Meeting Him in a Coffee Shop ✓

I think we should talk

I notice that he is not following me so I yell back over my shoulder, "Come on now, boyfriend." I add in the last part to high the fact that I am beyond nervous and scared to talk about any conversations relating to that topic.

After arguing once again about who gets to pay for the tickets, we finally make our way over to the enclosed glass case. I look excitedly outside the window, waiting for the ride to start so that I could get to see all of London from above. I continue to eat my ice cream, avoiding eye contact and any communication with him because I know that if I do the conversation that we will be forced to have is not something I am looking forward to.

"Whoa, look over there!"

"What is it?" I say excitedly, placing my ice cream down and rushing towards him on the other side of the glass, ready to take a picture.

"It's Buckingham Palace!" he points to a large building surrounded by trees.

I immediately recognize it from my many Google searches ad quickly take a picture before trying to go back to my spot on the opposite end. However, he stops me by gently placing his hand on my arm. I feel the familiar warmth spread through my arms and the rest of my body, but try to ignore it while turning to face him.

"I think we should talk," he hesitates.

"What is there to talk about? I have my ice cream, plus we just saw Buckingham Palace, pretty successful ride if you ask me. Besides, we're almost-"

I am cut short though when the ride comes to an abrupt halt.

"What- What is going on? Is this supposed to happen?"
"I have no idea," he walks over to the railing and looks down towards the ground. I walk over to join him and notice the engineer at the bottom who seems to be struggling with the levers and buttons that are beyond my knowledge.

"What the bloody hell is he doing?" he runs his hand through his hair, pulling at the roots. I notice his movement and feel my heart flutter, but look away quickly.

"Are we seriously stuck here? What are we even supposed to-" I get cut off once again by a deep voice coming through the overhead speakers.

We are sorry for the stop. There appear to be technical difficulties that have caused the ride to stop. We assure everyone that they are completely safe, and of course your safety is our utmost concern. We assure you that we will have this fixed within the next half hour. Everyone will be receiving a refund as an apology. We are truly sorry.

"At least you don't have to feel guilty about me paying anymore, I'll be getting my money back," he says, laughing.

I sense that he is trying to lighten the mood so I try to laugh as well, but I can't even seem to muster up a smile as I think about being stuck in an enclosed glass case, high above the ground, with him. I try to think positively by telling myself that I get to spend more time with him, but I know that he will want to talk about what happened earlier. Sure enough, he walks over to where I am sitting with a serious look on his face.

"So, um about what happened earlier..."

I open my mouth, ready to spew off a list of excuses as to why we shouldn't talk about it, but he cuts me off again.

"Listen, if we're gonna be up here for a while, we might as well discuss it. And don't tell me there's nothing to talk about, there's plenty."

I sigh, "Well for starters," I consider lying or talking about something mundane, but his eyes sear so deep into my soul that I don't want to lie anymore.

I take a deep breath, softening my voice, "I was just taken aback that you called me your girlfriend, that's all really. I mean, I'm leaving tomorrow and we did say that we wouldn't get too attached."