9 - Diner
It was late Friday afternoon before I had found the time to call up Mrs Williams, after a small meal of leftovers I hunted down the right phone number and made my call regarding the dinner invitation, "may I speak to Mrs Williams?" I asked politely when a strange woman answered the phone number I had been given.
"Sorry she is not available right now but let me connect you with her assistant." That statement alone was intimidating enough and had it not been for caller ID I would have probably hung up right then and there. Five minutes later I had spoken to Mrs William's secretary who did not seem too pleased that an extra person had been invited to dinner, but regardless of that I was given a time and a place.
Had it not been absolutely rude I would not have attended, but Mrs Williams seemed like a nice woman and she had invited me to her home. The address I had been given was in a very wealthy part of town, the large two story brick home with its circle drive fit in perfectly with the rest of the upscale homes. Having borrowed Sassy's car yet again I carefully parked it behind three other vehicles that were lined up in a neat row, at least I hoped this was the proper place for guests. The overcoat that went with the suit was a little bulky but necessary if I was going to keep up the appearances. Temperatures had dropped, and while we had not had a freeze yet the forecaster was calling for it in the next couple of week; needless to say when you added the drizzle a normal human would need the extra coat for protection from the elements. I felt especially silly when I pulled out the umbrella, only newcomers to the region actually used umbrellas but Tiffany had absolutely refused to let me have a raincoat with my suit. She did promise to get me a fedora for christmas if I was good and used my umbrella.
Welcoming bright lights flooded out of every large window on the bottom floor, I would hate to be the one who had to clean all those windows. Circumventing several large urns filled to the brim with autumn flowers I headed for the large double doors. The obvious wealth would have been impressive had I not been used to the family and their oodles of money. A few years back Sassy had taken me briefly to see her castle, it made this place look like a garden shed - though it was extremely unfair to compare a home to Sassy's castle.
It was almost exactly half past six when I reached over to ring the doorbell, I was holding some flowers and the apple butter Sassy had instructed me to take as a gift. I hope my surprise at seeing Mrs Williams open the door did not show on my face, I was expecting someone like the secretary or the housekeeper to greet the guests.
She started out looking at my chest before moving up to my face, this was a common occurrence after my last growth spurt. It took her a moment to recognize who was standing at her front door. "Oh Seth welcome I see you found the way here."
"Good evening, Mrs Williams. Yes I spoke with your secretary. Thank you for the invitation, these are for you." I told her while handing over the gifts.
"Why thank you, young man." Her polite smile had a hint of confusion as she took the small jar from me.
"It is apple butter, my friend and I spent most of last weekend picking and then peeling 150 pound of apples." I explained to her, the stuff was actually really good on toast.
"Thank you, this should be absolutely delicious. Let me introduce you to my husband." She said with a much more genuine smile. She turned towards the severe looking older man standing behind her. He was wearing a tux, which made me more than glad that Sassy had told me to wear a suit. The tie might feel like a noose but it was worth not looking like a fool in front of this somber man. "James this is the very nice young man I told you about. The one that was kind enough to help me the other night."
"Welcome to our home," he said in a clear and commanding tone, somehow reminding me of Sassy when she was giving out orders. Though Sassy looked a lot sexier when she used that voice, I started imagining Sassy giving out orders wearing next to nothing but quickly had to mentally slap myself to get back onto track. I would not leave the best impression if I introduced myself with a huge boner.
"Seth Clearwater. Thank you for having me sir," I did not reach to shake his hand until he lifted his towards me, something else that Sassy had warned me about. Though I was starting to doubt my reason for being here, I should have come up with some sort of excuse for not coming except it might have disappointed Mrs Williams.
"James try not the scare the boy, here let me have Carla take your coat. My don't you look handsome. That shirt is a really good color on you." Mrs Williams appeared determined to make up for her husbands coldness.
"Thank you but I can't take any credit for this, I have to admit that my taste in clothing usually is along the line of jeans and t-shirts. It was actually one of my roommates that picked this out for me." I admitted with a small smile.
