Away From the Spotlight (11 page)

The five of us walked the
few
blocks to
a local Irish Bar
with Will holding my hand.  W
ill
did not seem unnerved by the fact that
the guys
were
star
ing
at
him
intently trying to size
him
up.
 
Upon entering the bar, we headed to the back of the room where it was less crowded and stood against the bar.  Will
b
ought
the first
round of drinks.

During the initial
grill
ing
by
Max
and Da
niel
, Will gave
the spiel he had given me about having a flat in London, but working primarily here in L.A. for an American
c
ompany.  Will
succeeded in
dodg
ing
the particulars. 
Considering how well
Will
was dressed, it was obvious that
he
was fairly well off so
the guys
finally
left it alone.

Unfortunately, from there, the discussion
became embarrassing as the guys
started to
question
Will
about hi
s intentions toward me. 
While
I was talking to John briefly about how the Lakers were doing, I could hear
Max
tell Will how protective they all were toward me.  I cringed.  I looked over at Will and he smiled like it was the most ado
rable thing he had ever heard.
 
I returned to my conversation with John, but a few minutes later, I
noticed Will glance over at John unhappily
for some reason.

After about an hour or so,
Da
niel
mentioned that he had to get home to take his live-in girlfriend,
Suzie
, out to dinner. 
Max
said he had to leave as well.  John appeared reluctant when he said he had to go with them.  They
said their goodbyes and left tog
ether.  W
ill and I
remained.

I
felt
the overwhelming need to apologize at that moment. 
“I am so sorry
, e
specially about
Max
.  He means well.  He can be a little hardcore sometimes.”

“I understand and I liked them
actually
.  They’re smart
and
t
hey really care about you.
  It’s John I’m worried about though
.  H
e
fancies
you.”
  He looked at me like he was waiting for my reaction.

“You’re
crazy
.  He’s had the same girlfriend since high school.  He doesn’t think twice about me
other than as a little sister,” I responded a little shocked.

“That may
,
and I say may
,
be the case for
Max
and Da
niel
, but I don’t agree with you about John.  He looks at you like I’m sure I
probably do
.”

“
H
ow’s that?”

“Like I want to devour you.  Of course, lucky me, I get to do that later.”
  His eyes crinkled as he laughed.  I
barely
stifle
d
my swoon
.

Will drove me to my car and followed me home so I could
change
and drop off my car.  When we got up to my apartment, Will looked a little relieved that
my sister
was not home. 
Kelly
had left me a note
stating
that she and her boyfriend,
Matt
, were at the movies.  I
wrote on
the note that I would not be home most of the weekend.  I packed quickly as Will seemed to be in a hurry to get moving.

Since it was getting fairly late and we decided we wanted some alone time, we called
ahead to grab takeout Chinese f
ood from
my favorite place in Brentwood
. 
Will mentioned that it was his as well.  I thought at that moment that it was amazing that we hadn’t seen each other before we met since we liked so many of the same places.

When we arrived,
I was planning on hopping out of the car and running in, but we
found
a parking spot very close.  As we walked through the side of
the restaurant to the back to pick up
the takeout, we received more than a few stares, but man
aged to get in and out quickly.

“See, I told you that everyone stares at you wherever you go,” Will said with a smile that made me think that he was purposely misinterpre
ting the stares as being at me.

When we
arrived at
Will’s place, no one else was home so we had dinner in the dinette area near the family room.  I couldn’t resist the
s
picy Thai
p
eanut
n
oodles, my favorite, even though I knew I was g
oing to regret my breath later.

Will asked me about my week
since we hadn’t spent much time talking the night before. 
I gave him the
Cliff Notes
version of my very mundane week without mentioning how I spent the entire time trying to distract myself from counting t
h
e minutes
until I would see him again.

As I was just about to ask him the details of his week, he got up to get a
drink
and
then
cam
e
over
to
kiss me on the way back to
his seat
.

“Why do you do that?” I asked
, no doubt sounding
irritated.

“Do what?” he responded like he didn
’
t
know what I was talking about.

“Whenever we get near the subject of your work, you change the su
bject or otherwise distract me.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Yes, you
do
.  Is there something you don’t want me to know?
It’s not illegal
or anything?” I
asked
jokingly.

