Chapter 5

I was still trying to wrap my head around the whole professor-mate nonsense. As if that wasn't enough of a problem, my boss had been stressing me out. My job was on the line since I ran out of the bar against his command.

"Plesse, Mr. Tucker. I promise you it was an actual emergency that made me leave." my palms hugged tightly, my knees on the ground. This job was my only hope of survival and the closest to campus that paid well; losing it wasn’t an option.

"Foolish woman. Do you know the amount of customers I'd have lost? You ran off, making a joke out of me yelling your name." He roared. 

Shutting my eyes, I sucked in a breath. My knees were burning from the grimy hard ground, and he had been raining saliva on me for the last thirty minutes I had been begging him. Regardless, I wasn’t leaving until he let me keep my job. "Please." Wss all I could say. 

He scoffed. "Please? That's your excuse?!" He rose to his feet, kicking the plastic chair till it fell to its side. 

I flinched and watch his feet as he paced back and forth, muttering cuss words to himself. After what seemed like forever, he stopped in front of me again. He was silent yet the feeling of his eyes on me made the hair on my skin rise.

 Lifting My head, I read his lips as he said, “Last chance. I’ll give you one more chance, but If you mess up again, you're out.”

“Thank you so much!” I grinned, jerking to my feet. “I promise I won’t let you down again. Never! Thank you so much!” My cheeks were hurting from my lips stretching too far.

"Now, change your clothes and get to work. You're working all night for the next 7 days. 

My eyes widened, "all night? I have—" 

"Got a problem with that?" His eyebrows quirked. 

Maintaining a forced grin, I shook my head. "It's fine. I'll do it. Thank you, Mr. Tucker." 

"You don’t have an option. Also, Just call me Josh." Rolling his eyes, he started heading out.. "Get to work."

*** 

Chugging down a cup of black coffee, I rubbed the itchy dark circles underneath my eyes. My classes were finally over for the week.  If I had slept for two hours in the last three days, it would’ve been an accident, because sleep was the last thing on my schedule due to Josh’s ridiculously annoying demand.

Thankfully, my class ended early today and the bar was closing tonight for an external program I didn't care about. All that mattered was that I wasn’t working and could finally catch up on sleep. 

“Hey, it’s you again.” a deep male voice said, and I heard footsteps approaching me. Lifting my gaze, I caught a familiar pair of bold blue eyes but couldn’t point out where I had seen him. 

The tall figure plopped himself beside me, throwing his bag on the table as he flashed a bright-eyed smile. “You look confused. It’s me, Blade Frank. What are you eating/” he nodded at my clearly ‘subway’ logo-ed sandwich. 

Blade… that rang a bell, yet I still couldn’t recall where I had seen him. His dirt blonde hair was a disheveled work of art, his smile accentuated his gorgeous face. Why was such a good-looking man sitting with me? Past Lyric would have thought this was a perfect ‘could he be the one for me’ moment— oh, yeah, that rang a bell. He’s the same guy I had bumped into a few days ago.

“You look confused.  We had met at the stairs when you ran me ov–”

“I know.” I cut him off abruptly, expressing no emotion in my tone.

“Dang. Are you always sassy?”

My brow raised at him. “Sassy?”

He nodded. “First time I met you, you literally knocked me over. I’m sure I broke a few bones.”

I laughed. “It was an accident. That’s not being sassy.’ 

“Then you told me to shut up. How is that not sassy?”

“I told you to be quiet? No way.” I laughed and he shook his head, like a Dad silently scolding his child that just broke the family vase. “I’m sorry! I was running late to class, and I guess I can be a little… sassy, but only when I'm in a panic mode. I truly apologize. Maybe we can have a fresh start?” 

He had a proud grin on and nodded. “I’ll forgive you, after I get your number.” when i shot a playful glare at him, he added. “Don’t worry. I won’t flirt with you through texts.” he passed his home to me and added, “yet.” earning another glare from me as I typed my number in. 

Why was I giving a random stranger my phone number? That was so unlike me. 

When I returned his phone to him, his smile grew beyond limits. “Lyric ashton. Cool name! I just got the number of the most beautiful girl in the whole of Bertley Gills. I must be lucky! I’m definitely acing that English test today.” 

I just laughed, heat rushing to my face. “Stop playing.” I laughed and took a bite of my sandwich to avoid blushing too much. “What year are you in?”

“Second year.” I did a mental calculation: that meant he was probably 19 years old. Great. First, an older man, now, a younger one. That made me feel almost disappointed.“You?”

“Freshman.”

‘“Freshman? Interesting. Well… it was nice meeting you again, LyLy. I'll see more of you in the next few years.” he winked, rising to his feet. “I’ll definitely chat you up later. And this is your daily reminder that you look gorgeous.” There it was, that sunlight-imitating bright smile, enough to make me ignore the fact that he was buttering me up.

I nodded, swallowing my bite. “Thank you.”

“Catch you later. I have a class in 15 minutes.”

“Okay. goodluck on your English test.”

“After meeting you,” he smirked. “I’ve automatically aced the test.”

I smiled, shaking my head. “Get out of here.” he chuckled and I chuckled as well. There was a brief moment of silent eye contact before he turned around.

As he walked away, I couldn't help but admit that he looked good. He would’ve definitely been in the top tiers of guys in his high school. My gaze didn’t leave him till he took a sharp turn, walking out of the line of my view.

Glancing at my phone, I saw a pop up of an email from my student email. Opening it, It was from professor Brian. That made me roll my eyes. 

It read: “Hi, Lyric. Can you meet me at my office this evening to discuss your exam, and other important things that cannot be discussed through email? – Dr. Brian.”

What ‘other thing’ did he want to discuss now? I remembered the strange tingles and effect his hold had on me and it made me shudder.Hopefully, he didn't pull off another stunt.