Sway

E.W.R

Emily Warren Roebling - some might recognize her as the woman who saved the Brooklyn bridge.

The Brooklyn Bridge took about 14 years to build. For 11 of those years, Emily was the one in charge. She had taken up the responsibility of being chief engineer of the project after her husband, who was previously in charge, became sick.

When the bridge finally opened in 1883, Emily was one of the first people to cross it.

I continued to visualize young Emily Roebling as she gloriously crossed the Brooklyn bridge. Charlotte was squished between Phineous and I in the back of a cab, she was telling us this story about the Brooklyn bridge with excitement. It was cute how she had sort of zoned out while thinking about the historic moment.

"Are you a history buff?" Phineous turned slightly to look at her.

She tucked some of her platinum hair behind her pierced ear, "Fuck no, I just... came here a lot when I was younger, my parents loved going to the bridge at night. They'd always tell me these random stories about it."

I listened intently, thinking more about her parents and her past. Wondering whether or not she was still in touch with them, considering that the sound of her voice when she spoke about them was a little sad.

"Well, Phineous has been my best friend for years and he has only ever taken me to the bridge once." I made a point to exaggerate my words and Charlotte laughed.

Phineous waved his hand dismissively, "Well I'm taking you there now, so stop whining."

"You two are like siblings," Charlotte said in response to our bickering, "You must tell each other everything."

Neither Phineous nor I responded, maybe because it seemed like she wanted to know if I had told Phineous about her being sexually confused. Suddenly I felt bad for telling him, I mean, it was her secret.

"We used to," I glanced beyond the blonde towards my friend, "but now he doesn't even tell me when he's interested in dating someone."

"I thought we already squashed that, Tal?" The skinny boy made an annoyed face.

"I mean, it still kind of makes me sad though." I knew it must've been awkward for Charlotte to hear Phineous and I talking around her, but she didn't seem to mind.

Before we could finish our conversation, the driver glanced in his mirror and asked us if it was okay to drop us here. It was pretty close to the bridge and he'd still be able to easily turn back around. We agreed, paid, and then left the taxi. It was somewhere near 11PM, the sky was dark and filled with bright luminaries. The streets were still buzzing with traffic and as we started to walk towards the bridge, we could see just how crowded it was. It didn't matter that is was Tuesday night, because we were in the city that never sleeps.

"So you've only seen this up close once, huh?" Charlotte came closer to me, leaving Phineous out of hearing range.

"Yeah, Phin and I came here like the second time I visited New York," I smiled at the memory, "We got here at like, maybe 1AM. I remember thinking that we were gonna get robbed by a homeless person."

She laughed as we pushed our way around some people, "It is home for a lot of the homeless."

We kept walking until we were stepping foot onto the bridge. The walkway wasn't very crowded, so we kept going forward until we were somewhere in the middle. Phineous touched my shoulder and told me that he'd be sitting on a bench nearby. I almost felt bad for dragging him along with us, he must've felt like a third wheel. However, the view in front of me was far too breathtaking to linger on pointless thoughts.