Chapter 1- Land ahoy
After what seemed a lifetime of living in the island of Great Britain, she heard her mother tongue spoken loud and clear from the airport speakers, something that made her cringe and die a little inside. Not a typical reaction to expect from anyone, going back home to one's parents whom one hasn't seen for quite some time now. She stepped out of the airport dragging her bag, a man next to her. The automatic doors opened and a wave of heat hit her right in the face, suffocating her. She took back a step, as if she was afraid of the stillness of the air. He stopped and turned to look at her.
"It's so hot!" he exclaimed joyfully. "How do you feel?" he asked, putting his hand on his face, blocking the sun.
"It is hot." She stated. She already felt sweaty and disgusted, but he didn't need to know. It's only for a couple of weeks. Only a couple of weeks. That was her mantra, which was going to help her survive this trip. This, is a necessary evil, she told herself again, and turned to look at him. She gained strength from his image. "Ok, let's go. We have a long way ahead of us." They held hands and made their way.
They had planned this trip, a week prior their arrival. The places they'd go, how long they were to stay in each place, who they had to visit and so on. She was only going back because there was an important wedding she needed to attend and this-according to her mum-was the perfect opportunity for a short vacation for her, and for the family to meet that mysterious man. Her heart was skipping a bit every time she thought of that. They were together for almost a year now, and her family was completely left out of this. He was only introduced to them by seeing their pictures, once or twice. She avoided talking about them. It felt strange. On the contrary, she loves his parents. Every time his mother was inviting them over for dinner she couldn't be happier. She loved his mother. His father as well, although they couldn't spend so much time together. Being a child in a divorced family meant not only you had to divide your time, but your parents had to make time for you also. It was hard, but not climbing-a-mountain hard.
"Should we take a taxi for the train station?" he asked her.
"Yes, that would be great." She was still lost in her thoughts. But his voice made her realize that they were in her territory now, and she should handle things now. He shouldn't struggle to understand her country's system from that early on.
"You know what, I'll take it from here. I see things haven't changed much since I left." She motioned him to follow her. They found a taxi, loaded the things and asked him to get them to the train station. The taxi driver asked in English "Are you here for vacation?" looking through the rearview mirror, trying to start a conversation. Typical, she thought. They motioned yes. "I hope you enjoy Greece. This in the best time for holiday, the weather is perfect." It was 35 degrees Celsius outside.
"My girlfriend is actually Greek" he said proudly and held her hand. She smiled at him, but in reality wanted to slap him in silence. Here we go.
"You're Greek miss?" the taxi driver asked aghast.
She answered positive in Greek. Then the whole conversation continued in her mother tongue, leaving him outside of it. He knew some Greek form university, but they were mostly the ancient types, so he couldn't really follow their fast pace. He didn't mind though; he loved hearing her speaking it. They sounded so magical in his ears. He was even urging her to speak it to him back home sometimes, so he wouldn't forget what he spend four years of his life studying. He especially liked it when she randomly cursed in Greek when something wasn't going her way. He picked up a few of those words as well.
The taxi driver asked her about him. Yes, he was her boyfriend. Yes, he was English. No, she didn't find any Greek guys in London. Yes, she knew there are many, but she stumbled onto him. Yes, she was working there. No, not anywhere he would know, it was a private firm. Yes, they had the same job; almost. They are in the same field, so they met in work. No, not the same, but… She figured what the hell, and just said it. She was a production assistant, and he was an actor. Yes, they are here to visit her parents. The driver's face seemed like he knew exactly what she was getting into. He looked at her with that face that said 'poor people your parents, meeting not only a stranger, but one of them actors as well.' A typical Greek such as himself, with a moustache and a beer belly-as she liked to categorize them- was aware of how parents received foreign grooms. That's what they all called them. Married or not, if you were to introduce your foreign boyfriend to your parents, he was your husband and would remain so in their eyes, until informed otherwise. She didn't know if this was a national joke, or just a threat disguised as a joke.
It was a long drive. The taxi driver, Mr. Panos, continued with his questions. He felt inclined to inform her about what was happening since she left. She assured him, she was keeping track of the situation via internet and phone calls with her friends, but no; he had to tell her the hard truth as lived by the everyday people. So I see nothing changed much. Occasionally she would translate to her boyfriend what he was talking about so he wouldn't feel too much left out. He tired her. He talked way too much. She put her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, letting him do the talking on his own. She didn't care if she was being impolite, she felt drained. He was caressing her arms and occasionally agreeing with what Mr. Panos was saying, who had now switched to English.
They finally made it to the station. She paid him, thanked him dearly for everything, and wished him a good day, as he drove away. "Ok, let's find our train."
