Law School Graduates

Rosie flung the book she was trying to read at the wall. She was three days and one very important exam away from getting her Law Degree. She couldn’t concentrate, her mind was filled with (at the moment) lots of useless information and she needed to take a break to clear her head and to get her back in the mood to study again. She picked up the phone and called Rhian, her best friend and the one person who had kept her going all through Uni. If she actually got her degree it would be all down to her. “Hello” said Rhian.

“Hey girl” replied Rosie . “I really need to get out of here, these books are doing my head in. You wanna go out and have some fun?”
“Sure, give me an hour and I’ll come pick you up, ok hun?” Replied Rhian then hung up. Rosie had just finished putting her makeup on when there was a knock at her door. She picked up her bag and jacket and opening the door said “hello” to Rhian then they left.

They headed for their favourite club and after checking their jackets in headed for the bar and ordered their drinks. “So, whats bugging you hun?” asked Rhian. Rosie looked at her funny and said “nothing, what makes you think theres something bugging me?” Rhian laughed before saying “Rosie, I’ve known you for nearly six years, I know when something’s wrong with you!” Rosie smiled, she never could keep anything from Rhian.

Looking around the club she said “This is whats wrong, everyones so happy getting on with their lives, I’ve been stuck with my head in a pile of books for the last 5 years. I’ve missed out on so much, I mean I haven’t even been on a date since I started Uni, I swear I’ve forgotten what it’s like to do anything normal.” she sighed. Rhian laughed as she paid the barman for their drinks and handed Rosie her one. “Come on, it’s not as bad as that surely, I mean we come here quite often.” she replied.

“Yeah, but I always leave alone and go back to a room full of books! Grimaced Rosie.
Rhian tried not to laugh at the look on her friends expression. “Okay, our target tonight is for you to leave with a hot guy and get rid of some of this frustration inside of you. And I just found the perfect guy for you.” she said pointing over to the door where two guys had just walked in. Rosie turned to look in the direction Rhian was pointing and almost choked on her drink.

“Bloody hell girl, what makes you think someone that damn sexy is gonna want to go out with me?” spluttered Rosie. “You never said anything about going out with the guy, you said you always leave alone and go back to an empty room full of books!” laughed Rhian. “Come on, lets go over” she said pulling Rosie by the arm.
Rosie stopped her and said “Rhian babe, I know I’ve had my head in the books for the last 5 years, but even I know that those two guys are one ½ of the biggest group around at the moment. There’s no way they are going to even look in our direction, let alone go home with us.”

“Well” replied Rhian. “We’ll soon see won’t we, they’re heading our way, look.” Rosie looked up and saw that they were indeed walking towards them. “Hi girls, we saw you two standing there all alone and looking very sexy and decided that that was wrong, so we came to ask if you would like another drink?” “I’m Carlos, by the way and this ugly mug next to me is Seb!”

Rhian answered for both of them as Rosie seemed to have gone speechless! “I’m Rhian and this is Rosie, my best friend who was just complaining that she hasn’t been….” Rosie hits her arm to shut her up and say’s “We’d love a drink, thanks. Oh and I don’t think you’re ugly at all.” she smiles looking at Seb. Carlos got the drinks in and they spent a great night together, talking, drinking and dancing. They seemed to have paired of as Carlos and Rhian and Rosie and Seb. As the end of the night approached Rhian and Carlos disappeared leaving Rosie and Seb alone.

Seb leaned in close to Rosie and whispered in her ear “Do you want to come back to mine for some coffee?” then winked at her. Rosie thought about it for about a second before nodding her head. They got their jackets and hailing a cab headed back to Seb's flat.
In the cab he took Rosie's hand and turning her face to his said “I’ve had a really great night and I’ve wanted to do this since the beginning of the night.” Then he leaned in towards her and kissed her on the lips, gently at first, then harder as she brought her arms up and put them round his neck and ran her fingers through his hair. When she pulled away, she leant back against him and he put his arms round her holding her close.

Seb kissed the top of her head and then said “What was Rhian going to say earlier when you hit her to stop her?” Rosie turned her head to look at him and saw that he was grinning. “I was just complaining about how many times in the last 5 years I’ve been out with her and ended up going home to an empty room full of books!” she laughed.
“And exactly how many times has it been?” grinned Seb. “Too many bloody times, I swear I can count the number of times it’s been me and a guy in the room on one hand!” said Rosie leaning further into his chest.

