Chapter Two: Teenage Wasteland
Kate woke the next morning, and the first thing she felt was how she was holding the pillows.
"Oh, no no no," she said, leaping out of bed and walking backwards, nearly tripping over some shoes she'd put next to the dresser. "That did not just happen." She finally reached the wall and leaned up against it for support. She stared at the pillows as though they'd been a scorpion poised for attack.
She didn't go to bed wishing Ben were holding her all night on Lauren's couch. It just hadn't happened. She didn't go to sleep crying because he hadn't been there with her. And she did not proposition him last night and completely blow it.
If anything showed how wrong she was about who Ben was, it was his reaction and the fact that he'd left. If he really were that empty, he wouldn't have thought twice about taking her up on her offer. Damn her for being so completely wrong.
But that didn't matter because: It. Had. Not. Happened. Last night: Did. Not. Exist.
Sadly, it was true that Justin had been out on a date last night. No amount of denial was going to change that.
Nor would any amount of denial change the fact that she had a horrific hangover. She took two ibuprofen with a cup of tap water from the bathroom sink and started the shower.
She threw a set of clothes on the bed without thinking about it, then got into the finally-warm, entirely-too-modern-for-her-taste shower, washing all her tears off her face. She had to admit that, once she reined Ben in, he'd been really good on the case they'd worked together, and she was totally glad that he'd asked for her help so an innocent cop hadn't been railroaded. They'd gotten the truth, they'd won, and both Ben and Kate had been necessary for that to happen.
Then there was the inattentional blindness demonstration. Kate slid down the wall of the shower and let the water wash over her. She'd expected to break Ben so much more quickly than she had. His eyes had slipped, sure, but it's not like she wasn't encouraging that. But in order to really get the result she'd wanted, she had to climb across the desk, lean over, and fondle him, failing to realize how much she'd wanted to Do. Just. That. It brought back memories of the thoughts she'd had at the bar that night and why she said "too late" so quickly. It's a good thing he finally broke or she'd have been doing things she'd never want Leo to know about, much less witness from a few feet away.
She got ready for the work day except for her makeup, walked upstairs, put on coffee water, grabbed a glass of orange juice, and cooked herself two eggs and two pieces of turkey bacon.
As she sat there at the kitchen counter, she couldn't help but replay the previous night in her head. How was she going to face Ben? After eating one bite of egg, she buried her face in her hands.
Just then, Lauren came in from her morning run, looked at Kate, and did a double-take. "Rough night?"
"You have no idea. One advantage of being a widow over being divorced is that you never have to see your ex with anyone else. Forever."
Lauren frowned. "Oh, Kate, you also never get to see them again. Forever. Sometimes that hurts worse."
"I'm sorry, bad analogy. I know you miss my father."
"It's okay."
Kate sat down, drank the two ibuprofen with water, and ate what little breakfast she could manage.
Why did she need to worry about facing Ben when it never happened?
#
Kate ran for the elevator. "Oh, hold the door, hold the door!" Kate entered the elevator wearing an orange blouse and purple slacks.
"Morning," said Ben, happy to see her.
"Morning." She sighed and did not look happy to see him.
"Wanna grab a martini?" he teased.
"You want to shut up?" She leaned against the elevator wall.
"Little hung over?" He teased her again, but he had been worried about her last night. Her eyes were puffy this morning, so he guessed she'd been crying.
"I don't even remember how I got home last night. Really."
"Me either." Best to just drop it? Ben changed topics. "Hey did you hear about the Golden Gate bungee jumper? He's my client."
"Oh, wow. That's your favorite kind of case. A slip and fall."
They both forced laughs, but the diss stung. After last night, Ben wanted more than ever to win her respect. He didn't know if she really didn't remember, and if her memory was screwed up, she may also think more happened than actually did and that Ben hadn't acted honorably. Best to clear the air now, then.
"Oh, shazam, now I remember. You saw Justin on a date last night, drank too much, I drove you home," Kate turned away and bit her lip while Ben continued, "and then you asked me in for meaningless revenge sex because you think I'm an empty person. Did we? No. Because I said no to you and then went home. That's right. Now I remember."
