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Elle was a genius. Emmett couldn’t believe it. Elle had actually managed to prove that Nikos Argitakos had perjured himself on the stand. Sure, she had figured it out by questionable means, and Emmett assisted her, but she was the one who did it. Presently, Emmett was half leaning, half sitting on Callahan’s desk, with Elle sitting close and equally as excited. Emmett was trying very hard not to stare, but she was failing horribly.
She wasn’t the only one staring, though. Despite being newly engaged, Emmett kept catching Warner’s gaze wandering over in her direction. It wasn’t directed toward Emmett, luckily, but the ball of energy next to her. Emmett couldn’t tell if the looks were out of hate or lust, but she didn’t like the possibilities of either. She was close to suggesting that Elle and she should leave when Professor Callahan announced a toast to Emmett and Elle.
Then, Warner bitched about how Elle’s methods were unconventional, and Callahan sent him out to fetch him some coffee, and Vivian followed him. Emmett couldn’t help but feel a little glad that he did. Usually, he would send out one of his female interns or, on a bad day, Emmett herself, so it was a nice change for him to send out a man who was just as much of a douche as he was.
Emmett wasn’t stupid, she knew that Callahan was a sexist, homophobic asshole. She saw the face that he made when Elle suggested that Nikos was gay. She heard how he treated Enid Hoopes and Elle Woods on their first day. However, Emmett knew that if she stayed on his good side, she could become his first female associate. So she took this one incident as a victory.
After the two lovebirds left, Professor Callahan dismissed the rest of them warmly. Emmett and Elle were the last out.
“Ms. Woods,” Callahan said, “Could I have a word?”
“Of course,” Elle said. She turned to Emmett, “I’ll catch up with you in a second.”
“Okay then,” Emmett said, leaving the room. Enid was still in the hall, grabbing her coat.
“Hey, Emmett!” Enid said, “Nice job today. You and Elle were great!”
“Oh,” Emmett said awkwardly, “Thank you. Hopefully Callahan sees that too.”
Enid nodded. Both women fell silent. Emmett wasn’t really a great conversationalist, and she didn’t know Enid at all. It didn’t help that Enid seemed to throw in backhanded compliments to Elle at almost every interaction.
“Well,” Emmett said, trying to end the conversation abruptly, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Oh, okay!” Enid said, looking relieved, “Goodbye, then.”
Emmett nodded and watched as she rushed out. Emmett grabbed and put on her jacket again. She stepped outside to wait for Elle.
She was so proud of Elle. She had come so far from the girl who got thrown out of class every day. Emmett couldn’t take any credit for it, either. All she had done was show Elle her own abilities, and encouraged her.
Elle seemed to think otherwise. She had bought Emmett an entire new business suit, let Emmett crash in her room when she was too tired to get home, and had made Emmett one of her closest confidants. Emmett could not be more grateful for her. She had never had anyone who she could trust as much as she trusted Elle. Most of the time, women weren’t even comfortable enough to spend time with her in a public space. Emmett had explained this to Elle the first time Elle tried to convince her to stay the night. That had also been the night that Emmett came out to her. Elle told her that those women were being ridiculous, and that it wasn’t a big deal. So Emmett gave in, but insisted that she sleep on the floor.
By the time of the trial, Emmett regularly crashed in Elle’s rooms, sometimes in her bed, and it was never awkward. Elle treated Emmett like she treated anyone else, with immense kindness, and Emmett found herself falling. Hard.
Emmett hadn’t been ready to tell Elle, had never planned to, but after Elle taking Emmett shopping the day before and Elle’s passion during the trial convinced her otherwise. There was a chance, however small it was, that Elle might like her back. Emmett was willing to take that chance.
She took a deep breath to steady herself. She figured that this was the best time possible. Just then, she spotted Elle heading back, and she quickly looked away to calm the fluttering in her chest.
“There she is! Intern of the year!” Emmett said as she looked up. Elle looked bittersweetly emotional, and started to thank Emmett for the hard work she’d done. Emmett thought that it was ridiculous, since Elle had done most of the work herself.
