As I promised, and because I know a lot of you like the “juice” {otherwise known as gossip or good information in regards to a story}, I am finally writing about the infamous guy whose name keeps appearing in my blog posts… Ryan.
This may sound incredibly ridiculous, considering after six months in Madrid, I did not meet one person whom I was romantically interested in, but just one weekend {during my two months in Barcelona}, the story begins. Now, let me just tell you… Prior to beginning this chapter of my life, and leaving my nest in the United States, I was THAT girl who watched almost EVERY cheesy abroad movie that resulted in a foreign type of love. LOL {one of my absolute favorite movies starring Miley Cyrus}, Monte Carlo {starring Leighton Meester and Selena Gomez}, The Lizzie McGuire Movie {with Hilary Duff of course}, and so many more, and BOY, after watching those, I thought FOR FREAKIN SURE that I was going to fall in love in Europe {and no mama, I was not going to be their reason to get a green card, nor was I going to move there}.
So crazy as this sounds, my story begins in Ibiza… Yes, I know… A bunch of you are probably thinking “IBIZA?!? Out of all the dang places in Europe that you traveled?!?” Well yeah… I didn't believe it either. Anyways, I will get to the point…
If y'all previously read my Ibiza post, then I applaud you; however, if you have not {and you’ve made it this far in this post}, then I recommend you to take a couple of minutes to read about that for a little bit of backstory on that trip considering some things I mention you may get a little bit confused on.
Basically Lauren and I arrived on a LATE Friday night in Ibiza and rather than going out, we put on face masks and dealt with the terrible service in the hotel and our handicap room. Fast forward through an entire day {Saturday}, and to Sunday, in which Lauren and I had to check out no later than eleven in the morning {even though our flight wasn't until around eleven in the evening}. That being said, after a long night out with some guys we met from Texas, we packed up extremely fast, got dressed for a day on the beach, and then headed out towards the elevators.
Just as the elevator doors were closing for us to head down a couple of floors, a hand reached out stopping it, causing the doors to reopen and and appearing right before our eyes was an EXTREMELY attractive and tan guy, with no shirt on, piercing blue eyes, and a British accent asking us if we were leaving… Oh yeah, and he was with like two or three other friends. Honestly, we were so mesmerized by him, neither of us remember BUT we came to the conclusion that NEITHER of us had ever seen somebody so handsome in our lives. With that, I was quick to my senses and just stated that, “we just have an early check out but we’re going to the beach after we store our bags if you want to hang out.”
He had agreed; however, after about a mile of walking up and down the beach, Lauren and I did not find either Ryan and his British friends OR our Texas friends we made, so we decided to make a quick trip to the pool bar and hang out at the hotel for a few instead. Following the pool, we paid a visit to the consignment store that was near the hotel and talked to the lady who had sold us champagne the other day, and she continued to laugh at us for purchasing more for the day.
We headed to the beach, basked in the sun, and popped our champagne, and to our surprise {about an hour later} the Texas guys managed to find us and joined us. Considering that their flight wasn't until six in the evening, we spent a couple of hours with them on the beach and around three in the afternoon, Ryan and his posse {of about twelve|} started yelling out to us and when I went to go talk to them, they proceeded to tell us that we weren't on the beach when they first came out and so they had decided to get lunch.
Ryan and I exchanged phone numbers, and it wasn't until later that I realized I had a text from because my phone is super weird and likes to separate texts from unknown numbers and contacts I have stored in my phone {so if ANYONE knows how to fix that, please reach out haha}. Anyways, he had first reached out saying “hey” and asked if he could treat me to a drink before my flight, but having such a delay visual of the text, I only realized after his second text, suggesting I “didn't want to hang out or meet up with him prior to heading back to Barcelona.” That was SOOOO false though, because both Lauren and I were more than ecstatic to meet up with him and listen to his cute accent.
After saying our goodbyes to the Texas guys, Lauren and I felt nasty from the tanning oil, the sand, and just soaking in our Ibiza sweat, so I told Ryan we would love to meet up with him and his friends, but I also asked if we could rinse our bodies at one of their seven rooms before actually having a drink. He agreed and was more than accommodating. Into jean cut off shorts and matching Ibiza shirts, Lauren and I went.
After meeting up with a couple of his friends, hanging out, and a couple of yummy Malibu and orange juice drinks, we decided it was time to head out in order to catch our flight BUTTTTT long story short, no taxi driver would take us. Apparently there had been a MAJOR accident on the road, so the traffic had been at a complete stop for over forty minutes and “there [was] no way [we were] going to get to our flight in time.”
Rolling our bags back up to Ryan’s suite, we were like little homeless puppies. We plopped ourselves on the floor outside of his room, proceeded to email our bosses, and then bought ourselves new flights to head back to Barcelona on Monday evening.
Sunday night we went out and after a couple of hours, Lauren, Ryan, and I headed back to the hotel because Ryan refused to let me go home in Ibiza alone as a girl… What a gentleman… I know {definitely not something I’m used to lol}. When we got back, Lauren began working on her summer school homework, and so Ryan and I went onto the balcony and had one of the deepest heart to hearts I have ever had, for about six or seven hours. No touching or kissing was involved; just pure thoughts, feelings, and emotions.
