Tempting Fate

by A N Busch

  The shower was hot, just how she liked it. It was one thing she loved about living in the dorms - the never-ending amounts of hot water. She always seemed to get stuck with a cold shower back home. If she was lucky enough to get in before anyone else, she was always being told to hurry. This morning she stayed in too long and had to rush to finish getting ready. She grabbed the first pair of jeans her hands touched and quickly pulled on an old high school hoodie before sliding on her backless tennis shoes.

  She was happy her first two classes were going to be exciting: Intro to Architecture and History of Architectural Design 1. At least that history class wouldn’t be boring. Well she hoped so anyway, it was history after all. She knew most of her eras and what styles were common when already. It was exact dates that always messed her up. If it were not for her calendar, she wouldn’t remember the date of anything including the birthdays of her family and friends.

  Abby packed her books into her bag and headed out the door for her first two classes of the day. It was a nice morning; the sun was out even though it was very cold. She had put her wet hair in a bun and was now hoping it wouldn’t freeze. Luckily it was a short walk across the small campus to her class. As she passed the mystery man’s building, she slowed down wishing she would run into him. Maybe she should be more like Rachel, just walk right up to him and introduce herself. She could even start flirting with him. Just the thought of flirting was enough to make her blush. She had no clue how to flirt.

  Her first two classes flew by and were everything that she had hoped they would be. Really all they did in both classes was go over the semester and what they would be studying. Abby was so anxious that she finished reading her syllabus before the teacher was halfway through reading it to the class. Each week was going to get better and better as far as she was concerned. There would be more work, harder work, but she was going to love it. She already had a paper due in two weeks for History of Architecture. Her professors were just what she would have expected, men in their late fifties that talked in a way that said they knew what they would teach inside and out already. You could hear the love of the subject in their voices but not a love for teaching it over and over for so many years.

  She grabbed some lunch on her way back to her room so she could start getting organized between classes. On her way up she made a quick stop at the front desk to ask if there was any mail, not that she got that much. Paul was there again, as always. “Paul, are you taking any classes at all this semester?”

  “Yeah but only three and they’re very early. They were the only ones that were available for my major. I don’t mind so much really and I should be able to take my last two this summer. That’s if they are not canceled for lack of interest. If they are, I will have to wait to take them in the fall and hope they don’t fill up fast.”

  “Well good luck. Your last two classes that must be exciting to you! Then it’s out into the big world you go.”

  “It’s no big deal, it really means back home with the rents to look for a job if I can’t get one before I graduate.”

  “You’ll find one; I know it. Look you’re too smart and any company would be very lucky to have you. Hey, maybe this summer you should look for an internship at a local accounting firm.”

  “Thanks Abby, you’re the sweetest person around here.” Paul placed his hands around hers and gave them a little squeeze. “I hadn’t thought about that, but you did push me to try and be a Resident Adviser and that worked out.” He was not letting her hands go and Abby pulled them out of his grip slowly. She pretended to look for her keys, hoping she didn’t offend him as he went on. “Maybe you’re a good luck charm for me”

  “Aw, thanks Paul. You’re really sweet too. Well, um, I had better get up stairs and get ready to go to my next classes. What fun!” She was trying to place the right kind of smile on her face.

  “Alright Abby, enjoy the rest of your day.”

  With that she was off to the elevator and up to her room. It was time to get out the calendar and mark it up. It filled up fast with paper due dates, exams, and other projects, each class in a different color. She drove most people crazy the way she liked to organize, but it kept her sane. It was easier to have a plan and stick to it when she was tidy and organized in every way.

  Her next class was Greek Mythology. She really didn’t see the need to take it, but Rachel had insisted on them taking a class together again. It was better than what she really wanted Abby to take with her, Psychology of Sex. There was no way she was going to take that. Why would she want to? What would her parents say? “Good job on that A in your sex class dear; we’re so proud of you.” Or even worse, “What? Abby how could you get a D in a sex class? Why did you take that anyway?” There was no way to not be embarrassed by whatever grade she got.

  Before she knew it, Rachel was calling from the lobby. It was time to head to class. She had been so wrapped up in her own thoughts and filling in the calendar, she had lost track of time completely. “Sorry Rach, I’ll be there in just a second. I have to get my stuff.”

  “No big, we have some time.”

  As she went to the shelf and put her books in her bag, she couldn’t help but peek out the window and into the courtyard below. Would he be there? As she scanned the ground, she dropped the history book on her foot. “Ouch, stupid book. Why do you have to be so big?”

  Abby got down stairs only to find Rachel sitting on the front desk talking to, no flirting with, Paul. She was holding his hands and giggling at everything he was saying. Does she have to flirt with him? Then again does she have to flirt with every guy? Paul might have a heart attack from all of the attention. “Alright let’s go and see what craziness you got us into.”

  “Oh come on Abby, it will be fun. Just think it will balance out your history class load. How bad could it be?” As she hopped down, she turned and winked at Paul. “Take care sweetie, I’ll see you soon.”

