Avoiding Responsibility (Avoiding 2)

Indifference to it all. Ramsey. Jack. Bekah. Parker. It could all wait until the end of the week. She had made a promise to endure the week for him, and she wouldn't go back on it.

A collection of round tables were placed around the back room they entered with a rectangular table at the front of the room. A large projection screen had been fitted on the wall behind the table. The screen was white with navy blue lettering displaying:

Rehearsal Dinner

In Honor of the Union Between

Jack Harrison Howard

and

Rebekah Caroline Bridges

Saturday, August 8th

Somehow seeing those words together made it all seem much more real. Lexi had never seen the save the date or the invitation for the wedding. She had never witnessed their names joined together in such a ceremonial fashion.

She didn't stop and gape or gag or feel revulsion at the sight before her. All things she would have felt previously, but somehow they felt unimportant at the moment. In the end, she was sure they would get what was coming to them, but tonight she could only manage indifference and hope it passed, however terribly, for acceptance for what would transpire the next afternoon.

"Are you ready?" Ramsey whispered his lips barely moving as he stared down upon her. Lexi gave a slight nod and allowed Ramsey to continue forward to their assigned seats. Each table was intricately detailed with tiny silver plaques engraved with the guests name on it in scrawling calligraphy.

Lexi's chair rested next to Ramsey's near the front of the room. She didn't fail to notice that she had been stuffed into a corner or that Parker's name was scribbled on the nameplate on the other side of Ramsey or that the next closest person to her was an old relative on the bride's side who appeared to be senile. Still she took her seat calmly and willingly hoping that a lack of disruption would make this night conclude quicker.

"I'm going to go check on my sister," Ramsey said brushing the top of her hand before departing the room. He had effectively deposited her at her seat and disappeared. So much for a fun evening.

Lexi sat in her corner as the room filled with friends and relatives of the couple. She was happy to supervise and people watch the interactions before her. She had been to a number of weddings. She had even been the maid of honor at Olivia's wedding straight out of college. As her best friend, Lexi had arranged everything for her, done everything for her.

And yet, this was nothing like anything she had witnessed previously. Everything about what was taking place between Bekah's guests and Jack's seemed forced and strained. Lexi wasn't sure what was the real premise for this, but she assumed it had something to do with Jack marrying into such exorbitant wealth. The meeting of the families and friends seemed practically humorous especially to someone who knew the couple as well as she did. Or perhaps she saw what she expected to see.

Jack's family wasn't poor by anyone's standards, but they clearly didn't have the money that the Bridges' were accustomed to. His family simply wasn't as…polished as Bekah's family. Her parents were still happily married…well happily is a matter of opinion. They had two children: one boy and one girl…and a partridge in a pear tree.

Jack on the other hand has two older brothers – ten and fifteen years older than him. Both are from a previous marriage on his father's side, and both are married with several rambunctious children running around the room in circles…screaming. Most people would have found this adorable, but all Lexi can guess from the whispering of Bekah's relatives is that children are supposed to be kept separate from the party festivities.

Not only this, but his parents are divorced. And despite the fact that nearly 50% of marriages now end in divorce, it appears that this is completely unheard of. For some reason, Lexi is reminded of the reaction the Brits must have felt at King Henry VIII breaking with the Catholic Church to cast aside his wife and take up with Anne Boleyn. The disgrace and shame that the old woman sitting next to Lexi spoke of, even in her senile state, is practically medieval by modern day standards.

Still Lexi held back the smirks and snide remarks that she could have easily snapped at them. She knew things about Jack and his family that would made their heads spin if revealed. She was one of his oldest friends, and even though she hated admitting it, she would have preferred to defend him in this scenario. It's not his fault that his parents were both previously married with children before getting together. It's not his fault that they then got divorced when he was in high school. These are choices of his parents, not him. None of this was what he chose. And if they really wanted to sink him, they need look no further than to what he had done in his time. Clearly none of that had been revealed. Bekah's father surely wouldn't allow her to marry a philanderer.

No. What she could say would hurt him far more than his family's misgivings. Yet, she remained seated watching and listening to the whispers and side-long glances between the two families. What was occurring was entertaining enough in its own right. Lexi pointing it out or even pushing it over the edge would only ruin her own perverse pleasure in the circumstances.

Seth and Sandy's entrance was the first thing that pulled Lexi out of her trance. She couldn't exactly deny that seeing the two of them gave her great pleasure. Seth was Jack's best man and lifelong best friend. They had grown up together long before they had been college roommates. And Lexi had known the best man longer than even his wife had.

Lexi's appearance at the rehearsal dinner didn't seem to faze Seth as he strode across the room to greet her. She knew not whether he had been warned of her presence or could just simply pick her out of a crowd, but his stride was undeterred. "Lexi love," he crowed arms outstretched as he swaggered towards her.

She scooted her chair back and stood. The appearance of Jack's oldest friend made her smile blossom as visions of his beach house burst into her mind. "Seth," she murmured against his chest as she leaned into his hug, "it's so good to see you again."

"You look f**king gorgeous," he said with a low whistle pulling back to examine her body.

She smiled coyly as if she hadn't put in the effort to get ready. "Thanks," she replied though her eyes remained guarded.

"You know I'd love to be the one tearing that dress off of you later," he said nudging her shoulder.

Lexi rolled her eyes realizing how little men actually changed. "Tell that to your wife."