Monday, we spent the ENTIRE day together. Brunch with all of his friends, floating around in the ocean, me falling asleep {while he blocked my burnt face from the sun for about an hour or so}, popping champagne bottles per usual, and hanging out in and near the pool. It made for one of the best trips of my entire European experience.
…
Everyday following the day we met, Ryan and I would constantly text throughout the days // weeks {so much so we found out I costed him OVER SEVEN HUNDRED POUNDS due to international phone rates}, and we would even FaceTime for one to two hours after my days at work. To this day, the constant communication continues; however, we decided to switch it over to WhatsApp but still stick to the FaceTime, yet its more difficult to know we only can talk when we both have 4G network, WiFi, or LTE.
…
Anyways, now fast forward to London… I did talk about this in my blog as well, BUT I will repeat it again in more detail. Although Ryan lives about an hour outside of London {driving wise}, we had agreed to meet up while Lauren and I were going to be in London for Justin Bieber. That being said, Ryan did have plans for his Saturday with his best friend, as did Lauren and I; but, he was willing to have his friend drop him off at a train station following there day at a race car event, and he traveled about two and a half hours {via train, transfer, metro, and Uber} to get to me. THAT is what it’s like when a guy ACTUALLY puts effort into seeing a girl. THAT is something that I have NEVER experienced, and Ryan even knew that.
Around six in the evening, he finally made it to our hotel where Lauren succeeded at taking a two hour nap but my nerves didn't allow me to close my eyes for even twenty minutes. I was still trying to look cute in my lil Burberry skirt and new black tube top, and we greeted each other with a big hug and a kiss.
If you say cooties, or find that too visual… Then you can just scroll around my blog elsewhere, because this is going to get sappy to some extent.
We had managed to grow such fond feelings towards each other even when were were distanced and countries apart, but it felt so nice to be wanted {and to be treated how a girl should actually be treated}. Before he hopped into the shower to rinse car grease from his body, I gave him his favorite chocolate that originates from Spain and he gave me the cutest little sign to hang above my bed at home so that I would never forget of him OR forget that he does in fact remember the smaller things and is able to relate them to me in one way or another.
Looking all dappered up, we were on our way out the door and headed to a restaurant where we proceeded to purchase drinks at the bar while waiting for our table to be set up. I have yet to have a guy {prior to Ryan} ever purchase a drink {without other intentions} or food for me, which Ryan so kindly did. We FaceTimed with my aunt, as well as with my parents, and just had the chance to enjoy each other’s physical company and conversation.
We went to a couple of bars but when it was time to go home, Lauren hopped into bed and Ryan and I went and had another infamous heart to heart which did lead to some tears. True feelings between the two of us were finally coming out and boy did the emotions hit me hard. Who would have EVER thought that you could have possibly found the most perfect human being in Ibiza… Yet they're from the UK, willing to commute hours to spend time with you, willing to change and rebook a flight to Barcelona to visit you again, and also knowing that there is a possibility of never seeing each other again due to realistically being continents away.
My brain, heart, and emotions have never been so jumbled in my life.
And the next morning, we got to spend with each other AGAIN!! Holding hands around my favorite city, taking Lauren on a tour of Kensington Palace, going to Harrods and lingering around the different floors, etc… Everything felt perfect. It felt like a fairytale that I never wanted to end.
Then, a couple of hours later, we had to say our goodbyes. Granted we were going to see each other the very next night in Barcelona, it was still a hard one because it was nearing our final goodbye. One more day until we wouldn't know the next time we would see each other.
…
Monday evening came around, and boy did it go by quickly. I didn't land in Barcelona until around 8:30 in the evening, so I wasn't even home until about an hour later in which Ryan came straight to my apartment. As a last “Hoorah,” I had gotten us some Veuve, so we popped that and just talked in my room for a little bit until we decided to head to the beach to just talk and soak in everything.
We talked about the memories we had made together. We talked about how weird it was that we had met in Ibiza, of all places. We talked about the future and what we could see happening. We talked about all that cliche, sentimental, and emotional ish that you could imagine and in the moments of silence, he would just hold onto me, tightly.
We would be able to hear the rush of the ocean and just know the time was nearing an end together.
When we got back to my apartment, our talking continued. We did not want to waste any time together, so we sat on my couch for about six hours {until he had to leave Tuesday morning for filming, and I had to go for work}, just talking. Embracing each other’s presence one last time, and me just allowing every flood of emotion let go {including a crap ton of tears}. Never letting go of each other, we were hooked, and honestly I could probably write an entire novel based just off the time we have spent talking and getting to know each other {with the touch of growing feelings}.
What we had was so surreal and unique. I don't believe I have ever had anything like it, and who knows if I will ever be able to find something like it in the future. It was one of the absolute HARDEST goodbyes I have ever had to say, and to this day I replay it in my head. I have gone to bed thinking about the moments we had together, I have woken up in the middle of the night thinking what we had was so real, and now I finally understand what people mean when they say, “if you find something so amazing, don't let it go.”
He is one I have to let go.
…
May our friendship continue. May our communication remain constant, even when I am in the United States. May our paths cross again one day in the future… Who knows what is yet to come, but I thank God for putting such an incredible man in my life for the two months I was in Barcelona. I learned SO much about myself and my expectations for my future. And if you {Ryan} manage to stumble upon this post, may you always remember the special bond we had.
