(a/n: this is just a silly disclaimer but i'm half english so english readers if you see me joking around about stereotypes don't take it personal lmao
+ as opposed to new york i've been to london/england multiple times so hopefully my portrayal of it isn't too inaccurate 🫶🏻)
I stared out of the taxi's window, raindrops sliding along it, still in disbelief of what was happening. The furthest I'd ever been on holiday without my family up 'til then was something like an hour from home, but I was suddenly in a whole other continent with my girlfriend.
She also seemed kind of lost in her own thoughts, or maybe she was just tired from the journey. But one of her hands was never not laced with mine the whole time, which made me feel more overwhelmingly happy than I already was.
It was already dark outside, but the streets were still full of people despite the rain and most shops were open, just like in New York. Each time I'd tried to suggest the two cities might be similar, Sam always disapproved, so I guessed the next few days would prove if she was right or not.
"You can stop here, thank you" she said as we approached a street full of brown-bricked houses, just like the ones that would pop up if you googled houses in London. Or probably in most parts of England. But I didn't already want to seem an ignorant American, so I kept my comment to myself.
I thanked the driver as we got out of the car, proceeding to take our luggage out of it and trying not to get too soaked by the rain through a definitely too small umbrella.
"You good?" Sam asked as we approached a house's entrance and she rang the doorbell.
"Yeah" I nodded. "You?"
"I'm great" she smiled, quickly kissing my forehead right before the door opened and we found ourselves in front of Sam's sister.
"Hello, you!" she smiled. "Come in, it's pouring outside! London's weather never disappoints, am I right?"
"Hi" Sam chuckled as the two hugged once we stepped inside. "Thank you for letting us stay here"
"Don't even. You know I'm happy to do it" she shook her head. "Ellie, hi! How are you?" she added, also hugging me.
"Pretty good" I giggled, smiling at how enthusiastic she was to see us.
"Was the flight okay?" she added.
"Yeah, it was fine. Only the landing was a bit messy because of this shit weather" Sam shrugged.
"Typical. I bet you were scared as hell but tried to seem careless as you always do" the blonde snickered, causing me to laugh at how accurate that description was. "She was, wasn't she?" she asked, looking at me.
"I mean..."
"Okay, that's enough" Sam interrupted us with a chuckle.
"Fine, I'll leave you to your convictions. Anyway, I guess you must be tired. Should I show you around the house or do you remember where everything is, Sam?"
"You can show us around, I've only been here once like two years ago" she shrugged.
"Oh, right. I'd just moved in and you were about to move to New York. You almost didn't even come because M-" she stopped herself as Sam gave her a glare. "Nevermind. Come along, then" she just said.
Lauren's house wasn't much bigger than my apartment in New York, it just had one extra bedroom and maybe a slightly larger kitchen-living room area. All the furniture wasn't as crowded and squeezed in as in mine. But it looked like a pleasant place to live in.
Once she'd showed us around we figured it was better if we tried to get some sleep despite the jet-lag, as Lauren also said she'd be going to bed.
"Hey, Ellie" she said at a lower voice volume while Sam was in the bathroom.
"What's up?" I asked.
"I just, uhm, wanted to thank you, I guess. I've noticed that Sam has been happier than she's been in ages in these months, and I'm pretty sure it's thanks to you. I guess you know she's been through a lot. But she seems genuinely happy now, so thank you for giving her that" she smiled, visibly trying to hide her commotion.
"Oh. That's nothing to thank me for. I'm glad she looks happier" I smiled, my cheeks growing warm.
"Just wanted to let you know" she shrugged, affectionately patting my shoulder right before Sam walked out of the bathroom.
"What are you two muttering about?" she looked at the both of us, confused.
"I was just wondering how she can spend so much time with such an annoying person" Lauren readily said, causing me to laugh.
"Oh, I'm sure" Sam shook her head, wrapping her arms around my waist. "Goodnight sister"
"Goodnight you two" she chuckled, before we all retired to the bedrooms.
"What did she tell you?" Sam asked as she closed the door behind us.
"What she just said" I sat on the bed.
"I'm quite sure she didn't" she walked to me, pushing me so I landed on my back.
"Stop!" I laughed as she climbed on top of me.
"I won't get off until you tell me"
"Well, in that case I'm not gonna tell you"
"You're annoying" she said, leaning down, seemingly to kiss me. But once I moved closer, she lightly bit my cheek.
"Stop doing that" I complained, moving away. "She just told me you look happier since we got together"
"Did she really?" her face went from teasing to soft.
"Yeah"
"Oh" she smiled. "Well, in that case, she's right" she added, kissing me properly before getting up to change for bed.
"See? You had nothing to worry about"
"You never know" she shrugged.
