I was soaking in the beauty of the last sunset I would see in Amsterdam while resting my arms on the rusted rail of the balcony with Esmerelda by my side. I could feel her eyes on me and she knew it. I gave a soft smile to tease her and she pushed my arm while having a laughing fit. Picking her up by the waist I threw her onto the velvet couch on the balcony. Shoving her legs to the side we both sank into the red couch that ate us alive.

“Time to go”, I said

“Ugh I never want to leave this beautiful city, Will” Ez replied with a pout on her face

Ez was my childhood friend. Our trip has been the most thrilling time of my life. I wouldn’t do it with anybody else. Her parents were skeptical about letting her go abroad as they were scared something would happen since she was a young girl traveling with a guy like me. I say a ‘guy like me’ like it’s a bad thing which it’s really not, but her parents are just strict that way. I understand though, I would never want anything happen to Esme either. I would protect her at any costs.

…

Next thing I know I’m standing in the middle of a Brazilian street breaking my neck while trying to see the top of Christ the Redeemer. Me and Ez looked at each other and couldn’t stop laughing in disbelief. She grabbed my hand and we ran to our small apartment that would become our home for the next couple weeks.

Over the days that would follow we made it our mission to see everything we possible could. From going to bars and meeting some unpleasant natives, to hiking the most extreme mountains Rio had to offer, to paragliding over the sapphire blue ocean. It was really the most incredible place I had ever been.

We found an abandoned building in the most perfect overlook of the bay and it became our go to place in the evening. One night, when the stars looked so vibrant that it was as if you could just reach up and grab one from the sky, we were sitting on the topmost balcony of the decrepit building when we recited our dreams for the future to each other like we weren’t living the dreams of our past selves already. While the sky went burnt orange and the city was falling asleep, Esme’s head fell onto my shoulder and I put my jacket around her. Little did I know and would find out later that she was really awake the whole time.

Which leads us to the climax of this situation. We were sitting at our favorite restaurant just finishing our food, when Ez had to run back to the apartment to get her purse as we had decided to go on a tour of a couple parts of the city we hadn’t seen yet. So, as you do, I sat at the bar and ordered a drink when the most beautiful woman I had ever saw placed herself right next to me. She had the silkiest chocolate hair and a childish but elegant look about her appearance. Her name was Genevieve D’borough. I’m not going to bore with the small conversation we had, but I will tell you that I had never clicked like that with anyone before. I demanded she took my arm and we stroll down and back the street. We ended up sitting on a bench just outside the swinging door of the restaurant under a small ambient lantern. She was babbling on about her life, and I felt the greatest impulse of my life. I quickly leaned in slowly kissed her. The churn I felt in my stomach was a feeling unlike anything I had every felt.

It just so happened that Esmerelda was walking around the corner to seem me kissing this stranger. I saw Esme over Genevieve shoulder as she broke into uncontrollable tears and ran back to the apartment.

You can guess what happened next. I tried to explain my side of the story, and she hers. She knew I never felt romantic love towards her and I don’t think I ever could. How could she be angry at me for that? How could I be in the wrong? She was gone from Rio next morning and I didn’t see her until my wedding with Genevieve four years later.