I held Dillon’s hand. “It’s just until you figure out what you want to do. It’s not forever.”
“Of course not.”
“You’ll be able to go out on the pull more often.”
He grinned. “That’s exactly what I’m going to do with all my spare cash.” He nodded towards the ticket barriers. “You’d better go. I wouldn’t want you to miss your train.”
I hugged him again. “I love you.”
“Love you too. Go.”
I grabbed my suitcase and make-up case and headed toward the ticket barriers. I was sensible and chose to use the wide barrier so that I could pull everything through easily. Once I was on the other side, I looked back. Dillon was smiling and waving from where I’d left him. I blew him a kiss before checking which platform I needed and setting off in search of it.
Ten minutes later, I was on the train. Thankfully a platform attendant had taken pity on me and helped me put my cases in the luggage rack. The train was rammed, but I’d pre-booked a seat. As the train pulled out of the station, I took a selfie and uploaded it to my Instagram account. I had a pitiful number of followers, but that wasn’t the point. One day, I’d have thousands, just like Xander.
On my way to London and feeling cute. How come New York has an adorable nickname, and London doesn’t? And no, The Big Smoke is NOT cute. Help me think of a better one. The Little Apple? Come on. I know you can do better than that.
#LondonHereICome #MyFutureStartsNow #TrainSelfie #LookingCute
CHAPTERFOUR
XANDER
I hadn’t seen Jae in three years, so I expected a cute guy with short dark hair and maybe the odd spot. That was who I was scanning the passengers for as they got off the train from Leeds and streamed towards the ticket barriers. Whenever I thought I’d caught sight of him, I realised I was mistaken. I knew he was on the train—Dillon had texted me to tell me he’d seen Jae off at the station—so where was he?
Almost everyone was through the barriers when I saw a man struggling with a ginormous purple suitcase and a sparkly pink make-up case. My jaw dropped. Jae had grown his hair out and dyed it blond. His roots still showed, possibly purposefully, but what would I know? He’d styled it in soft, messy waves, which made me think of lazy hot days at the beach. He wore a denim jacket with diamantés, a Bretton top, navy-blue chinos, and white pumps.
As he got closer, I realised he was wearing make-up. Since when did my brother’s best friend wear make-up? I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his face. His dark eyebrows were thick, his lips looked luscious coated in red lipstick, his skin was flawless, and smudged blue eyeliner and orange eyeshadow made his warm brown eyes pop.
“Hi, Xander.” Jae didn’t look at me, and I swore I could see his cheeks going red beneath the peach-toned blusher.
“Jae?”
He curtsied. “That’s me.” He tossed his hair as he looked up, still not quite meeting my stare. “You probably don’t remember me.”
Oh, I remembered him all right, but not looking this hot. I snapped my mouth shut. I couldn’t think of him that way. He wasn’t some guy I could flirt with and fuck. He was my brother’s best friend!
“I do.”
Jae smiled and briefly made eye contact with me. His cheeks glowed under his make-up, and he looked at the floor again. The combination of his adorable smile and demure blush made my knees weak.
I cleared my throat. “We need to take the Hammersmith and City line.”
“Okay.”
“Let me help you.” I took the suitcase from him. It weighed a fucking ton. “I have a washing machine.”
Jae laughed. “Dillon said, but you can never be too prepared.”
“Prepared for what?”
Jae shrugged. “Anything.”
I started to walk towards the tube entrance at my normal London speed—fast and purposeful. I left Jae behind almost immediately, so I forced myself to slow down.
“Do you want to get food before we go to my apartment?”
“I’m fine.”
