He had a surprise for her. It was time for him to leave, on August 29th, 2008. He could see it in her eyes that she was sad, ready to weep and cry. They were strolling around the White Tower of Thessaloniki on what was a rare cool evening in the summer. They sat on the marble benches that occupy that area right next to small compartments of green with trees and the saltiness of the sea in the gulf of Thermaikos.
The area was full of tourists and many of them were french. He started teasing them with a weird french accent that sounded more like a greek peasant and she was giggling all evening, covering her face with her right hand as always, trying to choke the laughter that would make people turn their heads.
There were also many people trying to sell stuff, from phones, to back-scratchers (who goes on a walk and says: "Ohhh! Let's buy a remote control, or a wooden stick to scratch my back alone!"....). Tip of the day. Not very legitimate.
Seriously???
After becoming tired of their approaches from the corner, he remembered a funny line our National Star Andrew Euaggelopoulos said and decided it would be smart to use it on the next salesman. Poor guy comes close and before he opens his mouth..
"No thank you we don't want anything you sell", Kostas says.
While the salesman leaves, he turns around and tells Alyx:
"See how i killed him there in the corner so fast?"
Funny eh Kostas? Salesman was some sort of Bulgarian descent and he heard him, turns around and says commandingly "Do you think you are funny little man?"
"Noooothing nothing kind sir", he replies and luckily for him, Hasan leaves.
Now he had to relieve that pressure and the awkwardness, so he decided to let her know he was staying for one extra day.
"I'm staying untill the 31st, i want to spend one more day with you, i don't want to leave", tells her awaiting for her response.
Pupils dilated, her grip tightened, an overflowing string of happy emotions taking over her. His arm around her shoulders, brought together to stop her from getting cold.
"The days have passed so fast, you are leaving soon, what next? This was like a kite", she says.
"This kite loves you", he replies.
"You said a big word", she says.
"One word i will keep", he says with a soothing but assertive voice, looking into her eyes, stroking her hair.
Last day came, August 31th, their soon to be anniversary for years to come. He booked his ticket in the local train station, time 01:51 am. Then went out to meet her. She was late as usual. He must have heard crawling by Linkin Park at least 5 times untill she showed up. But he didn't care. He would savour the moment. He was scared but he had to make his move, open up and show his true feelings.
The walked around and stopped at their usual spot, right outside her school, where they spent almost every night sitting on a steel bench using an orange fiat punto. They sit, she always on his right and fired up their favorite song, Sleeping Sun by Nightwish, the band that was the reason they met.
First picture together.
Time flied by, and he was about to make his move.
"I don't want to leave, but i would like you to give me a present", he says.
"Like what?", she replies.
"How about a kiss for the road?", it was his last chance.
She says nothing, looking straight ahead, clearly thinking what bumpy road follows ahead. She turns her head, leans in and kisses him, both hands on his cheeks, caughting him offguard, surprised pleasantly. They kiss for a minute, time flies by. Finally some idiots in a passing car shouted "Go easy on the girl!", so they stop and giggle together, hands holding, each feeling eachothers taste and smell. Engulfed by passion and desire they kissed 6 more times, each longer than the previous one. It was magical, passionate, engrossing.
He had to leave, so he took her home. On the way they stopped below the balcony of one of her friends, Claudia. She chatted with her for a bit and then kissed him 2 more times, like she was showing off her prized asset to her friend and the world. They stopped at her door. A door he was bound to see many more times.
They hugged like the end of the world was near, their bodies becoming one, hips, thighs, chest united. He stroked her hair and her right cheek and gave her one final kiss.
"I will be back for you, i want you in my life", he said.
"Those were 10 presents to keep you warm untill you get back", she replied almost ready to cry.
He was on the way to the train, and they were texting back and forth all the time. She always mixed Orpheas the musician with Morpheus, the god of dreams. So he teased her by saying that Orpheas will keep her safe untill they met again. He still keeps the texts, one of them saying "I miss you already i am crying" and his reply "I can still feel your heart beating down my chest".
He arrives on the train station, ready to embark on his greatest journey yet. He was not sure untill he saw the name of the train. It was called Orpheas.
No coincidence.
No comments :
Post a Comment