June 1, 2016

A few days ago, when I was in one of my private lessons, with Professor Mace, she asked me what I saw myself accomplishing after law school.

I told her I had no specific plans yet—I still struggle with my choice, whether it was the right one and that was probably the main reason I had not thought so far ahead, which meant I honestly had no idea whatsoever on what was expecting me once I was done, lucky for me, I still have some time to figure that out.

The look she gave me, I knew it too well, it was pity, but also, disappointment. After that Evelyn made it her job to try and help me figure out what it was that I wanted to do once I was done with school.

At first, I thought Professor Mace was taking so much interest on helping me to clean up Cecilia's mess somehow, but the more I got to know her the more I understood her reasoning.

She came from a protestant family and had married her high school sweetheart once they found out she was pregnant. At seventeen she had had her first child, a girl who was just a year or so younger than me.

It was only once she divorced her first husband and met her second one that she got her degree.

The second husband happened to be a kick-ass corporate lawyer. He had paid for her studying and everything else that had to do with helping her become who she was meant to be.

Some people say that those who cannot do, teach, well, that was not Evelyn's case. Apart from everything she did around campus, she was also a partner on the same firm her husband worked at when they first met. Eventually she reached senior partnership, before he did, I may add, and he had a ten-year head start on her.

The motherly attribute did not come from being a mother at a young age. Husband number 2—as I like to say—had a son about the same age as her daughter. They met when the kids were five, and the boy's mother had left the scene without ever looking back. Evelyn raised the boy as her own, and apparently it was their bond that changed her.

She told me the first couple years the little boy who would eventually come to identify himself as her son, would not trust her to come back home whenever she had to leave the house, so he would look completely panicked when she walked out the door, unaware of what to do with himself.

I guess I reminded her of her son in ways I could not quite grasp.

Once Professor Mace figured out, I was not a complete lost case when it came to Family Law, she decided it would be good for me to join some extracurricular activities the university had to offer.

I tried to get out of it, but she was having none of my excuses.

By extracurricular, she meant I could choose between being swamped with endless theoretical research, or I volunteering to assist one of the mediators at the mediation center.

When I refused to choose, she just figured she would do it for me instead.

I am not sure what was behind her intentions, but after a couple calls, she managed to get me assigned to the last available assistant position.

It would definitely not make me any more likable around my peers.

One did not have to know much about the extracurricular activities around campus to figure out I had skipped more than a few obligatory steps to get that position.

I had not applied, I was not part of any waiting lists, nor did I ever really shown any interest to be part of the mediation center.

It turned out the one position that was left unoccupied, was to assist the one professor no one seemed to be able to stand for more than a couple months.

A huge pain in the ass, with the mood swings of a teenager, and the tantrums of an infant. Ring any bells?

I am not one hundred percent sure Evelyn knew what she was doing, but that woman is too cunning to have arranged it by accident. It could not be that bad though, right? I mean, it was only for one hour, once a week.

Cecilia and I would not even get to interact much, it would mostly be a couple formally splitting up, or a mother trying to get her ex to pay child support. For once it would not be us arguing.

Yesterday had been my first day.

Even though nobody seemed to want to keep the position once they had gotten it, it did not mean no one wanted it periodt.

The second I got inside the reception all I could hear was a mess of voices. Two very pissed students were complaining to the receptionist—who was probably someone with no power whatsoever, there only to help accommodate the parts.

I pitied the poor woman. She was having to deal with the aftermath of my allocation to the position in a nontraditional way—if it can even be called that.

Cecilia arrived not long after. We said our hellos, and I could see she was surprise to see me there.

Before she got the chance to comment on the matter, the two students noticed her presence and charged in her direction demanding to know why they had been told they would have to wait for another opening, when just the week before there was one with her.

Apparently, they were tied as next in line, so it should have been a matter of which one of the two claimed the position first. At that moment all I really wished was to know where I was supposed to go, or better yet hide, before they figured out that I was the one who had stolen their precious spot.

Once the professor put two and two together, she turned to look at me with confusion written all over her face, as she mouthed asking if it had been my mother. I shook my head as I mouthed just one word, Eve.

It was no use trying to be discreet in a reception as small as that one. One of the students, the girl out of the two, noticed what I had said. She seemed to always have had things her way—who am I to judge though, right? She got on my face as she basically screamed for me to tell her who this Eve person was to mess with her assistant position—her words.

It was funny how it all seemed like a huge thing. They made it sound as if I had stolen their chance to meet the queen.

Cecilia was having none of it. She was clearly fed up with their attitude, especially because there were people waiting to be called inside the mediation rooms, and she was all about maintaining appearances.

With one swift move she went from calm to boss-lady mode.

She turned my way pointing me to a door with the number 3 on it as she told me to wait there.

While I was walking toward the door, I heard her telling to take their complaint to one of the center coordinators and to stop disturbing the sessions.

I was looking around the mediation room when she walked inside looking as calm as the freaking Buddha.

That I had not expected. I was used to getting the backlash of her mood swings. And she had clearly just lost her temper with those two brats. Not to mention I was partially to blame for her trouble this time.