"He has good taste. Gay?" She asked with a twinkle in her eyes.
"No actually as far as I know Tiffany is very straight but I usually do not discuss such things with her." I gave her my best impish smile. She appeared to be one of those people who just loved to try to shock you; little did she know that most of the people I knew had mischief as their middle names. Any answer she may have made was prevented by the ringing of the doorbell.
"Gary and Sabrina, and your brought your son Rupert." Mr Williams interrupted my conversation with his wife, grasping her elbow to steer her away form me as he moved to greet the people who had just come in behind me. His greeting of the newcomers was much warmer than the one I had received.
It quickly became obvious that Mr Williams did not like me very much. This impression did not change as the evening went on, every once in a while I would catch him scowling in my direction. I was beyond surprised to recognize Rupert as the Ozzy shirt boy, the one that had been picking on Michelle that first day of class. He was a little pale when Mrs Williams introduced us, I could not tell if it was because he was still afraid of me or was fearful that I would tell his parents the circumstances of our initial "conversation". I let the introduction go without bringing up the fact that we were in the same biology lab, technically this was the first time someone had told me his name.
Dinner was actually a very nice affair, the food was good if a little too high class for my taste. The person sitting on my right was some sort of engineer and we had a nice conversation about his work. The woman on my left completely ignored me and spent the evening practically sitting in the lap of the man next to her; if that was what she thought of as dinner conversation then I was perfectly happy at being ignored.
"My roommate is studying engineering, he absolutely hates the eight am classes." I told the Frank, that was the engineer's name, between courses.
"Yeah I remember those days, that is why when I started my own business I swore that our hours of operations would not begin until ten. But I though your roommate studied history? I never heard of a history and engineering major." He told me as he declined the waiter's offer for more wine. He looked to be in his mid forties, and like most of the older men was wearing a tux that I was willing to bet was not rented. He might have been intimidating if it was not for the fact that the man never stopped smiling.
"That would be my sister, she is the history major. I learned from her mistakes and never tried living in a dorm. Instead I moved in with her and her boyfriend who happens to be a plastic surgeon and so has enough room to host several of us."
"Plastic surgeon huh? Sounds much better than dorms. Smart move kid," he saluted me with his water glass.
"Yup, the only problem is that I am not the only one that is this smart. I don't know how it happened but since he built the house a few years ago he has somehow acquired four boys. Three other guys from my tribe are also staying there, which is very nice of Phil considering we could probably not afford to go to UW any other way."
"That sounds chaotic," Frank replied with a small laugh.
"Not really, he expanded the house a few years ago. It is a little bigger than this place, though a lot less..." I tried to find the best way to put it.
"Ostentatious? The Williams family comes from a lot of money and you can tell. Me I prefer a little bit simpler life, though this can be nice every once in a while." He pointed at the remains of his meal. "So what type of car does your plastic surgeon drive?"
Luckily we were interrupted by food before I could answer, honestly speaking I did not pay much attention to Phil's car. It could not compare to Edward Cullen's, I mean how could you compete with James Bond's car? After dinner was a mixture of good and bad, I got to meet with some very nice people but Judge Williams did his best to glare me. It was not until nearly the end of the night that I realized his motivation for making me feel unwelcome, I overheard him talking to one of his friends. "The large native american boy? You know Joanna, she likes to pick up strays. I just hope that this one will turn out better than the last few. I don't think Joanna was even all that upset over the fact that the last girl she brought home stole from us. My wife was much more upset because the girl would not accept help with her drug problem. This kid looks strong enough to do some serious damage if that was what he wanted to do, I will not have him hurting my wife."
I could not blame Mr Williams for being protective of his wife, in fact I applauded the man for it. It made me feel a little better that his cold shoulder was not meant anything personal, he did not know me well enough to realize I could never hurt his wife. I looked around trying to find an excuse to leave this party, unfortunately for me it looked like people were just starting to settle around the large room. No one looked even close to being ready to leave, which meant I would have to continue to stay; as soon as the first person left I would be two steps behind them.
