× Mercury
Professor Lawtherd was standing at his desk reading something when I knocked on the door to the room. He looked up and smiled, beckoning me in.
"You look lovely," he observed, taking in my updo and body conscious lace dress. "What is the occasion?"
"A recruiting dinner," I told him as I stepped into the room. "Sorry I wasn't in class today, I had a late night and my alarm didn't go off."
"It's perfectly fine, Miss Mercury," he assured me and took a seat at his desk. He adjusted his glasses and looked up at me. "I assume you're here to get the assignment?"
I nodded. "Yes, and to know what you talked about."
"You're assignment is just some reading, that was all we did in class for the day. We started the book The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway and I trust that you have the book...?"
I nodded again, knowing that it was part of the book requirements. "Where do I have to be by tomorrow?"
"Chapter ten," he told me and grabbed a small stack of papers from the corner of his desk. "I also handed back the essays you did on the Greek myths but..." he trailed off, looking at the papers one-by-one questionably. "For some reason yours is not in here."
I stared at him. Was he serious? That essay told the story about my parents, about a part of my life that only two people know about, not including Professor Lawtherd. It had to be there, I didn't know what I would do if it were to get into the wrong hands...
He must have seen the panic in my eyes because his face softened. "There's nothing to worry about, Miss Mercury. It's somewhere in this room, I assure. As soon as I find it I will let you know so you can put it in safe keeping. I couldn't imagine how hard it was to write that."
"No, no it's okay, really," I reassured him, even thought it was far from okay. "Just please let me know as soon as you find it because that paper is very personal to me and I don't want just anyone reading it."
Professor Lawtherd nodded seriously. "I understand. I'll let you know as soon as possible."
"Thank you," I said before rushing out of the room and making my way back to the dorm to wait for Jace to pick me up for dinner.
× × ×
"Oh, my god," I heard Jace say as I opened the passenger side door of his Honda Civic. "Who are you trying to impress? A cute waiter, perhaps?"
It was September 15th, the night of the dinner where all the scouts come and chat up the players. Earlier that week I had said my goodbyes to my friends and Coach Sharp and promised them that I would be going down there soon to see them play. It was hard to let them go, but I knew that it gave me something to look forward to in the near future.
I smiled over at him as I buckled up. "Well, if there happened to be a cute waiter, I wouldn't say no."
"Neither would he," Jace added with a playful grin as he pulled away from the curb and started making his way off of campus. "We're running late, but the important people don't usually show up until a half hour later, so we should be okay for timing."
"I don't understand why I even have to go," I explained my thoughts to him as I looked out the window at all the shiny lights twinkling passed the window. "I've already got my career in the bag."
Jace switched lanes effortlessly. "It makes Coach look good if you're there. You know, being the star player and all."
"Right, I do like being used," I said sarcastically.
"You get free food out of it."
"Sold."
I smiled and continued to look out the window. I have never seen London at night before except for the time when Niall picked me up at the airport and from what I could see of it from inside the campus. The city truly was really beautiful.
Something at my feet caught my attention and I looked down to see a newspaper dated a few days ago. Normally a newspaper wouldn't make me stop and pay attention to it, but this one did for the reason that I saw my own smiling face on the front page.
"What's this?" I asked Jace as I picked it up off the floor.
"Uh, it's a..." but he abandoned his explanation as I started reading the article from the London Informer. To the side of the article was a picture of me smiling in my maroon football jersey with a soccer ball in my hands.
The headline of the story read: Newcomer Takes the Win... And Some Romance?
The article started talking about my hard work and how I stuck up for myself when that guy called me out just for being a girl, and for taking the winning shot. Below that, though, I saw a picture of Niall and I standing side-by-side on the field with a look of concentration on our faces with another article below that.
As much as we would love to talk more about Mercury, there are some scandalous rumors we would like to rise to attention. Romance! If you have watched the London Lions game last weekend, then you know what I'm talking about. There was chemistry in the air between Mercury and the original star pupil of the Lion's, Niall Horan.
Nothing is confirmed, but we have our suspicions. They worked in sync at the match and it was rather thrilling to see. It doesn't come to a shock that this would happen, of course. You put a girl on an all-boys team, things are going to spark.
Their next game is coming up this Saturday and we hope to see you there. You won't be disappointed.
I dropped the paper back on the floor and looked over at Jace. "Why didn't you tell me about this?"
"Because it's rubbish," Jace deadpanned. "Seriously, don't even worry about it. It's the London Informer, no one even reads that."
I wanted to point out that he read it, but decided to just pretend I didn't read the article and go back to thinking about the dinner in front of us.
In no time Jace pulled into a lot and started weaving through the parked cars to find a spot. He ended up pulling back out of the lot and finding an open space on the street just a little over a block away. Jace quickly jumped out and opened my side of the car before I could even remove the seatbelt from around me.
