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falling.

-x-

I let out a high-pitched scream as I fell through the door. My heavy suitcase landed roughly on top of my stomach and for a moment left me winded. My phone flew out of my hand and I winced as it cluttered noisily against the ground. IPhones weren't built to withstand such an impact, but I could hear from where I was the voice of my mother call "hello? Hello?" through the speaker, so the phone must have survived. I groaned and tried to heave the suitcase off of me, and after a few attempts managed to succeed. I took a huge breath and stayed where I was, lying on the floor of my new - albeit apparently deadly - apartment in London. I could still hear Mum panicking at my lack of response through the phone.

"Zoe Marie, I swear to God if you don't reply I'm getting on the next plane to London and dragging you back here to Adelaide by your hair."

I scampered to my feet and scooped up my phone from where it had landed, which happened to be halfway across the room.

"Mum, relax, I'm here. I may or may not have just fallen into my apartment." I cocked the phone between my shoulder and ear as I walked to the door and wrestled the key out of the keyhole.

"Peter," I could hear Mum call to my father, "Peter, she just fell into her apartment. I knew we shouldn't have let her go; eighteen is too young to leave home for another country. She's too clumsy. Why didn't we think of this earlier?" Mum's voice was verging on hysterical.

"Mum!" I exclaimed, brushing a rogue piece of blond hair from my face, "would you please relax? I'm fine. My suitcase just got a bit heavy, and I'm going to thank you for that one! Tell me, am I now harbouring the kitchen sink from home?" I plonked down onto one of the black leather couches Dad and I had picked out online while we were organising the apartment. I was surprised by how well it had turned out, and I knew my parents must have paid a truckload for it. I twirled the piece of hair that would always fall in my face; something I'd done whenever I was tired from since I was a baby. Right now, I was absolutely exhausted. I'd spent two days travelling from Adelaide to London, with a fourteen-hour stopover in Singapore. I'd only arrived in London two hours ago and had made the fatal mistake of calling home. My mother wasn't really helping calm me down after just moving to a new country and knowing absolutely no one here.

I swung my legs up onto the couch and tucked a hand under my head.

"- and that's why I thought it'd be a good idea to pack another suitcase inside your suitcase." Mum had obviously been trying to make some point, but I hadn't been paying attention.

"Mmhmm," I mumbled, closing my eyes and yawning.

"No no, Zoe! Don't go to sleep, you'll never acclimatise if you do!" The voice of my father cut in. Dad was probably the most experienced traveller I knew, as because he worked for a French company, he was constantly travelling between France and other domestic cities, and had only gotten back from Sydney the day before I left for Singapore. I knew I should listen to him; everything he said made sense. Pity my eyelids were too heavy and my brain too groggy to realise.

"Dad," I said slowly, attempting to sound awake. "Tell Mum I'll call her tomorrow, it must be close to midnight at home and I need to get a few things done." And by that I of course meant I needed to pass out on my couch for a good five hours.

"Zoe." Dad said in a warning tone, and I knew he didn't buy my story. "I'll tell Mum you have to go, but please don't fall asleep, you'll regret it."

I nodded a few times before realising Dad probably couldn't see that. "Yes," I said instead, "I promise I won't fall asleep. Bye Dad, love you."

Dad said goodbye and I hung up, the phone sliding out of my hand and landing on the floor again. I groaned loudly as I leaned off the couch to grab it. My balance was clearly off, as within seconds I rolled straight off the couch and came crashing down on top of my phone. I cursed my own clumsiness and as I hauled myself up, I looked to the front door and saw I had left it open, and a boy of about my age was standing there, watching me carefully. As soon as our eyes met, he jumped back and his mouth formed a small "O" of surprise.

"I'm so sorry, but I was walking past and heard a bang. Are you alright?"

I stared at him for a few seconds without saying a word. His accent was strange, and I didn't have to be a local to know it wasn't native to London. He ran a hand through his light brown, almost blond curly hair and smiled a little awkwardly.

"I'm fine," I replied cautiously, rubbing my side and stretching my right arm. "Today just has not been my day."

The boy smiled again and took a slow step forward. "Do you need a hand?" he gestured to the suitcase lying in the middle of the doorway.

"Nah that's fine, I meant to keep that there," I replied, a tad more sarcastically than intended and I winced, hoping he wouldn't think I was being rude.

"And why wouldn't you? Seems a great place for a suitcase. Who needs to be able to walk through a doorway?"

