Chapter Two
Teddy was walking, well strutting would suit him better. He hadn't always been confident, it had been something that he'd grown into, football helped a lot, unlike the wealth that many of his other friends used for faith in themselves, that faith was laced in fear, his confidence was backed with physical strength and family assurance. He strolled around the Harvard campus, trying to learn the quickest gravel paths and most frequented places, the place wasn't overly populated yet, since he was trying to settle into the environment before the school actually opened for lectures. The grounds were big and old and beautiful, with snippets of modernization, he found himself melting into the campus background, enjoying the shadow of it's vastness.
It has been his ambition ever since he'd found out his own Father, the great Christian Grey, had dropped out of the old establishment to attend Harvard. It always irked him that his Father was in the text books in commerce classes, beside entrepreneurs and such who made it big without a formal education along side Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gate, his father; Christian Grey, the three most famed Harvard drop outs.
But Teddy wasn't going to Harvard to follow in his father's footsteps, no he was much too stubborn for such pranks, he was going to one up his Father and leave Harvard with a degree. It was one-part his own ambition and one-part his Mother's determination that he'd have a good education, and that just made him want to get a solid degree even more. He wanted to make his Mother proud. And deep down he wanted to be the ready for the day his father stepped down from the corporation he'd built up from nothing.
The campus was beautiful, the weather not so much, it was a cloudy day but the clammy heat of summer was still lingering. Teddy dressed in beige kaki pants and that rich crimson, Harvard football tee-shirt. He shouldn't have stood out in the crowd of students finding their way around Campus as they moved into student accommodation and familiarized themselves with the buildings. But, Teddy did stand out, Teddy stood out everywhere he went.
The attention first began with his body; Teddy was intimidatingly tall, his shoulders wide and strong, his hip narrow but his legs thick and strong with muscle. Secondly he was deadly handsome with dark, copper colored hair that was never sat in place and made him look so naturally alluring, his lips where wide and set in an crooked knowing smile along with his staggering blue eyes, he was a younger version of his father. Thirdly, to top it off, Teddy Grey's signature style worked for him, he reeked money with his plentiful designer fashions, but he wore causal wear more often than formal, unlike many of the trust fund baby's running around Harvard, yet even with the newest fashions he always looked like he just rolled out of bed, or had crazy mind blowing sex, and everyone had envied his style in high school and Teddy didn't mean to change who he'd grown into for university.
He was on his way to meet his friend at the campus Starbuck's when his phone started ringing, he yanked it out of his low pockets and seen 'Ava' scripted at teh top of his phone's screen and the picture of his pretty, geeky, blond cousin that she hated, he answered it immediately smirking wide.
"For a while there I thought Stanford has eaten you up" Teddy chuckled, Ava had chosen to follow their grandfather and study to be a Lawyer. It suited her fact driven bookworm side along with her need for ultimate justice in everything, or at least that's what Teddy thought. Ava always said she thought it would be cool to have a family member be a mentor.
He heard his cousin's soft whisper, "Teddy, I'm in the library, I'm sorry I didn't make it home for Aunt Ana's birthday. I only just now remembered now I hadn't told you I wasn't able to go," she whispered, Teddy frowned remembering that he arrived home after a six hour flight and his favorite cousin wasn't there, classes had started in Stanford but wouldn't in Harvard till another week. And he'd hauled ass across country for his Mother's birthday and she didn't make the short slight up from California to Seattle.
"I figured it was important, Kate said you've been 'missing in action' since you moved to California," was Teddy's short reply, in truth he wasn't happy with his cousin, she only had a short flight while he had a monstrous one from the east coast, he had been excited to chat to her about the colleges and her classes, waiting to knew everything so he'd be more prepared fro his own which were looming int he near future.
Teddy arrived at the Coffee house but didn't want walk into the building on the phone choosing instead to lean on the red bricked wall and people watched. He heard a door close in the other end of the phone call. "Look" Ava's voice was back to normal volume, clearly she'd left the library in a rush to talk to him. "Don't get all moody on me I've already been overloaded with work," he heard her sigh dramatically, he imagined her pushing her dark blond hair our of her face, "Besides I rang to ask if you figured it out yet?" she asked swiftly curiosity clearly lacing her tone.
Teddy couldn't stay angry at Ava for long and laughed, "No I haven't figured out the age of my lovely mother yet," he shook his head humored, "I swear nineteen years on this earth and we're still coming up blank," Ava giggled as Teddy laughed merrily, all bad blood washed away with humor.
