Avoiding Responsibility (Avoiding 2)

"What a cute coffee shop," Amber drawled staring into the glass-paned store front.

Lexi's breath caught as she stared through the front window. The same wooden tables were spattered throughout the room. The old comfy chairs and sunken couches had been replaced and booths were erected along the back wall. The fireplace was all closed up patiently awaiting the winter months. Any green reading lamps, which had once adorned tables, were nowhere in sight. Instead, several standing lamps were distributed around the room. Despite these differences, it still looked the same...it looked like home.

"Wow," Lexi breathed.

"Yeah, I think Jack used to work at a coffee shop somewhere downtown during college," Bekah said looking around to see if there were any other cafes nearby.

"How quaint," Kersey responded inching away from the place. She was obviously more of a Starbucks type.

"Jason's Coffee Shop," Amber muttered. "We'll have to see you in the morning."

"Wait Jason's?" Lexi asked nearly falling over herself to look up at the sign.

"Yeah why?" Amber questioned looking at Lexi strangely.

"This isn't Jason's," she murmured.

"It says so right here," Bekah pointed out.

"But it's been Corner Cafe forever," she moaned. "How could it be Jason's?"

"That's just business honey," Amber told her patting her on the arm tentatively.

"Did you used to come here a lot?" Maddie asked interpreting her overreaction.

Lexi stopped and looked at the four girls before her. How could she even begin to explain? It didn't even really make sense to her. A small part of her wanted Corner Cafe to still be there. It had to to still be there. It was the only part of the Jack she had once known that she had left. Without even this was he still out there?

She knew it was irrational to even contemplate him in this manor. After everything he had done to her, she shouldn't care for him with one bone in her body. But she knew him better, no, unlike anyone else in the world. She knew what he had been to begin with. She knew how sweet, kind, and caring he had once been. She knew him before he had hardened to the outside world, and before Bekah had used that hardness to her advantage and turned him cold.

But now even Corner was gone. The place they met. The place they spent hours together. The place it all started.

Without this place, she would have been someone else. She would have never met Jack Howard. She would have never led the life that she had lived. So on one hand, she was terribly sad to see the place go. Jack had meant so much to her for so long and it had all started right here...at that table.

But still she was happy. Perhaps this was just another way to close a chapter. If even their beginning together no longer existed, then as much as she had been pushing away from him...maybe this was good. The Jack that worked at this coffee shop no longer existed. It was only fitting that it also be closed...renamed...changed.

"Lexi?" Maddie asked waving her hands in front of her face.

"Uh yeah?" she asked snapping out of it.

"I asked if you used to come here a lot," Maddie told her.

"Right. Yeah sometimes," she said eyeing her study table through the glass.

"Is this where Jack worked?" Bekah asked pursing her lips. Her expression showed she was judging the establishment.

"No another friend of mine did," she stated wearily. "He moved away though and now is a really different person..."

* * *

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K.A. Linde

Surprise, Surprise

When you want it the most there's no easy way out

When you're ready to go and your heart's left in doubt

Don't give up on your faith

Love comes to those who believe it

And that's the way it is

-Celine Dion "That's The Way It Is"

* * *

Chapter 16:May Three Months Earlier

"Yes I'm sure I'm making the right decision," Lexi said into the cell phone just as the taxi pulled over onto the curb. "You've tried to convince me not to leave New York since I got the summer associate position."

"Why would I want my best friend to leave me when she's finally out of school?" Chyna pouted.

"I don't expect you to want me to leave, but I would like you to be happy for me," Lexi said opening her purse and pulling out cash. "Keep the change," she said to the cabbie as she popped open the door and stepped out.

"I'm happy for you darling. You're going to make a fortune which will be a nice change to you making nothing. I'm just going to miss my bestie. Perhaps I'm a little selfish," Chyna said adding a giggle in for good effect.

"You selfish? No," Lexi gasped sarcastically.

"Oh shut it!"

Lexi walked around to the back of the car and pulled open the trunk. "Well you'll have to come visit."

Chyna scoffed. "If I'm flying that far south, then I'm going to the Caribbean."

"Well make a pit stop and take me with you," Lexi told her lugging her bags out of the trunk and depositing them on the sidewalk. She stared down at the two bags before her. It didn't seem like enough for the next two months…maybe three if she worked her ass off. Her roommate, Rachelle, swore that she would mail her anything else she needed, but Lexi wasn't going to count on it. And anyway, she was going to be in California in less than three weeks. So if Lexi forgot something now, she would just have to do without it. Not to mention, the only other person who had a key to her place, Chyna was going to Milan for much of the summer for a photo shoot. Lexi couldn't be more jealous.

Lexi shuffled the bags to the foot of the stairs and decided that she would move them upstairs once she got the door open. No use hurting her back in the process. She figured the law firm she would be working for all summer would do enough damage.