His tone made me smile, and I gave up the whole act. "I know, but if you wouldn't mind, I would love some help moving it. It already bested me once today."

He looked up at me curiously as he grabbed my suitcase and hauled it effortlessly through the room and to the corner of the lounge room. "So when did you fly in?" he asked to my surprise as he set down the suitcase. I cringed and sat back down on the couch. "Whatever do you mean?" I said in a faux posh accent.

"That was quite possibly the worst fake British accent I have ever heard in my life. Well done." He replied with a laugh.

I shook my head. "I'm tired. It's usually much, much better."

"Is that what your Australian friends tell you?" he raised his eyebrows and cocked his head; obviously smug that he had guessed where I was from.

"Is it that obvious?" I asked, scrunching up my nose.

He let out a chuckle. "Well, you're obviously not from here, yet you speak perfect English, and don't have an American accent. It wasn't too hard to figure out." He stood up straight and dusted his hands against the back of his tight jeans. I realised then that sitting down had been a bad idea; he now dwarfed me even more than when I was standing, making me think he'd top out at about 6 feet.

"I'm Liam," he said after a minute, holding out his hand. I stared at it for a few seconds, not realising I was meant to shake it. British guys were already so much more polite than Australians.

"Zoe," I replied, grabbing his hand.

"Nice to meet you," he said with his strange accent. "Enjoying London?"

I had two options here. One was that I could lie and say yes; that it was the most amazing place I'd ever been. The second was to be honest and say I was pretty much hating it so far. Me being me chose the latter.

"The weather is shit." I replied without really thinking, then quickly covered my mouth with my hands. "I'm sorry, I wasn't meant to say that."

"It's okay," Liam said with a laugh, "I have heard the word before." He leant up against the wall. "And I hate to tell you this, but you're in England now. Say hello to grey, grey and more grey!" he further emphasised his point by pointing to his grey checked shirt.

I groaned. "Thank you for the encouraging words, I definitely do not want to hang myself from that light fixture right now." I pointed up to the elaborate light awning dangling above us. Liam let out another laugh. "I definitely have to introduce you to Louis."

I raised an eyebrow. That was quite possibly the oddest reaction I could have gotten to my light fixture gag.

"Anyway," Liam said, turning around. "I really have to get going now. I'm already late to meet the lads."

"Yeah, sure," I responded, trying my hardest not to smirk at how he called his friends "the lads". "I still have to head downstairs and pick up the rest of my bags."

Liam's eyes jumped so much out of his head that they almost whacked me in the face. "More bags? Seriously? How long are you planning on spending in this place?"

"I start school in three weeks, and it's a four year course. You do the maths." I replied, raising my hands and shrugging.

"Fair enough," Liam said, walking over to the door and holding it open. "After you then."

"Cheers," I said, pleasantly surprised at how much of a gentleman he was, apart from the not-understanding-how-many-bags-a-girl-needs thing. We rode the elevator down to the ground floor, and I didn't say anything. I had always hated elevators since I was little. I wasn't even afraid of heights, it was just the thought of dangling in a box, metres above the ground, with the possibility of getting trapped there was what freaked me out completely.

Liam seemed to notice this. "Are you alright?" he asked as we stepped out and onto the ground floor. A pile of my things were still sitting, untouched in the corner of the room, my guitar case resting neatly on top and out of harm's way. I breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, fine. Just hate elevators."

He looked at me incredulously and narrowed his pretty brown eyes. "Would not have picked it."

I shrugged and walked over to my bags. I attempted to heave them up from the ground then promptly gasped a little at the weight of them, not realising I had packed so much. I was going to absolutely kill Mum for being indignant on packing for me. Liam looked around a tad nervously, seeming to be arguing with himself about something. I realised it must have been either 'help the struggling Australian girl' or 'meet friends on time', as after a minute he walked up to me and said, "here, let me take those."

I swatted his hands away. "Liam, it's fine. Go meet your mates, don't be late because of me. I'll manage."

"It's okay, I'll be quick." He reached down to grab the bags again.

"Liam, get off." I said seriously, looking straight into his eyes. "Go!"

He didn't say anything, just stared from my face to my guitar case and back again. I hauled the bags up again and into the elevator. "Go have fun with your friends, it was nice to meet you." I said to him, holding out my hand. I had to get used to this shaking hands thing sooner or later.

