by Terry Towers
"Yesterday. The blinds to Tony's office window were open. Jerome watched you two during lunch period through the window."
Faith groaned inwardly. Not a whole lot of sense denying it now, she supposed.
Before she could respond the waitress returned, heaving a large tray on her right shoulder. With the grace of a true professional she slid the plates of food from the tray and deposited them in front of the appropriate people. "Would there be anything else anyone needs?" she inquired. Her smile was infectious, prompting Faith to smile in return despite the inner turmoil she was experiencing.
Adam and Mike shook their heads, already digging into the meal.
"No, but thank you," Faith replied as she took a moment to indulge in the sweet aroma of her deluxe hamburger and fries.
"The best burgers in town," Mike commented, taking a hungry man bite from the patty.
"No doubt," Adam agreed beside her.
Once his hamburger was devoured Mike looked up at Faith, who was picking at her food. "From my understanding of the situation, Jerome was planning on using the information as leverage for a better grade."
"Haha. Scratch that. Passing grade," Adam commented, laughed, choked on a few french fries still in his mouth, chewed, swallowed, then laughed some more.
A smirk came over Mike's face as he watched Adam try to regain his composure. "Guess he decided not to wait."
Faith sighed, dropping her fork to her plate. Despite having only eaten a small portion of the meal she had lost her appetite. "So what should I do?"
"You're a good welder, and smart as hell from what we can tell."
Adam nodded, ploughing another fork full of fries into his mouth.
"Keep your head down and just keep working. Be careful who you trust; not everyone is out for your best interests," Mike warned, finishing off the last of his fries.
"You being involved with Tony makes it all that much harder on you," Adam agreed. Pointing at her fries he asked, "You planning on eating those?"
Laughing, Faith rolled her eyes and pushed the plate over to him. "They’re all yours."
****
Faith was worried. It was now 8pm and Tony still hadn't arrived or called. Granted he wouldn't have been able to leave the school until 4pm, but that didn't give her much comfort. So she paced, periodically looking out the window hoping to see his dark blue half-ton pull up into the parking lot.
Was he pissed at her for putting him into the mess he was in? Had he been fired? She doubted that, but who knew? A million different possibilities raced through her head, the majority of them were not good and the majority of the not-good ones placed her at the nexus of the problem. Perhaps this was his way of breaking whatever it was between them off?
She doubted it. He wasn't that type of guy. He would show regardless of the outcome of the situation.
It was coming close to 9pm when she finally saw his truck pull up into a parking slot next to her vehicle. Her heart leapt in her throat as she saw him step from the truck. It was dark now, had been dark for over an hour; the fall had brought with it night at an early hour. He appeared content enough as he walked toward her building.
The bad feeling in her stomach settled slightly.
Moments later her buzzer rang. She was already at the door, buzzing him in. Swinging open her front door she peered out into the hallway, waiting for him to emerge from the staircase.
He hadn't noticed her watching him until he was almost to her door. Looking up he gave her a broad smile. "I'm sorry about being so late, my cell died and I got caught –"
His smile was all she needed to see or hear from him. Faith didn't give him an opportunity to say anything else. She leapt into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck, kissing him hard on the lips.
"Mmm, now if this is what I'm going to get for being late then you're not giving me much motivation to be early," he teased, pulling away to look at her.
The twinkle of amusement that Faith loved to see was evident in his eyes. "What happened after I left?" she demanded. "I've been worried..."
He gave her a reassuring squeeze before releasing her fully. "Let's go inside, I think I'm starting to get high from being out in your hallway." He gave her a swat on the behind to usher her in.
Faith had to agree the smell of pot was especially strong tonight, though it being Friday night had a fair amount to do with that.
Closing the door and locking it behind them, Tony followed Faith into her little living room. He seated himself next to her on the futon. "We should order a pizza, I still haven't had a chance to eat."
Faith waved her hand in front of him, dismissing the idea for the moment. There were more pressing matters in her mind. "After you tell me what's going on."
"About what?" Tony leaned back on the sofa, giving her a wink. His teasing was rewarded with a pillow being thrown at his chest.
"Jerome. School," Faith prompted, tucking her jean-clad legs under her as she watched his expression.
"Oh. That." Tony waved his hand in the air nonchalantly as if it were an issue of very little importance that wasn't even worth mentioning. "Well," he paused in thought, "order the pizza and I'll tell you."
"Fine." Faith glared at him for a moment, which caused Tony to laugh. Hurrying over to the telephone she dialled a phone number she knew off by heart. Daddy Gino's, easily the best pizza in the area, and they were quick.
"Done," she announced, scurrying back to the futon.
As she passed by him, Tony reached out and pulled her down so she was sitting across his lap.
Faith sighed as she wrapped her arms behind his neck and snuggled tight against him. Despite her anxiety and insistence to know what happened she felt her body come to life next to him. She pushed the desire deep down. First thing was first. She wanted answers.
