Avoiding Responsibility (Avoiding 2)

Lexi unhooked the hanger from the metal rod it had been resting on. Her hand rubbed gently against the red silky material. She smiled softly to herself and wondered how she had never seen Chyna wear this before. When she flipped the dress around to closer examine the front, Lexi got her answer. A black rectangular price tag still hung from the dress. Lexi gaped at the price. She didn't think she would ever get used to seeing price tags in the three, four, or even five digit range for one garment…especially not something to just throw in the closet and never wear.

"You've never worn this?" Lexi asked her voice unable to believe it.

A sly smile crept up on her face at Lexi's reaction. "Do you like it?"

"Like it?" Lexi groaned. "I love it. How could you never wear this?"

"Because it doesn't belong to me," she said airily.

"Then what's it doing in your closet?" Lexi eyed her suspiciously.

"It belongs to you," Chyna told her, immediately putting her hands behind her back to keep Lexi from giving it back to her. She knew that Lexi hated accepting gifts for anything except her birthday and Christmas, but when she had seen it on the rack, Chyna had been unable to control herself.

"Really?" Lexi asked pressing the material to her chest and looking at herself in the full-length mirror. Nearly dropping the dress, Lexi rushed forward and crushed Chyna with surprising force for a simple hug. "You're the best."

"You're not going to fight me on this?" Chyna asked skeptically.

"I can't believe you left the price tag on," Lexi scolded her, "but no I'm going to keep it."

"Finally, you've come to your senses," Chyna teased.

A short while later Lexi was all zipped into the strapless dress. The deep, crimson red focused your eyes to the curves of her br**sts and hips. Her brown hair had been tamed for the night into neat loose curls that just brushed over her shoulders. Her side-swept bangs fell into her eyes whenever she made too sudden of a movement, but the overall effect was seductive. Light makeup completed the look with a dark shimmer gloss coating her full lips.

The time and effort put in paid off when Ramsey's eyes lit up at the sight of her. Lexi knew him well enough to know that she could have showed up in a black trash bag and he would have thought her beautiful. However, the shock and awe that followed her entrance proved that he fully approved of what he saw.

With a long hug and a light kiss on the cheek, Ramsey escorted her to a waiting cab. They were dropped off at a restaurant that they had been to before, and as Lexi crossed the threshold she got a sick feeling of déjà vu. Her heart pumped wildly as they were seated at the same table in the same place and probably ordered the same food. She wasn't sure what about the experience was making her body kick into over drive. Something had just overtaken her body and paralyzed her in place. She realized that she had been staring forward into Ramsey's concerned face for a full minute without speaking…or really seeing.

"Are you alright?" he asked reaching across the small table and taking one of her clenched fists.

"Oh," she gasped taking in a huge gulp of fresh air. "I'm sorry. I just spaced out."

He smiled knowing that she was lying. He could always tell. "Should we have gone somewhere else?" he asked intuitively.

"No, I love this place," she said visibly relaxing to his words. He hadn't done this on purpose. He wasn't trying to put her on edge. If anything, he had probably brought her here to make her comfortable, to keep her around the familiar. She was just making something out of nothing.

Ramsey leaned forward his voice lowering compassionately. "You look like your dog just died," he said a smile spreading across his face.

Lexi giggled despite the depressing image that filled her mind. "I do not!"

"There that's better," he said congratulating himself as he leaned his back against the chair once more. "You're smile lights up the room."

Lexi smiled even bigger at the compliment. She had forgotten how much she had missed his presence in her life. A month's time wasn't all that long to be away from each other, but she had been attempting to block him out the whole time. Now, when she looked at him, everything came rushing back to her. Every second they had spent together, every laugh and smile, every tear and moment of pain. She coughed uncomfortably at the wave of emotions. She reached for the glass of wine placed before her and took a large gulp.

Yeah, alcohol was exactly what she needed.

"Woah there," he said seeing her discomfort, but knowing alcohol really was not the answer. He, of all people, knew what she was like when she got drunk. With the evening still young, he wanted to wait as long as possible before it got to that point. "We haven't even gotten our food yet."

She took one last swallow and placed the glass back on the table giving him a falsely apologetic smile. She had taken too many trips down memory lane today leaving her heart exposed. It wasn't a feeling that she liked to accustom herself. Vulnerability hurt too much.

"I'm really glad you called. I wanted to so many times, but I knew you needed your time. I felt that if I stepped in too soon you'd just hate me even more. I'd understand if you did hate me more. I kind of hate me," he blabbered on.

Lexi smiled at his adorable habit of rambling whenever he was nervous. It was completely out of step with everything else in his personality, and thus, Lexi loved it even more. His apologies were long winded and sometimes completely incoherent. That was the way she knew that they were genuine.

"Can we not?" she asked quietly, hating reliving anymore of her past. Seeing him was enough self-induced pain that thinking about the other stuff was threatening to make her nauseous.

He looked up from his wine and into her wide-eyed expression. "Of course," he said taking in the way her supple bottom lip stuck out just a little bit farther than normal. The way her hand reached up involuntarily to tuck a lock of hair behind her hair as a nervous habit. The way her eyes traveled up to the right as if she were remembering past events. She looked utterly beautiful and he didn't know how he had ever been able to tear his eyes from her face…or make that beautiful face ever look so sad.

"There is something I wanted to talk to you about," he murmured diverting his eyes from her beautiful face.

Lexi looked at him suspiciously. She wasn't sure what this was about, but by the look on his face she was pretty sure she didn't want to know. "What about?" she asked cautiously, her curiosity getting the better of her.