Kate pressed the elevator's emergency stop button then pushed him against the wall and grabbed his hands. "Okay. You listen up. Last night was kind of a low point for me." Ben loved being pushed against a wall by hot women, his slight smile betraying his amusement at being manhandled by Kate. Again. She was in a lot of pain, obviously, so he really tried to remove his traditional smirk, but suspected he wasn't completely successful. "So it didn't happen. Not the drinks. Not the ride. Not the Justin. Not the nothing that happened after that. Last night does not exist. You got it?" Kate pulled her hands away.
Ben leaned in close. "Only because I'm seeing him in an hour to negotiate a plea deal on the jumper," Ben crossed and disabled the emergency alarm, "does Justin exist?"
The elevator door opened, and Kate ran out.
Ben stared after her, wondering what the hell was going on in her head. After she was safely in her office, he walked quietly to his. He'd had some strange encounters with women in his life, but that - that was one of the oddest.
His nether reasons put in their vote - it was also one of the hottest. He walked to his office, where he sat down very carefully lest his tailor yell at him too.
#
Later that day, Ben was in Justin's office. They'd run across each other more than once but never worked on the same cases. Until now.
Justin said some blah blah stuff about law and order and the case, and Ben replied, "So you're risk averse. Guess that could be an attractive quality at first blush." Ben picked up a baseball off Justin's desk and tossed it into the air. "But - I can see where someone might get bored." He tried to imagine Kate pushing Justin up against a wall like she'd done with him this morning, and failed to imagine it.
"Don't do that." Justin said, looking at the baseball.
Ben carefully put it back on the desk.
"Who might get bored?" Justin asked. Interesting. So he was defensive about being boring, especially wih regards to Kate.
Ben made sure he didn't smirk, then lied. "The voters."
They negotiated on the Wozniak deal, then Ben said, "You're very rigid. Interesting." They shook on the deal.
#
For lunch, Ben brought tacos from his favorite taqueria to Leo, in hopes of finding out more about Kate, but only got the teensiest bit of information when Leo said, "Maybe it's the whole opposites attract thing. You know, Kate can go all crazy town and Justin's there to support her."
"So he's Kate's bungee cord."
After that, Leo stonewalled, but Ben had something to think about: Justin kept Kate in within the realm of orbital mechanics. Ben could do that, if only he showed her that he could. It hardly seemed like a reason to stay with someone so dullsville, though.
When Leo left on an errand, Ben walked down to the florist on the corner and bought one single stargazer lily, having the florist cut the stem to fit in the empty vase on Kate's desk, then tucked it in an empty doughnut bag.
He hand-calligraphied a card that said only, "I'm sorry. - B" then put the flower in her vase with some water and the card facing where she would sit. He left her office mere moments before Leo's return. Ben wasn't actually sure he had anything he needed to apologize for, but if there's one thing being around a lot of women had taught him, his sense of these things often disagreed with the opinions of the women involved.
#
Ben and Justin were muttering at each other when Judge Victoria Connors entered. She looked at the case file in front of her. "Ahh, San Francisco vs. Wozniak. I enjoyed his spectactular jump off the bridge yesterday. How far was that fall?"
Ben smiled and said, "Four hundred feet, he just skimmed the pavement." He gestured a long slide.
Judge said, "It's exhilarating." She looked at Justin. "What's the plea?"
Justin said, "Misdemeanor, 8 weeks in county."
Judge looked aghast. "Eight weeks! For a performance artist?"
Ben knew this was his cue that he should forget the plea deal and look out for the best interests of his client, and at the same time, he'd annoy Justin. That was just a bonus, though. "That's what I said, but some people have no appreciation of artistic expression," he turned to look at Justin, "it's called the . . . first . . . amendment?"
Justin responded, "Yeah, which courts interpreted as being subject to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions. Bungee jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge is not reasonable."
Hell, bongo drumming on a street corner probably wasn't reasonable by Justin's standards. Ben replied, "But my client's art is about being unpredictable and unrestricted. If you take that away from him, you've taken away his constitutional rights."