"Everything is fine," he finally announced to her relief.
"Everything is fine?" she echoed.
"I admitted that you were indeed my girlfriend. Our relationship developed over the past couple weeks as a result of meeting you at the campus."
"Girlfriend," Faith parroted. She could feel the smile forming on her lips. She supposed that meant he defined the relationship for them.
"Unless of course you’re not. Then we'll have to go see Jerry on Monday and explain to him that you have a teacher fetish."
Faith laughed before leaning down and brushing her lips against his. "Perhaps I do."
Tony pulled back, grinning. "In that case, your new instructor in the shop is going to be a very happy senior citizen."
"New teacher?" Faith eyed him hoping he was joking, but this time knowing he wasn't.
"That was the deal. I get a slap on the wrist, with a formal written warning in my file since my record has been pristine thus far and my student reviews each semester are some of the highest at the college. We’re consenting adults so that was in our favour, but if you hadn’t been an adult this wouldn’t have happened to begin with. So because of our relationship I cannot administer or grade any of your work, so you’re going to need to redo all tests I administered and graded, both in the classroom and in the shop. They were very firm on that.”
Faith groaned inwardly. That was a lot of re-studying, but then again she’d need to re-study for the final and certifications anyhow. She could definitely live with that.
“You continue to take classes with me as normal, but for the shop you're being reassigned to Fred Jerkins and all tests have to be passed in to Fred and graded by Fred. Oh and we're to agree never to have any type of sexual contact in my office or on campus again. If anything gets reported and proven then I’ll be terminated, they were very clear on that, too."
"Hmm, I suppose I could live with that." She was somewhat disappointed to lose Tony in the shop. He was the best. She didn't feel that way because of her feelings for him, it was the truth. Plain and simple.
"You will have to see Jerry to sign a statement verifying what I told them when you go to class Monday."
Boy
, that won't be awkward or anything, Faith thought but kept that to herself. To Tony she smiled, raised an eyebrow at him and confirmed, "Girlfriend, huh?"
"Unless you want to trade me in for Freddy."
"Hmm, perhaps later in the semester," Faith teased, capturing his lips with her own.
Tony laughed under her lips as he pulled her tight.
Sometimes things really do happen for a reason…
Epilogue
Nine months later
"And the final diploma for the welding course and for the evening goes to the class valedictorian, Faith Veates," a voice announced over the loudspeaker of the college auditorium.
Faith rose from her seat in the first row of a graduating class of one hundred and fifty students and strode across the stage. The lights were near blinding, so she was unable to see into the crowd, but she knew where he was. She could feel Tony's eyes on her as she walked across the stage in her red and white gown and cap.
She felt a crazy mixture of pride, embarrassment and anxiety as she reached Dean Winderspoon. She was the first female to graduate from the welding course at her particular school and the first welder to achieve the distinction of being valedictorian. Aside from the day she had first set foot into the class and met Tony, it was the best day of her life.
Dean Winderspoon shook her hand as they both posed for pictures with large smiles on their faces, as was previously rehearsed. Once he released her hand he ushered her up to the microphone to give her speech.
Faith paused for a moment, paralyzed with fear. Speaking in public was very far down the list of her skills and abilities. She scanned the crowd and finally caught sight of him, sitting in the second row toward the left of the stage. Tony's grey eyes locked onto hers and he gave her a nod of reassurance.
You can do this, his voice echoed in her mind from last night's pep talk.
Taking a deep breath, Faith began her acceptance speech...
The End
If you’d like to find out what happens to Faith 10 years down the road then check out “Melting Point” available now.
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Excerpt from
Melting Point
By
Terry Towers
Available Now
Chapter 1
Faith tossed the used stick aside, snatched up another, tightened it up into the welding gun then went back to work. She'd been slaving on the overhead weld for a couple of hours now, but she was almost finished. Finally.
Currently she was positioned on her back, under a large cylinder, which was suspended in the air a mere two and a half feet above her. She found herself thankful she wasn't claustrophobic. She doubted someone with claustrophobia would last long as a welder. Since she was a female, a petite one at that, she was always the lucky one selected for the shit assignments.
In truth, it made sense. She couldn't expect a two hundred pound man to squeeze into the tiny areas that some jobs required. Not when her compact body could fit, not comfortably, but fit nonetheless. She’d made peace with the fact that that was how it was going to be for as long as she was in this profession.
Sparks continued to fly, littering her body, burning into her leather welding jacket.
"Damn it!" Faith cursed, but refused to flinch and ruin the string of weld as a stray spark happened to worm its way under her helmet and onto the tiny patch of exposed skin the jacket collar failed to cover. It burned for just a moment or two before extinguishing itself.
"That's going to leave a scar," she murmured as she continued on with her string, not missing a beat.
"Done," she announced to no one in particular, while flipping up her helmet's visor to get a good look at her work. Setting down the welding gun she examined the weld. "Another great job, beautifully done, Veates," she praised herself.
