The Bachelor

Two

The next morning I wake up to the sounds of my phone ringing, and the reality of what had happened last night came flooding back into my mind. I scramble around in my bed desperately trying to find my phone. Eventually I feel it and free it from the mess of sheets around me. The screen flashes 'unknown number' but I figure it's probably Mr. Freeman so I slide it open and bring it to my ear. Right as I say hello, Becky walks out of her room. I can hear her start to complain about my phone waking her up but I put my hand up to shush her and listen to Mr. Freeman respond.

"Hello is this Caroline? It's John Freeman"

"Yes it's me," I reply, not really sure what else to add considering I have no idea what he wants to talk about.

"I hope I didn't wake you," he adds, as an after thought.

"No I was up," I lie.

"Who is it?" I hear Becky chime in from the kitchen.

"Shut up," I whisper sharply, covering the microphone of my phone, attempting to muffle my voice.

"What was that?" Mr.Freeman asks.

"Nothing, I'm sorry sir," I say quickly. He continues,

"I think it would be best if we met up to talk,"

"Yeah of course," I reply, jumping up to find a pen and paper.

"I know a coffee shop which I believe is right outside campus, will you be around there at all today? I was thinking around two?" I quickly recall what day it is and remember that I have an exercise physiology lab at ten.

"That should work. What's the place called?" I ask, writing a '2' on my paper.

"Café Vert," he says in a convincing French accent and I note that the second word means green. He gives me more specific directions and I jot them down before hanging up, still clueless about the agenda for our meeting.

I look to the kitchen to see Becky looking at me expectantly, no doubt waiting for the details of my phone call.

"So who is he?" she asks, clearly mistaking the context of the call.

"He's about forty years old and not really my type," I say back.

"Not a date then," she says laughing, putting her hands up in defence, "So what was it about?" So I told her the story, for most of which her jaw hung open. After a second of silence she says,

"You are in some deep shit my friend," And I know I am, I don't need her to tell me that.

"He's probably going to sue you or something. You said he was driving a Mercedes, probably some rich business man," she says. I couldn't argue with that. He probably just waited because I was crying and he didn't want to deal with it. But he seemed like he had something else in mind, though that could be wishful thinking. Either way, I have to get to class

I take the bus in, due to my somewhat inconvenient lack of a car. The class is my favourite, exercise physiology. I wasn't really sure about what I wanted to do when I went into this program. It's a general Human Physiology undergrad degree so my options have always been pretty open but now I'm concerned about the financial issues. I wanted to do a masters degree and go into physiotherapy but I think I'll need to get a job after I graduate, something more substantial than my part time shifts at Subway that I have right now. I have been considering trying to get a job as a personal trainer at a gym. I've always been active and I love running, plus my degree would give me an edge on all the college grads.

The class goes well. It usually does since I'm so interested in the topic and I get along with most of the other students. I wouldn't say I'm one of the smartest, I have to work for my marks now, but I was one of those kids in high school who could ace a test without studying.