Avoiding Responsibility (Avoiding #2)(44)
Author: K.A. Linde

She had plenty of old friends that he didn’t know about. The only one that was threatening in any way he had knowledge of so clearly it was a non-issue. She didn’t want to stress anything tonight. Not after what had happened earlier between them. She didn’t want to constantly bring her baggage and insecurities into the relationship. Ramsey had given her no reason to doubt him in any way. The only problems she had were her own…and she could be the only one to deal with them.

Taking a deep breath, Lexi pushed aside all of her pride and reluctance. She couldn’t be hindered by it any longer. If she was really ready to give her heart away, she needed this. A smile broke across her face as she spoke, "Parker seems nice. How do you know her? From back home right?"

Ramsey nodded taking a beer that Jason handed him. "Yeah, she’s Bekah’s year. Been a family friend since I was yea high," he told her motioning to a toddler’s height.

"So you’ve known her a really long time then. That’s cool," she said accepting a drink that was handed to her. She took a sip to steady herself before continuing. "Did she graduate with Bekah?" she asked chewing on her bottom lip to keep from fiddling with her hair.

"High school?" he asked but didn’t let her continue. "She was supposed to, but she graduated a year early."

Lexi raised her eyebrows. "Smarty," she chirped. "And she’s a doctor now? She said something about residency."

"Doctor," he confirmed, "Finishing two years early."

Lexi could detect the admiration in his voice, but refrained from commenting on it. The feat was pretty incredible regardless. "Wow, that’s impressive."

"She’s always wanted to do a lot with her life," he told her taking another swig of his beer.

"I know what that is like," Lexi said tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. With a million other questions swirling around in her head, she asked, "So did you know she was here?" She was pretty certain after seeing his shocked face that he hadn’t a clue, but she wanted to know anyway.

"No, no, no. I didn’t have any idea where she was." Lexi’s stomach loosened more "Or that she was coming home anytime soon."

"Well that’s good then," she said trying to be reassuring, but unsure if she was successful or even needed to be.

"It should be…interesting," he intoned taking another big gulp.

Lexi wanted to ask interesting how, but suddenly she was swept up by Jason and Brad. She was then deposited on the karaoke stage next to Jessie and another of Ramsey’s friends, Katie. "Hey hey hey," she called pushing Jason back, "no karaoke for me. I’m not drunk enough for this."

"What you can’t sing doll?" he asked pushing her backwards.

"I can sing just fine," Lexi said bucking against him to try to get off stage. "I just don’t sing karaoke unless I’m drunk."

"Well tonight’s your night," he called out picking her up and placing her in front of a microphone.

"Jason, I’m warning you. I’ll get you back for this!"

He just smiled up at her as if he were oblivious to her discomfort. Lexi cast her eyes up to the screen. Lexi and Katie groaned as the guy’s selection appeared before them.

"How did we get into this?" she asked the two girls next to her as the first few notes to It’s Raining Men blasted through the speakers.

Jessie shrugged never breaking from her cool demeanor towards Lexi. However, to Lexi’s relief it was clear that Jessie was more comfortable on the stage than either Lexi or Katie. She snatched a microphone and began flirtatiously calling out the introduction. The crowd before them cheered uproariously as Jessie provocatively engaged the audience swinging her long fire red hair around. Seeing all eyes trained to Jessie shimmying and egging on the crowd, Lexi loosened up and leaned into the microphone she was sharing with Katie. The girl looked back at Lexi thankfully, and sang along to the tune to the best of her ability.

Lexi’s heart was beating rapidly as she heard her voice spill through the speakers. Lexi never had stage fright when performing gymnastics before an audience ten times the size of the small karaoke club, but it was something about singing that made her clam up. She knew she didn’t have a bad voice per se, but she definitely wasn’t a singer.

As Jessie kept the crowd energized, Lexi found it more and more clear that her fear of singing in front of crowds didn’t matter. Everyone else in the bar was incredibly drunk, and Jessie’s voice carried much louder over the speakers than Lexi’s. By the time the trio had hit the second verse, all three were belting out the words that appeared before them. Lexi wasn’t adventurous enough to move away from her microphone like Jessie who took over the stage with her presence, but she held her own through the remainder of the song.

At the end, they all threw their hands up in the air and took a large swooping bow. Though Lexi’s nerves had briefly abated, the whooping crowd at the end of the song brought her back to reality. She quickly covered her face with her hands and shook her head back and forth in embarrassment at what she had just done. Katie seemed to agree with her and swiftly darted off stage and back into Brad’s waiting arms. Jessie took a deep bow before chasing after Lexi.

"Hey girlie, restroom," she said latching onto Lexi’s elbow and edging her away from the group. Lexi was a bit surprised that Jessie would take her and not Katie since Jessie had always had always been standoffish around her. It didn’t help that their first interaction had resulted in Ramsey having to tell Lexi how he had slept with his prom date in front of everyone at a bonfire. Lexi still wasn’t too thrilled with her for that one. She kind of thought it was rude to bring up someone’s history like that and throw it in their face. She would hate is someone did that to her. She couldn’t even begin to imagine the kind of damage that could do.

