Avoiding Commitment (Avoiding #1)(49)
Author: K.A. Linde

"I know it’s not vodka gummis," she said filling two flutes full of champagne, "but I suppose it will have to do."

"I suppose," Lexi stated sarcastically.

Lexi took one glass out of Chyna’s hand and raised it in the air for a toast. "I toast you my dear. To being young, fun and free."

"Not to mention beautiful," Chyna added clinking their glasses together and lifting it to her lips.

The bottle was nearly empty by the time they reached their destination. The driver quickly exited the car and moved to the other side to open the door for them. Chyna floated out of the town car and leaned against the side to steady her already uneasy balance. Lexi stumbled from the car door and nearly collided with the driver. Her alcohol tolerance was practically nonexistent and the combination of vodka gummis and Champagne were really making her head spin. Chyna laced her fingers with Lexi’s and plopped a tiny kiss on her cheek. Lexi giggled uncontrollably as she allowed Chyna to pull her towards the bouncer who was openly ogling their display. The rope disappeared as Chyna moved to step across the threshold. Lexi glanced to the long line of waiting customers who, she knew first-hand, were cursing her tiny ass as she walked into the nightclub.

Lexi blinked furiously as her eyes adjusted to the flashes of lights ricocheting off of the mirrored walls. The night was young and Chyna and Lexi’s hotspot was crammed with couples grinding on the dance floor. Lexi smiled at the outfit atrocities that circulated before her. No matter where she went in New York, she always managed to find people with no taste in fashion. Chyna never seemed to be able to keep her mouth shut about the terrible choices, and God forbid, the lack of designer label. Luckily, Chyna hadn’t seen the couple that had just passed before them or else they probably would have caused a scene.

Still holding tight to Chyna’s petite hand, Lexi followed her up a winding set of stairs marked for VIP clientele only. Without even batting an eye, the bouncer pulled back the rope and allowed them into the exclusive upstairs bar. Lexi felt that she’d never be able to get used to this life with Chyna. Only a month earlier she had been waiting in endless lines hoping for just a peek inside the most illustrious clubs, and now she was drinking for free in the VIP areas with certain hot celebrities. She couldn’t believe this had happened to her. A young NYU Law student didn’t get to do these types of things.

Chyna shimmied to an available couch and gingerly sat down on the black leather pulling Lexi down next to her. "This was such a good idea," she cooed into Lexi’s ear.

"It was your idea."

"Alright. So this was a perfect idea!"

Lexi smacked her playfully. "My idea would have been perfect if you weren’t such a snob."

"Me? A snob?" she asked sticking her nose up in the air, her voice thick with sarcasm. "Well if I’m such a snob, you can pay for your own drinks today skank."

"Did you just call me a skank?" Lexi asked placing her hand over her heart as if wounded.

"I call em like I see em honey."

Lexi gasped. "How dare you!"

"You’re so silly," Chyna said through giggles. "Like you’d pay for a drink yourself looking so smoking hot."

"It’s only due to your brilliance," Lexi commended her.

"Yes. I know. It’s amazing what designer jeans can do to your ass. You should really let me take you shopping so I don’t have to keep forcing you into my clothes when we go out."

Lexi just shook her head. "I’m not getting myself into any more debt."

"You wouldn’t have to pay for anything. Te amo mi amor. That’s all the payment I request," she replied, affectionately sweeping Lexi’s hair behind her ear.

"Oh please," Lexi said brushing aside her hand.

"Fine. You’ll come around. But for tonight, let’s find a gorgeous someone who wants to pamper us senseless," she said allowing her eyes to crawl across the room.

Lexi sighed happily and turned to play her friend’s favorite game. Under normal circumstances, the game went as follows. Whoever found a hot guy that met Chyna’s standards and got offered a dance and a drink first would be able to choose who the other person had to kiss or take home depending on how the night went for them. When they had first started playing they had just accepted one of the two options, but that always ended up happening really quickly, so they had adjusted the rules to get more qualified men.

"Oh what about him?" Chyna suggested pointing at tall blonde in a sleek business suit.

Lexi assessed his features from behind enjoying the view. "We need a look at his face before a final decision can be made." Just then Blonde turned around bringing his beer to his mouth. Lexi nearly gagged as she got a look at his face. "I’ve never seen a nose like that before. It looks like it’s been broken in three places."

"That’s because he’s a professional hockey player," Chyna said quickly, but Lexi could see the disgust written on her face.

"I don’t care what he does for a living. That nose is atrocious."

"Okay, so Hockey Guy isn’t for me. Moving on."

They pointed out a few other good looking men neither of them really satisfied with the selection. Chyna spoke up again, "Oh him!"

Lexi looked to where her finger pointed out a man wearing dark jeans and a bright blue button-up. Her heart froze as her eyes traveled farther upwards to the shaggy dark brown hair. She couldn’t see his face, but her body couldn’t resist allowing the butterflies loose in her stomach at the possibility. She could feel the blood draining from her face and her jaw going slack with fear and anticipation that he might be here. Short puffs escaped her mouth, her chest expanding and contracting with each movement. She tilted her head in hopes of catching a glimpse of Mr. Blue Shirt’s face, her brows furrowed and eyes shining with concern.

