Yours Truly

Chapter one

(Hope)
1 Hombre Que Amo
An unsettling sense of calm washed over me in my tired state, rain drizzling and pattering on my misted window, tempting my inner musician to drum my fingers on my wet, tear-stained pillow. Emotions swam around my mind in a flurry, making my vision blurry and white spots cloud my eyesight.
As I try to find the cause of my emotional roller coaster, a few things come to my mind; my moving to Greece, leaving my family and friends behind and of course not knowing what's happening with Mark.
Moving to Greece alone is going to be tough, having to pack up all my bits and pieces, making sure to find accommodation for myself and making sure that I am 100% sure what I am going to do when I decide to start work. I decided to move on my 18th birthday because I was going to take a gap year before continuing my studies.
Now two months later everything is coming together. My family has helped with packing and all I need to do now is wait for the movers to pack up my room. My mum let me take all the paintings from our living room because they were collected during our travels and she wanted me to have some mementos. So, both my room and our living room are empty now.
'Dating.' It had been so long till I had found someone who made me feel that way. I felt like I would go to the ends of the earth for Mark. We met during a walk I took after having a huge argument with my dad, I was deeply upset and I decided to take a walk in the park to distract myself, this was the day that I met the man that I love,
***
4 months earlier
It was a muggy, cloudy day and I shivered as I walked through our local park. I passed a few football pitches all full of boys my age kicking a ball around. I walked up to one of the guys standing to the side and he greeted me kindly,
"Hey there beautiful, would you like to come join us?" His voice was smooth and his physique drew me in.
"Yes please, I'm Hope." I declared, the coldness peeling away, being replaced by confidence.
"My name's Mark Toshanova," He gestured to his friend and said, "This is Theon, Elliott and James."
Theon was tall and skinny with red hair, Eliot had black hair and a muscular build. James was bulky and had chestnut brown hair. But above all Mark stood out the most, a chiseled chin that could cut diamonds, he was muscular but not bulky and his eyes were an electric blue. I felt small under his gaze and showed him a shy smile.
"Thanks Mark, are there any specific rules on how to play?" I stared up through my eyelashes and into his eyes, which is when I could feel myself falling for him.
We talked on the side of the game for a while, none of us focused on actually playing. We separated from the group sometime halfway through the afternoon. I learnt so much about him in the brief time we were together, we couldn't stop talking and I found myself opening up in ways I never had before.
I found out a lot about his background, his hobbies and what he would like to be when he was older. He was interesting and I could feel myself falling for him more. He must have felt the same way because he asked me out and we traded numbers. We planned to go to a cafe the next day.
When we were on our 10th date or something, he gave me heart- breaking news, he was moving to Greece. He had family there and they needed help. I was devastated. We decided to try and make long distance work. However, when he left, we couldn't talk and I went into a dark place. I felt so lonely, even my best friends were trying to help me. When we talked again, my spirits lifted because our bond was still there. I began to be more sociable and I felt happier.
We dated online for a long time and we practically knew everything about each other. Deepest secrets, fantasies, dreams, these were only things I told Jasper – my best friend. We never really had the commitment conversation so we were just casually flirting. I had never done anything like this before, it felt so riveting, like a fairy-tale.
***
11:30 pm
The clock ticked and I jolted back to the present, a lovely trip down memory lane had certainly taken a chunk of my day. I felt a small throb in my head and I decided to call it a night.
Gladly the movers decided not to pack any bedroom stuff like the duvet and mattress. So I sank back into my bed and my mind wandered far as my body succumbed to sleep.