by Minot, Diana
She had called Rachel on Wednesday to complain about how left out she felt, and Rachel had been uncharacteristically unsympathetic. First, Rachel, who had never been a fan of Whitney’s law school plans, said “I told you so.” Whitney felt like that was a shitty thing for a best friend to say. That is something your mom says to you, or maybe your know-it-all coworker. Not your best friend. Besides, Whitney was not saying law school had been a mistake, or that she was giving up. She was just saying she had had a rough first week and was feeling out of place. Then, Rachel had gone on about how accomplished Whitney was, pointing out that she had a Bachelor’s degree, even if it was not from an Ivy League school. And Whitney had done well at her job and received a promotion to management. So what if it was not a prestigious internship or glamorous position at a startup? She had done good, substantive work. Why not just be thankful for what she had? Whitney had hung up the phone feeling even more alone.
“Whitney? Whitney, are you still with me?” Ben’s voice brought Whitney out of her reverie.
“What? Yeah, sorry. Just…I don’t know. Long week.”
“Ha, well, I’m sure my tirade about the world of finance is not helping any. What about you? What were you doing before deciding you were crazy enough to subject yourself to law school?”
“I went to the University of Texas. Majored in English. Worked in a call center. That’s about it.” Whitney had found that the less details she offered about her life before law school, the less confused people seemed to be. And her short responses seemed to keep them from asking more questions.
“A call center, huh?
“Yup. The job was almost as boring as your rant about finance,” Whitney said, then immediately regretted taking a dig at Ben. But Ben just laughed and raised his hands in the surrender position.
“Okay, okay. New subject. No more talking about boring old jobs. Maybe we should talk about boring old legal reading instead. Then, once we get caught up on class work, I say we ditch this joint and grab something to eat. It is Friday night after all, and I’m starving!”
“Deal!” Whitney said, as a huge grin spread across her face. She could not believe her luck! She had resigned herself to a boring Friday night in the library, and now she was going to get to spend the evening with Ben! She knew this derailed her plans to save money, but at the moment she did not care. “I’ve also got snacks, if you want something to tide you over,” she said, and pulled a bag of peanut M&Ms out of her bag.
“Yes!” Ben said, reaching for the bag without hesitation. “I’m going to have to study with you more often!”
I hope you do, thought Whitney, her pulse quickening as she watched Ben’s perfect blue eyes sparkling in the library’s dim light. I really hope you do.
* * *
About an hour and a half later, Whitney and Ben stepped out of the law school building and into the crisp evening air. The warm afternoon sun had given way to a cool Chicago evening, and Whitney shivered as they were greeted by a small gust of wind. She was nervous about the upcoming winter, especially since she did not have much in the way of cold weather gear. She was worried about how much it was going to cost to buy winter clothing necessities. She felt a slight pang of guilt at the fact that she was about to spend money on a Friday night out, especially after blowing off Elise’s pleas to hang out. But, she had not dated since The Breakup. Not even a single date. At first she had been too devastated, and then she had been too busy studying for the LSAT. Once she knew she was moving to Chicago, it seemed pointless to start a relationship with someone in Dallas. Whitney hated the idea of long distance. Of course, tonight was not a date. But maybe, if she and Ben had the chance to get to know each other, something more than just law school study buddies could develop.
“So, where should we go?” Ben asked.
“Um, I’m not sure. I don’t know many places around here, yet.”
“Yeah, same for me. Still getting settled in. Although, there’s this Italian place a few blocks away that I tried when I was here to tour the law school last spring. It was pretty good.”
“Italian sounds fantastic!”
“Great, I could go for some carb-loading, since I have a marathon study session tomorrow.”
Whitney laughed. “Wow, you and Alex do make good roommates. You’re both fans of cheesy jokes.”
Ben shrugged. “Alex is cool. He’s also really into food. If you want someone to show you the good places to eat around Chicago, I suggest you stay friendly with him. He’s bound to have them scoped out in no time. Come to think of it, you guys were talking for a long time at the bar last week.” Ben raised his eyebrow quizzically.
