A Face to Call Home

Mom and Dad,

I miss you and I miss Brian. But I’m loving it here so far. The apartment (which I found out is called a flat here) is amazing. I’m going out today to find some stuff to color up my room a bit but everything is already set up. I haven’t gotten the chance to actually see London yet since my flight got in at 8:56pm yesterday. I was exhausted so I went to sleep after talking to my roommate, Eleanor for an hour or so. She’s really nice, you two would approve. She’s twenty and she is really sweet. She has this boyfriend named Louis in a boy band called One Direction. Have you ever heard of them? I haven’t. But I guess I’ll find out who they are when she introduces me to them. Anyway, I’m going to go now so I can spend time today exploring London. I’ll email sometime before classes start and maybe something more interesting will actually happen! I love and miss you two so much! Talk to you soon.

Kaylin

I shut my laptop closed and looked around my room. A yawn escaped my mouth as I got up, walking to my bathroom. I threw on some clothes before heading out to the kitchen where Eleanor was making a pot of coffee. “Mm!” She exclaimed, sipping on her coffee. “I didn’t know if you liked coffee or not so I just made some extra for you, just in case. I have some tea in the cabinet if you want that instead, but I don’t really have any morning food. We should probably go get some groceries over the next couple of days.” I smiled, thankfully. I poured a cup of coffee, filling it with creamer and sugar.

“Thanks, I love coffee. And I don’t really eat breakfast anyway so it’s okay.” I said, taking a sip of my coffee.

“Okay, awesome I don’t either so that’s one less thing we’ll have to buy.” She glanced at the clock. “Shit, I’ve got to go. I’ll see you tonight, okay? Louis is coming by for dinner to meet you and I think it’s just going to be him but I wouldn’t count on that,” she mentioned, laughing. She grabbed her purse and ran to the door. “See ya!” I waved, drinking my coffee.

*

The sky was overcast as I walked down the street, heading towards downtown. The wind blew softly but it was chilly enough that I needed a sweater and I wasn’t use to it. Florida weather was definitely nothing compared to London’s. Florida barely even has an autumn or winter, just spring and summer. I hated it so it was nice to be in a place where actual seasons existed.

As I neared the city, I noticed an antique store and walked right in, my lips turning up in the corner. Antique shops were the best places in the world. I loved them because behind every necklace or even chair, there was a story or history behind it and it was always so fascinating to me. I walked around the store slowly, looking at every item. I walked up to a display case, my eyes catching the pink pearl necklace and I picked it up. It was beautiful. It reminded me of my grandmother’s old set of pearls she had acquired when she was just in her twenty’s. She’s long gone now but my mom kept them safe in our house, only taking them out to show me.

“Aye! Put those back!” An elderly lady screeched out, wobbling towards me with a cane poking out at me. I placed back down gently.

“I’m sorry, I wa¬–“ I started but she didn’t want to hear it.

“Ah, yeh stupid Americans need to learn to leave things alone! Get out of my shop!” She yelled, chasing me out with the cane and trying to hit me with it. I nearly stumbled out of the store, apologizing to her repeatedly. She slammed the door shut and I grimaced at her through the window. I heard screaming from down the street and when I turned my head towards the sound, a girl slammed her shoulder into me, nearly knocking me to the ground. I grabbed my shoulder, letting out a small groan.

“Seriously?” I said, quietly rolling my eyes. I rubbed my shoulder and walked further into the city. There was a massive crowd surrounding the small courtyard in front the shops, screaming and yells being heard. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, heading towards the chaos. I pushed my way through the crowd, getting shoved and nudged harshly a few times before reaching the front. There was a group of five boys, one playing a guitar, the other four jumping around and singing like lunatics. They were all attractive I had to admit that. I stood there watching them as they sung with my arms crossed. The one playing the guitar had blonde hair and from where I was standing, he looked like he had blue eyes and braces. He strummed the guitar skillfully and sung into the microphone as his part came up. The boy with red jeans and suspenders had brown hair that looked blown to the side; he also had blue eyes. He was dancing with a little girl he had pulled from the crowd and had a huge smile on his face.

There was one with a gray vest on with matching pants, jumping around and singing and interacting with the other boys in the group. My eyes moved over to one who had dark hair and dark skin. He was absolutely stunning. Everything about him screamed, “beautiful!” He was laughing at the boy with the crazy curly haired boy who was swinging his arms around like a wild child. I didn’t notice till now that his green eyes were staring right at me. A small smirk formed on his face when he noticed that I was looking at him. I felt the heat rise up to my face and I knew I had to be blushing by now. As he sung the song with his band mates, he kept his eyes onto me and I couldn’t pull myself away from his more than friendly gaze.

I tore my eyes away from him as the boy who was dancing with the little girl announced that they were going to sing a new song. I backed out of the crowd and I felt the boy with green eyes watch me as I left. I turned back before I turned the street corner and he winked at me as I fought the small smile that was threatening to form on my face. Oh, Eleanor was definitely going to hear about this later.

*

Eleanor busted through the door and I jumped up off the couch, running to her. “Eleanor, you’re never going to believe what happened to me tod–“ I stopped immediately as soon as the boy with the striped shirt came walking through the door holding a couple bags of groceries.