"Seth come let me introduce you to Larry," Mrs Williams called me across the room. She had been playing the perfect hostess, making sure that I got to meet everyone. I could not decide why she bothered considering with the exception of Rupert I would not get to see any of these people again.
Unfortunately she led me to the group of people surrounding her husband, and from his scowl he did not want me to come anywhere near him. I was not about to go against the wishes of his wife, so it impossible to move away to from Mrs Williams despite the glares her husband kept throwing in my direction.
"Larry this is the very helpful young who saved me from breaking my back, Seth this is Larry Henley." She quickly made the introductions to yet another old man whose name I would promptly forget. I had been doing that a lot this evening.
"Nice to meet you sir," I told him while shaking his hand and ignoring the unwelcoming man next to him. "Henley? Is that anything to do with Swallow, Henley and Ferguson?"
"Yes that is my law firm. Why do you ask? Do you need legal representation for some trouble with the law?" He asked with a not so honest smile. Judge Williams just twitched next to him, waiting for me to admit to being the criminal. You could almost see the anticipation as he listened for the confirmation of his suspicions.
"Actually do you know a lawyer by the name of Josefine Stone?" Swallow, Henley and Ferguson was the law firm Sassy worked for.
"Yes of course she is one of my rising starts. Smart, hard working and willing to go that extra mile. Though her specialty is business law?" Mr Henley was starting to sound suspicious. Yeah why exactly would an obviously native american know a hotshot lawyer like Josefine Stone? I suppressed a smile as I considered explaining our non-existent relationship to him.
"She is a good friend of my family. Actually her cousin Kendrick has pretty much been like a father to me for the past few years." Kendrick could never replace my father but he was a good guy who had taught me a great deal of things that my mother would never have thought of.
"Oh you are that Seth, Josefine talks about you all the time. She has high hopes for you; has she tired to lure you into the glamorous world of law." He gave me quick smile, this time it was genuine. "If you have half as much potential as she claims then all you have to do is pass the bar exam and I will personally hire you."
I could not help the blush that spread across my cheeks, the thought of Sassy praising me filled me with pleasure.
Mrs Williams must have noticed my embarrassment because she quickly jumped in to save the day. "Oh this Josefine sounds fun, why did you not ask her to come to dinner, don't you agree James?"
To my great surprise there was actually a smile on Judge William's face, it seemed my connection with Josefine gave me enough credit that he was willing to consider the possibility of my innocence. I was somewhat insulted that it was the mentioning of a name that cause him to change his mind instead of my own actions.
"She is working right now, and could not have come but I am sure she would have appreciated the invitation." I told Mrs Williams politely.
"Working, on a Saturday night? Larry what kind of a place do you run that you don't give them an evening off? All work and no play is not good for anyone." Mrs Williams wagged her finger at Sassy's boss who looked uncomfortable with the reprimand. It was not a secret that young lawyers worked day and night as they made their way up the ladder.
"She is currently in India, refereeing some sort of negotiations." I quickly spoke up before he got into too much trouble. "She could not give me any detail due to client confidentiality but she did say the two groups were acting like a bunch of five year olds who were in need of a nap."
Everyone in the group laughed along with Mr Henley. "Oh I am not too worried about it, she will find a way to reach a compromise," he told Mrs Williams with a wink. "She is far too good at managing people who don't even realize they are being managed at all. WIth her skills at appeasing people without actually promising anything the woman was practically born to be a politician, it is a lucky for us that she chose to join our law firm instead of becoming some politicians aide."
I suppressed my smile, Mr Henley was right. Sassy was born to be a leader, a queen in fact.
After Judge Williams realized that I had the proper connection he seemed to thaw and went even so far as to ask about my plans. I don't know how we got onto the topic, maybe it was something his wife mentioned about her charity work but soon we were discussing who had jurisdiction on reservation land and how the poorly defined laws made it hard to prosecute crimes. He was a keenly intelligent man who had served as a judge for many years, this had given him a slightly cynical view of the world.
"All in all the evening went well," I told Sassy that night when she called me to ask about my night out. "By the way thanks for saving me."
