Away From the Spotlight (8 page)

“Where are we going
,
may I ask
? 
And p
lease tell me
there is food involved
,
” I
said
when we got in the car.

“I wouldn’t want you to waste away.  I like your curves. 
I
am open to your suggestion.
”

We ended up at
a well-known Mexican restaurant
, a
USC
hangout, not far from where I lived.  At this time of day, it wasn’t very crowded and we managed to get a booth in the back.  Will sat
facing away from the entrance.
 
It wasn’t green corn tamale season yet, which was a disappointment, but the
restaurant was known for having
the best margaritas in town.

I think
Will
had been hanging around with too many Brits because he
said, “Despite the fact that I’ve spent a bit of time here in L.A., I haven’t had
a whole lot of Mexican food,” Will
said
after we
were seated
in the booth
.

“I’m surprised.  There’s another one of these restaurants in Santa Monica.  They have the best margaritas in the world.”

We ordered a pitcher of margaritas on the rocks and I helped him order something that I thought he might like,
considering he was
a novice at Mexican food.  I worried that he wouldn’t like it, but when the food came
,
I saw his surprise in realizing that it was good
. 
I don’t know whether I
had
completely
sold
Will
on Mexican food yet, but he definitely enjoyed the
m
argaritas.

“Be careful,” I said. 
“
I have a hollow leg and these manage to floor me.
” 
I
pause
d
to sip my margarita
and
continued
with a little embarrassment
, “
You know
, despite the fact that I have now slept with you, I
realize that I d
on’t even know your last name.”

Will
stared into my eyes as he ans
wered hesitantly, “MacKenzie.” 
He seemed to like what
ever he saw in them and smiled.

“
Will MacKenzie. 
Mine is
Sutherland
.”
  I fe
lt a little better
as if I had slept with less of a stranger
,
knowing his last name.

“Nice to know you, Shannon
Sutherland
.”
  He
smiled brightly as he said this and I almost swooned.
  He had used the phrase “nice to know you” rather than “nice to meet you” as if he understood my discomfort and was
trying to make us seem better acquainted than we act
ually were
.

When dinner was finished, we headed out to Santa Monica to
Callaghan’s
on Main Street. 
The plan was to meet
Stephen
,
Colin and their girlfriends
there
to see the usual Irish band that played
on
Sunday night
s
.

W
e park
ed
around the corner
from the pub
and
, when we arrived at
its
entrance,
th
ere was no line to get inside. 
Despite that fact, i
t was crowded
inside
a
nd Stephen met us at the door. 
Stephen
put his arm around my shoulder and escorted me
past the long bar to the right and line of tables and booths to the left.  We walked all the way
to the back of the pub to the last booth against the back wall that faced to the side of the
band that was playing loudly.

Will followed and I could see intermittent stares as we passed by women in
terspersed throughout the pub. 
I certainly could understand how Will’s good looks would attract a lot of attentio
n, but this seemed a bit much.

Stephen climbed into the crescent-shaped boo
th and I scooted in after him. 
Will sat down on the end next to me, f
acing the back wall of the pub.

G
emma had
made it home from England and I was introduced.
There was no way any of us
could hear a thing over the music coming from a
bout twenty feet away from us. 
Colin therefore
was
speaking into her ear. 
Gemma smiled
brightly
and waved pleasantly.

From what I could see behind the table in the booth,
Gemma
was a very petite girl with pale medium
-
length hair and blue eyes. Colin could not take h
is
eyes off of her, so obviously happy
was he to have her back in L.A.
All I could think of was that she must be exh
austed after such a long trip.
N
ever
theless
, she didn’t appear so.

As the music played wildly, Will stroked the inside of my right thigh over my jeans wit
h the fingers of his left hand.
I crossed my right hand under his and started to do the same
to his left thigh. 
He abruptly grabbed
my hand and squeezed it tight.

“If you continue to do that,” he
said
in my ear
in
a very
husky
voice
, “I will not be able to get up from this table for a
while
.”

