Love in London {Finn Harries}

The Eye

No words could express my emotion overload as I walked out of the airport. After looking forward to this for months, here I was. London. The city I have only dreamed about being in for as long as I can remember.

As I pushed my rather large trolley filled with 4 suitcases out the door, the wheels caught the slight decline on the pavement and it began to roll away. I tried to grab it, but I wasn’t able to and it hit the street with such force that two of my suitcases flew off.

Shit, shit, shit!

I ran to grab the two cases and watched as my trolley made its way into the middle of the street, only to be stopped by the front end of a taxi.

Oh my god, what is wrong with me?!

The taxi driver got out of the car and pushed the trolley back over to me.

“Having some trouble, sweetheart?” he asked with a genuine smile.

I smiled at kindness and said, “More than I would like.”

He picked up the two cases I was standing with and put them on top of the others that managed to stay on the cursed trolley.

“Here you are!”

“Thank you so much,” I said with a little laugh, “this wasn’t the most graceful entrance to a country.”

“Oh, but it was exciting! Are you in need of a ride? My taxi’s open.”

“That would be wonderful, thanks.”

He loaded my bags into the trunk and hopped in the car.

“Where to?”

There was only one place I wanted to be. The first place I promised myself I would go when I arrived here.

“The London Eye, please.”

He turned around with a confused look and said, “Do you know what time it is?”

I knew that my flight was supposed to get in around 3 AM, so I guessed sometime around there.

“I do! I figure the time will be inconvenient for most people, meaning it won’t be too crowded for me.”

“Smart girl,” he said approvingly, and turned around.

On the way there we made pointless small talk. What I was doing here, where I was from, things like that. He was a very kind man. He pointed out small things along the way that I should check out before leaving. I wasn’t worried; I had a whole year to get well cultured.

As the Eye came into sight, I gasped. This figure that had been my wallpaper for the last 10 months was unfolding in front of me. It was so beautiful.

"Well here it is," the driver said as he stopped the car a bit abruptly, "the pride and joy of my land."

"Thank you, I really appreciate it," I said sincerely, handing up a piece of paper. "Could you please bring my bags to this hotel and leave them at the front desk? I'm just going to walk back."

"Are you sure, Madame? I could wait."

"Oh heavens no, that's not necessary," I replied, handing a wad of pounds that would cover both trips and leave enough for a generous tip.

"If you insist. Thank you," he said accepting my money. "What's your name? I should tell them who the bags are for."

"Right! I'm Thea Banks, please just tell them I should be arriving in an hour or so."

"As you wish, have a lovely time up there. It's truly spectacular."

"I hope," I said excitedly as I grabbed my purse and left the taxi.