Avoiding Commitment (Avoiding #1)(47)

Lexi arched one-eyebrow in disbelief. He actually believed that she was going to go to this party? After the disastrous conversation with Bekah and the embarrassing confrontation with Ramsey, there was no way she ever wanted to hang out with these two again. "Oh, well I'm not going."

Jack opened his mouth to protest, but Bekah got there first. "What do you mean you're not going? You already said that you would go."

"Well no, I never actually said that. Everything was just kind of decided for me," she reminded him. The events of that afternoon had transpired so quickly that Lexi hadn't even had time to decline the party invitation.

"But he assumes you'll be there," Bekah told her.

Lexi wasn't sure why Bekah was trying to get her to go to this thing. She obviously didn't like her, and that was just fine with Lexi. All Lexi really wanted right then was an extra-large New York style pizza, sweatpants, and endless hours of super sappy chick flicks. "Well, he'll just have to get over it. I can't make it."

"What do you have to do?" Jack asked.

"Family."

"Aren't you spending the rest of the week with them?" he continued to probe her.

"Well…yeah."

"Then you can come out for just one night with us," Bekah told her, standing and possessively entwining her fingers with Jack's.

Lexi thought she might vomit at the sight. Her stomach was rolling and she didn't like it. She just needed to get away. She needed to get away right then.

Something was up with Bekah, and Lexi knew it. This girl couldn't be everything she acted like she was. Her emotions were all over the charts. She took every statement as if it were a personal blow against her. And Lexi was just trying to be honest! Well, so maybe she was telling the truth a little too blunt, because this girl got under her skin. But who cares? As soon as she had met Bekah, Lexi knew that this couldn't be the girl that Jack was going to marry. He just could not be with her. The sweet and innocent act that her looks conveyed only went skin deep and Jack could do better. He had dated her after all.

With all these thoughts rolling around in her head, Lexi knew that the best thing for her would be to get away as soon as possible. She didn't want to do anything to sabotage their relationship. If Jack had wanted Lexi, then he would have called her sometime in the past year and a half. But he hadn't. And Lexi had to deal with that fact. She had to deal with knowing that he hadn't chosen her. He didn't want her.

It hurt. Damn, did it hurt! But she wouldn't do anything to change it.

But the other side – the less logical side – kept wondering why, if Jack did want Bekah, did he almost kiss Lexi last night? Why did he come home a day early from his trip to see her, and not tell Bekah about it?

That was the side that agreed to go to Ramsey's party. The side that wanted to know if Jack still cared about her, the way that she cared about him. If perhaps, Bekah was just the next best alternative as he had described her to be.

* * *

K.A. Linde

Ebb and Flow

This love has taken its toll on me

She said goodbye too many times before

And her heart is breaking in front of me

I have no choice cause I won't say goodbye anymore

-Maroon 5 "This Love"

* * *

Chapter 8: May Three Years Earlier

Lexi stared wistfully out the backseat window across the changing terrain. The rolling hills had eased into a flat expanse anticipating the coming ocean front. She could almost smell the distinct scent of salt mingled in the air. Decrepit signs, interspersed amongst the neon bulbs flashing from the street side, caught her eyes only briefly before locking with the next tethered old business vying to compete with the beach environment only twenty minutes away. Palm trees had started springing up about forty-five minutes back, and Lexi's desire to be beach-side, sprawled out with the sand between her toes, had grown exponentially since then.

"Babe, chill out. You're doing that thing with your hair again," Clark said snatching her hand from her face and clutching it tightly in his.

Startled out of her focused gazing, her mouth popped open and she glanced into Clark's soothing green eyes. He had on a green intramural soccer shirt which only intensified the shade she had only ever seen on him. She quickly closed her mouth and smiled back into his charming face. "Sorry," Lexi said biting her bottom lip and suggestively raising her eyebrows at him feeling the all too familiar desire to kiss him creep through her.

He traced the palm of her hand with his thumb and gave it an affectionate squeeze. "We'll be there soon. I know you're anxious."

Lexi giggled looking at him coyly across her shoulder. "Oh yes, I'm very…anxious."

He smiled warmly back at her, but was interrupted from responding by Seth. "None of that lovey-dovey shit back there. We're not even putting you two in the same room. The walls are too thin for all that," Seth said laughing as both their faces turned to pouts. Lexi's distinctly more-so.

"Whatever Seth," Lexi said leaning forward across the center of the seat. She ignored Luke seated in the passenger seat ogling her cle**age bulging out of her tiny halter top, and ruffled Seth's hair. "You can't honestly expect us to stay off of each other."

"I'm not expecting it. No. But you can do that shit during the day. There isn't enough space at night for you two to be in the same room." Lexi leaned forward farther giving Seth a decidedly better view of her rack. "And," he responded taking in the full view of her, "if you think that," he indicated towards her br**sts, "is going to change anything, you're wrong." Despite his comment, she could tell his breathing was getting shallow. Men!