Seb

I smiled when she said that, it was a situation all to familiar to me at the moment. Being part of IL Divo hadn’t helped either, I never knew if the girls were serious about me or just wanting a quick fling with someone famous. I hadn’t wanted to come out tonight, but Carlos had forced me to, said I was never going to get myself a girl if I stayed shut away all the time. I must thank him tomorrow! I glanced down at Rosie, she was really beautiful, blue eyes, dark blonde hair with bits of red streaked through it.

I kissed her on the top of her hair and she ran a hand up my leg reaching the thigh and started stroking it. God, I don’t think I’ve ever been in such a slow taxi, I’m not going to cope if she does that much longer and I know it wouldn’t be a good idea to get caught by the press having sex in the back of the cab. The press would have a field day with it, I can just imagine the headlines now! And Simon and Steve would be seriously pissed at him. Just then the taxi pulled to a stop outside a block of flats. Seb sighed with relief as she sat up and he paid the driver then they went inside. Rosie looked around her, then glancing at Seb said “Wow, this place is lovely, did you decorate it all by yourself?”

“Yes, anyway I don’t want to talk about decorating, come here.” he replied pulling her into his arms and kissing her deeply his hands all over her body. Her hands were untying the buttons on his shirt and pulled it of to reveal a very toned chest. Seb moaned softly then pulling away took her hand and led her upstairs to his bedroom shutting the door behind them.

*In The Morning*

Seb woke up and stretched slowly, then smiled as he remembered last night, he turned to look at Rosie and discovered he was alone. He frowned and getting up he checked the bathroom, empty. He looked in all the rooms then made his way through to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. He looked at the kettle which had a note propped up against it with his name on it, picking it up he opened it and read what it said.

Seb,
Thanks for a great night, and not a book in sight! I really had a wicked time.
I’m sorry I didn’t wake you when I left, but you looked so peaceful that I
Couldn’t do it. Once again thank you for a wonderful night.

Rosie x

Turning it over he saw that she hadn’t left a phone number or an address were he could find her. He picked up his phone to ring Carlos, he could get her number from Rhian for him. He answered by saying “ What do you bloody want at this time of the morning?!” Seb smiled to himself then said “Whats up mate, things not go to well with Rhian last night?” There was silence at the other end of the phone then Carlos replied “Things went fine last night, thank you, but I woke up this morning to discover she’d cleared off, all she left was a note with no number or nothing.”

“Zute” said Seb loudly. “Geez man, do you have to be so loud, what’s up?” groaned Carlos. “Rosie did the same thing, I was hoping you would get her number for me of Rhian.” “Sorry man, she ain’t here and I don’t know how to find her either.” he said. Seb sighed then said “Okay man, see you at the offices later yeah.” The last thing he wanted to do was go and sit through another boring meeting about something that they had no control over anyway.


Carlos

I don’t know what happened, Rhian and I were having so much fun last night and I thought we had hit it off really well, I don’t usually connect to people in the way we did. We came back to mine and spent the night doing, well you know! And then I woke up this morning to find a note on the pillow next to me simply saying. THANK YOU! RHIAN. I couldn’t believe it, I’m Carlos Marin from IL Divo. Girls don’t usually walk out on me.

Then my phone rang and for some reason I thought it might be her, so when I picked it up and saw Seb on the screen I snapped at him. Turns out though that Rosie had done the same thing to him, and he wasn’t taking it any better than I was. Then he reminded me that we had a meeting this afternoon. I was so not in the mood to sit through another lecture which it would no doubt turn into. I hung up and went for a long shower trying to remember if Rhian had said anything which might tell me where she worked or went to school, but I couldn’t. I sighed to myself getting out of the shower wrapped a towel round my waist and went into the kitchen to make some breakfast.

Rosie was back in her room studying. Her night with Seb was just what she’d needed to clear her head of all thoughts and doubts she’d been having and she was now ready to get stuck in and get her Law degree. She knew she would probably never see him again, on a personal note anyway, and she was alright with this.


Two days later she sat her exam and discovered two weeks later that she’d passed it with flying colours. After her summer holidays she was going to be joining the team at Mason, Crawley and Fitch. Rhian had got placed in the same office, so it was celebrations all around.

Rhian was coming over that night to celebrate, they were just staying in with takeaway and drink and loud music! She arrived about 7.30pm and Rosie and her jumped and screamed for what seemed like ages for them both getting their degrees. While they were eating dinner Rhian said “Do you ever miss him?” Rosie looked at her and said “Who?”