As they entered the building, a cool air hit them on the face. Bless the air conditioning system. They both let out a sigh of relief. They walked through the small corridor. There were little shops around them, selling books, magazines, food and water. They reached the platforms entry, and she checked the time tables. Their train was leaving in 45 minutes. Just as she had it planned. They walked up to the platform and sat down.
"Are you tired love?" he said and placed his hand on her leg.
She smiled at him. The bastard! He looked beautiful for a person travelling for so many hours.
"I am." She said with certainty. "I'm also a little anxious" she confessed, scratching the inside of her palms with her nails.
"Darling you shouldn't. If anything, I should be feeling anxious not you. You're going home." That was exactly what she was afraid of.
"I think you're not grasping the importance of this situation" she looked at him concerned. "You haven't met my family yet." She stated coldly.
"So what? I'm sure they'll be wonderful people. Just like you." That made her laugh. He thought he took some anxiety off of her, but in reality she found it funny. She was the complete opposite of what her family was. At some point it even made her question if she was maybe adopted. She wasn't; plenty of witnesses to disprove her hypothesis. Changing the subject, they spend the rest their time talking about weather differences.
When they got on the train, he motioned for him to sit by the window, so he could have a better look. He assured him that she didn't mind, and that she remembered the ride like it was yesterday; which was true. Sometimes, she would even dream it; just the green and the mountains. Not that she consciously missed them, but her subconscious had a weird way of reminding her where she came from.
The trip was quiet. For a tourist season, the train only had local people. Some faces looked familiar to her; distant, as if from a dream. He, on the other hand, was in ecstasy. They both loved travelling by train, but his joy was coming from finally visiting Greece. Having studied a lot about this place, made him feel a geeky joy inside, she knew about. She felt the same way when they visited the museums back home. He didn't stop asking questions. Where are we now, what does this name mean? Oh it comes from that particular ancient Greek word, which he knew and felt inclined to analyze its roots to get to the meaning. That last one was actually a shared feature. They both loved arguing about word roots from dead languages. After some time, the tiredness got her, and leaned back on her chair, closing her eyes. He had his eyes glued to the window, looking and observing. It made her happy that he was happy.
Trying to relax behind closed eyes, she let her mind travel back, and saw in flashing images the decisions that lead her here. That email from her best friend, whom she hadn't seen for quite some years, that was saying she was getting married. She had to be there. There was no other option she could consider. She wanted to be there. She missed her friend. So they discussed about it. Fortunately enough, his schedule was empty for the next month. It was his time off between projects. He planned spending most of it home with her, and then do some work related travelling, but when this opportunity arose, he didn't even have to think twice. He wanted it. He wanted to visit this country for so long and mostly now that they were together. Just like she wanted to see the places he grew up, it was now his turn to satisfy this curiosity.
He turned his face away from nature, to look at her. She had her eyes closed and she looked peaceful. He touched her hand, and she smiled returning the gesture. She opened her eyes to see him. The sun was casting some rays between the two sides of his face and he looked like he was coming out of a renascence painting. His image calmed her soul. Under the sun his eyes looked bigger and brighter, a mixture of green and blue, his skin was brownish-contrary to her paleness-and his hair seemed fairer.
"The sun is making you look like an angel out of a renascence painting." She smiled.
"And here I was thinking you looked like the sleeping beauty, and I was the demon over your shoulder devilishly and cunning observing you, coveting you to be mine." He was so goddamn eloquent sometimes. Tom Hiddleston; actor, dancer, philosopher, smoother than a baby's bottom. She smiled at her inner thought. "Let's just say that we are both disguised demons seeking the destruction of the world" she sighed, kissing his hand, and closed her eyes.
"Here" he said and took her in his arms "Sleep in my lap." He took her in his embrace.
"That's kind of impossible, because the way they announce the stops here, is enough to cause you a heart-attack" she yawned in his chest. She was out within minutes. He liked holding her while she slept. From what he knew of her past, sleep was very important to her. She used to suffer from insomnia, so every time he saw her sleeping peacefully, he was feeling happy for her. She was very important to him.
He never thought he could find a person such as herself, but there she was, fast asleep in his lap. They were quite the opposite characters; he is very open as a person, she is quite shy. He likes to talk; she's more of the listening type. He's outdoorsy, enjoys the sun and swimming in the sea. She can't go near it. She prefers a cottage in the countryside, where there's tall trees and green as far as the eye can see. She's a house cat. He is too, but not in her degree. He's a people person; sometimes she wants to commit genocide. He loved and admired her culture; she thought that after one point there was nothing to be proud of. But they had their common ground; the pieces of the puzzle that stuck together. Their love for the arts; especially French cinema. Even if she didn't understand a word of French, she loved hearing him talk. The same way he loved hearing her speaking Greek and Spanish. They both stressed-cooked, so there was always something to nibble at in either one's home. The fact that they both loved sitting down to watch a Disney movie and sing along to their favourite songs. She wasn't much of a dancer, but she enjoyed when he offered his hand and swept her into his crazy rhythm. He loved that she danced with him and only him; even if in the beginning she stepped on his feet. He was stupidly optimistic, always happy and smiling, had the perspective of a realist. She was a dreamer, a hopeless romantic, a brooding Adam. There were times when she was falling in the rabbit hole for weeks and couldn't get out. She was a difficult person and had many problems she hadn't told him about. He needn't know. But her determination to become friends when she found out they had common friends, brought them together. His curiosity to find out more about her, led to them being together now for almost one year. She didn't complain when he had to be away for work, and hated drawing attention to herself in public. His public life was his own, but his private was shared with hers. They both enjoyed immensely their little secret.