“You started it,
” I replied, giggling a little.
“
B
esides, if
you
continue, I don’t know that my reac
tion will be any less obvious.”

“
Considering your reaction earlier today, I guess I can believe that.”  He gave me an evil smile and winked.

Feeling a little flushed after that exchange,
I
got up to go to the bathroom. 
As Will got up to let me out,
he continued to face the wall.

There was the typical line to get in the ladies’ room and I had to
stand there for quite a while. 
Since
the music was loud even in here,
I could
hear
only
pieces of various conversations
around me. 
“Di
d you see who’s here tonight?” 
“
Oh my God, he is so gorgeous!” 
“Do you
think he’ll walk by us again?” 
I wondered who they were talking about briefly, but th
en decided that I didn’t care. 
I was quite happy with
my date
.

W
e left
Callaghan’s
before the music s
topped. 
Gemma grabbed my hand
and led me through the crowd. 
Will fol
lowed to the rear of all of us.
Again, there were intermittent stares behind me as our group
wound its way out of the pub. 
When we got outside, it was pretty
empty as it was fairly late. 
We walked back to the cars, both p
arked in the same general area.

On the way to Wi
ll’s house and my car,
Will
grabbed
my hand and
pl
eaded, “Don’t go home tonight. 
Stay
w
ith me.”

Not that I didn’t want to with every fiber of my being, but I said, notwithstanding, “I have
early
classes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
so I can work in the
afternoons on those days
. 
I don’t think I should.”

Will was silent for the rest of the short duration of the trip back to the house, likely trying to
figure out
a way to change my mind. 
I didn’t
require
too much convincing.
 
When we got out of the car
and
entered
his room to get my things
, he kissed me passionately and I caved in quickly.

I set the alarm on my cell phone on low volume for 5:45 a.m.
  I
awoke with a start when it went off
after only a
few
hours of sleep
. 
The alarm
didn’t
seem to
disturb Will. 
I
crept
quietly out of the house and
was
on the road to
ward
my side of town before
the worst of morning
traffic.
Nonetheless,
I
barely
managed to get home, shower
quickly
,
and get to class just before the
lecture commenced
.
I had Con
stitutional
Law II from 8-
to-
9:30
a.m.
and Criminal Procedure from 10:30-
to-Noon
on Mondays and Wednesdays.

I
found it
difficult
to concentrate in my first class as I was exhausted and daydreaming about
the weekend’s events. 
Luckily, my Con
s
t
itutional
Law
p
rofessor ma
de
it very easy to catch the key elements of his lectu
re
since
h
is practice was to
repeat those elements at least
three times and write them on the b
oard at the front of the class.

Between classes,
I nodded off on
one of the
sofas at the back of the
L
aw
C
enter
briefly
, but awoke when I heard a beep on my cell phone,
indicating
I had a text message.

It was from Will.
“I didn’t like waking up w/out
u here.
 
Miss u already.”

I replied, “Me 2. 
2nite?”

The horribly disappointing message came back quickly, “I have ni
te
mtgs Mon-Wed. 
Thurs?
My place
?
 
7?”

I was so upset, my response was brief
. 
“
K
.”

Despite the fact that I was pretty agitated,
I managed to pay attention in
Crim
inal
Pro
cedure
.
My
professor
was hilarious, cracking jokes about “perps” throughout the lecture and telling stories about his
time
working with the FBI.

After class, I went through my normal routine of grabbing a salad and an
i
ced
t
ea from
the
C
ampus Center
on my way to my car to drive the
few miles up the road
to my office in Downtown L.A.

As a law clerk, I didn’t have parking in the building and had to park in a lot
a few blocks
down the street. 
I was looking forward to being an official attorney in the firm and being able to park in the building
a
lthough, when that came to pass, my car was def
initely in need of an upgrade. 
It would look sad next to all the Mercedes, BMWs
,
and
expensive
sports cars in that garage.

I
arrived at
the office and barely managed to
turn on
my
computer
before I wa
s confronted
by the two associates who
teased
me before I left
the office on
Friday night.