Away From the Spotlight (10 page)

“Wish I was there keeping al
l those other men away from u.”

“What men?”

“Liar.”

“Hey!”

“U honestly expect me
2
believ
e ur standing there by urself?”

“
Y
not?”

“There’s no way.”

“All rt.  U win.  But I’m not interested in any of them.  Promise.  I’m here 4
Rachael
’s sake.  I’ll b going home soon.  Alone. 
Rachael
, on the other hand . . .”

“
Rachael
’s not my concern.  U r.  I know we haven’t talked about it, but I was hoping u wouldn’t want 2 date others @ this pt.”

“I don’t.  Feel better now?”

“Yes.  U had me worried.”

“Don’t b.  I
’ll c u tomorrow.  I can’t w8.”

“Me 2.”

I would not have guessed that my coming here would upset
Will
.
  He couldn’t
possibly
have thought
that, after last weekend,
I would be out trolling for my next victim.  True, we had only been together less than a week,
and had not discussed any exclusivity
.  N
ever
theless,
considering the way I acted and the things I said, he should have known better.

Then, of course,
my
paranoia
started to
kick in - I noticed
that
he
said
he hoped that
I
wouldn’t want to date others.  There was no mention of him not doing so.
 
I
am
going to have to relax.  Everything w
ill
work out the way it
i
s goi
ng to work out whether I obsess
about it or not.

I turned back to
Rachael
and my new friends
,
and tried to enjoy the rest of my evening.

When I got home from school
on Thursday
, I showered and dressed.
This
time
, I
packed a
long blue and gold
silk nightgown for my stay. 
I c
ould
n’t imagine that I was all that attractive in an oversized t-shirt
the previous
weekend
and was determined to make a better appearance
.

I was a half
-
hour early even after stopping at the gas station
and to pick up
a bottle of wine.

C
olin let me in and I
watched soccer on TV
with Gemma
,
Kate
and him
for a f
ew minutes in the family room.

“Where’s Stephen?”
I asked.

“Work,” Kate replied, not exp
a
nding on the
answer.

“
I don’t mean to be antisocial, but I’ve got finals coming up. 
I’m going to study for a little bit while I’m waiting for
Will. 
I’ll see you all later.”

As I walked into the back of the house, I thought I heard Colin say, “Did she really just say ‘you all’?  Wo
nder if she’s from the South?”

That made me laugh. 
Boy, they really d
o
n’t hang out with enough Americans.

I
started to review my notes for
the
closing argument
I was going to give the next day.
  Seven o’clock came and went. 
Seven-thirty came and went.
By
s
even forty-five
, I was going out of my mind. 
A few minutes later,
I
finally
heard Will’s voice coming from the family room, headed
in
what sounded to be
my
way.
I piled up my papers, put them on the table and made it about halfway to the door before Will walked in
side the room and
shut the door quickly behind him
.  He
was kissing me and walking me back toward the bed before I could
even
say
“
hello.
”

“That was the most
excruciating
four days of my life,”
Will
said as I
cuddled into him
with my arm across
and my head on his bare chest. 
“I can’t tell you how many times you almost had me on your doorst
ep in the middle of the night. 
I am so sorry I was late.
 
I practically ran out of my meeting when we were
finished
. 
I should
’
ve called, but didn’t want to waste
time trying to find my phone.”

“
I was a little
on the
anxious
side
myself.
You
’ve
r
eally swep
t
me off my feet.
”  My tone became serious.
 
“
But I have to ask you
something. 
Why
me
?
You treat me like I am th
e greatest thing in the world. 
I am
so
not.
You must
see
that.  I am just an ordinary girl like thousands, millions
even
,
in L.A.”

“You
are
not
ordinary.  Can you really not see it?  I knew it from the moment I saw you walk into the
Royalist
. 
Everyone in the
entire
room
turned around to look at you a
nd when you were talking to me, they were all wishing they were me.
W
hen you spoke
to me
,
you were so clever and so
much fun
.
And i
t’s
been
so nice
just
to
be
normal
with you.”

