I would have to be careful.
"I don't know, Aiden,” I said. "It is good to see you. Really it is. But do you think we should be socializing? We are, after all competing for the same position."
"Blair," he said. "We haven't seen each other in ages. I have wondered about you off and on for years. I'd love to catch up. Wouldn't you? I mean we have to work together, you know. Who knows? Maybe we'll pick up where we left off."
What on earth did he mean by that?
"Okay, fine,” I reluctantly agreed, though I wasn’t sure where exactly we had left off.
I smiled as we walked across the street to the charming bistro. I tried to ignore the flutter I felt in my heart as he held the door open for me.
The sun gleamed off the metal window frames and illuminated the small diner.
Despite my misgivings I soon felt the familiar mood of friendship that we had shared so long ago. We ordered toasted sandwiches and kettle chips and took our food over to the table. He removed his jacket and laid it over the back of the chair, allowing me to see just how much he had really filled out in the torso and shoulders.
Surely he worked out, I thought.
He sat down and rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt, exposing a Celtic tattoo on his left forearm. I had a hard time believing how much he had changed over the years. I remembered the somewhat timid boy who had once cringed at the idea of needles, and here he sat showing off his ink.
I didn’t know any lawyers with tattoos.
Maybe they were hiding under the nice suits they all wore.
"So what have you been up to for the past seven years?" he said once we were settled.
"I guess it has been that long hasn't it,” I realized. "Not since, when..."
"... just before we left for college,” he finished.
"I went on to Florida. Florida State University,” I said, picking at my chips.
"That's a good school,” he said.
"Then I completed law school there in the state. I only just moved here about a week ago."
"No kidding,” he said.
"Do you remember Kelsey Anderson?" I asked.
"Wasn't she in drama club?" he asked. "Cute red head, dated that football player for a little while?"
"Yeah," I nodded nibbling on my sandwich. "She's my roommate."
"No way!" he said in disbelief. "How the fuck did you guys get in touch?"
"Yeah," I said. "We kind of struck up a friendship over the years. After high school we stayed in touch online. Then one day she messaged me and asked if she could add me to her holiday mailing list. I said, sure. We stayed in touch and found that we had a lot of the same interests. We have a small apartment together in the city."
"So you just got here,” he said.
"I came for the job," I replied evenly. "What about you?"
"I moved out here right after high school,” he answered. "I went to college and finally decided to settle on Political Science as a major. Then I completed my years at law school, and here we are. I think my mom was concerned at first. Everyone thought I came to California to party. I surprised everyone when I got accepted to law school."
"Well, good for you," I said. "I never would have doubted you, Aiden."
"No, I would never have expected it from you. This is nuts, isn't it? You and me, after all these years working for the same firm. Why did we ever lose touch anyway?"
"I don't know,” I said.
But the truth was that I did know.
I had kept my mind in my studies, singularly focused on being top of the class, getting noticed by the scholarship boards, having the top marks. I had stayed away from distractions for the most part, but of course I couldn’t tell him this.
It made me sound…boring.
Maybe if he thought I was boring he’d leave me alone though.
"I know I asked about you every time I came home, but it seemed as if you had always just left or weren't coming back until the following week."
"We always missed each other,” he said. "Just my luck. I know our moms are still in touch. I get an update on you every time I speak to mine."
"Yeah," I laughed. "I think they both remained baffled that we never got together."
"Them and everyone else,” he said with a chuckle.
We ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes. I couldn’t help but notice how easy it seemed to be talking to him. Though the sight of his flexing tattooed forearm as he reached for the salt did little to calm my heart rate.
"Let me ask you something,” I said finally.
"Okay," he said giving me a side glance.
"We've know each other for a long time,” I said. "Nearly our whole childhood, wouldn't you say?"
"Right,” he agreed.
"And I have talked about being a lawyer for about as long as I can remember."
"Sure."
"But I have never once heard you talk about wanting to be a lawyer. And yet here we are, years later, miles away from our home town, competing for the same job. You said you majored in Poli-sci, but never once did you mention an interest in any of that when we knew each other. Just when did you decide that you wanted to pursue law?"
"You're acting like it's a conspiracy," he said with a grin.
"I just want to know what you’re up to." I waved a playful finger towards him.
His face grew serious, unexpectedly, and I waited for his response.
"To tell the truth," he began. "It was you."
"What?" I said.
"It was your enthusiasm and the way you had talked about it that made me think it would be a good fit for me."
"Is that so?" I responded.
"That's exactly so,” he said.
"You didn't follow me here, did you?" I asked, trying to lighten the sudden seriousness.
I don't know why it made me nervous, but I relaxed when he laughed.
"No," he said. "That much was purely a coincidence."
"Good," I said. "I would hate to think that you were following me."
“I’m not the stalker type,” he said winking.
After lunch I began to realize what a good time I'd had with him. I felt as if we really were able to pick up right where we had left off. I thought back to that night that we said goodbye, when I had squashed the moment when he had tried to hold my hand, but the truth was I had always been a little bit intrigued by him, that scrawny boy whose family had always included me in everything, as if I were one of the gang.
I think his mother viewed me as the daughter she never had.
Sometimes she and I talked about having to take refuge in the house full of twelve rough and tumble boys. Aiden had always been more of an intellectual.
Of course he would pursue law.
He had always been the one to help her develop arguments for me when I was on the debate team. He hadn’t noticed and developed thoughts on things that I had missed.
Of course I had wanted him to kiss me that night before we parted ways forever. But as was my custom, I decided I didn't want to complicate matters.
However now I found that I was attracted to him for a whole different reason. He had grown into an extremely handsome man, while maintaining the boyish charm that I remembered.
The tattoos had surprised me and I couldn’t help but wonder what else he had hidden, under his clothing or in his psyche.
Seriously Blair, put a lid on it! I mentally chided myself for even letting my mind wander.