Unexpected

Chapter 19

The dates we'd been both dreading and anxiously awaiting (if only to have it over with) finally arrived: the last Tuesday and Wednesday in July. Nebraska, like many states, administered the Uniform Bar Exam. The first day was the written portion of the text, with six 30 minute questions in the morning and two 90 minute questions in the afternoon. The second day was all multiple choice, with 100 questions to answer in the morning and 100 questions to answer in the afternoon. I honestly had been dreading both days equally -- obviously it would be difficult writing and answering the essay questions, but at least you could get partial credit for those if you were slightly off; with the multiple choice, you were either right or wrong, no bonus points for a close answer.

After the first mind-numbing day, Maggie and I stopped and got fast food on the way home, and discussed the questions and what we wrote about while we ate and watched some mindless television. We both went to bed at 9:30, both exhausted from the day and wanting to get plenty of rest for the next day of testing.

"We are done, done, done!!!!" Maggie crowed as we walked out of the student union where we'd taken the test.

"Best. Day. Ever!"

"No, the absolute best day ever will be when we get our results and find out we passed!" Maggie said.

"Fingers crossed," I cautioned.

"Fingers crossed," she agreed, "with an extra knock on wood thrown in for good measure."

We drove directly from the test to one of our favorite hangouts in law school, a super casual and small bar called The Bar (named that long before 'Gone Girl' was even a book, let alone a movie), where we'd all agreed to meet. Hanging out at a place called The Bar was often confusing, as when someone said they were at the bar, you just assumed they were just being unspecific. Due to this, we'd taken to calling it 'The Bar the bar' to ensure people knew which bar we were talking about. The owners of The Bar also owned a more centrally located bar in Lincoln called Downtown, which led to the same issues ("where are you?" "Downtown." "But where downtown?" "No, I'm at THE Downtown!"). Clearly they were out to make all of our lives more difficult.

"Charlie, Maggie, get your asses over here -- shots!" Our friend Kim yelled at us from the bar (the bar in 'The Bar the bar') the minute we'd walked in. We grabbed our shot glasses, neither of us even bothering to ask what they were before downing them with Kim and several other girls we'd graduated with that had also just taken the bar.

"Oof, Jaeger," I complained, sticking out my tongue. "Let's do another, but how about something a little tastier this time, say girl scout cookies?"

"Yes!" Maggie agreed and leaned over the bar to put our order in with the bartender, who was practically a close personal friend after all the time we'd spent there in our three years of law school. As it was four in the afternoon on a Wednesday, we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

The girl scout cookie shots went down much easier and we ordered some beers, chatting with our friends and friends of friends. I felt some curious looks from people I didn't know, that had clearly heard about me, but I refused to let it phase me or put a damper on the good time I was having. Adam was there as well but was still sober enough for me to talk to, although I always made sure to do so in a crowd, just in case. He'd surprised me once recently, I wasn't about to let it happen again. About an hour into our celebration, Maggie took out her phone and looked at it, smiling.

"Jack here?" I asked, guessing the reason for her smile.

"Yeah, I guess he just went right into the beer garden instead of coming inside. Wanna come out with me, it's a gorgeous day and it feels wrong to be trapped indoors when we could be out in the fresh air?"

"Sure, that sounds good."

"Ah, there's something about being day drunk, it really is the best," I said as we walked outside. I took off the cardigan I'd been wearing during the test as it'd been fairly cold in the student union where we'd taken the test and tied it around my waist, happy to be out in the warm sunshine.

I saw Jack sitting at one of the patio tables out in the beer garden. There was another guy at his table, wearing a dark baseball cap, with his back to us. Trust Jack to make insta-friends with one of the other boyfriends or husbands, he was such a social and easy-going guy that people just gravitated to him.

It was super sweet for him to come all this way, during the week, to celebrate with Maggie (and likely help take care of her -- and possibly me, for that matter -- when she, and I, inevitably drank way too much). From talking to my other friends, I knew most people's significant others would be down at some point to join us as well, which made me a little envious that I didn't have anyone special to mark this huge occasion with. Trying to shake that feeling off, I reminded myself that I was surrounded by friends and on this day above all others, nothing should be getting me down.

Jack saw Maggie and stood up, waving at her with a huge smile on his face. His smile slipped somewhat when he glanced quickly at the other person at his table, but returned to full force when he saw me by Maggie's side.

Before Jack could come and join us, the other person at the table rose. As he started to turn, I felt a momentary flash of recognition -- those broad shoulders and narrow waist were engraved on my memory. But that didn't make sense, it couldn't be...

It was Alex. Here. In Lincoln, Nebraska. At 'The Bar the bar.'
Prince.
Alexander.

I stood rooted in place, staring at him. As Alex removed his hat, smoothing his hair nervously as he looked at me, I heard a hush go over the entire beer garden as everyone realized who it was. As they were all friends or friends of my classmates, even people that wouldn't have recognized Prince Alexander a couple of months ago knew exactly who he was now.

I looked over at Maggie and could tell from her similarly shocked expression that she had no part in coordinating his appearance there. After that, I quit thinking. I quit thinking and just followed my heart.

I ran full force across the beer garden and threw myself into his arms, wrapping my arms around his neck as I kissed him.

A cheer went up from my former classmates out celebrating that day. When we finally ended our kiss, Alex wrapped his arm around my shoulders and said, "next round's on me!" to the crowd, which really won them all over.