Love Proof (Laws of Attraction)

Twelve

It took two flights to get them to Carbondale, Illinois, to the law school where the competition was held. It was the first week in November, and already temperatures were below freezing at night. Sarah had underestimated the weather and brought only a light jacket in addition to the suit she would wear for the actual oral argument.

It was the same suit she’d saved up to buy for the competition the previous year. Even though that particular day had ended so badly with her partner practically having to be carried from the room, Sarah still had faith in the outfit to help her win this time. Besides, she hadn’t gotten her wear out of it yet, and for what she spent, she’d better.

She wore jeans, a cotton sweater, and her jacket on the plane, but as soon as she stepped into the Carbondale airport she knew they wouldn’t be enough. Even in that closed environment, she was already freezing. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like once they were outside.

“Let’s get the car,” Ellen told them, and marched off toward the rental counter. She had taken it upon herself to make all the travel arrangements for the group, and as treasurer for Moot Court, she was very budget-conscious. She announced that morning when they met at the L.A. airport that the men would be sharing one hotel room, the women another. Sarah had been very sorry to hear it.

As an only child, she wasn’t used to having to sleep in a room with anyone else. Even when she went to college, the Cal State San Bernardino campus was close enough that she could still live at home rather than in a dorm. And the place she rented while she was in law school was a tiny guest house in Westwood, too nice for what the owner charged her, but the woman took pity on Sarah the first time they met. Sarah knew some of her classmates had roommates—sometimes multiples—and she couldn’t imagine having to deal with all that distraction.

So she wasn’t looking forward to having a roommate even for the three nights they would be there. Especially not that night, when she wanted to make sure she was fresh and well-rested for the oral argument the next day.

“Yes, Ellen Kiptar,” Ellen told the person behind the counter. “I’ve reserved a compact.”

“A compact?” Mickey said. “Joe and I are both over six foot.”

“It’s cheaper,” Ellen said, waving him away. “And it’s just a short drive.”

Sarah stood off to the side, trying to warm herself. Her jacket had pockets, but she wished she brought a hat and gloves. None of the others seemed to be as cold as she was. Joe Burke wore just jeans and his UCLA hoodie, and he looked perfectly comfortable with his hands buried deep in the single pocket.

He must have noticed her look of longing, because the next thing she knew, he was standing in front of her, reaching for her hands. Without a word, he covered them in his own warm ones and brought them back with him into the cocoon of his hoodie pocket.

Sarah looked up and met his gaze. “Thanks.”

“Sure thing.”

They hadn’t spoken very much. Just a few words that morning at LAX, then a few more as they waited in St. Louis to switch planes.

She wasn’t sure why they didn’t talk, but she also didn’t mind. The two of them weren’t competing against each other directly—teams from each school would be randomly assigned teams from other schools to go up against in the preliminary rounds—but Burke felt like her competition nonetheless. She had sat through three of his and Ellen’s practice arguments, and was impressed with him each time.

He never seemed to feel rushed or nervous. The guest judges could bark questions at him one after another, and he always took the time to offer a patient explanation of why the judge’s point was a good one, but didn’t change the outcome Joe was arguing for. He always acknowledged any case law that seemed to hurt him, but then explained why it didn’t apply to this situation.

Sarah listened to those answers carefully, using them to prepare her own arguments for the other side.

Joe sat in on a few of Mickey’s and her rehearsals, too, Sarah noticed, although he always left before they finished. She assumed he was doing the same thing she was, scouting the arguments for the other side so he could better prepare for the competition.

But now all that preparation was over, and it was time to see how far they could all get. Preliminary rounds would begin the next morning, with the top two teams advancing to the finals on Saturday. There would be an awards banquet Friday night, announcing the finalists, then another banquet Saturday, then everyone would leave Sunday morning to return to their classes the next day.

“Trying to steal my girl?” Mickey asked as he came over to stand too close to where Joe warmed Sarah’s hands.

“Not your girl,” Sarah reminded him, “and I’m freezing. Thanks, Burke,” she said, starting to withdraw her hands. He gave them one more squeeze before he let them go.

