Cupid's Test

by Megan Grooms

  After going to their lawyer’s office in the city and going over everything again Jay and Carl were finally ready to head to the court house. Jay never had reason to be in the place before and was surprised by how many people were there. “They have more than one courtroom in here you know.” Carl laughed walking off to find which courtroom they were in.

  “Jay?”

  He knew that voice right away. Turning around he was already grinning by the time he spotted Lilly. She looked great in the knee length gray skirt with a white blouse and gray jacket over it. Her legs looked great in her modest high heels. “Hey Lilly, what are you doing here?” He hugged her and gave her a quick kiss which he wished could have lasted longer.

  “I’m a lawyer I’m always here, what are you doing here? I thought you were going to try to fix your company today.” She was more than excited to see him. She hadn’t realized how much she had missed him. She hoped she didn’t seem desperate.

  “I am, we have this court thing.” He looked past Lilly to find Carl walking back toward him. “Hey Carl, you get to meet her. Carl this is Lilly.”

  Lilly turned around and stopped short.

  “Jamison what are you doing with her?” Jay was surprised Carl never spoke to him like that. He hardly ever spoke to anyone like that. “That’s her, the lawyer that wouldn’t take your proposal.”

  “Your name is Jamison?” She asked turning to look at him. Her mouth was still open in shock.

  “Oh don’t act like you didn’t know. What did you do, find out he was on vacation and ‘happen’ to go on vacation in same place? You were up there just to change his mind to make him more like you weren’t you? No wonder he came back changed and wanting to work this thing out. You didn’t even tell him who you were? You are one sneaky-“

  “What the hell is going on?” Jay finally cut in stopping his friend come calling Lilly something that he didn’t want to hear.

  “Let’s get in there Jay, don’t even talk to her all she’s going to say is lies.” Carl grabbed his arm and started to pull him away.

  Jay let him looking back at Lilly. She looked really upset like she hadn’t planned this. Even if she did follow him up there how could she have known that a storm would come through on their vacation? She couldn’t have planned that he would go to her cabin for shelter that had been his choice. Then again it was too weird that they would both be in the same place at the same time. She never wanted to tell him what she did for a job, but he never told her what his business was either. He sat in his chair behind the desk with Carl on his right and his lawyer on his left fighting with himself. He only snapped out of it when Carl elbowed him so he could rise for the judge entering.

  The rest of the day was kind of a blur for him. After all the preparing he did he couldn’t pull his mind away from Lilly and whether or not she deceived him. How could he trust her? Would he ever learn the truth? If the truth was she didn’t know was he going to believe that? She did change him but she never seemed like she was trying too. She was surprised every time he said he had changed something new in his life the last week to try to be more environmentally friendly. Finally when lunch came around he wanted to say something to her but she was gone before he could talk to her.

  “That seems a little fishy if she really cared for you wouldn’t she want to talk to you?”

  “What are you two talking about?” Rex their lawyer asked as they walked out of the court room.

  “Oh we need to tell you about this.” Carl said as they walked out of the court house. He directed them down the street to a small dinner. Jay let Carl do the talking, the man knew all about the week. Jay couldn’t add anything except personal things and he wasn’t going to tell either man about that.

  “We might be able to get the judge to call this off then and force them to get a new lawyer. It would buy you some time.” The Rex suggested. “I don’t know if she actually knew it was you or not but she could get in big trouble if you were able to prove that she did know you.”

  “I don’t want to do that, I never said my full name, she probably thought Jay was it. It’s my own fault I didn’t push her on what she did. She’s such a green person I didn’t want to tell her I owned an oil rig I figured she wouldn’t be able to get past it. I don’t want a new lawyer over there either I want this done and over with we need to get my rig up and running, I don’t have the funds to keep putting this off. This is the last thing I can do before I’ll have to try to sell it.”

  “Why don’t I go talk to her see if I can use this to our advantage? You know, give us a good deal or we are going to let the cat out of the bag about you two?” Rex started to stand.

  “No I don’t want you to do that either. I want it settled in court like it would have been if this never happened. If it ever got out that we had been together before the deal people would be able to talk about it. I want it done the right way.” Jay put his head in his hands.

  “You don’t think you’ll be able to still be with her after this do you? She played you I know it. I’m able to think with my brain not the part of the anatomy your thinking with.” Carl said annoyed.

  “I am not thinking with that, I’m thinking with my head. I want this to be done correctly I don’t want any green freaks to be able to protest my rig and stop work again. I’m tired of this crap and I want it fixed if that means working with her that’s fine I’ll just have to work through it.” He stood and walked out of the diner before anyone could say anything else. He was almost back to the court house before he saw her in front of him. Right away he turned and started back the way he had come.

  “Jay, wait!” She called running to catch up with him. He paused but kept walking though at a slower pace than before. “I really didn’t know it was you, I’ve only worked with that little brat that’s your second in charge.” Lilly said after catching up with him.

