Avoiding Commitment

by craziebabe45

Lexi glanced around in awe and wonder at Stone Mountain. Her eyes focused in on the giant mural that had been hand-carved into the rock during the Civil War as a testament to their faith in the Confederacy. She felt like a speck next to the giant mountain that tourists from all over came to climb and enjoy the surrounding park which consisted of camping grounds, a water park, train station, and over the summer an amazing laser show. This was the last place she had expected Ramsey to take her. For some reason, that made it all the better. Surprisingly enough, he didn't think that he needed all of his wealth to impress her, and he was right. At this moment, she was impressed.

  She flattened out her green spaghetti strap dress she had worn for the occasion and silently thanked God that she had decided on brown thong sandals instead of her heels. Ramsey jogged around the car and directed her towards the stone pathway that led to the lawn that was normally reserved for the laser show. She let her eyes leave her surroundings long enough to glance a look at her date for the evening. He wore a nicely cut polo that matched the green shade of his eyes and fitted khaki pants paired with Rainbow sandals. She liked his casual attire, and wished she had paid more attention before. She might have realized that they wouldn't be going to some extravagant place had she recognized his flip-flops before this moment. She chided herself for her lack of awareness. She needed to stay on her toes.

  "I hope you're hungry," he said winking at her as they walked around the corner and down another path that opened up to the main lawn.

  "Starving, actually," she admitted cringing at how that sounded.

  He smiled at her bluntness. Yet another feature that he was starting to like about her. "Good. We have a banquet."

  When they reached the grass, they trekked forward through a line of people. Apparently, everyone was setting up for the laser show. It was the last week before school officially started for the public schools in the area which generally brought out more spectators than any week except Memorial Weekend and Fourth of July. Lexi had no idea how they were going to find a quiet place to sit and eat after arriving so late for the show.

  She should have suspected something was up when a large opening in the crowd appeared before her. Her mouth dropped open when she noticed the display before her. Ramsey had apparently called ahead and had the area cleared specifically for them. A large quilted blanket, much like the ones she slept with back in Manhattan, covered a ten by ten space on the lawn. A giant wicker picnic basket sat at the center of the roped off expanse and a cooler directly next to it. It was the most ideal location for watching the show. He must have done all this hours earlier. A grin broke out across her face.

  "Is this the kind of treatment you reserve for all your dates?" she asked sitting down on the massive blanket.

  Ramsey smiled brightly at her, still standing. "Not exactly," he admitted.

  Lexi had just been joking not really expecting him to give her an answer. Though, she wasn't sure if he was telling the truth anyway. It could just be a line like any other. She really couldn't picture the type of women she had seen at his party the night before being happy with an outdoors picnic and laser show as their first date. She shook her head realizing that she was overanalyzing. Who cares if he didn't normally take girls on dates here? She didn't particularly want to be on a date with him anyway. But since she was here she figured she might as well enjoy herself.

  Luckily, he had learned his lesson and sat on the opposite side of the blanket from her giving her a wide berth. He was always so up in her face and it really just brought out the worst in her.

  "I didn't know what you wanted," Ramsey began digging into the basket, "so I just got a bunch of things and you can just decide what you like."

  "When did you have time for this?" she asked. She had stayed at his house all afternoon. Granted she had felt like shit much of that time and took nearly an hour long shower. So perhaps he had had enough time.

  "I just made a list and I had some people take care of it," he said sheepishly.

  "Oh." She should have figured. It could have been worse. He could have not made a list. She shook her head again in frustration. Why did she care whether or not he went and picked out dinner for them? She had to keep reminding herself she didn't really want to be here. Right?

  Lexi watched him extract a bag of green grapes from the bag and immediately snatched them out of his grasp. He jolted in surprise. She sent a smile his way and popped one into her mouth. She sighed pleasantly at the sour crisp taste of fresh fruit. Her mouth watered as she added a few more.