"Also" I sat up. "I have a question. It's quite random but I was wondering"
"Ask ahead"
"Your sister's hair is really blonde. But yours is like...basically black. Is one of you dying her hair?" I couldn't help but laugh at the silliness of my question, but I really wanted to know.
"Seriously?" she also laughed. "She's naturally blonde, but not that blonde. So yeah, she dyes her hair"
"And you?"
"You think that you wouldn't have discovered it if I'd been dying my hair this whole time?"
"I don't know! You're full of secrets"
"Not with you, love" she chuckled, sitting back next to me.
"Hm, we'll see" I giggled.
"You're right, I could reveal more stuff about myself than you think once we spend time in this city"
As Sam had predicted, I immediately noticed it was still dark outside when I woke up, and she wasn't even in bed with me anymore. I switched my phone on and saw it was almost 6am, then got up to see where she could be.
Which didn't take long, because I found her at the small kitchen table dipping some boring looking cookie into a mug full of what I was pretty sure was tea.
"You've been here for less than twelve hours and you're already transitioning into your full English form?" I laughed, walking to her so I could sit on her lap.
"Careful! This is full!" she just said with her mouth still full, placing the mug on the table.
"You care more about your tea than about me?" I laughed, in disbelief.
"I swear that tea tastes like twenty times better here than in America" she said, unfazed.
"What are you doing wide awake and...having breakfast, I guess, at this time?"
"Could ask the same" she shrugged. "I told you we'd be waking up early"
"I was just trying to figure out where you were. I would have stayed in bed if you were still there" I said. "Give me, let me taste" I pointed towards the mug.
"You know I just can't stay in bed if I'm awake" she chuckled, handing me the cup.
"It honestly tastes the same" I said once I'd taken a sip, just to see her reaction.
"You don't mean that" she looked genuinely annoyed.
"I don't. I just wanted to annoy you" I giggled, kissing her cheek.
"I'm gonna have to ignore all of your making fun of me for the next weeks, won't I?" she shook her head.
"Maybe" I pecked her lips before she could say anything else. "This is weird. I feel wide awake even though it's dark outside. My brain is confused"
"I told you it'd be strange. But let's make the most of our feeling awake time to go out as soon as possible, 'cause we're gonna get randomly sleepy in the afternoon. I'm so so excited to show you this city. I've been thinking about in what order to show you all the places I want to show you for days now" she smiled, finally kissing me properly once she decided her tea wasn't that important.
I temporarily forgot where we were and let Sam make the kiss more heated, stopping only when I felt her tongue against mine.
"We're..." I breathed out, trying to pull away. "We're in your sister's house"
"It's not as if she's gonna get up any time before noon anyway" she said. "You want me to make you tea?"
"Are you being nice or just insinuating I don't know how to make it the proper way?"
"Both" she casually replied.
"Well, I don't want it. I need coffee in the morning"
"In that case, I fear my sister doesn't have that in the house. Knowing her. I'm sorry but you'll have to wait 'til we're out" she said, looking as if she wasn't sorry at all. "You want a biscuit?"
"They look like something with a boring taste" I said seconds before she hit my arm, maybe too hard, causing me to basically slide off her lap. "Okay, sorry. Let me taste one" I laughed.
"You're annoying"
"I'm not" I giggled, taking a bit of the cookie she'd handed me. "It's actually good" I admitted, almost surprised.
"I told you!" she replied. "We should get ready so we're out before masses of tourists invade the city"
"Well, I'm a tourist after all" I shrugged.
"And I'm not. So you're automatically not one either. Let's get going" she kissed me one last time before we got up.
The weather was definitely better than what we'd seen the previous evening, and maybe Sam was right about making the most of the morning. I was pretty sure London's subway, or underground as they called it, wasn't always not crowded.
"I'm happy now" I said as I walked out of the first coffee shop we found outside of the station we'd got off, taking a sip from my paper cup.
"Good" Sam chuckled, taking my hand in hers. "It'll give you the proper fuel for the day. I know I said you don't count as a tourist but I'm gonna show you all the main tourist spots today because...well, it's London. You need to. This is great, I can't believe we're here!"
"Me neither. I'm excited. I'm already loving the city" I smiled, starting to notice the first few distinctive traits of the city. Everything seemed bigger than in any other city just like in New York, but the buildings looked older, more historical, and even if tons of people had already started to crowd the road, it wasn't as chaotic as 8am in New York.
"I swear that I tell myself I've been starting to feel more at home in New York all the time, but each time I come here I realize I'll never not feel like this is my home. Except for the fact that you're in New York, obviously" she said, walking through the street like she knew the place like the back of her hand.
"Oh my god, those look exactly like in the pictures you always see" I pointed towards a red bus with two floors that had just turned around the corner.