“
Normal
?  You call private rooms at the
Royalist
, catered lunches at your house, luxury suites at Staples Center and
being on friendly terms with
rock stars
normal?  I had known you just over 48 hours when I slept with you for the first time.  I don’t know what normal is to you, but this is
not
normal for me.”

“
I
didn’t mean
to show off
. 
I just wanted to
do things right and to
share those things with you.  As for sleeping with me, I
’
m not going to let you apologize for
that
.  I
’
ve never been so attracted to anyone in my life and we fit together that way perfectly. 
You
may have thought it was soon, but I can’t believe
I
kept
myself in check for more than two whole days
with you
.  I don’t think I ever want to wait another
four
again.”

With that, he
kissed me
and we were o
ff
to Round Two.

We emerge
d
from the bedroom about an hour later and had managed to put ourselves back together enough that it wasn’t too obvious what we had been doing.  I remembered that I had brought a bottle of wine and took it out to offer to the gang.  With six people, we all
received
almost a
full
glass.  Stephen and Kate shared one of the recliners, Colin and Gemma sat on the couch
,
Will sat
on the floor
up against the edge of the other recliner
,
and
I
sat
back against
Will
.

“It’s so nice to see you again,”
Gemma offered.  “This is the first time we’ve seen Will smile all week.”
  I could feel Will flinch
slightly
like he was embarrassed.

We didn’t sit around talking long.  Every
time the conversation turned to the events of Will’s week without me, the subject changed.  Finally, Will
stood
up, point
ed
at me
and
said, “This one has class in the morning.  We
’d
better get to sleep.”

Once in the bedroom,
I
put on the
blue
and gold silk nightgown I
had
brought.

“Much better than the t-shirt, but you look
beautiful
in everything and
especially
nothing
. 
Y
ou didn’t really think you were going to look that good and keep it on long
though
, did you?”

Luckily, I didn’t have to leave at the crack of dawn again.  My class wasn’t until
ten
and I had a change of clothes with me so I didn’t have to go home first.  I got up around 7:30, brushed my teeth, climbed into the shower, and was joined shortly thereafter by Will. 
I
knew
that
getting up a little early would be a good idea.

As we were getting dressed, Will asked, “Let me drive you to
class
?
  I’ll get to be with you a little longer that way.
  I don’t have to be anywhere until later this morning.
”

Unfortunately, I realized that this wouldn’t work.  “If you do, I won’t be able to get to work
D
owntown and then back to meet you at the end of the day.  Why don’t you meet me
instead
for drinks
after work
?”

Will
agreed
to meet me at my office at
five-thirty
, curious to see where I worked and with whom after I told him they were almost all male
.

The day somewhat flew by – Nell and I both d
id
fairly well in our mock
closing argument
s
so we were pretty pleased with ourselves.  I actually was
somewhat
confident for once that I might get an honors grade in the class.

When I
arrived at
work, I asked the three
associate
s
who
were my closest friends
, John,
Max
and Da
niel
, to
join Will and me for drinks
after work. 
Daniel was closest in age to me, only a year older,
had lighter hair and a broader build than Max and John, and was very vivacious, but without the sarcastic tone of Max.  My three friends
agreed
to come out that evening with Will and me
.  They wanted to get a load of the new guy I was dating.  I
then realized
that this w
as going to
be awkward.  Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea that I introduce
Will
to my friends so soon.  I
asked
Rachael
to join us as well
, but she was leaving early to
visit
her mother in Newport Beach for the weekend.

Our
sixty-some-year-old
receptionist
called
me when Will arrived. 
When I arrived to greet him, h
e was wandering around reception,
examining
the
original
art
work lining
the wall
s.

Will
looked gorgeous in a trendy blue suit and white button
-
up shirt, unbuttoned at the top with no tie.  I
led
him back to my relatively small office
decorated in
mahogany modular furniture and hunter green fabric client chairs.  The one thing my office had going for it was a pretty good view, looking west over Los Angeles.  On the rare days it was clear, you could
almost
see the ocean in the distance. 
Will
closed the door behind us
and kissed me. 
After o
nly a few
seconds
,
there was a knock at my door
-
Max
, no doubt.