Away From the Spotlight (36 page)

After a tearful goodbye,
I
handed the phone back to Stephen and
joined the
party.  There were lots of high-
fives among those of us from law school, greatly relieved that the exam was over.  There
also
were a lot of
congratulatory
hugs from Will’s friends and from my college friends. 
Max
, Da
niel
and John joined me quickly to add their congratulation
s.

“I hear you’re living here now,”
Max
said.

“Yes, since June.”

“You’ve got a pretty nice life out here,” Da
niel
added.

John said nothing
as he
tried unsuccessfully to hide
the
pain
ed look on
his
face.  He stared at the ground.

“We have fun,” I said c
asually.

“Where’s Will?”
Max
asked.

“London on business.  He’s meeting me
there the day after tomorrow.”

“I thought you were traveling with Pam?” John interrupted
,
soundi
ng upset and unable to hide it.

“I am.  I’m spend
ing
a
bout a week
in London with Will while Pam visits with a friend of hers
there
.  After that, Will starts shooting a film
,
and Pam and I leave for Ireland and Continental Europe as planned.
O
ne change
though
since you and I last talked
:
n
o more Greece.  Pam broke up with
Alex
so she doesn’t want to
visit
his brother now.  We’re going to Scandinavia instead.  At the end of the trip, I’ll meet back up with Will in London for a few days
and we’ll come home together.”

“I’m glad you’re not giving up your trip for him.”
John continued to stare at the ground.

I was annoyed at his insinuation.  “He would never ask me to
do
that.  Anyway, thank you, you guys
,
for coming.  I appreciate it.  I’m g
oing to go get myself a drink.”

As I walked away, I could hear
Max
say loudly to John, “What is your
deal
?”  I
walked
t
oo far away to hear the answer.

John
caught
up
with me
l
ater in the evening.  I had just led one of my law school friends to the front door to say our goodbyes.  When I turned around to return to the party,
John
pulled me into the empty living room,
where we would be
unseen
by
the rest of the crowd.

“You’ve been avoiding me,” he said in a low voice
brimming with
disappointment.

“There are a lot of people here to see.”  I was flippant
because
I knew
that
he didn’t just mean this evening.

“That’s not what I meant.  I was hoping we would see each other over the summer.  I thought we were
friends
.”

“So did I
, b
ut how can I spend time with you when you keep crossing the line?  I love Will.  Anyway, I thought it would be better if you had the summer away from me
to move on
.”

“I
am
trying.  I get it now that you two are serious.  You’re living together.”  He grabbed my hand.  “When you come back from Europe, let’s start over
,
and have it be like it was
,
okay
?
  You and I were good friends.”

“Yes, we were.  We have to work together, so I’ll try if you try.  Fair?”

“Fair.”

“But you’re going to have to stop holding my hand.”

“Sorry.”  He let go.

“I’m going to get another drink and then why don’t we go find
Max
and Daniel?”

“Sounds good to me.”

I really enjoyed myself at t
he party
even though
I missed
Will.  I loved being surrounded by friends, old and new.  In that moment, I
thought
that
, despite my fears to the contrary,
my
new life
with Will might
work out
after all
.

The next day I busied myself doing laundry and packing my medium-sized rolling suitcase with an attached carry-on bag that was going to have to last
me
for the next
five
-
plus
weeks.

Since
there were no paparazzi outside, I borrowed Colin’s
Jeep
and made a run to a local market to pick up
travel
-sized toiletries.

Before I knew it, it was time to
leave
.  Will arranged for a car to
pick me up at the house and
take me to the airport.
 
I met up with Pam at the
Bradley
International
Terminal at LAX.  We weren’t going to be sitting together
on the plane
though.  My graduation present
s
from my parents w
ere
a plane ticket and
a
Eurail
P
ass
,
and my father had used airline miles to upgrade me to
business class
.  Pam’s ticket was for
economy class
.

We stood in our respective lines, hers a
bit
longer than mine.
 
When I arrived at the front of the line
,
a woman
with a perfect British
a
ccent
told me that I was in the wrong
place
and pointed me to an open agent at the
first
class
counter. 
She handed me
back my ticket and
I
look
ed
at
it
more carefully
. 
I then noticed that i
t had been upgraded and was dated about a month before. 
Wil
l.
 
