The White Queen (S.Rogers)

Chapter 45

Brooklyn braced herself against the windy rain as she left the building on campus where her class was held, cursing her choice of tights and knee length skirt, along with her canvas shoes. In her defense, it had been extremely sunny when she and Juliana had left the apartment that morning. The weather had changed somewhere between when Brooklyn had come to campus, and now. All she knew was she had been working on a bunch of math problems the teacher had assigned for in class work, and she had looked up, out the window, to find the world dark and rainy. At least she had fallen into the practice of always having a semi-warm coat with a hood, whenever she left the apartment.

In the weeks since starting her GED class, she had found that she enjoyed learning. There had been some hiccups, of course. The first time she had given a wrong answer, when called on, she had braced herself, internally, for something-anything- to happen. Instead, the teacher, a very nice middle aged man who had introduced himself as Joe, saying that Mr. Gallway was his father, had instead smiled at her, told her it was okay, and explained where she had gone wrong. Slowly, she had relaxed into the routine of learning. There hadn't been a whole lot of opportunity for her to make friends with anyone in her class, which was made up of an eclectic mix of ages, races, genders, and nationalities. She was too focused on the learning, preparing for the test they were supposed to take at the end of the course, that would allow her to enter into college fully.

She paused, ducking under an outcropping from a building, wiping the rain from her face, making sure the hood of her jacket was up all the way, before pulling out her phone. Steve had told her he was going to pick her up from class today, saving her the trip to the subway station, as well as the packed subway itself. He had just returned from another Avenger's mission, somewhere in Europe. Just as she was about to text him, to see if he was there yet, she was interrupted by someone ducking under the outcropping with her.
"Brooklyn, right?" He asked, drawing her attention away from her phone. She tightened her fingers around the device, looking at him. He was, in appearance at least, about his age, dark floppy hair, brown eyes, and a kind smile. "I'm Greg. I'm in your GED class. I sit in the back?"

"Oh." She nodded. "Yeah. The one who is usually a few minutes late, every day."

"Yeah." He grinned sheepishly. "My brother goes to school uptown. I have to drop him off, before I come in."

Brooklyn smiled. "I know that feeling. I have to drop my sister off, then run for the subway sometimes."

He smiled wider. "I see you sometimes, on the train. You are always standing in a corner, if you can."

"Got to make sure my back is covered." She turned her attention back to her phone. "It's not good to leave it exposed, with all those people."

Steve had messaged her, letting her know he was running a few minutes late. Apparently something big had happened, and he couldn't wait to share it with her. Part of her hoped whatever it was, was that HYDRA was completely done. That he had finally killed it. He had been gone for a few days, this time, and she really missed him. The bed felt big and empty without him hogging it. Even the blankets were colder, without his heat helping to keep her warm. Not to mention the sex. She really missed the sex. God, how did she miss the sex. With him picking her up, if the traffic cooperated, they might be able to take the edge off, before having to rush off to pick up Juliana from class.

They also had to start thinking about the Parent Teacher conferences, which were going to be coming up soon.

Greg laughed at what she said, and she paused, before raising her head to look at him.

"That's a good joke!" he pointed at her. "You have a sense of humor! I like that."
"Okay." She responded, not sure of what was going on. "I guess."