Avoiding Responsibility (Avoiding #2)(31)
Author: K.A. Linde

Though her mind remained fixed on Jack, she couldn’t help but wonder if she was overstating Ramsey’s importance in this entire affair. Sure Jack had come by to speak with him, but why would he call back? More doubts surely could be triggered since Jack had always had severe reservations regarding marriage. But what would be the point? Ramsey would surely have told him the same things as before. If it hadn’t relinquished any of his fears, then it surely wouldn’t by talking to him further.

And now that she thought about it, Ramsey hadn’t acted this strange when Jack had been waiting for them outside of his apartment. He had been calm and resolute when they had first arrived, and only slightly hesitant afterwards. He hadn’t attempted to avoid her. In fact, the exact opposite had ended up occurring.

The usual suspects started pouring into Ramsey’s apartment just as the final touches were complete. Lexi was greeted with a warm welcome from Ramsey now former roommates. She had to fend off their advances and couldn’t keep from giggling as Brad’s hands traveled lower and lower in their friendly embrace. She smacked him hard on the shoulder and turned towards Jason who wasn’t much help.

"So you guys moved out?" she asked hopping out of arms reach.

"Yeah, we just got a new place in Buckhead," Jason told her.

"Bachelor pad. Nice," Lexi said smiling.

"Yeah, it’s too bad you moved out right when you did," Brad began, "Since Ramsey was…" Jason smacked Brad’s shoulder effectively silencing him.

Lexi glanced between the two guys. Both looked as if they had just been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. "Ramsey was doing what?"

"Nothing," they both muttered in unison.

Lexi narrowed her eyes and let them dart between Brad and Jason. "Now listen here. What are you two hiding from me?"

Brad looked at Jason at the same time as Jason looked Brad and then they both shrugged. "Hiding?" Jason asked a smirk crossing his face.

"Are you hiding something?" Brad asked Jason.

"I’m not. Are you?"

"Nope," Brad said popping the last syllable.

"You think you’re fooling me, but you’re not," Lexi told them over the music.

"Lexi, Lexi, Lexi," Brad said draping an arm over her shoulders, "we would never think of trying to fool you."

"Then what was Ramsey doing?" Lexi persisted.

"I have no idea to what you are referring," Brad muttered looking for Jason for reassurance.

"Yeah you lost me," Jason chimed in.

Lexi let out a deep breath and crossed her arms over her chest. "Are you guys honestly doing this right now?"

Jason and Brad gave each other a meaningful look before venturing forward. "Look we don’t want to ruin anything between you two," Jason began.

"Too late," Lexi mumbled.

"It is not," Brad added.

"Anyway," Jason said shooting daggers at Brad, "we just want you to relax and have a good time. Ramsey’s changed since he’s been with you and we can all tell that it’s for the better. Honestly, Lexi whatever he had planned…whatever you may not have known about…it’s only good from here on out."

"Why do people keep saying that?" Lexi grumbled. "There’s no way for you to know that."

"Well we know Ramsey which is good enough for us," Brad told her.

"Regardless, anything you need to know Ramsey will tell you."

"Yes, because that’s worked out so well for us in the past," she stated sarcastically.

"We can’t change what happened in the past and neither can you. I’d just look to the future," Jason told her before following Brad out to the dance floor.

Lexi sighed knowing that they were right. Either way she wanted to know what Brad had been about to tell her. Everyone kept telling her that Ramsey had changed and that the future was going to be different, but she couldn’t be sure whether or not to believe them. She had come down to Atlanta with hopes. She just didn’t want that to cloud her judgment. Too much was at stake this week to not be fully aware of everything that was going on.

Jack was getting married. She needed to get through that before anything else. Keeping her thoughts set on the horizon, Lexi exited through the back door and onto the porch where she had shared her first kiss with Ramsey. Lexi breathed in the humid summer air and pushed her curls off of her forehead. The weather was as sticky as ever for a Georgia summer night, and she could feel a light beading of sweat form across her hairline and the back of her neck. She missed the warmth and familiarity of the place she called home. Nostalgia washed over her as she leaned back against the wooden railing and stared up into the night sky. The stars were barely visible due to the lighted backdrop of the city, but it still comforted her to look out into space.

"There you are," Ramsey said shutting out the noise of his apartment as he drew closer to her.

"Oh so you aren’t avoiding me?" she asked the bitterness from earlier gone from her voice.

"No, I was," he admitted freely. Lexi smiled at his honesty, but refrained from commenting. "Things aren’t going exactly as planned."

"They never do," she muttered her head still hanging backwards and looking up into the darkness. She felt his hands lightly grip her waist when he drew closer to her.

"Sorry about the party." Lexi shrugged. "And about avoiding you."

"Please stop apologizing," she murmured.

