Avoiding Responsibility (Avoiding #2)(17)

"What's the latest endeavor?" Lexi asking hoping to distract Chyna. She needed to keep the focus away from her life at the moment. She seemed to endlessly be discussing the different men in her life.

As Lexi perused Chyna's closet for something to wear that evening, Lexi's mind drifted over the experiences in the past seven years. Her memory landed on a green tourist bench. She could feel her face flushing at the image of her first time with Jack at the beach house. She licked her lips as her hand trailed over a tiny pair of skinny jeans. She knew she shouldn't let her mind risk going down memory lane, but sometimes it was so difficult.

Her memory was so vivid that sometimes it was as if she were reliving her past. The feel of his skin hot against her own, breathing in the salty air with her rapid inhalations, his intense blue stare reflecting the ocean. She could feel him almost as if she were in the moment.

She shook her head and tried to focus on Chyna talking about the new thing that she was interested in at the moment. Her mind couldn't focus however, and suddenly she was swept back to a time when she was cuddled up in a familiar navy blue comforter. She could hear him whisper his affection for her and pull her closer.

She cleared her mind and blue eyes were replaced with green ones staring intently into hers on a balcony overlooking the Turner Field baseball stadium. The way he washed away any knowledge of what was going on that night. Her hair pulled high on her head and the light breeze made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end, or was it the way he was looking at her. Her breathing hitched as his head tilted to meet her waiting lips.

She forcefully closed her eyes and willed her mind to stop picturing her past. Tonight was about new futures…another new future.

"Are you even listening?" Chyna whined pushing Lexi out of the way so she could get a closer look at her closet.

"Nope," Lexi said giggling and falling back into a plush cream chair.

"I'm thinking of going to back to school," she muttered her voice quavering a little at the admission.

"For what?" Lexi asked staring at her incredulously.

"I don't know. Don't you figure that stuff out in college?" Chyna asked pulling a flowy dress off the rack and pressing it to her body.

"I guess," Lexi agreed knowing that she had had that same philosophy at one point in her life. "Where would you go?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'll find a good fashion design program," she said dreamily. "I have enough clothes. I know what looks good."

Lexi smiled at her friend's dreamy state. She was happy that she had found another adventure to pursue, but was really wondering how long this was going to last. Chyna attention span lasted a total of a month and half before she got bored. She never saw it as failure just indecision.

Just as Lexi was about to give her two cents worth about Chyna's new career path, Chyna's hand brushed against an article of clothing Lexi had never seen. "What was that?" she blubbered, shooting out of the chair, and reaching forward to latch on before the item disappeared into the depths of Chyna's closet.

Lexi unhooked the hanger from the metal rod it had been resting on. Her hand rubbed gently against the red silky material. She smiled softly to herself and wondered how she had never seen Chyna wear this before. When she flipped the dress around to closer examine the front, Lexi got her answer. A black rectangular price tag still hung from the dress. Lexi gaped at the price. She didn't think she would ever get used to seeing price tags in the three, four, or even five digit range for one garment…especially not something to just throw in the closet and never wear.

"You've never worn this?" Lexi asked her voice unable to believe it.

A sly smile crept up on her face at Lexi's reaction. "Do you like it?"

"Like it?" Lexi groaned. "I love it. How could you never wear this?"

"Because it doesn't belong to me," she said airily.

"Then what's it doing in your closet?" Lexi eyed her suspiciously.

"It belongs to you," Chyna told her, immediately putting her hands behind her back to keep Lexi from giving it back to her. She knew that Lexi hated accepting gifts for anything except her birthday and Christmas, but when she had seen it on the rack, Chyna had been unable to control herself.

"Really?" Lexi asked pressing the material to her chest and looking at herself in the full-length mirror. Nearly dropping the dress, Lexi rushed forward and crushed Chyna with surprising force for a simple hug. "You're the best."

"You're not going to fight me on this?" Chyna asked skeptically.

"I can't believe you left the price tag on," Lexi scolded her, "but no I'm going to keep it."

"Finally, you've come to your senses," Chyna teased.

A short while later Lexi was all zipped into the strapless dress. The deep, crimson red focused your eyes to the curves of her br**sts and hips. Her brown hair had been tamed for the night into neat loose curls that just brushed over her shoulders. Her side-swept bangs fell into her eyes whenever she made too sudden of a movement, but the overall effect was seductive. Light makeup completed the look with a dark shimmer gloss coating her full lips.

The time and effort put in paid off when Ramsey's eyes lit up at the sight of her. Lexi knew him well enough to know that she could have showed up in a black trash bag and he would have thought her beautiful. However, the shock and awe that followed her entrance proved that he fully approved of what he saw.