Time to Change

Three days.

It had been three days since Alex had left. Eli was trying to do what Lauren said and wait for Alex to text her first...but it was really difficult. Part of her (okay, a large part of her) really wanted to put an end to the foolishness and just talk to him. It'd been too long since she had heard his voice. She was thankful classes were over because she knew she wouldn't have been able to concentrate.

Looking at her iPhone for what had to have been the seventieth time, she sighed. She glanced at the clock and realized she had twenty minutes before she had to leave. She had a meeting at eleven-thirty for some obscure clothing line, then she was going to stop by James' office since she hadn't seen him since Sunday.

She wasn't avoiding him or ignoring him, not at all. She'd been distracted. That was a much better excuse. And if she was being honest, she'd also admit that she had spent a ridiculous amount of time thinking about her parents because of the conversation she'd had with James. And she didn't want to. She didn't want to think about her mother, who was never visibly affected by her brother's death, or her father, who wasn't even there for it. But she couldn't deny that on the off-chance that she wasn't thinking about Alex, she was thinking about her parents.

Shoving all of that to the back of her mind, as best as she could, she got ready. She hated meetings with clothing lines because of the constant judging—the only good thing was that she didn't have to dress to the nines like most people did when they had interviews. For her, a pair of light-wash skinny jeans, a black v-neck, and flats were good enough. She tossed her curly hair up and threw on a bit of mascara before she grabbed everything she needed and left for her meeting.

And if she said she wasn't bored half to death, that would've been a lie as well. But for the price they were willing to pay, she'd suck it up. But she still wanted to desperately get out of that world. She restrained from squealing when the meeting was over and she hastily walked the four blocks to James' office building.

She waved a greeting to the secretary on the bottom floor before climbing onto the elevator and taking it up to the fifth floor.

“Hey, Lily,” Eli said, smiling at her boyfriend's secretary.

“Hi, Miss Carter,” Lily said, smiling as well. “How are you?”

“I'm well, and you?”

“The same.”

“Is James busy?” she asked.

“Is he expecting you?” Lily asked, eyebrows furrowing together.

Eli shook her head. “No.”

Lily smiled. “You can go in.”

“Thank you,” Eli said, turning around and walking over to the mahogany door. She knocked twice before walking in.

James looked up from the paperwork, a smile forming on his face. “Hey, babe.”

“Hey,” Eli said, walking around the desk and laughing when James pulled her onto his lap. “You look tired,” she commented, a fingertip gently touching the dark circle under his eye.

“Just a new case I'm working on,” James said, closing the files on his desk and covering them with a notebook.

The action alone made her suspicious, the tone in his voice made her worried. “What kind of case is it?”

James sighed. “It's not a pretty one, Eli.”

“If you need a defense attorney, they usually aren't,” she retorted.

James shrugged. “Some guy is charged with domestic abuse and...” he trailed off.

“And?”

“And the rest is speculated. No arrests have been made,” he said.

Eli stood up and crossed the room. Something about James' tone had made her uneasy and she couldn't explain why. She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “The fabulous life of an L.A. Elite, huh? They don't get arrested even when there's evidence he beat his wife,” she muttered.

“That's not always the case, Eli,” James said, standing up and walking over to the little refrigerator on the other side of the room.

Eli knew she shouldn't have done it—she really did. But, well, she did it anyway. She had crossed the room in the blink of an eye and pulled the cream folder from under James' notebook. Her eyes widened as they fell on the name of the accused. “Is this a joke?” she asked.

James whirled around, letting out a curse when he saw the folder in his girlfriend's hands. “Dammit, Eli, that case is confidential,” he said loudly before letting out a sigh.

“Were you going to keep this from me?” she asked him.

“Eli—“

“Were you?!” she asked again, her voice louder.

“It was confidential,” he said softly. And as he saw the fire in her eyes, he knew it was the wrong argument—and a piss-poor one at that—to use.

Eli threw the folder back on the desk, some papers falling out, and the name WILLIAM CARTER clearly labeled on the front. “When your girlfriend's father is being charged with domestic abuse, you tell her. Confidential or not,” she snapped.

“Eli, I didn't know if it was him or not,” James said. And he knew that argument was weak as well.

“Have you met him?”

James sighed. “Yes.”

“And you didn't know? We look exactly the fucking same!”

“I wasn't sure—“

“How long have you had this case?” she asked.

“That's not fair, Eli. I can't tell you about every single one of my cases,” James argued.

“How long?”

James sighed. “A week.”

Eli bit her lip. “So after I told you how much of an asshole he was, how he abandoned my family, and how he didn't even know that Gabe died, you're still going to defend him?” she asked.

“I don't have a choice in whom I defend, Eli,” James said. “That's just not how it works.”

“You should've told me, James,” Eli said, unable to keep the hurt from her voice.

“I didn't think—“

Eli cut him off abruptly. “That's right, you didn't think! You didn't think about how much this would hurt me or—“

“I didn't do it on purpose, Eli!” James snapped. “I didn't even think anything of the name—do you have any idea how many William Carter's there must be in the world? And I'm sure some of them have red hair. So my first assumption was not that he was your father,” he explained.

“How many are from Baltimore?” she asked quietly.

James sighed. “How was I supposed to read so much into the details when I barely know anything about you?”

Eli bit her lip—that one was a low blow. Albeit, one she should have seen coming. But she didn't think that James would have been the type to throw it back in her face.

“I'm sorry,” James said quietly. “That. That was uncalled for.”

Eli shrugged. “But a good argument,” she muttered.

“I don't want to argue though,” James said, crossing the room to take her hands in his.

“I know,” Eli said, struggling to keep her voice from shaking. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes but she refused to let them fall. “What else is speculated about the case?” she asked.

James sighed. “Eli, I can't tell you that.”

“He's my father—I think I have a right to know. If he did it to this woman, how do I know he didn't do it to my mom?”

“Eli, it's confidential,” James said softly. “I wish I could tell you, I do. But I can't,” he told her with a sigh. “Besides, it's not something you want to know anyway.”

“Are you going to drop the case?”

James shook his head. “I can't do that, Eli.”

“Then pass it off to someone else at the firm!” Eli said, ripping her hands away from his.

“I can't do that either.”

Eli sighed. “James, I have never asked you to do anything for me. Ever. Please give the case to someone else,” she said, her voice soft and pleading.

“I can't,” James said. “I wish I—“

“Then do it!” Eli yelled.

“I can't!”

Eli sighed, her thumb and forefinger pinching the bridge of her nose. “Then I guess that's all there is to it.”

“Eli—“

She just shook her head, holding up a hand to cut him off before he could say anything else. She didn't have anything to say—there was nothing left in her opinion. She just sent the folder with her father's name on it a look before she walked out of his office. She ignored the looks that Lily and the other people in the office sent her while she wiped the tears off of her cheeks.

Truth be told, she didn't remember the walk out of the building. She didn't even remember walking all the way back to her apartment. The only thing she remembered was that when she shut the door behind her, her phone was in her hand, and she dialed Alex's number without even thinking about it.

“Alex?” she asked through her tears, her voice choking.

”Eli? What's wrong?”

“I just had to talk to you,” she said quietly.

Alex paused for a minute but she could've sworn she heard him smile. ”I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.”