Georgetown University 1990
The girl sitting next to Will during orientation kept babbling on how exciting it was to be going to law school, and how she could not wait to call her parents tonight, tell them how thrilled she was to be going to Georgetown. They were so proud of her, and the entire town of Lower Podunk, Minnesota or wherever the hell she was from had thrown her a party when she left Her name was Amy or Emily. Something like that. . Girls like her were a dime a dozen. He was more intrigued by the girl with the dark hair sitting alone at the back of the auditorium.
Amy/Emily followed Will outside, and for some inexplicable reason, he asked her to go to Houlihan's for a drink. They were about to walk over there when Dark Curly Hair, the woman of his dreams, walked past them.
"Excuse me. Do you happen to know where the registrar's office would be?" she asked.
"Sure. It's on the other side of the quad. I'm Will Gardner. We were going to go for a drink you wanted to join us?"
"Yeah, I'd like that. Alicia Cavanaugh."
Will had gotten his Bachelor's from Georgetown. Having already been around four years, he knew every watering hole like the back of his hand. In fact. When the trio walked into Houlihan's , the hostess recognized him at once.
"Will! Nice to see you again! Your table is ready in the back."
They sat down, ordered a pitcher of Killian's Ale, and a plate of onion rings.
"So where are you from Alicia?" he asked.
"Chicago. I did my undergrad in Philly. Penn. My parents, and now my new boyfriend expected that I'd go somewhere closer to home for law school."
He cringed when he heard the word "boyfriend". She'd met a guy named Peter when she was working as an intern at a large downtown Chicago firm. Peter Florrick was already a junior associate there.
Will admitted he hadn't always treated the women he dated the way they deserved to be treated. However, he had to wonder about a person who was an attorney in a prestigious firm hitting on a twenty-one year old intern.
The girl who'd come with them, whose name turned out to be Rebecca, sat in pouty silence while Will and Alicia were deep in conversation. Eventually, she grew bored, and started talking to someone at the bar. That was the last they saw of her.
They ordered a second pitcher of beer, and talked amiably about the Presidential election still two years away, their class schedules, and whether the Cubs were ever going to win a World Series.
He noticed from the beginning that she did not gush. She had maturity, and a quiet self-assurance missing in other young women her age. She was obviously whip-smart, and he had no doubt she'd be a superb lawyer one day.
It began to get late, and Will walked her back to the apartment she shared with two other students. He was tempted to kiss her, but remembered the boyfriend, this Peter, and thought better of it.
Alicia could not fall asleep. Maybe it was because her roommate and a guy she had just met were noisily "going at it" in the next room. Maybe it was the excitement of starting law school, and nervousness about classes starting tomorrow.
Maybe it was Will Gardner.
She wasn't sure if she loved Peter Florrick. All she knew was that when they had their first real date when he internship ended, she ended up at his apartment, and in his bed.
Alicia didn't do that sort of thing. She'd had her share of high school and college relationships. But she hadn't spent the night in a man's apartment in her entire life. It was almost as though Peter had some kind of hold over her.
She sensed Peter was going to be someone important one day. People were drawn to his easy charm, and his charismatic personality. A born politician. Maybe he'd become a Senator, or Governor of Illinois.
They wanted the same things out of life, her and Peter. When she finished law school, she'd find a job in Chicago. They'd get married, and buy a townhouse or condo in Lincoln Park. They'd become a working professional couple.
Someday, they'd buy a house in the suburbs. Eventually, there would be kids. She wanted two.
A boy named Zachary, and a girl named Victoria. That wouldn't be until they were married six or seven years, though.
Will Gardner. Now that was something altogether different. He was sexy. There was no doubt about that. Yet, she got the feeling he liked to play. She couldn't see marriage or kids on Will's radar now, or ever.
The phone rang, and she answered, expecting it to be Peter.
"Hi. It's Will Gardner. Sorry to call so late. I just wanted to say I had a great time with you. Did you want to get together after classes tomorrow? Say, Houlihan's at six o'clock?"
"Sure. See you then."
From that first year, Will and Alicia were inseparable. When their friends invited them to a party, or out for drinks, they assumed that if Will was invited Alicia would be there, and vice versa. Those who didn't know them well assumed they were a couple.
Peter came to visit over a few weekends, and Will took an instant dislike to him. He was always polite and friendly enough. Yet Will sensed smarminess beneath the surface.
He also found Peter's attitude toward Alicia superior and condescending. Here was a woman who had graduated Cum Laude from an Ivy League college, and was near the top of her class in law school. Yet Peter seemed to diminish her.
Alicia stayed in Washington during the summer between first and second year working for an Illinois Congressman. Peter's father had written her a glowing letter of recommendation. Will stayed in his DC apartment, and commuted on MARC to a job in Baltimore. They saw one another on weekends when Alicia wasn't flying to Chicago, or Peter wasn't visiting.
During the last week of August, a group of their friends rented a beach house in Rehoboth, Delaware, and asked Will and Alicia to join them. They had a marvelous time spending days on the beach, and the nights hitting the bars around Rehoboth Beach.
On the last day, it rained. They all spent the day inside, playing board games, and drinking copious amounts of beer and wine.
When the sun finally came out, someone fired up the grill, and Will and Alicia decided to take a walk along the shoreline. They were both restless after being cooped up all day, and feeling somewhat tipsy.
"So, I wanted to ask you. That girl who your housemate, Kim is moving out?" Will asked her.
"She's graduating. It's just as well. I was tired of all the random guys she was always bringing home," Alicia said.
"So you're going to need a third person to split the rent?" Will asked.
"I guess. What are you asking me, Will?"
"My lease is up at the end of September. Maybe I can move in with you."
Alicia didn't think it was a good idea at all. She spent almost all of her free time with Will as it was, and Peter was starting to complain about that. Still, she did need another roommate.
"We'd have to set some ground rules. First of all, please let me know when you're going to bring someone home. I don't want to come home, and find you on the couch banging some girl."
"Likewise." Although he knew in Alicia's case, that scenario wasn't likely.
Then, Will did something incredibly stupid. He couldn't help himself. She was just so damn beautiful, her hair covered by his Oriole's cap, her nipples visible under a thin white tee-shirt. He wanted her so badly he couldn't stand it. He wanted them to get in the car, and drive back to Washington tonight. Then they would go to his apartment, and make love violently and passionately until sunrise.
He kissed her. It was a chaste kiss, their lips barely touching. Alicia did not resist him.
Before things could progress further, someone yelled for them from the house.
"Will and Alicia! Burgers and dogs are up!"
For the rest of the night, they tried to avoid one another, but that was difficult to do in the small beach house. There was awkwardness that existed between them now.
They drove back to DC together the next day in uncomfortable silence. They barely spoke until Will pulled up in front of Alicia's building.
"I don't think I should say anything to Peter about what happened last night," she said.
"You're right, you shouldn't. There's no reason to say anything because nothing happened. We were drinking, and I did something silly. We're friends, Alicia. That's all."
She knew Will did not believe that for one second, but she decided to go along with it. Something had changed irrevocably between them, and she wasn't sure things would ever be the same.
To Be Continued…