He walked into my heart like he belonged there, falling for him, it was like walking into a house and suddenly knowing you're home. We met in that place, the place where our souls ached to wander, the place where millions of stars unfolded around us. Last night, in between his arms, I looked at him and wondered how we ever lived in anything less breathtaking than this.
Connery laid on the right side of my bed, covered in white satin sheets. Strands of his hair covered part of his face so I tucked them behind his ear. I laid in bed for a good few minutes watching him sleep, soft snores escaped his pink-tinted lips. As I watched him sleep I couldn't help but smile as parts of last night flashed through my mind. If I could I would stay right here, laying next to him, but unfortunately, I had to get ready for a day at the firm today.
I carefully rolled out of bed not wanting to wake Connery up and on my tiptoes, I walked over to my bathroom for a quick shower. After a shower brushed teeth and a good few minutes of trying to look decent on this fine morning I got dressed. I decided to go with a pastel blue sweater, a pair of grey plaid pants and my white sneakers. Before I headed out of the bathroom, I looked at myself one last time in the mirror.
When I walked out of the bathroom Connery was still peacefully sleeping on his back, I still had a few minutes to spare so I walked over to the bed and I planted a kiss on his lips. He instantly smiled and pulled me on top of him for another kiss. "Good morning beautiful."
"Good morning handsome," I smiled.
"Why are you dressed so early in the morning?" Connery asks.
"I have to drop by the firm today, we have to discuss a few details for the trial," I reply.
"That's a bummer," Connery frowns. "I had other plans for us this fine morning and they didn't involve anything that you're wearing as of this moment."
I chuckle. "I bet you did and I would love to stay here, lying in bed with you all day but I can't sit this one out. We have to present an airtight case in the trial so we have to go over the details once again to make sure we're not missing anything."
"I get it," Connery smiles. "What if I drive you over to work today and we can grab a coffee on the way? I get out of class around two so I can pick you up before practice."
"That sounds lovely," I smile and I plant a kiss on Connery's lips once again before getting off of him. "I'll wait for you in the living room."
Connery nods. "By any chance do you remember where you threw my shirt last night?"
I laugh. "Check behind my dresser."
When I walked out of my room I almost had a heart attack when I saw Peyton eating cereal in the kitchen. What was she doing here so early? "Peyton, what the hell? You scared the shit out of me."
"Do I look that hideous?" Peyton asks and I roll my eyes. "I mean, I know I didn't properly brush my hair this morning when I woke up but I thought it looked pretty decent."
"Very funny," I tell her as I walk to the fridge to pour myself a glass of water. "What are you doing here so early in the morning? I thought you weren't coming home until tonight."
"Dant had class at seven-thirty so he dropped me off before he headed to campus," Peyton replies. "It's too early in the morning for you to be this happy. What happened to my grumpy best friend?"
The correct question would be what didn't happen last night. "What do you mean?"
"You can't stop smiling for some reason. And you're kind of glowing. I know that look from anywhere." Peyton gives me a suspicious look. "You had sex didn't you?"
Peyton's question threw me off and I almost choked on my water. "What makes you think that?"
"It doesn't matter," Peyton replies. "The question that really matters is with who? You're not a one night stand kind of gal so it can't be a stranger. And no matter how hard I tried to make my cupid powers work, Sèbastien is out of the question. That leaves the obvious choice."
"Thank God you finally realized that you should stop playing cupid, you're not really good at it," I tell Peyton.
"You fucked Connery didn't you?" Peyton blurts out and I wanted to kill myself out of embarrassment. Connery walked out of my room, which pretty much answered my best friend's suspicions before I could even answer. "I knew it. Looks like I wasn't the only one who had fun last night."
After a good ten minutes of Peyton teasing Connery and me, we were finally able to leave the apartment. On our way to the firm we stopped at a Starbucks and we grabbed a cup of coffee. Connery wanted something light today so he went with a latte, I on the other hand knew that I needed a kick of energy for the day that was ahead of me at the firm so I went with something way stronger.
The date for the trial was already set and that meant that the weeks leading up to it were going to be full of preparation. Conrad hired one of the best lawyers in town for Tommy, which didn't make it any easier on us. We knew he was going to try and make it seem like it was the girl's fault which meant we needed to have an answer for every jab he threw at us. Aside from discussing a few details from the case, we were also going to start preparing Macy and Emily for their time on the stand.
It's not easy for them to have to relive their rape over and over again every time they had to tell their story and having someone who was going to try and make it seem like it was their fault, dehumanizing them on that stand was going to break them even more. So we needed to prepare them for what was about to come.