"Seth how could I have possibly saved you, I was not even there." There was some strange music in the background, Sassy had mentioned something about a festival but she had not said they were celebrating day and night. This might be the explanation as to why she look so sleep deprived on Thursday night.
"One of the partners was there from your firm and when I mentioned your name he recognized mine. What have you been saying about me at work?" I told her with a mock growl.
"Oh which one was there?" She asked trying to take control of the conversation.
"Henley and you did not answer my question." I was determined to know what she had been told Mr Henley to make him recognize my name.
"Well I might have said a few nice things about you, especially regarding the fact that you were such a kind and responsible young man." Her tone clearly indicated that she was leaving a great deal out.
"It was kind of strange meeting one of the partners of your law firm there." What were the odds of meeting one of her bosses at a dinner party hosted by someone I met on campus.
"Not really, the top tier of the lawyer world is a very incestuous place. Everyone knows everyone else and most of them are in bed together." She sounded like she was joking but I was not too sure that here words were entirely a metaphor. Honestly I did not want to hear the details of the relationships that went on behind the closed doors.
"After Judge Williams thawed a little bit we had an interesting conversation regarding the jurisdiction and rape victims on reservations. He was telling me that there was nothing that could be done on a state level and that the laws would have to be changed by the federal government. He actually was nice enough to invite me to his courtroom one day to observe the how the law was implemented." That had been a complete turnaround from his initial behavior.
"Seriously? He invited you to his court?" Sassy sounded surprised and pleased, "you do know that some judges will accept interns. It is a really good way to be exposed to the law and also an amazing way to pad your applications. If you were to intern with a judge as prestigious as Williams and you grades are decent you could pretty much take your pick of law schools."
"Well he did not say internship, he just said to observe." I did not want to jump to conclusions, plus who had said anything about law school. Sassy was the second person to mention law school in less than twenty four hours.
"A man who wanted to kick you out his house that has moved onto inviting you into his courtroom is not a casual request." Sassy pointed out in a dry tone.
"I don't know Sassy," I started to tell her that it could have been just him being kind but then I remembered having a similar conversation with her a few days ago. She had been correct in her assessment of the dinner, why would she be wrong about this? "Maybe you are right it was kind of neat listening to him talk about interpreting the laws and how even though you might disagree with a law you still have to follow the rules."
"I am glad you enjoyed yourself, and of course I am always happy to help you navigate the strange world of dinner parties." It was interesting to note that she did not say I told you so, despite the fact that she had been absolutely right about the seriousness of the invitation. Sassy never said I told you so, she had way too much class to do that.
"All right my pretty psychic," I was getting a little bold, but she would not be able to see my blush for calling her mine. "Was there something on my last palm reading that you have neglected to mention? Is this why you suggested that I try and find an extracurricular activity, because you think I would go into law?" I had not given much thought to my future beyond the fact that I wanted Sassy to be a part of it, even my college classes were general enough that if I put of making a decision on a major until my junior year it would be enough for me to graduate on time. Maybe I should have been more like my sister who had pretty much her life planned out for the next twenty years or so. It had been hard to watch my sister after Sam's betrayal, she had fallen apart. Leah always had to know what was coming next and she had been lost when her future with Sam had not happened the way she had envisioned it.
At eighteen I was expected to make decisions regarding what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. It was a daunting decision, one which I was trying to push off as long as possible. While I was not ready to make a choice at this time it did not mean I would not listen to my mates advice. This was not only due to the fact that se was my mate but also because he had lived a long time and only a fool would disregard her suggestions.
"I plead the fifth," she told me with a laugh. "About the choice of careers I might or might not have seen in your tea leaves. Seth you really need to relax, there is a small detail you seem to forget, when you live forever you get to pick more than one career."
"So what you are saying is that law might be a good choice for this lifetime?" The being immortal was one thing that was starting to freak me out, though Tiffany usually was quick to point out that no one lived forever - some people just lived a little longer than others. That was the understatement of the year, but I was not going to complain about the fact that if things worked out right I would get more than one lifetime with Sassy. For some reason I could not see myself being satisfied with only sixty years or so of her company.
