C'mere (Paul Banks fanfic)

Clarity

13 days in Malibu and Rhi was thinking about Paul again. She was remembering what he had told her regarding the beach when they were discussing his song writing process.

"It's all about stimuli..." He had said, sinking his smiling eyes in hers, as he brushed her arm with the tips of his fingers. She could still feel the fluttering in her chest. She had never wanted anyone in her life more than she had wanted Paul in that moment. She had never wanted ANYTHING as bad. Not her uni degree, not her father's approval, not having the perfect wedding in the Hamptons with her Irish, cherry-lipped prince. Nothing.

"You are stimulant..." She had thought. Visually. Physically. Intelectually. Emotionally. She stared at the ocean, some surfers slid over the water in front of her. She fantasised one of them was him, he walked towards her...

- You are stimulant. - Rhi said out loud.

Valerie cackled next to her. They were sitting on the sand after smoking a joint together.

- Who are you talking to? - She asked, laying down on her back.

- You know. - Rhi whispered, turning to see her, letting her eyelids droop.

- The one you're not marrying. - Valerie guessed.

- Smart girl. - Her sister murmured, laying beside her.

- I don't think either of you is ready to get married. Lee and you. You both are fooling around with other people already. You should talk it through... it's not too late, you know...

Rhi sighed and gazed at the sea again. She nodded.

-

- I am very sorry, Paul. - Lydia said, as she walked into the meeting room where he was waiting for her.

- What happened? - He asked, alarmed.

- I could not get a hold of Rhiannon. - She retorted, sitting down.

- Oh, it's fine... - He made a gesture to show it really was fine. His face told otherwise.

- We still have a week. I'll keep trying. - She promised.

- You don't have to...

- But I do.

- I trust you to win the case, okay?

Lydia smiled wide.

- Thanks so much. But... you and I both know that's beside the point.

He opened his mouth to speak, but decided to stay quiet instead.

-

Rhi told nobody she was coming back to New York 4 days before the last hearing of her case with The Client. She asked Valerie not to tell their mum, let alone Lee. She especially didn't want Lydia to find out. She had got a weird e-mail from her. She hadn't turned on her phone from the moment she landed in Los Angeles, so it went crazy when she did, as soon as she was in JFK.

"The client misses you like hell. And so do I. Hope you can make it back soon.

Ly".

She seemed cryptically well-informed.

Lee, on the other hand... seemed to have re-discovered his deep feelings towards her. Daily messages reminding her he loved and missed her. Asking when she was coming back at first and if she was coming back at all later. His tone was more desperate every day. Rhi turned off the phone again.

She went straight to her flat and ordered Chinese. She had to speak with Lee. A long, honest talk was very needed between them. She also needed to be at the final hearing with Paul. She felt she owed him that much.

She had decided she would not let her carnal instinct hamper the perfect life she had traced for herself all these past years. She would finish his case and never see him again. And that was final.

-

Paul was thinking about Lisbon three days before the final hearing for the case against Aiden. He was in fact sitting on a bench near Strawberry Fields in Central Park in the chilly November wind, but he could picture himself riding the perfect turquoise Portuguese waves. He thought about the lime tree in his garden, the one to which his favourite hammock was tied. He remembered the green leaves filtering the blue light of the sky. He was definitely going to his beach house as soon as his legal problems let him.

Legal problems, he repeated in his mind. "If Aiden weren't a cock, I wouldn't have met her. He fucked me up more than he probably hoped to." An ironical smile swept across his mouth. One which immediately changed to a strange expression. Was he dreaming now?

A beautiful, slim, tall woman in running gear had stopped around 100 metres from him. It was her stare what had drawn his attention, but now that their eyes had met, she was looking away, decidedly. Was it really her? It couldn't be. Rhiannon's amber locks were long and this woman had very short hair, besides, she was in California, for all he knew. But those eyes. She scratched the side of her head. It definitely was her...

He didn't know what to do, she made a gesture as if to start running away, but she immediately stopped. She seemed angry. She started walking towards him again, very quickly. He shifted his weight on the bench. She stared right at him as she approached, cheeks all red, mouth all pouty. Dear God, she was more attractive than he remembered.

-

She could not believe it. She had decided to go running for a while to stop thinking about him and here he was. Sitting right in front of her, exactly on the bench she had been planning on stopping at to rest. He looked tired and sad. She wondered how she looked. She had cut her own hair last night. She didn't like the person who stared back at her in the mirror, so she had decided to make a little change. There was plenty of time to grow it back for the wedding. This was the first time she didn't spend $50 to get a haircut and she was very satisfied about the results. She couldn't recognise herself. But he had recognised her, they had this annoyingly ethereal connection.

"Oh dear, I'm starting to sound like my sister" She thought as she stopped right in front of him.

- Hi Paul. - She muttered.