Personal Jurisdiction (26 page)

“Here you go, Babe,” he said, putting the giant slice on a dessert plate and handing it to her. The cake was decadent. It was marbled chocolate and vanilla, with a layer of strawberry filling on the inside. It was perfectly moist, and the buttercream frosting was the perfect complement to the strawberry filling. Whitney was not sure if Ben knew that strawberry filling in cakes was one of her favorite things, or if he had just guessed. Either way, she was glad he had chosen the cake he did. It was one of the best confections she had ever eaten.

Whitney savored each bite of cake as Ben began passing slices to the other guests. Evan and Jake came by to say goodbye, explaining that they were on a red-eye flight to South America and had to get to the airport. Elise gave Evan several goodbye kisses as he left, and made him promise to email her. Whitney smiled. It was fun to see Elise smitten with someone.

As soon as Evan left, Elise turned her attention toward persuading Whitney to open her gifts. Whitney hated opening gifts in front of a crowd even more than she hated the birthday song. She had been hoping this would be one of those parties where people eventually trickle out and you just carry your gifts home to open later. But once Elise decided that she wanted to watch Whitney open presents, there was no convincing her otherwise.

Whitney began opening gifts, dutifully oohing and ahhing over each item. There were cute earrings, luxury bath products, and even a set of monogrammed hand towels. Lincoln and Jamie joined forces to get Whitney a generous gift certificate for a day at a local spa. Jamie explained it was to combat upcoming finals stress. Whitney opened Ben’s gift, and it was a box of gourmet chocolate covered strawberries. Whitney caught Elise’s eye, and knew Elise did not approve of the gift. It was too generic. But, surely, Ben got a pass on giving a generic gift since he had arranged this party for her. The party itself was much more than she would have expected for her birthday.

There were two gifts left, one of which was from Elise. Elise impatiently pushed it at Whitney. “Open it! I can’t stand to wait another second.”

Whitney smiled and tore the paper off to reveal a beautiful wooden plaque, carved with the inscription, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. – Eleanor Roosevelt.”

Whitney looked up at Elise, and was shocked to see she had tears in her eyes. “I hope you know how true that is, Whit. I’ve known you were special since the day I met you. I just wish you would realize it, too. You’ve fought so hard to get where you are, and you should be proud of yourself.”

Whitney felt her eyes welling up. “Oh, stop, Elise! You’re going to make me cry, too!” Whitney stood up and gave Elise a big bear hug. Jamie was standing right next to Elise, and Whitney pulled Jamie into the hug too. Somewhere in the background someone jokingly said an over-exaggerated, “Awwww,” but the girls just ignored them. They had been through a lot together in the last several months. It felt good to celebrate. Their hug was broken up by Ben’s voice.

“I don’t want to break up such a sweet moment, but it’s last call for free booze, everyone! Open bar ends at 10!”

One of the guests let out a whoop and headed for the bar, and Elise and Jamie laughed as they pulled away from Whitney. “Sorry, Whitney,” Jamie said, her eyes dancing, “You take second place to free alcohol.” Whitney just laughed as Elise and Jamie followed the rest of the group to the bar, and she started wadding up the wrapping paper strewn across the table.

“Do you want another drink, Whit?” Ben asked, reaching over to push a strand of hair back from her face. Whitney felt a thrill go through her at the feeling of his touch, and she smiled happily.

“Sure, go ahead and grab me one. I’m going to get all this stuff organized. I can’t believe how many gifts people gave me!”

“You deserve it,” Ben said, and then headed off to the bar to get Whitney another drink. As Whitney continued gathering up the wrapping paper and gifts, she realized that there was still one more gift bag left unopened. She reached for it and fumbled with the tag, trying to see who had given it to her.

“It’s from me,” a voice beside her said. Alex.

“Hey,” Whitney said turning and smiling at him. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to you all night!”

“I know,” Alex said, sniffing and wiping pretend tears from his eyes. “I feel so rejected.”