"Alexa, sweetie, are you okay?" Chyna asked placing her hand on Lexi’s forehead which was already clammy to the touch. "You look really sick all of a sudden. Do we need to get out of here?"

"No, s…s…sorry. He just looks like this guy I used to have a thing with," she mumbled recovering slightly when she realized how obvious she was being.

"Oh that Jack guy you were telling me about?" Chyna asked bluntly.

"Yeah. Jack. He just strongly resembles him."

"Well if he looks anything like this guy, then he’s probably sexy," Chyna couldn’t keep herself from mentioning as she took another glance at the Jack look-a-like.

Lexi managed a half-smile. "Yeah he is sexy, but I just…I don’t know. I haven’t really seen him in awhile and I haven’t been thinking about him much either. It caught me off guard."

She was lying of course. She thought about him every time she walked around in New York. There were so many dark haired men in blue shirts; it was disconcerting. Not to mention the enormous amount of coffee shops. She was just expecting to walk into the store one day and there he would be standing behind the counter, handing her black coffee, while she studied for her tests. But college was over, and Jack wasn’t in New York. Jack wasn’t in her life. They’d talked a bit over the phone during the summer, but after she moved to New York, she just didn’t have time to have open communication with anyone especially Jack. She could lose herself in conversations with Jack for hours if she let herself. Law school didn’t exactly permit that kind of freedom. No, Jack was just part of her past, and she needed to accept that. She couldn’t keep letting herself get so worked up over some guy in a club who almost resembled him.

"Well don’t think about him. There’s no need to when you have so many other men to choose from," Chyna said, speaking like a person who’d never had a real relationship. Not that Lexi was one to talk. Her and Jack had never really been functional.

"You’re right. Of course, you’re right."

"I know it chica, but you can keep telling me. Now if you don’t want him, I’m going to go see if I can get my obligatory drink and dance out of him. I’ll find you someone to kiss when I get back," she said prancing off after Mr. Blue Shirt.

Lexi slumped back against the sofa and massaged her aching temples. She hated that she kept having these ridiculous reactions all the time. She had always been such a strong and independent woman that this gut reaction in regards to Jack was just driving her mad. Flashes of him touching and kissing her kept cascading through her vision. Memories of long lost afternoons tucked away in his sheets, wrapped up in his arms as they talked the night away, enjoying each other’s company…forgetting that there was a whole other reality that they were supposed to be living in. Those days haunted her day in and day out for the terrible things she had done to the people that cared for them. But even through her despair, she still missed him. She still craved him. He was still on her mind constantly.

Even when she risked massive intoxication, she thought of him. But at least then it didn’t matter, because she wouldn’t remember it in the morning. That’s the state she was hoping to obtain when she suddenly stood to patrol for a willing donor to her cause. Her eyes traveled the length of the bar is if she were checking out merchandise on a clothing rack. Her head tilted slightly as one attractive man replaced another in a stool before deciding to proceed.

He was tall, really tall and blonde. Two things she rarely went for, but then again she wasn’t searching for a date. She was searching for someone to get her hammered, and this guy fit the bill. She knew an Armani suit when she saw one thanks to Chyna’s scale of men’s approved clothing, and this guy was wearing one. That was a step in the right direction.

Lexi sauntered purposely towards his side of the bar. "Oh," she squealed her heel conveniently faltering right as she passed him. He reached out quickly to steady her, making sure she wouldn’t fall. She placed her hand on his chest resting it there just long enough to feel the definition under the soft material. His hands were firmly planted on her bare h*ps as she righted herself in the four inch Manolos Chyna had forced on her feet. "I am so sorry. I just can’t seem to keep my balance in these things," she purred.

"It’s no problem," he said still holding onto her hips. "Are your ankles alright? Did you need to sit down?"

Lexi paused sucking her bottom lip in between her teeth and allowing her eyes to get doe-eyed as if she were contemplating the question. "I’m not sure," she conceded.

"Here take my seat. Do you need ice or something?" he asked not taking his eyes off of her as she slid past him and occupied his stool.

"Oh no, I think if I just sit a minute, I should be fine."

"Well at least let me get you a drink," he said flashing her an award-winning smile.

Lexi giggled checking that off her list. "That’d be great."

"What’s your guilty pleasure?" he asked his voice laced with seduction. "You seem like a Sex on the Beach kind of girl." Lexi blanched at the words. Sex on the beach. No, she wasn’t supposed to be thinking about Jack. "Or are you more of a whiskey girl. I hear a Southern accent in there. Did you want a Jack and Coke?"

Lexi gulped hard. This guy was supposed to be helping her forget Jack. Not continuing to bring up even if it was an accident, even if he had no idea who she was or Jack was. She sighed and pushed the thoughts out of her head. He was attempting to flirt with her, and if she had been in a different mood, then the comments might not have bothered her. She needed to just relax and know that he wasn’t attempting to make her stomach knot. From the way his green eyes were boring into her brown ones, she could tell that was certainly not on his mind. He had the look of a guy who always got what he wanted. His head tilted in just a way that was almost a Poker tell on him. He was thinking that this was going to be easy, and soon enough he would be heading out of here with her drunken ass on his arm. Even as drunk as she was feeling, she wasn’t prepared to lose herself in some guy, rather attractive guy, but nonetheless. She couldn’t do that while her mind was clouded with Jack Howard.