Courage in the Mediterranean: Nico's Epic Journey

"You know that I have to go right?" Noemie said as she sat down next to me on the couch.

"I know," I responded. "But it is a little unexpected."

"That's the point. You don't want things to be expected or predictable. You've been living your life under the umbrella of what other people think you should do. It is time for you to make your own decisions and make them without asking anyone else."

"I don't think that my parents were asking," I said as I stood up from the couch and began pacing around the room. "I'm not sure how they could get them to agree."

"Well, we had a good talk last night and it seems like they are finally starting to see things differently."

"What did you tell them? How could you possibly convince them?" My mom and dad had always been so protective of me. They didn't approve of Noemie at first when we started dating, but eventually they came around to our relationship. So, this was quite a shocker for me.

"I just told them that you are going through some stuff right now, and that this trip would help you figure things out. I think they finally realized that if you're unhappy then no amount of money or fancy vacations will really affect that," Noemie said as she looked at her phone which was buzzing in her pocket. She quickly checked it before putting it back in her pocket. "Listen, I got some messages from my friends saying that we're leaving tomorrow afternoon. We'll be gone for a while so I need to get ready."

"Wait, so this isn't just a couple days away? We won't be back for a long time?"

"No, we'll be gone for about two weeks," Noemie responded with a smile. "It is going to be incredible Nico! We are going to travel all across Europe, visit all of these places that we've only read about in books and seen in movies."

"Yeah, yeah whatever," I said as I turned away from her and continued pacing around the room fighting back tears that were welling up in my eyes, threatening to spill over onto my cheeks. This was not what I had expected when she told me about this trip that she was taking with some of her friends.

* * * * *

After Noemie left the house yesterday afternoon she didn't return until late last night with her bags packed fully loaded with clothes and everything else that she would need during their trip. She woke me up in the middle of the night by shaking me on my shoulder while whispering into my ear: "Get up Nico, we have to leave soon." As soon as I opened my eyes, she handed me an outfit identical to the one she was wearing right now: A dark blue t-shirt with jean shorts and a pair of hiking boots on her feet with sunglasses sitting atop her head acting as hair clips holding back her hair from her face. Her clothes were wrinkled from sleeping in them last night but other than that they still looked clean enough for a two week trip across Europe.

* * * * *

Last night after we went downstairs and loaded up into Noemie's car parked outside in our driveway next to mine, we drove out of Armina towards the coast where our ship would be waiting for us early this morning along with everyone else who was taking part in this trip. For most of the drive neither one of us spoke much as she kept looking down at her phone either reading or writing something on it every once in a while before setting it down on her lap again for the next few minutes until it vibrated again causing her to pick it up and repeat the same cycle over again until we reached our destination which took about an hour from Armina by car since there wasn't much traffic on the road at such an early hour in the morning except for us who were making our way out of town before sunrise today.

* * * * *

When we arrived at our ship which had already set anchor off shore waiting for us as well as everyone else who was taking part in this trip along with their belongings which were being loaded onto board by their hired staff members, who helped carry everyone's luggage up the gangway onto ship while they greeted each passenger personally saying their names as they walked on board behind their partner carrying their luggage onto boat by themselves or with someone else's help if needed before heading towards deck where everyone started mingling around talking to one another or just sitting down relaxing enjoying watching others load onto boat before heading inside themselves while some headed straight towards their rooms without stopping anywhere else on boat except bathroom or bedroom area where they stowed away all of their luggage before heading towards deck again where everybody was already standing near dockside watching waves slosh against boat's hulls rocking entire boat from side to side making movement feel almost like ocean waves were lapping against sides causing slight swaying motion throughout vessel. This unique experience caused people to carefully balance themselves, making sure to maintain