Avoiding Responsibility (Avoiding 2)

Her eyes traveled back to Lexi examining her closely before answering. "Don't you date Ramsey Bridges?" Kace asked an accusatory inflection in her voice.

Lexi smiled brightly at the mention of her boyfriend. Just thought of him made her burst with excitement. She was certain that much was evident on her face. "Yeah I do."

"Uh huh," Kace replied glancing conspiratorially between the two.

Lexi knew that this looked bad. She had clearly walked in on something unintentionally and now was just making the situation look worse. Brandon was a known womanizer. Lexi had heard just such information straight out of Kace's mouth one time. She knew the suspicions were likely warranted on Brandon's end. Luckily no one knew anything about her or else the suspicions would be even more heightened.

Brandon cursed himself for the interruption. This scene wouldn't play out well if it got out that he had been seen alone with either woman. Ramsey already had a vendetta against him, and Kace worked in the top office. Any information leak would be damaging to that promotion he was so looking forward to.

"Well Kace it's been nice…as always," Brandon said attempting damage control. "We can finish what we started later yes?"

"You're kicking me out?" she gasped in surprise. Her light brown eyes widened in surprise and her mouth popped open slightly.

Lexi grimaced at what she had walked in on and took a hesitant step backwards. "I didn't mean to come at a bad time," she stuttered out quickly. "I can always come back later and we can discuss that paperwork then if you want." She knew her damage control sounded just as forced as his.

Brandon examined her closely. "Paperwork?" Her eyes bulged open as she attempted to signal him to shut the f**k up. "Right paperwork. Yeah you should probably come back for that."

"Not necessary," Kace interjected. "I see that our…meeting is over anyway."

"Kace," he pleaded.

"No, no, I see that you have other business to attend to," she said striding across the office and brushing past Lexi.

"It's really not like that," Lexi responded hurriedly.

Kace gave her a sad smile. "Of course not. It never is with Brandon," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"Kace," he growled grasping her elbow and yanking her towards him. She gasped as she was flung into his arms. He bent down and claimed her lips in a deep kiss. When he released her, the earlier anger in her eyes had dissipated. "I'll see you later."

"Yes. Later," she responded dreamily as she exited the office. He toed the door closed behind her and turned back to his desk.

Lexi sighed and followed him taking the unoccupied chair next to his desk. "Sorry."

"You can't call ahead of time like a normal person?" he grumbled leafing back through the papers he had been dealing with before Kace's interruption.

Lexi shrugged helplessly. "I didn't know you'd have…company."

"Assume away," he said waving a dismissive hand.

"Anyway, lunch?" she asked a bright smile crossing her face.

He sighed staring down at the stack of papers on his desk. "If I keep having lunch with you people are going to think you've put me in the friend zone," he murmured practically quoting a line out of Just Friends.

"You are in the friend zone," she said with a giggle. "You have been for a couple weeks and it's seemed to work out just fine. Anyway everyone knows that I'm living with Ramsey. You're the only one who seems not to care about that."

"I'm not the only one," he murmured. "Just the only one who will admit it." He glanced back up at her flirtatiously a smirk appearing on his lips.

Lexi shrugged again nonchalantly as if she had been through this conversation before…and she had. "Doesn't matter that you admit it. I'm still with Ramsey," she said certainly.

He set the papers aside, leaned back in his administrative chair, and stared at her. "And where is your man today?" he asked.

"He's working," she told him with a faint sigh at the end.

"Ahh," he murmured, "Too busy to take his girlfriend to lunch?"

"Stop goading me Brandon. He's not used to anyone being around. We had a long distance relationship for quite some time, and he can't just quit his job to have lunch with me every day. Since you work a 9to5, you have no trouble in being constantly available especially since you don't have a girlfriend."

"I would if you would let me take someone else to lunch," he spat back playfully.

"You know there's nowhere else you'd rather be," she said. "So come on. I want sushi today and it's your turn to pay."

"Fine," he grumbled only half frustrated by the situation.

The two had managed to develop quite a friendship just as Lexi had predicted that night out on Ramsey's balcony. Brandon, of course, never failed to shamelessly flirt and throw himself at Lexi, but she easily deflected his advances. They had an easy banter, and found that they had more in common than originally anticipated. When they both let their guards down, they found that they really enjoyed each other's company. He wasn't exactly a substitute for Chyna, for no one could really replace her best friend, but he was a nice change in the mean time.

Ramsey didn't approve of the relationship as he had made clear time and time again. But with Ramsey's continual absence, Lexi had to find a way to kill time outside of her job. He wasn't always around when she was at home, but the time they spent together was cherished by both. Lexi was certain that the decision to move in with him had been an accurate one at this point. Even though he was so busy, it was better to have the couple hours a week together then to have the distance to separate them.

Lexi paused in the doorway as her cell phone jingled in her purse. "Sorry," she mumbled fumbling with the latch on her purse. "Mom, hey, it's not the best time. I'm about to go to lunch," Lexi spoke quickly into her phone. The sobbing that penetrated through the receiver stopped Lexi in her tracks. "Mom, are you alright? Is everything alright? What happened? Calm down. Calm down. Tell me what happened," Lexi spoke urgently her heart beating out of her chest with fear. Panic gripped her and she latched onto Brandon as he approached. Upon seeing her stricken face, he ushered her back into his office.