Chapter Four – 15:52

This time you are prepared.

This time you are not going to duck out of it.

You saw him when you stepped back from the bench a few minutes earlier. He was hard to miss. At least for you.

"You can go ahead, I will meet you at the office." You can tell by the look on Alicia's face that she has seen him too. And that she wondering if or if not to comment. She makes the right decision: "Okay."

She seems to hesitate a second. If she dares to remind you that you have to give a closing argument tomorrow she will regret it. You are not sure what you will do, but she will regret it. This is none of her business and you don't need to be told what your job is.

Again she decides right and just leaves. Good.

You take your time.

No need to hurry.

You have all the time in the world.

And it's got nothing to do with fact that you know that he is probably due in court in 7 minutes.

Nothing!

"Are you stalking me?" He is waiting for you at the door. This time you don't look him up but you are fully aware that he does his looking. Yet again.

"No," he says, searching for your gaze, "I just figured that since you didn't exactly respond to my question earlier I might just drop by and collect the answer."

"The answer?" You risk a short glance into his eyes. Immediately you feel like falling, like drowning, like losing yourself.

You blink.

"Yes. Concerning dinner." You are sure there was an appropriate reply on your mind just a second ago but it's gone now.

"I think we should talk." He adds and you can't stop your right eyebrow from twitching.

"Talk?" You echo as if you have heard that word for the first time and you can't help but wonder what kind of talking he is referring to.

Talking like you do all the talking while sits there and watches you blabber away?

Or talking like you say something, he says something and then you silently agree that are more fun ways to spent your time than talking?

Or does he actually mean talking? Like adults. Not that the second kind of talking was for...

Luckily he interrupts your train of thoughts at that point. You're not sure that it would haven been helpful if it had gotten a chance to continue.

"Talk." You suppress the urge to roll your eyes. Yes, that answer was helpful.

"Talk..."This time the echo is only in your mind.

The two of you aren't exactly good at that kind of talking he actually might be referring to.

You are good at other things.

Really good.

You need nearly all your mental strength to pull yourself back into the present and as you look at face of the man next to you, you can tell that he considers something to be odd. You know this whole situation is strange on so many levels but this can't be odd to him, can it? After all HE created that situation, he caused this. So this can't possibly be what he considers odd...

Something is...

Oh my...

You realize just now that you are actually biting your lower lip.

You haven't bitten your lower lip in public since High school!

In private, yes. Behind locked doors, save from all gazes you have bitten your lower lip, bitten other lower lips, bitten these lower lips, his delicious …

FOCUS! Oh my.

You cough slightly just to win some more time. "I.." you start and you know that it would be so easy to sent him away.

- I don't think we should.

- I don't think this is a good idea.

- I don't think there is anything we should talk about.

- I think you should leave me alone.

There are so many possibilities in your head which would sent him off. You just need to pick one.

The sound of quickly approaching high heels makes you turn your head and your sentence remains unfinished.

"Shannon, what a surprise." You state while watching the other Attorney closely.

You know she has been looking for him.

That she has come for him...

Isn't this skirt a little too short for court?

"Diane." She smiles politely. She seems to be tensed. Why could she be tensed?

Maybe because he is standing next to you - right next to you - close to you and not...

"She has a trial coming up and she is loosing, that is the reason why she is tensed." Your common sense suddenly kicks in. Where did these other thoughts come from?

"Sorry to interrupt your little get-together, but", she turns to the man next to you, "Kurt, we really need to get back to the trial." Did she just say "Kurt"?

"Your testimony is next and I think the judge is already enough pro-prosecution so I don't want to get on her bad side even more by being late." She actually called him Kurt!

"So you probably should get going then." You have to suppress a small grin. Yes, it's not Kurt's fault that Shannon and her judge don't get along, so why should he care?

Obviously Wilbanks is not as thrilled about that reply as you are. "4 o'clock. Please be on time." She gives you a polite smile and leaves.

"Kurt?" You mimic the moment she is out of earshot and you immediately feel like slapping yourself. That was really mature, wasn't it?

But it doesn't feel right that she's calling him Kurt.

It just doesn't sound right.

"It's his name, get over it." You tell yourself and you can't stop the corners of your mouth from arching a little.

Yes, it's his name...

You have said this name far too often not to know that it's his name.

Said,whispered, sighed, ...

Yet again you need to pull your thoughts back. Getting lost somewhere deep down memory lane is not exactly helpful right now.

" How do you know each other?" You nod into the general direction of the end of the corridor. You try to sound casual but you have no idea if you are succeeding.

"Let's say we have some common friends."

You turn to him and you actually have to smile: "Common friends? Who? Smith and Wesson?"

"You know, a little jealousy suits you quite well, Ms. Lockhart." He grins and you try to get upset over that comment. You are not jealous. No way. Why should you be by the way? It is just ridiculous...

"I'm not jealous." You are still smiling a little. So much for trying to get upset...

"Let's talk over dinner. Tomorrow since you seem to be busy tonight."

"No need to talk about it, I'm not jealous." A short gaze into his eyes tells you that that isn't what he meant and you remember that he didn't say "talk about it" just "talk".

You somehow manage to tear your eyes away from his.

"I..." you start but then you hesitate. You were close to saying "will call you" but the last time one of you said that it turned out to be even worse than a stupid phrase.

It was a broken promise.

"I need to think about it."

"So I need to think about it. It's not a brush off." This time it's not a brush off either, is it? You really do need to think about it, don't you? But didn't you plan to send him off just two minute ago? What happened?

He nods and you cannot help but wonder if he recalls that line too...

The silence which is spreading tortures you because it leaves space for more memories:

"You should have called me... When you got back from that case in Florida." "You're right, I should've... I'm sorry."

Maybe you should talk...

"I've got to go." He says after what? A second? A minute? You have no idea how much time just passed.

You nod because actually you just don't know what to say. Goodbye and good luck? Well, wishing him good luck for his testimony would probably not be the worst thing to do...

The moment you open your mouth you feel the vibrate alert of your cell go off. Nice timing... You start searching for your phone in your briefcase but every now and then you risk a peak into the direction of the man who is now walking down the hall.

Of course the caller is Will... Of course... Who else?

Before answering you take a last quick look down the corridor and you actually feel your heart skip a beat when you see that before turning the corner Kurt risks a short gaze back at you.

"I need to think about it." Your own voice echoes through your head...

So much for sending him off.

Bravo.

Keep all options open, Lockhart.

Oh my.