Avoiding Commitment (Avoiding 1)

"I knew you had it in you," Chyna said sliding on a pair of brown strappy Jimmy Choo sandals and exiting the closet. "Now go make that phone call while I do my hair and makeup."

Lexi gulped as Chyna walked into her bathroom, likely not to surface for another thirty minutes, at least. She'd agreed to do it; now she just had to calm herself down enough to call him. Her palms felt slick with sweat as she sat down at the mahogany writing desk and pulled her phone out of her black designer handbag. She hesitantly flipped it open and scrolled through the address book. Lexi was thankful, at least, that she had added his number to her phone this morning instead of erasing it from her memory forever, when she landed on his name: Jack Howard.

Finally, she worked up the courage to press the button, then immediately hung up. Her hands were shaking so furiously that she nearly dropped the phone when she pulled it open again. Taking a few breaths to try to calm herself down, she finally punched the send button again. Listening to the number ring through twice nearly unnerved her. Finally, the line clicked over.

"Lex," Jack said with surprise evident in his voice. "I didn't expect to hear from you again."

"You implied," she began her voice cracking slightly with the effort of keeping calm, "that I could call you."

"Sure. I said you could call me. I just never thought you actually would."

"Yeah, I'm full of surprises," she said trying to play off her apprehension.

"Always were," he said quietly.

Lexi sighed before venturing forward. "My internship ends in two weeks. I will probably be coming to Atlanta to see my parents sometime after that. So I guess…what I'm saying is…that I'll do it. I'll come see you," she paused before allowing the last part of her sentence to roll off her tongue, "and meet your girlfriend."

* * *

K.A. Linde

Coffee For Two

And I'm a bad boy cause I dont even miss her

I'm a bad boy for breakin her heart

And I'm free, free fallin

Yeah I'm free, free fallin

- Tom Petty "Free Falling"

* * *

Chapter 2: Early September Six Years Earlier

After first arriving at the university only a month earlier, Lexi's resident's assistant distributed a directory listing local restaurants, clubs, bars, and an array of study nooks for the incoming freshman. Nearly every other girl on her hall tossed the packet into the garbage on their way out the door, but Lexi held onto it hoping that it would reveal something worthwhile in this mysterious new city. She investigated a handful of study locations on the list while writing papers at the beginning of the semester. She found them all radically disappointing. When she came across a particular coffee shop on the list, she instantly fell in love. The coffee shop itself was nothing spectacular. To be honest, it was on the small side, especially for a college town. The rich aroma of freshly ground coffee beans engulfed her nostrils as soon as she set foot in the dimly lit shop. Twenty unmatched tables were tightly pushed together with just enough room to squeeze through. Green filtered lamps sat atop each table casting a pleasant emerald glow upon the customers. Counter space was nearly impossible to acquire. As the winter months slowly approached, a roaring fire crackled in a corner fireplace. Cushioned green lounge chairs were scattered haphazardly against the walls and aimlessly surrounding the fireplace. If one's desired study space was quiet with an overabundant amount of room to sprawl out, then this coffee shop was not the ideal place. On any given day, every table was constantly occupied with students and professors discussing anything from nuclear physics to Aristotelian philosophy to Freudian psychology. After spending a few late nights within this warm cozy place, Lexi laid claim to one of the tables adjacent to the fire facing the counter. She had chosen that particular table specifically for the instances when he was working.

At first, she hadn't even noticed him. But the longer she visited, the more often she crossed paths with him, until she could almost predict when he would be working. Her friends, who preferred to study at the university learning center, continually attempted to cajole her out of the coffee shop. None of them could understand why she would want to work in this loud, crowded, inadvertently lit space and a feeble wireless internet connection. When they asked her why she never wanted to leave, she gave them the lame excuse of enjoying the atmosphere. After finally using up all of her false justifications, they finally weaseled it out of her. Him. Why go to the university learning center when you could have something nice to look at when you needed a break?

Having finally explained just how attractive this guy was to her friend, Lexi found herself sitting in her usual seat with Olivia for company. She had been pretty sure that he would be working. Though, that was something she had refrained from confessing. "Well...what do you think?" Lexi asked flipping through her Philosophy 1001 class notes, and skimming through the lecture on Empiricists.

"You're right. He is pretty hot," Olivia confirmed, running her fingers through her bleached blonde pixie cut letting the tiny strands of hair fall effortlessly back into place.

"I meant about Locke."

"He's dead right?" Olivia asked.

Lexi rolled her eyes. "No, I mean...what's his idea about knowledge?" she asked trying hard not to glance up at him while Olivia blatantly ogled the eye candy.

"Honestly, I don't care. I hate this stuff. I might just drop the class altogether. I don't get it," Olivia said shrugging her shoulders at her own indecipherable notes. "Him, I can fully understand. You should give it a shot." Her smile was genuine and her brown eyes glittered with excitement.

Lexi brushed her off, feeling the weight of her gaze uncomfortably. "No, what I need to shoot for is an A on this midterm."

Olivia rolled her eyes dramatically. "Whatever, you know you're going to get an A on this midterm no matter what. Come on; don't let a hot guy just fly before your eyes without doing anything about it. Don't you want to at least meet him? Know his name?"

It was Lexi's turn to shrug. "I guess a name would be nice."

"Have you ever even had a boyfriend?" Olivia asked giggling a little at the possibility that anyone had never had a boyfriend by the time they reached college.

"Of course I've had a boyfriend," Lexi retorted defensively. "I'm just not looking for a relationship."