Adventures in the City - Part 1 - A Fortuitous Meeting
Chapter 1 - The First Day of Class
It was the first morning of my first class. I had found a seat in Economic Theory and was waiting, along with twenty others, for the Professor to arrive when someone sat down in the chair next to me. I glanced up and said, "Good Morning."
A deep, strong confident male voice answered, "Hello, you look familiar somehow. Do we know each other?"
My instant reaction was that I was being hit on. I'm tall, blond and pretty, so male advances were nothing new.
But when I looked up again, he did look familiar to me. Where did we meet?
The voice said, "Do you by chance know Darlene Smith?"
"Why yes, she was my junior year roommate at Cornell."
"Aha, that's the connection. You must be Camille Thompson."
My memory snapped into place. "And you are Anthony Calabrese!"
He responded, "Not even six degrees, is it?" His smile was infectious.
Our conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Distinguished Professor of Political Economy, Sir Reginald Thornwhistle. His student rep was brilliant, friendly, and demanding. I'd wondered if jumping into this course my first term at the London School was such a great idea.
Before I could get nervous about that all over again, he launched into a nonstop hour of course description, personal description, and short interviews with each of us. Fortunately, he went alphabetically and I had a chance to observe his back and forth with others before he got to me.
"Camille Thompson, is it?" He peered at me intently. "Undergraduate honors in Economics at Cornell, Summa Cum Laude, highly recommended by Bill Reynolds."
"Yes, Sir."
"Bill was three years behind me at Oxford. Did his thesis on volatility in markets. Should have had a piece of Sharpe's Nobel for beta theory."
"Why are you here? With your looks, you could be gracing a mansion in Greenwich."
"Is that a sexist remark, Sir?"
He paused, glancing around the room. "Yes. Yes, it certainly is, and I'm glad you called me on it. I apologize to you and to the other women in the class. "
"Thank you, Sir." I slowly let out the breath I had been holding.
Tony had my hand, squeezing gently. "Great pushback," he whispered.
Thornwhistle went on through the rest of the class, gave us a ton of reading to do, and let everyone go early.
"Thanks for having my back in there. Can I buy you a coffee?"
I got a hug around my shoulder and we explored the unfamiliar building until we found an espresso bar.
Tony was a Yalie and also an Econ major. "Yes, I'm pumped up with pompous faculty nonsense but trying to live it down by coming here. I'm not sure for how long. My family isn't wealthy and my sister starts Brown next fall. You don't have a formula for instant wealth in that brave head of yours do you?"
I ran my fingers over his hand, "Do you have a girlfriend these days? Maybe one who could support you?" I gave him my innocent little girl look and tossed my hair.
"You are not only brave, you are a flirt. Do you go out with guys you've only met in class?" He had dark Italian eyes and was getting to me fast.
"Certainly not. And my mother warned me about the hazards of dating in London." I grinned at him.
"Do you like Indian food?"
"Yes."
"Then let me take you to dinner tonight at one of the better Indian restaurants. A simple testament to your standing your ground on the first day of class." He picked up my hand and kissed it.
At seven, he had actually found my postage stamp studio in a mews near the school, and rang the bell. I asked him in, poured us each a glass of wine and said I would be back in a minute. His coat and tie meant my little black dress and dark stockings. Hair up. A touch of mom's expensive fragrance.
He was leaning against the kitchen counter looking very handsome and dangerous. His eyes widened. I walked up and kissed him very lightly on the lips. "Mustn't smear."
He navigated us smoothly into a London cab and a ten minute ride to the restaurant. "There are a lot of these, but not many that are good and not full of tourists."
"You have a secret source of eating out information? Or you have been here before?"
"My cousin, who is getting an art history degree from NYU, spent a term here. In return for a nice dinner in Manhattan, she divulged her list. She even marked the ones it was ok to take a date to." He smiled at me.
Our conversation was easy and the food was very good. And expensive, as everything in London is.
"Does your place have a decent kitchen? If we have another date, I could try cooking for you." I gave him a flirty look.
"I still have a chance at another date?" His dark eyes bored into mine.
"I guess that depends on how this one ends, doesn't it? Are you going to take me someplace we can dance? Is that on your sister's list?"
His eyes widened again. I really was flirting with him now. I was even tingling from being around him.
"When I was at Cornell, you were bedding Darlene, and she was loving it. What happened to that?"
He gestured to the waiter for the bill and said, "Yes, we are going dancing, and yes, Darlene is history. She is married to a medical student and already pregnant." His eyes danced at mine, knowing I was thinking about Darlene bouncing from his bed to another's and getting impregnated.
As we waited for a cab, I put my arm around him and said, "Do you suppose that is an accidental baby or a planned one?"
"She's married to him, so I guess it doesn't matter. When I was going with her, we used to have sex in her bedroom at the Manhattan apartment because her folks were gone a lot. She was very open, told me I was her best lover, but not her only one."