  Ramsey couldn't help himself from staring at her. She looked to be in such ecstasy from just a few grapes and it was torture to keep himself firmly planted on the opposite side of the blanket. Her cheeks were flushed from the Georgia summer heat and lips wet from licking off the grape juice that had squirted onto her bottom lip. He gulped heavily fishing around in the basket for something to distract him. He uncovered the remaining food and removed two cans of Coke for them. But he was drawn back to her mouth as he glanced up.

  She caught him watching her, and in her eagerness scooted closer towards him so they were nearly touching. "Want one?" Lexi asked holding a grape between her fingers. He nodded and before he could reach out to take the fruit, she pressed it in between his lips letting her finger linger for just a second before pulling away.

  He crunched down on the fruit trying to act as if that hadn't affected him. "Thanks."

  Lexi batted her eyelashes before sitting back on her side of the blanket. Her hand brushed her bag and felt the vibrations through the material. She jumped unexpectedly and flipped open the device. "Are you okay? Where are you? Why aren't you returning my texts? Lexi?"

  Lexi sighed heavily and bit her lip as she read through Jack's text message. She had completely forgotten about messaging him back. She quickly typed out a reply and closed her phone. "Sorry. Alive."

  "You got to your parents safe then?"

  Turning her head to look at Ramsey's perfect bone structure, she giggled a little to herself. Man, if Jack knew where she was at this moment, he would have a fit. She wasn't sure if she wanted to tell him though. At least, not over text message. Not when she couldn't use the information as leverage. "Safe."

  "Anyone important?" Ramsey asked casually taking a bite of the sandwich in his hand.

  Lexi rolled her eyes. "Just Jack again." God, she hated how familiar this all felt.

  "Ahh..." he said not sure if he was prepared to broach that subject just yet.

  "Do you want to come over tomorrow or something?"

  Lexi sighed again. Did she want to go see him? Yes. No. There wasn't really a good answer. If she was honest with herself, the answer would be yes. The answer would always be yes. She always wanted to see him. She hadn't spent any time with him in two years, and she missed him. A part of her always missed him. They had gone through so much it was hard to not want to be around him. Even though things always ended so fucked up, her brain wouldn't let her forget the in between times when things were oh so good.

  "Yeah. I'll let you know."

  "Great."

  "So what's up with you and Jack?" Ramsey asked against his better judgment. Lexi's eyes immediately darkened. Something within her completely closed off at the question. He'd known it would be a bad subject. After what he had witnessed yesterday, he knew something was up and was determined to find out. He just hadn't expected such a dark response. He hadn't thought it would be pretty, but the way her eyes narrowed and jaw tightened simultaneously would have scared him if she didn't look so beautiful.

  "Oh just...you know," she stated vaguely unsure how much she wanted to reveal. He didn't know anything now which was probably for the better.

  "Not really. You two seemed pretty heated last night. Was he just drunk? I'd never seen him that way before," Ramsey admitted hoping to push the right buttons. He could see her begin to visibly relax as the attention fell away from her.

  "I've just known Jack for a long time, and he's pretty protective. Kind
of like an older brother," she said dryly. She couldn't help thinking that Jack would make the worst older brother in the world.

  Ramsey smirked noticing the ever so slight twitch in her muscles that indicated she was lying. He had always considered himself a great judge of character even when his parents hadn't. So whatever had gone on between her and Jack had not been platonic which begged the question as to why she was here if they had been previously involved. But he didn't get to ask his next question as Lexi's phone began to buzz next to her again.

  "Hello?" Lexi asked not recognizing the Atlanta phone number. Last time that had happened, she had been led here. That thought almost made her want to drop the call, but the sound of a chirpy voice cut off the line of reasoning.

  "Hello dear," Bekah said from the other line.

  Cringing at the uppity sound of her voice, Lexi pulled the phone away from her ear. "What's up?"

  "Where are you?"

  No way had Jack put her up to this. Then again she had to have gotten the number from somewhere, and Jack was the prime suspect since she had a feeling Bekah didn't know her parents. Those were the only people in the city who had her number. Not even Ramsey who was sitting directly in front of her; her first real date in God knows how long, and he didn't even have her number. She sighed pathetically. "I'm busy. Was there something you needed?" Lexi asked avoiding the question.

