Brad got his call later that night as promised. After Shay hung up on him at school she immediately started packing for that weekend while Brad answered Tristan's questions on how the conversation went. Alex drove Shay to the bus station later that afternoon, they hugged goodbye and Shay left for London.
Brad spent that whole afternoon waiting for her to call. He wasn't too keen on their so called 'break' that Shay had supposedly put in place, but he just guessed that if they phoned each other regularly while she was gone that when she came back, it would be as if she never left and as if the break never happened.
The call to Brad was the last thing on Shay's mind upon arriving in London late that night. Her father picked her up and brought her to their new house that Shay had been egging to see. They had a room set up for her in the large roomy house, as if they were trying to make the visit (more or less the future move) more comforting. Shay's mother was hysterical to see her and demanded to know how things with her and Brad were going. Shay left out the break part, alongside the James part, and the fight parts, Brad's family part and the drunk part and- well lets just say Shay left out A LOT of parts.
Once dinner was all finished and her parents were ready for bed, Shay locked herself in her room and gave in to calling Brad. It was a later time than what she originally had planned to call him at, and was surprised that Brad had picked up almost straight away. It was as if he were waiting right by the phone for her call.Which Brad shamefully was. He had done nothing all afternoon except fight some more with his parents and didn't feel up for anything else. He was worried more than anything about him and Shay, that's where his mind was majority of the afternoon. Brad hoped that the call would give him a peace of mind about whether they were okay or not.
He tried to answer as casually as he could, and Shay laughed at his attempt to cover up his quite evident nervousness.
"Don't laugh, I just don't want to say the wrong thing." Brad playfully argued back, his palms sweating while he did so.
"I don't even know what we're supposed to say, let alone what we shouldn't." Shay answered back, she too was nervous, just not as much as Brad. Shay was second guessing the call as soon as she made it, how would it encourage their so called break that she implied in the first place?
They spoke briefly for ten minutes before Shay apologised for calling so late. She told him that she would text him tomorrow to tell him how the tours went. Brad noticed the distance in her voice since the beginning off the call but just brushed it off as nerves. Brad said goodbye with an 'I love you' and Shay mumbled it back quietly, suddenly regretting the call in the first place. This was not what a break should look like, both Brad and Shay knew that.
The next day Shay woke surprisingly peacefully. Her parents were already awake when she trudged downstairs, eager for breakfast. Shay's dad was sipping coffee in the lounge room while watching the news and her mother was waiting patiently by the toaster, picking at her nails. Shay made her way into the kitchen and opened up a cupboard in which she assumed the mugs and cups were kept in.
"Top left." Shay's mother pointed out. Shay walked to the said cupboard and grabbed a mug. She then made her way over to the coffee pot, poured herself some and began drinking.
"Look at you, all grown up." Her mother smiled, popping her toast up as she spoke.
"I'm the same age as I was when you saw me a few weeks ago." She shrugged at her mother as she buttered her pieces of toast.
"It's just weird seeing you drinking coffee like a real adult, you used to hate the stuff."
"That was before I knew what a senior assignment due date was and that all-nighters were an actual thing." Shay sipped her coffee some more.
"Bloody oath." Shay's father came into the kitchen and placed his mug into the empty sink. "So, what's the plan for today?"Shay quickly looked at the wall clock as she tried to remember the specific open times and tours for the two universities that she was supposed to be visiting today.
"UCL is at 9:30 and we have to be at The university of London by 12." She quickly explained.
"Well you better get ready, peak hour traffic is a bitch here." Her dad answered. Shay quickly nodded, sculled the rest of her coffee and ran upstairs to get ready for the day.
During the drive to University College London, Shay began regretting sculling that coffee. Not only was her tongue burnt but she was busting for the toilet majority of the drive. Her father made light conversation in which Shay returned. Her mother didn't tag along due to work commitments, but she promised to make it up to Shay while she was here.
The UCL tour consisted of Shay excusing herself to pee, getting lost while trying to catch up to the tour group and barely seeing any of the campus. UCL was based around one large white building with massive pillars at the front, and their library seemed just as big. They had a few courses that Shay wouldn't mind looking into, but none that overly tickled her fancy. Her father stocked up on brochures and off they went to the next university.
They arrived at the university of London by 12:10, giving them a few extra minutes to grab another coffee on campus and look around themselves. The University of London was overly massive. It was a downsized version of Hogwarts. In fact- it may have been the exact size of Hogwarts. It was of a rectangle layout with castle like buildings connecting together. There was a large clock tower and glass artwork in the windows. Shay was won over.
Shay and her father made their way over to where a large group of what seemed to be future students. Upon their arrival towards the group, a lady with large frizzy hair approached the both of them, holding a folder.
"Name?" She directed to Shay, obviously not asking her father as he wouldn't even be on the list.
