Personal Jurisdiction (13 page)

He must have picked up on her disappointment, because, he reached out and squeezed her arm. “Thanks, beautiful. You’re the best.”

A squeeze on the arm felt like a consolation prize after the near-consummation of their relationship last night, but Whitney tried to maintain a happy look. It
had
been a long week, and Ben did look exhausted. Whitney wanted to tell him about her confrontation with Kate this morning, but she decided to wait. They would see each other at some point this weekend, and then there would be plenty of time to tell him.

Whitney walked back to her laptop and started putting her things away. She looked up a moment later to see Elise and Jamie heading her way.

“Whitney!” Elise said. “Thanks for that outline you sent. I didn’t have much time to look at it before this exam, but it will be super helpful for the final!”

Whitney smiled. It was so good to see her two friends. She instantly regretted not studying with them more over the last week. Elise’s enthusiasm was so contagious. She reached out and gave Elise a hug.

“You’re welcome! We made it through midterms, guys! Can you believe it?”

“I cannot,” Jamie said. “I’m seriously exhausted. I think this afternoon’s plans include going home and taking a ridiculously long nap.”

“Do you guys want to grab some lunch before going home to crash? I’m starving,” Elise said.

“Yes! I have some crazy stuff to tell you both!” Whitney exclaimed. It was unusual for her to be the one so excited about going out and spending money on lunch, but she wanted to tell Elise and Jamie about her latest confrontation with Kate. She was still in a bit of disbelief over the incident.

“I can’t,” Jamie said. “I promised Lincoln I would go to lunch with him. The poor guy is the biggest bundle of nerves I have ever seen. I don’t even want to think about what he’s going to be like during finals. What about dinner instead?”

Elise shook her head. “I can’t do dinner. I’m supposed to be helping with some stupid networking event. Whitney, is this about Ben? You can’t tell any stories until I’m there!”

“Well, then she can’t tell any stories unless I’m there, either!” Jamie said.

Elise snapped her fingers. “What about brunch tomorrow morning? Are you two free? We haven’t brunched in forever!”

Jamie cringed when Elise said the word “brunched,” but she nodded. “I’m free tomorrow.”

“Whitney?” Elise asked. “Don’t you dare try to get out of it by telling me you already made plans with Ben! You’ve been abandoning us all week!”

Whitney wanted to leave the whole weekend open for Ben, but Elise was right. The girls had been her study partners since the beginning of the semester, and she had somewhat abandoned them this week. Okay, she had completely abandoned them this week. It was nice of them to be so understanding. And it was probably good to not be
too
available for Ben anyways. That was a thing, right? Make it clear to your boyfriend that you have a thriving social life outside of just him? If he even was her boyfriend. Whitney sighed. “Okay, okay! I’ll be there. You’re right, I owe you guys.”

Elise clapped her hands in her signature fashion. “Excellent! I can’t wait to catch up!”

The classroom had emptied out, and Whitney realized with disappointment that she had not said goodbye to Alex before he left. She needed to remember to text him later to thank him for showing up at the library this morning.

The three girls made their way out of the classroom, and Whitney said goodbye to Elise and Jamie. Whitney started walking toward the bus stop, but then she changed her mind and turned around, heading back into the law school and up to the library. She avoided the study rooms, and instead found an open table in a back corner by the window. She desperately wanted to see Ben today. Maybe after he had a chance to take a nap and rest, he would decide he wanted to grab some dinner after all. Whitney decided it would be better to remain close by in case he did. She could not deny that it was borderline pathetic to spend the Friday afternoon after midterms in the library waiting for Ben to potentially decide he wanted dinner. She had no other plans, however, and she rationalized it by telling herself she could get a head start on next week’s mountain of reading. After all, even though midterms were over, the pace of work was not slowing down any time soon.

Whitney pulled out her laptop and casebooks and spent the entire afternoon studying. She was surprisingly pleased with her productivity, and she only allowed herself to glance at her phone once every half-hour. As the afternoon wore on and turned into early evening, Whitney still had not heard a single thing from Ben. Not even a friendly hello. She felt foolish, and slowly acknowledged to herself that Ben was probably not going to contact her for a dinner date tonight. She packed up her things and walked to the bus, feeling angry. She was jealous of all the people out on the street who were gearing up for a Friday night out on the town. She stared at her phone the entire bus ride home, but the screen remained dark.

It was almost 7:30 when she reached her apartment. She went upstairs and fixed herself a giant bowl of cereal. She threw her phone into a kitchen drawer and slammed it shut, then took her cereal to the living room. She binge watched old episodes of
30 Rock
until she drifted off into a fitful sleep, dreaming she was trapped in a room fighting off huge piles of law school notes that Ben and Kate were throwing at her.

Whitney woke to the bright October morning sunshine streaming in through her living room window. She sat up slowly, confused about where she was for a moment. She saw her television glowing dimly with the question “Are you still watching?” from Netflix displayed across the screen. A glance at her watch, which she was still wearing, let her know it was just after 8 a.m. She had no idea what time she had fallen asleep.

Hunger pangs hit her, and she headed to the kitchen to eat another bowl of cereal. She needed to go grocery shopping, but she hated trying to lug groceries home on the bus. It was much easier in Texas, where she had a car and could drive everywhere. She did not want to eat too much right now, anyways, since she was meeting Elise and Jamie for brunch at 10. She put a bowl on the counter and filled it with cereal and milk. Then she took a heaping spoonful before opening the drawer where she had thrown her cell phone the night before.

