Away From the Spotlight (4 page)

I had expected a peck on the cheek as I had
received
last night when I left.  Instead,
Will
gave me a hug and
a kiss, though not long, on the mouth.  I felt every cell in my body at that moment.
  I was glad
the lighting was dim because I was
certain I was blushing heavily
as
he
escorted
me over to the table
.
 
I sat down and noticed a pint of cider waiting for me.

“Wow
,
” I said
, as I looked around the room I previously didn’t know
existed
and the fact that I was
impressed
likely showed
.
 
“
H
ow
’
d you manage a privat
e room?”

“I know the owners,”
Will
replied nonchalantly.

I would have asked him to explain, but I was sidetracked by the
waitress
, who
arrived to
t
ake
our orders.  I had to think about my order because my favorite thing on the menu was the Cornish
p
ast
ie
, but it was hard to eat.  I had visions of my first time out with the attorneys at
my
firm and ordering fajitas
.  It was
not the best idea to order something so messy when you are trying to impress.  I ordered the sheph
e
rd’s pie
instead as did Will despite the fact that fish and chips were the specialty.  I suspected that neither of us wanted
fish breath on our first date.

The din from the pub and the restaurant
,
and the music didn’t make its way to this room.  We were able to talk
easily
without sh
outing.

Since we had talked
only
about music
for the most part
the
night
before
, I wanted to start the conversation with a more personal question
, b
ut I didn’t want to start with “What do you do for a living?”  Unlike many women in L.A. wh
o were searching for a prospective
husba
nd with a suitable and well-payi
ng career, I honestly didn’t care.  I intended to be in a position to pay my own freight in life instead of being at the mercy of
the earning potential of the man in my life
.

I started with a safe and easy question.  “Where in England are you from?”

“
I live
,
or at least I have a flat
,
in London, but I am over here
a lot
of the time these days
,
working for an Amer
ican company.  I travel a bit.
”  He then changed the subject to me.  “
Tell me
a
bout you
.”

I said with a little nervousness as I wasn’t sure how it would be received,
“I
’
m a law student at USC and clerk part-time for a small law firm in Downtown L.A.  I
graduate in May and then start taking
Bar review
courses and studying for the
California
Bar Exam
.  It
’s at the end of July. 
After that,
one of my best friends from college and I are traveling around Britain and Europe for a
bout six weeks
.  I start working full-time in September, but I won’t officially be a lawyer until I get my
B
ar results in November and get sworn into the Bar in December.
”

“Wow.  Now I’m impressed.
  Not surprised, but impressed.”

I looked at his expression and
smiled as h
e d
idn’t seem intimidated at all.

“What do you mean?” I
asked, realizing that he had said that he was not surprised.

“That you are very intelligent is obvious.  I could see it in your eyes when I first met you and it was clear from talking to you last night.  It is
very
sexy.”

I
felt my cheeks flush again and
shifted in my seat
,
a little
uncomfortable
at being called sexy
.
Calling
me, much less my intelligence,
sexy was a new experience for me.  Most of the guys I knew, even those who were very intelligent, tended to date girls who were not as intelligent as they were.  It tilted the balance of power in their
relationships in their favor.  H
ere was someone who not only was not threatened by my
being
intelligen
t
, was very happy that I was so.

Before I could change the subject back
to him, our meals were served.

Will ordered another beer
for
him
and another cider for me.  “
Half
please,” I countered.  Although I always said I had a hollow leg when asked why I was able to keep it together on more alcohol than most girls of my height and
weight
, I didn’t want to take any chances
of
being
the slightest bit
drunk.  Although I didn’t tend to get sloppy drunk ever, my inhibitions did lower a little bit.  I really wanted to make a
good impression. 
I really liked this guy, but still couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact that
this perfect man
could be interested in me.

I headed into more dangerous territory with my next
foray
int
o
learning more
about Will
.  “Where do you stay when you
’r
e here in L.A.?”  I kn
e
w that this
was
another question asked by women trying to figure out whether a guy had sufficient wealth.  However, since Will made it sound like he didn’t have a permanent residence here, I thought it was safe.

“I share a house in the Palisades with my two
mates
you met last night.”

“You live her
e, then, rather than in England?
”

“Most of the time these days.”

