Bailey and her Boys

Part 5

The walk to the school campus didn't take very long and she felt nervous. This was a whole new school in a different country! Once she was on campus, she consulted her schedule and went to her first class which was the History of Architecture. She was about ten minutes early and found a seat in the middle while pretending to not mind the stares of other students. Bailey pulled out a slim laptop just like the other students had out and got settled in her seat. Other students trickled in and the seats in the lecture hall filled up. Someone pulled out the chair next to hers and sat down. She glanced over to see who it was and saw a rather good looking guy sit down. He had blonde hair, bright blue eyes and a tall slim build. The guy glanced at Bailey and gave her a wink when he saw that she was looking at him. Blushing, she glanced away. The professor walked in just then and she focused on him.

The next two hours went by and then class was over with. As she packed up her laptop along with the class syllabus that the professor had handed out, the cute guy next to her spoke. "Hello. I haven't seen you here before. You must be new." Bailey turned to him and smiled, "Hi. Yeah,  I am new here." He smiled wider, "Oh, a Yank! Nice to meet you, I'm Thomas." and stuck his hand out to her. Bailey shook it as she replied, "I'm Bailey." There was a pause for a second before Thomas spoke again, "If you don't have another class to get to right away, perhaps we can get a cup of coffee or tea?" For a moment, she thought of her boys back home. Realizing that this was chance to date, she agreed. After all, she didn't have another class today. With all the classes she had already taken back home, she was averaging only one class a day here.

Thomas led her to the student café on campus and asked her what she wanted. Bailey requested some mint tea and when it was their turn at the counter, he ordered it for her and paid for it too. They took their tray and found a small table. Chatting for a while, she found out that his last name was Hawthorne and he grew up in London. "My father is a barrister and my mum is a school teacher. I have two older brothers and no pets. Your turn!" Thomas told her. "My mom works with jewelry and my dad owns a contracting company. I have one older sister, one older brother and two younger brothers. We used to have a pet dog but he died a couple of years ago." Bailey said with a grin. "What brings you to across the big pond, here to Oxford?" Thomas asked her. "I was offered a chance to study with Professor Jacoby for the school year." Bailey said.

Thomas nearly choked on his sip of coffee, "You mean you actually got one of the coveted spots with Jacoby! I applied and didn't get in. You must be very good. I'm hoping that someone will drop out of his program since I'm at the top of the wait list." Bailey felt excited, here was a guy who understood what she was interested in! Eagerly, she talked with him about architecture and they talked for an hour before he noticed the time and had to go to his next class. They exchanged cell phone numbers before they left and Bailey walked home feeling giddy. This would be the first time that she felt an interest in guy for years. Well, at least a guy that wasn't one of her sexy Italians.

Opening het door to her apartment or flat as the English called it, she spied her dad furiously typing away at his laptop. "Hey dad! I'm home." she said knowing how intensely focused he got when he was writing. He kept typing for a minute and then snapped out of it his when her words finally sunk in. Getting up, he gave her a kiss on the cheek, "So you finally stopped talking to the English Muffin at the café?" Bailey gasped, "Were you spying on me?" Jake laughed at his daughter, "No, I was on campus interviewing students for a while and gathering some data for my article. I happened to pass by the café window and saw you with that guy."

"His name is Thomas Hawthorne and he is an architect major like me. We have a class together. I like him, he's nice." Bailey admitted. Her dad grinned, "So you think that you might be dating him?" She blushed at nodded. "Well, the moment he steps out of line, I'm bringing all of your dads here to lay the smack down on him!" Jake threatened with a small smile. Bailey groaned and said, "Daddy! Nobody says that anymore! And don't call him an English Muffin! That's mean." As soon as she said that, she realized her mistake. Poor Thomas would be know as the English Muffin to her entire family now. Last year, a nice young man named Bill in the Navy liked Bailey and would try and talk to her whenever he saw her at her school campus in Charleston. Her father Wyatt saw it one day and introduced himself to Billy. Wyatt called him Billy the Squid when he described him to everyone and the name stuck. She was teased relentlessly about calamari and even found miniature plastic squids stuck in her purse and other various places in her bedroom until Bill got sent to Japan.