On my television screen the message "PA in Progress" popped up, pausing the movie I wasn't really interested in anyway, and the flight attendant's fake nice voice blasted through the cabin. "Attention ladies and gentlemen, as you can see the pilot has turned on the fasten seatbelt sign. Please put your trays in their upright positions and secure your belongings. We are beginning our descent."
Well. This is it.
In a few short minutes I will be touching down in London for an entire semester of studying abroad and I cannot wait.
My name is Olivia Allen, but I mostly go by Liv. I am a junior in my second semester at the University of Oklahoma majoring in political science with minors in business and journalism (which basically means I am 20 years old and still clueless about what to do with my life).
I stuffed my laptop back into my carry on and began to anxiously await what were hopefully to be the best four months of my life so far. I had been out of the country a couple times, once on a family vacation to Mexico and another time on a school trip to Spain, but this is totally new to me. London. For a whole semester. On my own.
Okay, not entirely on my own. I will hopefully make friends with others in my classes. But I feel on my own and I'm being dramatic. I'm used to my hometown of Brookside, Oklahoma and I'm comfortable in Norman, my college town. A whole new country? Not so much.
Looking out the window, the city is lit up beautifully. I think I see the Tower Bridge which makes me super excited to sight see. I can't help but think of One Direction and their music video that was shot there. I might be a 20-year-old in college but I still love them and don't care what anyone thinks about it. I feel my heart speed up as my anticipation and nerves grow.
It's a Friday night, which means at home it's still the afternoon, so I'm wide awake. I will have the weekend to get settled and classes start Monday. I am literally bouncing in my seat because I'm so excited. The man beside me is hardcore staring but I couldn't care less. I'm in London!
The wheels touched down, a relatively smooth landing, and I grabbed my bag. I got off that plane at an impressive rate considering I had a window seat, then rushed to baggage claim. Luckily, there were no issues and my bags were all accounted for. I was able to get a cab and gave the address that would be my new home for the next semester. The whole ride there I just gawked out the window at the city.
I arrived at my new home away from home and I was pretty pleased. It was a little hole in the wall apartment with barely two rooms that would function as a bedroom and a closet sized kitchen and of course a bathroom. It was small but honestly very cute and I didn't plan on spending a ton of time here anyway. After dumping my bags I decided to explore. Maybe I shouldn't wander the streets alone at night but whatever. I am not wasting a minute of this experience.
I'm living pretty close to the heart of the city. They have really good deals for students abroad because there are reciprocal programs with other universities. It didn't take many blocks of walking to reach the crowds. I saw many high-end restaurants, a few fancy nightclubs, and a couple coffee shops I took note of for before class on Monday. I really wasn't dressed to go inside somewhere nice since I had been traveling all day so I just observed. I found where my classes would be held then timed the walk back to the coffee shop. It was only about ten minutes. Thankfully my apartment is just off campus.
I basically acted like a total foreigner by wandering aimlessly. I checked my watch and it was past one in the morning so I had been out here for two hours. Wow, it's time to get home. I typed the address of my apartment into my phone (which I know probably put a target on my foreign, tourist back, but I was clueless) and then I started in that direction.
There was suddenly a lot of commotion ahead. It stood out, even though this city doesn't really sleep, kind of like New York City. I saw some cameras flashing and a small crowd had gathered. I was headed straight for the mini-mob but this is the route my phone told me was fastest so I continued anyway. And if I'm being honest I was a little excited. I mean, I probably don't know who this person is, but it's still cool. If they were really famous it would be a bigger crowd though. Then again it's late so maybe not. Whatever, I don't want to get my hopes up.
I decided if I was in people's way, I would just play dumb. I was looking at my phone's map, walking on the part of the sidewalk opposite the commotion. I looked up long enough to see the small crowd didn't follow. A large man was leading the charge. He was probably some famous rugby player and that was causing excitement. Not that I would know the first thing about that.
Wait, not quite. This man stepped to the side and suddenly everything clicked into place. He wasn't famous, he was a bodyguard. And I was looking directly at the celebrity he was with.
I was making eye contact with the beautiful green eyes of Harry Styles.
A/N:
Hi, I'm Emma! I'm excited you're here reading! Now long after I've finished writing the entire book, I will say I know this first chapter isn't the most stellar or unique idea. But please don't bail on me yet!
I'm truly so happy with the romance story this turned into and I think you will love it as much as me. So all I ask is that you give it a few more chapters before you decide if you like it! I think I really hit my stride soon. It doesn't take long before the chapters are works I am genuinely proud of. Just please hang with me for the first handful as I was still figuring it out. ❤️
For context, I started this in 2014 so some of my references might be a little outdated. But come on, 2014 was like the 1D golden era.
You can expect this to get pretty darn smutty, but you will have to be a little patient. :)
You can also expect near perfect (I hope) grammar from this. Bad grammar has always turned me away from fanfics so it was important to me.
Thanks for reading & please vote if you like it!
Emma
YOU ARE READING
Foreign Affair ›› n.h. mature
FanfictionOlivia Allen is a college student who is studying abroad in London. Quickly after moving halfway across the world, her semester's focus shifts from her studies to a certain blonde boy she can't seem to stay away from. This book is a cute, romantic...