  Despite himself he chuckled at that. He had never heard Carl called a ‘little brat’ and they had known each other a long time. “I don’t know if we should be talking, I don’t want this to drag on anymore than it has to. Believe it or not I do need that rig going again.”

  “I don’t know how to fix this.” She said. She sounded so sad Jay stopped and looked down at her.

  “Maybe you should have just told me what you did for a living the 8 times I asked you, why did you keep avoiding the question? It’s almost like you did know who I was and didn’t want me to know who you were.” He was so upset. It felt like he had been played he just wished that it wasn’t true.

  “I didn’t want you to think I was the green freak you always talked about. I thought you would think I was one if you knew what I did. Why didn’t you tell me that the company you had was an oil rig?”

  “I didn’t think you would give me a chance if I told you that.” He answered shrugging. It makes sense that she would be wary of telling him about her job. Still how did she not know what he looked like? They didn’t get pictures of the CEO of the company they were suing? “We shouldn’t be talking.” He said turning around again and heading back to the court house.

  “Are we having dinner tonight?” She called after him knowing that she really shouldn’t because she was against him in the case but she couldn’t help it. She still cared for him and she knew that she could move past this, she just hoped that he could.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” He answered not looking back.

  By the end of the day Jay had a massive headache and no decision on if they could start up the rig or not. The judge had heard both sides and took all the information and was going to give them an answer in a few days. He went out to the parking lot to find the new SUV he had gotten and wanted to punch something. How could he have been so stupid as to change his life because of one stupid woman? She hadn’t tried to talk to him as he left and he was glad that she didn’t. Carl walked up and quietly got into the vehicle. Sighing Jay did as well and headed home to wait on the results.

  It was a long two days. Lilly trie
d to call him twice once that night and once the next day. They got the results the following day. The judge mostly sided with Lilly, though they could start production again he had to start making changes on the rig right away. Every month they had to update Lilly’s office with the changes and have inspections every three months until everything was changed over to the new regulations.

  It was going to be hard but he and Carl worked for the next week going over finances until they thought they could do what was asked of them. The first changes were going to be the smallest and cheapest changes, and as production brought in money they could move up to the bigger more expensive stuff. Only time would tell if they would be able to stick to the tight schedule that the judge had put on them.

  Almost a full week after the results Lilly called Jay’s phone one more time and left a message. Jay refused to answer it when he saw it was her and didn’t listen to the message. It was more about his ego and pride being hurt than not wanting to talk to her. . He did miss her quite a bit and more than once he picked up the phone to call her before putting it back down without dialing. He realized he was being a bit childish about it. He was sure if it had gone more his way he would have talked to her as soon as the ruling came down. He pushed all those thoughts back though and focused on his company.

  * * *

  “Well how do you like that, almost two weeks and they haven’t talked to each other.” Tooth Fairy said happily. “I guess you’re not as good as you thought you were.”

  “It’s not over yet.” Cupid answered. “I’m just giving them time to miss each other. Tomorrow I’m going to send a little boost of love down and see what Jay does with it.” Cupid had seen this type of thing before. Pride gets in the way of feelings. Sometimes his little kick in the pants did the job. Sometimes it just resolved people to never talk again. He was quite sure that Jay would call her. The man wasn’t sleeping very well and had on more than one occasion picked up the phone but never dialed.

  “There it is that cocky attitude again. I’m so going to enjoy knocking you down a peg.” Tooth Fairy said though she wasn’t quite as sure of herself anymore. So far Cupid had been right about everything.

  * * *

  Jay woke thinking about Lilly right away. It wasn’t a surprise. She starred in his dreams every night but today was different. He really wanted to call her. Almost felt like he had to. He was already running late and didn’t care to hurry. He got ready just going through the motions thinking about Lilly. He was being stupid and childish. If he didn’t call her back soon she was going to move on with her life and not want anything to do with Jay. He pulled into his parking spot at 11 and decided to call on his work phone to her work. Less personal so if she didn’t want to talk to him it wouldn’t be as bad.

  Right away he went to his office and shut the door. Calling her office his heart was thundering in his chest. What if it was too late and she had moved on already? He didn’t want that. He missed her and still cared for her. “Thompson and Company how may I help you?” The voice jumped him.

  “Um… yes could I speak with Lillian please?”

  “She no longer works for this office. I may be able to get a hold of her for you if you like. She may be able to call you back.”

  “What do you mean she doesn’t work there anymore, where did she go?” He was shocked and surprised. This was a big change, it was only two weeks.

  “She has taken a position at our New York office. I believe her flight is leaving today. It’s very exciting for her. Could I take your name and I’ll have her contact you?”

  “No thank you.” Jay hung up rather rudely. He stood up and wrenched open his office door. “Carl!” He yelled across the large room. His employees looked up at him surprised. Carl came out of his office a confused look on his face. “What do you mean by not telling me that Lilly left?”

