Together

Fish And Chips

Hello hello hello! I hope you all had a nice Saturday! Lazy for me, but I have super fun plans tomorrow! I'm quite fond of this chapter- I think you'll all have a laugh at it, actually. Enjoy/comment/vote x
-ab

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February 5, 2026

Patrick

The nightlife in Newcastle is nice, don't get me wrong, but Harper and I both agreed last night that it wasn't quite our scene. We both enjoyed a beer and a quick walk along the river, but the temperature dropped significantly when it got dark, so it was quite chilly. We ended up coming home a few hours before we had envisioned, then watched some telly before going to sleep, still quite late.

Now, it's just after 10:00 the next morning. We slept in. Today is really just a lazy day for us. We will probably go to the Northumberland Coast and explore a bit, but there's not too much to do there.

"Hey Harper," I say to her as she's doing her makeup, "I heard that they're having a wedding here at Lumley Castle today. What do you say we crash it?"

"We could pull a 'Speak Now' moment and object the marriage," she giggles. "Hey, love, speaking of that, we should check in on Taylor and Joe before we get going today. Taylor texted me yesterday but it completely slipped my mind to respond."

"Oh, yeah," I nod. "I've been sending Joe a few pictures, but I'm sure that Taylor would love to hear from you."

When both of us are all ready, we use FaceTime to call Taylor, who picks up quite quickly. She's quite clearly still in her pyjamas, and holding a mug of tea in her hand that isn't holding the phone. Olivia curled up next to Taylor, on the sofa.

"Hey!" she smiles, waving at us. "Joe, honey, come here. Your brother and Harper are on FaceTime."

In just a few seconds, Joe's face appears on the screen next to Taylor's. "Hey kids. How's the holiday?"

"It's lovely," Harper states. "How's good old London?"

"Rainy as always," Taylor rolls her eyes, causing us all to laugh. "But, it sort of reminds me of where I grew up, back in the states. I honestly think that it might rain more in Pennsylvania than it does in London."

"Wow," I laugh. "Remind me to not go there."

"I mean, when it's sunny, it's not bad..."

Everyone laughs as Taylor tries to defend her homeland.

"Listen, the states were great, that one time when I ran away to New York City, but I'd never be able to drag myself away from the land of castles for long enough to actually go live there."

"I lost count of how many castles that I've seen in the past few days, and this one just keeps wanting more," I laugh.

"They're so much fun. I get to pretend to be a princess."

I smile at her, lacing my fingers through Harper's. "It makes me happy to know that you're happy."

Harper and I tell Joe and Taylor about our adventures, both past and those planned for today, for a bit longer.

"So, what have you guys been up to?" I ask, eventually.

"Nothing nearly as exciting as what you two have," Joe laughs. "I think that Tay's feeling a bit under the weather today, so we will probably just have a day in, snuggling in front of the telly, you know."

"Oh no," Harper furrows her brows. "I hope that you're feeling better soon."

"It's just a little virus, that's all," Taylor assures us. "Probably only twenty-four hours. I think that I just overworked myself at the studio the past few days."

"Okay," Harper says, giving a small smile. "So, you're going to play me your new music when we get back, right?"

Everyone laughs. "Maybe," Taylor tells my wife. "Joe's the only one who has heard it, so far. It's all in the very early stages of production. I've got to go back to the States in a few weeks to talk to my label about everything, and hopefully there will be a new album in October or November of next year."

"Yay!"

Harper and I only talk to Taylor and Joe for a bit longer, before we decide to leave them to themselves, and we are going to head out to the coast, then have a nice dinner in Sunderland before we come back in for a lazy night.

One of the first things that we notice about Sunderland is that it is a very quaint little town. The air smells salty from the sea, and the winds blow Harper's hair, causing her to giggle.

"It's getting so tangled," she laughs, pulling the bobble out of her hair, which was only half pulled back, and sweeping all of her strawberry blonde, wavy locks into a high ponytail.

We end up walking all of the way out to St. Mary's Lighthouse, which is really fun to see. We have to be mindful of the tides, as it is on an island when the tide is in. Because of this, we aren't able to spend as long as we would like at the lighthouse, but both of us would rather not spend six hours on an island, able to see the mainland but not get back. Especially not without food, as both of us are quite hungry.

We walk back to where we have parked our car, and from there, drive more into the center of town. Once we are in a car park, I'm able to google restaurants, and the two of us pick out a nice looking pub. We aren't typically huge 'fish and chips'-style food fans, but the coast seems to put us in the mood.

Well, me, at least.

"God, Patrick, I don't understand how you eat that stuff," Harper remarks, looking at the fried fish that has been placed in front of me.

"It's really not that bad."

"No. No. I hate cod, I hate cod, I hate cod."

"God, okay," I laugh. "That's noted."

"It's so disgusting."

"It's literally tasteless."

"But it has this disgusting slimy texture that literally makes me gag."

"God, I never knew that you were so opinionated on this," I laugh. "Learn something new every day, I guess."

"Today's lesson was an important one. Never try to feed me cod." She takes a bite of her Yorkshire pudding, made with chicken instead of beef, mind you, which she was only able to get her hands on due to how far we actually are from Yorkshire, and some traditionalists might kill her for eating. Harper tries to keep an irritated look on her face, but she can't do it, and bursts into giggles, causing me to laugh too.

"Every now and then, I can't help but wonder why I married a dramatic theatre person."

"Because you love me." She gives a cheeky little smile.

"You've got me on that one, for sure."