  She let her eyes fall back on Ramsey who looked at her inquisitively. She shrugged and mouth Bekah to him. His eyebrows shot up in surprise.

  "Yes," Bekah stated rather deliberately. "I don't believe we've finished our conversation just yet. Do you have plans tomorrow? I'd really like to take you shopping for Jack's big day and we can talk then."

  Jack's big day? She hadn't heard anything about his big day. What was his big day? What were they celebrating? She had no idea, but she didn't particularly want to give Bekah the satisfaction of knowing that piece of information.

  "Fine. How about I call you tomorrow?"

  "Sounds great sweetie," Bekah said happily. "Jack stop," Lexi heard her mutter playfully in the phone. She didn't even know if Jack was actually there or if Bekah was just being a bitch. She supposed it didn't really matter since it had worked. Lexi could feel her heart constricting and pain crease her temples. Her throat was closing up and she felt her body seizing at the thought of Jack being alone with Bekah. Lexi coughed uncomfortably and said a rushed goodbye before slamming the phone shut.

  "What was that about?" Ramsey asked concern evident in his voice.

  "You're sister wants to take me shopping," Lexi informed him pushing several strands of hair behind her ear forcefully.

  "That's nice of her," Ramsey said. Though for some reason, he didn't really think it was. Thinking of Bekah only brought back memories of their conversation from the night before.

  * * *

  "What are you doing Ramsey?" Bekah asked scolding him before he could even utter a word. "You don't even know this girl. She's not just another one of your girls."

  He stared at her in awe. His jaw had gone slack. "Why are you protecting her? I'm pretty sure that she can take care of herself."

  "Yes I'm sure she is quite capable," she said her jaw tightening. "That's not the point. You just need to back off."

  His sister never spoke to him like this. He'd done some pretty fucked up stuff in his time and all the while she had been there for him. She supported him. Even if she didn't agree with him, she had always accepted his decisions. It was strange to be scolded by his younger sister for something this miniscule. He would have expected this type of treatment from their parents. After all, they didn't really expect him to care about anything outside of the Club, but not from Bekah.

  That left him to believe one thing: Bekah was in on it. Whatever reason Lexi had for showing up in Atlanta to see Jack had something to do with Bekah as well. He wasn't sure the reason, but he wanted to know. Something was wrong with this situation. He could just feel it. Bekah had always confided in him with everything, and since she wasn't in this case, it only enhanced his concerns.

  "I'll back off when you tell me what the hell is going on Bek."

  "There's nothing going on," she said squaring her shoulders and tilting her head in the dignified way she had learned while practicing to be a Debutante.

  He knew that look. It was the determination that characterized their family. It was that look coupled with brains that had allowed their family to succeed for generations. "Fine. Don't tell me what's going on. But I'm smarter than everyone lets on Bekah, and I'm going to find out. She has history with Jack that much you've told me. What I can't figure out is what you have to do with all of this." A muscle in her jaw twitched slightly while the rest of her body remained still. "What's the master plan, my mastermind little sister?"

  She had recovered almost instantly from how sharp his intuition had proven to be. But it didn't matter to her. It's not like he was going to find out anything more. "There is no master plan. It's really simple. Lexi and Jack are old friends. Old friends do on occasion come and visit each other. Obviously, I would want to meet this old friend. That's it."

  She was lying and he knew it. She wouldn't be worked up about the whole situation. She wouldn't be acting so out of character if there wasn't something more to this whole charade. He stared into her cold blue eyes and saw the resolute decision pass through them that she would say no more. He nodded in comprehension. "If it's just old friends, and neither of you care that much, then I think she should stay with me after all."

  Bekah sighed seeing the same look pass from his emerald orbs. "Why do you want her here?"