“Ready?” Ellen asked, holding up a key.

“You go ahead,” Joe said. “I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

Ellen scoffed. “What do you mean, you’ll see us tomorrow?”

“Seven AM breakfast at the school, right?” Joe said. “I’ll see you there.”

He stepped up to the rental counter while Ellen continued gaping at him. “Joe, what are you doing? Let’s go.”

He told the man behind the counter his name, then turned back to Ellen and answered her with that same calm voice Sarah had heard him use on judges trying to rattle him. “I’m taking care of this myself. Don’t worry, it’s my own money. I’ll see you all tomorrow. Have a good night.” He offered that last sentiment to Sarah alone.

“But . . . what about the hotel?” Ellen asked. “We’ll see you there, right?”

“Nope, taking care of that, too,” Joe said. “I stopped sharing rooms when my brother moved out.”

Ellen had a few more things to say, but Joe ignored her. Instead he slipped Sarah a relaxed smile before turning around again to deal with the rental agent.

“Come on,” Sarah said, tugging Ellen by the arm. “It’s too cold to keep standing around. Let’s get to the hotel.”

As the three of them walked toward the exit that would lead to the garage, Sarah looked back one more time and saw Joe watching her. She gave him a single, approving nod. Then she turned and followed her classmates out the door.

***

“I have had it with that guy,” Ellen said as soon as she and Sarah were alone in their room. Sarah tried to seem busy unpacking her clothes and hanging them in the closet. “You have no idea how obstinate he is,” Ellen said. “I’ve had to fight him on absolutely everything.”

“Like what?” Sarah asked. She couldn’t remember any fights she’d had with Mickey.

Ellen counted them off on her fingers. “Who should brief which arguments. Who should lead at the oral argument. Which cases we should include and which we should wait for the judges to bring up.” Ellen shook her head. “It’s too long to go into. I wish I had your partner.”

Funny, Sarah thought, she’d been thinking the same thing about Joe. From what she had seen of him during practice, the two of them would have made a much stronger team than either of them with their existing partners. Not that Mickey or Ellen wouldn’t do well, but maybe not as well as Sarah and Joe together.

“You saw how he is,” Ellen said. “He never even told me he was going to get his own car. And I went to all that trouble with the hotel rooms.”

“But you only told us about that this morning,” Sarah pointed out. If she’d thought of it—and had the extra money to spare—she wouldn’t have minded booking a room all to herself, too. So far every move of Joe’s was one she wished she had made.

“Are you and Mickey dating?” Ellen asked.

“What? No.”

“I heard what he said to Joe about stealing his girl.”

“We’re just teammates,” Sarah said. “Mickey likes to joke around.”

“Wish we could switch,” Ellen said. “I think Mickey’s a lot smarter. And he’s obviously a lot easier to work with.”

“Hm,” Sarah answered noncommittally. Ellen could think whatever she wanted.

Sarah escaped into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. She would save the shower until the morning so she only risked getting her hair wet the one time. She had gotten up early that morning to give it the maximum attention before she had to rush to the airport. Now if it would just behave for the next twenty-four hours, that was one less detail to worry about.

“I hope you brought ear plugs,” Ellen called from the other room.

Sarah had a bad feeling. “Why?”

“I don’t really sleep,” Ellen said. “So you might hear me practicing during the night.”

“Great . . . ” Sarah answered herself in the mirror.

She hoped Mickey and Joe were both enjoying having their rooms all to themselves.

***

At two-thirty in the morning, Sarah had finally had enough.

“Ellen, either go downstairs or shut up.”

“I told you,” Ellen said, as if that made up for all the mumbling and pacing and gesticulating she’d been doing on and off for the past several hours.

Sarah groaned and pressed the pillow over her head once more. She could still hear Ellen whispering, “Yes, your honor, but as you know, the constitutional right to privacy must be always balance the needs of the individual against the interests of the state—”

“Ellen!”

“I’m sorry, I’ll try to be quieter.”

But Sarah could still hear her for the next hour or two until one or both of them finally passed out.

***

“Shit,” Mickey said when he saw her.