"Oh I've met someone," She boasted Teddy rolled his eyes as he laughed at her announcement he'd met several people trying to make connections for when lectures started, he'd assumed she was finding herself a place in Stanford too. "A boy," Ava corrected, Teddy surrender to silence from shock "His name is Nicolas, he's half German." She paused waiting for Teddy to say something, but he still couldn't believe his geeky little cousin was talking boys for the first time in her life "and amazing in bed" she added quickly in a hushed tone.
Teddy scoffed regaining his cool, "Yeah, right!" He admitted sarcastically, "The day you just randomly have sex with someone is the day I fall for a girl!" He chuckled confidently running a lazy hand through his hair as he eye'd a slim brunette strutting pass in loud heels.
Ava made a protesting noise before he heard someone call her in the back ground "Look I've got to go, a german's calling my name" she whispered through a giggle, "text me, okay?" She hung up with out any farewells.
Teddy concluded that Ava, although busy with university may have ditched her aunts birthday for an opportunity with a crush, a German crush called Nicolas. Teddy sighed deeply and entered the coffee house, inside it was quiet, he nodded friendly to the group he was meeting up with and queued to order. After he got his coffee he sat next to Sam, who greeted him with a smirk while the rest of the group are chattering about their gap years and the promise of going out again on Friday night. He was glad that the university had sent out a list of the other class members emails so that while they were getting used to their surrounds in Cambridge they could meet up and get to know each other.
He was also thrilled that Derek had set up the first meeting so he didn't have to got to the pains of figure out which name to randomly select to e-mail, it didn't take Teddy long to figure out that the only people that attended any of Derek's meetings were all trust fund children or similar. At first he thought maybe Derek done that purposely, in the end it happened that the only students who came a early to Cambridge were ones who weren't on scholarship or weren't in the dorms which hadn't opened for first years yet.
Sam Garcia and Derek Whitaker shared a few of Teddy's own modules for the semester, so he stuck closer to them. Both men where from very wealthy backgrounds. Derek's father being a huge man in the financial sector and as such the Whitaker's were based in New York City. While Sam linage were so deep set in real estate they owned many of the oldest properties in both North and South America, Teddy still hadn't pinpointed Sam's hometown since he chopped and changed his city or country of preference so swiftly. But both of Teddy's quickly made friends were used to attention and limelight that came attached to being the children of a successful family, and that common ground along with their good humor and easy going manners brought the trio together.
Teddy found that he never really had to explain who he was like Sam did sometimes, people just knew who he was. But unlike in high school or even just in Seattle in general, people weren't all that bothered with his presence, he was just an other student in Harvard, not city royalty.
Teddy found himself agreeing to going out again, the first event he'd been wary, unsure that the lack of interest would last but he found himself being shadowed by football players, models, seniors and celebrities, he found himself opening up easily to the group and enjoying the circle he'd migrated into.
The taxi dropped the travel weary woman too her new apartment building, smiling she pulled out her smart phone and texted her landlord. She spent a moment to take in the immaculate surroundings of the street and the modern-ish building. The door of the apartment building opened suddenly and a middle aged man, with wild black hair emerged from the building smiling, waltzing her way "Victoria is it?" He asked happily. "Victoria Smith?" He asked again.
"Sure is," Victoria smiled excitedly walking up to shake his hands, her heavy suit case tugged behind her. "Did the furniture get here before me?" she asked curiously, the man nodded, turning to the doors again.
"Yeah, they set it up where I told them, nice stuff you got" he added taking her heavy suit case and holding the door open for her. "It's Lance in case you've forgotten" he smirked, but Victoria had remembered.
"Thanks," Victoria flicked her messy blond hair out of her face. "So I have a bed at least?" She asked with a laugh, walking over to the lift. "This is brilliant, fourth floor right?" She declared taking in the large lobby and pretty landscaped pinned to the walls.
"Yeah," Lance nodded, "on the right is the stair well, so how was your flight" he added stepping into the lift, Lance was easy to talk to over the phone and Victoria was glad he was the same in person.
Victoria shrugged, "I slept my way through it" she grinned fixing her cheap floral sun dress on her legs, she'd changed in the airports restrooms after leanring how much warning it was here than in Ireland. "Some beer, some nuts and I was out for the count" she laughed, so did Lance.
As the lift doors opened Lance spoke "Not that it matters to you but pets have been banned from the building," Victoria nodded, as much as she would love a little dog she knew it was too much responsibility for a student. She followed Lance to a door, he opened the apartment and keyed in a code into the alarm quickly before turning to see Victoria step into the apartment. "You're code is 1234 for now, if you read the manual you can change it, I would advice you do" he pointed out quickly, Victoria nodded and took in her new spacious apartment.