Whitney felt her cheeks redden when she realized Ben’s implication. “Oh! No! It wasn’t anything like that. It was just, you know, one of those long conversations you randomly get into at a bar. He was telling me about the foodie scene in New Mexico.” Whitney wondered if Alex had said anything to Ben about Alex’s awkward attempt to kiss her. Was Ben jealous? Was he asking because he wanted to know if she was available? She felt panicked. She did not want Ben getting the idea that she was off limits because of Alex. “We’re just friends. Alex and I. I mean, we barely even know each other. We just met that day and were just making small talk. Nothing serious. Not at all.”
Great, now she was rambling again. Ben raised his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. No big deal. I was just curious.” They had arrived at the restaurant and Ben held the door open for her. The aroma of Italian food that hit her as she stepped into the restaurant was divine. She had not realized how hungry she was.
The restaurant was quiet and the lights were low. A candle lit every table and jazz music played softly in the background. There was a definite romantic ambience to the room, and Whitney felt her heart ache a little bit. She was excited to be having dinner with Ben, but she found herself wishing that this was a real date. It had been so long since she had gazed across a table at someone and felt the spark of mutual attraction.
“Should we order a bottle of wine?” Ben asked. Whitney cringed a little bit. This was going to be an expensive night. The entrées were not cheap, and a bottle of wine, even split, was going to considerably add to the cost of her bill. But she did not want to spend the evening worrying about money. She wanted to enjoy getting to know Ben, and she wanted to enjoy a Friday night out for once. She decided to forget about money for the evening. Just once, she would pretend that she was like all the other law students she had met, with plenty of disposable income to squander.
“Sure! Let’s get a bottle and celebrate completing our first week of law school!”
Ben smiled and pointed to a Pinot noir, asking if it was alright. Whitney nodded. As much as she enjoyed drinking wine, she was terrible at picking bottles, especially from a wine list with no cute labels to help her choose. She chuckled as she remembered Alex’s horrified expression when she told him her wine selection method.
“What’s so funny?”
Damn. Ben had caught her laughing because of Alex. Whitney tried to quickly think of an excuse, then decided to just tell Ben the truth but leave Alex out of the story. “Oh, I was just thinking about how it’s difficult for me to choose wine from a list. My normal method for choosing a bottle is to pick the one with the cutest label.”
Ben’s jaw dropped slightly. “You’re kidding me!”
Whitney shook her head. “Nope. That is my supremely sophisticated method for choosing wine.”
Ben threw his head back and laughed. The kind of loud, uninhibited laugh you use when you are having a great time with a good friend. The server came and took their orders, and the meal continued in a similar lighthearted fashion. They finished the first bottle of wine with their appetizers, and ordered a second with their entrées. Then Ben ordered dessert and a third bottle of wine, over Whitney’s protests. Although they had taken their time drinking the wine, and Ben had been drinking more than his fair share of the bottles that they had already consumed, Whitney could feel herself on the
verge of being all-out drunk. She was giggling an obscene amount at everything Ben said, but she could not seem to stop herself. He did not seem to notice, though. Probably because he was drunk as well. When the server finally dropped off their bill, Whitney forced herself to forget her worries about money and just enjoy Ben’s company. She had been right about him—he was funny. He seemed so nice, too. She asked about his family, and right away could tell that he was a momma’s boy.
“I have two younger sisters. One is two years younger than me and the other is four years younger. My parents spaced us out pretty evenly. My dad is a lawyer. He’s a partner at big firm in San Francisco. My mom is a high school art teacher at a small private school. She’s amazing. One of the most genuine people I’ve ever known.”
Whitney giggled again, for no reason. “So, did you get any of the artist genes?”
Ben laughed. “Not really. My mom tried to get me into painting, but I have no talent. Of course, love is blind, and my mom thinks I’m the next Picasso or something. I still paint stuff just for stress relief, but it’s not any good.”