"I think you should do as you wish, but it would be wise accept Judge Williams' offer." Her tone sounded serious and I promised to consider going to see the law in action.
"I have some bad news, our plans for tomorrow will have to be delayed until another day." She sounded genuinely contrite, "I would explain why but that would ruin the surprise, so you will have to be a little more patient with me."
"So I will not see you tomorrow?" My deep disappointment was obvious.
"The prospects look a lot better for two weeks from now, I apologize for the delay." Sassy's voice became low as she spoke of the change in plans. "That way you will have finished with your midterms." The noise of the revelry outside her rooms were getting louder and soon I was not even able even enjoy our conversation for much longer. I spent a great deal of Sunday wondering what it was that could have made break our plans.
Monday turned out to be a dreary day especially when I foolishly showed up early to Biology Lab to find that Michelle was the only other on of our group present. I should have remembered that Dani and Tom tended to be late, it would have been a lot less awkward had Michelle and I not been sitting alone together.
"So hi," I told her while setting my backpack down as far away from her as possible without being rude.
Watching Michelle's smile of obvious pleasure at such a simple greeting made me feel guilty about not realizing earlier that she liked me. "Hi, we really missed you at the coffee shop. It was really fun."
I spent a few moments choosing my words carefully, this was the best opportunity to put a stop to this before she got hurt. "I am sorry for bailing on you but there were several women, including my mother, who would have put the hurt on me if I left a lady in distress to go hang out with friends." Did that sound too much like I wanted to go with her, or was she picking up on the friend word?
"Oh I guess we should have stayed and helped you, that was kind of shitty for us to just walk away." She was starting to sound a little guilty about leaving me.
I wanted Sassy with me so badly right about now, she was good at this sort of stuff. "No it was cool, she was a very nice woman that was so impressed with my chivalry that she invited me to dinner so she could introduce me to her husband."
"Wow, that was very nice of her." Michelle seemed surprised at this. "Was the food good?"
"I am a poor starving college kid, I will pretty much eat anything." I forced out the joke, trying to keep the conversation away from dangerous grounds. "Though honestly the food was good, if a little too rich for my taste. I will take a good fish fry over caviar any day."
"Oh you like fried fish? Michelle found this awesome little place. The food is good and fairly cheap. Maybe you two could go there sometime." Dani interrupted my increasingly awkward chat with Michelle, though my relief lasted only moments as I realized that Dani was trying to set up up for another date.
"Thanks for the offer but I prefer to make my own, my dad taught me how to make some using the secret family recipe before he died." It was probably the wast quantities of fried fish that led to the heart attack that killed him at such a relatively young age. Luckily Tom showed up wanting to talk about some disappointing sports game from Sunday night, I quickly latched onto the topic as a way to move away from Dani's next attempt to set me up with her friend.
I had never been so glad to hear our lab assistant, Mr Harper tell us to quiet down so he could go over the day's assignment. I looked towards the front of the class with much more concentration than was warranted for the topic. This reprieve would not last long, after about thirty minutes of talking and a quick fifteen minute quiz we were free to talk amongst ourselves.
"By the way what the hell happened last Thursday?" Tom the backstabbing ex-friend asked even before we could open our books.
"What do you mean?" I tried playing stupid.
"He wanted to come but he was helping out that old lady," Michelle was quick to come to my defense. Clearly it was my good hearted nature that kept me away from her side, not the fact that I was not interested. My frustration was making me into an asshole, if only in my thoughts and that would not be tolerated.
"I needed to get home anyway, it is forty minute drive and that with no traffic." The commute was a pain but the peace of the forest was totally worth it. I would have gone insane if I had to live in the city, no wonder my sister had a hard time sleeping here.
"You said you lived off campus, where do you live again?" Dani's voice told me she had an ulterior purpose but for the life of me I could not figure out what it was. I decided enough was enough and steered the topic back to the lab.
For the next hour and a half I dodged subtle questions from Dani, not so subtle ones form Michelle and even Tom threw in a few of them of his own. He had picked up on the fact that Michelle was interested in me and saw no reason not to help her along.
