Asshat

I got a phone call today from Asshat ... he's read my brief, and wants an extension for his reply. Well that's no big deal; what kills me, though, is just my curiosity about what he must think about me, especially today since he's just read that brief, and what kinds of things he's thinking and feeling that he doesn't say, but that I swear I just know are there ... I mean, have you ever talked to someone over the phone or whatever and you just KNOW that they're thinking about something, probably the same thing you are (b/c well you're already thinking about what they must be thinking about, so if you're right about it then of course you're both thinking about the same thing ... and I guess if you're wrong then, well, then there's probably no point to this post ...) and it's just curious that the conversation nevertheless is so incredibly polite? So fakely polite? Maybe you have to have been around the person enough already that you sort of just detect, with your gut feeling, that their tone of voice is too practiced, too acted ... too different from what it is when they're letting their guard down a bit. Anyway, that's how I felt with this guy, I could tell it was just killing him to be polite to me over the phone; see ever since that trial, and God ESPECIALLY now that I've written that brief that uses as several of its grounds things that weren't properly preserved and things that weren't properly argued and things where he just has totally misinterpreted the law (like in an obvious way) ... anyway, see ever since then I know, I just KNOW, that he hates me. And I think it's partly just his personality; he's the alpha dog, doesn't like to be shown up, which is an unfortunate characteristic to have combined with a certain degree of ineptitude in general (see, they screw up but just refuse to see that they have, and are so self-righteous and adamant in their arguments after the fact, bless their poor souls), and I don't think he likes to be shown up by me in particular - prior to trial he used to act super friendly towards me, but like he was taking me into his confidence and talking down to me, like he expected I was someone he could manipulate or something, someone he didn't have to worry about as far as being a competent adversary in court ... and also, frankly, as part of that way that he used to talk to me back then, when I think he was just thinking he was playing his game and taking care of the competetion, he also used to flirt with me; subtlely, but definitely flirting (he's about 8 years, maybe not quite that much, ok maybe 6 years, older than I am, and single) ... and now, with all of those combined circumstances and emotions etc., it's like when I talk to him there's this sense of animosity ... God you really would've have to have seen him in trial almost to get the picture I'm trying to paint with words here, his demeanor changed over the course of that trial, and man but he took it all personally, and got pissed at times ... I want to say it's an undercurrent of passion, except this passion isn't lust or what have you, it's something entirely different (though perhaps somewhat inspired by all sorts of different other emotions perhaps somewhat related to lust, at least partially, at least in the beginning anyway, when all this started with this case a couple years ago), anyway, yeah it's just an undercurrent, but I don't know - it's too strong; it's too detectable; it's visceral, I could sense it like it was hitting all my senses - vision, hearing, everything, I could just sense it so clearly: this guy HATES me ... and I find that intriguing.