Unexpected

Chapter 6

Thankfully, the waiter chose that moment to return with our drinks, which afforded me a chance to pull my foot out of my mouth by changing the subject entirely.

"So what do you do? For a living, I mean?" I asked, taking a big drink of fruity alcohol goodness. It even had a pineapple garnish, I was in heaven.

"I'm still in school at the moment, I'm studying history at Cambridge."

"A history major, I'm even more embarrassed about that whole Regency thing. How old are you?" I asked curiously. Shit, what if he was 18 or something? Please be my age, please be my age, please...

"I'm 23. If you're wondering why I'm still in school, I took a gap year, traveled a bit." Thank God, one year younger than me was totally fine.

"That sounds amazing, the traveling. Where did you go? I've only been to Mexico once on spring break in college and now here, of course."

"Africa, primarily. Although we did travel around Europe as well." He was clearly loaded. I should have realized that immediately, only someone who was (or whose parents were, which was much more likely in Alex's case as he was still in college) independently wealthy would come to a place like this by himself. I mean, I could imagine coming here for your honeymoon, or anniversary, or something special but just for a little getaway, especially all alone? Yeah, not so much.

"...old are you then? Are you still in school as well?" he asked, snapping me out of my internal monologue. I hoped he hadn’t asked any additional questions that I missed.

"I’m 24. I just graduated from law school, actually, and am taking the bar exam at the end of the summer. You have to pass a state bar to be licensed to practice law in the U.S., your law school degree alone isn’t enough,” I explained, figuring he didn’t know as most Americans didn't. “I start classes that will help me prepare for the test in a couple weeks."

"A barrister, interesting. And what kind of law are you going to practice?" I could tell he was impressed, people typically were when I told them I was going to be an attorney. The thing is, just about anybody could do law school, if they were willing to put the time and effort into studying. It's not like med school or anything, it's infinitely doable for the average person. Most people, however, are smart enough to know that law school is a terrible, terrible idea.

"I'm not. Going to practice, that is. I'm just taking the bar because everyone said I should go ahead and do it because if I wait, I’ll never want to do it later. After I hopefully pass it, I’m planning to move to Washington, D.C. I'd like to work for a senator or representative on the Hill. I interned for a U.S. Senator while I was in college and everyone that had a job I would have wanted was an attorney, so law school seemed like the smart choice."

“Sounds very ‘West Wing.’ Or is that an incredibly dated reference? We’re often quite behind on our U.S. programs and I’m still catching episodes I haven’t seen on reruns.”

I laughed. “It is older but I still love that show -- I own the series and re-watch it constantly. But I don't know about working for the President, that's a whole other level of commitment, although I suppose it's just for eight years at most. I could also see myself working for some sort of non-profit, something I was super passionate about. I know it sounds corny and cliched, but I’d really love to do something that would make a difference. What about you, what do you plan to do when you graduate, that is, if you ever do actually plan to graduate?” I teased.

“Ha bloody ha. We all can't be scholars like you, Charlie,” he teased back. "I'm not sure, really. Hearing all your ideas and plans has really confirmed to me what a tremendous slouch I am in regards to the whole figuring out where I’m going with my life.”