“It must be nice to have parents who are so supportive of you.”
Ben raised an eyebrow. “Not so close with your family?”
“No. I’m an only child, and my parents aren’t happy with my decision to go to law school. They think I’d be better off just marrying and settling down. But…that wasn’t working out too well since my last long-term boyfriend broke up with me. So, here I am. Going to law school.” Whitney suddenly felt very lonely. Not only did she not have supportive parents, but her best friend back home was not exactly being supportive, either. And she felt out of place with the privileged law school crowd. Sure, she was having fun with Ben tonight, but she was going to have to send her budget into overdrive to make up for the money she had spent on just one night out with him.
Almost as if he could read her mind, Ben pulled out his wallet and threw a credit card on the table. “I’ve got this,” he said, taking another swig from his wine glass.
“What? No, it’s too much!” Whitney had not even looked at the total yet. She had been dreading it. “I’ll pay half!” Whitney started fumbling in her purse. Her hands felt heavy and she could not find her wallet. She accidentally pulled out a tube of lip gloss instead of her wallet and giggled. The wine was definitely catching up with her.
“No, I insist. It’s my treat.” Ben held up his wine glass. “Cheers, to the beginning of law school and the beginning of a great friendship. And, for the record, any guy who dumped you was an idiot. But I’m selfishly glad he did because you ended up here in Chicago instead of with him.”
Whitney felt her heart racing as she met Ben’s gaze across the table and heard him say these words. With a great amount of effort and concentration, she managed to lift her wine glass off the table and connect with his. The last thing she remembered was the sound of their glasses clinking as she giggled and simply said, “Cheers.”
Chapter Seven
Whitney’s head felt like it was splitting open anew with each and every beep of her phone’s alarm. She groaned and swatted at her nightstand, until she accidentally swatted her phone onto the floor, where it continued to protest. Slowly, Whitney got out of bed and found the phone. She fumbled with the keys to silence it before falling back into bed and mercifully drifting back to sleep, where her pounding head could be ignored.
Nine minutes later, her phone began beeping again. Whitney cursed as she sat up and grabbed the phone from her nightstand, careful this time to turn the alarm completely off instead of just hitting snooze. For about fifteen minutes, she tried to fall back to sleep, but the pounding in her head now refused to be ignored. Whitney stumbled to her bathroom and threw two aspirin into her mouth before taking a long drink of water straight from the faucet. Why was her alarm set on a Saturday morning, anyways?
Suddenly, it hit her. She was supposed to be meeting Elise and Jamie for brunch! She momentarily considered canceling, but then realized that some food would probably do her good right now. Besides, Whitney had told Elise she could not hang out last night because she had to study. Elise would not be happy if she realized Whitney was missing brunch due to a wine hangover from a night out with Ben.
Whitney showered in record time, and thirty minutes later she was scanning the crowd waiting outside an overcrowded brunch joint, trying to spot Elise or Jamie. Whitney had pulled her still damp hair up into a messy bun, and she was wearing a loose gray tunic over black leggings. She had put on makeup, but still felt as though her eyes were puffy. She was wearing an old pair of mega-oversized sunglasses to solve that problem. Elise spotted her and waved her over, not overlooking the size of Whitney’s shades.
“Oh my god, Whitney. What’s with the huge sunglasses? Are you channeling Nicole Richie circa 2006 or something?” In response, Whitney just lifted the sunglasses so Elise could see her eyes.
“Oh. My. God. I thought you were studying last night,” Elise said.
Just then, a voice on the loudspeaker outside the restaurant called out, “Elise, party of three.”
“Let’s sit down, and then I’ll explain,” Whitney said. “I need some coffee, stat.”
The three girls settled into a booth in a back corner of the restaurant, and Whitney practically inhaled the mug of coffee the server poured for her.
“So?” Jamie asked, looking quizzically at Whitney.
