“Maybe my being late is not so bad after all…” She thought, smiling
to herself. The smile instantly disappeared when she heard her
cellphone ringing in her pocket. She sighed heavily and flipped it
open, knowing exactly who would be calling right now. “Hi, daddy…”

The receptionist rolled her eyes at hearing the brunette pick-up her
cellphone. Just another spoiled, rich college-brat. She hated spoiled,
rich college-brats!

BWERRRRRRR!!

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her intercom buzzing. The
little red light came on and she picked up the receiver to listen to
her boss’ instructions.

“Nadia, can you bring me next month’s training and practice schedule for Harrison? …any messages?”

“No, no messages. There’s some girl here to see you… she came in late
or something…” Nadia mumbled, not really caring whether Mr.
Piddlestone actually heard her. She just figured he’d probably agree
with her and make the girl wait.

“Some girl? …Who?” he asked, afraid that he already knew who it was.

“Fair-shanks, something-or-other…” Still couldn’t care less, she
inspected her nails in the classic sign of boredom and indifference.

“Dana Fairbanks?! THE Dana
Fairbanks?! Nadia, get off your smartass and get that girl in here,
right this second. If Ms. Fairbanks, or ANY Fairbanks for that matter,
comes in to see me again – that’s IF they would ever wanna come back
here again – you let me know. Is that clear?” Mr. Piddlestone’s voice
could almost be heard from where Dana was sitting. As Nadia was about
to tell the girl that Mr. Piddlestone would see her now, the door to
the office opened and he came rushing out. Dana, having finished with
her phone call just in time, stood up and so did the other girl. Mr.
Piddlestone approached her with a handshake.

“Ms. Fairbanks—”

“Dana, please. Call me Dana. Mr. P—”

“Uh, Dana… so sorry to keep you waiting.” He made sure to interrupt
her before she could complain to him about having to wait. “Nadia here
forgot to inform me when you got here. You must forgive her, she’s new
…and she’s only a student.” He tried his best to find a good excuse.
“A-a-and she’s getting fired!” He added, for good measure.

“Whoa, um, that’s not really necessary.” Dana said, holding her hands
up in front of her as if motioning for him to slow down. “Um, I got
caught up with, uh, something on campus,” Dana explained, catching her
tongue at almost saying Alice’s name. “If you still have some time, I
can wait for a bit, Mr. P-”

“Oh, nonsense. I think you’ve waited enough.” He turned around, opened
the door to his office and spoke to someone inside. “Harrison, we’re
gonna have to cut this short. Nadia will give you your schedule and set
up another appointment for tomorrow.” He opened the door wider and gave
Harrison space to walk out of the office. He smiled at Dana on his way
out and she instantly felt ten thousand times worse for butting into
his appointment. Harrison looked well-built, handsome and …clean!
There was something about that smile. It made Dana think that, if she
were straight then, he would definitely look attractive to her. But
there seemed to be more to it than that …she just couldn’t figure it
out.

Mr. Piddlestone was waving a hand at her, ushering her to come into his office.

“Are you sure it’s okay…? I mean, weren’t you in the middle of
something with Harrison…?” Dana asked as she sat down across from
him, pointing her thumb at the door.

“No, don’t worry about it.” He waved a hand dismissively. “You and
Harrison are going to be equally important for me to train this year.
You’ve got great potential, the two of you. With the right training and
right exposure you could both be pros one day.” He said, almost to
himself, dreamily.

“Wait, Harrison? …was that Harrison Hedley? The “Great H”?” Dana asked, pointing her thumb at the door again.

“Yup, the one and only. I’m gonna make you two doubles partners. I have
to make sure you two stick together, I can’t risk messing up your game
by putting you with someone who isn’t at the same level.” He said
authoritatively.

” With the potential you two have, I gotta make sure I hold on to you, now don’t I?” He said, winking.

——————-