"Thank you, Mr. Layton," I smiled at him as I got out.
The cool breeze of the September night hit me and I shivered slightly. I pulled down the bottom of my dress in a lame attempt to cover me a little more from the harsh chill. I was dumb enough to not bring a jacket.
"Here," Jace said as he took off his brown blazer.
Before I could protest and say that I was fine to walk to the restaurant without it, he put it over my shoulders. The sudden warmth engulfed me and suddenly I didn't want to protest anymore.
"Thanks," I said softly.
We walked down the street and I took in Jace's appearance. He looked really good with his gray button-down that was tucked into his dark blue jeans and black belt. His black hair wasn't its usual mess but in a stylish form, slicked back slightly and pushed to the side in a really sexy kind of way.
When we got to the building, I was confused. We were standing in front of a church, but there were unoccupied tables out front. There was a sign above the grand black double doors with the name of the place in easy to read fancy lettering. The tall, ancient looking windows come to a point at the top, just like the brick building. A laughing couple walked out from the doors with to-go boxes in their hands and held the door open for the two of us.
I followed Jace inside.
"Good evening," a tall, blonde lady said as she walked over to us. "And welcome to Galvin La Chapelle. Do you have a reservation?"
"Yes," Jace spoke up. "We are here for the University of Roehampton dinner."
"Of course, right this way."
The fanciest place I had ever gone to eat was the Olive Garden. This was no Olive Garden.
The ceiling was high with two chandeliers hanging in glittering crystals. There were round and long tables with white cloth hanging to the floor and eggplant colored leather chairs and booths that were all occupied by expensive dressed people. To the left, there were archways that lead you to even more seating areas and a bar across the room with a million different types of bottles on display that probably cost more than my life savings.
The two of us followed the tall lady as she brought us to our table. I looked ahead of her to see if I could spot anyone familiar, but from all the faces I saw, none of them were my teammates. She led us past the bar and to a seat of stairs that I didn't even notice was in the room, and made her way up.
It was a balcony that overlooked the restaurant. There was a single long table and sitting all around it were my teammates. As the three of us got to the top, some of the conversations stopped from the boys and I really wished - not for the first time - that I would have worn at least some tights to cover myself just a little bit more.
"Ah," Coach Mathews said from the end of the table, making everyone who didn't notice our presence look up. "It's so nice of you to join us. Please, sit and converse."
Jace led me to two empty chairs and offered to take the jacket he had given me off. I let him even though I wanted nothing more than to wear it and have myself covered from everyone's watchful eyes. We took our seats and I tried my best to ignore everyone as I picked up the menu and started looking through my options.
"You look lovely," someone said from beside me.
I smiled at him. "Thanks, Reese. You're looking rather sharp in that tie."
Reese smiled and leaned back in his chair, taking a sip from his wine glass. He looked good, as well. His large build fit nice in the gray suit and black tie he was wearing. I looked around the table to see what everyone had on.
Who knew these soccer players could clean themselves up so well.
I saw Matt on the other side of Jace. I hadn't had time to talk to him about what I saw in the kitchen the other day due to school and practice getting in the way. I was beyond curious why he looks so worried when I caught him with a guy, though.
Matt's brown eyes locked on me briefly before he quickly turned away.
Yeah, I was definitely curious.
"Do you want something to drink?" Jace asked from beside me. "We have some wine here, but if you want water or something I can go ask for you..."
I looked at one of the bottles on the table. "I'll have some wine."
Jace reached over to grab the bottle and I watched him as he poured the golden liquid into the glass. From across the table and two chairs down, I caught blue eyes watching me.
When I saw him, my breath caught. Not because he looked really good with his fading blonde hair styled up, a speckled button down grey shirt exposing some of his chest hair under a simple black blazer. But because of the ugly blue and purple bruise around his right eye.
I took note of James sitting on the opposite side of the table as far as possible from Niall, and without a doubt I knew that he had caused the shiner.
A smirk played on Niall's lips once he noticed me staring at him. I quickly looked away and grabbed the wine glass and took a drink. I had to remind myself that I was only going to have one glass, not wanting to push it any farther than a slight buzz.
"Uh..." I said under my breath as I looked at the menu in front of me. I leaned close to Jace and held the menu up. "Can you translate this for me?
"I can try," Jace laughed. "What are you interested in?"
"Pasta," I tell him.
"Spaghetti, chicken alfredo... tortellini?"
I flipped a page of the menu and looked at the pictures to help me decide what I wanted. "How about that," I said, pointing. "That looks good."
"Alright, all order that for you."
