Away From the Spotlight (17 page)

“What do you mean?”

Will looked pained, “Well,
Max
told me that you were very upset Monday night and practically ordered me never to hurt you like tha
t again, an
d John just
glared at me as we walked by.”

“I’m sorry
. 
They took me out to a Dodger game on Monday night to try to cheer me up.  That’s whe
re I was when you tried to call,
”
I explained.

I thought I could sense a little jealousy on Will’s part, but his words didn’t make it obvious. 
“I understand.  It’s okay.  They
’
re just protective of
you.  I get that.”

“Well, you’ll just have to spend more time with them and they
’
ll see how happy you make me.”
I put my arms
around his neck and kissed him.

He leaned back from my face after the kiss and replied, “Whatever makes you happy.”

As the next few weeks before finals went by, Will and I settled into a routine.  I spent most weeknights at his place and
he spent
most weekends at mine
because
I needed to pack for my move afte
r graduation as well as study.

Kelly
was moving to the Bay Area and taking her bedroom furniture and some kitchen items as well.  I was putting the rest of the furniture and most of my stuff in storage, taking
only
what I needed for the summer to move into furnished
USC
housing while I studied for the Bar.
 
My plan was to find a more permanent situation when I returned from Europe after the Bar
Exam
.

During the last two Fridays of Trial Advocacy, all the class participants had their mock trials scheduled.  Nell and I and our opposing team were scheduled for the last Friday of classes from 10-to-12 noon.  The professors had brought in a mock jury even though, in the brief period we had, we weren’t expected to do
go through the juror selection process
known as
voir dire
. 
In addition to a grade, w
e
w
ould be given
“
real world
”
feedback from ordinary
juror types
regarding how we
performed
.

The jury was very complimentary of us, saying that we were organized and presented well.  A funny comment that
both sides
received was that we all looked like funeral directors in that each one o
f us was wearing a black suit.

I was hopeful for a good grade in the class and glad that I had one class down
and
only three more
finals to go before graduation.

That afternoon
also
was
my last day of work before finals and studying for the Bar
. 
For th
is
reason
,
a few of
the partners I worked with and most of the
associate
s took me
out
for drinks after work to celebrate.  I wouldn’t be seeing most of them until I returned from Europe in September.  I asked Will to come, but he thought it would be best to keep it strictly
a
work function and let them have their time with me.  I would meet h
im at my place later.

As usual, our foursome of
Max
, Da
niel
,
John
and
I
s
pent most of the time together.

“Promise me you’ll have lunch with me from time-to-time this summer.  I want to hear all about your
Europe
trip
-
planning,” John asked when he had me
alone briefly.

“I promise.  I’ll call you g
uys and we can all have lunch.”

“No.  Well,
we
can do that too, but I thought just you and I could have lunch or drinks or something and go over your plan for your trip,” he said
s
hyly.  “I traveled
in Europe
after the Bar
Exam
two years
ago.  I might be able to help.”

“Thanks.  I’d appreciate that
.
”
I
was
wary,
but
hoped I didn’t
act
like it
. 
Maybe Will was right about him after all.
 
I then considered the fact that
John
wa
s still with Ashley. 
I’m just imagining things.  He’s just a nice guy being, well, nice.

When I
got
home at about
seven-thirty
, Will was waiting for me, sitting at the dining table talking to
Kelly
and
Matt
.  Will was wearing a nice black suit with a white shirt unbuttoned at the top and
a
loosened
tie.

“We’re going out to celebrate the end of school.  Come on.  Put your
things
down and let’s go.”

“Wait, I’m dressed a little too business-like.  Let me change.  It won’t take me long.  I promise.”

I ran into my room and put on a dress more suitable for going out than the suit I had been wearing.
I was in the living room in no time ready to go. 
As we left,
Kelly
handed Will a suitcase that appeared packed an
d my book bag as well.

“What did you
do
?”
I asked as I looked at them.

“
You’ll
see,”
Will replied, smiling broadly.

As we drove across town toward Beverly Hills, he said, “This is a Hollywood kind of thing, but I thought it would be nice and it would give us some alone time before you need your space for
your
final
exam
s.
”

I had no idea what we were doing until we entered the driveway for the Beverly Hills Hotel.  I shifted in my seat uncomfortably and stared at Will with a “You have got to
be kidding me” look on my face.

