How can one person hold so much power over him? He's been sitting here staring at her for over 15 minutes now. Alicia was so beautiful when she worked. Right now she was negotiating with Diane in the conference room. It was so weird seeing her in Lockhart/Gardner again. It was almost like she never left, or it would be if it wasn't for the fact that she was sitting on the opposite side of the table to Diane. He didn't want to think of that now. For now he would just pretend she never did betray him, so that he could go back to studying her through his office. It was moments like this that made him happy to have a firm with so much glass.
Alicia was twiddling her pen in her fingers and she had that crease between her eyebrows that she got when she was concentrating. He remembers seeing that concentrated look on her face when she was doing some other not so professional things with him. The memory flooded back to him and hit him hard with longing. He's tried to avoid thinking about those particular moments but seeing her sitting there, crossing her perfect lean legs was a bit too much. Oh what the hell. He closed his eyes and thought about the way she straddled him one night in his apartment. They both had too much wine and she was trying to stay upright and keep her balance while she attempted to move on top of him at a steady pace. That's when the look of intense concentration came over her face. He felt himself getting excited so he quickly opened his eyes in an attempt to banish the thoughts from his mind.
As he looked over to the conference room again he saw that it was empty. Diane was in her office and he couldn't see Alicia anywhere. He got up and walked out of his office to try and find her. He found her standing in front of an elevator waiting for it to open. He felt very stupid just standing there looking at her, but what could he do? He promised himself that he wouldn't chase after her anymore. Realising that he was being a bit obsessive following her like this, he turned around to walk away but was stopped by the sound of his name being called. He spun around to her voice and was met with a warm sweet smile. Was he imagining it or was she looking at him with a different kind of expression than the one she'd been giving him the last couple of months. He couldn't pin point what it was though. In fact she's actually been a lot warmer to him since they talked in that empty courtroom. Even if it was just smiling at him sometimes and saying hello when they saw each other, it was little things but he could tell the difference between the way she was acting not and the way she was a week ago, before their talk.
"Hey, we're you heading down too?" She asked as she waved a hand towards the elevator.
"Yes I was do you mind if I catch this one with you?" He couldn't think of a reason that she would believe to why he was standing there, so he just went along with hers.
"No of course not, it's your elevator after all" she stepped into the elevator when its doors opened and he followed. "How are you?" She asked when the doors closed and they were alone.
"I'm good, just trying to get everything back to normal." He wasn't trying to make her feel bad; if he was he would have said 'just trying to fix my firm after you screwed us all over'. Never the less her face fell. "What about you?"
"I don't know, I'm busy with the firm and I'm just trying to figure some stuff out." He thought it would be rude to push for more so he settled for a nod and just let the silence hang in the air. Until she broke it asking "Will, are you doing anything tonight?"
He almost swallowed his tongue. Was she asking him out? What did he say? Should he lie to get out of what was sure to be an awkward confusing evening, or tell the truth so he could figure out what she wanted? He settled for the truth. "Um no. Why what's up?"
"We'll I was just thinking that it might be nice to have a drink together. You know at a bar." A bar was a public place; she seemed to be trying to fix their friendship but didn't want to be alone with him yet. At least she was trying, and as long she was making the attempt he was willing to go have drinks with her.
"Yeah sure sounds fun, which bar?" She smiled relived that he said yes and told him which bar. They arranged to meet there at eight. The elevator reached the ground floor and they both stepped out. "I'll walk you to your car" he told her as she began to look for where she parked it.
"Ok" he could see a blush spread through her pale cheeks. He was really offering because the only reason he took the ride down was so that she didn't think he was following her. He actually needed to go back up and couldn't until she left; besides he got to spend a little more time with her.
When they reached her she car got in and rolled down the window so that she could tell him goodbye. "I'll see you tonight then, ok?"
"Ok. Drive safe." She smiled at him before driving away. Wow he sure was getting a lot of smiles these days. He headed over to the elevators so that he could go back to his office. He was starting to regret tonight a little bit. What if she stood him up? What is she came but she completely screwed up all his progress in forgetting her (he'll admit he hasn't gotten very far) by leading him on and then running away back to Peter? He knew that if she did that there would be no chance in ever fixing their relationship again, the wounds would be too deep. He just had to trust that she wouldn't hurt him again tonight. He doesn't have any reason to trust her actually; she has a horrible track record when it comes to hurting him. He would still go tonight though; maybe she would tell him what was going through her head.
It was now three o'clock; he has five hours left before he has to go see her. Something tells him he's not going to get much work done in that time. On his ride back up to the firm he thought about the way she looked at him when she called his name, the way she smiled at him when he said he would go with her. Yes he would defiantly go tonight, but he had absolutely no idea how this night would turn out.
So this is the fourth chapter, let me know if you like it. I was going to include the dinner in this chapter but it got to late and I have assignments to do, but I will update soon. Reviews are always appreciated.