Don't Let Me Drown

“Are yeh ready for part two?” I asked, taking her hand in mine as we stood up from the table.

“Oli, this was more than enough. I don’t need a part two” she said.

“Yeh gonna like it, I promise” I smiled at her and she rolled her eyes, excusing herself to the bathroom before we left. She was gone for a while and I started to think she might not come back, when she finally walked out.

“Sorry, there was a line” she said and I nodded, walking out to the car with her. I opened her door and she gave me a strange look as she got in.

Once I was in my own seat, she turned towards me. “What’s wrong, Oli?”

“Noffing’s wrong. What do yeh mean?” I asked her, confused. I was trying so hard to just give her a good night, she deserved to be spoiled. I didn’t want her to push me away anymore, especially because I knew she’d fight with me tomorrow if all goes according to plan.

I needed to get to the bottom of the whole ‘school’ thing with her. I needed to know why she kept me in the dark and what she did during the day that I wasn’t supposed to find out about. Trying to get her to open up always ended in a fight. She’d get pissed off and I’d try to control my temper and one of us would walk away angry until the other went after them. She didn’t always come back though, she had a habit of shutting down before her emotions could get the best of her, and I’d be left waiting for a few days until she’d talk to me again. I didn’t want that anymore. I wanted all of her all the time and I wanted to treat her right.

“Then why are you being weird?” she said as I drove.

“I’m not being weird, I just wanted to take yeh out” I told her. She stared at me for a second and then let it go. I kept driving for another 40 minutes until we finally arrived.

I'd been thinking all day of where to take her until it finally hit me. The London Eye. I had been there a bunch of times, because I grew up relatively close to it, but she hadn't. The day I had the taxi cab pick her up to meet me at drop dead, we had gone all over and shed told me she'd never been on it. She had wanted to since she was a little girl and her dad promised to take her someday but he never got the chance to.

I parked a couple blocks over so she wouldn't get suspicious right away. We could definitely see it from here but we weren't near the lines. When we were only two streets away, I made her stop.

"Do yeh trust me, love?" I asked with a smile and she looked at me nervously.

"That depends on what you're about to do" she said, biting her lip. I pulled a blindfold out of my pocket and her eyes widened in horror. "No. No I do not" she shook her head.

"Relax, I'm not gonna murder yeh or anyfing," I laughed, "I just want it to be a surprise". She shook her head again but I eventually convinced her and she let me put it on. I walked behind her, my hands on her hips and hers outstretched in front of her, as I led her down the two busy streets. We neared the lines and I hoped all the noise wouldn't give it away.

I led her up to the front and handed the lady our private capsule tickets. She looked over at Ivy and let out an, "aww" when she realized i was surprising her. Once we were inside and the doors were closed, I untied the mask from her face as we began to move.

She looked frightened at the unfamiliar surroundings at first, and then spun around to face me with her mouth open. "Oli, where are we?" She asked quietly and I could see her eyes starting to water. I took her hand in mine and led her over to one of the Windows so she could look out. "Oliver Sykes, you did not" she said, putting a hand to the glass. I couldn't help but smile at her; it took so little to make her happy. A few tears rolled down her cheeks and she turned to me, burying her face in my chest and holding me tight.

"I'm sorreh, I fought yeh would like it" I told her. I couldn't tell if she was happy or if bringing her here brought up memories of her dad and upset her, but she nodded her head furiously against me.

"I do. More than you know," she said, before pulling away from me and wiping her eyes. "Sorry" she laughed.

"Yeh don't need to apologize. I'm just glad yeh happy" I told her honestly. She must have thanked me a million times as our pod went around the loop.

We stood together staring out the window while Ivy kept pointing out places she recognized, making me chuckle each time at how excited she was. As I stood behind her with my hands on her hips, I couldn't help but notice how small she was compared to me. She was very skinny and quite a bit shorter than me. Had she always been that tiny?

When our pod had reached the bottom and it was time to get off she took my hand for a change. Usually I was the one who initiated contact, not that I'm complaining either way.

"Oli, how much did you have to pay for that?" She said sadly as we walked away.

"Don't worry about it, love" I told her honestly. The whole time I had known her, she never let me spend any money on her.

"I'm gonna pay you back. Is there an ATM around here?" She asked, looking around.

"No yeh not. Yeh said I could take yeh out tonight, no arguments" I said, pulling her closer to me. She looked at me nervously and bit her lip. "Stay wiff me tonight and we're even"

"I have school in the morning" she said, looking away from me.

"So I'll drive yeh. We've done it before" I said. We had reached my car now and stopped walking, so I took her in my arms. She looked nervous again at what I said. "Is it such a crime to want to spend time with my girlfriend?" I smirked, waiting for a smart comment from her about how we're not dating.

To my surprise, she chuckled and said, "No. I guess it's not". I returned her smile and kissed her. I missed kissing her the last week but I loved that she was no longer hesitant around me. When she pulled away for air, she had a grin on her face and got into the car.

It was a quiet drive home, both of us content and not feeling the need to break the silence.

---------------

"Is something going on, Oliver? I still don't understand why you did all that. It would have been fine to just sit on your couch watching netflix" she said as I climbed into my bed with her, and she cuddled up close.

"I juss wanted to make yeh happy. I've been a shit boyfriend lately. I don't like fighting wiff yeh" I told her.

"You haven't. I'm just... Difficult, I guess, to be with. I keep pushing you away and you stick around still. You're different with me than you are with other people"

"Different how?" I wondered while she pulled the blankets up closer to her.

"I don't know. You act all tough and brooding around everyone else. But you're not, with me you're sweet and you have a big heart" she answered with a yawn.

"Yeh don't fink I'm tough?" I smirked at her and she giggled with a "nope".

"I'll show yeh how tough I can be" I laughed as I straddled her waist, holding her arms down as I tickled her. She screeched and laughed between breaths trying to wriggle away.

"Okay! Okay! You're tough! Happy now?" She laughed. I released her arms and placed my hands on either side of her head on the mattress.

"That's better" I said, giving her my best tough look. She giggled at me again and bit her lip. "Yeh really got to stop doing that" I said, running my thumb over it. She lifted her head up and gave me a quick kiss before lowering it back into the pillow.

She pushed my hair out of my face and placed her hands on my cheeks. Her eyes traveled over my face, making me suddenly feel self conscious. She gave me a small smile and whispered something I'd never thought I'd hear her say.

"I love you, Oliver"