“Don’t say anything.” Sarah was still trying to contain her rage. She knew her pale face looked blotchy. She knew the pillow she pressed to her head all night had left her uncontrollable hair even unrulier than usual. And she knew her eyes looked as red and raw as they felt. “That woman is the devil.”

Joe Burke walked up to Mickey and Sarah in time to hear her assessment.

“Took me longer to figure that out,” he said. “By then it was too late to find a new partner.”

“At least you didn’t have to sleep in the same room with her,” Sarah said.

“A gentleman can always say no,” Joe said.

“Are you kidding me?” Sarah said with a harsh laugh. “Are you saying she actually tried?”

“You know how it is,” Joe said, looking from Sarah to Mickey.

“No,” she answered emphatically, “I don’t.”

Mickey wrapped an arm around Sarah’s shoulders and gave them a squeeze. “Too bad, Burke. You should be more careful who you link up with.”

It wasn’t hard to catch the territorialism behind Mickey’s gesture. Sarah wasn’t in the mood. Her nerves felt so close to the surface she was having a hard time being pleasant to anyone. She stepped out of Mickey’s embrace.

“Have they announced the assignments?” Joe asked her.

“Not yet,” she said.

“I’m getting coffee,” he offered. “Want some?”

“Yeah, that’d be great. Thanks.”

“Black for me,” Mickey said.

Joe gave no sign that he heard him.

While Joe drifted toward the breakfast buffet table, Sarah continued to fume. “You’d better pray we don’t go on until this afternoon,” she told Mickey. “Then at least I can go back and get some sleep.”

“You can stay in my room, if you want,” he said.

“Very funny,” she said.

“I’m not being funny, Sarah.”

“What did I say?” she reminded him. “This is not an opportunity to get into my pants.”

She didn’t realize she said it so loudly until she saw a few heads turn in her direction.

One of them was Joe’s. He caught her eye and gave her an amused smile.

Sarah turned her back to him and lowered her voice. “I’m this close to losing it, Mickey, so don’t push me today. And I’d better see you doing your rosary or whatever that is for an afternoon slot.”

But when the schedule for the preliminary rounds was finally announced, Sarah groaned and dropped her forehead against Mickey’s chest. “Ten-thirty? Why?”

Mickey wrapped both arms around her and pulled her in close. Sarah lifted her head up again and gave it a hard shake.

“Okay, we can do this,” she said, extricating herself from Mickey’s arms. “I just need about fifty more cups of coffee.”

She went in search of Ellen to get a ride back to the hotel. Both of them still needed to change and get ready.

Ellen was busy arguing with Joe. “I told you you should have stayed with us!”

“What’s the problem?” Sarah asked.

“Our argument’s not until eleven,” Ellen said. “We’d still have time for one more practice, but Mr. Defiant here is at some hotel way on the other side of town, and won’t be able to get back until right before we go on.”

Joe looked at Sarah and shrugged.

But there was something about the look he gave her that she didn’t quite understand.

“Ellen, we need to get ready,” Sarah said. “Let’s go.”

“In a minute,” Ellen said. “I want to go look at the list first.”

“We already know who we’re all paired with—” Sarah started to say.

“I can take you,” Joe interrupted.

“No,” Ellen told him. “You’ll be too late. Just go back and change and meet me here as soon as you can.”

Joe ignored her and kept his eyes on Sarah. “Ready to go now?”

“Yes.”

The idea of getting away from Ellen even for the space of a short car ride to the hotel sounded too good to pass up. Even being free of Mickey for a little while would be good for Sarah’s nerves. She needed quiet and solitude, without people picking at her and talking to her. Burke didn’t seem to need to fill the air with noise. And he wasn’t constantly touching her the way Mickey was lately.

“I’ll meet you back at the hotel,” she told Mickey. “The three of us can ride back together.”

“Okay, but I’ll need at least an hour to do my hair and makeup,” Ellen warned her. “So try to be out of the bathroom before I get back.”

Try not to strangle you with my bare hands, Sarah thought, but she was too tired to bother answering.

“Ready?” Joe asked her.

Sarah led the way from the room.

Once they were in the car, she leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes. “I hope this isn’t too out of your way.”