Whitney rolled her eyes. “It’s good to see you. I feel like I haven’t seen anyone this past week, thanks to that stupid paper I had to finish. Are you excited about spring break? I haven’t even looked at the emails you sent about the breweries you want to put on the list. I’m sorry. I’m the worst trip planning buddy ever.”

Alex laughed. “It’s okay. But no complaints if you don’t like the places I picked.”

Whitney shrugged. “I’m just excited to see something besides the inside of the law library for a bit. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Good,” Alex said, then pushed his gift bag toward Whitney. “Now open it.”

It was obvious from the shape of the gift bag that it was a bottle of wine, so Whitney said in her best dramatic voice, “Hmmm, I wonder what this could be!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just open it,” Alex said.

Whitney pulled out a bottle of wine that had a sheet of paper taped over the label. On the sheet of paper was a colored pencil drawing, split into three blocks and resembling a comic strip. The first block featured a stick figure sitting at a bar with a glass labeled “Miller Lite, a.k.a. pee-flavored beer.” The second block contained a drawing of a stick figure holding peacock feathers in a kitchen. And the final block depicted a stick figure on the ledge of a building high above the city of Chicago. The stick figure looked terrified and the building was labeled “Willis Tower.” Below the ledge, another stick figure with a parachute was floating happily toward the ground.”

Whitney laughed. “Oh my god, Alex. What is this?”

“It’s a unique wine label. Well, I mean, the bottle itself is one of my favorite wines, a Malbec. You should let me help you plan a meal to go with it, so that you pair it with something good and enjoy it. I couldn’t bring myself to buy a bottle of wine based just on what the label looks like, so I drew you a label. I’m not so good on the cutesy stuff, but it’s meaningful at least, so hopefully that’s okay. The drawings are some of my favorite moments from the times we’ve hung out.”

Whitney looked at the label again. It was her: drinking Miller Lite at the bar after orientation, cooking on Thanksgiving Day, and standing on the glass ledge at the Willis Tower. The parachuting stick figure must have been Alex.

Whitney pointed to the parachuting man and giggled. “Is that supposed to be you, skydiving?”

“Well, yes. Although technically jumping off a building would be base jumping, not skydiving.”

Whitney raised an eyebrow at Alex. “I had no idea you knew so much about skydiving.”

Alex shrugged. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I wanted to do it someday.”

Whitney admired the primitive artwork. “Alex, this is amazing. I mean, wow. Really thoughtful. And it reminds me of so many happy moments from this year.”

Alex beamed. “I’m glad you like it.”

Ben showed up, then, with Whitney’s drink. “Here you go,” he said, handing her a cocktail.

“Thanks!” she said. “Ben, look, Alex drew me this wine label because of how I like to choose my wine bottles based on their labels.”

“Huh,” Ben said. “Cool. Although, I thought you were more of a beer person.”

Alex raised an eyebrow, although he said nothing.

Whitney just laughed. “Oh, come on, Ben. We’ve talked about this before! I love wine.”

Ben shrugged and looked at the label. He did not seem to understand the significance of the artwork.

“Well, Alex, it’s awesome. I love it. Thank you,” Whitney said.

“You’re welcome. Happy Birthday, Whit,” Alex said. He reached over to give Whitney a big hug, then left the party without another word.

The Sunday after Whitney’s surprise birthday party, the girls met for brunch. Elise and Jamie would be leaving for Saint Thomas the next Friday, and Elise insisted that they needed to get together before Spring Break. Late Sunday morning, Whitney joined her friends at the pancake house that was becoming their favorite brunch spot. Usually, Elise was the one who immediately demanded to know the latest gossip from her friends, but Whitney beat her to the punch this morning.

“So, what’s going on with you and Evan?” Whitney asked as soon as she sat down.

Elise broke into a huge smile. “Oh my word, isn’t he
perfect
? I told you girls, if you look outside of the law school, Chicago really does have a lot to offer in the hot men department!”

