Avoiding Responsibility (Avoiding 2)

"See I knew I shouldn't have said anything," he said instantly regretting his actions.

"No, no it's fine," she said color beginning to return to her cheeks.

Ramsey rolled his eyes. "If you say so."

"Did you…did you talk him back into it?" she asked hesitantly not wanting to appear too eager on either side.

"I tried not to get involved, but he wouldn't let me. I told him to weigh the options and make a decision from there. He nodded along as if he had done that already, but I don't know what he's going to do. I told him that it's only a week before the wedding and that this is a normal feeling, but I've never been uh," he paused, "in this situation so I might have just been going off what people told me. But that if he thought he had been able to go through with it up until this point that he probably was just spooked."

"Yeah," she coughed to clear her throat again. "That's good advice."

"Please don't think too much into this," he begged and pleaded with her.

"Ramsey I'm not thinking into it at all," she told him giving him a smile that they both knew was fake.

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Thanks to all of my awesome reviewers! you guys mean the world to me! Cupid's Psyche, jennalizing, XxSKYxLARKxX, LeAnn, WyldeLoneStar, Chocolatecath, helena33139, sunbeam07, Ms. Vengeance, LoveAlways03, Chocoberry, and Kelly Rogala.

K.A. Linde

Whores

I'll keep you my dirty little secret,

Don't tell anyone or you`ll be just another regret,

(Just another regret, hope that you can keep it)

My dirty little secret,

Who has to know?

- All-American Rejects "Dirty Little Secret"

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Chapter 8: December Eight Months Earlier

Lexi's phone buzzed noisily as soon as she exited the airplane. She rifled around in her traveling purse filled to the brim with items she couldn't fit in her luggage. After locating it, she pressed the green button and said, "Chyna, perfect timing."

"Perfect timing?" Chyna asked. "I've been calling you for an hour. Where the hell have you been?"

Lexi chuckled. Leave it to Chyna to forget that her best friend was leaving the state for over a week to spend Christmas with her family. "I'm in Atlanta. I just landed in the airport. Remember? We had this discussion."

"No we didn't," Chyna said cattily.

"Yes, we did. I told you I would be gone a week to visit family and Ramsey," she reminded her.

"We did not have this conversation. Where were we?" she demanded.

Lexi sighed as she moved through the crowd with her carry-on bag in tow. "We were getting manicures early in the week."

"Wait was that Wednesday?"

"Yes. See I knew you'd remember."

"Oh no, I just remember the manicure," Chyna said flatly. "And I had a date that night."

"You've been having a lot of those lately" Lexi said chuckling to herself. Not that it was any different for Chyna to have a lot of dates. It was just that normally she talked about them. She hadn't said a peep about the guys she had been seeing. Lexi found it refreshing not to have to listen to her talk about how good they were in bed…or how terrible. She had been so utterly satisfied with her relationship thus far, she was sure that she was playing the bad friend role by not wanting to hear about the single life.

"Not anymore than usual," she stated a bit more defensive than normal, but Lexi brushed it off assuming it was just another Chyna drama moment.

"So what can I do for you love?"

"Well I was going to have you come over to finalize the New Years plans, but obviously we can't do that," she said annoyed.

"Not my fault. I called to see if I needed to finalize anything and you said I didn't," Lexi told her hopping on a train to take her from her terminal to the baggage claim.

"What? No you didn't," Chyna cried emphatically.

"What's with you forgetting things lately?" Lexi asked.

"I'm not forgetting things," she snapped. "I just…never got a missed call. Anyway I suppose I'll do it all myself."

"Chyna you can email me the plans, and I can look over them. I'm going to be at my parent's house the majority of the time. It's not as if it's inconvenient," Lexi told her rolling her eyes. Chyna had gotten it into her mind that she wanted to throw the most lavish New Years party ever. Lexi wasn't sure why they couldn't just go to a party that was already being thrown, but Chyna had insisted. And when Chyna insisted, it was really better to just acquiesce than to argue. So Lexi had been going over all the plans with her. She had been involved in nearly every detail since her finals had ended. She wasn't sure what else Chyna could want from her.

"Oh I guess that'll work," she agreed finally just as Lexi stepped off the train.

"Great."

"So what are you doing with Ramsey when you're there? You haven't been together in a couple weeks because of finals. Should be a," Chyna coughed as if she couldn't find the proper word, "relaxing week."

Lexi laughed loving her best friend in that moment. "Yes, it should be relaxing. However, I have no idea what he has planned," she admitted.

"Well let me know as soon as you do. I want all the gushy details."

"Of course," Lexi said standing in front of the baggage claim.

"Oh and I'm going to send you some stuff. So if you could look at that and get back to me, that would be great," Chyna said. "Gotta go. Love ya chica"

The phone died in her hands. Lexi sighed and threw the phone back in her purse. Typical Chyna. She had been even more flighty than normal lately and Lexi hadn't been able to figure it out. She didn't mind that her friend had been kind of MIA, but she was curious as to the cause.

After acquiring her black suitcase, all thoughts of Chyna left her mind. She walked through the double doors of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and let her eyes strain for the familiar, sleek, black Mercedes. She knew there were probably a bunch of them gliding past the entrance, but she was always able to pick out Ramsey's.

Her stomach filled with butterflies as she searched for the car. She had really missed him in his absence. She was honestly surprised to find how much she did miss him. He had been busy with work while she was trapped in the law library nearly twenty-four hours a day. Neither of them had had the time to really see each other. She was distressed with how close they had gotten and wondered if the distance had changed him. She knew she shouldn't think like that. Honestly, they had waited so long to even be romantically involved that she knew that it wasn't logical.