I was more than ready to finish with the lab and had my books ready to go as soon as Dani copied our results into her worksheet. Tom was just a few steps behind me as I headed down the stairs and still determined to ask me questions about Michelle and I.
"What the hell? You know it was not a date." I told him after making sure we were out of earshot. At my current level of frustration I might say something that would truly hurt Michelle's feelings.
"You should see your face. Oh come on you are going to have to start dating sometime and Michelle seems like a nice enough girl." He tried to give me a little shove of encouragement but I did not budge. "Plus a bird in the hand."
"I told you I was not interested in dating, but no one bothers to listen to my wishes." I ground out between clenched teeth, the wolf temper was starting to rise. Tom was trying to push me into being unfaithful to my mate. Nothing would ever happen but in my mind there was only one woman I would ever belong to and it irked me that someone else was trying to claim me.
"Geez calm down, dude I am starting to think you were gay or something." He gave me a speculative look, but the slightly wrinkly plaid shirt I was wearing would probably not set off any gaydars.
"Yes let us start the Seth is gay rumors, that way I can have a couple of gay guys trying to pick me up as well." Why was it that if a guy was not interested in dating all of a sudden he became homosexual?
"See you need to chill out, have a little casual sex," Tom even went so far as to make thrusting and spanking gestures. Seriously did he come here straight from junior high?
"I DON'T do casual sex." I told him while holding onto my anger, it was only because he did not know about Sassy. The thought of doing anything of that sort with anyone else made me furious. To distract myself I pulled out my phone wanting to text my sister to see if she was on campus and willing to give me a ride. I could not stay in the company of normal humans anymore, it would be best to go home and run until my anger dissipated. There was an unread text message waiting for me: Hi Seth, back in town. Early Dinner? Call me.
The message was from Sassy, the anger flowed out of my body and was quickly replaced with joy at the prospect of seeing her again so soon. My reply was immediate. Food sounds good, I am can leave now if you want to come pick me up.
"Woah, who is it that you are texting?" Tom asked, I had forgotten that he was with me. That was not an unusual occurrence since I tended to forget everything but my mate when we were talking.
"No one, just a friend," I shrugged my shoulders trying to contain my exuberance.
"That was not a no one smile. I am willing to be it is some girl, no wonder you don't want to date Michelle when you are interested in someone else." He gave me a knowing smirk. "Why the hell did you not just tell me you already had a girl picked out? I could totally be your wingman."
"It is not what you think," this is not some schoolboy crush, it was the real thing and my wolf instincts were backing me up on this one. "Anyway she is not some girl." She was a woman, from the top of her head with the perfectly coiled hair to the tips of her gleaming shoes.
"Oh an older woman, so she is like a MILF or something?" Tom was very interested in the details.
"Do I even want to know what MILF means?" I was afraid I knew what that stood for but I was hoping to be wrong.
"Oh please, tell me you are not this innocent. MILF, come on, mother I'd like to fuck?" He was about to start making the thrusting gestured yet again.
"Are you always this respectful to women, is sex all you think about?" While I spent a great deal of time and mental energy on imagining what I wanted for us to do together, but my thoughts were an extension of my love for my mate. I wanted to hold her as close as possible and show her using my body how much I loved her. It was not me wanting to scratch some sort of hormonal itch like this boy way implying. Though occasionally I just wanted to strip her naked and do dirty things that I had never done before.
"Oh come on why are you being such a prude?" His sour tone declared that he was not happy with my withholding of information.
"Maybe because I have a sister and I don't want some guy treating her that way." My phone beeped signaling a new text message, Sassy was on her way to pick me up. "See you later, my ride is on their way." I told Tom as I lengthened my stride in order to leave him and his disgusting assumptions about Sassy aside.
A/N: Sorry this was really a fluff chapter. I want to thank each and everyone who reviewed, I truly appreciate hearing your thoughts. More dirty dirty things will follow but you will have to be very patient with me, life is getting crazier and I don't see it changing in the next few months.
