Slow Down

Chapter 1: 'London Gatwick Airport.'

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"Ladies and gentlemen we have now arrived in London, England. On behalf of me and all staff aboard, welcome to London Gatwick Airport. The temperature is 9 degrees and the time is 6:24 pm. Thank you."

The pilot spoke very clearly. I could barely breathe as I watched everyone hustling around the plane. I was beyond nervous. I hadn't seen my aunt in 5 years and I knew things were going to be different. My mom passed away 6 months ago and my dad didn't know what else to do with me other than ship me off to England. Which I know sounds weird but my dad has never been able to deal with the things like any normal person would, especially grief. I think I remind him of her, which obviously means he has to ship me off so he doesn't have to look at me. He forgets that I was hurting too. That whole time, I was hurting too. I needed him and he shut me out.

I'm originally from New York but my mom and aunt were born in England. My mom moved to America and met my dad whilst my aunt stayed here. To say this was going to be a drastic change would be an understatement.

My aunt had already set me up with a first job, working at 'The Grove', near her Apartment in a place called Ealing in London. She was a receptionist for Chelsea Football Club and is already expecting me to take my little cousin, Renee, to the games. She loves football apparently, especially one player in particular who she's always wanted to meet.

I never really payed attention to professional soccer in New York since my dad was a big baseball fan, but here it's a big thing.

I turned 18 a week after my mom died, I didn't bother celebrating it for obvious reasons. I always thought we'd spend it together. My mom was like my best friend, I didn't find it hard to make friends at my school, I was just never as close with anyone like I was with my mom, she was all I needed.

I was thankfully accepted into the 'University Of West London'. I'd only be on a 2 year course studying business, but she said it would be a great experience to adjust to 'British schooling'.

As my dad said, 'at least you can drink over there you only have to be 18!'

Great advice dad.

My dad was always busy with work since he was president of The New York Times.

He gave me more than enough money to cover any expenses whilst I'm here, but my aunt said she also wanted me to experience work and she said working in the bar she goes to would mean good discounts for her and her boyfriend.

It could be fun? I know that over there they call it a 'pub' and my aunt said the soccer players all go there after a match to unwind, seen as though most of them live in Ealing due to it being a less crowded area.

I didn't understand what she was getting at until she sent me a text saying,

'Some of the players are pretty fit you know? ;)'

I made sure to send her more than enough 'rolling eye' emojis before checking what their version of 'fit' means.

She said it means good looking or how I would say 'hot'.

Boys weren't my main priority right now. I wanted to focus on school and adjusting to a new life and maybe making a friend or 2. I'd never even had a boyfriend honestly, it's not that I couldn't talk to guys or anything, I've always just been more interested in fictional boys on Netflix than the gross high school boys in my school. Gossip Girl really raised my standards too high.