  "She's hammered. I don't think it would be intelligent to move her. How would you like her to throw up all over your car?" Two could play at this game. He wasn't going to go spill his guts about his instant attraction to Lexi, if Bekah refused to divulge any further information about why Lexi was here in the first place.

  "Can we just compromise?" He raised an eyebrow allowing her to continue. "She can stay, but take her to a hotel afterwards. I don't want you to get any ideas," Bekah said looking him up and down.

  "What do you think I'm going to do Bekah? Jesus."

  "I know what you've done in the past," she said pointedly.

  "Whatever," he said acknowledging her triumph. "Hotel it is, but you will fill me in on this shit right?"

  Bekah's eyes narrowed. "It would be smarter if you just dropped it."

  * * *

  Lexi snorted bringing Ramsey back to reality. "Nice. Right."

  "You don't have to hang out with her," he stated absentmindedly. He passed a sandwich to her and she reached into the basket to investigate the contents further.

  "Yeah I know, but Jack wants me to," she said shrugging.

  "Why is that?" he asked honestly curious.

  Lexi shrugged again. "Beats me. We've known each other for a long time, and I guess since I'm here he wants me to get to know his girlfriend too."

  Ramsey took a deep breath to keep from asking too many more questions. He had a million, but the last thing he wanted to do was overload her with them on their first date. If he had it his way there would be many more to come. "So how long are you here for exactly?"

  "Well schools starts on Monday. So I guess until Sunday then. A week total." Lexi smiled at the grimace that crossed his face. She wasn't entirely sure if that was because she was staying too long or too short, but she was going to go with the later. She had found herself in quite an interesting scenario.

  "I guess you'll be here long enough for Jack's birthday then," Ramsey said leaning back on his elbows and examining her reaction.

  Lexi's mouth popped open in surprise. Oh my God. How had she forgotten his birthday? Of course, it was his birthday this weekend. And if she recalled this was a big one indeed. Twenty-five years old. Wow. A quarter of his lifetime gone by, and she had known him since he was just nineteen. She couldn't believe she had forgotten. "Oh yeah. What is he doing exactly?"

  S
he couldn't believe she was asking Ramsey for information about this. Why hadn't Jack mentioned it? Had he just assumed she wouldn't come? Did he not want her to be there? There were so many questions she needed answers. At least now she understood why Bekah wanted to go shopping for Jack's big day.

  "You don't know?" he asked skeptically.

  "Yeah I wasn't really filled in," she admitted awkwardly.

  He sure thought it was strange that she had come to visit Jack, but he hadn't even invited her to his big birthday celebration. "Well it'll be a surprise for you too. Want to go with me?"

  Lexi was interrupted from answering again as her phone went off in her hand. "Goddamn it. Who wants to talk to me now?" Lexi popped open the phone. "Hello."

  "Alexa!" Chyna squealed on the other line. "Oh my goodness, chica, I have missed you. How have things been going with you know everything? Are you planning to come home to me sooner rather than later?"

  Lexi's laugh escaped her mouth as soon as she heard her best friend's voice. "Chyna, it's so good to hear from you." Lexi glanced over at Ramsey who's expression at turned had lightened in accord with her own enthusiasm. "Sorry to disappoint, but it doesn't look like I'll be joining you back home anytime soon. Though I do miss New York terribly."

  "I knew you would," Chyna trilled. "How could you not? I know the summer is scathingly hot, but to get away to go somewhere not only hot but humid? Disgusting."

  "Well you convinced me to come down here in the first place," she reminded her, getting lost in their conversation and not realizing that she was giving away information in front of Ramsey.

  "Yes well how does closure suit you?"

  "Actually," Lexi said pushing her hair behind her ear as she glanced at Ramsey's all too curious face, "I can't really talk about that right now."

  "And why not? You're supposed to be with your family tonight right?"

  "Err..."

  "Oh my God, Alexa, you are not with him right now are you?"

  Lexi's brows furrowed together hoping to God that Ramsey couldn't hear Chyna's end of the conversation. "No no no no no," she muttered quickly. "I'm just...um."