Rhian frowned at her and she looked downwards and said “More than I thought I would, I mean, it was only a couple of weeks ago and when I left I didn’t want him to be able to find me, but now I kinda wish he would try.” Rosie looked up then and said “What about you, why didn’t you leave Carlos a number or anything?”

Rhian looked around the room before answering her. “I’ve heard what he’s like Rosie, he’s a ladies man. I never gave it any thought that he might want to take it any further and I don’t actually think I wanted him to, but now, I’m like you. I wish I could see him again, just once to see what he would say.”

Rosie grinned then “What are we like? We’re meant to be celebrating and we’re sat here nearly crying over lost chances, come on let’s get totally legless.” Rhian jumped up shouting “Too right, we haven’t got really drunk for ages!” Then they spent the rest of the night drinking and getting pissed.


*A Month Later*

Seb and Carlos were having a hard time concentrating on anything and this had got them into trouble with Steve and Simon. It turns out that the album had a track on it which they had spent ages recording and it had gone on sale before anyone realised that they had recorded the version that they hadn’t got permission to do from the original writer. This meant they were in serious breach of copyright and the guy who actually owned the song was suing them.

They were all in Simon's office and he was telling them how they were going to work this. “Ok guys, we know that it was a genuine mistake that the wrong song got recorded, but this is still very serious. Seb and Carlos, I don’t know what’s been up with you two over the last month, but it has to stop here, ok? We have to put on a united front and we can’t have you two walking around with faces that look like they don’t give a **** about anything anymore, you got me?” he said.

Seb and Carlos looked at each other then at Simon, then Seb said “Sorry Simon, I promise to try and look happier when we’re in court.” “Yeah, me too, I’m sorry about the last while. I don’t want to feel this way, but can’t think of how to get myself out of it.” said Carlos.

“Well, that’s a start, now as you know the company lawyers will be taking the case and we’re having a meeting with them tmrw. Mr Mason’s away on business, so it will be Mr Crawley that’s taking our case. He’s bringing a couple of new recruits with him too, straight out of Law school, both passed their exams with flying colours. He say’s they’ve both got brilliant minds and they’ll be vital to the case.” he said. “That’s all for today, just stay out of trouble and I’ll see you all back here tmrw at 9am sharp.”


Carlos and Seb went off together and as they were walking Carlos said to Seb “Did you ever figure out a way we could find Rosie and Rhian again?”

Seb sighed and said “No, they seem to have disappeared. I wish I could see Rosie again though, even just once to ask her why she just upped and left that morning. I really liked her and thought she’d felt the same, we kinda connected you know?” he looked at Carlos and said “You know what I mean?”

Carlos nodded his head and said “Yeah, I do man, more than you think. I know my reputation with the ladies isn’t good, i'm made out to be a ladies man. But I thought we’d got on really well that night and I was hoping to try and make something more serious out of it.”

Seb looked at Carlos, he’d never seen him in this type of mood, he was a lot more deep and intelligent than the press ever made out, but he’d never seen him this cut up over a girl before. He looked really sad, not his usual happy go lucky way. He was going to have to somehow take his mind of Rhian before they appeared in Court tmrw. They’d promised Simon they would try and at least look happy. “Ok man, we gotta think about what we’re gonna do in the courtroom tmrw. I know Simon said that we probably won’t have to say too much because we’ve admitted it was a mistake on our part that the song got recorded, but just in case we do, we have to get our thoughts straight and go over what really happened.”

“You’re right man, lets go get a coffee and we’ll talk about it.” said Carlos.

Rhian was sitting in the sitting room of the flat her and Rosie had moved into together
when the front door slammed and she heard Rosie shouting to find out if she was in.

“Geez girl, what’s all the bloody racket for? I’m only through here.” said Rhian looking worried.
Rosie looked at her and said “You are never going to guess who we are having to defend in court tmrw? I was just in the office and Mr. Crawley gave me the file and told me to take it home and look it over in preparation for tmrw. I almost died of shock when I read it.”

Rhian looked at her funny and said “I know, some group who recorded a song on an album and put it out without getting the original writers permission. What’s the problem?”

Rosie took the first sheet of paper out of the file and handed it to Rhian then waited for the penny to drop. Rhian read the paper and then all of a sudden her face went really pale. “OMG, you mean we have to go in there all professional like and try and get IL Divo of this charge when the last time we saw Seb and Carlos was when we were lying in their beds?” she said faintly. She sat down and looking at Rosie said “Do you think they know that we’ll be at the meeting?!”

