chocolate colour, and his lips were plump and pink. His arms were big and muscular, perfectly visible under a tight black T-shirt.  

Ren froze in front of the new acquaintance, and his breathing slowed.

‘Hi—Jimmy,’ he said eventually.

‘Sorry,’ Jimmy said and pointed to his friends. ‘I choose not to associate with them when they are embarrassing like this.’ He waved a finger around the sign that was now resting by Antonis. His accent was thicker than Antonis’s. His voice was hoarse. His R’s were heavily pronounced and gargled on his tongue. His vowels were sharp, but his diction was exemplary.

Ren laughed. ‘It’s okay. I love it,’ he said.

Katerina pinched her fingers and slapped the back of her hand on top of her other palm. ‘Fa tin,’ she said.

Ren winced. ‘What does that mean?’

Jimmy flicked the bird at Katerina and showed the way out to Ren. ‘Literally? It means ‘eat it!’ But we use it as you would use—I told you so, I think. The gesture goes along with it.’

Ren chuckled and looked at Katerina. She smiled.

‘So, Ren,’ Jimmy addressed him as they came out of the airport. ‘Welcome to Thessaloniki. The second largest city in Greece. The city of bugatsa and gyros. The birthplace of halara and the glorious capital of Northern Greece,’ Jimmy said.

Ren winced. ‘I have no idea what any of these words mean.’

Everyone laughed. ‘Don’t worry, bro. We’ll teach you,’ Antonis said and slapped Ren’s neck.

Ren relaxed his shoulders and took in his surroundings. Palm trees and yellow foliage surrounded the other side of the airport. He felt at ease among these strangers even though they were speaking in funny accents with incomprehensible words and acting as if they were already best friends. Maybe the whole Greek hospitality thing was not a joke.

They crossed onto a road that ran in a semi-circle in front of the entrance and walked into the car park in the middle of it. Katerina took lead, until they reached a red Fiat, which she unlocked, and proceeded to open the boot for Ren.

‘A very little bag for five months,’ Katerina said.

Ren shook his head and pouted. ‘Don’t even remind me. I was gutted I had to leave my comic book collection back home. But other than that, I don’t really have any attachments to things. Clothes I can buy. It seemed too much of a hassle to carry a whole wardrobe across Europe,’ he replied, and she seemed to take a moment to comprehend what he had said.

‘Man, you like comic books?’ Antonis asked and slapped Ren’s elbow. Ren was starting to get the idea that keeping a distance from Antonis and his friendly slaps was probably a wise decision for his pale skin that bruised like a peach.

‘Oh, I love my comic books.’

Jimmy opened the back door of the car for him with a wide smile. ‘No fucking way, man. We are all uber-comic nerds,’ he said and Ren stopped to look at them all.

‘Seriously?’ Everyone nodded. ‘What are the chances?’ he said as he entered the car. At least they’d have something to talk about if conversation ran stale, which seemed unlikely.

Katerina sat behind the wheel and drove them out onto the highway. A gold halo surrounded everything on the road as the fields gave off a warm hue against the backdrop of the indigo sky.

The station was playing an instrumental version of Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You.’ The ride made him feel at ease.

‘How was your flight?’ Jimmy asked him. He was sitting next to Ren in the back with his elbow propped on the open car window. He looked gorgeous. Like a Greek god come to life. His accent, with all its quirks and idiosyncrasies, was erotic. Not that Ren noticed these things. Usually.

‘It was good. But I am starving.’

Katerina asked something in Greek, and Ren tried to understand what she had said from the others’ reactions. Antonis exclaimed and rubbed his hands together. Jimmy shouted ‘Yes!’ then turned to him and asked: ‘Are you vegetarian?’

‘Nope. I tried it. Couldn’t do it. Why?’ Ren answered.

‘Awesome,’ Jimmy said. ‘We’ll take you for some real street food. A national delicacy. If you don’t love it, you can fuck off out of the country. No big deal!’

The guys in the front laughed.

‘I’m starting to get a bit scared,’ Ren mumbled.

Katerina looked at him through the rear-view mirror. ‘Don’t worry. You’re safe with us.’ She stretched her smile too wide and made her eyes look sinister, like a psycho stalking him from the rear-view mirror.

He laughed. Ren didn’t want to admit it to any of them, but he did feel safe. He’d only been in the country for half an hour, and he was already having more fun than he ever had back home. Which didn’t say much about his life in England. A few minutes later, they were taken in by the outskirts of the city. Tall, rectangular buildings in all shades of white and yellow greeted them. Kiosks were positioned along the streets at regular intervals, and the people walking the streets could not have been mistaken for anything other than Mediterranean. The trees were few and far between, but patches of benches and shrubberies made up what looked like town squares into gathering places for locals.

Katerina entered a side street and parked the car on the curb. The guys all got out, and Ren followed suit. They walked back into the main street and found a restaurant with white walls and red furniture that was bustling with life. Kebab rotisseries carried hefty meat around the grill, and men sliced it away. Most tables were taken by families, and people walked out either with plastic bags or sandwiches in hand.

‘This is the pride and joy of Thessaloniki. Have you ever tried gyro?’ Jimmy asked him.

Ren shook his head. ‘I’ve tried Greek kebab in London but never liked it.’

Antonis spun on his heel and pointed a finger at Ren. ‘Firstly, this is not a kebab. Kebab is Turkish and lamb. This is gyros. This is pork. This is God in this town. That and P.A.O.K.,’ he said.

‘What is P.A.O.K.?’ Ren asked.

Katerina put her arm through Ren and took him in the kebab shop. ‘It’s our football team, but shhh, don’t say you don’t know what is P.A.O.K. in here. People will literally kill you,’ she said.

Ren hoped Katerina was misusing the word literally.

Jimmy joined them at the front of the counter. ‘You have to excuse her. Her English is crap. Would you like to try a gyro? It’s sliced pork meat wrapped in pita bread with chips, tomato, onion, ketchup, and mustard.’

Ren agreed to have one, and Jimmy ordered for him. When he took his pre-flight-exchanged Euros out, Jimmy pushed his hand away and paid for both of them. Ren grabbed a table while the guys waited for their sandwiches. The grown-ups sitting around were having vivid and loud discussions, using their hands and facial expressions a lot more than English people usually did. The young ones were either running around playing with friends, or sliding and touching away at their phones. Nothing different there.

Katerina and Antonis arrived at the table with a tray each. A mammoth sandwich lay on the tray with a can of Coke. Jimmy took a seat next to Ren and passed him one tray.

‘How on earth do you eat that?’ he asked Jimmy.

Antonis picked his gyros up. ‘Like this,’ he said and bit into a frenzy of meat, bread, and sauce.

Jimmy laughed. ‘It takes practice. I usually pick the excess off and then eat the sandwich.’

Ren tried the meat, and although it didn’t seem to have much seasoning, it tasted amazing. The onion and sauces exploded with flavour in his mouth. His least favourite part of the meal was the tomatoes, which tasted bland and watery, but he picked those off.

He didn’t know if it was because he was hungry or because he actually liked it, but he ate it in record time. That sandwich felt like a guilty pleasure he could get used to.

‘Kala, Ren, you didn’t like that at all, eh?’ Katerina said looking at his empty tray.

Ren smiled. ‘Not at all,’ he answered her.

A feeling of contentment enveloped him. All the worry and stress of moving to Thessaloniki for the next few months had paid off. He was amongst friends and good food. He would be fine.