She had no doubt the inspector would clear her welds. There were no visual defects. She seriously doubted they would fail any other type of inspection either. She was damned good at what she did; the fact she loved the job was just an added bonus.
Satisfied, she wriggled her way out from under the massive cylinder, pulling her equipment along with her.
As she cleared the cylinder she welcomed the fresh spring air. Sitting up and rummaging through her toolbox, she snatched up a plastic bottle of water. Flipping the lid open, she drank deeply, until the bottle was empty. She tossed the empty bottle back into the toolbox and looked around. Many of the men were already finished with their tasks for the day, but were not permitted to leave until the end-of-day inspections. As a result, they would spend roughly the last half hour of their shift lounging around until five o'clock hit.
Five o'clock. Quitting time.
As she gathered up her equipment, she could feel a presence behind her. Turning around she looked up to see Brian Underwood standing nearby. While most of the men were fine with her working there – many even welcomed her with open arms – Brian was an entirely different issue altogether. It was a male-only company before she’d arrived, and he had liked it that way. He wasn't shy about making that known either.
He was what people commonly referred to as a “man's man.” The majority of the men working with United Welding looked up to him. He was the bachelor of the company who always had some wild, raunchy sex story to share. She would have bet money most of his stories were works of fiction. The way he talked, a person would be led to believe that he had dozens, correction hundreds, of women lined up just begging to be banged by him.
"It's about time you got finished – thought we'd be stuck here all weekend waiting for you to finish up," he commented with a smirk. He said it as a joke, but there was no mistaking the look in his eyes. The look told her that he felt she didn't belong there.
Condescending dickwad, was Faith's mental response. What she said aloud was simply, "Taking the extra time to do a job right means it won't have to be redone."
He paused, started to say something, stopped himself, turned and walked off in the direction of a group of men – the same men she’d noticed earlier lounging around one of the company's pick-up trucks.
She was almost finished packing her equipment up, when she felt someone else behind her. With an exhausted sigh, she spun around to come face to face with the new guy. Trent, she believed his name was.
She couldn't help herself from looking him up and down. He was a solid foot taller than her, with dark hair and eyes. She had to admire his strong build. She also found her eyes lingering over his broad shoulders, covered with a tight-fitting, red t-shirt with United Welding printed across the front in bold white letters. His powerful thighs were clad in faded blue jeans. When her gaze finally reached his face, she noticed it had grown a couple of shades redder. His lips wore a slightly embarrassed smile. Evidently he hadn't missed her blatant evaluation of him.
Perhaps I'm picking up some of the guys’ undesirable habits? she mused. The inability to ogle discreetly. Before I know it I’ll be belching and farting in public, if I don’t watch myself. Okay, maybe it won’t get that bad.
"Don't pay any mind to my brother, he was born an asshole."
She smiled weakly, feeling a blush color her fair skin. "I never do. Won't start now."
"I'm Trent, by the way," he said, extending his hand to her.
"Faith," she responded with a smile.
Pulling her welding gloves off and tossing them into her toolbox she took his hand. His handshake was firm and seemed to linger just that extra moment longer. As he pulled his hand away she felt a stirring in her stomach. The stirring demanded more of his touch, but she pushed it down deep and with force. Faith wasn't about to break one of her cardinal rules for any man, regardless of how attracted she seemed to be to him.
The cardinal rule was simple. Never, ever get involved with the men you work with. Ever. If you did you were simply begging
for trouble.
Been there, done that, won't be doing it again. Being the interloper was one thing. Being that interloper who slept around was a dozen times worse.
They continued watching each other, sharing a tense, awkward moment, before he gave her a final smile, nodded and sauntered off. She watched as he walked away, paying close attention to his sexy, tight ass under the denim.
She had just finished packing up her things and was in the process of removing the elastic from her sweat- and dirt-filled shoulder-length, chocolate brown hair when she heard the foreman’s announcement for everyone to be ready for inspections of their work. Brian had been the one working closest to her, a mere few yards away. Quickly he manned his station. He could have been on the other end of the work site and it would still have been too close for her liking.
She watched as the inspector went from person to person ensuring that everyone's welds were up to code. He inspected Brian's work directly before Faith’s. Even though she tried not to look or eavesdrop, she couldn't help herself. She wasn't close enough to him to hear everything, but she was able to hear him being told his work was horseshit and he would need to gouge it out and redo it first thing Monday morning.
Serves the asshole right for rushing through his work then having the balls to ridicule me.
Faith found that she was smiling despite herself, so she looked away for fear Brian would notice she had heard what the inspector had said.
Head down, eyes straight ahead.
She was next.
The inspector was a small, pudgy man, perhaps an inch or two taller than her 5'2. He wore thick, black, horn-rimmed glasses. She watched as he visually inspected her work, making notes on the pad he carried with him. He was one of the few men on the site who didn’t seem to take notice of the fact she was a woman.
