Captivated

Tower Bridge

This is honestly one of my favorite chapters, oh my goodness. It's just some nice, pure fluff. Also, it's super London-ey, and we all know how I love that hehe!  I hope you all enjoy, and comment/vote if you wish x
-ab

————————————

May 11, 2025

Patrick

"Well," my girlfriend sighs, turning off her phone and chucking it towards the opposite end of the couch from her, "I didn't get Eliza."

"What? Hon, I'm so sorry," I exclaim, running towards her and throwing my arms around her in a supportive hug, which she wriggles out of.

"I'm fine. It isn't like I expected to get the part anyway. I had a successful audition, and sometimes, even those don't produce the results you want. Don't throw sympathy at me."

"Oh, okay," I reply, startled by her bluntness. "So... you don't want cuddles?"

"I'm alright," she replies, staring down at her hands in her lap.

A silence falls over the room, tense and awkward. I don't know what to do. Harper is clearly upset over this, even though she's playing strong. She knows that in her industry, you'll hear 'no' more than you hear 'yes,' so she thinks it isn't okay to cry, but it truly is.

"Alright, I can't do this. Go clean up, and we are going to go out."

"What?" she asks.

"You heard me. Let's go do something fun. How about we walk the Tower Bridge? We can even go up on the top part, with the clear floors."

"Oh my god, I've never done that before. It scares me."

"You're kidding me. You've gotta do it. I'll hold your hand if it freaks you out. Come on, love. And after, we can go to Vapiano. I know that is one of your favourites, and there's one right there by the bridge. My treat."

"Why?"

"Because I just need to see a smile on your face," I tell her honestly. "Go clean up. Wash your face, you look like you've been trying to hide tears."

She lets out a little forced giggle, getting up and excusing herself to the toilet. A few moments later, she reemerges, with some fresh mascara applied and little water droplets clinging to her fair skin.

"All good?"

"Yep," she nods.

"Let's go." We slip on our shoes, and both of us put on our favourite denim jackets, before I grab her hand and lead her out of my flat, which will be our flat in just a tad bit more than a month.

We have to take the tube to the London Bridge station, then cross the River Thames. We relax in a little green space for a little bit, on the north shore of the river, before we walk to the ticketing booth.

"So, do you think we could pass you as a child aged fifteen or under?" I wink at Harper. "It's cheaper."

"God, no," she replies. "What about you, though?"

"Hon, I didn't shave this morning. I don't know many fifteen year olds with stubble."

She rolls her eyes. "You don't know many fifteen year olds at all."

"That's true, but when I was fifteen, none of my friends looked like I do right now."

"Fair enough," she giggles. "I'd bet that you could get a student discount, though."

"True," I acknowledge. I end up being able to do that, though I have to pay the full price for Harper. "You're expensive, girly."

"I know," she giggles cheekily. "Sorry about that."

"Hey, it was my offer to bring you here," I reply. "Don't stress, the difference was only a pound or two, I think."

We get in the lift that takes us up into a room that's showing a film. We watch through it, learning about the history of the bridge. A lot of it sounds vaguely familiar from the history classes I had to take to write my GCSE's, but I learn a few new things as well. Harper seems fascinated by it all, and I know that she didn't do history as a GCSE subject, so a lot if it is probably new information to her.

After the film is completed and the tour guide talks for a moment, he allows us free roam of the bridge.

"Are you excited to walk across some clear floors?" I wink at her.

"I'm terrified, a little bit, but it should be fun," she admits. "A new experience if nothing else."

"That's the spirit," I tell her, intertwining my fingers with hers as we walk out onto the top level of the bridge. She starts to read the signs along the side, and I laugh, knowing that she's trying to buy some time before the clear floors are underneath her. "You're not scared of heights, now, are you?"

"Well, no, but this is different. There's absolutely no feeling of security."

"You don't know that. You haven't even tried it," I tell her, giving a cheeky little grin. "Come on."

She rolls her eyes as I grab her hand and drag her over to the glass panels on the floor. "Look, they're safe, see? Everyone else is doing it."

"You go first."

Taking a deep breath, I step out onto the glass. "It's really not that bad."

She tentatively steps out. As I grab her hand, I feel her shaking a little bit, but I know that it'll go away in a moment, as soon as she's comfortable with the whole situation.

"Hey, wait... this is kind of cool," she laughs, dropping my hand and laying down on the glass, as a few others are doing. "Take my picture."

"Wow, that fear just vanished," I laugh, pulling out my phone. "Act like you're taking a nap."

She curls into a fetal position and shuts her eyes, at which point I snap the picture.

"Alright, now smile and sprawl out. You're hovering over the city of London, you know..."

She laughs, doing as I instruct so that I can take a good shot of her.

"Now take some of me," I tell her, handing over my phone. She hops up and trades places with me, as I sprawl out and smile for the camera.

"Good. These are some nice shots," she laughs. "Permission to post them on Instagram?"

"Fine," I roll my eyes. She cheers a little bit at her victory, and then I see her typing something into my phone.

"I'm sending them to myself," I explain.

Soon, we head over to the other walkway, which has mirrors hanging from the ceiling so that we can take selfies, which we do, of course.

After we are done at the bridge, we walk down the stairs and head to Vapiano for some dinner. I'm so glad to see Harper smiling again, especially after this morning, though her smile truly does brighten my day no matter what the circumstances are.