She had four new texts. One was from Elise, sending the address for the restaurant where they were brunching this morning. The other three were from Alex. There was nothing from Ben. Whitney felt her heart deflating. Was he tired of her already? They had spent so much time together over the last week, and had come close to sleeping together. Was that the problem—she had not slept with him? No, that did not make sense. Usually a guy would wait until
after
he slept with you to disappear. And it was not like she had been holding out on him for an absurd amount of time. She would have slept with him right there in the middle of the law school library if he had brought a condom. Maybe she was reading too much into his silence. After all, he had said he was tired. Perhaps he just needed extra time to recuperate, and he would text her later. Maybe he would suggest dinner, and they could go back to Francesca’s. Whitney’s mouth watered at the thought of Italian food. She sighed and shoved another spoonful of cereal into her mouth.

She leaned against the counter as she chewed, and started scrolling through her texts from Alex. The first one was sent at 7:45 last night.
Want to grab some dinner? Breaking up catfights makes me HUNGRY!”
Whitney rolled her eyes. She was sure he was going to use the Kate drama from yesterday as fodder for jokes for quite some time. His next text, sent at 8:40, was contrite.
Hey, sorry, I hope I didn’t offend you with my last text. Just joking! I am hungry, though, if you want to eat? I know you’re not busy hanging out with lover boy, since he’s been sitting here playing video games for the last two hours and doesn’t seem to be interested in stopping anytime soon.
Whitney tried not to be annoyed when she read this text, but the thought of Ben sitting there playing video games for hours without taking the time to send her even one small little hello text made her angry. She tried not to be high maintenance when she was in a relationship, but it was strange to her that Ben had gone from constantly seeing her and texting her during the last week to radio silence for nearly an entire day. He could not have been
that
tired. Something felt off. Had Kate somehow gotten to him. Whitney frowned and scrolled down to her last text from Alex, sent at 9 p.m.
Okay, maybe you’re out with your girls or something. I’m gonna go ahead and grab dinner. Sorry I missed you!
Whitney shook her head. Apparently Alex was more interested in hanging out with her than Ben was, even though Alex knew he was relegated to the friend zone. Whitney took one last spoonful of cereal and then texted Alex back.
Hey, sorry I missed you last night. I was binge watching Netflix and forgot to check my phone. Rain check on dinner?
Whitney hit send, and contemplated sending Ben a text as well. She knew it was a bad idea, though, and decided against it. She cleaned up her cereal bowl and went to get ready for brunch.

At 10, she met Elise and Jamie, and they squeezed into a small booth at a trendy pancake house. As soon as they sat down, Jamie turned to Whitney and asked, “What the hell happened with Kate yesterday?”

“You heard?” Whitney asked, surprised.

“Alex told Lincoln, and Lincoln told me at lunch yesterday.”

“Great,” Whitney said. “I’m sure the whole law school is going to hear about it before long.”

Elise perked up. “What happened? Was Kate bothering you again?”

“She came into my library study room yesterday morning and yelled at me to stay away from Ben. She was out of control, throwing my notes and outlines all over the room and telling me that I hurt Northwestern’s reputation with my bad hair and cheap clothes.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” Elise said.

“I’m not sure how long she would have kept at it if Alex had not intervened.”

“Alex was with you?”

“Well, he wasn’t studying with me, but he was nearby in the library and heard her yelling, so he came by to investigate. She was loud.” Whitney rubbed her forehead. She was tired, and her head hurt at the memory of Kate’s verbal assault. “And, I guess, Alex told Lincoln about it?” Whitney looked at Jamie for confirmation.

Jamie nodded. “Lincoln was not surprised. He said Kate has been stalking Ben since the beginning of law school. She’s obsessed.”

Elise shook her head in disbelief. “What did Ben say about it?”

“Well…I don’t know. I haven’t told him,” Whitney said.

“You haven’t told him? How have you not told him?” Elise asked. Her eyes were opened wide and her face looked incredulous.

“I don’t know,” Whitney said. “We’re in a weird spot.”

Elise’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

Whitney sighed. “Well, things seemed to be going so well. I mean, you know, we spent most of the last week together studying.”

“I know,” Jamie said, and there was no mistaking the hint of annoyance in her voice.

“I’m sorry,” Whitney said. “I know I shouldn’t have abandoned you guys to spend so much time studying with him. But I was excited that he was finally showing an interest in me. He was so sweet the whole week. He would drive me home so I didn’t have to take the bus late at night. And his goodnight kisses…Damn, that boy can kiss.”

“So, I’m not understanding the problem,” Elise said.

“Well, the problem is that we haven’t spoken since midterms ended. I know that was just yesterday, but I thought we would have a chance to go out on a real date once all this studying craziness was finished. Instead, he told me that he was tired and needed to rest, and he hasn’t so much as texted me a simple hello since then.”

Elise frowned. “He’s never even taken you out?”

Whitney shook her head, but felt a little defensive. “I mean, we did go to Francesca’s that one time. He paid for that, so it was sort of a date.”

Elise crossed her arms. “No. That was not a date. It was an impromptu dinner because you both happened to be around, and hungry. And besides, that was forever ago. He owes you a real night out.”

Whitney took a long sip of her coffee to buy herself time to think. The more she discussed the situation out loud, the more panicked she was starting to feel. Something was wrong here. She took a deep breath, and then said, “I think he might be upset with me because I refused to sleep with him the other night.”

“WHAT?!?” Elise and Jamie both screeched in unison, leaning in as though they might miss the details if they sat too far back in the booth. This was a juicy piece of news.

“It was Thursday night. It was late and we started making out in the study room at the library. Things got out of hand, and we were on the verge of doing the deed, but…”

Whitney was interrupted by an outburst of laughter from Jamie. “You guys were going to bang in the middle of the library?” Whitney gave Jamie a pointed glare and Jamie quieted down and raised her hands in surrender. “I’m sorry. Please, continue.”

“Neither one of us had a condom and I refused to continue without one.”