“Oh, Anna,” I giggled, and we looked around to find our group.
Anna and I had talked about coming to Europe for years. But neither of us had ever thought it would happen. We just weren’t the sort of girls who got to travel to places like Europe. Tampa, yes. Miami, yes. Even New York City once. But international travel had never seemed like a real possibility. We’d both grown up in Palm Bay, Florida, and gone through elementary school and high school there, and then we’d both gone off to college at the University of Central Florida, which was less than two hours away in Orlando. The closest we’d gotten to international travel was when we went to Epcot at Disney World.
“There they are.” Anna’s voice was excited as we worked our way across the room to the large table of other excited students from across the world.
There was a huge poster on a stand next to the table that read “Welcome to London, students of the world!” I trembled with excitement as I surveyed the group. It wasn’t as large as I had thought it would be, but perhaps that was good. There were fifteen students there—ten girls and five boys.
“Oh my God, I’m in love,” Anna whispered to me. “That blond guy is to die for.”
I checked out the guys to see which one she was talking about and my eyes connected with another guy’s—a guy with a piercing gaze and smiling green eyes. He gave me a wide smile and I smiled back. He was very cute with his black hair, tan skin, and green eyes, and I wondered to myself if I had been too hasty in changing my rules back.
I quickly looked away from him to survey the other guys and to see who Anna was talking about. I didn’t want to give Green Eyes the wrong impression, and I felt a bit creeped out that he had a similar physical description to Xavier, even though they looked nothing alike.
I knew who Anna was talking about as soon as I saw him. He was tall, probably about six foot four, and he had a shocking amount of wavy white-blond hair. His eyes were bright and blue, and he had a golden tan that was definitely not from his hours in London.
“Isn’t he hot?” Anna pinched me. “I have to have him.”
“Anna, let’s say hello to everyone before you take him to the back alley,” I teased, and she blushed at my words. For all of her talk, Anna was as shy as I was when she was sober and not much of a femme fatale.
“Hey, girls. Are you part of the Study in London program?” A tall blonde smiled widely at us as we nodded. “Great, I’m Henrietta. I work at the university and I’ll be your liaison. What courses are you both taking?”
“I’m doing art history.” I smiled back at her. “And Anna’s doing British literature.”
“Welcome, welcome. You’re going to love the art history course. Did you catch the museum exhibit and talk on Friday? Wasn’t it fabulous? I’ve already got my Bachelor’s, but I’m signing up for the course again just for fun because Professor Van Romerius really knows his stuff. I mean, imagine learning about art from a man who owns most of the pieces he talks about. And he’s so gorgeous. I will not have trouble getting up in the morning to look at that face.” Henrietta rambled on and I bit my lip, worried she was going to ask me if I had attended. I tried to think about what I was going to say, but then she turned towards Anna. “And don’t feel bad, dear girl. The lit program’s good as well. I think you guys are going to get to spend a week in Stratford-upon-Avon, so that will be good fun.”
“Thanks.” Anna nodded and gave me a look. We both stifled a giggle as Henrietta took a large gulp from a pint glass she had in her hand.
“Well, here are some welcome packets. Tonight, we’re just going to have dinner, let everyone get to know each other. As you know, as part of the program, we’ll have about six different meet-ups this term.” She giggled. “Oops, I mean semester. I forget you Yanks don’t have terms.”
“Okay, thanks.”
We both took the packets and were about to go and introduce ourselves to the other students when Henrietta grabbed us both by the shoulders.
“Oh, I almost forgot to remind you. Classes start tomorrow, bright and early. Please know that attendance is monitored and you will fail if you don’t attend eighty percent of your classes.” She looked at us sternly, but it was hard to take her seriously as she was hiccupping. “Oh, yeah. There will be a ball at the end of the year, so start thinking about dresses and dates. You’re both pretty girls, so I don’t think you’ll have problems snagging a date.” She paused for a moment and looked at us thoughtfully. “Oh, and one more thing. I almost forgot. There are two professors overseeing the program this year. They will have two special get-togethers at their houses at some point during the term. Make sure you show up. It looks really bad if you don’t.”
“Okay, thanks.” I nodded and nudged Anna so that she would walk away. I was starting to feel overwhelmed with all the information Henrietta was giving us.
“See you later, girls.” She grinned at us and took another large gulp of the beer in her hands.
“Bye.” I waved at her and was about to whisper something to Anna when I looked up and realized that the green-eyed boy was standing in front of me and grinning.
“Hello.” He reached his hand out towards me. “I’m Sebastian.”
“Lola.” I shook his hand and was pleasantly surprised that he didn’t squeeze it too hard or too limply like most of the guys I knew back home did.
“A beautiful name for a beautiful girl.” He gave me a dazzling smile and I blushed and tried not to remember how Xavier had responded to my name. Lolita, indeed.
“Thank you.”
“Are you American?”
“Is it that obvious?” I laughed. “I’m starting to feel like the redheaded stepchild.”
“No.” He shook his head and his dark hair fell in his face. “I was just curious.”
“Are you English?” I looked at him in surprise. He definitely had an English accent, but I wasn’t sure why he would be in this program if he were from the country.
“No.” He made a face. “God, no.” He laughed again. “I’m from a small country near Belgium. But I was educated in English boarding schools.”
“Oh.” I still looked at him curiously.
“I suppose you wonder why I’m in this program?” He made a face. “My brother convinced my mother it would be good for me because I sort of played around a bit too much last year.”
“Oh, that sucks.”
“Not really.” His eyes sparkled at me. “I’m quite glad he played the overbearing bully this time.”
“Oh?” I laughed nervously as he leaned in towards me.
“Yes.”
“Lola, you coming?” Anna called back to me, and I nodded.
“Sorry, I have to go.” I smiled at Sebastian, and he looked at me in disappointment.
“What are you studying, Lola?”
“Art history.”
“Really?” His eyes gleamed and he shook his head. “I heard the professor’s an asshole.”
“Oh no,” I groaned. “Just my luck.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be in the class as well.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. This way my brother really gets to watch my every step.”
“Huh?” I looked at him in confusion, but then Anna grabbed my arm.
“Come on, Lola.” She nodded towards the tall, blond surfer-looking dude, and I gave Sebastian a quick smile.
“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, if not later again tonight,” I muttered quickly.
“I look forward to it.” He grabbed my hand and gave it a quick kiss before I was pulled away by Anna.
I glared at her. “I was just talking to that guy, you know.”
“Sorry, but I need to speak to the blond god before another girl gets her claws in him.” Anna gave me a frantic stare and nodded towards her new crush. He was standing there, eating what looked like a breadstick, and as far as I could tell, he was all alone.