Justin said, annoyed, "Can we just enter the plea that we agreed to and move on with this?"
The Judge said, "No no, this is good." She gestures at both attorneys. "You see, this is why the constitution is a living, a breathing, document."
Ben said, cheerily, "Absolutely. Wozniak broke the law, but, in doing so, he inspired our city with his artistic boldness. As I told ADA Patrick, jail time's way too punitive."
Justin, frustrated, growls, "But you agreed to a plea."
Ben shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "Well..."
Juge asks, "Okay. Well, do you have an agreement or not?"
Simultaneously, Justin said yes, and Ben said no.
The judge smiled, and she said, "Oh, gentlemen. Let's relish this debate. Before I accept any plea, I'd like you both to read New York City vs. Petit and we'll pick this up at lunch tomorrow in my chambers. That'll be all."
After Justin and Ben looked at each other in dawning horror, the judge said, "Next case!"
Ben walked out the door first, then Justin sped to catch up with him.
Justin said, Hey, hey, what are you doing? We had a deal."
Ben explained, "She didn't like it any more than I did." Was it really so hard for Justin to understand that Ben had to have his client's interests take priority, here? He owed it to his client to fight the good fight, even if it meant alienating ADA Snoozefest.
Justin said testily, "You know what I can't stand? People who waste my time."
Ben suddenly realized one of the reasons Ben and Kate hadn't gotten along. Kate was never going to win any awards for time efficiency except when it came to some aspects of her job, and the level of bitterness Justin expressed clearly had almost nothing to do with Ben. "Awww, maybe somebody's a little bit upset about getting beat in there."
"Actually, I just don't like you." Justin paused for effect before the next line. "Your own partners don't even like you."
So he didn't know anything about Kate's attempts to seduce Ben. Interesting. Ben stopped and turned around, then leaned on the coffee counter, smirking. "One does," Ben gloated.
Justin nodded. "Lauren tolerates you."
Ben continued smiling. "Always so sure of everything you're so sure of?"
"I'm sure you can't be trusted." Well, it's not like that was something that had come up today. Ben knew he had a reputation in certain respects and - he didn't care. The only reason he would care about what other people thought of him was if it affected his relationship with Kate.
Ben pulled a paper coffee cup off the counter, turned it right side up and placed it on the counter. "Cup for your tears. See you tomorrow." Ben turned and left.
Justin yelled after him, "You'd better bring your A game."
Ben smirked all the way to his car. So Justin really had no idea how his ex-wife felt. Fascinating.
#
The following morning, Kate was irritated at the repetitve sound from Ben's office. She looked up, only to see him throwing a small basketball at a backstop placed in front of the window leading to her office and Leo's.
She barged in his office. "What are you doing?"
"Workin' on my A game," he said without explanation. She picked up an amber ball he had on his desk, and he turned to look at her. His hair was a little more tousled than normal, and he was leaning back, jacket off, shirt sleeves rolled up, doing his best puppy dog cute look. "Justin says you don't like me. That's pretty ironic, don't you think?"
She smiled sweetly at him and pushed some stray hair back with her thumb. "Why is that ironic?"
"Well, I think that irony is something that makes the gods laugh, you know, like tornado destroys wind chime store." He looked down at her tossing the amber ball. "Gonna bludgeon me?"
"Probably. So, uh, what did you and Justin talk about?" And where the hell did Justin get the idea that Kate didn't like Ben? Seemed an odd thing for Justin to come up with right after she'd been seen leaving with him in a bar. How did that issue even come up, anyway?
"Well, I know it's hard for you to imagine we didn't spend all afternoon talking about you, but we didn't. It's about protecting the first amendment. And winning." Winning a case? Or winning her?
"Winning?" She asked.
"Mostly winning." Ben said, leaving Kate still wondering.
Leo came in to let her know a mediation client was in the office, and then he left to fetch Lauren.
Kate leaned over Ben's desk. "I mostly hate you," she said emphatically, slamming down the amber ball.
