Back to Work Work, and opening an important conversation

“Try it again, but this time smooth out the second half,” you suggested. “You’re getting a little too impassioned again. Remember what Garrison said about how the law and the facts are what matters in the case.”

“I know,” Gemma sighed, turning and tapping her script paper on her forehead. “I just get going and I feel like I should be building into it, right? It’s weird to give what amounts to a speech and be trying to just stay almost monotone.”

“You can use inflection,” you said. “You just don’t want to seem like you're making a speech at all. Conversation, talking about the weather. That’s what we want.”

“Mmm,” Gemma grunted softly, starting to pace again.

Once the round of sex had ended both the girls had headed into the shower to clean up while you had gotten the documents that had been scattered in order. They’d come out squeaky clean and gotten right back to work, and now you were helping Gemma with one last round of prepping her opening statements. Sabrina was back out in the living area poring over the evidence resources looking for more pitfalls or loopholes that had been missed.

Gemma took a breath, preparing to start again, but then let it out and turned, flopping onto the bed next to you heavily. “I don’t want to fuck it up,” she mumbled into the sheets face down.

“You won’t,” you said, rubbing her back. “What makes you think you will?”

“Nothing,” Gemma mumbled. “But nothing makes me think I’ll do really well, either.”

“Please,” you scoffed. “Gemma, you are one of the three smartest people I know that’s our age. Sabrina is number two, and Ollie is number three.”

Gemma snorted and rolled over closer to you, ending up on her back. She took your hand in both of hers and brought it up to her lips, kissing it softly. “How is she?” Gemma asked. “Heard anything lately?”

“They were getting together again back at school,” you said. “But I haven’t heard anything since we said we couldn’t come. It would have been this weekend and obviously that wouldn’t have worked. And I want all the time I can get with you.”

“I wish I could say I’m sorry for messing us up,” Gemma said. “But we knew this would happen going into it.”

“I know, love,” you sighed. “Anyways, I haven’t heard anything from them so I assume they’re hanging out in person and stuff.”

“That’s good,” Gemma said. She’d pulled your hand down to rest over her heart. “Honestly, I can’t wait for you to meet Birdie, love. She’s just fun, and I think you and Sabrina will get along with her heaps.”

“Not afraid she’ll get a little jealous of your time?” you asked.

“No,” Gemma said. “Well, maybe, but that just means she’ll want to come visit us whenever she can. She won’t hold it against you.”

“Speaking of visiting,” you said. “We should talk about where we’re applying. We should be getting our LSAT results back any time now, and need to start getting our shit together.”

Gemma nodded. “That’s a conversation for all three of us though,” she said.

“I know,” you said. “But you’re stressing out and I’m distracting you with something other than my dick.”

Gemma barked a laugh and shook her head. “It makes more sense for me to apply to places here in the States,” she said. “That’s one person going overseas as an international student instead of two.”

“I hear a ‘but’ in there,” you said, and Gemma nodded.

“I love my country, John,” she said. “Australia is… it’s different from here. The US is great and all, but there’s a different tone. I’d be fine living here, but I want you guys to get a taste of over there for longer than a week or two of visiting. Which isn’t super fair, I guess, but-”

“Shhh,” you hushed her, leaning down and kissing her gently. “Don’t make excuses. You’re allowed to want that even if it’s not the most logical.”

“Thank you,” she said.

“I’m not opposed to Aussie law school,” you said.

“You’d be leaving behind your friends and family,” Gemma said.

“Which would be exactly what we’d be asking you to do if you came here,” you countered.

“But I’ve done it before, now,” Gemma said.

“For a year,” you said. “And it led you to us. But that’s different than swapping countries permanently. And let’s be real, whichever one we choose for school, we’re probably ending up there afterwards. And I don’t think my friends and family would mind coming on vacation to visit us in Australia - it’s more exciting than coming to the States for your friends and family.”

“You only say that because you’re from here,” Gemma said. “People want to see New York, and LA, and the Grand Canyon, and all that stuff. Even if it’s just cities and holes in the ground. Taking a trip to America is probably just as popular back home as someone from here taking a trip to Australia.”

“OK, point taken,” you said. “Here’s a question, then. If we never happened, and we were just friends, and you went home and finished your bachelor’s and were applying to law school - would you even be considering coming back to the US?”

Gemma pursed her lips as she thought about that. “I think so,” she said. “But other than the longshot of Stanford or Yale, US schools would be lower on my list.”

“What are the best Australian schools?” you asked. She was still holding your hand to her heart and you brought your other one over to stroke her hair and run your fingers through it.

“Melbourne is number one for sure,” Gemma said. “Then I think it’s National, which is in Canberra. Then the Sydney schools - New South Wales and Sydney proper. If my LSAT scores come back high enough I’d shoot for Stanford and Yale, and maybe a couple of others here in the US, but my main goal would be Melbourne.”

“What’s the drive time like between Adelaide and Melbourne?” you asked. “So we could go see your family and friends?”

Gemma smiled warmly, looking up at you with absolute love in her eyes as you mentioned going to see her family. “About a day’s drive,” she said. “Though, to be fair, a couple of my siblings have moved out of Adelaide. One’s in Melbourne. Same with most of my high school friends.”

“So weekend trips, not day trips,” you said softly. “That doesn’t sound too bad to me.”

“Doesn’t sound too bad to me either,” she said. “But visiting your family would be something like sixteen or seventeen hours. And that includes Katherine - I can’t see her being thrilled about her twin being on another continent.”

“We would figure it out,” you said. “Just promise me you won’t just give in because you think the US would be easier, OK?”

“Alright,” she promised with a nod.

You kissed her again, soft and comfortable. “OK, love,” you said. “Let’s try it again, huh?”

She nodded, sitting up and shaking out her hair, and then hugged you. “You are the best man I know, John,” she said. “Thanks for changing my life.”

“Thanks for changing mine,” you said, hugging her back. It lasted a while, but that was OK. It felt good just to hold her and know she was yours.

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