Matthew's POV
🎧stargazing- the neighbourhood
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Grey skies, and pattering rain awakes me the following day as I climb out of my bed away from the girl that I barely know. My first thought is that I must get away from her so that she does not assume that she can pull me into her embrace. Glaring at her bare back as I leave the cotton sheets, instead of sleeping my hangover off I pull on my jeans and stumble out of the room and head down to the kitchen. The apartment is silent and I must assume that everybody is too hungover to wake up so early. Set on making two black coffees using the fancy machine in the kitchen, I silently pace the steps back to my room and set it down on the small bedside table beside her.
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Before extricating my art book and heading out to the balcony for a smoke and some time alone with my black coffee and my ideas. Watching as the light falters trying to shine through the grey clouds and how the buses passing below are running like clockwork. How even on a Saturday morning people below are commuting to their jobs, coffee in hand as they make their way to the tube stations.
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The rain eases and I begin sketching under the roof of my balcony looking out over the buildings and realising that my focal point for this piece will be the red lanterns of china town, fishing through my photos I pull up one I snapped of the arch in Chinatown.
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Managing to draw the outline fairly quickly, I pencil in the architecture around it. Buildings that are rather British in their appearance. Shopfronts and restaurants surrounded by the rows of crimson lanterns.
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Merging the cultures of Britain and China within this piece interests me. Each person I draw is diff;erent from one another, all making up this crowd of people of different ages and ethnicities. Nobody distinguished or more important from another.
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"Hey man" Ross pokes his head out of the door with a coffee.
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"Hey" I say back to him lighting up another cigarette and passing it to him.
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"Man we're both out of our beds early, says something to me" he laughs and I smirk lighting up my own cigarette. Placing my book on the coffee table before sipping my coffee.
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"I didn't want to wake up with her, I'm not used to casual sex anymore. Somehow it hits different when you're not at a house party and you haven't just crashed out on somebodies sofa" I laugh and he nods.
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"I'm not used to it full stop" he laughs sipping his own coffee and looking out at the grey sky.
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"Yet here we are." He sighs and I look over at his ruffled blonde hair. He's pulled on a green knitted jumper and some jeans already.
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"Good luck with that one, she seems pretty hot on you." I tell him and he scoffs inhaling the cigarette.
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"She most likely thinks we're loaded Americans" he laughs as I push my brunette hair back.
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"What about you and Aimee?" He asks, as the rain begins again.
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"No don't include us in a sentence like that, we're not a thing. She propositioned me after you and whatever the blonde ones name is started practically having sex on the sofa." I laugh and he puts his hands up apologetically.
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"She was all like let's have sex it's Friday!" I laugh mimicking her voice as Ross howls with laughter.
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"Lord what a mess, how do we get rid of them?" He asks me and I shrug.
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"Was your idea. You're good with women, you deal with them. I told Aimee I'd make her a coffee, I've done my part of my deal with her" I say to him and he sighs rolling his eyes.
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"Southbank today man? Let's be backpackers and just walk around in the soggy rain smoking and looking at the different sites. I want to see Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament" he laughs and I smile over at him.
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"Southbank it is" I say to him as we stand and look over the balcony just two guys hung up on the same girl airing out their lives in London.
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"There they are" a shrill voice says from behind us as I turn my smile to Ross and whisper the words you're on.
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"Ross was it?" She begins, opening her loud mouth again as we turn around caught red handed trying and failing to avoid the women.
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"Yes Katherine, my names Ross" he explains as she nods not listening but instead clearly forming the words for her next sentence.
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"Where's my coffee?" She asks as Aimee stands behind her discreetly with the mug I set on the side.
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"Coming right up" he announces smoothing his blonde hair back and leaving me with the women as he escapes to the kitchen and I curse him, walking in with the art book and the piece I'll have to finish later when they're gone and away from us for good.
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"Where's good for breakfast around here" I ask as I walk through the lounge taking a seat on the leather sofa and gazing at my phone briefly for messages from Taylor.
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"Where doesn't have breakfast in London?!" Katherine exclaims assuming she's coming along. I look up quizzically before eyeing a message on my phone from Taylor, a picture message of Henry that pops up as I smile looking down at him in a pale blue sunhat captioned with a blue heart. My heart swells and I ignore the girls entirely as they lounge around the chairs awkwardly.
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"Cute baby" Katherine says gazing over my shoulder and I practically curse, she's so nosey.
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"It's my best friend's baby" I tell her begrudgingly.
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"He's only a month old" I add and she swoons, the noise she's makes is annoying and I try to block her out. Pushing my phone back into my jeans set on getting rid of these two girls.
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"Yeah so it's Saturday, what are your plans" she asks me forwardly as I avoid her eye contact, she has a way of disregarding anything you say. Completely focused on her own narrative and her own wants and needs.
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"Here's your coffee" Ross swoops in and I smile up at him.
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"We haven't got plans today, we're actually not going to be about for all that much longer" he says compassionately as she nods along.