Before Elle continued on with her spiral, Emmett had to tell her just how much she meant to her. So she did.
“Elle, you should know-”
“Callahan hit on me.”
Full stop.
“He what?”
“He kissed me, then fired me, and he made it very clear I don’t belong here.”
“He’s wrong,” Emmett said, not even pausing, desperate to convince her otherwise. She was so close to becoming a successful lawyer. Emmett was sure that, with a little more time and experience, Elle would easily surpass Emmett in skill.
Elle walked past her, trying to get past. Emmett had to stop her. She couldn't just let Elle give up. “Hey, we’ll fix it. We’ll fight it-”
“Emmett, please,” Elle said, brushing her hand briefly on Emmett’s face before grabbing her shoulder, “there’s no reason for me to stay.”
Emmett took a step back, letting Elle return to her room.
How would she convince Elle to stay? She couldn’t just go . Not when she was so close to success. In a few months, Elle would easily surpass Emmett in skill. She walked away, numb, but she didn’t go home. She wandered around campus, not worried about her safety at that time, until she reached the bench where she had first met Elle.
She plopped down, not worrying about her new suit, the suit that Elle gave her. She felt like curling up and sobbing. The unpleasant twisting in her gut was almost unbearable. She felt worse than when she did after her one and only girlfriend dumped her.
Emmett sat in her pity party for a while longer, before she finally came to her senses. What am I doing here? she thought, I could get kidnapped out here.
She stood up and grabbed her bag. The one that Elle had given here. So much of her life had been changed because of Elle. How would she be able to go back to living in such a grey, bland world after she had been invaded with a blast of much-needed pink?
She moved to walk away, until she noticed another woman about a dozen feet away. She looked upset, so Emmett cautiously approached her. As she got closer, she recognized the brown bob. “Vivian?”
Vivian Kensington looked up from her hands. “Emmett? What are you doing here?” She moved over and patted the spot next to her, inviting Emmett to it with her.
“Oh, you know, the usual. Wallowing in self-pity, grieving for something that never happened.”
Vivian looked over, somehow looking understanding despite Emmett’s vague explanation. “Did Elle tell you what happened?”
Hold on. Record scratch. “She told you? No offense.” she added, feeling rude for wording it that way.
“None taken. I haven’t exactly been very nice to her. And no, she didn’t tell me. Warner and I saw through the window. He walked away before she slapped Callahan. I’m sure you can imagine how he reacted.”
“Like a douche?”
“Like a douche.”
Emmett shook her head, “What did you do?”
“I told him off,” Vivian said, “Then we left. And just now I broke off the engagement.”
Emmett was not too surprised by this information. “Good. You’re too good for him anyway.”
“Well, so is Elle.”
“Yeah. Warner was lucky to have her when he did. Breaking up with her was a stupid decision on his part.”
Vivian gave a small smile, “Yeah, but if it weren’t for that, Elle would’ve never gotten as far as she has.”
Emmett sat back, remembering the reason for her mood, “And now she’s going back home.”
“She is?”
“Yeah, said goodbye and everything. I just wish I had told her… Nevermind. It just hurts to think of how hard she’s worked for this.”
Vivian stood up. “We can fix this,” she said.
Emmett rose up to meet her height, “How?” she asked.
“I’ll get Enid, and we’ll convince her to come back to the trial. All we need is to figure out where to find Elle and how to convince Callahan to let her come back.”
Emmett nodded, “She’ll probably say goodbye to Paulette over at The Hair Affair. You and Enid can go there in the morning. I’ll call Paulette and let her know. As for Callahan, I know him. He definitely won’t let Elle work with him. He doesn’t take rejection well.”
“Then what will we do?”
“Leave it to me. Just have someone tell Brooke to fire Callahan.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.”
Vivian gave a curt nod, and walked away with a purpose. Emmett made her way back to her apartment. This time tomorrow, she thought, Elle will be back, I’m sure of it.
For the night, however, Emmett had some research to do.