I sat in silence after that and sipped my wine slowly. Every once and a while I would catch someone's eye and smile at them unenthusiastically. In all honestly, I really didn't want to be there. The place seemed really intimidating; I couldn't read the freaking menu or even pronounce what kind of wine I was drinking.
Five minutes later a waiter came by and started taking our order.
Jace nudged my arm and I looked over at him. He raised his eyebrows and peered over at the waiter and then back at me.
The waiter was younger than a lot of the workers there. He wore a black silk shirt with leather cuffs and matching trousers, a white apron tied around his waist. His rich, chocolate hair was tousled with promised finesse, and he had strong arched brows and eyelashes so thick it should had been illegal. And then his eyes - they were deep and catastrophic, a vivid golden-brown like autumn during sunset. He had distinct cheekbones and an angular jaw that reminded me of a Greek God. His darker skin made him look devilishly handsome.
I watched the waiter as he made his way around the table taking orders. The name tag on his shirt read Zayn. As he made his way over to us, I thought that maybe I would have to take some time to get to know this Zayn.
"And what would you like, Sir?" he asked Jace.
"I would like the Ballotine of foie gras," Jace said "And she would like the Tagliolini al limone."
The waiter looked at me and I could see that he was slightly surprised, probably because I was the only girl at a table of about seventeen college guys and a middle aged coach.
"Alright, they'll be here shortly," he said with a kind smile at me before moving onto Reese.
Jace leaned in close and whispered in my ear. "Smitten."
"Get away," I said as I pushed him back in his seat as he laughed.
Across the table, I saw Niall staring at the two of us. It hit me then that I hadn't heard him speak. Not once.
"Hey," I found myself saying. "Are you okay?"
Niall blinked and his eyes softened. He nodded timidly at me but still didn't say anything.
Shortly after, all the recruiters, or as Jace called them "The Important People", had joined us, taking a seat closer to the end of the table near Coach Mathews. I relaxed a little once I knew I wasn't the only girl anymore. The tall blonde lady with wicked cheekbones smiled at me kindly before she took the empty seat next to Niall.
Coach Mathews quickly engaged them into conversation as everyone else at the table whispered in one another's ears, probably about how nerves they were. Niall, I couldn't help but notice, seemed the least anxious as he leaned back in his seat and listened to the conversation the scouts and Coach where having.
The waiter had come back along with three of his friends with trays of our foods. The sight of my pasta I ordered made my mouth water. He placed it in front of me and my heart dropped.
"What is this?" I whispered to Jace so no one could hear how disappointed I was. "It's so small."
"That's what you get when you go to a fancy restaurant," Jace informed me. "Four bites."
I looked down at my plate in dissatisfaction. It was just one small blob of noodles, maybe the size of a baseball. I think I had more of the fancy green leaves that surrounded the pasta than the actual meal. I looked up discreetly to see what everyone else got and noticed that all of the meals were tiny.
Sighing, I picked up my fork and started eating.
It took me two minutes to eat my meal. And in those two minutes, I savored every bite of it. I sat my fork down and saw from the corner of my eye the blonde recruiter watching me with fascination.
She smiled once she saw that I caught her looking.
"Sorry for staring," she apologized as she sat up in her seat and placed her hands in her lap. She reminded me of a fairy with her upturned nose and almond shaped eyes. "I'm Diana Kelly. You're Lynn Mercury, right?"
Everyone had stopped in their conversation and started paying attention to what was going on at the far end of the table, and I felt exposed for the fortieth time that night.
"Yes, that's me," I confessed.
"I read something the other day," the guy said from beside Diana. "I'm behind on watching the plays from last weekend due to paper work and traveling, but the article said that you made the winning shot."
I was about to ask him if he read it in the London Informer when Coach answered for me.
"Yes, that's correct."
"There was also some difficulty with the fact that you were a girl, am I right?" The guy pressed on, ignoring Coach Mathews. "It must be hard to deal with all the media attention you are getting. I can't even imagine being where you are, a girl on a boys team."
"Media attention?" I asked, leaning into the table so I couldn't miss anything he was saying. The only media I knew was from the school web page about my arrival and the newspaper from Jace's car.
"Oh, yes," another recruiter said. "You're quite popular in university football. And so is Niall, especially after the last game you played."
From the mention of his name, Niall's head shot up and looked at the scout. "What kind of attention are you talking about?" he asked, speaking for the first time that night. From the sound of it, Niall wasn't aware of the media, either.
I wondered how many newspapers or sport websites had the same idea as the London Informer... and how many people believed it.
"For example, you and Lynn seem to have... some kind of connection," Diana said. "That's not the word I'm looking for, but I can't seem to find one that fits exactly. Have you gone back and watched your game? It's thrilling, really."
I looked over at Niall and our eyes locked.
Everyone had already finished their meal, but I could tell that it was going to be a long night.