I ran away. What the hell was I thinking?
I shouldn't be away from home. I should be training, working, preparing.
I should be getting ready for the Australian open but no, what am I doing? Sitting in fucking Portofino.
How did I end up here? I was in Turin for a tournament, I lost first round, I couldn't handle it, everyone saying how disappointing I was, how they expected better results, how i'm not living up to the Serbian greats in tennis.
Fuck the damn greats. I'm a person.
After deciding to respect myself as a person, I ran away. Yes, I'm a grown adult and it's not technically running away but it feels like it, I turned my location off for everyone, I didn't tell anyone where I was, the last place people knew I was, was in Turin.
So what exactly am I supposed to do now?
Hotel! dumbass. how are you going to show up in a place and not think about where you're staying?
Wait, I have a house here. Oh my god I forgot about that.
I'm sitting in a small coffee shop, my suitcase and my backpack beside me. I had my tennis gear shipped back to Serbia although resided to keep two of my rackets, I have to train while i'm here.
"You look very familiar" I quickly look up at the sound of a voice, the barista places my coffee down on the table, staring at me as if it's written on my forehead.
"Wait, aren't you that Serbian tennis player, Helena?"
"Sorry, you must be mistaken, I have no idea who that is"
"Oh, sorry for bothering you, have a good day" With that she quickly walks away
God, Estella's acting skills are rubbing off on me, that's an oscar deserving performance right there.
After figuring out how far my house is from here I get up, leaving the small cafe
I feel absolutely stupid walking the streets with my suitcase. Can you tell i'm a local!
I distract myself as I watch the cars pass me
Damn, I look in awe at one car in particular as I watch it drive by, how can one car be so beautiful?
My usual favorite car is a Porsche 911 turbo s, but I can't help my eyes linger on the matte black Ferrari with a red and white stripe down the middle of it.
Do I have a car here?
Once I get to my house I collapse on the couch. I can't believe I just did this.
It's late by the time I get up from the couch, no longer feeling the need to over analyze every decision i've made in the past ten years of my life.
Heading upstairs I walk into my room.
Throwing on an oversized grey t-shirt and sleep shorts I get in bed.
Okay, who is blasting music at such an ungodly hour of the night? I glare through the wall to the noise coming from the house to my left as if it'll get whoever it is to stop.
It's fine, they'll stop soon.
~
they did not infact stop soon.
It's been god knows how long and i'm over it.
Grabbing my shoes and my house key I walk the short 20 steps that it takes me to reach the house, knocking on the door rather loudly I hear the music stop, and footsteps approaching
I shirtless man opens the door. Holy shit he's hot
"Can I help you?"
Right, music, the reason i'm standing here
"Can you turn your music down, it doesn't need to be that damn loud at midnight"
"Yeah, my apologies miss.."
"Helena"
"Have a good night Helena" he closes the door before I can say anything else.
I'm confused, but something i'm not confused about is how I love the sound of my name rolling off his tongue with his accent. French, i'm guessing.
__
It's now morning, I slept wonderful after the mystery french boy turned his music down.
Going downstairs I eat some yogurt with granola and honey, checking my phone to see if I got a text from my trainer.
Rachel- You can fall off the face of the earth, that's fine, but I need you fit while you fall
(one attachment)
But what if I wanted to be happy while I fall?
Rachel- You'll be happy when you aren't dying after a simple rally in Australia
She linked a photo of what she wanted me to do, I didn't bother answering after seeing she put a run on my program.
I fucking hate running.
After many minutes of fighting myself I decided I had to do it, I don't know how long i'll be in Italy, but I do need to be in shape for Australia.
Putting on a tight black shirt and nike shorts I get ready for my run, three miles, easy.
You've got this, I think.
1st mile all I could think about is what i'm going to say to explain to everyone when I decide to be back on the grid, creating different scenarios in my head to any possible outcome I could imagine.
2nd mile I started to think over my career, how i'm going to keep pushing myself, keep destroying myself, hours of pain, for those mere minutes of success.
3rd mile, words do not explain how much I hate running.
After it was over and I made my way back to my house, I laid down on my porch, spread out trying to relax and catch my breathe.
"Helena" I shoot up at the sound of my name, finding the french man leaning against my porch, a smirk across his lips
"Can I help you?"
"Can you stop breathing so loud? There's no reason for you to be running at 6am"
"Who are you?"
"Charles, and you're Helena"
"Yes, yes I am" Does he recognize me? I seriously hope he has no idea who I am
"Why are you running at 6am Helena?"
"My job"
"I could've joined you, my job makes me run, but i'm not a psycho doing it at 6am"
" I don't even know you"
"Yes you do, I'm Charles, your neighbor"
"Okay but I know nothing about you, where you're from, I don't even know something like your favorite color, or your last name for that matter"
"But you don't need to know my last name, or where i'm from, but my favorite color is red"
"That was the least important of the three"
"To bad, my turn" He pushes off the porch, sitting down leaning against the wall of my house with me as we stare at the street, "What's your favorite color?"
"Green"
"Agree to disagree, what is your favorite food?"
"Pasta"
"Well I guess you're in the right place"
"Do you live here?"
"No, just visiting, I rented the house next door"
"Do you live here?"
"Just visiting"
"How old are you?"
"25"
"you?"
"23"
"Why are you here alone?"
"Escaping"
"what are you some type of criminal?"
"No, i'm escaping reality"
"I can second that"
"Would you want to come inside?"
"But I don't even know you" he laughs sarcastically as he follows me into the house
"Coffee?"
"Sure"
He follows me into the kitchen, watching as I grab two mugs, making the coffees
"Do you stare at everyone you meet?"
"No, but I also don't walk into their houses"
"Yeah cause you're the one concerned of stranger danger"
"You knocked on my door, not the other way around" he jokes lifting his hands up in defense
"No one should be blasting music that loud!" I scold him making him smile
"What do you want in your coffee?"
"Could you put third of the mug milk"
"So specific"
"You asked"
"Questions?"
"Why not" I shrug agreeing to his suggestion
"Do you have any siblings?"
"Yeah, an older brother"
"You?"
"Two brothers, i'm the middle child"
"do you actually get ignored like everyone claims?"
"No, I would say we all got equal attention"
"Does your brother do the same thing for work as you do?"
"No, but he has to run too"
"Mystery jobs, fun"
"I could be working for a secret service, you may never know"
"What like the mafia?"
"Yeah, I'm definitely in the mafia"
"Can I ask which one or is that to in depth"
I act as if i'm thinking before laughing, "The Serbian mafia"
"Are you Serbian or is that just what came to mind?"
"I'm serbian"
"ти си мали пацов"
"Did you just call me a little rat? Seriously?" I can't help but laugh, that was so random
"It's all I know!"
"I'll have to teach you because there's no way i'm allowing that to be all you know"
"Ah, so i'll being seeing you again"
I shrug, "How long are you escaping for?"
"Almost two months"
"Would you look at that, I plan to escape for the same amount of time"
"Oh do you? Or is this your way of wanting to hang out with me up until I leave?"
"Okay, calm the ego mister, I have an event I have to be at the third week of January I have to go back for"
"What's your excuse for escaping your escape?"
"I too have an event, but not till February"
"Then we both shall return to our mystery lives"
"Will I ever find out what you do?"
"Nope" For once, someone doesn't know who I am, I intend for it to stay that way, I can finally be me, Helena, not Helena Petrovic, famous tennis player.
"Fair, you won't be finding out about me either"
"I will, Im a detective"
"Is that what you do for the mafia?"
"Definitely"
Words: 1628
My first part, how do you like it? Give it a chance I promise it gets more interesting!