"Because I already made the reservations for us in two weeks."

Reservations?

“I don’t know. I’m kind of busy.”

“Busy? You got another boyfriend… Or girlfriend I don’t know about?”

I tried to play his stupid game. “Maybe.”

I obviously didn’t.

“Shit,” he said. I couldn’t stop myself from laugh. “Oh, you’re playing me.”

“It’s only fair.”

“Come on. You had a good time with me when we had dinner last time, didn't you?" he pressed.

"That's not relevant,” I said, taking on my best lawyer tone.

"Wow," he replied. "You’re good. I can't wait to see how you perform tomorrow."

"Likewise," I said.

“So, how about that day? I already made reservations.”

“Ugh. Fine! All right, I gotta go. See you tomorrow.”

“See you then… Beautiful,” he said, and hung up the phone.

I hung up the phone while shaking my head, and turned only to discover Kelsey hovering at the kitchen door having heard my whole side of the conversation.

"Are you going out with him?" she asked.

I shrugged. "It's only to get him to leave me alone,” I explained. "Once the case is over one of us is going to be offered this job. I have to behave with the assumption that it's going to be me. I'm going to say it's a celebratory dinner, to celebrate out victory with the case."

Kelsey rolled her eyes. "Right," she said. "Just keep telling yourself that, Blair."

The next day we gathered our case files and headed over to the courtroom, just half a block from our building. As the senior partners walked ahead of us, I hung behind to catch Aiden as he brought up the rear.

"I wanted to talk to you about our date,” I began.

He quickly held his finger to his lips in an effort to silence me.

"We shouldn't talk about that,” he said in a cool tone.

I felt confused.

"But," I began. "When you sent me the..."

"Shh," he interrupted my thoughts again. "We can't talk about it. Let's just focus on the case okay?"

I wondered what he might be up to as we followed the lawyers down the winding hallway to the room where we would wait.

Was he scared something would happen if one of the partners found out?

What did he think, they were going to get rid of us both?

Maybe they would.

So, I didn’t say anything more and moved on to the case.

The first step in the process, we had been told would be the jury selection. I had experienced this process myself, several years ago from the other perspective, as I had received a summons in the mail sometime during early college. I knew this was an arduous but necessary process that we had no choice but to sit through.

A random pool of citizens had been sent a letter requiring them to be present today. Each of the lawyers would then ask a series of questions. If any of them felt that someone in the pool would not be a good candidate they were then cut from the selection.

Mr. Mahoney explained that for this first case we should observe and learn while the senior lawyers asked the questions. I felt more than happy to do so. I had learned that building a case like we had been doing these past weeks was far more about layering facts and much less about high speed car chases and gun fights, like the television detective shows would have us believe.

I felt excited to get started with the case, having already learned so much from the senior partners.

Finally the judge came and collected us from the waiting area. The jury pool was seated and it was our time to begin the selection process.

I watched in fascination as Mr. Mahoney and his partners asked various questions, and took notes. Across from us on the other side of the courtroom the victim's family sat stoically watching the proceedings.

It hadn’t occurred to me that behind what we were doing held very real consequences.

The family of the victim wanted justice, but we had built a strong case to defend the man accused of that murder. My feelings of confidence began to wane and the butterflies returned. I didn’t want to show my nervousness, so I sat up straight and took a deep breath, trying to pay attention to the proceedings.

I turned slightly to try and catch Aiden's eye, but he remained still, looking straight ahead and watching the primary lawyers. Even having him ignore me made me feel small and nervous. I didn’t understand why Aiden was ignoring me, and I was beginning to feel the pressure of the implications if our case was wrong. If the man were truly guilty then we had been working all this time to defend him. If he is innocent, as our case indicates then the family across the way would not have closure on the death of their loved one.

"You guys doing okay?" Mr. Mahoney asked under his breath during a lull in the proceedings.

"Yes, fine," I whispered, though the truth felt very different.

Aiden also answered in the affirmative, still not showing any indication of attention towards me.

The jury pool had started out with a large group of about fifty people. As the lawyers had asked various questions, they had decided one by one which jurors could go and which would remain. Most of the day had been spent dedicated to this process, but the judge interrupted and asked both sets of lawyers to the bench. They talked for a few minutes and I could see the look of concern on all of their faces.

When Mr. Mahoney returned to their table his eyebrows were drawn together.

"It looks like we are going to have to delay the proceedings," he said.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "What's happened?"

"The remaining jurors are too few," he said. "Several of them had to be released because of various reasons. You witnessed the questions we asked throughout the day. This helps us to select the most impartial panel of jurors. This happens sometimes that those randomly selected fall into a category that makes them ineligible. They'll have to gather another jury pool."

"How long will that take?" Aiden asked.

"At least two weeks,” Mr. Mahoney explained. "The judge will have to contact us with a new court date."

Aiden nodded and I could see the wheels turning behind his eyes.

What was he up to?

I found out, later that night, when Aiden called me on my cell phone. After being dismissed from the jury selection we had all gone our separate ways. I returned home, leaving the courtroom without so much as a second glance from Aiden. I felt more confused than ever, then when I looked at my phone I saw his name.

"Hello," I answered in a cool tone, trying to sound like I had been in the middle of something important.

"I'll have to change our reservation,” he explained. "The new court date falls on the night we were going to go out. I'd like for us to be able to relax and enjoy ourselves. Even if we are just going out as friends."

This was a new angle, I noticed. I also noticed the slight twinge of disappointment I felt at the implication that the date was just as friends.

"Okay," I said.

"How about Friday,” he suggested. "We'll make it a more casual event. Maybe go for pizza or something."

"Friday," I said. "Actually, I'm going to the movies with Kelsey on Friday night."

That part was true.

"Hmm,” he considered. "Assuming that that's true, then it's not a big deal at all. Logan and Travis are going to be in town then."

"Really?" I asked. I hadn’t seen any of his brothers since childhood. "What are they up to these days?"

"Logan is a professional Poker player in Vegas, if you can believe it,” he said.