So, when she walked past me towards the desk and all she did was throw me a heartwarming smile and a light pat on the back of my shoulder I did not know what to make of it. She disposed her purse on the desk before handing me some papers.

"You will see the parts' names printed there along with some basic information to what their dispute is about. It is your job to get them from the reception and then draft their deal on the computer as I mediate things. So, this desk is more yours than it is mine." She motioned to the one she had just disposed her handbag.

The room had a desk with an outdated computer on the far back, and in the center of the room there was a round table with four chairs around it.

I only nodded to her instructions and as I was about to open the door so I could call for the parts to come inside, she startled me with yet another uncharacteristic demeanor.

"Oh, and Remi. You better tell me how you got this position once we are done here." I could hear the smile on her voice, and just for a moment I could swear she was happy with that arrangement.

My first mediation was not half as messy as I had anticipated. The parts were in agreement about their child's need, and the father didn't seem to mind the amount he would have to pay, all they wanted was to get it all on paper and make it official.

After about forty minutes they were done and gone, leaving the professor and I with more than enough time to talk. She locked the door once they had left and gestured for me to sit with her.

"How did you manage to get Evelyn Mace to break the rules? She's usually pretty square." Cecilia had a smirk playing on her lips.

I got comfortable on the chair before answering, "She got it in her head that I didn't have enough on my plate and figured a good way to torture me was to pair me with you." I sounded a lot more confident than I knew I really was.

Since Cecilia had shown up on my apartment, I felt like she had opened herself up to me in a new level. We were not any closer, but I felt more at ease around her. My cockiness would only get me so far and soon enough I felt the professor's usual light slap on my arm.

"No need for violence woman." I feigned to feel some pain, but she was having none of it keeping me under an all too inebriating a stare. "She said it was either this or a research group," I explained nonchalantly.

She eyed me as if trying to make sure there was not more to it.

"And you decided it was best one hour with me rather than being around a bunch of know-it-alls?" When she put it like that, I was actually glad I ended up with her.

"Actually, she made the call, I didn't want any of those options." I could see she was disappointed with my answer, "I didn't know I'd be paired with you though." I said hoping to get her to understand she was not the problem.

She nodded with a half-smile on letting us fall into comfortable silence, as she started messing with her phone. I was almost certain this was my cue to leave when she held my wrist so to show me not to go as I started to get up from my chair. She was about to tell me something when the person on the other line answered.

I was really trying not to overhear her call, but the room was just small enough that I could not help but listen to everything that was being said, at least on her end.

"Be prepared for the small headache you got yourself into." The person who I then figured out was Professor Mace said something back before Cecilia continued.

"Two students actually, they weren't all that happy with your... arrangement." I could see the smile playing on her face as she said that, along with an almost unnoticeable blush, she looked me straight in my eyes as she kept on her conversation.

"Another time, I'm... not alone," she seemed to be trying to change the subject, whatever it was Evelyn Mace was saying. "Girls' night then, see you tonight. The girls will be with their father." And then she ended the call.

Just once she was done with her call, I realized she was still holding on to my wrist—guess she followed my gaze because she pulled away as if she were touching on fire.

I was still a little weary about being around her for too long, not sure what to expect.

After she had showed up at my apartment we had not talked about that day, we had seen each other occasionally, even been friendly every time it happened, but we did not interact long enough for the topic to come up, either that or we were not alone.

I felt like I should find an excuse to leave, but at the same time I missed being around her without any interruptions. Being near her was like a drug, and I was addicted to it.

I could feel she eying me, and good thing I had put on some effort on my appearance.

Since I had started being around Evelyn Mace—who dress nothing but expensive brands—I had been a lot more conscious about my attires. It meant no more jeans or sneakers on campus.

Now all I wore seemed professional and... sexy. I knew it, and I liked it.

I had noticed a couple times that one other person had taken an interesting on my looks as well, which only got me to be even more conscious about the way I dressed.

There was something on the way she was looking at me that made me feel like she wanted to say something, but I knew she never would. Just as I was about to make a comment on the way she was looking at me there was a knock on the door.

She stood up to see who it was, and I took it as my cue to gather my things to leave. I knew better than to let myself feel too comfortable around her, because even if my feelings were not so one sided, she was still dating the doctor and keeping appearances on their relationship being rainbows and flowers.

I heard her asking whoever it was to give her a minute before closing the door again and therefore keeping me from leaving. She had turned to look at me and took a breath as she thought about something while her eyes traveled up and down my body.

"Mace seems to be brushing off on you. It suits you though." She whispered a little out of breath, and it made me feel powerful to know it was me making her feel all hot and bothered.

I decided that was my turn to leave her speechless.

Just as she had done in my apartment, I stood beside her but facing the door and gave her hand a little squeeze, before getting closer to the side of her face to whisper a see you soon, leaving her with a kiss near her lobe. Her jaw tensed up and she held her breath probably until I was out the door.

Remi

Do you remember that day? When I finally realized two could play this game.