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"Ah that's a shame" she sighs and he smiles along with her.
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"Well we're not going anywhere anytime soon so if you do find a moment to catch up let us know" Katherine explains, and I realise that she talks for Aimee most of the time.
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"We will of course" Ross lies through his teeth as we all sit around awkwardly and I refuse to look Aimee in her eyes. Knowing that I will never see them again relieves all of the tension in my body as Katherine finishes up the last sip of her coffee and stands. Grasping her small purse from the side and leaving a small card on the side presumably with her number on for Ross.
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Ross walks them out and I stay pressed into my chair enjoying the growing silence that falls due to the apartment being empty.
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***
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Burgundy brown tiles line the outer wall of the tube station at Oxford Circus. Standing out against the usual beige and traditional looking architecture surrounding it. We descend the steps down to the London Underground, and it's an entirely new experience for the both of us. People filter past us hurrying for the next tube as we take our time, marvelling in the novelty of catching a train underground.
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"Where we going again man" Ross says looking back at me lost.
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"Bakerloo line to Waterloo" I repeat for what feels like the fifth time and he nods taking my directions on board before I practically push him onto the large escalators that will descend us further underground.
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"Man London is complicated" he laughs as I stand to the right of the steel escalators with the small silver frames advertising differing products and shows on the sides of the walls. Other passengers walking down the escalators to the left as if there's a great deal to rush for.
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I managed to guide Ross through the torrent of people down to the platform, even through the slightly aggressive commuters. Before we even see the red and white tube, the rumble of its approach reverberates through the tunnel at the side of the platform. The doors open automatically and unlike most of the passengers we allow people off of the tube before we stand inside leaning on the yellow bars.
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An automated voice declares the destination of the tube before it sets off to its next stop and Ross looks over at me perplexed. I people watch as the tube progresses through to the next stop, everybody I realise is just going about their day, nobody apart from tourists like myself, are looking around. A young woman sits doing her makeup despite the jolts along the way of her journey, an elderly man glances down at a newspaper and a younger man dressed in a full suit gazes down at his phone. Everybody is so insular and self involved.
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Before Ross and I know it we're off of the underground train and standing before the London eye, both of us shocked by its sheer size. Of course, we've seen pictures of London and its monuments however we stand watching how the large wheel rotates the small pods around in a perfect circle looking over the River Thames. Like any other tourist we snap pictures and soak up the atmosphere. Although it is mostly a chilly day, along the edge of the promenade there are live performers and buskers. The sheer amount of people flocking into the area astounds me.
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"Taylor would love this" Ross smiles over at me as a busker plays a melancholic tune.
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"One day I'm sure she will visit London with or without us" I say as he begs me to get in the queue with him for the London eye. I oblige him and I even smile in the process of getting tickets.
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"Matthew that's Big Ben" he practically shouts in his American accent as we head up in our own little pod. A couple smirk next to us, clearly on a date as the gentleman holds hands with the woman and she smiles.
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"So it is" I smile realising that this trip is exactly what we both needed. A chance to be away from the States. A little escape from the drama that has kept us there for the past two or three years. Holding up my Sony camera and positioning it to zoom into the monument I snap a few pictures. The professional camera does it better justice than my phone, as I take a few shots of the buildings and smile.
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"Are you a pro?" the gentleman asks me, courteously without being intrusive and I smirk slightly looking down at my camera.
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"Actually I'm an artist, I take pictures and I also draw them." I explain softly as he nods intrigued pushing his auburn hair back as he eyes me.
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"Hey, you most probably get this all of the time" he begins and I smirk as Ross snaps a few shots on his phone.
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"It's just would you mind taking a picture of us?" He asks and I nod.
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"You can totally draw us after" the female says, sweeping her brunette hair away from her face. The couple stand back and I frame them within my shot, capturing parts of London within the image. The water and how it shimmers, the lighting is very good at it works to my benefit as I take a few shots before showing them the images and they smile.
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"Wonderful" the young man exclaims extending me his card. A small black business card with the name scrawled over it of a large media company based within London. I smile to myself, compose my thoughts and shake his hand. He laughs slightly as his date distracts herself with the views.
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"Sorry to put you on the spot" he chuckles before looking over the images and nodding.
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"These really are very good." He adds flicking through the shots.
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"Feel free to have a look, I've got quite a few shots on there. I'm actually based in California" I explain as the London eye spins to a stop and he sweeps his eyes over my photography. Some of it is university work, others are shots of Taylor and our time together. All of them have been taken with the gaze of an artist.
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"Paul" he says shaking my hand once more before handing me back the camera, a warm smile falls across his face as he invites me for a very informal interview.
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"Of course" I say without thinking, agreeing to the date and time immediately as he flashes me a bright grin.
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"Pleasure to meet you..." he begins before laughing slightly realising he doesn't know my name. We step off of the London eye as the rain ceases and the crowds grow further.
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"Matthew" I tell him softly and he nods before wishing us a good day.
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