Songs to listen to while reading:
Everything I Wanted - Billie Eilish
Good Life - OneRepublic
like that - Bae Miller

Flying. Flying in a giant machine that is 35 000 feet up in the air is just something I've never been able to be okay with. Flying on aeroplanes scares the living shit out of me but here I am, boarding my flight to London. It's going to be okay right? They always check the engines and all the technical stuff before flights? Oh god, what if they've forgotten to fill the fuel tank-

"Can I please see your ticket ma'am?" One of the polite flight attendants save me from my never ending overthinking.

I fumble in my bag for my plane ticket. "Sorry." I mumble while handing her the ticket.

She flashes me a friendly smile before checking my ticket which soothes my nerves a bit. "Your seat is on the right hand side, I hope you enjoy your flight with us!" She instructs to me while pointing to the side of the plane that my seat is situated.

Once thanking her, I start making my way down the aisle. Scanning the seat numbers on the overhead compartments, I finally find my seat towards the middle of the plane.

I start trying to lift my hand luggage which is a small suitcase. My arms struggle while trying to shove the suitcase into the compartment. I glimpse behind me and notice that a line has begun to form behind me which only makes my anxiety sky rocket. I can't help that I have the strength of a new born child! I give the suitcase one more push with all the strength that I can manage and finally get it to fit. Once shutting the compartment door, I shuffle my way to the window seat and sit down.

After closing my eyes and taking a deep breath to calm myself down, I observe what view I have from the window. I don't know why I always choose the window seat, I mainly keep it closed while flying because I don't like heights. But the middle seat is awkward because you're in the middle of two random people who normally steal the arm rests from you. And then there's the aisle seat where you have to stand up every time the other two people need to get up. So I guess I just pick the lesser of the evils by choosing the window seat.

I shove my earphones into my ear and press play on my first playlist to try and get my mind off the thought of the giant flying machine leaving the safety of the ground. The last of the passengers are finding their seats while I close my eyes and try to think calming thoughts. Hopefully the travel sick pill that I took before boarding will start kicking in since they always make me drowsy after taking them.

I squeeze my eyes shut a bit more when I feel the plane jerk as it begins to reverse from the spot it was originally parked in.

Let's think about something else before I start panicking and weirding out the people seated next to me who seem perfectly calm in the death trap that we're in. Well in my opinion, they are the weirdos because they aren't panicking but let's not judge them. I don't even know what I'm going to do once I arrive in London, I've never been before but Caleb says that London would be perfect for me. It's going to be morning when I get there but jetlag is definitely going to be a bitch. I only have a few things planned for the first week and then from there I'm just going to wing it. I'm not one to be spontaneous but it's never too late to start right?

The plane begins to pick up speed rapidly before it starts to lift off of the safety of the ground.

My hands clamp into fists on my sides to the point where my nails are digging into the skin on my palm. I start to take some slow deep breaths as I try to focus on the music that is playing through my earphones.

The travel sickness pill has slowly started to show its affect by making me feel tiredness. My hands unclamp from the fists that they were previously in and fall onto my lap in a relaxed state. My breaths become more even as I drift off into a deep sleep.

**********

I step out of the taxi and make my way towards the boot of the car to retrieve my suitcases.

The driver presses a button that makes the boot fly open and nearly hits me in the face. I take a step back before I lean forward and start trying to drag my suitcases out of the boot one by one. First the large suitcase and then the smaller one.

The driver seems to be getting restless from me taking too long with my suitcases. Well it would have been quicker if you actually helped me buddy.

I take my purse out of my handbag and give him some cash to pay for the ride that I got exchanged before I left New York. He snatches the cash and drives off without a goodbye.

Turning around, I finally take in the hotel that I will be staying in for the next week. I didn't want to stay in the same hotel for the whole four weeks so I decided to just book one for the first week. After that I'll find another hotel to stay at and so on. It's finally hitting me that I, Alexandria Michaels, am actually in London. I never thought I would see the day where I would actually do a trip like this for myself but here I am.

Dragging my two suitcases in a very uncoordinated way behind me, I walk into the entrance of the hotel and make my way to the nearest receptionist.

The lady looks up from her computer once I'm standing in front of the desk she is standing behind. She sends me a warm smile. "Hello there, my name is Andrea. How can I help you today?" Andrea asks me politely with her prominent British accent that makes me smile.

"Uh, yes. I would like to check in if that's okay?" I answer.

"Not a problem at all, could I please take your name Miss?" Andrea replies, she's definitely a lot nicer than the taxi driver I had on my way to the hotel.

After telling her my full name, she begins typing things into the computer in front of her. I take the moment to take in my surroundings, it really is a nice hotel. Filled with modern accessories including the couches that are against the wall behind me that look expensive.

"Your room is ready, the number is 102. I see that you will be staying with us for the next week. The room service menu is in the drawer next to your bed but if you have any other questions, don't hesitate to just press 9 on the phone next to the bed and it will direct you to me. I hope you enjoy your stay with us." Andrea instructs, I love listening to her talk. I wish I had a British accent, it's the best accent you can have if you ask me.