I smiled.

After checking in, I walked over to join Pam in the
economy class
line and informed her of what happened.

“Lucky you.  I get to sit in the cattle car.”

“Maybe we can trade off from time-to-time.  I can spell you.”

It was finally Pam’s turn in line
about thirty minutes later.  The male agent took Pam’s ticket and
punched it into the computer.

“I’m sorry madam.  You are in the wrong queue.  You need to
see
the lady down there at the other end of the
c
heck-in desk.”  He pointed to the
first
class
check-in counter.

“Looks like it’s your lucky day today as well.”

I
led
Pam to the
first
class
ticket counter, where she received her boarding pass, reflecting a seat next to min
e
, and the
economy
class
return ticket home was exchanged for one in
first class
as well
.

We grabbed our carry-on bags and headed for security check
-
in.
  Once through security, w
e made our way to
the
First
Class L
ounge
since we had a while
to wait
before
we boarded
the flight. 
W
e were
both
a little shell-shocked by Will’s change in th
e
manner of our travel, but the First Class Lounge
was
a welcome treat.

Although it was
late in London
, I decided to text
him
.

“Got the tix.  Thx.  Can’t w8 2 c u.”

The phone rang a few seconds later.

“Surprise!
”  Will
chuckled
as he said it.

“Yes, it was, actually.  You didn’t have to do that.”

“Yes, I did.  I want you well-rested when you get here.  I didn’t want you sitting there worrying about Pam either.  You
know
you would have.  Besides, isn’t it better now that you can sit together?”

“Yes, but still
,
”
I
responded
a little petulantly.

“
Just say
, ‘T
hank you
,
’
”
he scold
ed
me.

“Thank you.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow and you can thank me properly.  I love you.  I can’t wait either.”

“I love you.”

“Goodnight.  Get some rest.  You’re going to need it.”

I understood exactly what he meant, and thinking about that made me ache for him at that particular moment.  It was going to be a long flight if I didn’t find some distraction from these thoughts.

Pam and I drank champagne
in the lounge and again on the plane. 
During
dinner, we decided to
watch movie
s
on our private screens.  Sure enough, one of our choices was
Midnight 3
. 
We both laughed
at that fact
and watched it at the same time.  During
a
sex scene toward the end
of the film
, Pam looked over at me with her eyes wide, “You get to sleep with him like that?”

“Better.”
  It was an understatement.

“Wow
!
  Lucky you.  Does he have a brother?”

“Nope, but maybe
he
can introduce you to some of his friends in London.”

“You think any of them are as
perfect
as he is?”

“I don’t think
anyone
could ever be as
perfect
as he is.  But I don’t know any of his friends from home, so you’ll just have to see if there is anyone you like.”

After the movie, I fell asleep, dreaming of Will.
 
I
a
woke when
I heard the sounds of
breakfast being served
by the
F
irst
C
lass flight attendant
. 
Pam was already awake.  I looked at my watch and was happy that
I g
o
t a
lmost
six
hours of sleep.  I
had been
so excited
that
I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep
at all
, but the champagne and my fatigue left over from the Bar Exam
must have
helped.
  We had about
an
hour
or so
before landing.
I watched BBC News
while
I
ate my cooked breakfast.  First
C
lass food was pretty good.

After breakfast, I went to the bathroom to tidy myself up and brush my teeth.  I did the best I could to try to look like I hadn’t had the week from hell with the Bar Exam followed by a long flight to the U.K.

“How do I look?” I asked Pam when I returned to the seat.

“Good.”

I wasn’t sure I believed her.  “I don’t look like I’ve been through the wars?”

“No.  Not at all.  Don’t worry.  I’d tell you.”
  I felt better when I realized that she probably would have told me – and bluntly.

The closer
we were
to landing
in London
, the
more
jitter
y
I became.  I was always anxious to see Will after we had been separated, but this was worse.  I felt nervous to see Will on his home turf.  As it was, I
wasn’t sure
I quite fit in with his life in L.A., but at least I
lived there
.  To some extent, he was on
my
home turf
there
.  In England, however,
his life was completely foreign to me.  I hoped that I would not appear to be the square peg in his
round hole
life
t
here.