Adore You [H.S]

2 // Chai Lattes

"Ladies and gentlemen, if you would please fasten your seatbelts, we will be landing shortly," The flight attendant says over the intercom. "We hope you enjoyed your flight and we thank you for choosing Delta Airlines, have a great day!"

I let out a sigh of relief at the fact that I survived this long of a flight as well as had an entire trip to look forward to. Even if I was jet-lagged, I knew it would be one to remember.

The plane landed and I closed the laptop I had been binge-watching old TV shows on. Thank God for Disney+. And when I wasn't watching anything, I was catching up on my sleep I was sure to lose. Shoving my computer into my backpack, I flung it over my shoulder and waited for the line of people to pass before I started to walk off the plane.

As soon as I got to the gate, I sat down in a nearby chair for a short moment while I turned my phone off airplane mode, only to be surprised by a million messages from Jess. None of them were bad though, luckily. She just wanted to wish me a safe and fun trip, as well as bring up the whole 'meeting Harry Styles' thing—which anyone could've predicted her mentioning.

I sent her a quick message back to say thank you and wish her hood trip as well, then ordered an uber and began walking to baggage claim.

* * *

When I got to the hotel, I was in complete awe. It was undeniably beautiful, which made my stomach hurt to even begin to think about how much my parents must have spent on this trip. I now felt ungrateful for dreading this. But the hotel was almost too fancy for my liking. It looked less like a hotel and more like a damn castle. Luckily for me — as well as my brother and sisters — my parents booked us each our own rooms, but in the same hotel of course. And I was insanely grateful for that, considering I would really hate to share a room with any of my siblings and their spouses, while I came alone.

Today wasn't even technically considered the first day of our trip. My parents did this because everyone would be flying in at different times so they figured it would be way too complicated to try to plan activities for us all to do together, which is totally understandable. My mom and dad said once we got here, we could do basically whatever we want, but what we do in our own time, separate from the family plans, comes out of our own bank accounts.

Since I had some free time, I felt like exploring the city around the hotel a bit. So I slide my laptop out of my carryon bag before plugging it into an outlet for it to charge. There was a really good chance I would be watching more Disney on it later, so I wanted it to be charged by the time I came back from adventuring around.

If I wanted to do anything else on this trip, I was going to have to save my money to the best of my abilities, which I am insanely bad at. It seems like once I get a pay-check, it's completely gone within the next couple of days. It's not even that I spend my money on stupid things, I just don't know how to wait. If I see something I like, then I buy it there.

I leave my hotel room and step into the elevator, pressing the button for the lobby floor. When I walked out, everyone who spoke had British accents and I felt like an alien. So when the front desk clerk told me to have a nice day, I just smiled and walked faster out the door.

The cold winter air caressed my face as I stepped outside. I'm not sure why my parents thought London of all places would be the ideal Christmas vacation. You'd think they'd want to go somewhere with a more tropical climate. But no. They chose London. I've never understood my parents' logic and I don't think I ever will.

I wrap my coat tightly around my torso and cross my arms over it. Winter sucks and I hate the cold.

The people around me all seemed to be as cold as I was and they all had their heads down. London was beautiful, but right now it seemed pretty damn depressing. I look around at everyone walking around. I wondered how many of these people were locals and how many were tourists experiencing this atmosphere for the first time just like me. To half of these people, it was just another day in a town they knew all too well. But to the other half, they were in a different universe discovering new treasures the others discovered ages ago but now take for granted.

Shops and cafés lined the streets, perfect for someone wanting to try something new in an unfamiliar place. They all seemed so popular and looked like they were trying to appeal to the tourists and the tourists only. Not like the locals would go in there every day to order the same thing, but they didn't even really have to order because the waitress had memorized their request years ago.

They all looked that way until one caught my eye. No, it wasn't on a corner, (that would be too obvious), but in a small slot between two shops. It looked very homegrown and almost like something from a small farm town. I loved it.

I approached the small café and opened the door. The ringing of a bell greeted me as I stepped inside, taking in the smell of the freshly baked croissants and chocolate chip cookies. There weren't many people inside, but to be fair it was 8 am on a Sunday morning. I didn't expect any more than a few elderly people, which was exactly what there was.

I took a few cautious steps, feeling like a horse in a field of unicorns. The barista behind the counter smiled at me.

"Hi, what can I get for you?" She asks kindly.

"Oh, um," I took a quick look at the menu, even though I already knew exactly what I was going to order, "I'll have a small coffee, please. Just black."

She gave me a surprised look, as if she was expecting me to order something different.

"Will that be all?"

"Yes."

"To stay or to go?"

"To stay."

"Okay, that'll be £2.54," She said, looking up at me expectingly. "What's your name?"

"Lili."

I paid for the coffee with my card and the barista told me to take a seat anywhere and said they'd call my name when my coffee was ready. In a matter of what felt like seconds, the same girl from before was calling out "Lili" for me to come get my drink.

I stood from the booth I was waiting at and walked up to retrieve my cup of coffee. As I wrapped my hand around the handle of the mug, another barista appeared, setting down two to-go cups and looking down at the receipt she was holding.

"Two chai lattes for Harry?" She called out, looking around. I felt my heart come to a halt.

A woman with long dark brown hair dressed in a gray pantsuit appeared next to me.

"Thank you," She said before walking away and out the door.

I shook my head and took my coffee back to the booth I was at before.

No. It wasn't him. You're in London for hell's sake! Practically everyone is named Harry here! Get your thoughts straight.

I grabbed one packet of sugar by the ketchup on the table and poured it into my coffee before stirring it around. I liked my coffee black, not flavorless.