Avoiding Temptation (Avoiding 3)

“What?” she snapped, her hand flying to her mouth in disbelief. “What do you mean?”

Lexi walked over to the couch and leaned against it. She still couldn’t believe that this had happened, and retelling the story would make it feel more real. “Ramsey’s dad hired Global to work on the medical wing to get it completed within a year. They brought in a partner, and John is working with her,” Lexi explained.

“Oh my God,” Chyna crooned exaggeratedly, finally sounding like the old Chyna. “How the hell do you get into these kinds of situations?”

“I wish I knew,” Lexi said lightly. “So, um…Ramsey met John—the day after we walked out of the wedding, right after he’d found out I slept with John.”

“Oh f**k, Alexa. That’s bad luck.”

“Really bad luck.” Lexi couldn’t agree more.

“Anyway, when I saw John, I ended up talking to him privately for a few minutes. I told him what I just told you. I told him it was over. And he said, since we’re both going to be back in New York by the end of the week, we should meet over dinner and talk about it.” Lexi thought the abbreviated version of that story was probably best in this scenario. “So, I’m doing that. We’re meeting to talk, but I’m just going to tell him it’s over. It never was much—”

“Where are you going to dinner?” Chyna licked her lips and crossed her arms again.

Lexi breathed out heavily. It was clear Chyna didn’t like the idea of Lexi going to dinner with him. She had really hoped that Chyna wouldn’t have asked about dinner plans though. That was the worst question Chyna could have asked her. If she were upset at the prospect of dinner, she wouldn’t be any happier knowing where.

“Um…” Lexi stammered. “I, uh…” she hesitated, playing for time. She did not want this to go where it was already headed. She knew Chyna was going to be pissed-off.

“Lexi, where are you going?” Chyna suspiciously narrowed her eyes.

“Um…we’re going to Daniel,” Lexi whispered.

“You’re going on a date!” Chyna said, shock written all over her face.

“No, I’m not going on a date.”

“You’re going on a date. Alexa, you’re going on a date. I just can’t f**king believe you. You got back together with Ramsey. You let Jack get married to that whore. And you’re risking everything by going on a date with John?”

“I’m not risking anything because I’m not going on a date. I swear! It’s not a date.”

“You don’t go to a restaurant where it’s a hundred dollars a plate if it’s not a date. You just don’t. So, you should think about that. I just…I think maybe you should leave,” she said softly.

“Chyna…come on. I don’t want us to be broken. You’re the only thing in my life that hasn’t been!”

“Alexa, I just need…time. I don’t know. I don’t know what to tell you. I need time to think about it. It feels like a deception…” Chyna said, trailing off and looking out across the apartment. “I have some things I want to talk to you about, but I guess I need some time to think about all of this.”

“Okay,” Lexi said with a sigh. It was pretty clear she wasn’t going to get anywhere with Chyna today. “I guess I’ll go. Tell Adam I said hi.”

“I will. Have fun on your date.”

“Chyna, it’s not a date!”

“If it wasn’t a date, then you wouldn’t be going to Daniel,” Chyna repeated. “Also, why are you going to dinner with him? Dinner, really? Couldn’t you just meet him for coffee to tell him to f**k off? Like, it’s really easy. Oh, I like my friends better than you, so f**k off. Right? No, you’re not doing that! You’re going to a hundred-dollar dinner and letting him woo you.”

“What would you do, Chyna?” Lexi snapped. She was not letting him woo her!

“I would not do that!”

“And what? You would lay out your best friend’s dirty laundry to a room full of people instead? You’d totally break girl code and rat on me when there was obviously a reason I didn’t tell anyone that Jack and I had slept together at his birthday party because…right, I should be better than that.”

“I broke girl code? You slept with John! After you knew how I felt about him.”

“How exactly do you feel about him, C? Because you’re acting like I stole your boyfriend,” Lexi snapped.

“Don’t even. You know he was an ass to me and then caused the breakup.”

“But now, you’re fine! And John is not bothering you anymore. I’m not happy that you told everyone about what had happened with Jack that night, but I’m willing to get over it!”

“Then, get over it. You’re always hiding things. If you just communicated with everyone else, then this wouldn’t even be a problem.”

“All right, whatever,” Lexi said in frustration. “I can’t be you. I can only be me, so I just hope you’ll forgive me.”

She looked at Chyna deliberately before turning on her heel and walking out. Lexi closed the door behind her before she let the tears come. She couldn’t lose her best friend over this. She just couldn’t…

It wasn’t a date.

It definitely was not a date.

There was no way she was going on a date with John—but that didn’t explain why she had taken a lot of time to pull the straightener through her long hair, making it silky smooth, or why she had carefully applied the makeup she didn’t normally wear, or why she had found a dress that had once belonged to Chyna that had somehow made it into Lexi’s closet with the price tags still on it.

Well, she had to still look the part. She had to still look like she was going to Daniel. They weren’t going to let her in if she was in an oversized T-shirt, running shorts, and tennis shoes. That was why she had put on her favorite pair of Manolos that Chyna had given her. There was no other reason—whatsoever.

It wasn’t a date. That was obvious.

Lexi shook off her worries and finally left her apartment. She wanted to think it didn’t matter what she looked like, but it did. It wasn’t about the dress code. It mattered to her. She had to tell John it was over, but still, a part of her wanted to look nice for him.