But Lexi went freely, hoping that this might be different. Her eyes met Ramsey’s as she was dragged away from him. He smiled brightly at her and nodded his head as if to say that he had enjoyed her performance. She would get him back if he had had any part in her humiliation.

Ducking around a drunken couple, the girls pushed their way through the crowd and to the bathroom. Lexi was relieved to see that there actually wasn’t a line. That was unheard of in New York bars. "You were great up there," Lexi told her standing next to the battered aluminum sink. She meant the statement. The girl had been pretty phenomenal. If it helped her cause of getting Jessie to ease up around her, the compliments would flow freely all night.

"Thanks," she chimed stepping out of the bathroom and reaching into her purse. "Singing is my calling."

"I can see that," Lexi told her stepping out of the way of another girl who was vying for mirror room in the cramped space. Jessie eyed her carefully before pulling out a tiny silver bottle. Lexi looked it over suspiciously unsure of the contents that lay within or why she even had it with her. "What’s that?"

"Patron," Jessie said shrugging. Without further ado, she tipped her head back and poured a shots worth of tequila into her mouth.

"You flasked in Patron?" Lexi asked in surprise. The girl clearly had more money than she knew what to do with yet she was bringing in a flask to a bar. This was something she hadn’t experienced since college when they used to sneak in bottles to the football games. It had been thrilling at the time. They were young and anxious to drink at ever opportunity in which they weren’t allowed. But here in this environment, she didn’t think it made sense.

Jessie shrugged again. "Want some?" she asked shoving the bottle into Lexi’s hands.

Lexi fumbled with it for a second certain she was going to drop it and spill all of the precious liquid on the floor. Then she regained her composure, held the bottle more firmly in her hands, then tipped the opening up to her lips. The sip she took was much smaller than Jessie’s but it burned the entire way down, and she coughed and sputtered without a lime or chaser to ease the pain.

"Uh thanks," Lexi said passing the bottle back.

Jessie chuckled under her breath before taking another sip from the bottle. "So you and Ramsey huh?" she asked leaning back against the sink and nudging the other girl out of the way. The girl looked pissed as she shoved past Lexi for the exit.

"Yep," Lexi said not sure how else to respond or if Jessie wanted some more explanation.

"Good thing you met Parker then," she said shrugging as she twirled the top to the flask between her fingers.

Lexi swallowed hard. "Why is that?" Lexi asked curiously eyeing Jessie carefully.

Jessie stared at her blankly. "What do you mean why is that?" she asked screwing the cap back on the bottle, moving in front of the mirror, and looking her face over for imperfections. She pulled out a tube of cherry red lip gloss and coated her mouth with the stuff.

"I just don’t know why it would be a good thing per se," Lexi said being purposefully dense. Jessie had known Parker for a long time. She wasn’t sure if that was as long as Ramsey had known her, but it was possible. Lexi didn’t know how long Jessie had been friends with Ramsey but she suspected it had been for quite sometime. Thus, if Jessie thought it was probably a good thing that she met Parker, then it was.

"Her and Ramsey go way back," she said puckering her lips.

"I garnered that much," Lexi responded stepping out of the way of another girl badgering her for room in the confided space. "But is there something I should know?" Lexi asked pressing her luck.

"Only whatever Ramsey told you I’m sure," Jessie said running her fingertips through her wild red hair in an attempt to tame it. "Anyway," she began, "I really need a smoke."

Lexi gulped wanting to know more about what Jessie clearly had some knowledge about. She knew that she should just ask Ramsey about it, and she would. She promised herself that she would ask him more about her once they were alone, but right now Jessie was providing her with an alternative. She figured she would be stupid not to take it. "I’ll go with you," Lexi sputtered quickly before Jessie could reach the door.

"Do you smoke?" Jessie asked her incredulously.

"Uh…no…well casually," Lexi lied through her teeth. She pretty much detested the habit, but she had begun to get used to it since being in New York.

"Really? I’d never have pinned ya for it," she muttered raising her eyebrows in surprise. She seemed not to easily be surprised.

Lexi gave her a weak smile and followed her out of the bathroom. Her eyes instantly moved back to where Ramsey was standing against the bar surrounded by his friends. Parker stood at his side, her head threw back in laughter, and her hand unconsciously resting on his forearm to steady herself. When she righted herself, Ramsey’s own smile was locked onto her face as they share another private joke. Parker seemed to laugh hysterically at Ramsey once again, and his hand slipped to her back to hold them both steady. Lexi gulped down a lump forming in her throat.

"Cute aren’t they?" Jessie whispered at her side.

"Uh…what?" Lexi asked forgetting that Jessie had been on her side.

"They’re just cute," Jessie said shrugging as if her statement hadn’t made a huge impact on Lexi. "I’ve always thought so."

"Oh." Lexi couldn’t think of anything else to say. As she looked at Ramsey and Parker together she had to admit that they did look cute together. She wasn’t sure if it was because Parker looked kind of like her or if it was just the chemistry that came with knowing for someone for so long. For some reason, she wondered if this is what people saw when looking at her and Jack.