"God, I miswell just give up," Dustin teased with his voice a mocking sorrow, "I mean, I got nothing on a 17 year old." He shrugged his shoulders as my eyes rolled for what must of been the millionth time.

Slapping him hard on the shoulder, "Make a right here." I told him as the blush had ran down my neck, "And it's NOT funny!" I emphasized the 'not' to the best of my ability, a laugh breaking through each syllable. Knocking down the front mirror in the old Chevy 1500 Dustin had acquired from his Father, I ran my hands through my blonde locks one more time tsking as I noticed my once auburn highlights were now a faded brown.

"Not-uh, none of that, you look beautiful." Dustin warned from the driver's seat to which I replied by sticking out my tongue. He cupped his hand around my chin as the car came to a stop and he leaned in real close, my immediate reaction was to close my eyes and when a laugh came out of his lips rather than them connecting with mine I batted my eyelids open and gazed at him in confusion. "We're here." His voice held a distant sense of desire but I grinned and placed my hand on his chest to playfully push him away from me. "Now when we get in there remember what I,"

Stopping his sentence mid-way I interrupted with reciting what he had told me on the way over, "I know I know, you're not gonna leave my side and if I get uncomfortable telling the story we can go, I think I got it Dad."

"That's Daddy to you." He winked and shimmied his shoulders before pushing open the truck door and jogging over to my side where I was a giggling mess. "Come on now, Darlin'." Stepping down onto the parking lot, I looped my arm around Dustin's and brought my right hand up to squeeze onto his bicep as I had down mindlessly countless other time, although this time I did it for more of a security reason.

Gazing up at the brick building I felt my knees begin to wobble in the slightest which caused me to move in closer to Dustin, sensing this he brought his left hand up to cup my own and gave it a squeeze. When I peeked up at him I noticed he had already been looking at me and he offered me a small, tight smile to which I reciprocated. Once we reached the door, my eyes ran over the white print, 'Thompson and Cruz' ran across the front in big, bold letters.

"Suite 480," Dustin read the smallest print, yet my eyes continued to stay glued to the 'Attorneys at Law' part that ran across the bottom in slightly smaller blue letters. When we were dating, Ace never mentioned anything about wanting to be a lawyer; shaking my head of those thoughts I continued on and we entered an elevator. Dustin's finger pressed against the button for floor number four.

"Hold it!" A voice yelled and Dustin's immediate instinct was to grasp the metal door before it crushed whoever was hollering on the other side. A suitcase appeared and then a large frame, Ace Thompson was bustling his way into the elevator as if it were the crowded streets of New York City.

"Floor four," He said without glancing at Dustin.

"Already going there, bud." Dustin's accent had grown thicker, or maybe it was his voice, but he hadn't moved his eyes to look at Ace either, rather he stared ahead.

Hearing this made Ace cock his head to the side, he was about a head shorter than Dustin and inches taller than me, his piercing blue eyes could look right into my soul just as they had done years ago and the black hair on top of his head sat in a 'I just had sex,' manner.

"Well if my eyes aren't deceiving me, RaeLynn Parsons is that you?" Shutting my eyes for a brief moment I silently prayed that he would vanish and much to my dismay when I composed myself enough to open my eyes he was still there and this time his arms were spread wide as if I was supposed to run into them. Instead I raised an eyebrow in his direction and a laugh pushed past my lips before I could swallow it.

"Yes, and I'm here to see your partner Mr. Cruz, so if you'll excuse us." With that, Dustin and I left through the sliding doors, his rumbling laugh shaking his shoulders, I was ready for the eruption.

"Darlin', I am so damn proud of you." He brought me close to him and gave me a squeeze on the shoulder, a smile crossed my lips at his words and my heart thumped against my ribcage with joy. Dustin hadn't known a lick about who Ace Thompson was or our history and he didn't need too because history is just that, a past thing.

Whipping the door open, Dustin held it and allowed me to walk through. Watching through the glass door, the elevator doors opened wide once again to reveal Ace, he was staring off on to the tiled floors, it was a look I had seen often, being a high school English teacher, he was dazed off and daydreaming, the metal doors were like an alarm for him and he trudged into the lounge area, practically hitting into Dustin as he passed us causing a grin to spread onto Dustin's lips.