“Are you guys officially a couple or what?” Jamie asked.

“We’re official!” Elise said. “We had the talk at Whitney’s birthday party, the night before he left for South America. Ugh, I wish he wasn’t out of town for the next ten days. By the time he gets back, I’m going to be in St Thomas. It’s going to be forever before I see him!” Elise dramatically dropped her head into her hands on the table. She was only down for a moment, though, before she popped back up. “Speaking of your birthday party, Whitney, how are things with you and Ben?”

“Ugh, I don’t know guys. I was hopeful after that party. I mean, it was an awesome night, and that party was amazing. I can’t believe he planned it all for me! But he drove me home afterwards and dropped me off at the door like we were just buddies or something.”

“What?” Elise said. “He spent all that time and money planning that party for you, and then he didn’t even kiss you?”

“No kiss,” Whitney confirmed. “And what’s weirder is that he hasn’t really talked to me all weekend. I mean, I texted him yesterday to thank him again for the party, and he texted back saying it was his pleasure. Then this morning he texted me asking if I was sure that I did not want to go to Greece with him. I told him that I wished I could but that it’s way too late to buy plane tickets now. And that was it. Nothing else.”

Elise frowned. “I think you should move on.”

“Oh come on, Elise! Seriously? You always waffle on this. Friday night you said he was a keeper!”

“I know. But I mean it this time. I don’t know what that boy’s deal is, but I don’t think you should waste your time on him anymore. He plans this extravagant party for you and yet he can’t come up with a more thoughtful birthday gift than chocolate.”

“The party was a pretty big gift,” Whitney countered.

Elise ignored her and continued. “And then he barely talks to you all weekend. He’s been dragging you along since the beginning of school last August. It’s time to cut him loose. At the very least, give him an ultimatum. Look at all the other options you have. What about Jake? He’s gorgeous and fun. And he has a stable job already.”

“Jake’s a great guy. But I’m in love with Ben.”

“You’ve been saying that since last year,” Jamie said, piping in. “But why? Honestly all he has done is cause you heartache and confusion.”

“When things are good with him, they are so good. We can go out for dinner and talk for hours. And I’m so attracted to him.”

“Look, I know you like him,” Elise said. “But I think you should give him some sort of deadline. He’s always pulling you back and forth. You get so happy when he pays attention to you, and then so sad when he doesn’t. It isn’t healthy. I know you think he’s a great catch, but
you
are a great catch, too. I hate seeing your happiness so tied up in one fickle man. It shouldn’t be that way.”

Whitney sighed. “I’ll think about it.”

“You better,” Elise said. “I’m going to be asking you about this when we get back from spring break.”

Whitney knew Elise would keep that promise. And it was true that Ben’s mixed signals were getting old. Maybe a week away from him for spring break would give her some clarity.

* * *

The rest of the week flew by, and Whitney barely saw Ben. He texted her frequently, but said he was busy getting ready for his trip. Whitney told him that was fine since she had to get ready for her trip, too. In reality, she did not have much preparing to do. She packed one small suitcase with several pairs of jeans, long-sleeved tees, and hoodies. She did not feel like trying to figure out cute outfits. There was not going to be anyone around to impress, anyways. It was just Alex.

Since they were driving, Alex wanted to leave Friday afternoon as soon as their last class was over. Whitney had made no effort to influence the travel itinerary. She was literally just along for the ride, and had no idea where they were stopping. The only input Whitney had given on the travel plans was to tell Alex what her budget was for her half of gas and hotels. He insisted that she only needed to cover her food since he was spending the money on gas and hotels anyways, but she insisted on paying her half. They never reached a definitive conclusion to that argument, which meant that Alex had won.

When Whitney climbed into Alex’s car on Friday, he asked her if she had her passport.

“I do, actually. I like to have backup I.D. when I go on a trip. Why?”

“We’re stopping in Buffalo tonight, and we might hop over to Canada for a bit tomorrow. Have you ever seen Niagara Falls?”