Pray For Me

“Did you read about that on WebMD?” Grace asked, sitting up in her seat to examine her friend. “You wouldn’t believe the number of people I treat on a daily basis who’ve misdiagnosed themselves with WebMD.” She reached over, pulling them closer. 

Percy scoffed in response to her question. "I would never do something that ridiculous.” He was the type that would go a week in denial that he had a hernia. There was something about doctors that made him avoid them. “What’s your diagnosis? So I tell my sister that a doctor agree that I don’t have fibrodysplasia or some kind of cancer before she talks to our parents”

She smiled, nodding her head. He seemed distracted. “Yeah,” she replied, raising her voice slightly. “I can make it stronger, too.” She’d learned a trick from a coworker. If a customer complains about the strength of their drink, she’d put a few drops of the liquor into their straw. It worked every time. “I can give you a minute,” she said, growing impatient but hiding it well. 

"No, it’s fine. I’ll get one of those and a whiskey ginger,” he ordered giving her his full attention for the first time that night. Figuring that was close enough to trying something new. “Long day?” She seemed nice enough so he figured there was no harm in asking.

James’ eyebrow arched, and the softest chuckle fell from between his lips. “Maybe because it has nothing to do with insurance fraud? Come on, man, did you even read the file?” The boy gestured to the folders on the coffee table. He’d called Percy for help on the current cases he was working on, and he was glad that, even after years of finishing college, the two were still as close as they were in Harvard. It was true that to some it seemed like they were mostly annoyed with each other, especially when the other would share stories of days past, but Percy was, and has always been a good friend to James. “It’s a libel case. Don’t know why she has me handling this one when she knows I majored in commercial law, but here we are.”

"Yes I read it. I was testing you,” Percy immediately replied, figuring he must have gotten the cases mixed up. “You’d be surprised how often Matthew’s old paralegal would gather completely unrelated research before we fired him.” Of course the main difference was that he respected James whereas he only knew the old paralegal’s name because Matthew yelled it so much. It did help James’s case that they went through a lot together in college. “She’s probably evaluating how you handle the case. So where’s your problem?”  

moving in [ @percvs ]

Gianna flopped down onto her bed, sending the pile of pillows scattering across the mattress. It had taken her hours but she had finally unpacked her room and set it up the way she wanted it, and it mildly resembled the room she had at her mother’s place in Paris. She had rolled out a large black rug, decorating the rest of the room in white with twinkling lights lining the space where the wall met the ceiling. It was perfect. It felt like a little piece of France, and it made her feel a little bit less homesick.

She rolled off the bed, straightening the pillows before sliding into a pair of black slippers. The brunette made her way into the living room, glancing around the open space before finding her roommate lounging. “Ciao.” She smiled, sliding into one of the chairs. “Thank you again for letting me stay here.” Gianna brushed a lock of hair out of her face, tucking her legs under her. “So this whole, ‘fake fiancé’ thing. How long are we supposed to play it?”

Percy was grateful for the day off. After seeing his roommate struggle in the hallway with her things the first day, he wanted to be available in case she needed help. To keep himself busy he compiled a list of things that needed to be taken care of for the week. The list ranged from cleaning to getting an oil change - all of which he felt he had neglected for too long.

He managed to clean the kitchen, meal prep, and give her sister wedding advice without laughing at the situation before 1PM. To reward himself for his efforts, he got comfortable on the couch. “Ciao,” he repeated when he saw the brunette step out. “Yeah, no problem. Are you getting settled in okay?” Percy still couldn’t believe his luck that he took care of his roommate problem and got his mother off his back with the help of one person who he didn’t have any problems with. “Well we’ll need to get brunch with my parents once they fly in so they don’t think you’re fictitious. Until then we should get our story straight - how we met, when we got together, and we should know more about each other than our names.” 

Cricket winced, shifting his weight from his right leg to his left. He’d been at the batting cages for nearly five hours and was definitely pushing his luck. If his physical therapist knew he was exercising without his knee brace, she’d bludgeon him with her yoga ball. He couldn’t resist, though. Those first thirty minutes, playing like he used to, before his bad knee started throbbing were bliss. “You want to take a swing?” he asked, dropping his wooden baseball bat onto the pavement to scoop up his half empty water bottle. 

"Try something new, they said. It’ll be fun, they said,” Percy muttered under his breath. As he looked around him, he reminded himself why he was there - to expand his horizons. The more he reminded himself, the more he contemplated leaving and shifted the bat awkwardly between his hands. “Sure,” Percy replied before he could change his mind for the thirtieth time. “Are you okay?” 

Truthfully Percy was both relieved and concerned to see the one person he got close to at Harvard move into the same apartment as him. While he knew James had some questionable stories about him, Percy genuinely wanted to help him with the case. So, naturally, he found himself sitting on James’s couch with his notes in his lap. “I’m here to pass on my wisdom, but I think it might be wasted on this case. Remind me how it’s different from any other insurance fraud case?”

“What’ll it be?” she asked, resting her forearms on the bar in front of the stranger. Paige’s patience was wearing thin, especially after another customer spilled their drink. Still, she tried to remain polite. “We have a few new drinks on the menu,” she rambled, waiting for their order. “I really like that one.” She reached over, pointing at one of the drinks on the list.

Percy had a lot on his mind from a busy day at work that he didn’t even notice the woman in front of him. He tuned in for probably the last five seconds and he quickly pieced together what she was asking. “Is it strong?” He asked although he knew full well he’d more than likely end up ordering his usual whiskey ginger

“oh pour l'amour de Dieu.” Gianna muttered under her breath, trying to balance the various suitcases outside her apartment. She had landed just an hour earlier, and New York was already proving to be incredibly difficult to navigate through. She glanced up and down the hallway, breathing a sigh of relief when she spotted another person in the hall. “Excusez-moi.” She called, straightening up. “Could you help me, please? I cannot get into my room, and I keep dropping all my bags.”

“For the last time, Kim, when I said ‘I need you to tell me everything’ I meant everything about the case. I don’t care that you switched cat litter today. Call me when you have something relevant. Goodbye.” Without a second thought or waiting to hear what else she wanted to say, he ended the call. “This is why I stopped taking pro bono cases.,” he groaned as he turned the corner.