"He's an angry elf." Dustin whispered into my hair, quoting my favorite movie, Elf, then slinging his arm across my shoulders as he stood with my back pressed against him. This caused me to bark out a laugh and the receptionist to glance up at us through her bedazzled glasses, she gave a stern look but offered a side smile, nonetheless.

"How can I help you lovebirds, no divorce I hope," she joked gaining a laugh from me and a firm head shake from Dustin.

"Never in a million years." My heart nearly melted into the pit of my belly in that moment as the words vibrated through his chest, his southern twang making me weak in the knees once again.

"I have an appointment with Mr. Cruz." I told her to which she fixated her almond shaped eyes on the computer screen, her kinky ebony colored curls were slicked back into what seemed to be a painfully tight ponytail and her manicured fingers ran across the keyboard in a fluid motion.

"Name?" She inquired to which I replied with, "RaeLynn Parsons." My palms grew sweaty, she looked back at me and I noticed the mole on her left cheek which resembled Marilyn Monroe's.

"He should be in his office, which is the first one on the left when you open the two doors," she nodded her head in the direction of said doors, "knock before entering but he should be able to take you right away." With a smile, she shifted back to her computer screen and busied herself once again.

"Thank you." Dustin answered for me as I inhaled a deep breath and we walked towards the doors in silence, me gripping onto his bicep as if it were my lifeline. "You don't have to do this, I can go if you'd like." He offered but, I shook my head. I had to do this on my own, after all this was my problem.

Knocking on the door, we were greeted with a male voice signaling us to come in. Once we pushed past the frosted glass door that read 'Miguel Cruz Ph.D.' in thick black letters, a short, round man sat behind a desk and looked at us with big, light brown eyes, his skin was tanned as if he had just spent hours in the sun, roasting. A smile graced his face which showed off his pearly whites, it was the kind of smile that made you smile.

"You must be Miss. Parsons." He stated rather than questioned and he stood to come around his desk and greet us, giving Dustin a hard shake although he stood at what seemed to be an even 5' foot. "And Mr. Parsons?" He questioned as he looked between the two of us to which Dustin replied with a, "Not yet." and a wink. Lightly pushing my elbow into his ribs, Mr. Cruz laughed and motioned for us to sit down; I allowed my eyes to wander across the dozens of family photos he had scattered across his desk.

"That's my wife, Alisha." The picture was of a women with long brown locks that cascaded down past her butt, her eyes looked as if someone had spilled ink into them but they sparkled with beauty. She wore a smile from ear to ear and her hand was out in front of her as if she were trying to push the camera away.

I smiled and looked up at Mr. Cruz, who wore a smile almost identical to the women's in the picture, "She's very beautiful." I complimented.

He shook his head in agreement with me, before folding his hands out in front of him, "So, what brings the two of you to my office today." I swallowed a breath I hadn't been aware that I was holding and bent at my waist to reach into my purse, fishing for the yellow envelope, I snatched it from its place and slid it across the desk.

Mr. Cruz raised an eyebrow, but he picked it up and snapped open the clasp, taking out the papers that were enclosed inside. Running his caramel colored eyes over the paper, they grew wider with every word read, every page flipped. Finally, clearly his throat he looked up at me, "Let me just apologize for what you had to go through," His face was serious, "no one should ever have to endure that." I mouthed a 'thank you' with a closed smile. "This man wants to sue you because you called him a rapist but, he never in fact raped you." He explained to me, although I couldn't recall calling him such a thing.

As if reading my mind he continued, "They have you on one of the video cameras saying that to the security guard days after the incident, to which the security guard then told other faculty members ." I silently cursed, it must have been a heat of the moment thing and I couldn't believe Hank would do such a thing. "He's suing for defamation, but luckily, you never really said anything to ruin his reputation on a social media platform, this case won't have to go to court." I breathed a sigh of relief and held on tightly to Dustin's hand.

"Now what if I wanted to sue him?" I questioned leaning forward in my chair, wearing a smirk and Mr. Cruz looked at me, giving me a look of approval.

"I'd be willing to go to court for that." He answered.