I nod and thank Andrea before she passes me my room key.

Entering the elevator, I take a deep breathe since I'm out of breathe from lugging my two suitcases around. Pressing the button for the floor that has my room number on, I close my eyes when I lean against the railing at the back of the elevator. You have to be kidding me! Even in London the elevators have the stupid elevator music! I wish there was somewhere where I could make a formal complaint for all the elevator music in the world. Is it really that hard to just play some normal music? You know what, no... I'm not going to stress out about this, I'm on holiday after all.

Once the elevator doors slide open to indicate I am finally on my floor, I step out and begin looking at the door numbers on both my left and right to find the number that I am looking for.

It doesn't take me long until I find the room 102, I slide the plastic room key into the slider just above the door handle. The small red light flashes green and I pull the handle down. Dragging in my two suitcases before I close the door behind me, locking it as well. You can never be too safe right? I've probably watched too many serial killer series on YouTube and Netflix.

The room is a lot bigger than what I expected. There's even a small table with two chairs and a dressing table. Oh my gosh, there's a massive flat screen TV on the wall across from the bed. The bed is a lot bigger than the one I have back at my apartment so I conjure the most natural reaction, I run and jump onto the bed in a starfish position face first.

My phone vibrates once in the back of my jean pocket to indicate a notification. With my face still squashed into the bed, I swing my arm behind my back to retrieve my phone.

I lift my head to try and look at my phone but my hair is smothered across my face. Once I've tucked my hair behind my ears to regain my vision, I take a look at my phone again.

Caleb: Are you at the hotel yet? Better send me a selfie!

I smile at the message and crawl off the bed to stand in front of the window.

Once I take the picture, I send it to Caleb with a smiley face and a thumbs up emoji. Checking the time on my phone to show 11:08am, my phone is then thrown onto the bed. I'm not sure what I should do now, I slept for a lot of the flight but I'm still tired. Although I am one of those people that could get 12 hours of sleep, wake up and then want to take a nap. There isn't such thing as too much sleep in my opinion.

Taking a nap sounds like a good plan, it's my first day here, I'm allowed to be lazy. I can have a tourist day tomorrow. Walking to where my suitcases are near the front door where I left them, I drag the biggest one and lift it onto the bed. I start shuffling through for some clothes I can get changed into for my nap. When I find one of my oversized t-shirts at the bottom of my suitcase, I change into that. Ripping the quilt back and climbing into the cool bed, I shove my suitcase so it's at the bottom of the bed on the other side. A quick nap won't hurt anybody.

**********

My quick nap turned into 6 hours, oops. Waking up in a bit of a daze, I glanced outside and saw that it was still light outside so I guessed it hadn't been long but to my shock, it was actually 5:15PM when I woke up. I was very confused but then remembered Caleb telling me something about how London doesn't go dark until 11:00PM in summer. This made me feel a bit lazy and I couldn't just stay in my hotel room. I don't know how I'm going to sleep tonight but I'll deal with that problem when it comes.

Thinking about what I could do, I grabbed my phone that was sitting on the bed next to me, I typed in 'What to do in London'. At number 3, there was the suggestion of going to a pub which didn't sound the best but I couldn't think of anything better to do. So I climbed out of bed and grabbed some pieces of clothing from my suitcase to throw together for an outfit. I changed into the outfit and moved into the bathroom to have a look at myself in the mirror to see if I looked okay. After changing 3 times, I gave up and decided I looked decent enough when I put some light wash jeans, a black leather strapless corset and a denim jacket with some white trainers on. Grabbing my bag and making sure that I had my room key and phone were inside before I left.

And that's how I got to where I am now, walking along a street in London, following google maps to find the pub closest to me. "Make a right here!" The google maps lady exclaims and almost makes me shit myself since I forgot to turn the volume down.

I follow the instructions and turn right, the pub called 'The Cross' with an old and crooked sign is now in front of me. This is a good idea right? It's just a pub Alexa, you're just going to have a drink or two and then I can go back to the comfort of my hotel room.

I take a few steps before my hand rests on the handle to open the door to the pub. I take a deep breathe and go to push the door but with my wonderful luck, I walk into the door. Why you ask? It's a fucking pull door, that's why.

I enter the pub after embarrassing myself like always but when my eyes scan the room, no one has noticed my mistake. Quietly whispering a "Thank god" to myself, I take another step into the pub and let the door go. The door closes in a very quick motion behind me with a big bang, making me jump and let out a small squeal. You have to be kidding me, why am I so embarrassing?

I don't dare look up as I stare at my shoes for a brief moment. I gather the courage to lift my head and that's when I see that there is only two other men in the pub and the bar tender are all staring at me. I don't blame them with the way I made my entrance.

I ignore the two men that are staring at me and stride towards one of the stools farthest away from them. Dragging the stool out, I sit down and throw my bag to sit on the counter next to me.

"What would you like darlin'?" The bartender asks me with a small smile.

