Avoiding Responsibility (Avoiding #2)(15)

"Lexi?" Ramsey's voice answered obviously very surprised to hear from her. She wasn't sure where he was, but wherever it was had a lot of background noise.

"What are you doing on Saturday?" she asked louder than she wanted to speak, but she wanted to make sure he heard her.

"Hold on one second." After a minute, Lexi heard the noise die down and his voice come back through the line. "What did you say?"

"What are you doing on Saturday?" she repeated her question unable to believe she was doing this.

"Um…working probably. Why? What's up?" he asked his voice tentative but obviously curious.

"I have to go to an engagement party because Chyna's dad is getting remarried. It's a long story, but I'm supposed to bring a boyfriend and I don't have one. Will you go with me?" she asked rambling on despite herself. Her stomach had started knotting all over again at the fact that she was actually asking him to do this for her.

"You want me to go as your boyfriend?" he asked skeptically.

"You don't have to. I just…uh…it's for Chyna. She's really beat up and she got roofied tonight."

"What? Is she okay?" he asked flipping out.

"Yeah. She's just crashing right now. I just need to make this right for her."

"I'll get out of work and be at JFK as soon as I can Saturday," he said altering his decision immediately.

"Oh thank you so much," she said honestly grateful that she wouldn't have to search for another guy to go with her.

"Hey Lexi…"

"Yeah?"

"It's really good to hear from you."

Lexi smiled to herself. "Yeah, it's good to hear from you too."

"Even if you don't have everything together, I'm really glad you called."

Lexi couldn't help but think how glad she was too.

* * *

K.A. Linde

Best News

The present's just a pleasant

Interruption to the past

And you don't want to look much closer

'Cause you're afraid to find out all the hope

That you had sent into the sky by now had... crashed

And it did because of me

- Something Corporate "Konstantine"

* * *

Chapter 3: Present

"You know I like Ramsey, right?" Chyna asked sighing as she fell backwards onto her plush, king-sized bed. The comforter had recently been changed into a maroon and gold ensemble with massive quantities of matching throw pillows of every size and shape imaginable covering the pillow top.

Lexi looked up from where she had been digging through her backpack and smiled. She knew exactly how Chyna felt about Ramsey. He was one of the few guys who had ever bypassed her appearance for her personality. Chyna found that type of behavior extremely appealing, and it didn't matter to her whether or not they ever hooked up from that point on. If he made it a point not to be interested in her, then she could respect his obvious devotion to Lexi. Chyna always had a weak spot for loyalty.

There had been a number of occasions where she had stolen men right under Lexi's nose. It was never on purpose exactly, but men just gravitated towards her. So when she found out that Ramsey had zero interest in her, they had gotten along even better.

"Yeah, I know," Lexi told her reaching back into her bag and pulling out her laptop and power cord.

"Then you also know that I think you're an idiot," Chyna remarked staring up at her ceiling. Lexi could hear her sigh of discontentment which only broadened her smile.

"Yeah, I know," she repeated popping the top on her laptop, pressing the power button, and waiting for the system to warm up.

Chyna shot up from her place on the bed and stared down at Lexi. A broad smile had formed on her face. Lexi knew that look meant only one thing. Chyna was up to something devious. Lexi tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and waited for Chyna to let loose her revelation.

"You know what?" Chyna asked.

"Nope."

"You could always just…not go."

"Wow, what a revelation," Lexi muttered sarcastically rolling her eyes dramatically.

"Oh, come on," Chyna cried throwing herself back on the bed. "This is not good for you. I thought after everything that had happened, you wouldn't put yourself through this all again."

"This isn't like Jack," Lexi muttered defensively. She hated associating the two together even though they were interrelated. When she was with Ramsey in the beginning, she forgot about everything else that had gone on with Jack. He was a brief reprieve from the heartache that she kept locked up. Sure she had left Jack behind, but that didn't make it any easier to really leave him behind. And just when she thought she was starting to succeed on that point a little more each day, everything had come crashing back down around her.

No this wasn't like Jack at all. Jack took over her world, and she had to force herself to push him out bit by bit. Ramsey had forced himself in her world bit by bit and filled a void she hadn't known existed. And she knew all too well what it felt like being with and without Jack. Ramsey was something altogether different. The emotions he elicited from her were foreign, and thus, incredibly vivid because they had never been tamed, harnessed, or numbed over years of self-torture.