As cliché as it sounds, it really is true what they say – time flies when you’re having fun. It really does.

I just wish someone would invent a way to slow it down.

The last two weeks with Hope went by way too fast. It felt like one minute we were sitting there in that bar together and the next, we were at the airport saying goodbye. It’s crazy how much changed in just a couple weeks. I mean, that first night, she didn’t seem to want anything to do with me. And now… Well, I think saying goodbye was just as hard for her as it was for me.

We tried so hard to spend as much time together as we could before she had to leave. It wasn’t easy though – I was stuck with a bunch of dinner shifts, and she was so busy with all these business meetings and photoshoots… I guess she was trying to bulk up her portfolio or something.

She told me that’s the whole reason she was here in the first place – Hope’s been having a hard time booking jobs lately, so she was meeting with the modeling agency to try and figure out how to turn things around. And boy, could I relate. I just wish turning things around at my job were that easy.

Anyway, we made it work the best we could. We visited a couple of my favorite restaurants, went shopping at the market, checked out a bonfire down at the Ruins…

I even took her to the movies one night. That turned into an unexpected highlight, actually. I forgot that the theater I took her to dubs their movies in German (whoops!). She couldn’t understand a word, of course, so we spent the entire time whispering back and forth while I translated all the major plot points and she filled in the gaps by making up ridiculous dialogue. Thank God the theater was deserted, or they probably would have kicked us out. We couldn’t stop laughing!

And on the days we couldn’t hang out together, we still spent most of the time texting whenever we had the chance. Sometimes we’d send each other funny pictures or lame jokes. Other times we’d just talk back and forth for hours about… Well, nothing really. But it never felt like nothing. Not to me.

After all that time we spent getting to know each other, saying goodbye, well… It was terrible. It just sucks not knowing when we’ll see each other again, y’know? And it’s not like she’s just a train ride away or something. She’s practically on the other side of the world.

Hope kept promising me she’d be back before I know it. And boy, do I hope she’s right.

I just wish I hadn’t been such a coward while she was here. I keep thinking back to all those chances I had… Times I could have held her hand or stolen a kiss. But I chickened out every time. I don’t know what it is, but this girl just does something to me. Whenever I’m with her, I feel like I’m that same terrified sixteen-year-old kid I was when we first met.

I still remember the way she hugged me when we said goodbye. It was so warm, and she held me for such a long time… God, I didn’t wanna let go.

I tried so hard to hide how upset I was, but I knew she could see right through me.

Hope told me not to worry, and said she’d flood my Facebook with a bunch of ridiculous memes as soon as she landed. “It’ll be like I never left.” She promised.

I didn’t even have a chance to stop laughing before she kissed my cheek and disappeared through the security gate.

That was almost a week ago already.

We’ve been texting each other almost every day since she left. We even talked on the phone last night for a few minutes (not exactly easy being in such different timezones). And I still can’t stop laughing at all the silly pictures and jokes we’ve been sending back and forth to each other. So that’s kind of been making things a little easier, I guess.

For now, both of us still aren’t sure when we’ll see each other again…

But I can’t wait until the day we do.