“No, of course not,” he grimaced
, pretending to be
insulted.  “My job’s kind of boring, I guess
.  W
hen I’m with you, I want
to
escape from it.  I promise that, eventually, you’ll know more than you ever wanted to know about it.  Just not tonight.  Deal?”

“If I agree, what do I get in the bargain?”
I teased.

“I’ll do anything you want.”

“You already do.”

He raised an eyebrow at me, knowing exactly what I meant.  I smiled, a little embarrassed.

The next morning, I
lay
on my stomach on Will’s bed with my head at the foot of the bed
and
my books
sprawled
in front of me
.  I
studied while Will leaned back against a pile of pillows at the head of the bed, reading
a length
y
document. 
I couldn’t make out what it was.  Intermittently, he would put
it
down, grab one of my feet sticking up in the air and massage it
.

A little before midday, Gemma knocked at the door and asked if we wanted to
join Colin and her
outside
for
some pizza.

I
looked at
Will
and nodded
.  L
unch sounded good
.  Will
agreed
, telling her that
we would be right out. 
We threw on clothes and vent
ured outside.

It was a typical Southern California
s
pring
d
ay
–
sunny
and
cloudless
,
with only a very slight breeze.  From Pacific Palisades looking toward the
o
cean, you would never know that there was an almost constant smoggy haze
just to the
east.  It was peaceful as we all sat at the table on the deck looking out over the ocean
in the distance, eating pizza.

After eating one slice of pizza and part of another, I leaned back in my chair and it tilted out from under the umbrella so I could close my eyes and feel the warmth of the sun on my face.
 
I was so comfortable that I was only half
-
listening to the conve
rsation when my ears perked up.

“So when do you leave for New York?” Gemma asked
Will
.

As I sat up suddenly, I thought I saw Will glare at her quickly.  “It’s just a turnaround trip.  I leave
Monday
morning and return late T
uesday night.
”
He tried to act like it was nothing.

“You’re going to New York for
two
days?” I asked incredulously.

“Yes.  I’m sorry.  I meant to tell you.”
He sounded guilty.

“No. That’s okay.  I just meant, why wouldn’t yo
u go for longer?  It’s New York
!  I’ve only been there twice, both times briefly, but there’s so much to
do
.”
It sounded exciting and I was jealous.

“I go there quite a bit on
business so it’s not a big deal, a
nd if I stayed longer, I wouldn’t get to
be with
you.”

I couldn’t imagine that I had heard him right. 
He’s giving up spending time in New York for me?
I
was
incredulous.

A few moments later
when it looked like the subject wasn’t going to go any further
, I
stood
and excused myself to
retrieve
my sunglasses
from
my purse in the bedroom.

On my way back, entering the family room and walking toward the door, I thought I heard Gemma say, “You know, if you
c
ontinue to go out with her, you’re going to have to tell her.  It won’t be a good thing if she finds out on her own or, worse, she gets accosted when she’s out somewhere with you.  She has to know what may happ
en.  Otherwise, it’s not fair.”

I held back a little so that
they
wouldn’t stop talking upon seeing me
, but neither
continued
.  I saw
Will
move the heel of his left hand up his forehead and then run his hand through his hair as I walked outside
. 
This can’t be good. 
I
returned to the group with as
authentic
a smile on my face
as I could manage
so that they woul
dn’t think I had heard a thing.

I was fairly quiet the rest of the afternoon, but since I was studying, I don’t know that Will noticed.
As we got ready to go out to
dinner
,
I remained
silent
.

Finally, Will walked over to me
,
kissed me on the forehead and asked, “Is anything wrong?  You’
re
awfully quiet.”

“Well, yes, I guess.”

Will
looked troubled as I said this.

“I thought I heard Gemma giving you a hard time earlier about not telling me something.  What’s going on?  What are you not telling me?” I
asked
with a
hint of panic in my voice.

“Nothing awful, I promise.  Don’t worry, it’s really nothing.  She
’s
being over
ly dramatic
,
”
he said casually.

“You aren’t married or anything like that are you?” I asked a little nervously.

Will laughed, “No, it’s nothing like that.  I am not and never have been married.  Don’t worry about what Gemma said.  We’re fine, aren’t we?”  He kissed me passionately convincing me that my answer had to be, “Yes.”