Diving Deep (UK Crush #2)

Chapter 43

The buildings were beautiful and obviously very old, given the size of the trees which were everywhere.

"Have you ever been here?" I asked Teddy as we walked along, looking for the picturesque sounding Willowbrook Glade Building.

He turned to me. "Are you fucking kidding? What reason would I have to ever come to a place like this? I think these buildings would crack to their foundations if someone with my accent even spoke inside them," he said. I nudged his arm with my shoulder, smiling.

We continued to walk, holding hands, looking at the map on my phone from time to time. We finally found Willowbrook Glade and entered, our footsteps echoing on the predictably marbled floors. The building was even more beautiful on the inside than the outside, if that was possible, and I was reminded of the scene from Billy Elliot, when Billy and his father go to the school for his audition, and they wander the halls, just staring, completely at a loss.

The whole placed reeked of class and breeding, from top to bottom. At least at USC, there was a little bit of real life seeping in around the edges; a jock running in to see his girlfriend, someone laughing as she dropped a pile of copies she'd made for a class, or the orchestra playing the theme from "The Simpsons" just for fun.

I got the feeling that nothing happened in this building just for fun. Everyone spoke in hushed tones, and everything was Very Serious. And I knew, without looking, that Teddy was extremely uncomfortable.

We found Dr. Allen's office on the third floor with no problem and sat in the waiting room, talking to each other in soft tones, and, as I had known would happen, I spent most of the time calming Teddy down rather than the opposite.

"Stop fidgeting, everything's fine," I soothed, grabbing his hand from his mouth, where he was chewing on the edge of his thumb, and holding it in my own. He started jittering his leg up and down, and I put the hand that was holding his on top of it to hold it down.

He looked at me and smiled. I smiled back. 'Relax,' I mouthed at him, squeezing his hand. He squeezed back.

"Where do you want to go for lunch?" I asked him, trying to take his mind off his surroundings.

"I dunno," was his response. "What do you feel like?"

"Um, someplace outside?" I suggested. "So we can enjoy the sunshine? Maybe someplace by the river? How does that sound?"

"Yeah, good," he responded. I couldn't tell if he'd even heard me.

At that moment the door to Dr. Allen's office opened, and the man himself stepped out.

"Hello, you must be Aileen," he said with a smile, extending his hand.

"Yes, I'm Aileen Foster," I responded, extending my own hand. "Very nice to meet you, Dr. Allen." He looked a little older than I thought he would; I knew he was twenty-nine, but he already had a little bit of gray at his temples. His hair was black, his eyes blue, and he was a little bit shorter than Teddy. He had a very nice smile, and a friendly countenance in general.

"Please, call me Richard," he said, his accent very posh, very Albus Dumbledore. He turned to Teddy. "And who have we here?"

"This is Theo Shelley, my boyfriend. I'm staying at his house here in London while I prepare for my audition, using his piano, his everything, actually. He'll be chauffeuring me here most weeks and just being generally indispensable, so I thought you two should meet," I said with a smile.

"Very happy to meet you," Teddy said, extending his hand.

"Likewise, I'm sure, Mr. Shelley. How lovely for Aileen to have someone she can depend on for everything during her time here in London.