Chapter 2
I went back
home to Georgia in August to pack my things. My aunt had helped me with the
traveling plans, transportation and the like so I was ready to go. I was
scheduled to leave the U.S. in September, so I spent my last weeks enjoying what
I could here in Georgia, which was not much.
September
finally came. I said goodbye to my family and got on the plane. Through the
whole plane ride, I listened to my WL audiotapes to keep me amused. When I got
off the plane at the Edinburgh Airport, I went through all the inspections and
customs and met with the Dundee officials at the gate, where they had a ride
waiting to take me straight to Dundee.
Well to cut to
the chase, my aunt had already rented me a private flat, which I found and
settled in. I spent my first day unpacking my stuff and thinking about how to
meet Tony. When I was almost done, I heard a knock at my door and I went to
answer it. I opened the door and there was a girl who looked about my age
standing in front of me. She introduced herself as Theresa and said that she
lived next door to me. I invited her in and we talked about different things:
what we were studying, where we came from, and really go to know each other. We
really hit it off at first, which is surprising for me because I was usually a
shy and reserved person, but I aimed to change that when I came here.
I was
wondering how easy it would be to visit Tony, and I asked her and she said
anybody could just go up to his office and see him! It was that simple! Wow I
think I’m in heaven! We talked about Tony a bit and she said that
he’s a good listener and he really cares about the students. But I
wasn’t going to see him just yet. No, our meeting was to come very
unexpectedly.
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It was 2 days
before the first day of school and I was just lying on my bed and watching some WL episodes.
Then somebody began knocking at the front door. It was only 3 o’clock and
I thought it was Theresa coming to visit me again, so I got up, left the tv on,
and went over to answer the door.
I swung it
open, smiling, when I noticed a man with a red and blue outfit with his back to
me. Oh my God! It’s Tony! My jaw flung open and the man turned around. I
gasped out loud and he gave me that sexy smile that made me weak in the knees. I
tightly held the doorknob and leaned on the door.
“Hello! I was informed that
you’re new here,” he said. All I did was nod my head up and down.
“I’m your Rector, Tony Slattery,” he said and extended his
arm. I shook my head to get me out of my trance and slowly lifted my shaking
hand to grasp his. I looked straight into those dark but beautiful eyes and he
shook my hand firmly. I’m shaking Tony’s hand here!
“H-h-hi!
I’m…Jennifer,” I finally managed to stutter. “Pleasant
meeting you, Jennifer,” he said with a smile. Oh wow he said my
name—and with that winning smile! I stared at him the whole time.
“I just wanted to welcome you
here. You’re from the States, I hear,” he said as he let go of my
hand.
“Yes, I am. Oh, would you like to
come in?” I said and moved out of the doorway. “Sure. Thank
you,” he said and walked in. He walked around for a while and I closed and
locked the door. Oh my God! We’re in the same room! MY
room…
“Do you mind if I sit?” he
politely asked and pointed at the loveseat couch. “Sure! Have a
seat!” I answered. Hmm, he’s polite too! He sat down and I sat down
next to him.
“Well, Jennifer. As you know,
I’m here to assist you students in whatever you do. So if you have any
problems, or have anything you wanna talk about, you come see me, okay?”
He gave me that smile again!
Ugh, I coulda died right there next to him! But
I had to play it cool.
“Okay! Anything?” I had to
ask. “Yup, anything. I’m here to listen! My office is always
open,” he said as he sat back on the couch.
We sat in
silence until there was a roar of laughter coming from the tv.
“What are you watching?”
Tony asked. “Oh, um…” Then there was the sound of the piano
playing the hoedown music. I smiled and he said “Oh! Well that explains
everything!”
“Oh, well I better go shut it
off, if it’s gonna distract you or anything,” I said and started to
get off the couch. He put his hand on my right leg and said “Oh no!
That’s okay. You can leave it on.” He touched me! It felt like a
million electric bolts just went through my body!
“No wonder you’re so
jumpy,” he smiled and took his hand off my thigh. “You know me
somewhat already!” I situated myself back onto the
couch.
Twenty minutes
slowly passed and we talked about my academic career, his career, and whatever
came up. I didn’t want it to end. I was actually conversing with THE Tony
Slattery! He was so nice, and really paid attention to everything I said. He
left at 3:30, but not without telling me to come visit him someday. But I
figured I wouldn’t go visit him just yet until I had an actual problem,
and I didn’t wanna seem like a stalker.
During the
first week of the term, Dundee has this event called “Freshers’
Week” where there’s a bunch of social activities to get to know
everybody and feel right at home. I walked around the campus as everybody was
outside doing whatever and having meetings in the grass and stuff. I found a
water fountain and sat down on the concrete. I looked around and observed
everybody when I saw a man in a familiar red and blue gown sitting on a stage
that was set up in the middle of the courtyard. I did a double take and realized
that it was Tony! Even though he was a few yards away, he still looked hot! And
he was wearing sunglasses! Aww how adorable! I sat there and watched him as the
other Dundee officials came up to him and started to converse.
“Hello there!”
I slowly began
to move my head but keeping my eyes on Tony. “Yes?” I said while
still staring.
“It’s me, Theresa,”
she answered. “Oh, hi Theresa,” I said. “What are you staring
at?” she asked. From the corner of my eye I could see her looking at me
and then following my gaze.
“You’re staring at Mr.
Slattery aren’t you?” she laughed. “Of course I am. What makes
you think I’m not?” I asked.
She laughed
out loud. “You’re just going through a phase. You’ll get so
used to seeing him around that soon enough you won’t even care
anymore.”
“Don’t be so sure about
that,” I said, still watching Tony. “Why don’t you just go
over there and talk to him?” she asked. “He knows you already. You
don’t have to go through that first impressions jitters anymore.”
