Maybe It's You.

~Alex's POV~


“Well I called Dean and Lorraine and they should have that apartment ready for you by the time you get there.” My brother Caleb announced as he took another bite of his chocolate cookie. Dean and Lorraine were a young newlywed couple we had met a couple years ago and ever since my brother had been really close to them. I had heard from him that they were expecting a baby soon and they would be coming back to California for a few months and so they happily offered me to use their apartment which happened to be in good ol’ London while they were gone.

“Okay, thanks.” I murmured sleepily. I rubbed my eyes and looked closely towards him as I realized what he was doing.

“Hey those are mine!” I fumed as I grabbed my bag of cookies off of his shirt pocket. He stuck out his tongue at me and laughed like a child who had just gotten out of trouble.

“You're twenty one years old and you still manage to act as if you were still five.” I muttered angrily as I put my bag of cookies back in my purse. Mornings were obviously not my thing.

“What? I just like cookies.” He replied, holding his hands up in defense. I rolled my eyes and chuckled at his childish ways.

“Are you ready to leave, Alex ?” I heard my mom asked softly. I looked back her as she leant against the doorframe of the kitchen door and smiled warmly. Through her smile, however, I could see how tired she looked. Two part time jobs weren't helping her at all. With her job at the nursing hospital and Caleb’s part-time job at the mechanics shop, we barely made it through. Baggy eyes were now a permanent feature for her. I looked down at her smiling. Her smile used to be my favorite part of her but now it looked just as fake as anyone else's. Everything she's been through in the past years have been practically brutal for her and I couldn't wait to get out of here so I could someday repay her somehow.
I placed my laptop inside my backpack, I turned to my mom and nodded my head once. With a deep, sharp breath I held closely into my backpack as we took my things and placed them in the back of our mini family van.

“Shotgun!” Caleb shouted as we finished with everything. I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back towards my house. My childhood home. It was a small wooden house, quite beaten up by now. I observed it carefully for one last time as I whispered “Goodbye.”

The whole car ride was silent, it mainly consisted of the soft songs that played on the morning station from our radio. It wasn't until we reached the airport that Caleb finally spoke up and my mom turned to me and began lightly crying.

“Have a safe trip honey.” She said as she engulfed me in a hug. “Be careful over there.” She said with a small quiver in her voice. “I will mama.” I answered, beginning to feel the tears forming in my eyes.

“Better watch out kid, and no boys. Finish school first.” Caleb ordered.

“What am I, five years old ? I know this.” I said, light chuckling. He rolled his eyes and engulfed me in a tight hug. We spent at least five minutes holding each other and speaking before the intercom announced that it was time for me to go. I hugged both of them one last time and began walking away towards the line of people waiting to board the plane.

As I looked back towards towards them I could see all the sadness within my mom wash over her as Caleb hugged her. “I love you.” He mouthed to me slowly.
“I love you.” I whispered, knowing they couldn't hear me and with that I was off.

***11 hours later***

“We have arrived to London now. Passengers please grab ahold of your belongings and wait to be escorted out.” The flight attendant said rather loudly into her little microphone. I pushed my food tray away and stood up slowly to begin stretching, and then grabbed the rest of my belongings in there.
As I stepped out of the airport I made my way towards the sidewalk. The streets of London were lined with pedestrians everywhere. I wasn't used to this sort of thing. I walked towards a small bench nearby and set my things down.

“Hey excuse me ?” I said trying to get someone's attention from around me. Most people gave me weird looks as others completely turned their heads away from me. “I need help.” I said once again but no one seemed to have heard me.

“Do you need help ?” I heard someone say behind me. I turned towards the voice which came from a man, whose stood behind me. He was somewhat tall and had on a dark blue jacket. His light blond hair and bright blue eyes stood out to me.

“Yes please.” I answered quite desperately now. He chuckled at my response.

“What can I do love ?” He asked, stepping closer to me. I noticed he had a different type of accent. He's probably from somewhere else, I thought.

“I need help getting some type of transportation around here.” I said looking down at my google maps app in my phone.

“Well I can take you to the bus stop or I could take you where you need to go, myself.” He said.

“But I don't even know you. You could be a kidnapper for all I know.” I answered, giggling a bit. He made a funny face as if he had just gotten offended by his idol. I laughed at his reaction. He actually seemed too sweet to be doing any of that stuff.

“I'm Niall. I work in animal hospital so I like helping and I can promise you, I'm no kidnapper.” He added proudly. I was completely in love with animals so meeting someone who gets to work to take care of them was an amazing thing. “What's your name love ?” He then asked.

“Alex.” I answered dumbfounded, still thinking about the animals.

“Well Alex, now that we know each other, where do I take you ?” He asked once again while picking up both of my suitcases.

“Well I need to get to some apartments in Park Avenue called Green Oaks.” I answered as I checked the address on my phone again.

“You mean Flats ?” He asked with a cheeky smile.

“What ?” I asked him confused on what he meant.

“Apartments here are called Flats.” He described chuckling at my state of confusion. “You say it differently because you're obviously from America but here we basically call them Flats.” He added

“Oh right, wow thanks. I learned something new today.” I replied, smiling like an idiot at this new information.

“You know actually one of my best mates lives up there. It'd be nice to meet him there but it seems like there's a lot of traffic right now so we have to hurry, let's go!” Niall blurred out as he began speed walking away mentioning me to follow him. I look down at the cement ground asking myself if I was really doing this. Going off with a stranger in a new place. I quickly rolled my eyes and chuckled, I didn't think more of it as I chased after him. “Wait up!”

Notes