Avoiding Responsibility (Avoiding #2)(115)

Lexi shrugged helplessly. "I didn't know you'd have…company."

"Assume away," he said waving a dismissive hand.

"Anyway, lunch?" she asked a bright smile crossing her face.

He sighed staring down at the stack of papers on his desk. "If I keep having lunch with you people are going to think you've put me in the friend zone," he murmured practically quoting a line out of Just Friends.

"You are in the friend zone," she said with a giggle. "You have been for a couple weeks and it's seemed to work out just fine. Anyway everyone knows that I'm living with Ramsey. You're the only one who seems not to care about that."

"I'm not the only one," he murmured. "Just the only one who will admit it." He glanced back up at her flirtatiously a smirk appearing on his lips.

Lexi shrugged again nonchalantly as if she had been through this conversation before…and she had. "Doesn't matter that you admit it. I'm still with Ramsey," she said certainly.

He set the papers aside, leaned back in his administrative chair, and stared at her. "And where is your man today?" he asked.

"He's working," she told him with a faint sigh at the end.

"Ahh," he murmured, "Too busy to take his girlfriend to lunch?"

"Stop goading me Brandon. He's not used to anyone being around. We had a long distance relationship for quite some time, and he can't just quit his job to have lunch with me every day. Since you work a 9to5, you have no trouble in being constantly available especially since you don't have a girlfriend."

"I would if you would let me take someone else to lunch," he spat back playfully.

"You know there's nowhere else you'd rather be," she said. "So come on. I want sushi today and it's your turn to pay."

"Fine," he grumbled only half frustrated by the situation.

The two had managed to develop quite a friendship just as Lexi had predicted that night out on Ramsey's balcony. Brandon, of course, never failed to shamelessly flirt and throw himself at Lexi, but she easily deflected his advances. They had an easy banter, and found that they had more in common than originally anticipated. When they both let their guards down, they found that they really enjoyed each other's company. He wasn't exactly a substitute for Chyna, for no one could really replace her best friend, but he was a nice change in the mean time.

Ramsey didn't approve of the relationship as he had made clear time and time again. But with Ramsey's continual absence, Lexi had to find a way to kill time outside of her job. He wasn't always around when she was at home, but the time they spent together was cherished by both. Lexi was certain that the decision to move in with him had been an accurate one at this point. Even though he was so busy, it was better to have the couple hours a week together then to have the distance to separate them.

Lexi paused in the doorway as her cell phone jingled in her purse. "Sorry," she mumbled fumbling with the latch on her purse. "Mom, hey, it's not the best time. I'm about to go to lunch," Lexi spoke quickly into her phone. The sobbing that penetrated through the receiver stopped Lexi in her tracks. "Mom, are you alright? Is everything alright? What happened? Calm down. Calm down. Tell me what happened," Lexi spoke urgently her heart beating out of her chest with fear. Panic gripped her and she latched onto Brandon as he approached. Upon seeing her stricken face, he ushered her back into his office.

"It's your father," her mother gasped through her tears.

"Dad?" Lexi moaned in terror. "What happened to dad?" Brandon rested his arm around her shoulder for support as her body seemed to be collapsing under the weight of the impending news.

"Honey, he had a heart attack," she cried out. She hiccupped a couple times into the phone a sure sign, Lexi knew, of an onset of hyperventilation.

Lexi felt a tear run down her cheek and then another one followed. She couldn't stop them from tumbling relentlessly out of her eyes. "Is he okay?" she could barely get out.

Another round of sobbing came through the line. "I don't know. I don't know. I just…don't know."

"Where is he? Did you call an ambulance?" Lexi asked taking the side of the parental figure and demanding the details.

"He went into the city for some consulting work," she sobbed. "He had been complaining that his shoulder and chest hurt, but we just didn't think anything of it. He always has chest pains. Luckily someone was around when he collapsed. They picked up the call and told me they were calling 911." She paused for another round of fitful tears. Lexi had never quite heard her mother in such a state. "They took him to Grady. It'll take me too long to get there, but I'm on my way. Please go and tell me he's alright. Tell me I haven't lost my George."

"I'm on my way now mom. I love you. I'll call you from the hospital," Lexi told her before hanging up.

"Do you need me to go with you?" Brandon asked having heard everything through the line.

"No," Lexi said swiping at her face. "I just…I can drive."

"Are you sure?" he asked grasping both of her shoulders in his hands and staring deep in her tear streaked face. She nodded helplessly. He pulled her into a brief comforting hug. "Call me if you need anything," he told her. She nodded again and then quickly left his office.