Day 23: My last in Europe
I must have woke up at five today (I can't really
sleep when the sun's out), and what did I see? a beautiful Angel
sleeping right across from me. She looked so peaceful, I couldn't
resist leaning over and kissing her... I could totally get used
to this :) I got up, brushed my teeth, and started on my goodbye
letter to Stace. Took me about two hours, all through which
I kept sneaking peeks at my sleeping beauty. I wrote like 3
pages, and I'm pretty sure that I got all I wanted to say to
her in it... but I'm sure there will be so much more I'll want
to say later. After I finished, I got dressed, wrote Stace a
lil note, and went downstairs to get online. Vicky was on, and
so I told her about Stace. She asked me why I wasn't up in my
room with her... Good question... Going back upstairs after
I checked my email, Stacey was already awake and writing her
letter to me. She's so cute with her glasses on! Getting ready,
we went down and called Amy to arrange to meet her for lunch
(it was already noon), but she said she wouldn't be ready for
a few hours. We decided to meet up at 2 at Oxford Circus. Hopping
on the tour bus again, me and Stace just cuddled and remininsced
as we passed all the landmarks that we saw the day before, and
at the start of our trip.
Getting off at Picadilly Circus, we walked through
China Town, and saw the Statue of Eros, and the big neon signs.
As we walked through Soho, we ran into Amy, who had came early.
We went off looking for lunch, and ended up at a small Italian
place, soooooooo yummie. I hope it's still there when I go back
again :) Best lasagna ever, so much of it, and it was so cheesey...
and the company wasn't so bad either ;) Hopping on the tube,
we went and saw the famous Harrods. Not much to see... and then
I started to get sad! The realization that I only had a few
more hours left with Stace. Heh, her cough was almost
gone :) Amy left us after Harrods, so me and Stace hopped the
tube down to Tower Hill again. Surprise! It was raining again...
Running and splashing, we made our way down to Tower pier, and
jumped on the ferry to the London Eye. We got our tickets, and
off on our flight we went. The view was incredible. We tried
to go see an IMAX movie, but some guy rented it out for the
night, what a punk. Catching the tube from Waterloo, we went
back to our hotel and just chilled a bit before going down to
the pub to have dinner. We both weren't really in the mood to
eat, so we just split a burger between the both of us. At around
7:30pm we went back up to our room, and Stace did some last
minute packing, all I could do was watch... We left for the
Victoria coach station at around 8:30, giving us plenty of time
to get there before the coach left at 9:30. The whole trip to
the coach station I was joking about how she might miss the
last departure for Oxford, or how the coach might be full, no
such luck though. We got to the terminal, and checking out the
monitors as we walked, we realized that the coach didn't leave
at 9:30, but rather 9:10. Oh crud! It was already 9:05! We got
over to the gate, and Stace ran to the loo as I got the bags
all set up. She got back just as everyone was getting on the
bus, and got her ticket from the bus driver as I was loading
her bags into the luggage compartments. Getting the last of
her bags in with the coach driver's help, he quickly muttered
something along the lines of, "get in so we can go."
Punk :( This was NOT the ending I was expecting! We were suppose
to have time to say our proper good byes, and I was suppose
to be able to sneak in a couple of good bye kisses, ya know,
just like the movies. Instead, Stace gave me a quick kiss, said,
"Love you" in her crazy cute South African accent
and turned to head up the coach stairs.
WHAT?!?! It took me about two seconds before what
she had said sunk into me. If ever there was a moment in my
life that I was dumbfounded, this was definitely it. Was I in
Love with Stacey? Yes. I think I fell head over heels for her
somewhere in Italy, but I didn't want to scare her off or anything
by telling her that I loved her, and here she is, telling me
that she Loves me. The next few seconds happened in super slow
motion for me. I grabbed her arm as she was about to head up
the stairs, spun her around, whispered in her ear, "I love
you too," and kissed her. It wasn't one of those movie
kisses, where it's drawn out super long, and kinda gross, but
a quick chaste kiss, one hinted that something more was to come.
And with that, she headed up the stairs, the coach driver closed
the door, and headed off, leaving me out there in the coach
parking lot, watching Stace taking her seat through the coach's
tinted windows. There goes my Stacey...
Walking home from dropping off Stacey was so incredibly
hard, especially with all the tears in my eyes. Just kidding,
I didn't really cry, but I was on the verge of it... tears don't
count if they don't roll down your cheeks :X Playing some dashboard
confessionals (hands
down) as I walked home. I must have looped the song like
100 times as I made my way home, walking on the streets of London.
I took the tube some of the way, but walked most of it, the
night air, seeing all the people, missing Stace, just remembering,
just thinking. I really didn't want to get back to the hotel,
I knew it would just serve as a sad reminder that Stace was
really gone, so I just walked, and got lost like we did that
first night in London. Heh, saw an ambulance, couldn't help
but touch my head and my nose and silently laugh to myself.
So much had changed in the past few weeks, my life seemed so
complete only a few hours ago, so how is it that I feel so empty,
so alone now?
I finally got home, no idea at what time, but
it was pretty quiet out. I finished packing, and rolled around
on my bed the whole night, never really falling asleep. Looking
around my room, one thing's for sure, all this empty space Stacey
use to take up, just reminds me of how alone I really am. I've
lost my better half, and I don't know when I'll get her back...
Day 23 Photos