"Hey Jared," I smile as I walk into his office. His desk was currently filled with boxes that contained many files. I assumed they were the files of the many cases that have come to light after the article was published.
"Hey Everest," Jared greets with a smile. "It's good to see you, how was Arizona?"
"It was great," I reply. "Aunt Claire was bummed that you couldn't make it, but she sends her kind regards."
"I know, I spoke to her on the phone earlier this morning. I had my schedule cleared for that weekend but then the judge scheduled the arraignment for the case on Friday." Jared explains.
"How did that go?" I ask. "Were you able to get him remanded to Allenwood like you were hoping to?"
"I'm afraid I couldn't," Jared sighs. "He didn't have any priors so the judge settled for taking away his passport and a bail set for $500,000."
"And that's it?" I ask Jared. People with less privilege than that prick would get remanded, no questions asked. But then again why should I be surprised? Daddy dearest always coming to Tommy's rescue. "If he were black with no priors, would it be the same case scenario?"
"He's out on bail Everest, his lawyer is a pretty damn good one. I tried my best. And believe me, you're not the only one that's frustrated over the situation here. If you're worried about him hurting the girls, he won't. He can't go anywhere within ten feet of them." Jared pauses. "And would it be the same case scenario? Probably not."
"He may have a restraining order, but he doesn't need to be the one behind the trigger Jared. Can you at least tell Olivia to put a squad car outside their apartments? For my peace of mind at least, I have a bad feeling about this." I plead and Jared nods.
"I promise I will call her," Jared assures and I feel like I can breathe a little better. "Do you need me to put a squad car outside your apartment building?"
"Why would you ask me that?" I ask Jared. Did he find out about the death threats? Or my little encounter with the guy in the alleyway? I decided to not share any of the details with Jared or Olivia, it probably wasn't the smartest thing but I didn't want them to worry. We had enough on our plate already.
"Did you really think I wouldn't find out about the death threats or your totaled car?" Jared asks.
"I didn't want to worry you, Jared," I reply. "I'm fine, my car is fixed and I feel safe. If I felt like my life was at risk I would tell you." I might've lied about the second one, but again, I didn't want the focus to turn to me. The girls deserved all of it, they needed justice and we couldn't afford to turn our focus on something other than that.
"I'm not so sure you would tell me Everest, but please, if you ever feel like you're not safe you need to tell me. Your life is just as important." Jared says and I reassure him that if I ever did I would tell him.
Before we could continue with our conversation Laura walked in and interrupted us. "Jared, Everest, I'm sorry to interrupt you but the girls are here. Shall I send them in?"
Jared nods. "Yes, we are ready for them, please send them in."
A few minutes later, Macy walked into Jared's office alongside Emily, Alison, and Charlotte. They all smiled at us as they walked in. Once they were all sitting down, Jared began to talk about the details of the case. "I called you all here today because I have some news to share with you about the case. The arraignment of Tommy Scott took place last Friday evening, even though we didn't get everything we hoped, we got the most important thing. A date set for the start of the trial."
Jared pauses. "Opening arguments will start three weeks from today. In the meantime, Olivia and I will be helping you to prepare for the trial. Like we have discussed before, a trial is very different from a grand jury hearing. The defense will try to make you look like it was all your fault by tearing every single piece of your story apart. That is why we need to prepare you for any type of question, the entire process will put you to the test but we have to keep in mind what our end goal is. Tommy Scott will be walking out of that courthouse in handcuffs."
The girls seemed to be okay, except Macy. She looked a little uneasy and I could tell she was having a hard time hearing about the entire process. "Is he out on bail?" Emily asks.
"We already know the answer but we just wanted to hear it from you," Charlotte adds.
"He is," Jared replies. "And I'm aware of how that may worry you, but you have nothing to worry about. We have a restraining order against him, he can't go near within ten feet of you all. For your safety, we will be putting squad cars outside of your apartments."
"We know that you don't have to, put squad cars outside of our apartments I mean, but thank you. Thank you for believing and listening when no one else did." Alison smiles.
I couldn't help but smile too. Seeing a glimpse of happiness even in those girls' eyes even if it was for only just a second meant everything. They deserved justice, they deserved to get the bit of the happiness that they were robbed of that day. I don't believe getting justice would bring them back what they lost that day but it would surely help them move on. Because you don't really know the difference it makes when someone says that they believe you. It means everything and it makes everything we've gone through to get here worth it.
