Rosemary and Thyme

Chapter 1

What are the odds of finding your soulmate on the other side of the world? 

It was the summer before my senior year of college when my friends and I decided to go to Europe. It was our last chance to enjoy summer before we got stuck at our jobs or grad school. We went backpacking thru Spain, France, Germany, with our last destination; Italy. In there I met the most fascinating man I could have ever imagine meeting. As mesmerizing as the ocean tides, and just as catastrophic. Dante.

Remembering him brings chills down my spine. Yet I don't regret meeting him, sharing my life with him. He was all I wanted to have for a while, and who made me stronger in a different type of way.

.

Italy was a beautiful place, right now we were in Venice. My dreamed city since I was ten years old. I convinced my friends Lauren and Zack to travel a little with me. I've known them since my freshman year in high school. We were only fourteen; now we are twenty-three. Each one of us going different ways after graduating. Lauren is a science major, Zack engineering; and I am an English major. We have different plans, so we decided to take this time as a goodbye or a "see you later alligator".

Sitting at a rooftop in Venice, day drinking and enjoying the music we were. Lauren and Zack decided to have a fling this summer. No strings attached, so they would make out any time they had the chance. The rooftop and this small gathering were some of them. I just sat there, bopping my head to the rhythm of the music playing in the background. Enjoying my mimosa.

"I'm going to the restroom! Be right back." I said to my friends, earning just a small nod from Lauren. Then she continued to kiss Zack.

I grabbed my purse and went to the restroom. Looking at the mirror I realized that I was starting to look drunk, my eyes looked heavy, and I looked flustered from the burning sensation of alcohol. After adjusting my strapless dress and making sure I didn't smell bad, I went outside again. The door of the men's restroom almost hitting my face.

"Oops, sorry! My bad, are you okay?" A tall guy said looking at me concerned but hiding a goofy smile.

"Yeah, don't worry. It's okay!" Making a gesture with my hand as if it was no big deal. "I would probably have a headache tomorrow with or without the door hitting my face."

He laughed a little bit and apologized again. I just walked past him, making my way to the bar, I was getting bored and I wanted to leave. As I reached the bar, I saw Lauren and Zack just talking and laughing. "Can we go on a gondola?" I said hugging both of them.

"Yes!!" Lauren said jumping out of the stool and picking up her purse. "Let's go!"

We made our way to the stairs, to leave the place. Not without looking at my right, finding the guy from the restroom looking at me with a smile. He was with some friends, so he just raised his drink in my direction and winked at me. I smiled in confusion and followed my friends downstairs.

.

After a week of gondola rides, wine tours, coffee shops visits, and walks around plazas; we finally it was time to go back to Michigan. The chill weather definitely took us aback, nothing compared to the Mediterranean warmth in Italy. Just like our fun adventures were left in Europe, Lauren and Zack's romance was left there as well. No one ever mentioned a word, we all knew it was just a 30-day nightstand. 

I was sitting on my chair at the auditorium, listening to my philosophy professor Dr. Lay talk about Kant's statement of the human being using reasoning to be autonomous. Nothing out of the ordinary, I have had the same routine for almost a month already. 

- Wake up at 6 am, get ready for my first class at 7:30

- Have breakfast with Lauren afterward 

- Have one more class 

- Lunch

- Homework

- Work from 12-4 pm

 - Dinner, sleep, repeat. 

Seems like my life wasn't that interesting once I came back home. Dr. Lay stopped talking and dismissed us, not without scolding those who started gathering their stuff 5 minutes before the class was over. That is why I took my sweet time to put my laptop and book inside my backpack, walking slowly out of the auditorium; on my way to the coffee shop, where Lauren and I always had breakfast. 

"Gen! Over here!" Lauren yelled as soon as I stepped inside the coffee place. I walked to the table and hanged my backpack on the back of the chair, sitting down and placing my head on the table. "Not a good day, uh?"

I shook my head no and looked at the menu. "What are you ordering?"

"I ordered the usual," she said looking at her phone, swiping left and right attentively. 

I stood up and walked to the counter to order my eggs and bacon croissant with a cold caramel latte. Making my way back to the table, I saw that Lauren was on Bumble looking at guys.

"Any luck?" I asked, sitting down and putting my wallet back into the backpack. 

"Not really, they don't look interesting. I even changed the location. And yet I found nothing, I'm looking at the friends feature tho." 

Our food came to our table and I started eating in silence, not really knowing why I was feeling this down. Perhaps, the jetlag and lack of time to properly adjust to the new timezone was finally kicking in. Our lunch went by quickly, with Lauren talking about the guy she hooked up with during the weekend, and how job interviews were going. Things weren't looking that great for either of us. I was working as an accountant assistant for a department at my university and Lauren was working at Sears as a cashier. Nothing we really wanted to work at. 

Lauren's phone suddenly ringed and she looked at it surprised. "Yay! Someone answered; this guy is from Denmark." I frowned confused as to why she would be looking for hookups from overseas. "Oh wow, he's coming to New York for Thanksgiving with his friends, his name is Bradley." She showed me the picture of the guy. Not bad, he looked really tall and lean, light brunette with light-colored eyes. 

She continued texting the guy for a while before we headed back to campus to continue our days. "We should plan a trip to NY, it would be fun."

"You want to meet Bradley?" 

"Of course, but we haven't been there since our high school graduation, it would be fun." She said hugging me by my shoulders and guiding me to cross the street.

"We shall see, we still have a few months left till thanksgiving."

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A/N: I can't believe this is 1170 words, meanwhile I complain and struggle to write a 1000 words essay for school. Haha. Anyways, thank you if you are reading this.