Ben smiled, then Kate left, rattled by the intrusion of the client and her imagination of what Justin and Ben might have said to each other.
She put her purse in her desk drawer , which is when she first saw the flower and the note. She put the note in a different desk drawer, sniffed the flower, and went to meet Lauren. Damn it, she'd been so rude to Ben right then and he'd been so sweet to leave the flower and note on her desk.
#
Later in the judge's chambers, Ben and Justin met with her for lunch. She didn't agree to either of their plea offers, but instead ordered them to dinner at her house, giving the address only to Ben.
"Is this even ethical?" Ben asked.
"Oh, like you care about ethics," Justin scoffed, then chided Ben to stick to the plea next time.
When the two men arrived for dinner, things got really strange and looked to be heading to even stranger territory with no end in sight for this case.
After they left the judge's house in the pouring rain, Ben and Justin were as confused as ever.
Ben said, "I thought you almost sealed the deal in there. Well played, counselor."
"I meant what I said."
"I have never met anyone who so fully believes in being by the book. It's mostly douchey, but it's kind of inspiring." Ben tried to find his keys, checking every pocket.
"Well thank you very much."
"Oh no. I left my keys in there." Ben looked back, as did Justin.
"Oh."
"I can't."
"I wouldn't."
"I have a spare set at the office."
"I'll call us both a cab."
"Yes."
They waited outside for the dab in awkward silence. They dropped Ben off first, and he slipped Justin more than enough money for the full cab ride, then entered his alarm code to enter the building.
When he arrived at his office, he saw Katie sleeping on the couch in his office. He quietly fetched his keys, then kneeled in front of Kate and removed her shoes.
She murmured. "Ben?"
"Yes, Katie, it's me."
"What are you doing here?"
"You're sleeping in my office."
Her eyes opened.
"It's okay if you sleep on my couch, but please take your shoes off first. It's a ten thousand dollar couch."
"Ten thousand dollars and you only got brown?"
"Well, it was another ten grand for the patent paisley print."
She laughed. "Oww."
"Are you in pain?"
"Headache."
"Ibuprofen?"
"Two?"
He went to fetch water and ibuprofen for her, then kneeled in front of her to hand them to her.
"Would you like a blanket?"
"Please."
He fetched the lightweight cashmere-blend blanket and pulled it over her.
"I'm going to let you sleep."
"I came in to apologize. Nice flower. So tired."
"Apology accepted."
"Thanks, honey."
"You're welcome, dear," he said with bemusement, and kissed her cheek just because. He ran his fingers through her hair gently, which made her murmur happily, and he said, "Good luck with Mean Girls Prep. Sleep well."
"Okay."
He left her in his office, turning off more lights so she'd sleep better, then called a cab to go fetch his car. The entire way, he was chuckling over her tender use of the endearment she'd used and how fervently she'd said she mostly hated him earlier in the day.
#
That night, Kate woke several times from bad dreams about her current case, but Ben was gone. At one point, she realized she'd called him honey and he'd called her dear back. Well, that was far less embarrassing than propositioning him and calling him empty, wasn't it?
#
The next morning, Ben arrived before even Leo, and Kate was still asleep in Ben's office. He waited outside the ladies' room for Lauren, then asked her why the judge would drag out the plea bargain. Her answers led to a plan, which he sprang on Justin later that morning.
Just before Judge Connors entered the courtroom, Ben said to Justin, "Stick to the plan."
Justin asked, "This isn't a trap, right?"
Ben said, "This is the only way out of this, scout's honor."
For once, Justin didn't say anything snarky to Ben.
After the judge approved their new and improved plea deal, Ben burst from the courtroom. "Ohh, I thought this would never end."
"Let's not do this again."
"Agreed."
They parted awkwardly, and Ben took the rest of the day off just out of sheer frustration.
Later, he got a text from Katie about her case. "Mean Girl & Preppy Teacher: $0. Mean Girls Prep: won. New client: Mean Girls Prep."
Ben texted back: "You go, tiger!"
Only belatedly did he realize that her referring to her alma mater as Mean Girls Prep meant she remembered at least some of last night's conversation.