“Don’t be mad, but I did go out last night.”
“Well, that’s obvious,” Elise said. “You look like you drank whatever bar you went to dry.”
“I didn’t go to a bar. I went to a restaurant. With Ben.”
Jamie slapped the table excitedly. “I knew you were into him!”
Elise’s eyes widened. “You like Ben? Also, not cool blowing off your girls for a guy! What’s up with that?”
“It wasn’t planned. I swear. I was studying at the library and Ben came by. We studied a little while and he insisted that we grab some dinner. It was just a friends’ thing. Nothing romantic. We ate at this Italian restaurant near school. Francesca’s, I think?”
“I love that place! I went there for dinner last Wednesday!” Jamie said.
“Yeah, it’s good. We ate a ton of food. And shared three bottles of wine.”
“Holy shit!” Elise said. “No wonder you’re looking a little rough this morning.”
“Yeah. I know. Red wine hangovers are brutal.”
“So,” Jamie said, “What happened? Did you have a good time? Do you think you guys will go out again?”
“I mean, it wasn’t like that. It was just dinner as friends.”
“But you do like him?” Elise asked.
“Yes, I do like him,” Whitney said, feeling self-conscious. Ben felt so far out of her league, and confessing that she liked him made her feel like a silly schoolgirl. Yet, she was dying to talk to someone about it, and Rachel did not seem interested in the details of her life right now.
Elise squealed and clapped her hands. She had to be one of the most enthusiastic people Whitney had ever met. “He is so cute! You two make such a cute couple!”
“We’re not a couple, Elise!” Whitney said, exasperated. “We just had dinner. As friends.”
“Was there any chemistry? How did he say good night?” Jamie asked.
“Well, there was definitely chemistry. But, um, I don’t know how he said good night.”
Jamie looked horrified. “You blacked out?”
Whitney shrugged. “Three bottles of wine, guys. What do you expect? Things got a little fuzzy toward the end. He probably doesn’t remember, either.”
“At least you woke up at your own apartment. You did wake up at your own apartment, right?” Jamie asked.
“Yes! I’m sure I just grabbed a cab home or something. You guys are blowing this way out of proportion. I mean, I have a little bit of a crush on him, but I’m telling you nothing even remotely romantic happened. We’re just friends. It was just two friends having a friendly dinn
er.” Even as Whitney said this, she knew it was not entirely the truth. What had Ben meant when he said he was glad her old boyfriend had dumped her? Was he just being friendly? Or was he hinting that he was interested in something more?
“Listen,” Elise said, suddenly sounding all business. “If you’re interested in him, you need to make it clear to him. Don’t dilly-dally around in the friend zone and pretend you don’t care. He’s a catch, and I guarantee you he won’t be single long. If you don’t snatch him up, someone else will.”
Whitney knew Elise was probably right, and the thought of Ben dating someone else made her stomach tighten up in knots. But, she did not want to chase after Ben. First, she had told herself she was not in Chicago to meet boys. Of course, if something naturally developed with Ben, she was not going to complain. But she also was not about to go throwing herself at him because someone else might “snatch him up.” Second, she was worried that even if she did throw herself at him, she would be rejected and feel horribly embarrassed. Even though no one at law school had said anything to her about the fact that they went to better universities and had better job experiences, Whitney still felt insecure about her mediocre background. Surely, Ben wanted someone at his side who had also gone to an Ivy League school, and who had job experience that could actually count as career experience.
“I just don’t know if he’s interested in me in that way. I want to get to know him a little better as a friend, first,” Whitney said.
“Stall at your own peril,” Elise insisted.
“What about you two? Are either of you interested in anyone?” Whitney asked, mostly to avoid having to explain any more about why she did not want to pursue Ben right now.
“Alex is pretty hot,” Elise said.
Jamie made a face. “Stay away from him. He’s nice, but I’ve heard he’s quite a player. Rumor has it he slept with every female server at the restaurant where he used to work.”
