I sat in the front seat of Beckett's car, frozen in place. I was way in over my head. I should have just stayed home and studied part-time. The sad truth is that I am a fifty year old, stuck in a nineteen-year-olds body.

"Liz," Beckett's voice sounded bringing me out of my thoughts. "Are you okay?" He asked and I shook my head. "It's okay to have first-day jitters," he said and I looked up at him to see him smile. He moved to get out of the car and I did the same.

The sun was hot and the wind was cold making me shiver and sweat at the same time. "Hi, Beckett," A group of girls mused walking past us. Beckett shot them a wink which sent them into a fit of giggles.

It was clear to me the kind of guy Beckett was. He was the kind of guy I avoided after I moved away from Manhattan. I swore to myself that I would avoid his type but here I was showing up to my first day of university with a flirt.

We walked up to the big building and Beckett moved to open the door for me.  The place was packed with excited students. There were black and white paintings on the walls, a statue of a man holding a briefcase stood on a podium, and brown leather one-seater victorian style couches on either side of it. The entire floor was carpeted. The walls were painted beige except for one wall that had a mural in black and white of what looked to be a village.  Some students were using the mural as a background for their selfies while others were taking pictures with the statue that stood in the middle of the room.

"Beautiful isn't it," Beckett said from beside me.

"Yeah the mural is amazing," I answered, while lost in my thoughts.

"I wasn't talking about the mural," he said with a smile on his face.

"If you dare say me. I'm walking away," I warned and he laughed.

"Full of ourselves are we. I was talking about everything in general but now that you mention it. You kind of do light up a room." I couldn't help the 'urgh' of frustration that left my lips.

Boys and their flirtatious lies.

"I'm going to class," I said and walked off in the direction of the lecture theater.

"You such a nerd we still have ten minutes," Beckett whined.

"All the good seats will be taken," I argued and it was the truth. I didn't want to get stuck sitting in the back.

I found theater number nineteen and it had two huge oak wooden doors. Beckett once again opened the door for me and I rolled my eyes. I could open the door for myself. "Hey my mother taught me manners," he said as if he knew what I was thinking.

"I didn't say anything," I defended as I walked into the room that had rows of wooden desks and chairs going down the stairs. There was a white screen on the wall and a large brown desk at the front of the theater. The desks in the front were all taken and I glowered at Beckett.

"I told you," I whispered to Beckett.

"Sorry," he whispered back.

"Now we have to sit in the middle row."

"Why are we whispering?" He chuckled and I rolled my eyes.

We walked down a few steps and took our seats. A girl wearing black-framed glasses and a beret looked up at me panicked. She was dressed in a simple purple top and blue jeans.

"Hey," I greeted and she nodded awkwardly while sneaking a glance at us.

"Hi," Beckett chimed in and she did the same not looking directly at either one of us. I looked at Beckett and he shrugged like he once again knew what I was thinking.

The English professor walked into the lecture hall wearing a black pencil skirt and striped blouse. Her hair was up in a bun.

She was elderly, and she had a really sweet face that made me instantly think of my grandmother.  "Good morning everyone. I am professor Coleman and I will be guiding you through your advanced levels of literature class."

Everyone began reaching into their bags for books and pens and I did the same. From the corner of my eye, I could see Beckett fold his arms behind his head while his table remained clear of any books. I didn't bother to ask him why he hadn't taken out any learning material. Maybe he learned from listening.

Professor Coleman got into the lecture about different types of speech and then soon it was time for political science class. The political science professor was not as kind as professor Coleman. When we walked into the lecture theater professor Villin was already seated at the large wooden desk, at the front of the lecture hall. He had an unwelcoming look on his face and he didn't bother to give us a welcoming speech.

After an awkwardly hostile lecture, it was time for lunch."That was disturbing," Beckett said when we were dismissed.

"Maybe he is having a bad day," I shrugged.

"The man's a dick and you can see it in his face," I couldn't help but chuckle at that statement.