First thing you see was a massive open planned living and dining room, the large black stone and oak kitchen was blocked off with a half wall made into to a kitchen bar. The only pieces of furniture where a long black three seater couch, a matching armchair, a bookshelf, a T.V stand, and a four person dining table. The floors through-out the apartment were oak so she had ordered everything to match. Victoria's books, clothes and more personal things should be arriving by tomorrow morning, she didn't feel comfortable leaving them in the hands of her landlord.
"Wow, the place looks good" She smiled at Lance who smiled right back.
"We put the desk and bigger book shelf in the spare bedroom since you only got one bed, I assumed that what you were going to use that room for a study" Lance explained walking down that hall opening the studies door, Victoria had planned to buy a treadmill and put it in there too. "The bathrooms are like the kitchen, doesn't need anything more fitted in, oh it's an electric shower." He explained leading her through the house, "And you're bedroom" he added pushing open the door, showing off Victoria's massive queen bed, "that's one big bed you've bought," he pointed out winking at her, it made her insides cringe. "I lay on it for a bit, it's seriously comfy," he grinned a dirty smile "Bet you'll have loads of fun in here over the school year." He chuckled and with an other wink pushed open the en-suite bathroom. Victoria decided she should keep her distance from Lance.
"So you took the rent for this month from the account I gave you, and I'm going to use that account for all my other bills too" Victoria explained to Lance walking away from the bedroom into the living room, when she turned around she caught the perverted thirty something years old man staring at her Mediterranean tanned legs. "So I guess I wont be seeing you unless I get stuck," she smiled, trying to make a statement.
Lance nodded pulling a card from his back pocket. "This is my work number if you can't get through to the personal one I've given you, call about anything. Most of the tenets are students or interns, it can turn into quiet the party house at times, just so you've been warned in advanced. I'm not too bothered about the few parties but if you think someone is getting a little out of hand just let me know, I don't want to come back to the apartments destroyed." He smiled, so Lance basically told Victoria he couldn't care less what got on in the building, so long as it stayed in good condition. "I better get going, it was nice to meet you Victoria, your Dad was lucky to call me the day he did, these apartments go pretty fast once the University acceptance letters are out," she smiled at Lance before pulling out her phone.
"I'll call you if I have any problems," Victoria explained keying in his number casually, trying not to to catch his gaze for longer than needed.
Lance smiled, "call about anything at all" he grinned with an other wink closing the door behind him. Victoria shivered, putting him down as a middle aged creep, she quickly grabbed the manual and learning how to change the code of the alarm.
After she got that safely finished, she started a to-do list for the next few days. After she sorted out all the things that were coming tomorrow she still had to sort out getting wifi, a television, towels, pick up the car she and her Dad had chosen in the local Toyota Garage, figure out some good grocer shops, hairdresser and beauticians. The list just kept going on and she only had a week and a half till classes start. Victoria didn't even have time to contemplate the over the several e-mails she received from a Derek, apparently a classmate, who wanted all the students already at Cambridge to meet up for coffee for a get together, like really, who had the time.
Teddy was slowly making his way to one of the morning Crimson Football practices, his flatmate and childhood best friend Lucius was walking aside him heading towards the food hall. "I swear to god if an other girl winks at you I'm going to have to deflate your ego for you," was Lucius's sarcastic comment when a tall red head winked at his best friend.
"It's not my fault I'm blessed with all these good genes," Teddy grinned at his friend, "Look, why do you even care if they're interested, you've got Tessa snuggled up in her bed in Seattle waiting till Christmas to see you again" Teddy teased nudging Lucius's side with his gym bag.
Lucius snorted, "Tessa is more likely to be still out in The Dragon Club dancing her ass off with her friends," he pointed out, glancing at his Rolex watch to check the time difference.
Teddy nodded, he never said it to his friend before but he just didn't see him and Tessa lasting for a long time, she was a party girl who cared more about the next fashion show than her education. Teddy held nothing against the University of Washington since that's where his own mother had studied, but the idea that Tessa was going there to study the same course his mother did turn his stomach. But he didn't expect the firecracker Tessa to finish the degree, she'd danced herself into his life through Lucius and he was waiting patiently for her to sashay her hips right back out, he didn't need to voice his concerns.
"How are the trainings?" Lucius asked running his fingers through his shoulder length brown hair that had escaped from his loose knot.
Lucius's father, Mr Clancey, was the owners of one of the companies that worked along side Grey's Enterprise holdings, making him part of a wealthy business family that Christian Grey held at an utmost level respect. There were several companies that were part of the family all around the work, but Mr Clancey's business was the only corporation that shared Seattle for their corporations base city with Grey Enterprise Holding. Teddy had known Lucius all most of his life due to their father's close relationship that had grown only stronger through the years, but unlike Teddy, Lucius's rebellions hadn't truly ended in high school.
