The Fear Of Faith [2]

47. Bethan

'Hey, you're smart and I know you know plenty because you always manage to put up a good argument with me in there,' I told him.

'I know, I know, I'm just a little more modest about it than the teacher's pet,' he teased.

'Fuck you,' I laughed. 'Anyway, I have to get to my next class.'

'Yeah, I have a free so I'm meeting Olivia,' he said.

'Okay, I'll see you at lunch maybe then,' I said, leaning in to give him a hug.

'Yeah, enjoy your class,' he said as he hugged me back before we turned away from each other and headed off across campus.

Brodie was now one of my best friends. He was different now that he'd moved on from his crush and had Olivia. His love for me had stopped us achieving the amazing friendship we now had as the pair of us really did get on so well. I couldn't be without him as a friend now and I certainly knew that Medieval English would not be the same if he wasn't there.

My day continued as I moved from class to class, taking notes and trying to stay organised so that I could keep on top of the huge workload I now had. When we first started the year, our professors had seemed to go easy on us with us being new to college and fresh out of high school, but it seems they'd decided we'd had more than enough time to get used to things and had plenty time to relax during Christmas so now, we were all drowning in assignments.

I'd stopped for lunch, grabbing a salad at the deli with Brodie and Olivia and listened to her talking about herself and her rich dad and her puppy Coco before I found an excuse to head to class early before my head exploded. She was a nice girl and I really liked her but man, was she a bragger. Brodie just stared at her like he was transfixed and as long as he was happy, I was happy for him.

My last few classes passed by and by the end of the day, I was worn out. It was also the end of the first week and I was totally ready to have the weekend off to relax; no partying or anything, I planned to not even get dressed at all this weekend. I knew I'd be stuck at home doing work but as long as I was with Cal, I didn't care.

I knew Penny and Georgie had already finished earlier and I headed out onto the street to catch the subway, deciding to head down to Brooklyn instead of going home. I wanted to pop into the shop to see how things were going and also have a little catch-up with Charlie and Tori, who I now very much enjoyed spending time with as surprising as it was that Tori and I were now kind of friends.

I made the thirty minute journey on the subway and headed through Brooklyn to Lakey Ink, walking to the street where I could see Cal standing outside of his shop, smoking a cigarette. I smirked to myself as I edged in close to the buildings on my left and walked slowly and discreetly up the street until I was right by him. He was stood out on the edge of the kerb now staring out at the opposite buildings and I snuck up behind him, getting as close as possible.

'That shit will kill you, you know!' I cried, making him dive forward off the kerb and drop his cigarette.

I laughed out loud as he turned around and glared at me before quickly running towards me and grabbing me in a head lock, ruffling my hair before letting me up and pulling me close to him.

'Not fucking funny,' he said, placing his arms around my waist.

'Very fucking funny,' I chuckled as I rested my palms on his chest.

'Good job I love you or I would have kicked your ass,' he said, brushing his lips across mine.

'I do sometimes love the aggressive Cal,' I joked. 'It's such a turn on.'

'Then allow me to unleash him later on so I can spank that ass of yours for fucking with me,' he mumbled, pressing his lips to mine and kissing me.

I stepped back after a few minutes of making out in the street and he took my hand in his as we moved to the shop door.

'How's work been?' I asked, as we stepped inside.

'Well, not too bad,' he said, closing the door. 'Still hella busy but we should have it all under control by next week.'

'Oh really?' I asked. 'That sounds great.'

'Yeah, we finally hired someone,' he said, as we moved forward towards the front desk.

'Cal, that's awesome!' I said, feeling relieved that they'd no longer be struggling.

'I know,' he said. 'That career fair wasn't such a bad idea after all. He got in touch with us the next day.'

'When does he start?' I asked.

'Whenever he's ready,' he replied. 'But he's in here now getting a little induction so it could even be Monday.'

'That sounds great, Cal,' I said, as we headed towards the archway that led into the back.

'I'll introduce you to him,' Cal said, as he stepped in front of me to squeeze through the archway and glanced down to his right and pointed his thumb at me over his shoulder. 'Dude, this is my girl, Bethan.'

I scurried forward with a smile to greet Cal's new artist and Cal continued to his station to carry on working.

I edged forward into the back room and looked to my right with a smile, my heart immediately thumping out of my chest as my eyes rested on the man lounged across the red sofa, smiling up at me.

'Nice to meet you, Bethan,' he said with a grin. 'I'm Felix Fender.'