“You know, Eleanor, you should really go shopping more often so Louis and I wouldn’t have to carry these in for you every time we have dinner,” a quiet, deep voice said slowly. My eyes widened and my face flushed as soon as the boy from the city came walking through the behind the two of them, his lips turning into a smirk as soon as he recognized me from earlier.

“Well, you wouldn’t have to if you didn’t come over all the time,” she retorted back to him and then looked at me with a smile. “What were you saying before Harry here, interrupted?”

“Oh, uh, n-nothing,” I squeaked out, my face turning bright red from embarrassment. I cleared my throat before looking over at Eleanor.

“Oh okay, well um, this is Louis, my boyfriend, and that’s Harry, our best mate. He’s a bit cheeky sometimes, so ignore him if he makes any comments,” she said, glaring at her best mate.

“Hey!” He mimicked hurt, grabbing his chest like his heart was hurting after setting the bags on the counter. “I don’t appreciate the insult, Eleanor.” He pouted out his bottom lip. I let out a soft giggle and Eleanor looked at me with a small smile.

“Harry, Louis, this is my flatmate Kaylin. She’s from America.”

“I knew your accent sounded American!” Louis exclaimed, tackling me with a hug. I groaned at the impact and stumbled backwards. “We’re going to be great mates, I know because you have an American accent!” I laughed softly as he pulled away with a big grin. “Eleanor has already told me a lot about you.”

“Good things, I hope.” Eleanor nodded before both her and Louis walked into the kitchen. Harry walked over to me with a big smile on his face.

“Coincidence, isn’t it? Seeing you in the city and then I find out you’re my mate’s flatmate?” He flung an arm around my shoulder, pulling me to the kitchen. He leaned down and whispered into my ear, “I think it’s fate.” My face burned and pulled his arm off my shoulder, stepping away from him. He pouted his beautiful pink lips, my eyes flickering to them before turning my head to Louis and Eleanor working in the kitchen. “Okay, now I don’t think I trust you two to cook dinner…” Harry said, pushing the two lovers out of the kitchen. “I’ll make dinner.”

“Kaylin can help! She’s told me she can cook very well.” My eyes widened as I shook my head furiously.

“No, no, no. I’m pretty sure I’m a horrible cook,” I responded quickly.

“I’m sure you can’t be worse than those two idiots,” Harry said, pulling me into the kitchen by my hand. I stood awkwardly next to him as he handed me the pot for the water, not moving. “Well, are you going to fill it?” He questioned with an amused smile. I blushed a little before turning and walking to the sink, to fill the one pot with water. I carried it to the stove, setting it on there before turning it on. He stood close to me, his arm barely brushing mine as he poured the dry noodles into the pot. I felt like my whole body was on fire just from that one touch so I stepped away from him a little. “Can you cut?” He asked, holding up a sausage with a grin. I laughed and snatched it from his hand, setting it on the cutting board on the counter. He chuckled, stirring the noodles. “So how did you get through that crowd today?” I looked at him confused and he laughed. “Earlier, when you walked up to the street me and the boys were singing on.”

“Oh, um I just kind of pushed and shoved. I didn’t get through without bruises, trust.” I lifted the side of my shirt showing a black spot forming. He was staring at it and lifted his hand, touching it softly. I dropped my shirt, making his hand fall to his side. “I was just curious as to what all the girls were screaming about,” I said, turning back to the cutting board.

“Gotcha, you a fan?”

“Me? No. I didn’t even know who you were until Eleanor told me and I didn’t even know at the little show. I just found out as soon as you two walked through the door.”

“Well, you don’t know what you missing out on.” He said, smiling down at me. I laughed and shook my head.

“Right.”

I cut the sausages into little chunks and threw them into the pan on the stove. Harry and I spent the next hour, cooking while he continued to crack out jokes and make me laugh. Near the end, he pulled out a couple of glasses and a bottle of wine setting it on the counter. “To celebrate our success of a wonderful dinner,” he said, pouring the wine into the glasses.

“We haven’t even tasted it yet, Harry. How do we know it’s good?”

“Well, because I helped cook it and I’m an amazing cook.”

“That’s a bit bias, don’t you think?” I asked with my eyebrows raised. He handed me a glass and stood closely in front of me, my back pressing against the counter to keep a distance between us.

“Well, my mum says I’m a good cook and mum’s always right…” He said, taking a sip of his wine, keeping his eyes on me. I laughed and looked back at him. He smiled. “I like your laugh, it’s cute.” I blushed and stepped away from him as soon as he took a step forward. He turned to look at me and I looked away as soon as Louis came into the kitchen, yelling with Eleanor on his back laughing.

“I’m hungry! Feed me noooooow!” He screamed, dragging out the word ‘now’. Eleanor smacked his head before jumping down. “Hey!” He yelled, rubbing his head where she hit him.

“Be nice, Boobear,” she stated sternly, trying to keep a straight face. I laughed and grabbed the plates setting them on the small table as they all helped carried the food out. When everyone sat down and started eating, Louis moaned loudly.

“Oh my god, this is absolutely amazing!” He exclaimed with his mouth full. Harry looked over at me with a cocky smile on his face.

“Told ya,” he said, before taking a bite. I playfully glared at him.

“Fuck you, Styles.”

“Mm, when and where?” He said, winking. I let out a groan and rolled my eyes.

“In your dreams.”