Lucius had grown his hair long, allowed his face to be smothered in a beard, never followed in his families tradition in playing Baseball and had a skinny form due to his reluctance to attend any events growing. He also hated structure and formalities that was forced upon him as a child now choosing causal clothes that made him look more like a hippy than a the lawyer that he was studying to be. Lucius had been accepted to Stanford and Harvard, but choose Harvard to be with Teddy but mostly because Stanford was his families school, both boys'; parents were thrilled that they would have each other's company in University, Mr Clancey a little less so but still proud.
Teddy fixed his bag's strap on his shoulder. "The trainings are hard," He admitted running his hand through his hair, wondering if he should have brushed it this morning. "Real hard, I'll never get to the standard of first string, I'd be lucky to be on the substitute lineup," Teddy chuckled lowly, Lucius laughed loudly.
"Sounds like our second year of high school when you said you were only trying out for the team to get girls. It wasn't for the game at all back then either, was it?" Lucius argued sarcastically as twin brunettes walked towards them, both done up as if they were ready to hit the town, one dressed in a short dress while the other was rocking a pair of short shorts and a crop top. "Jesus Teddy, what are you some sort of female magnet?" Lucius hissed under his breath adverting his gaze.
Teddy chuckled, "I didn't think I'd have as much attention here as I did in high school," Lucius snorted not buying that bullshit for a second.
"I'll see you back at the apartment" He stated punching Teddy in the shoulder, it barely hurt.
"Hi," The girl in the red dress greeted pulling off her huge expensive sunglasses "You're Theodore Grey right?" she asked, batting her fake eyelashes.
"It's Teddy," Teddy explained turning to face his quickly retreating friend. "We need a Stereo Luke, will you get one?"
Lucius spun so he was walking backwards, his book bag banging against his leg, "Whatever superstar," he admitted sarcastically "you get a pizza on your way back later!" Lucius called walking off.
Teddy rolled his eyes, neither of them would man up and do the grocery shopping. "Teddy is such a cute name," The girl in the shorts smiled touching his pale exposed muscular arm.
"You girls going out tomorrow night?" Teddy grinned, staring to walk with the girls either side of him giggling.
"We sure are, Stella and Trish are our names," she said pointing to her self and her friend "Maybe we'll see you out, Teddy" Stella gave him one last flirty smile before walking off.
Teddy grinned and ran a hand through his hair again as he watched them sashay off, before he turned and spotted Daniel with his friends at the entrance of the sports centre.
Daniel was one of the Crimson's personal trainers and turned out to be one of the few people on the team that Teddy could get on with. Most of the team were here on scholarships and were eat, sleep, football, party, repeat guys, Teddy was here for the education not the football at the end of the day and was finding it harder to find friends than he thought he would. Daniel was twenty two and already gotten his degree in physical training and just started his first year as trainer for the Crimson football team also. Daniel was still determined to move up the ladder of the Crimson training team, and Teddy was starting to believe his quickly made friend was talented enough to do it.
"Hey Daniel," Teddy greeted grinning at the muscular, tanned Texan. Teddy tried not to laugh at the black mess of bed hair on his head as Daniel broke from listening to the group surrounding him to glance his way.
"Well if it isn't my favorite Teddy bear," Daniel joked stepping over, "you're in for some serious pain this morning kid, you'll never be more appreciative of that massage room after the next few hours," he grinned punching Teddy's shoulder.
Teddy sighed unhappily, rubbing his shoulder, Daniel's punches were nothgin like Lucius. "Drinks tomorrow?" Teddy asked, Daniel grinned wide showing off all his teeth and chuckling. .
"Oh I thought you'd never ask pretty boy," Daniel gushed in his Texan drawl, batting his sun kissed eyelashes at him, they chuckled together as they walked through the red carpeted halls of the Harvard Crimson athletics Centre, people were everywhere and noise was constant and familiar, Teddy mightn't have found his people in the lineup of the Harvard Crimson yet, but the team still brought him back to earth. Here he wasn't Theodore Grey, heir of a mass fortune and corporation. No, here he was just Teddy, a new player, a wanna-be quarterback, and up to now, not really up to scratch, there were players he shared a changing room with that were epic, and he'd spent most of the last year putting his training to the sidelines.
"TEN minutes!" A rough hoarse voice echoed out.
"Your task is not to foresee the future, but to enable it," Citadelle or The Wisdom of the Sands (1948)
- Antoine de Saint Exupéry
Reviews are welcome...