"I’m sorry I keep apologizing," he said causing her to finally look at him with a smirk. His green eyes softened at the sight of her. She looked utterly beautiful. Her skin was incredibly bronzed and shimmered in the dim lighting. Her brown eyes were rimmed with charcoal and long luxurious lashes were extended by onyx mascara. The slight sheen across her skin made her look seductive as if she were wearing oil on the beach. Her pink lips were coated with a thin layer of chapstick and all he could think of doing was bending forward to kiss them. Instead, he brushed back a loose strand of hair from her face tucking it behind her ear.

The way he was looking at her was beginning to make her thoughts hazy. She sometimes felt as if he could erase everything from her mind when he looked at her the way he was in that moment. Blinking a few times to break the spell, Lexi returned to the thoughts that were milling around in her mind.

She wanted answers to so many questions in that moment. Everyone kept telling her that he had changed, but she had no idea how they could know that or what that even meant. She liked who he was, and besides few hiccups didn’t think that he needed to change. If he had changed, would that affect the way that she felt about him. Could she still love someone who had changed? How could anyone know it was for the better?

She also had no clue what he had been planning before she had left town. Nor did she know how Brad and Jason’s departure applied to the scenario. If he had been turning his world upside down for her, what would everything be like afterwards? And she couldn’t figure out how that related to what he had been doing since she had been gone. Had he really missed her like he said? What else could he possibly be keeping from her? So many other things were floating in her brain but all she could get out was, "Who was on the phone?" It seemed at the time the most pressing issue, or perhaps just the least complicated. Though with Lexi, it seemed, everything was complicated.

Ramsey broke eye contact with her and cleared his throat. "Just uh…"

"Please don’t lie to me," she said observing him closely.

"I wasn’t going to," he told her defensively. She didn’t tell him that his demeanor made it clear that he had been about to lie to her. That something about the way he had reacted to the question had triggered her.

"Just…don’t get worked up okay?" Lexi nodded anticipation blossoming in her stomach. A list of names filled her mind, and though she feared he wouldn’t list anyone on the short list, deep down she knew that he would.

"Parker called."

She had been right.

Lexi swallowed hard trying not to get worked up over the answer. She knew there had been a reason for him to avoid her, but she hadn’t wanted to think about why. Parker was a whole new world of complications that Lexi wished she had never had to deal with. Jack was bad enough, but to have to consider both issues in one day was almost too much for her. She knew that eventually she would have to face everything that had happened, but she didn’t want that to be today.

Taking a few steadying breaths, Lexi finally felt calm enough to reply. "And what did Parker want?"

"Just to talk about the wedding," he stated. "There are a lot of details that go into it that I don’t care about, and I keep getting phone calls about it."

"Right," Lexi said not wanting to feel as queasy as she did. "Parker’s going to be at the wedding."

Ramsey had told her that Parker was going to be there, but she had tried not to put too much thought into it. The fact that it was Jack’s wedding had been enough to think about without the idea of Parker on the backburner. So she had tried to put the unfortunate news that Parker would be somehow involved in the wedding out of her mind. To be honest, Parker had been one of the only things Lexi had been thinking about since she had returned to Atlanta, and having a brief reprieve to consider other issues, namely Jack, had momentarily been a relief. She hardly thought so now.

"So you’ve been spending a lot of time talking to Parker then?" Lexi asked choosing her words carefully and trying to keep the bite out of her voice.

"Lexi," Ramsey said comfortingly, "please don’t let this get to you. It is one week, and that is all."

"I know. I know," Lexi muttered though she sounded disbelieving.

"I don’t have to see Parker again after this if it makes you happy. You are the only thing that is important to me," he told her staring longingly in her eyes.

Lexi wanted to believe him. After all, she had come to Atlanta in hopes of believing just that. But only time would tell if everything he was saying was true.

* * *

Thanks for all my wonderful reviewers: Cupid’s Psyche, inspire-the-writer-x3, LoveAlways03, Fierce . Imagination, jennalizing, hayleytibbs, sunbeam07, WyldeLoneStar, ssolomon08, and Kelly Rogala.

K.A. Linde

That Moment

"What a beautiful wedding!,

What a beautiful wedding!" says a bridesmaid to a waiter.

"Oh yes, but what a shame, what a shame,

the poor groom’s bride is a whore.""Haven’t you people ever heard of closing the god damn door?"

No, it’s much better to face these kinds of things

with a sense of poise and rationality.

I chime in with a

"Haven’t you people ever heard of closing the god damn door?"

No, it’s much better to face these kinds of things

with a sense of poise and rationality.

-"I Write Sins Not Tragedies" Panic at the Disco

* * *

Chapter 10: December Six Months Earlier

"Slow down. Slow down. Slow down," Lexi cried repeatedly as she tried to pry Ramsey’s hands off of her. "Chyna is going to know if we fooled around beforehand."

"Yeah probably," he said pushing her dress further up her legs.

"I can’t go all flustered."

"Why not?" he asked smiling devilishly as he captured her lips briefly.