"Thanks, Zoe." He shook my hand softly. "It was good to meet you too. I'll swing past a bit later to see how you went with the bags." He smiled, making his cheekbones stand out and adding to his already defined jaw line. I didn't get the chance to reply, as the elevator doors closed and I let go of his hand, so I muttered a "sure, can't wait" to the reflection of myself in the elevator walls.

-x-

It felt like I'd been asleep for only two seconds when a knock at the door made me jump off the couch. My guitar had been lying against me as I had obviously fallen asleep whilst in the middle of playing, and because I jumped up so quickly, it had gone flying off my chest and I had to take a leap that would rival something of Superman's to grab it before it whacked into the floor. Unfortunately this meant I then had to tumble with my guitar over the wood coffee table and into the entertainment unit.

"Ow." I managed to squeak out, my arms holding my guitar in the air so it wouldn't be crushed and my legs twisted painfully underneath me. I definitely looked like something out of a horror movie.

"Oh my God." A voice said from the doorway, and I quickly snapped my head up to see Liam staring at me, a look of both shock and hysteria on his face.

"How much did you see?" I yelled, pulling myself up and trying to look as dignified as possible.

"Um, the whole thing?" Liam replied, wincing slightly. "Are you just constantly on the floor?"

I slapped a hand to my face, but I couldn't help to laugh. Seeing that I was fine, Liam took this as an invitation to let out the longest laugh I'd heard from him.

"I will forever remember that, honestly I will."

"I like to call that the Zoe Williams 'Jump and Roll', so when telling this story to your friends, - which I'm sure you will - please get the name right at least."

Liam continued to laugh, while another boy with slick dark hair and suspenders appeared from behind him.

"I'd give you a ten for creativity, a nine for execution, but probably only five for landing. However, I am greatly impressed none the less." He gave me a wink.

"Sorry, you are...?" I asked, dusting myself off.

"Louis," he said, "Nice to meet you." He held out his hand, and this time I didn't stare at it for a year before working out what was going on.

"Louis," I repeated. "Liam told me I had to meet you."

"Well, can I just thank you for the most memorable first impression I've ever had, and I've meet a lot of people in my time."

I clicked my tongue and gave him a thumbs up, unsure of how to respond to such a statement. Liam walked over to me slowly and grabbed the guitar out of my hands. "At least this survived." He leant against the arm of the couch and started strumming quietly.

"You play?" I asked, pleasantly surprised.

"He dabbles," Louis answered quickly, patting Liam's shoulder and then settled himself down on the couch like he'd lived here forever.

"Do you play anything else?" I asked, settling myself down on the floor by his feet.

He shook his head. "Just a bit of guitar and vocals."

I stared at him. "Snap. But I play piano as well." Liam gave me a surprised smile and continued strumming what sounded like a familiar tune, only I couldn't put my finger on what it was.

"What song is that?" I asked, cocking my head. "I swear I've heard it before?"

Liam abruptly stopped playing. "Really? I just made that up then. How odd."

I looked at him curiously while he glanced up to the clock on the wall. "Oh wow, it's already 5 o'clock. Lou, we need to get moving."

"We do?" Louis said back incredulously. "Think he's a bit nervous around you, Zoe."

I almost choked on my tongue.

"No Louis, you know we have to meet up with the lads in fifteen minutes."

"We do?" Louis asked again, seeming to enjoy the awkwardness he was now creating.

"Zoe, we'll see you later." Liam said exasperated, and grabbed Louis' arm.

"Yeah, sure." I replied, trying not to be offended. "I need to get to the shops anyway if I plan on eating tonight." That part wasn't a lie; I hadn't eaten since the plane trip over, and that was a good seven hours ago.

I waved to the boys as they walked out the door, and wondered what on Earth had gotten into Liam; not even Louis appeared to know what was going on.

I shrugged and sighed loudly as I grabbed my thick coat and handbag from the kitchen bench, then waited a few minutes before walking out the door. I had to make sure Liam and Louis were gone so we would avoid any awkward encounters. It was fair enough if they weren't interested, or if I had been rude and shoved them out my door; but it hadn't been like that at all. They had been sitting on my couch, playing my guitar. It was only when I asked what song Liam was playing did he suddenly jump up and realise him and Louis had somewhere to be.

I sighed again and locked the apartment door behind me, quickly glancing down the corridor and realising it was stark empty. I shoved my keys into my bag and took the elevator down alone, thinking I'd already blown a chance to make friends in this city.

-x-

Bit lengthy, so thanks to anyone who got this far!

The next chapter is even longer, so prepare yourselves for next week!

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