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"I really need to go to a launderette tomorrow. This is my last clean dress," I say to Ash about my little black number as we wander along the cobbled streets of the LX Factory, between buildings plastered with posters and street art.

Our hostel is about three kilometers from the city center in an area that used to house a thriving textiles industry, but now the old warehouses have been converted into artsy shops, cafés, bars, galleries, and hip restaurants filled with beautiful people.

"Yeah, this is my last clean T-shirt," Ash replies.

And what a T-shirt it is. The apricot color brings out the golden tones of his skin.

"I think there's one around the corner from the hostel. Maybe we could go in the morning."

"Are you asking me on a date?" He slides me a sideways smile.

"You can come if you want." I'm trying to come off as flippant, but goddammit, I blush.

"I accept," he replies with amusement.

As we sit down at a restaurant with tables spilling out onto the pavement, it occurs to me that this is likely just another night to Ash; he will have connected with loads of people on his travels. He has good energy and a warm, easygoing nature. Tomorrow he'll probably meet someone else he'll want to spend the day with. The thought is sobering, but I steel myself against overthinking, not wanting to ruin tonight. I've spent so many evenings wandering vibrant cities alone, only to return to my hostel to listen to other backpackers talk and laugh with their friends. The loneliness has been crippling, yet I've missed Stella so viscerally that I haven't been able to find it in me to be sociable with strangers. Until tonight.

Now that I've called time on my travels, a weight has lifted. I feel happier and more relaxed knowing that I only have two more days to get through.

Lisbon is the perfect place to end my adventures. It's the city Stella most wanted to visit and I plan to tick off every item on her bucket list. She'll be with me in spirit, even if she can't be here in person.

"Have you got any other plans for tomorrow?" Ash asks after the waiter has taken our drinks order.

"Yeah, I pretty much have the next couple of days mapped out," I reply, pulling A Court of Thorns and Roses out of my bag.

"You brought your book out with you?" he asks with surprise.

He dropped his rucksack in his dorm room before we left the hostel and I had time to stash away my book too, but I don't like letting it out of my sight.

"It's kind of become my Lisbon travel guide," I explain. "My best friend, Stella, wrote a bunch of things to do here on the inside cover."

"Can I see?"

I turn the book round to face him, smiling as I remember how hectic Stella was when she wrote the list, scrambling around for a piece of paper for all of three seconds before writing on the first thing she could lay her hands on-the book she'd just lent me. It was so typical of her: never enough patience, never enough time.

Ash squints as he deciphers Stella's messy scrawl.

"The Initiation Well?" He looks up at me, hair falling into his eyes.

"It's in Sintra, at the Quinta da Regaleira."

"Oh, I've heard about that place. Doesn't it have an amazing Gothic spiral staircase?"

"Yes, that's the Initiation Well. It's not actually a well. It's the thing my friend was most excited about—it looks like something out of a fairy tale-but I've heard the gardens are beautiful too."

"I'd planned to check out Sintra. When are you going?" he asks.

"I thought the day after tomorrow."

He shoves his hair back. "Do you fancy going together?"

It's an effort to mask how pleased I am. "Sure."