Avoiding Commitment (Avoiding 1)

After standing silently in the den and verifying that there weren't any lingering individuals awake, Jack kissed Lexi briefly on the mouth and then pushed her towards the bedroom. She surreptitiously entered the room to find Sandy snoring into the pink comforter. After she changed clothes, she crawled into bed and let her mind wander to the amazing night she had just had, and how close they had been to letting the cat out of the bag.

Just before slumber took her, she couldn't help wondering what was going to happen in the morning. She had no idea what their relationships would be like after what they had done tonight.

She knew one thing though: nothing would ever be the same.

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My excellent reviewers include: Cupid's Psyche, ForeverWasteAway, misatok123, and kikichaka! Thanks guys you are awesome!

K.A. Linde

Beer Goggles

On and on, reckless abandon

Something's wrong, this is gonna shock them

Nothing to hold on to

We'll use this song to lead you on

And break the truth with more bad news

we left a scar, size extra large

- Blink 182 "Reckless Abandon"

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Chapter 11: Present

The balcony was spinning.

Lexi was almost certain that the balcony was spinning. She could feel it through her entire body. She was being swept up and away as if she was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. Her feet were lifting off the ground. Or wait were her feet on the ground at all?

No, something was off. She couldn't actually be lifting off the ground. Her conscious told her that things like that didn't actually happen to people. Then why did she feel like she was spinning?

Then she remembered where she was. Ramsey's sweet lips were covering her mouth. He was kissing her. She felt her mouth moving against his automatically. He tasted good. Surprisingly he didn't taste like liquor though. He tasted of peppermints. God, she could keep kissing him all night with how good he tasted. She felt his tongue caress her body lip sending a shiver through her body. A low moan escaped her, and he reacted with more enthusiasm. He held tight against his body, and she could feel the rippling muscles in his chest pressed to her. Her mind was whirling a million miles a minute. Yet, there was something she was missing.

Party. Shots. Dancing. Balcony. Ramsey. Kissing. She couldn't put her finger on it. There was something else she should remember.

Ramsey pulled back from her mouth to catch his breath. She gulped in two healing breaths attempting to clear her foggy head. He smiled at her sweetly and rubbed his thumb back and forth against her jaw line. It was a pleasant sensation, and Lexi's thought process ceased again. She let him kiss her some more enjoying the tender emotions he was portraying with every touch. When he pulled back this time, her mind began to clear and she knew what she was forgetting.

Blue eyes.

Bright blue eyes staring at her from the balcony window. She could pick out those eyes anywhere. She shivered unintentionally as the spinning stopped. Everything came to a standstill as the realization hit her inebriated mind. Jack had seen her kissing Ramsey.

Oh God! Suddenly, a wave of nausea hit her harder than before, and she thought at any moment she might vomit. The last thing she had wanted was for Jack to see her with Ramsey. She hadn't even meant to kiss Ramsey! She certainly didn't like Ramsey.

In fact, he annoyed her. Sure he had been there for her moment of weakness, but that didn't mean she liked him. And that certainly didn't mean she wanted Jack to think she was whoring herself out when she was supposed to be visiting him. Not that he had been quite as kind earlier in the evening.

She quickly covered her mouth the dizziness returning. She would not throw up. How humiliating would that be?

"Are you alright?" Ramsey asked concern apparent in his voice. He had just seen her near to tears; there was no way she was going to throw up in front of him. Vulnerability wasn't exactly high on her list of things she liked to show in front of complete strangers. Especially not ones she had just been making out with.

"Fine, thank you," she said hopping down off of the railing and avoiding his gaze. That was quite enough of the affectionate stuff for her today. She would much rather close herself back off. It seemed to work better. It also usually kept her from making out with random guys while her sorta-non-ex-boyfriend was watching. Ugh. She cringed just thinking about it.

As she turned to walk back into his apartment, she found herself wobbling and weaving. She didn't remember drinking quite enough to make her feel so out of control, but perhaps that sexy kiss had something to do with that. No, she wasn't supposed to think about Ramsey's delicious peppermint kisses. That would just get her drunk ass in trouble. And really how much worse could she make her situation?

Just then, her favorite pair of black alligator skin stilettos caught on a nook in one of the wooden planks and sent her toppling to the ground. Ramsey was instantly at her side. Just before she met disaster, he swooped her up into his arms, and cradled her body in a gesture that strongly resembled a tango dip. Her cheeks were burning from a combination of mortified embarrassment, relief, and the fact that he was holding her in such an intimate position. She sucked in a few calming breaths, her eyes remaining locked into his emerald orbs. They were beautiful with flecks of gold spiraling away from the onyx pupils. And how had she missed that he smelled kind of like peppermints too? Peppermints mixed with something uniquely his own. Whatever it was, it was damn addictive. And maybe that was just her damsel-in-distress intoxicated view of the world, but he really was unbelievably good looking. Oh and look, his lips were so close once again.

She smiled coyly almost challenging him. He seemed to take that as confirmation that he could close off lines of communication again, and bent his head down to meet her waiting lips. Lexi was overwhelmed with his touch this time. Apparently, her challenging look had changed his mood, because now he was kissing her with fury and reckless abandon. It was invigorating.

Just as their tongues began to move against each other the back door spun open wide nearly knocking Lexi in the head. Ramsey popped his head up towards the door in surprise, and came close to losing his balance with Lexi in his arms at the unexpected interruption. Lexi let her head loll backwards to get a look at the intruder. Striking blue eyes filled with venom met her own eyes, and she shivered at the sheer amount of malice he was sending off in waves. Ramsey quickly righted her placing a steadying arm across her shoulders. She gulped.

Jack.