Wow! Everyone's reviews have been so amazing. Thank you so much. I'm so glad y'all are enjoying the quicker updates, I assure you that I'm enjoying the faster writing pace (both as a result of vacation as well as a lack of writer's block) just as much and I'll try to keep it up for as long as possible, although I go back to school soon.

Enjoy!

Chapter 23:

Stupid, stupid Liz. You agreed to be friends with the man and then you almost devour him. Damn it, I said to myself. I'm just going to have to be very careful to maintain a casual, friendly, platonic relationship with him, I continued as I changed into a pair of pajamas and settled onto the couch to read for the upcoming week's classes. This will not happen again.

About 2 hours after I came home, Jen walked into our dorm.

"Hey, where did you go off to?" I asked her.

"Saturday night drinking at Columbar."

"You don't seem drunk." I observed

She shrugged.

"My drafting group is meeting again tomorrow so I really couldn't afford the hangover in the morning. Besides it's just as much fun to stay sober and watch people say and do stupid things."

I nodded, understanding what she meant.

"How were the pickings tonight?" I asked, referring to the men at the bar.

"Eh. Not great. Although I did just get hit on in the hall."

Now this was interesting. I sat up straight on the couch.

"Really?!"

"Yeah, the jerk!"

"What do you mean?"

"The guy came straight out of another one of the girls dorms and then began flirting and hitting on me."

Oh no.

"Jen, it wouldn't by any chance be the dorm to the left of ours?"

"Um, yeah. How did you know?"

"What did the guy look like?"

"Hmmm, tall, about 6 feet or so, dark hair, brown eyes."

"British accent?" I knew it wasn't Will when she said brown eyes, but I wanted to make sure.

"No American."

"Oh, Jen." I sighed.

"What? What, Liz?!"

"What did you say to the guy when he started flirting with you?"

"I called him a two-timing jerk who should be lucky he had a girlfriend in the first place. Then he had the nerve to start insisting that he didn't have a girlfriend and that he could explain! I slammed the door in his face."

"Jen, he doesn't have a girlfriend."

"What?! How do you know?"

"One of the girls next door is the girl I showed around today."

"Oh! Was that the cute older brother?"

"No, that was her cousin Josh."

"So he wasn't there seeing his girlfriend?"

"No, he was helping his cousin read for class."

"He's a lawyer?"

I nodded.

"How do you know all of this? Wait, you work with a Josh who's a lawyer . . ."

"Same guy as the one in the hall."

Jen groaned and made a tug at her mahogany corkscrew curls.

"You know Liz, he was really hot." She said thoughtfully after a few minutes.

"He's also really kind, sweet and funny." I added in.

"Great. Just great. A normal, decent guy, and he was flirting with me! Of course I had to go and make a total mess of it!!" She shook her head and groaned again.

"There, there. Calm down. It's fixable. That is, if you want it fixed and you want my help."

"How?"

"Josh and I are friends. I'll mention it to him on Monday in the office, explain to him what happened and find out if he's still interested in meeting up with you for a drink. If so, I'll give him your number. Sound good?"

Jen's green eyes flashed with excitement.

"You would do that for me Liz?"

"Of course I would. You're my friend and I want to see you happy. What else are friends for?"

"Well, well, well" Josh sang as he sauntered into my office on Monday morning.

"Before you say anything, will you shut the door?"

Josh turned around and closed the door, quickly in fact, as if he couldn't keep the words from tumbling out of his mouth any longer.

"May I?"

I already knew this was coming, what was I to expect after Saturday night? I nodded at him.

"A little birdie told me that a certain someone was wrapped around another certain someone like ivy in the hallway outside the birdie's dorm Saturday night."

I rolled my eyes.

"Oh please. I certainly wasn't wrapped around Will like ivy Saturday night. We were barely touching."

Josh's eyes grew wide and he gasped.

"What?" I asked.

"I mean, Jules told me that Saturday night when she came back into the room, but I certainly didn't believe her. Hell, as much as I teased the two of you last night about being an item I was joking. The two of you couldn't stand to be near each other without launching into an argument let alone get along long enough to have any kind of relationship. What the hell happened?"

"Nothing."

Josh just stared at me until I wore down.

"Okay, okay. I showed Julie around school yesterday as a student ambassador, not knowing that I would be paired up with Darcy's sister. They wanted me to join them for dinner last night as a thank you. Before dinner, Will and I came to an agreement that we would start over and be friends."

"And the whole ivy thing?"

"God! I wasn't wrapped around Will like ivy!"

"You seem very adamant about what didn't happen and you are conveniently leaving out what did happen."

"We almost kissed! That's what happened! And that was it! Nothing more!" I blurted out.

"Nothing more?"

"No, nothing else – Julie came barreling out of her dorm complaining about something that sounded like lemon wholesalers and everything stopped. And that was it."

Josh grinned.

"Oh. I was teasing her about a case she was reading about cotton farmers telling her it was really about lemon wholesalers. Guess I'm just as responsible as Julie that you didn't end up kissing Will Saturday night."

I calmed down a bit.

"It's ok. I wasn't supposed to be kissing Will. We're just friends, platonic friends. No kissing or anything of the sort, just friends."

"Will and Liz sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G."

"Oh would you shut up."

"First comes love . . ."

I threw a stress ball at him.

"Then comes marriage. . . "

"A little birdie told me that someone got rejected big time when hitting on a girl in the hall Saturday night."

That shut him up.

"Who told you that?! Julie didn't even know about that!"

"Josh can't pick up a law student . . ." I sang.

"Who told you this?!"

"The girl you hit on."

"How does she know you?"

"She's my roommate."

"Oh no. Is there some unspoken code about not hitting on friend's roommates that I don't know about?"

"Nope. She just thought that you had a girlfriend considering that you were leaving another girl's room."

"I tried to explain!"

"Yeah, can you blame her for not really believing you? Come on."

"I guess." He conceded. "Can you at least tell me her name?"

"Still interested are we?"

He nodded.

"She was a real spitfire. Not to mention really pretty. Maybe you could put in a good word for me?" He asked, giving me a puppy dog look.

"Oh put that look away for a day when you need it. I already put in a good word for you when she told me what happened. My roommate's name is Jen Colby and here is her number." I jotted it down on a post-it. "She said you can give her a call."

Josh walked around my desk and gave me a peck on my cheek.

"You're a doll Liz." His eyes twinkled with amusement. "If you want any help growing that ivy around Will . . . "

"I don't. We're friends."

"Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find me."

And with that he sauntered back out of my office.

Sorry guys, no Will (and also for the short chapter, but it got everything across). But he'll be back (yummy!), he always will be. Still thinking about a new contest for y'all but in the meantime, do you think I should bring back Caroline (pre-Charlie) or has she played her role already? Let me know!