When I met Levi

July with Valerie

An hour later we arrived at Zurich where Levi stopped the car and got out, next to us was a forest looking park, it was huge with trees but no benches, Levi started walking up and down and opened the flashlight on his phone and looked around, at first I thought he stopped because he needed to pee, little did I know, he knocked on my window and I opened it,

"Are you gonna get off the car?"

I looked at him confused,

"What do you mean? Aren't we going to any hotels?"

He laughed hysterically and looked at me,

"Can you afford it? I literally have 50 bucks with me that I'm gonna spend on food for me and Charles."

"I have like 200 dollars."

He leaned against the window and tucked my hair behind my ear,

"You can't even afford a cheap motel with 200 bucks here. I told you I'm backpacking, I'm doing crazy shit. I'm gonna camp. If you can't be out in the forest you can sleep in the car."

"I'm afraid to sleep alone."

"Sleep with me, then."

I looked at him and he looked at me smiling,

"Don't be so spoiled. It's an adventure."

I nodded,

"You're right. But I need food. I'm hungry."

"Like very very hungry or average hungry?"

"Average hungry."

"I have some snacks in my backpack. Like some bags of chips, croissants and some sodas and lots of water."

"Can I have a croissant and a bottle of water?"

He nodded and I saw a small smirk painted on his face, he moved to the back door and grabbed his backpack and then gave me what I asked for, he put Charles leash on him and then grabbed his tent and everything we needed, we found a place deep into the forest and he started setting up the tent, a few minutes later everything was done, he then gathered some wood and lit a bonfire, he set up some chairs and we sat down, Charles was eating and was a happy puppy in General,

Levi looked at me and smiled,

"I have a surprise for you."

"What is it?"

He took a bag of marshmallows out of his backpack

"Lets roast some marshmallows."

I got so excited, I loved marshmallows and Levi surprised me for good, he took a Polaroid camera out and as I had my marshmallow on a thin wooden stick roasting it he told me to 'smile big like I won a unicorn stuffed animal at the fair' and so I did, when the picture was out he shaked it for a few seconds and then I appeared on if, he then took a black marker out and wrote on it 'Valerie Zurich' and then took a notebook out that had a palm tree wallpaper on the outside, he then wrote

"July with Valerie 2018"

He then sticked the photo inside it, I looked at him smiling,

"That's what you do with every girl?"

"Not really. That's what I do with you."

I smiled.

We took a Polaroid together and Charles holding our marshmallows, he then sticked it inside the notebook as well,

"Tell me a bit about yourself."

As I said that I saw his face getting a dark facial expression and he placed his marshmallow down,

"It's.. uh.."

"Don't worry. You can tell me anything. I won't judge."

"Fine.. when I was 15 years old my father died of cancer, my mom got so depressed and was taking antidepressants since then, at 16 I started smoking weed to ease my mind and just get a few hours of relaxation, I have been sober since 18, by 17 I moved out of my house, my mom didn't want me around because I was just a junkie to her, however I did find a job, I finished high school but never went to college, my biggest dream was to travel and specifically backpack through Europe. An incident made me realize I had to do it fast. And so I did, I just grabbed a few bags with some clothes and I bought food through every country I visited, I got Charles and we have travelled to Spain and Venice until now, until you have decided to join. My teen years have been a mess, I don't even wanna go there. What matters is that I have... Charles, you, and ticking dones to my bucket list."

I nodded and tapped his shoulder, then I ran my fingers through his hair, he looked at me and I noticed tears running from his eyes,

"Hey! Don't cry!"

I rushed and hugged him and then he started crying more, I loved that about him, most guys would have tried to be strong but not him, he opened his soul to me, and that was beautiful.

He stopped crying and he looked at me,

"Why are you even here? I mean... you have a great life... and.."

"I'd rather be here with you... and Charles."

Charles barked and we both laughed,

----

The next day after we have gathered everything we went back to the car and started driving again, a few hours later we have arrived to Munich, this roadtrip adventure was on point, I loved it,

"Do you know what Germany is famous of?"

"No. Do you?"

"I did my research about every place I was hoping to visit. Let's go get some sausages and beer."

He winked smiling and we got off the car, we have visited a restaurant and we ate so much, we were both so hungry that we spent half my money on food. Now in total we had 150 euros left, so we had to improvise on everything, we took walks around the town and Levi was taking photos and sticking them to his notebook, we visited many shops and got fridge magnets saying I love Munich and so, and then got back into the car where we had a massive carpool karaoke session with Levi singing on top of his lungs but also can't stop laughing, what I noticed is that he had an amazing voice and he admitted to being in a band before he left it to travel.

We were laughing, taking polaroids and teasing each other on our way to Prague, Charles was sitting in the backseat with his face outside of the window and his tongue hanging and he was so happy, Levi looked at me and put his hand on mine as we has driving with the other. I smiled and he kept on driving.