Push Me, Pull Me

Part One: Chapter Four

Brett hadn't been lying when he'd told Justin he hated his classes, but he had forgotten his Literature and Film class while he was ranting about it. At least for now, while he could still pad his coursework with humanities, he'd managed to work in one interesting class per semester, just for him, that he could somehow wedge in as a general requirement.

Even though theatre was where he really wanted to be, he'd shied away from taking any acting courses, afraid he'd get sucked in and never find his way out. He compromised with himself with things like film and music history and the occasional literature class. Even though his scholarship only covered three years of tuition and nothing else, that was a big chunk of his bachelor's. Although it still left him one year to figure out on his own, he justified the extra couple of hundred for these classes by telling himself if he didn't take them, he's probably eventually lose his mind and quit altogether. It was good for him.

He checked his phone as he left the classroom. There was a message from someone at his work phone number.

Crap.

He dialed his mailbox and punched in his password.

"Hey, Brett, this is Scott, manager on duty for afternoon shift. We got a call in and I know you're always looking for extra hours, so I thought I'd call you first and see if you want to come in early. Give me a call as soon as you can."

He sighed and hung up. He checked the time. About ten minutes to noon and his shift ended at eleven that night. He'd be pulling about ten hours by the time he got there, and he had a test tomorrow.

He had to call back either way. It only rang once before he got an answer.

"Thank you for calling Burrito Joint, how can I help you?"

"Hey, it's Brett. Can I talk to Scott?"

"Yeah, sure." The phone went quiet when she put him on hold. Brett lingered outside the door, waiting to make his way to the student union.

"Hey, Brett?"

"Hey, Scott. Yeah, I might be able to come in early, but I have a really big exam tomorrow. Would I be able to study during downtime as long as everything else gets done?"

"As long as everything gets done when it's supposed to, that's fine."

Brett bit the inside of his lip and hesitated. He'd been so excited about hanging out with Justin, but he needed the money. Justin wouldn't be mad. They'd both canceled on each other before. Life happened.

"Yeah," he said. "All right. What time do you need me in?"

"When can you be here?"

Brett sighed and leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes and bumping his head against the brick. "I need about an hour to get back home and ready before I can come in. I live pretty far from my school."

"Can you be in at 1:00?"

"Around?" Brett offered. "I'd be cutting it close. I might be ten minutes or so after."

"Thank you, Brett." The relief was audible in Scott's voice. "You're awesome. I'll see you when you get in."

"Yeah. See you then." Brett hung up. His arms dropped, limp, by his sides, fingers still curled around his phone. With a sigh, he lifted his hands again and sent a quick text to Justin.

I'm going to have to cancel. Got called into work early. I'm so sorry. I hope you're not waiting around too long for your classes to start.

He watched the screen, staying by the wall, waiting for a reply before he moved on. It took a few minutes for Justin's response to come through.