Chapter 14: Alyssa

March of junior year...

Jack grabs hold of my hand and laces our fingers together before flashing me a cheeky smile as we take in the shops on Oxford Street. The skies are overcast, but the weather is seasonable for this time of year in London, which means it's about fifty degrees. We're both bundled up in jackets. I can't help but return the easy expression.

Effortless.

That would be the perfect word to describe my relationship with him.

He's handsome, charming, and so very British.

I've turned into something I never expected to be-a cliché. I could listen to him talk all day long. And I flipping love when he uses words like-bullocks, bloody, and knackered. It makes me laugh every time. And the guy knows it, which is why he does it. He gets a little twinkle in his dark eyes when my lips start to twitch.

And he's a footballer.

Well, I mean soccer player. In England, it's called football and it's huge. Like nothing I could have imagined. Everyone is crazy for either Mancheste