  “What are you talking about?” Carl walked across the room and into the office shutting the door behind him. He didn’t want all the employees to see their boss this way. “Lilly left? I thought we just got a new person to deal with, like she handled the court part and this new person handled the long term stuff. I didn’t know she left sorry buddy.” He sat on the edge of Jay’s desk arms crossed in front of his chest. “You know this just proves that she didn’t care about you. She didn’t even give you a call to let you know she was leaving.”

  Jay pulled out his phone, he had forgotten that she had called and left a message a week ago until Carl said something. “She did call, last week. She left a message, I just haven’t listened to it yet.”

  “Maybe you should listen to it then.” Carl stood. He didn’t like Lilly because he still believed that she messed with his best friend. Then again he also knew that Jay hadn’t been the same since finding out who Lilly really was. He didn’t want his friend to end this relationship so badly. He walked out of the room sighing and patting his friend on the shoulder.

  Jay unlocked his phone and pressed play on Lilly’s message. “Hey Jay, I just wanted to let you know that I was offered a job in New York. I haven’t heard from you in a week and you didn’t answer so I’m guessing you don’t really care if I move or not. Well I have a flight that is leaving on Friday the…” She paused then made a noise, “the 14th of February at 3pm with Delta if you change your mind. If not I won’t bother you again. My phone is being shut off on Thursday I’ll get a new one when I get there. I miss you Jay but I won’t wait for you forever.” Jay heard a click then nothing. He stood for a moment not sure of what to do. Today was the 14th and it was already noon.

  He grabbed his jacket off his chair and ran from the room not looking at anyone in the office before bursting out the door and jumping into his Hybrid. It was quite a drive to the airport he knew he was going to be pushing it.

  Carl watched his friend leave quickly and shook his head. The man had it bad. He hoped that she was either gone already or that she hadn’t lied to him in the first place. All he knew was that he was going to be keeping an eye on her for his best friend if she came back with him.

  By the time he got to the air port it was 2 o’clock. Sure that they would be boarding before the actual flight time. He wasn’t sure where it was she was taking off from. Worried that he didn’t have enough time he parked at the unloading dock and left the car.

  “Hey! You can’t leave that here!” A security guard yelled but Jay was already gone through the doors. He stood in front of the large bay of screens telling you what flight was leaving and when. It took a moment to find the one flight that was going to New York leaving at 3 o’clock. Now he just needed to get passed security.

  Thinking about just getting a ticket he ran there to find the line much too long. He took off back to the security gate and found the line there was long as well and he didn’t even know if they would let him pass without a ticket. He spotted and elderly woman sitting in a wheelchair waiting at the handicap entrance and walked up to her. “Excuse me, this is going to sound odd but I was wondering if you would say I was with you. See…” He explained all that had happened as quickly as possible. “So I have to get back there to stop her or I’m going to lose her because of my stupid pride.”

  Before she could answer the security guard came to the gate. “I’m sorry for the wait. Come right this way.” He paused and looked at Jay “may I help you?”

  “He’s with me, my grandson is just going to help me get to my gate and wait with me for my plane. Is that alright?” The woman smiled up at Jay and he would have hugged her if it wouldn’t have seemed odd to the Security guard.

  “Of course that’s fine, I just need to see a driver’s license and check your name.” Jay quickly pulled it out and once they were through he helped her to her gate.

  “Go get your girl, hurry!” The old woman told him shooing him away.

  “Thank you so much!” He called running toward the gate. He looked at his watch and found he only had twenty minutes to get there.

  They were almost done boarding by the time he go
t to the gate. “Hi, I need to talk to someone on that flight if I could just get on really quickly. It won’t take long, just a moment I promise.”

  “Do you have a ticket?” The woman at the counter asked. She didn’t seem like she was having a very good day. “If you don’t have a ticket I can’t let you on.”

  “I don’t, maybe you could go on and ask her to come off?”

  “We are about to close the doors I can’t delay the flight. I’m sorry I could lose my job.” She said.

  Jay was so frustrated he had come so close. He walked to the windows right next to the gate. He could see the plane. A little girl was even looking at him. He waved a little and the girl waved back then turned to the person next to her and pointed at him. They both looked.

  Jay grinned he started waving his arms like a mad man and mouthing Lilly’s name. Soon everyone was looking out the windows at him. He had no idea how much time he had before the security guards decided that he was crazy and would cart him away but he didn’t care. Until Lilly came off or he was taken away he was going to act like an idiot.

  * * *

  Lillian had waited as long as she could before getting in line to board the plane. She couldn’t believe how stupid she had been. She had given him plenty of time to call her before she left. Still she’d thought he would magically show up and want her. She couldn’t blame him. How could he ever believe that she didn’t know it was him? It was too weird that they both had been there. She gave her ticket and started down the long walkway to the plane. When she walked onto the plane she found everyone crowded around one side of it. A stewardess was looking haggard telling everyone to get back in their seats.

  Lillian was glad she was on the other side. As she started putting her bag away she couldn’t help over hearing everyone talking about what was so curious outside the window.