He was thinking all their shared life so far, as he held her asleep in his arms. She had become very important to him. It was as if she could read his mind sometimes and knew exactly what to say or how to behave. He thought of their differences. It wasn't sitting well to him that such a nice girl as herself was keeping close to herself and was so unhappy. When he used to think about how he'd like his girl to be, she was always happy and smiley. His girl was; his Persephone was happy and smiley. But sometimes it pained him to see her uneasy and anxious; like she was carrying the ancient secret of the world all by herself. But he'd be damned if she wasn't the girl that made him feel that this was right. That most of the pieces actually fit. Maybe he should stop looking. He wasn't getting any younger either. Now that he was meeting her parents, it kind of made it more official. He signed and looked out the window. He would think about it later. Now, all it mattered was for her to feel okay. She looked so fragile in his arms. He realized then, that the more he talked and she listened, he didn't really know everything about her. Contrary to her, he was at a disadvantage. Maybe this trip would help him see inside of her.
She sighed in her sleep and her breasts went up, brushing his hand. He remembered their nights together and looked at her with lustful thoughts in his mind. He hoped they could get some time alone, because suddenly he missed her.
They got off the train, the bags feeling heavy on their relaxed muscles. "My dad should be somewhere around here…" her eyes roaming, searching for the familiar face amongst other people. She spotted him. As if not one day had passed, he was there, behind the open door of the driver's seat in the car-on the left side now of course- his hand on his face, blocking the sun, searching for her. "I found him." She almost said 'follow me' but instead turned and faced him. "Are you ready?" she anxiously asked him. That question would be more appropriately addressed to her subconscious, than him.
"More than I'll ever be" he reassured her with a smile, taking her hand. She exhaled a breath that was caught in her throat. That's what she wanted to hear. Hand in hand now, rolling their cases with the free arms, made their way slowly to the car. When they got away from the crowd, she stopped, raised her arm and smiled at her anxious father. He raised his hand and practically ran towards her. She felt her heartbeats accelerating, and her stomach turning and twisting into a knot. She let go of Tom's hand without thinking, her suitcase fell to the ground and in a few long steps was in his embrace. He still smelled like musky strong lavender. She wanted to cry, but controlled herself. She actually missed him. Tom followed her, approaching slowly.
They kissed and hugged again. He looked exactly the same; only more tired. She took a step back and introduced them in Greek. Her father didn't speak any English, which in this case was in her favour. They shook hands. Her father's fist seemed strong. Their handshake lasted for ages in her eyes. Tom didn't lose time, and practiced the phrases they had rehearsed back home; 'hello sir, very happy to meet you, my name is Tom'. He couldn't stop smiling, while her dad was measuring him from top to bottom with just his eyes, which seemed not moving; but she knew better. They packed the bags and headed home.
The ride was a little awkward. She had to speak full sentences in Greek again and it sounded so strange to her ears. She hadn't forgotten her mother tongue, that would be preposterous; but the sounds she made weren't familiar to her ears just yet. Her dad was polite enough not to ask anything about him just yet. That meant that either he would later, or he'd make mum ask for him as well. She did miss them. She just didn't miss the person she was, when coming back home. She kept squeezing Tom's hand without realizing it. He just stood in silence, looking out the window, listening to their words, trying to make out most of it. He did sense her anxiousness, but didn't say so. He figured, he should observe her first, ask his questions later. Now, he knew he had to be as condescending she was to him when he was leaving her, flying off across the world to work.
Before they left home, she warned him; she used to live in a small town, which she described as 'living at the edge of the map.' It was her dad's birthing place, and he lived there since he was born, and refused to go. So her mother moved in with him. She was a police officer; a very fierce woman. Her father was a farmer; a very outgoing, loud, short-tempered, yet sensitive man. Practically everyone in her family was overflowing with confidence, except her. The drive from the city, where the train left them, to her home in the town, was ten minutes by car. Her time was now up. They got out of the car, and she silently prayed to God for a smooth, trouble-less stay.