“It’s not,” he said. “My hotel’s right next to yours.”

Sarah looked over at him. “But I thought you were way across town?”

Joe gave her a look back.

“Oh,” she said, smiling for the first time that day. “You just don’t want to have to practice again.”

“Would you?”

“God, no,” Sarah said.

They rode in silence for a few minutes before Joe said, “I tried to get you, you know.”

“What do you mean?”

“As a partner. I was going to ask you at our first Moot Court meeting, but Hughes beat me to it.”

“Really?” A warmth flushed over Sarah’s face. But her nerves were still too raw to enjoy the sensation. She felt ready to jump out of her skin.

“So I did the next best thing and signed up for the same competition.”

“Joe, are you serious?”

“Hundred percent.”

“That’s . . . nice. But why?”

“You’re great at this,” Joe said. “I like watching what you do. I think we would have made an unbeatable team.”

“I like watching you, too,” Sarah admitted. She leaned back against the headrest again and closed her eyes. “Oh, well.” She tried to make it sound light, but the regret actually felt heavy.

“But we’re here now,” Joe said. “So let’s make the best of it.”

“How?” Sarah asked, yawning.

“For one thing, you can come take a nap in my room.”

***

She protested, but only a little. Joe waited in the car while Sarah returned to her room and quickly gathered up her suit and all her toiletries. Then he drove them the extra five minutes to the hotel where he was staying.

“This isn’t some trick, is it, Joe?” she asked as he let her into his room. “Because if it is . . . ”

He flipped on the light. “We have a little less than two hours before I should take you back. How long will you need to get ready?”

“Um . . . maybe a half hour, forty-five minutes.”

He set the alarm on his watch. “Go lie down. I’ll wake you up when it’s time.”

She hesitated for a moment, then had to ask him again. “This isn’t some trick, is it?”

“Why would I trick you?”

“I don’t know, let me oversleep and miss the argument so your team can win?”

“You may find this hard to believe,” he said, “but I’m not like you and Ellen. I don’t need to win everything.”

“Neither do I,” Sarah protested. “Just . . . most things. I’ve worked really hard for this.”

“And I promise I’ll get you there on time,” Joe said. “But every minute you’re still arguing with me, you could be sleeping. So get into bed while I take a shower.”

Exhaustion pulled at her like a weight around her bones. She hung her suit in Joe’s closet, then kicked off her sneakers and lay down on his bed.

“Under the covers,” he said. “Go on, it’s warmer.”

She felt odd about it, but went ahead and crawled in, still dressed in her jeans and sweater. Joe turned off the light.

“Why are you doing this?” Sarah asked into the dark.

“Because I like you, Red. And I want you to do well, despite my psychotic partner.” Then Joe closed the bathroom door and turned on the shower.

***

Sarah had had power naps before: those twenty-minute wonders that could take the edge off exhaustion and let her study long hours into the night.

But a full hour of complete, restful sleep in Joe’s bed felt so healing, by the time he woke her up she almost felt whole.

“You should probably call Mickey,” Joe said when she opened her eyes.

“Why?”

“I’m going to take you straight to the school, not back to your hotel. You can tell him you’ll meet him.”

Sarah rubbed her eyes and reached for her phone. She dialed Mickey.

“Where are you?” he asked.

“With . . . Joe. I took a nap.”

There was silence on the other end.

“Mickey?”

“Yeah. Whatever. See you there.” Then he hung up.

“He thinks we had sex,” Sarah told Joe. She surprised herself by saying that out loud.

But Joe took it in stride. “He’s married, you know.”

“What?” Sarah stared back at him . “No, you’re joking.”

“Married, with a kid on the way. You should ask him.”

Sarah’s mouth still hung open. “Unbelievable.” Then she laughed.

“You don’t care?”

“Not in the least—except he’s a douchebag for always hitting on me.”

“It wasn’t going to work one of these days?” Joe asked.

“Hardly.”

“How come?”

Sarah pulled back the covers and swung her legs over the side of the bed. “I’m here to work, Burke. Thanks for letting me sleep. Now I need to get ready for battle.”