Alerrie: Case Closed

3

Alex's POV:

The following morning, I stuck with my normal pre-training routine. There was no reason not to - I couldn't obsess over her disappearance or I would go crazy. As a professional footballer, I've been taught how to prevent off-the-field matters from affecting your performance and I channelled that into my every day life as well as training that morning. I just had to get through those few hours and then I could focus all my energy into our search and getting her back.

Hours later, I'd finished my session and after a quick turnaround I was already sat in a First Class seat on my way to London. If I wasn't in such a rush I would've driven to avoid anyone from the general public seeing me, but the train took over an hour off the journey and I had no time to waste. Jesy had said that she and the other two girls would pick me up from the train station at 6 and then we would meet with some of Perrie's family and go looking for her. Ellie was still on holiday but Perrie's mum has a spare set of keys which she would use to let us into the house after travelling down from Newcastle.

"Excuse me sir, I think your phone is ringing."
I groggily blinked my eyes open to see a woman smiling at me and pointing to the table in front of me. Following her finger I saw my phone buzzing up and down on the table. My first instinct was that it might be Perrie so I hastily grabbed it and turned it over.

Jesy Nelson

I sighed. Of course it wasn't going to be her. "Oh thanks." I said to the smiling woman, before accepting the call.

"Hey."

"Hi, are you almost here? If you are we'll set off." Jesy spoke.

Shit, I'd fallen asleep and who knows where I was. The tossing and turning last night had meant that I'd barely slept and it seemed as though I was paying the price now. I looked out the window and around the train for any sign of our location.

"Alex?" Jesy asked when I didn't answer.

"Yeah just gimme a sec, I don't know." I replied.

"We're about five minutes away from King's Cross." The lady informed me.

"Oh, cheers." I thanked her. "We're about five minutes away, so you should probably set off now."

"Jeez Alex, it's a bit short notice." She cursed and then in the background she called the other two girls and there was the sound of movement. "Right, we're leaving now but you might have to wait for us."

"That's fine, I don't mind waiting. It'll give me plenty of time to hear Perrie's voicemail another fifty times." I laughed sarcastically.

"You do that. Okay, see you later." She replied before hanging up the phone.

In anticipation of our arrival, I gathered my things into my bag and slung it over my shoulder.

"Um, excuse me." The smiling woman caught my attention. "I couldn't help but hear that you had some time to kill. I was wondering if you'd like to grab a coffee?"

I was a little taken aback. I wasn't sure if she was asking me on a date or not - it'd been three years since I was single and I could barely even remember how it worked any more.

"Oh, right. That's really kind of you to offer but I'm actually in a bit of a rush. I'll only be waiting around for a bit and then as soon as my friends arrive, I really need to get going I'm afraid." I replied, hoping she'd take the hint.