All I Need

Part 2

She'd been dreading the move for months. Her parents had let her finish out the school year, but honestly, she still wasn't sure which one was worse--being the new girl right at the end or being the new girl at the beginning. Either way she was still going to get way more attention than she wanted, but at least she would have the summer to get to know the area, maybe even meet a few people and make a friend or two.

What she wasn't counting on was her parents insisting that she get a summer job. They'd given her a few days to get settled into her new home, but after they'd been there a week or two she'd found herself searching the area for a halfway decent job that hadn't already been snatched up by the teenagers who'd already lived there. Fortunately, her luck had good timing for once and she'd been buying herself a coffee at the same time that the coffee shop she was in had a barista walk out on them--less than ten minutes after she'd requested an application. She'd been hired on the spot when she'd turned it back in and they found out she'd worked as a hostess at a local restaurant back home.

Overall the job had been a lot better than she'd thought it would be. There were downsides like how early she had to get up every morning on her summer vacation and people were not always the nicest before they'd had their coffee in the morning, but it was better than some of the other options she applied for. On her third day there she worked with a girl named Sasha that everyone else seemed to be scared of. All of the other girls had warned her to steer clear, but she'd been trying to keep an open mind despite the warnings, and thankfully, once again, luck seemed to have been on her side. 

She'd been feeling a little home sick and decided that the comfort of an old Hardy Boys t-shirt was necessary that day. When Sasha had seen it she'd asked her, without even introducing herself, if the shirt was hers or if she'd borrowed it from someone. When Bayley explained that she'd bought it herself a long time ago, she'd been happily surprised to find out that Sasha was not only a fan, but practically lived and breathed wrestling just like she did. They'd spent the rest of the day in conversation that had flowed so easy, their boss had had to keep nudging them to remind them to take care of the customers first. 

By the end of the week they were inseparable and by the end of June it felt like they'd known each other their whole lives. She'd never had a 'best friend' before, but she loved it and for the first time in her life she felt like she really had someone who understood her. She had someone to watch wrestling with and talk about wrestling with, and someone who didn't judge her because she'd rather play video games than go to the mall. Sasha was a strange mixture of ultra girly and tomboy, and since she'd always leaned closer to tomboy it was kind of fun to have a friend who actually knew stuff about makeup and clothes and was willing to share both her closet and her knowledge. 

They did everything together, besides their jobs and their obsession with wrestling they also started working out together, dragging each other to various movies and shows, and even attempting (badly) to learn how to cook together. After they almost burned down her mom's new kitchen they were banned from anymore cooking without adult supervision.

Sasha had introduced her friend Seth one afternoon when they were at the gym. He wasn't quite what she'd expected from the way Sasha talked about him, Sasha had made him seem kind of shallow and stupid, but she realized after seeing them together that it was a defense mechanism of Sasha's because she didn't want to admit how much he meant to her.  Seth was the type of guy who obviously knew he was good looking and how that affected a lot of girls, but he'd also been smart and funny and friendly and not at all the asshole that he could have been. He'd been very serious about working out, and when she made it clear that's what was important to her, he'd turned down the charm a little and got straight to work. In less than an hour he'd somehow convinced her to try a new workout routine and it hadn't taken long before she'd fallen in love with crossfit. 

Sasha had been impressed with  how quickly Seth was able to convert her, but she'd also been impressed with the way she hadn't lost her mind over Seth. Bayley had to admit, he was ridiculously hot, but he also reminded her of a lost puppy for some reason and she just wanted to take care of him, not date him. Not that she would have been anywhere near his league if she had been interested, but since she wasn't, it didn't matter. 

Sasha had admitted to her early on that she had never had a girl best friend before and that she normally spent all of her time with Seth and their other friend Finn, who was gone for the summer. She'd been nervous about introducing her to Seth, afraid that it would suddenly turn her into one of those girls Sasha didn't like, so Bayley was glad that she hadn't really felt a spark with Seth, at least not that kind. Once Seth realized she was serious about crossfit, and also not fawning all over him, he'd opened up a little more with her too and it turned out they had a lot in common. They liked the same kind of music, he was just as big of a wrestling fan as she and Sasha, and he wasn't afraid of getting beat by a girl in Mario Kart. By the end of the summer it felt like maybe he was her friend too.

Even though she would be attending the same school as her new best friend, the first day of school loomed ominously over her head. She hated being the center of attention, and she couldn't avoid it being the new kid. Sasha had given her as much advice as she could--the best ways to get to certain places, which areas to avoid, what the teachers were like and the best way to handle them--but they only had one class and thankfully their lunch period together, she would be on her own the rest of the time.

She rode to school with Sasha that morning, glad at least that she wouldn't have to take the bus. Without Sasha and with no car of her own she wouldn't have had a choice otherwise. She'd gone with her parents to the open house the week before and at least had an idea of where she was going and how to get to her classes. She and Sasha located their lockers together then parted ways to head to their first classes, agreeing on where to meet in the hallway before lunch. 

Her first class went fine, but the second ran over. Her teacher was the long-winded, 'you leave when I say you leave' type, and she had to move quickly to try and make it to her third. Of course she tripped right at the bottom of the stairs, spilling herself and all of her stuff in the floor and taking someone else down with her in the process. At first she was too busy apologizing and hurriedly trying to gather her things to really notice who she'd knocked over, but finally she looked up and just barely managed to stop herself from gasping out loud. He was beautiful, like some perfectly sculpted statue of a Greek god. Smooth skin over lean muscle, black v-neck tee doing nothing to hide his perfect body, dark hair starkly contrasting against his pale complexion, and blue eyes so clear she could get lost in them. 

She was speechless, apologies forgotten as she became tongue-tied, and the breath sucked out of her when he smiled. She was sure he couldn't get anymore perfect until he spoke, his soft, distinctively accented voice asking her if she was alright. Answering him was a problem, she wanted to at least say yes, but for a minute nothing came out. He tilted his head to the side and gave her a half-concerned, half-questioning look and brought his hand up to gently cup the back of her arm.

She finally managed to stutter out 'yeah' and then everything came pouring out of her,

"I'm so, so, so, so sorry. I didn't mean to knock you down. I was just running late and my stupid teacher wouldn't let us leave until she finished talking, and of course my next class is downstairs on the other side of the building, and I can't believe I'm going to be fucking la..." she trailed off feeling her cheeks warm, realizing she'd been about to go into a rant and the word vomit was embarrassing enough. He smiled again looking amused and said,

"No problem." He bent down to pick up one of her books that was still on the ground and handed it to her, "Don't forget this, hope you make it to your class on time."

Shit, she really was going to have to run now, she grabbed the book and said 'thanks,' hurrying off, throwing one last look over her should only to be embarrassed again to discover that he was still watching her amused and he'd caught her. She ducked her her head and didn't look back again, berating herself for acting like a silly girl as she rushed off.