"Just a vodka and coke please." I reply. He nods at my response and turns around to start making my drink. I take the moment to finally take in my surroundings, it's a small pub with an old rustic feel to it. I quiet like it actually, not as intimidating as I expected.

I carry on looking around the pub until I glance to where the two other men in the pub are situated. And that's when I find that one of them are already looking at me with the greenest eyes I think I have ever seen. He has long curly hair that falls just below his shoulders. Honest opinion? I would have come to London a long time ago if I knew the men would be this attractive. The man that my eyes have locked with is intimidating with how attractive he is.

I haven't slept with anyone since my ex... that was over 4 years ago. Who needs a man when I can just do it myself? Well that's what I keep telling myself. And I don't do relationships, well not since my last one. I think I've just accepted that I'll live the rest of my life with me, myself and I... and maybe that cat that I was talking about.

Oh god, he's smirking now. Shit, I've been staring at him this whole time, haven't I?

The bartender saves me by putting my drink down in front of me. I tear my gaze away from the beautiful man to my far left and focus on my drink. Grabbing a straw from the container that holds them to my near right, I place one in my drink. I decide to take my phone out so I can send a picture to Caleb so he knows I'm not just hiding away in my hotel room.

While searching blindly in my bag for my phone, I take a sip by holding my drink with my other hand.

"You know that drinking with a straw makes you drunk faster?" I glance over my shoulder and realise that the husky voice is the gorgeous man that I was staring at just moments ago. God damn, his accent just adds the cherry on top.

"I didn't know that the fun police were out tonight." I joke which causes him to give a small laugh while shaking his head and looking down at his feet.

He looks back up to me and I think my heart skipped a beat when his eyes locked with mine. "You're not from around here." He states with a small smile still on his lips.

"Just here for a holiday, I live in New York. Thought it would be a good idea to see what all the hype is with pubs." I reply before taking another sip of my drink.

He takes a seat on the stool next to me. "And what do you think so far?" He asks me.

"Could be worse." I answer jokingly. I don't really understand why this Greek god is actually talking to me right now, I mean I'm just me. Maybe it's because I'm the only girl in the pub.

Before he can reply, his friend that was seated on the other side of the pub has now made his way towards us. He puts his hands on his friends shoulders when he makes it over to us. "Hiya, my name is Niall. 'm just going to steal this one for a quick second. I promise I'll bring him back." The blonde named Niall gives me a charming toothy smile while he rambles before dragging his friend off the stool.

I give them both a small smile and a nod before they are both walking towards the way in which I assume is where the bathrooms are. Speaking of which, I'll go to the bathroom myself.

I make my way towards the back of the pub in the direction of the toilets in no time since the pub isn't very big. Glancing at the sign that states it is the women's toilet, I push the door open and enter. I walk towards the sink area so that I can have a look at my hair. It looks a bit messy but it's been worse. Quickly adding another layer of lip balm before making my towards the exit. I'm about to leave the corridor that has the bathrooms when I hear some voices coming from the men's toilets which causes me to pause on the spot.

"Harry, come on! If you don't do it now, you'll never do it. You don't have a choice, you're runnin' out of time lad!" Is what I hear, I'm not too sure what they are talking about but I don't want to eavesdrop for too long and they come outside to find my ear pressed to the door. So I make the decision to just make my way back to my seat at the bar.

"You want another?" The bartender asks me as I take my seat.

"Yeah, thanks." I reply with a small smile before the bartender turns around to make me my new drink.

I start watching the TV that is displayed on the wall next to all of the different bottles of alcohol. The TV has some adverts that are playing. It's so weird to hear adverts with British accents, I mean I know its normal but I just never thought about it.

The stool next to mine is pulled out and the long haired man sits back down next to me before Niall makes his way over to the other side of the bar to where the bar tender is. He pulls out some cash from his wallet and starts handing it to the bar tender. Are they leaving?

"Uhm, I know this is a bit forward but I have to leave now..." He starts but his whole demeanour has changed since our last small conversation. He seems a bit upset in a way but maybe I'm wrong. "Do you want to meet me here again tomorrow night for a drink?" He asks me while fiddling with one of his rings. He hasn't made eye contact with me since he came back from the bathroom.

I think about his request for a moment. Going out with him for a drink won't hurt right? "Uh, sure. What time?" I answer before I can chicken out and change my mind.

He raises his eyebrows and looks a bit surprised before he answers, "Is 8 okay with you?" He questions in a soft voice. I reply with a small nod and a smile to reassure him.

He gives me a small smile that looks a bit forced but maybe I'm reading him wrong. He starts standing up from his chair and takes a step towards the exit before he stops in his tracks.

"I'm Harry by the way." Harry states while glancing slightly over his shoulder so I can hear him.

"Alexa." I state back. Before I can say anything else, he walks to the exit and leaves with the door slamming behind him.

Authors note:
Well we have finally met Harry...

How do we feel about him?

Things start going down in the next chapter so prepare yourselves...