Outside the building, there was a bunch of students sitting out on the grass. Beckett threw his backpack to the ground and fell flat on the ground resting his head on his backpack as he looked up at the sky with his arms folded behind his head and his legs crossed. I sat next to him with my legs folded and took out my textbooks to complete the political science homework professor Villin, gave out.

"See the man's a menace. Which good professor gives homework on the first day," Beckett argued and I ignored his rant while I was flipping through the pages of my book. Beckett sat up and I could feel him staring at me.

"What?" I asked, not looking up at him.

"Why are you doing homework during the break?"

"Because I have work after this," was my simple short, and sweet answer. Beckett hummed in understanding and didn't say another word after that.

After a while, I could hear rustling from beside me. Beckett stood up stretching his arms and legs."You done?" he asked while removing his earphones and stifling a yawn.

"Yeah," I said with a satisfactory smile. Beckett was so quiet while I worked that I almost forgot he was right beside me. He dusted off his clothes before stretching out his hand for me to take. I closed up my book and took his hand, allowing him to help me up.

We walked to our last lecture which was Introduction to commercial law and before I knew it, it was time for me to leave so that I could start my shift at work.

After my last lecture, I was tired. I swung my backpack over my shoulder and walked out of the university doors with Beckett. He had an oddly relaxed look on his face while he began talking about a motorcycle event he wanted to go to this Friday.

"So what do you think?" He asked catching me off guard.

"What do I think about what?"

"Would you like to come with me if I get the tickets?"

I looked at my watch and realized I was getting late. "Um, we'll see but for now I'm late. Thank you so much for the ride. I'll see you tomorrow," I told him and he gave me a quizzical look.

"Where are you rushing off to?" he called after me, chuckling.

"Work remember," I replied, hurriedly.

"I can drive you," he offered and I shook my head as I continued my walk to the bus stop, which was just off the campus grounds. If I wasn't going to rely on Himari and Blaire to take me to work I most certainly wasn't going to rely on Beckett. I needed to do this by myself.

Finally, after eight minutes I was off-campus grounds and standing by the bus stop. I waited twenty minutes keeping an eye on the time. I was going to be late if the bus didn't come soon.

Just as I was about to give up hope, the bus came into view and stopped next to me. I happily boarded it and took the first seat I saw which was next to an old man reading the newspaper.

I put my earphones on and waited for my stop to get off, still keeping my eyes on time. Blake was a grouch he wouldn't be so kind if I was a minute late and now I was twelve minutes late.

The bus finally stopped and I broke out into a sprint. The wind was brushing my face harshly and blowing my hair in every direction but I continued to run until El Royal came into view. I ran through the golden gates of hell. The Valet tipped his hat as a sign of respect to me and I nodded hastily.  I smoothed out my clothes and walked up to the building. The doors parted and the sound of cutlery and chattering immediately filled my ears and Blake's boiling face blocked my sight.

"You late," he growled in anger.

"Sorry sir," I said and he huffed.

"Nevermind that. It's a madhouse tonight. I need you to meet Brenda in the kitchen," he said and then paused for a second while his eyes raked over my outfit. "And change into your damn uniform. This is no godforsaken hippy bar!" He declared and stormed off.

I rushed to the worker's change rooms and went straight to my locker. The change rooms were decent. There were separate rooms for both males and females. The walls were painted purple, there were five showers, a row of lockers against one wall, cubicles for privacy, and a long brown bench. The change rooms were always kept clean. I went up to my long silver locker and opened it taking out my uniform. Then I went into one of the cubicles and stripped out of my casual clothes. I was rushing because angry Blake equals even more miserable workers.

After I was done I did my hair and put it into a high bun leaving my fringe out. I wasn't a fan of my uniform. A white formal shirt and black skirt I had to wear with stockings. The shirt was a bit too tight and I spoke to Blake about wanting a bigger shirt and he said I needed to fill out a form so he could send it to upper levels of management.

I just wish I could've had pants instead of a skirt. I always hated stockings. When I was done getting ready I rushed out of the room and went straight into the kitchen to meet Brenda. From the corner of my eye, I could see the head chef bark orders to all the chefs. Something was on fire while another chef used a blow torch on something else. I found Brenda right in the back of the kitchen with a tray of drinks ready.

