Finally, I can get out of this damn heat and back into the relative comfort of my tent at base camp after this trip to the nearby town. While the others were busy recruiting locals to work at the camp and the dig site, buying supplies and all that, I was allowed to roam around, talking with the locals and making some pencil sketches of the place, since I am the most artistically talented of the group. That gave me a lot of time to chat up the locals in broken yet serviceable Arabic, sample some of the local food, and find some subjects for my sketches. Looking through the ones I made today, most of them aren't anything special—a market scene, a nice looking building, an old lady sitting under a palm tree—but then there is the one.

I'm up to date on the literature, but I've never been here before, and so I figured that I would be interested in some things, but I did not expect this one. Looking at the sketch that very clearly had the most effort put into it, it shows a young man with long hair smiling in front of a backdrop of sandy dunes. I did take some creative license in the creation of this one—I drew him in a side alley and simply drew in a different background since it made a nicer image—but the amount of detail in his gentle smile and long hair makes it quite clear that he's had an impression on me. His name is Samir, and that was about all I learned about him in our time together, as I was too smitten to make any real small talk.

What made matters worse was that he absolutely knew I was into him, and he played into it at every opportunity he got. Be it by idly playing with his lustrous hair, giving me a sly wink when he caught me staring at him rather than sketching, or a few words in surprisingly clean English, tailor-made to only fluster me further. And yet, I never felt any malice from him as he toyed with my feelings, so maybe he had some sort of interest in me as well? Ah, this is all so confusing! What are these thoughts I'm having about this man... I just can't work it out! Well, perhaps it's for the best if I just don't think about it. Some time focusing on archaeological work will surely take my mind off things.

That, at least, was what I just thought, but after filing away the sketches and taking a step out of the tent, I see something that very quickly disabuses me of any notion that I would be able to ignore those thoughts. For as I see some of the others return to camp with some locals in tow that they hired to help out at the camp and the dig site, who do I see? Of course, it has to be Samir. How, out of all the people in that town, did they end up recruiting him to help out? Wait, is he looking at me? Oh, no, look at that smile. He's noticed me. In a panic, I duck back into the tent, unsure of how to proceed now, and in the end, I don't get very far in trying to formulate a plan, either, as before long, one of the other scholars pokes his head into the tent. "Richard, come on, we're going to take a first look at the dig site!" he says before disappearing again, and I have little choice but to come along, since it would end up being very strange to the others if I suddenly had to stay behind.

Arriving at the dig site, the sight is quite impressive. While it's nothing like the Pyramids or anything like that, it seems that whoever was preparing this site did a great job in digging out several buildings, including one large temple-looking one and multiple small side-buildings, as well as something that looks like a minor tomb. There should be plenty to find and research here, and yet, all I can think of is Samir. I keep finding myself sneaking peeks at him, and he very much knows it, again teasing me with those little things he does like a quick smirk or wink that forces me to look away, lest I start blushing madly. And as the group disperses, everybody splitting up to separate parts of the site to do research and such, he sidles up to me casually. "Ah, effendi, we meet again! I did so enjoy our little artistry session before, so I am glad to see you again," he says, a cheerful tone in his voice. "Maybe we can have another one of those later today, perhaps directly here at the site?"

He then moves ever so slightly closer, and his tone sinks to a whisper. "And if we do, might I suggest that I model for you without this robe of mine?" he adds, giving me one more of those darned winks before slinking away as if nothing had happened, leaving me completely stunned, my mind racing with thoughts of what he hides under those long, flowing robes he wears... god damn it, why is he so good at this? With a sigh, I seek out one of the ancient buildings to try and get my mind off those thoughts, though I can't shake the feeling I won't be able to get Samir out of my head for a long time yet.