  They walked out the door and Rachel started to giggle. She knew she just drove that guy crazy, and she loved it.

  “Rach do you have to tease him so much? You’re going to give him the wrong idea.”

  “He knows it is just harmless flirting, besides it will help build his ego. One day he will want to thank me for it. All men need that ego boost. I, being the wonderful person that I am, help them out.”

  “You’re a horrible tease you know that?”

  “Not all the time.” Rachel tried not to laugh as she continued but failed by the end of her sentence, “Hey, a girls got needs too.”

  Abby rolled her eyes at Rachel and then started to laugh. It wasn’t something she really wanted to think about. She was glad Rachel’s laughter was contagious and it kept her mind from thinking of what was to come.

  The class was, well, interesting to say the least. The professor was Mitchell Mallard, a man in his sixties that didn’t smile the whole class. He rarely even looked up from the overhead projector, his balding head gleaming from the light of it. His monotone voice was easy to loose track of if you had a mind that wondered like Rachel’s did. He was wearing an awful brown wool sport coat and had his glasses at the very tip of his nose. Rachel made several references to Mr. Rogers before she got distracted. It took only five minutes for her to find a cute guy in the class of forty or so students.

  The professor went over the syllabus slowly; at the top of it was printed in bold letters, “YOU WILL THINK FOR YOURSELF IN THIS CLASS.” He stated that it was his motto, as well as his job to make them use their own brain. Abby had to elbow Rachel three times to get her to stop flirting across the room and pay attention. Oh yes, Abby could tell this was going to be a real fun class.

  Before he dismissed them, he let them know in less than two weeks there would be a ten-page paper due on the adaptation of a Greek myth into a movie. They could use a movie as far back as the 1940s for the paper, but that a movie about the gods or goddesses didn’t count and would be an automatic F. Abby wanted to push Rachel over when she heard that. What was she
going to write about for ten pages? That was a lot of fluff if she didn’t find a good idea. The teacher let class out five minuets early and Rachel could not say bye to Abby fast enough. She went straight for the guy she had been flirting with through class.

  She decided that she might as well head to American History class and be there early; it was in the next building and luckily she didn’t have to put her coat on for the walk. At least her classes were close together. Sometimes five minutes didn’t leave a lot of time to get from one class to another.

  When she got to her classroom, the door was open. The hall was empty inside, so she grabbed a seat in the fifth row. This should be the best place for her to force herself to pay attention. If she sat up front, she couldn’t fall asleep or get too lost in her own thoughts. The fifth row would be far enough back not to look like a know-it-all as well or get called on all the time to answer questions. As she pulled out her book, a pen and a notebook, a man came busting through the door into the lecture hall.

  “Ah! An early bird, how exciting?”

  Abby just smiled and nodded at him; well it seemed that someone had a large coffee or two before class today. He pulled a pile of papers out of his bag and handed her one, before setting the rest on a desk in the front row. It took her a moment to realize that he was the professor and not just another student. He looked to be in his mid thirties and was wearing jeans and a polo shirt. He gave the impression of more of a coach than he did a professor. Abby sighed as she started to look the papers over. Other students slowly started to pour in and grabbed a syllabus before finding a seat. On the cover was a section titled “About your Professor.” It said his name was Professor Ryan Johnston. It also had a note to the class talking about how much he loved history. He was hopeful that all of them would love history by the end of the class as much as he did.

  “Hello everyone, lets get started now please. Now I know I am a professor but please call me Ryan, or Johnston if you prefer.”

  The class felt more like three hours than fifty-five minutes, but at least it was slightly entertaining to watch “Ryan” walk and pace back and forth in front of her in the big hall. He carried a baseball and sometimes even tossed it into the air to catch. He was so excited talking about the class Abby almost thought she might learn something from him. He encouraged use of his office hours for any questions about the class or extra help they might need. Abby knew she might need to use them, so she circled it on the syllabus three times.

  When he dismissed the class talking broke out all over; Abby turned around and was shocked to see how many people were in the lecture hall. There had to be at least 150 people around her standing up to file out the doors. She didn’t take the time to load her books into her bag but just threw it over her shoulder and her coat over her arm with her book on top of that. She couldn’t get out of there fast enough. She looked down at the ground as she made her way to the aisle to leave. She looked up only to be stopped dead in her tracks by what she saw. Her mystery man was in the class, still sitting at a desk bent over his syllabus. Abby took in a sharp breath as butterflies sprung up in her belly, he was closer to her than ever before and he was more than gorgeous. Not a flaw could be seen.

  Part of her was thinking that he was not really there and she should blink and see that he was now gone. Another part told her he was real and just to reach out and touch his perfect hands or his bright blonde hair. She wanted to lift the mysterious man’s face up and look right into his eyes, get him to look at her somehow. Abby tried to blink but held her eyes closed. She told herself that if he was still there when she opened her eyes, she would reach out and touch him just to be sure. She changed her mind as soon as she opened them and he was still there. All she could do was just stand frozen and stare at him.

