I walked away from her and headed straight toward Andrew—taking my time down the stage’s side steps. I stood in front of him, looking directly into his eyes—ignoring the confused murmurs of the crowd.
The director said a few more words, Mr. Ashcroft gave his regards, and the curtains closed without me.
As the audience gave one final applause and started to file out of the room, I finally found my voice.
“I thought you said you weren’t coming…” I whispered. “Did you come here just to see my show or are you staying a little bit longer?”
“I’m staying a little bit longer.”
“Does that mean permanently?”
“No.” He wiped away my tears. “It means I’ll stay here until you realize how terrible this city is—until you’re ready to leave.”
“I signed a contract for three years.”
“Every contract is negotiable.” He smiled and pulled me into his arms. “And if you don’t apologize for ruining the closing credits tonight, they just might risk breaching it and fire you…”
“Where will you work?” I asked. “Are you going to practice law? Can you practice law?”
He kissed my lips. “I’ll be teaching at NYU.”
“What?” My heart immediately felt for the future students. “Why?”
“What do you mean, why?”
“You’re a terrible teacher, Andrew…All of the interns at GBH hated you.”
“I don’t give a fuck.”
“I’m serious…” I was actually worried. “I think you should reconsider. Teaching isn’t for everyone, so—”
“First of all,” he said, cutting me off and tightening his grip around me. “I am a good fucking teacher. It just depends on the subject matter…” He trailed his finger across my lips. “I can recall teaching you how to do something very well…”
I blushed.
“Second of all, last time I checked, all of the interns at GBH were quite unteachable and they were dumb as stones—all except one.”
“The one that was a fucking liar?”
“Yes,” he said. “That one.”
“I heard she broke all your rules.” I brought my hand up to his face. “I heard she ended your one dinner, one night, and no repeats streak… ”
“I’m pretty sure that she didn’t.”
“Is that so?” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Is it still going on? Is that still your personal motto?”
“To a certain extent,” he said, pressing his lips against mine. “Since I still like the sound of it, and will only be dating her from here on out, I’ll just replace the word ‘one’ with ‘more’…”