He looked over at me. 
“It
’s
very Hollywood, but it
’
s also
very
private.  We won’t have to worry about p
aparazzi
here.”

Will left the car and the luggage at valet
. 
I looked around in wonder as h
e
led
me down a long walkway to a beautiful bungalow
toward the back of the hotel.

The inside of the bungalow was breathtaking in mauve, peach, beige, yellow and sage.  It had a residential feel with a large living room and dining room where dinner was waiting for us.  I wander
ed
around
at
first, feeling out of my element.  I was very excited when I saw the bathroom.  It was covered in pink marble and granite and housed a
massive
Jacuzzi set into the floor.  I love Jacuzzi bathtubs
.  M
y parents had one when they lived briefly in Orange County
and Will had one at his house
. 
Neither was anything like this. 
Will was going to have a hard time dragging me out of
it
.
I
finally
made my way back to the table where Will was waiting for me.

“I can’t believe you arranged all this,” I said looking around me and at the gourm
et meal sitting in front of me.

“Well, I wanted to do something special.  It’s not every day you graduate from law school.  I didn’t figure I would have my chance if I waited until after
your exams
.  Your parents will be here,
and then you’re moving. 
I
,
unfortunately
,
have the
Midnight
pr
omotional
tour
n
ot long
after your graduation.  I wanted a weekend where I had you all to myself and didn’t want to waste time traveling
somewhere else
.  I’ve been here before a few times
for
business
lunch
es and drinks
.  I always liked it
.  I
t’s different
,
to some
degree like from another era.”

“This is too much though,” I said still loo
king wide-eyed around the room.

“For you, I could
never
do too much.”

That answer made me uncomfortable in that I knew that I could never keep up with him this way when it was m
y turn to do something for him.

Dinner tasted as good as it looked.  The presentation was almost artistic and the portions were more of the smaller size found in very expensive restaurants, not that I’d had a significant a
mount of experience with that.

After we finished dinner, he
stood
and
led
me to the sofa.  “I have anoth
er graduation present for you.”

“Isn’t this it?
” I said indicated everything around me.

“No.  I want to give
you something more permanent.”

“You d
on’t really have to do all this,
”
I said
,
embarrassed
by
the extravagance.

“I want to.  I love you.”  Before I could respond, he put a little blue box in my hand.  Despite never having received anything from there before, I did recognize the little blue box as being from Tiffany
’s
.

I opened the box to find another jewelry box that
I opened to find a single bezel-
set diamond in what appeared to be either whi
t
e gold or platinum on a light chain of likely the same precious metal.  He came around to the back of me and put it on me.  It was exquisite and sparkled in the light
.

I had to excuse myself to go look in the mirror. 
The light bounced off all the facets of the diamond.  The necklace
hung perfectly around my neck, not too short and not too long.  I
hu
r
ried
back into the room to give Will a big hug and even bigger kis
s.

I leaned back and said,
“I just want you to know
y
ou don’t have to do anything for me.
  I love you without all this.”

“I know.  That’s
why
I wanted to do this.”

I just stared at him for
a moment a little overwhelmed.

“Happy Graduation,” he whispered
and kissed me while walking
me backward toward the bedroom.

We had a very romantic weekend.  From Friday night to midday Sunday, we didn’t leave the bungalow.  All of our meals came to us.  We stayed in bed most of the time we were there except for meals in the dining room, using our small private pool occasionally, and relaxing in the Jacuzzi tub.  I even managed to get some studying in intermittently while Will slept or while relaxing in the tub.  I had Will to all to myself for the whole weekend.  That was the best
present he could have given me.

It was a shock to the system to be back in my own apartment
on
Monday studying.  My first final was Thursday
. 
I had
one the next week and one
early
the
following
week.  Will provided me space while I studied, coming over only in the evenings to bring me dinner and spend the night.  He would get up relatively early in the morning and be gone
quickly
to allow me
to study without distraction.

In any event, he apparently had things to do
, including preparation for
press day for
Midnight 3
which was
scheduled to take place
at
a h
otel in Beverly Hills the week
of my graduation
and
for the promotional tour starting the week following my graduation
.