  It was a chance to introduce herself, but she couldn’t move toward him. What would she say to him anyway? Maybe she should go? No maybe if she stayed and put her books into her bag, she might have a better chance of bumping into him or being in a spot where she had to introduce herself. She found herself wishing she could flirt as easily as Rachel. Abby knew if she walked up to him she wouldn’t even find her voice to say hi. What should she do?

  Chapter 4

  Abigail rolled over at the sound of her alarm and smacked the snooze button hard. She couldn’t get herself out of the bed just yet; she stayed thinking about her dream while she waited for the alarm to go off again. Her dream had been so vivid, more like a memory from something that had happened last week. Who was that man? Even awake she could see him clearly in her mind. Why was she dreaming about college anyway? After all, she had graduated over eleven years ago now. It had been over thirteen years since she left that small Tennessee College and finished her last two years in Texas.

  When the alarm went off the second time, she pulled herself reluctantly out of bed and went to wake up the kids, make breakfast and get everyone ready for school or work. An hour and a half later, she had the kids in the car and was kissing her husband good-bye in the driveway.

  When she got to work she barely had time to put her things down before the phone was ringing. It was her boss and he wanted to see her in his office immediately. She walked down the hall to his office as quickly as she could. As she walked in his door, he quickly looked up from the papers on his desk and Abigail saw a huge smile spread across his face. She sat down as he took off his small reading glasses and leaned his elbows on the desk.

  “Hello, Abigail. I have some very exciting news for you.”

  “What’s going on?” All she could hope was that the senior partners were pleased with all the accounts her and her team were closing and working on in the past few months.

  “We have a new project and I want you on this one.”

  “Okay, what is it?” A new project; her team was currently working on three others. They were not big jobs and one was almost complete, but she didn’t know if they were ready for another one quite yet.

  He went on to tell her about it. It was a group of four townhouses built in 1912. They were being converted into a single office building. The company’s owner didn’t want to tear it down and build a new building but instead wanted it redone and updated on the outside.

  “Abigail, I’m going to tell you now that they want a presentation in just under two weeks. I know you have a lot going on now and I want to pull you off the other project you have been working on with your team. I am going to put the projects and your team in George’s care for now. I will need you to fill him in on where things are currently with them.” He leaned forward on the desk resting on his elbows as Abigail nodded and smiled. She was at a complete loss for words. “I have a lot of faith in you, and because of that, you will be flying solo with this one.”

  Her heart was beating so fast she didn’t even know what to think about all this. She just watched as he grabbed a manila folder off the desk behind him and opened it peering inside. He was so quiet flipping through the pages of the folder she was startled when he began to speak again.

  “Do you think you can handle this? Are you okay with me giving the other things to George?”

  “Yes, of course I can do this sir. I’m grateful for the opportunity. George has been my right hand for many large projects in the past, and I know he will do just fine.”

  “Good. Here is a folder for you on the building. Inside you will find pictures of the buildings as they are now. Also these are the blue prints for all four individual town homes. Also here are full prints of the outside of all four together.” Abby was surprised by the weight of the tube with blue prints in it as it was handed to her.

  Abigail’s hands almost started to shake as she stood and took the large, over-stuffed folder and shuffled the blue print tube from one hand to under her arm. She said thank you and turned to leave. This was amazing, a project all by herself. She had been waiting so long for an opportunity like this.

  “Abigail.”

  “Yes sir?”

  “I don’t think I need
to tell you this but I’m going to anyway. This is really big and if you land this account, it’s going to mean good things for you around here. I put you on this because I think you are the best person for the job. If you need any help at all, please come see me. If I can help you, I will. Alright?”

  “Not a problem, and thank you again Sir.”

  “You’re welcome. Now, go make me proud.”

  Abigail smiled and walked out the door and back to her office. This was going to be her first big project flying solo. The company usually had teams work on everything; it was very rare that someone worked alone. The pressure was going to be big, but if she could land the account by herself, so many more jobs could open up for her. She was shocked when she pulled out the blue prints and unrolled them across her desk.

  Four, three level townhouses together! This was BIG and she didn’t have a lot of time. She started reading through all the papers in the folder and made notes for herself about it. As she looked over the pictures, she was not sure what to start with. The brick was in good shape but for the most part the townhouses looked very old and broken down. Wooden boards covered some of the windows and where the front doors were, and those were covered in random sprays of paint.

  The knock on her office door startled her back into reality some time later and she called out for the person to come in.

  “Hi Abigail I was told to come by and pick up a few things from you.”

  “Oh, yes George hold on one minute let me grab the folders for you.” She tried her best to dig under all the things she had spread out on her desk to get them. As she found them a huge pile of papers hit the floor. “Ah, oh cheese and grapes!”