𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐲 𝐋𝐢𝐩𝐬 ✓

THE END

"Babe, are you kidding me, we haven't even left the building yet and you can't stop pausing," I complain as Lexi once again plants her feet to stop and look at something she deems slightly interesting.

"Sorry, I just want one of everything! I'm going to have to get another suitcase." She giggles, purchasing some paperweight before I pull her along again, finally without interruption. We stop outside and I whistle loudly for a cab. The driver helps us load our luggage into the boot.

We climb in and I tell the cabbie our destination before he drives off and Lexi stays glued to the window. I think I've heard the question "what's that?" about two hundred times in the past five minutes but I can't help but smile.

We've finally decided to fly back to my home, but sadly, my parents won't be around to visit. We came anyway because Lexi insisted that we can come anytime I want, and they can come to visit as well, all expenses paid by her. Apparently, after her outburst, they hadn't reached out to her, but they also hadn't cut off her credit card so she was determined to use it on plane tickets to spite them. My parents are hard workers, often being required to travel as they work together, but they don't earn very much money, hardly enough to travel on their own or to fly my sister or me to visit one another.

Us kids work very hard in school, enough to earn scholarships to take some stress off of my parents. They still pay for pretty much everything else, sending us money to get what we need. I earn some money from football scholarships that I put towards rent and insurance in order to help out when I can.

Lexi and I are now on our way to the tourist destinations, purely for her enjoyment. The rest of the trip will be dedicated to showing her the best local spots and meeting up with my sister at some point. We ask to be dropped off at our hotel first, Lexi insisting to pay for the best room they had, the penthouse.

We drop off our bags in our lavish room as I take in the sight. I've lived in this city for most of my life but I've never had the opportunity to see it from where I am standing right now. The best room in the best hotel in London, with a perfect view of Buckingham Palace. We both take in the sight before us in awe.

"Thank you. For everything." I say, placing my hand around Lexi's waist and pulling her to my side. "You're so very welcome. But get used to it." She bluntly states, then laughs. We walk to the palace from the hotel, not needing to take a cab because of the close proximity to the city center where most of the sights are already visible. I give her the tour, reciting off the commonly known facts as well as some of the stories I've heard growing up.

We visit just about every tourist spot at Lexi's request, including the aquarium, the London Eye, Big Ben, and the Florence Nightingale Museum. For dinner, I take her to my favorite fish and chips restaurant and promise to take her to my childhood home tomorrow.

Experiencing my home with Lexi is like experiencing everything for the first time all over again, but better. Everything seems brighter, the people seem livelier, and it's just more fun with her by my side. I can see how happy she is to be here, and I already can't wait at the prospect of bringing her back.

I can introduce her to some of my best mates while growing up, show her my secondary school, show her everything. This place was always my home, and then Greenville became my home, but now I know that home is wherever she is.

Lexi is my forever, and I know that as long as I am with her, I'll be happy no matter where we are. I never thought much about what my future would be like until I met her, but I can already picture us with a house, kids, and of course Vitaly.

She smiles at me from across the table, talking about how much fun she's had and how glad she is that we came here and I just watch her lips move, seeing the pure joy in her eyes as I smile. I'm not sure what I'd be doing if I hadn't met her, but I never want to find out what I'd be doing without her now, it's unimaginable.

"Chase, are you listening?" She asks, laughing at my tendency to zone out while looking at her.

"Not a word love," I say honestly. She slaps my arm feigning irritation but the smile on her face gives her away.

"I said, what do you think about calling it an early night and heading back?"

"I think that's an awful idea. The early night part, not the heading back. The pubs can wait." I say cheekily, asking for the bill from a passing waiter.

She just rolls her eyes at my antics. I think she's become quite used to them in the past couple of months. I think about how lucky she is for her first day spent in London to be a sunny one despite the cold, even in the summer one can't expect an occasional day to be spent without rain showers, unlike back in Greenville.

I pay for our food and walk us leisurely back to the hotel, Lexi taking in the sights all over again now that it's dark and everything is lit up against the dark blue sky. She insists that we stop to take 'cute' photos with her new camera in front of Westminster Abbey on the way back, asking a nice lady to take them for us.

Satisfied, we continue walking and as I did all day, I take pictures of her while she poses in front of all of her new favorite places. "I can't wait to come back." She says wistfully, hardly blinking in case she misses anything while she looks through her new handful of photos.

"We just got here Angel," I state, laughing.

"I know but I don't know if I want to leave. I love it."

"Give it a day or two, we'll see how you hold up with the rain," I say jokingly and her face scrunches up. I know for a fact that she hates the rain which is why I said it. Nevertheless, her statement makes me excited.

"I'd live in endless rain if it made you happy." She says quietly, stopping to look up at me sweetly and my heart skips a beat at her kind words. Who even says things like that? Much less means them like I know she does.

"You must love me or something," I say with a smirk, teasing her.

"Or something." She retorts, teasing me right back.