"Of course they do, you thought they didn't exist?" Sam laughed.
"No...of course I didn't. It's just strange" I shrugged. "Tell me about where we are"
"Well" she squeezed my hand. "We're in one of London's most central areas. This street will be crowded in a while. We'll be in front of Westminster Abbey in ten minutes. I've personally passed in front of it more times than I can count, but the architecture never fails to amaze me. I'm sure you'll love it. And just another few minutes after that, we'll be in front of the Big Ben. Which I don't think needs much introduction. And the London Eye too, which I personally think is kind of overrated but it's worth seeing and taking a picture of if it's your first time here, I guess"
"Okay" I just said with a smile, happy to see Sam so enthusiastic about showing me around.
"And then I'll take you to see Buckingham Palace, because of course you'll want to see it, right?" she asked with an evident bit of sarcasm.
"I mean...I guess so" I giggled, moving closer to her in an attempt to repair myself from the wind.
"Are you cold my love? Maybe I should have told you to not wear shorts" she asked as she rubbed my back.
"I'm good. It's just windy" I reassured her, right before a huge church with a distinctive architecture appeared in the distance.
"Look! There it is. It's amazing, isn't it?" Sam said, as she started to incessantly talk about the history of the building and the style it's built in.
And it went on once we saw the other places she'd told me about, while I was busy taking photos of everything, truly amazed by the fact that I was actually seeing all of that and already knowing I was going to send everything to Vic. But I didn't mind Sam's talking, it was quite the opposite.
I loved that intellectual side of her, it would always be somewhat attractive to me. Especially if she was talking about stuff I was genuinely interested to hear. And it was also great to see her so happy to be in all the places, seeing the expression on her face she had all morning was enough for me to see how good she was feeling.
After listening to an impressive amount of facts about Buckingham Palace and walking through a few huge and busy streets, mainly full of clothes shops and restaurants, and crowds of people too, we had a quick lunch and then went to a nearby park since we were both starting to feel tired. Sam had told me the name of it but I honestly forgot not long after, having already heard about something like five different parks in the city.
"I know you like your parks and quality time in nature" she said as we settled under a tree's shade, in a huge grass area full of people.
"I do" I said as I couldn't help but faintly laugh at the sight of her pulling a sweatshirt out of her bag and sitting on top of it. I knew that getting her clothes dirty wasn't something she took lightly, even if she wouldn't admit that to me.
"Well, there's lots of those here in London so you'll get to tell me your favorite one in a while" she chuckled, moving closer to me. "I like it here, Hyde Park is great. But it's always so crowded, especially in the summer. It's not very private"
"I like it a lot" I rested my head on her shoulder. "And I don't guarantee I won't fall asleep here" I added, my whole body starting to feel way too relaxed for any other place that wasn't a bed.
"We can head home soon, I'm feeling quite sleepy too. It's just two underground stops from here anyway" she said. "I'm so happy to be here" she added after a pause.
"Me too. I really am" I smiled.
"Being in a city I love so much with someone I also love so much feels great. I can't even really explain it and I'm not sure I'm showing it enough, but I'm really happy" she pressed a kiss on the top of my head.
I didn't really know what to say to that, so I expressed the gratitude I was feeling with a soft kiss on her lips, a smile pressed on both of our mouths.
I suddenly realized we didn't even have to worry about anything related to being a couple there. Just like in New York, there were so many people everywhere that no one even cared about what anyone else was doing, but we also didn't have the risk of anyone else who was not supposed to find out about us seeing us.
We unfortunately had to head home early because of how tired we were both feeling, but Sam had warned me that was going to happen after all. And it was also predictable that the jet-lag would be the same the following day too.
The good thing about it was that we got to head out early again, avoiding the crowds of people going to the same places Sam wanted to show me. Which were other mainly touristic spots such as the Tower Bridge and the city's Cathedral.
Sam seemed to be amused by how excited I was at every single place we saw and at how many pictures of everything I kept taking, her included. But I could tell it was in an affectionate way just by the way she looked at me. She had the same eyes she usually had right after telling me she loved me the whole day. Which gave me butterflies in my stomach each time I'd turn towards her.
I loved London more by the second, every single detail of each place we'd visit had something unique and exciting in it. And everything felt less chaotic than in New York, every single person around us didn't look like they were in a hurry, and it just felt like I had more space to breathe.
We went back to her sister's house quite early that day too, so we could rest before dinner time. Something else I'd been feeling extremely grateful for was how Lauren would treat me as if she'd known me for years, almost as if I was part of her family.
I tried to shake away the thoughts about probably never being able to see my family bonding with my girlfriend like that, and focused on how amazing it felt to be in such a place with the person I was more in love with every single day.