I approached her station while she was wiping down the counter and she looked up. "Hey, Blake said I should meet you for the drinks," I told her.

"Yeah, it's crazy in here tonight. Can you take this up to the lounge for me," she said handing me the tray."

On my first day of work, I learned that the upper floors of the building were designed like a lounge for rich businessmen and women to smoke cigars and enjoy live music.

I picked up the tray of drinks and rushed out of the kitchen. The restaurant was busy as usual. I got into the elevator and pressed the number two which would take me to the second floor.

"Hold the door," Seth yelled and I put my hand between the lift doors causing them to part again.

Seth was a student as well. He was studying microbiology and the chefs would often shoo him out of the kitchen because his favorite topic was bacteria.

Seth walked into the elevator while pushing a cart that had foods covered with giant silver domes on it. "Thank you," he sighed in relief while straightening his black bow tie. He looked exhausted.

"Hey, you doing okay?" I asked and he smiled sleepily.

"Nothing one of Brenda's homemade energy drinks can't fix," he said enthusiastically.

The elevator went up and with a ding, the lift doors parted and Seth rushed out with the cart. I walked over to table thirty-six that had an L shaped couch around it. The couch was occupied by a large group of men and women. They barely looked up at me when I approached so I left their complimentary drinks on the table and left to go back down to the main restaurant.

Blake had told me that I should never bother them when they are deep in conversation. If they needed anything they would ask or press a button that was under their table causing a bell to go off at the front desk so a server would go to them.

It didn't upset me serving rich people, even though I was once rich. I will admit there was a time I went to a very dark place and I felt like giving up because nothing was going my way, but Percy helped me through my slump and it's one of the reasons I have so much respect for him.

"Elizabeth get your head out of the clouds we have customers," Blake roared as soon as I exited the elevator.

I followed him back to the front desk and two men entered the building. One man was dressed in a powder blue button-down shirt and brown pants. His hair was neatly combed back and he was cleanly shaven. The other man was wearing a black button-down shirt and black dress pants. His hair was up in a bun and he had a beard covering his prominent jawline.

Blake began asking the man in the powder blue shirt if he had a reservation and my eyes fell to the man dressed in black.

I couldn't help but stare at him. He certainly didn't look like all the other customers. He was rugged. He caught me staring at him and his face began to contort. At first, he smirked, then from smirking his eyebrows furrowed and he looked down at the ground, and then when he looked up again his eyes were narrowed into slits and his mouth was etched into a scowl. I immediately tore my eyes away from him and looked down at the ground.

I didn't mean to offend him but he was hard not to look at. He was tall and muscular. His shirt was tight highlighting his biceps and he had a tattoo on the side of his neck. I couldn't make out what tattoo it was. I could only see half of it because his collar covered most of it.

"Elizabeth show these gentlemen to their table," Blake's voice brought me out of my thoughts and I looked up to see him give me that fake smile he gives all the staff members whenever customers are around.

"Right this way," I said and the guy that looked like witchcraft at midnight fished his phone out of his pants pocket.

I walked them to a table for two next to one of the black tinted windows. They took their seats and the guy in the powder blue shirt looked up at me with a warm smile on his face while the younger-looking gentlemen continued to stare down at his phone with his jaw clenched.

I probably offended him. I wanted to apologize but at the same time, I didn't want to make things weird. What if he wasn't even offended by the way I looked at him and he was just angry about something else. I certainly didn't want to have an awkward moment with a customer. Shaking away my ridiculous thoughts I decided I should just introduce myself and take their order.

"Hi, my name is Liz and I'll be your server today." The guy dressed in full black suddenly looked up at me from his phone with a raised eyebrow as if I was giving a speech that he strongly disagreed with.

The way he looked at me had every hair on my body standing on alert. He was intimidating and I felt like getting as far away from his as possible, his mere presence was giving me anxiety. It's like his eyes looked deeper into me every time he looked at me, and the scariest part of this entire ordeal was that he was just a stranger.

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A/N

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.
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