We spent a couple of hours going through basic routine questions and prepping the girls for what awaited them in the stand at trial. Olivia was supposed to come by, but she got held back at the precinct with another case. I stepped in though and I helped Jared get through with it. Before I knew it, Connery was already waiting for me outside in the car.
On our way back to the pavilion we spent our time talking about his day and the grade he got on his latest political science exam. He could've done better and for that reason, he asked me to tutor him again for his next one. Although I had no problem in accepting to tutor him, we both knew we were going to end up doing anything but studying.
When we got to the pavilion we both headed to the locker rooms to get changed into our swim attire for today's practice. Thankfully, Coach Jennings was in a better mood today. Though that didn't mean he was going to go easy on us (I wish he did though for once) the more challenging the sets, the better for him.
"Listen up everybody, for today's warm-up, we will begin with 400 meters freestyle easy swim. After we've wrapped up with the 400 meters we will move on with 200 IM and 4x50's butterfly breathing every five strokes." Coach instructed and I wanted to kill myself. Out of all of the strokes, butterfly was the one I hated most. Aside from being the stroke, I was least good at, it was the stroke I most got shouted at by Coach.
Coach blew the whistle and we began our warm-up. Every time Connery swam past me he had the stupidest smirk on his face, he knows how much I hate the butterfly stroke so he was enjoying himself way too much. I wasn't bothered by it though, he would end up paying for it later and I'm sure he wasn't going to like my punishment methods.
"Green!" Coach shouted. Here we go again. I wondered if Coach ever got tired of shouting my name so often. "You're rolling your body too little. It will cause you to rely mostly on your arms and legs to get through the water. You will get exhausted quickly and it can also lead to shoulder problems in the future. Exaggerate your body roll. Start by leaving your arms at your sides. Push off the wall, begin the body roll, and look down toward the black line. Then press your chin, chest, hips, and feet. You should feel a rippling flow through your body."
"Regan!" Coach shouted again. "Relying only on the kick will force your body to stay relatively flat, and will exhaust you quickly. You will have to exert a tremendous amount of effort to progress forward, your shoulders will be too low in the water and it will be difficult to get your arms out on the recovery."
"We're days away from our final meet of the regular season. Get your head in the game. We can't afford to screw up this late into the season." Coach sighs. "O'Connor! Your timing often gets thrown off because of a late breath. If you breathe after your arms exit the water, it's difficult to lift your chin up for a breath. By the time your arms recover in front of you, your head will still be up for the breath. If your head is up, you cannot press your chin down to begin the body roll. This will affect the entire stroke and rhythm."
A few more shouts later we moved on to the pre-set which consisted of 4Ã100's backstroke (medium pace swimming with 15 seconds rest). For the main set, we swam 3Ã400's freestyle (1 minute 30 seconds rest0. Coach decided to add a post set for today's practice which included 8Ã25's underwater with fins (only a minute rest with this one). The cooldown consisted of 200 meets of easy stroke of choice swim for a total of 2,800 meters for today's practice.
By the end of practice, as it is every other day, we were exhausted. Connery was planning on staying over tonight so we had to drive by the house so he could grab some clothes. And he also asked if I could cook something for him, this boy didn't know what he was asking for. I think we would be better off with some Chinese take out. "Are you sure you want me to cook for you? Chinese take out sounds a lot better."
"Ev, you're making it sound as if you were a horrible cook. Which is something I find hard to believe since you're so good at other things." Connery smirks and I playfully hit his chest. "I was just joking, you didn't have to hit me so hard."
"You're being a little dramatic," I laugh at a Connery who currently had a hurt expression on his face. "I'm telling you, I'm a little out of practice but if you insist."
Before Connery could even continue our conversation my phone started ringing. It was Olivia. I suddenly felt like something had gone terribly wrong. "Hello, Olivia. Is everything okay?"
"Hey Everest, it's Macy. She jumped. Macy jumped."
A/N
Hey guys! I hope you had an amazing Christmas with your loved ones, this one was a little different than what we're used to but I'm so grateful that I could spend time with family even if it was through a phone screen! ⨠I decided to not upload on Friday because I wanted to spend time with my family during the last few days, this year there were two empty chairs and two little angels watching from above, so it was a little hard for me to concentrate on writing.
I hope you enjoyed today's chapter, thank you once again for all of your support! It is truly one of the best gifts I could've received this year, thank you! ð
The girl from a little island in the Caribbean sends a lot of love your way, I will see you in the next one.