I smiled
,
happy that his living arrangements didn’t seem too temporary and I might be able to see him for a while assuming he was interested.  I then thought
about the fact
that
th
at
was a big assumption.

Turning the question away from how well off
Will
appeared to be, I asked, “How do you know Stephen and Colin?”

“You remembered
.
”
  His smile brightened as if impressed
that I recalled their names
.
  Usually, I was bad with names, but I remembered every moment of
our first meeting
as I had gone over every detail in my head
the night before
repeatedly as I tried, unsuccessfully
,
to get a good night’s sleep.

My thoughts were interrupted as Will started to answer my question. 
“
Umm
,
I met them through work when I first got to L.A.  We
got
on
well
right away since we were all
English, having a bit in common there,
and
were all
a little homesick.  We lived separately initially
, but
not as well as we thought we could together.  When I was offered the place in the Palisades through a work contact, we jumped at it.
”

Seemingly worried that he was showing off a bit, he added, “It’s not as nice as it sounds though.  It is definitely a bachelor pad, very spartan, but with a big tel
ly
in the living room to watch football
,
I mean
,
soccer.
  And you?  Where do you live?”

“I
’
m a starving student, remember.  I live in an apartment in mid-Wilshire
,
Koreatown actually.  I share
it
with my sister
.  S
he’s an undergrad at
U
SC
.  It’s not too far from school or work so it
’s good for now
.  I won’t be living there much longer though.  When
m
y sister
graduates, she
’
s moving to San Francisco to work for a CPA firm there.  I’m going to put my stuff in storage and move into
USC
housing for the summer with a friend from law school to study for the
B
ar.  I’ll have to find a more permanent residence when I get back from Europe.
”

“Your parents must be pretty proud.
A CPA is an accountant, yes?”

I nodded.

“A
n attorney
and an accountant.
  Wow.  Do you have a
ny other brothers or sisters?”

I sho
ok
my head.  “N
o.
”

“I have two older sisters living in England,” he volunteered.  “I don’t see them as often as I’d like.”
  Will frowned slightly.

“That’s got to be hard, being so far away from family and friends.  My sister
’
s here, my parents are only an hour plane
ride away in the Bay Area, and most of my friends are here.”

“You do what you have to, I guess.  I
’
m
fortunate
in that I
can
travel back to England fairly often and I live with two good
mates
here.  And, over time, my circle of friends
i
n L.A.
has
grown
.  Plus, I like
it here.  T
he weather is
much
better.”  He
chuckled softly
.

I was waiting for a check that never came
.  It
was clear that dinner was over as the plates were cleared away, but we were still sitting there.  It was still fairly early, about
nine o’clock
, when Will asked, “Do you want to get out of here?”

“What did you have in mind?”  I
countered
.

“We could go back to my place
.”

Uh-Oh
.
T
hi
ngs
w
ere
moving a bit too fast
for me
.

Appearing to notice my
fearful
look,
Will
added, “Stephen and Colin will be there.  You
’
ll be able to talk to them and they will actually be able to hear you tonight.”

“Okay,” I
agreed
a little nervously.

We left my car in the parking lot across from the
Royalist
and took his.  It was a black,
fairly new
,
Range
Rover, with all the bells and whistles. 
We
cut down to PCH and turned up
into the bluffs in Pacific Palisades
.  We turned left somewhere toward the top of the hill and then pulled into the garage of one of the
many
white
one-story
houses, not
particularly
large, but whose backyard likely had a view of the ocean in the distance.
  Considering the car, I was a little nervous a
bou
t seeing the house.

As we entered the house through the garage, I realized that
Will had been right about it being spartan.  The kitchen didn’
t look to have been used much.
T
here was a somewhat mismatched dining table and chairs in the dinette area
.  Beyond that,
the focal point of the
family
room was a
large flat-screened
TV
hanging on the wall
that was at least
sixty
inches with home theater system speakers surrounding it. 
Facing it
was a brown leather sofa, two
matching
leather recliners on either side
of it
and a big coffee table.  There were no end tables, no other tables in the room
other than
TV
trays,
and the only lighting was the track lighting inset in the ceiling.
  Toward the front door was a living room and dining room with no furniture whatsoever.  On the other side of the family room was a hallway
that appeared to lead to
the bedrooms at the back of the house.
It was quite the bachelor pad.