Romance on the Road Part 2: Hot and Heavy

The next morning, I had planned on going to the beach very early to beat the crowds. However, the clouds got the best of me and I packed up after about an hour to head back to the hostel. On the way back, I saw Jack and his friend. I told them the beach had failed me and that I was going to Monaco for the day instead. OF COURSE, it turns out that was their plan as well. Two other guys from the hostel were also planning on going so all five of us headed to Monaco. The rest of the day was spent in Monaco, and then at the beach before the nightly festivities (read: free wine) took place.

Throughout this whole time, Jack and I acted like normal hostel friends. At this point, I figured it would be a one night thing that was fun, but that's all it was so there was no reason to make it weird. However, that night, he invited me up to his room and we spent hours on the stairs talking and then dancing because he of course knows how to swing dance (I feel like guys who can dance are universal kryptonite for girls...) and then we cuddled all night (in a SWELTERING ROOM, I might add. Their AC was broken and between the 100 degree weather and body heat, it was the bad kind of sweaty night...).

The next day was spent chatting with Jack and his friend (we'll call him Dean* as he was pretty cool too), as well as others. When nighttime rolled around, a large group of us went to watch the game in the fanzone and then went to the beach at night. Jack then invited me to his room a second time. However, this time we had a huge talk on the balcony in the hall before going to bed. There were some heavy topics that needed to be discussed at that point, but some feelings definitely arose. Cuddles ensued. The next morning Jack and Dean left. I walked with them to the train station and hugged them goodbye and by lunch, they were gone.I was vaguely introspective for the rest of my time in France, but soon enough I was off to Spain. I definitely tried my best in Spain to regain my selfish ways and as my new friend Raquelle* could tell you, some of those Spanish nights were not my proudest moments when it came to guys...HOWEVER, Jack and I were still texting a bit and within a few days of my departure to Spain he told me he and Dean were going to meet me in Greece when I flew there after Ibiza. This was unprecedented. This guy was actually gonna adapt his trip and FOLLOW ME to Greece. That's either hella stalkerish or hella romantic and I'd rather go with the latter...A few days later, I landed in Greece and met them straightaway. We spent that night touring around Athens and then I took them to my apartment where they met my grandmother. (SO CUTE). The next day, we had decided to meet in the morning for a full day of touring Athens and when I turned up at their hostel, Jack came downstairs to greet me and suggested we go across the street to a cafe while we waited for Dean to wake up. I think Jack just wanted some alone time with me and we had a great chat at the coffee shop but it was a little difficult to figure out how to act after all the romance of France. When Dean joined us, we spent the day drinking coffees and walking around the city.

We planned to go to Santorini the next morning early, so I invited them to stay with me that night. Jack definitely wanted more alone time with me so he suggested going up to the balcony. We went up there and started talking just about the trip and normal things, but the tension was palpable. I don't think either one of us knew exactly where the other stood since we had been acting like normal friends since meeting two nights ago in Athens. Then, up there on the balcony, looking out over the night lights of Athens, he put his arms around me. Objectively, a small gesture, but the fact that he did it and the fact that I accepted it, defined our relationship as definitely something more than friends in that moment.  We proceeded to talk (and kiss, of course) until the wee hours of the morning when I finally had to pack up my stuff (into one purse, check out my previous article) and we were off to the islands!Check back soon for the EPIC conclusion....