“Nah, I just wanna watch a while
longer,” I said with a sigh. Theresa sat down next to me. I watched as
Tony took off his sunglasses, wiped them off with a handkerchief, put them back
on and quickly ran his fingers through is hair.
“Oh geez!” I said out loud.
“What’s wrong?” asked Theresa. “He just—he
did—Oh man!” I squealed excitedly. “Damn you’ve really
got it bad,” Theresa said and shook her head. “Yeah but it’s a
good bad,” I said with another sigh. “Hmm, he’s sitting all by
himself now.”
Theresa and I
just sat there looking at him.
“Well why don’t you go over
there then?”
“Do ya think I
should?”
“Yeah! Before you have a heart
attack!”
“Okay, I will. Are you coming
with me?”
“No, it’s okay. I’ll
just watch from here and you can tell me all the juicy details
later.”
“Right.” I stood up and
started walking towards the stage. I tried to look cool and not make it obvious
that I’ve been wanting to come up to him ever since I saw him. I looked up
at the sky, then at everything else around while I was walking and then I
glanced at Tony. He saw me coming and I quickly turned away. I glanced back at
him again and he had his head down a little, looking at me through the top of
his sunglasses. Oh boy what an intense look!
“Hi Tony! I mean—Mr.
Slattery! Sorry!” I blurted out. He chuckled and said, “It’s
okay. You can call me Tony.”
“For real?”
“Sure! Everybody else
does.”
“Oh, okay. That’s good.
Well I just saw you sitting here and I thought I’d just come over and say
hello.”
“Have you met a lot of people
yet?”
“Um, actually, not really. I
haven’t done much mingling. I’ll get to it though.”
“Okay, well
remember—“
“I know I know. If I have any
problems, come see you. You’re office is always open!”
He started
laughing and took off his sunglasses. “Yes, you know the routine,”
he said as he inspected his glasses. “Anytime….”
He squinted
and looked around the campus. “Damn it’s a bright day isn’t
it?” he asked. “Yeah, it is,” I answered. I watched as he put
them back on and ran his fingers through his hair again. I looked down and
smiled to myself.
“What’s so funny?” he
asked. I quickly looked up at him. “Huh? What do you mean?” I asked.
“You’re smiling,” he said with his own smile. “People
usually don’t smile unless something has really gotten to them. But you
seem cheery enough to do that always, don’t ya?”
I
couldn’t help but smile again. “What is going through that mind of
yours?” he asked with a chuckle. I started laughing out loud.
“Nothing really!”
“Oh come now! There’s
something funny about me isn’t there? What is it? It’s these new
sunglasses, isn’t it? I knew I shouldn’t have bought them!” he
said.
“Oh no! They’re fine! They
look good on you!” I said. Or really what I shoulda said was “You
look good in them!”
“Tell ya what. Let’s go
inside. It’s rather toasty out here,” Tony suggested. Was he really
inviting me to go with him?
“Where are we going to go? What
about the speeches and introductory things?” I asked as he stood up from
his seat. “Oh, they’ll be fine without me. The Rector can’t do
everything! Come on!” He grabbed my wrist and led me to a building. I
looked over to Theresa at the fountain and she was giving me a thumbs up sign
and smiling at me.
We went inside
this building where there weren’t many people. It was just one long
hallway with some people standing around and talking.
“Where are we going?” I
asked him. “To the library,” he replied. “Where it’s
nice and quiet. And no sun.”
I smiled again. I wonder why he
wanted me to go with him to the library, of all places. We went through the door
and the librarians said hello. We walked over to the far side of the room in the
corner and sat down at the table.
“Tony? Why are we even
here?”
“I just felt like coming inside
for a while. And besides, I just thought we could have a little chat. You know,
get to know each other more.”
“So that’s what the
rector’s job is, huh?”
“Yes, it is actually. To really
get to know the students; their fears, their hopes, what makes them tick, what
turns them on…”
We just sat
there smiling at each other. Did he say what I think he said? TURNS THEM ON?
That’s like a come-on isn’t it? But still, it was a good one. I
wonder if he knows that I have these feelings for him. But why all of a sudden
would he choose me?
“So, what do you wanna know from
me?” I asked.
“Well I dunno. How about the
basics? Your birthday?”
“May 10,
1982.”
“Okay, we’re gettin’
somewhere now!”
I looked at my
watch and saw that 30 minutes had passed and we were still in the library
talking about ourselves and getting to know each other.
“Don’t you think we should
be out there now? I mean, don’t you have to do some kind of welcome
speech?” I asked. I know I’m obsessed about the man, and I love this
little chat thing that’s going on, but he still has a job to
do.
“No, it’s okay! Don’t
worry about it so much luv!”
Did he just
call me luv?? I know it’s a British thing, but still! It kinda got me by
surprise! I just smiled and we continued our conversation until this guy came in
and said Tony was needed soon for his welcoming speech.
“See, there’s nothing to
worry about! Come on.”
We both stood
up and headed for the courtyard. At the door of the library, Tony said that
he’d catch up with me later. I said okay and he jogged up to the stage and
took his seat. Theresa was waiting for me outside by the library door.
“So? What happened?” she
asked. I sighed out loud. “It was just so perfect. I couldn’t begin
to tell you.”
“Well, you can tell me later. But
now we have to go find a seat for the introductions.”
We went into
the courtyard and found seats in the second row in front of the stage. The
officials and class representatives made their speeches already and it was
Tony’s turn. He got up to the podium and welcomed us freshmen and other
new students to Dundee. After his speech, he sat down in his seat and looked
straight at me! He smiled and gave me a little wave. All I did was smile back.
“I saw that!” said Theresa.
“You really have to tell me what’s going on with you two!”