“I don’t think so, Mr. Crawley said he’d just told them he was bringing his two new recruits, straight from Law School. He didn’t mention any names.” replied Rosie.

“Hmm, okay we just need to go in there and see if we can talk to them before we start the meeting, so that they aren’t too shocked. $hit, I thought we were never going to see them again and this certainly isn’t the best way to do it.” said Rhian.

“Ok, that’s what we’ll do, now lets go over this file together, see if there’s anything we can do to help get them of this charge.” said Rosie.

The two of them spent the rest of the night going over the file and seeing what they could do to help.


*The Next Morning*

It was 8.50am and the girls were at the Sony Bmg offices and were waiting for Carlos and Seb to turn up so they could let them know they were here before the meeting started. Mr. Crawley was talking to Simon and Steve and David and Urs were already here. 9am came and went and the boys never turned up. Steve got out his mobile and was about to phone them when they walked in the door. “Sorry, slept in and was late for picking Carlos up then.” said Seb before anyone could speak. Then they sat down in the two remaining seats not noticing the girls. Simon stood up and said “Ok, we can start now.” then he sat down again. Mr. Crawley stood up and said “Before we begin I want to introduce my colleagues. They’re both straight out of Law School and have brilliant minds for this type of case. Miss Rhiannon Law and Miss Rosie Hampton.” The girls looked at each other then stood up so everyone could see them.

Seb had just poured himself a glass of water and looked up whilst taking a drink, saw the girls and almost choked on it. Carlos looked round at him funny and said “You all right man?” He nodded and pointed at the girls. Carlos looked round, he hadn’t heard a thing that had just been said. He went very pale when he saw Rosie and Rhian. Simon looked at the two of them and said “What the hell is up with you two? This is supposed to be a serious meeting and you two are acting like bloody children.” Carlos looked at him and said “Sorry Simon, just had a flashback from the past. I’m listening, carry on.”

The girls sat down and Mr. Crawley got on with telling them how him and the girls were going to get them off this charge. They worked on this right through til lunchtime then they split up til the court appearance later that afternoon. They were going to meet up at the court at 3pm. When everyone stood up Seb and Carlos tried to get to Rosie and Rhian before they left, but Simon stopped them to tell them that he wasn’t happy with the way they were acting and that they had better get their acts together before this afternoon. He kept them so long that the girls had gone before they got away.


*In The Courtroom*

All four guys appeared dressed in suits and sat down at their bench with the girls and Mr. Crawley. They couldn’t speak to them though because they seemed to be ignoring them. The case started, there was no jury, just a judge and the two lawyers for each side.

Their lawyer got up and explained that the lads had been having a bad month when they recorded that track and that they knew they’d made a mistake. They had got permission to record it, but they had to make changes to make it their own sound. The version they recorded was the wrong one, the one they hadn’t made any changes to and it was one mistake and not one that they should be expected to be sued for. The defendants had already apologized to the owner of the song. What more did he want? To take away the rights of the song, it was already out in the public, he would just do more damage to himself by doing that.

The judge took time to think over what had been said, then delivered his decision.

The band had made a genuine mistake due to pressures at work and they had apologised for it already. They didn’t deserve to be sued over it, because everyone has bad days or weeks at work. If everyone was to be sued for having a bad day, the court would be full of stupid little cases that took up time that could be given to cases that actually deserve to be heard. The band will not be paying any money to the owner of the song and will not be punished in any way.

After the judge had stood up and left the courtroom the boys stood up and thanked Mr. Crawley for his help and Seb and Carlos ran off after Rhian and Rosie who had disappeared quickly after the end.

“Rosie, Rhian. Please, stop and listen to us. We have been going through hell this past month since you two walked out on us. Why did you do that? We tried to find you, but it seemed like you’d disappeared.” said Seb.

“Yeah, I really thought we had something that night babe.” Carlos said looking deep into Rhian’s eyes. “I was really upset when I woke and found you gone.”

Rosie looked at Seb, his green eyes were dull and it looked like he hadn’t slept well for a while. “I’ve missed you too, I didn’t think I would, but it actually hurt more than I let on and when we found out it was you lot we were defending we almost died. It was our chance to get back what we’d thrown away. A second chance, so to speak.”

“But, we wanted to see your reaction first when you saw us in the meeting. So we would know if you had missed us like we had you. I think you did, by the looks of you two.” said Rhian.

Seb looked at Carlos then said “What does that mean?”

“It means this” said Rosie pulling him in close and kissing him as Rhian did the same with Carlos. “We’re never going to let you two go again.”