Avoiding Commitment (Avoiding 1)

"Probably only about ten maybe fifteen minutes," he answered her.

She rested back into his comfortable champagne colored seat and felt her phone buzz next to her in her purse. She extracted the old thing and checked the text message.

"You busy?"

Lexi sighed heavily as she stared at the words on her screen. She hadn't exactly been expecting a text message from Jack, and she didn't want to dampen her mood with thoughts of him. She closed the phone and placed it back in its position.

"What's up?" Ramsey asked curiosity getting the best of him.

"Um…oh…nothing," she answered not wanting to address the situation with him. So far it seemed that he knew little of what had happened with her and Jack and why she was in Atlanta in the first place. If at all possible, she would really like to keep it that way. Jack had a funny way of ruining every relationship she'd ever been in. Even though she had no thoughts of that for Ramsey, she wasn't going to risk anything just yet.

Lexi heard her phone buzz again and annoyed stared down at the message. "Lex?"

She really did not want to deal with him right now so she quickly shoved the phone deeper in her purse. Hopefully, she wouldn't be able to know if he messaged her again.

As they neared their destination, they listened to whatever was playing on the radio at that particular time. Neither of them really minding what was coming through the top 40 station at that moment. Realization began to dawn on her as stared out at the horizon, but she shook her head in disbelief.

No, he couldn't be taking her there. She hadn't been there since she was a kid. Beyond that fact, it wasn't exactly a place to take your date. She had always gone there with family or church groups. More a place for group entertainment, then dating. Not that she was honestly looking for the normal sort of dating from Ramsey. She had only been thinking a short while ago that she was relieved he hadn't taken her to some special five star dinner, but this was really about as far from that as a person could get.

Ramsey liked the fact that she hadn't instantly complained when he had seen her recognize what lay before them. Any other girl would have crinkled up their nose, and demanded something a bit more extravagant…and bit more expensive. Her only reaction had been surprise. Perhaps, if luck were with him, even pleasant surprise. Generally, he considered himself to be a relatively good judge of character. Though this endeavor had been a risk, he thought she would be worth risking it on. If she hadn't cared about the finer things before, then she certainly wouldn't care about how this planned out. Even if he had pulled out some stops along the way. After all he did have money, so he had planned on using some of it.

He reached the gate and handed over a wad of cash to the eighty-something year old attendant and breezed his Mercedes into the establishment. They took the winding road past rows and rows of pine trees until they reached a valet parking lot at the front entrance.

Lexi glanced around in awe and wonder at Stone Mountain. Her eyes focused in on the giant mural that had been hand-carved into the rock during the Civil War as a testament to their faith in the Confederacy. She felt like a speck next to the giant mountain that tourists from all over came to climb and enjoy the surrounding park which consisted of camping grounds, a water park, train station, and over the summer an amazing laser show. This was the last place she had expected Ramsey to take her. For some reason, that made it all the better. Surprisingly enough, he didn't think that he needed all of his wealth to impress her, and he was right. At this moment, she was impressed.

She flattened out her green spaghetti strap dress she had worn for the occasion and silently thanked God that she had decided on brown thong sandals instead of her heels. Ramsey jogged around the car and directed her towards the stone pathway that led to the lawn that was normally reserved for the laser show. She let her eyes leave her surroundings long enough to glance a look at her date for the evening. He wore a nicely cut polo that matched the green shade of his eyes and fitted khaki pants paired with Rainbow sandals. She liked his casual attire, and wished she had paid more attention before. She might have realized that they wouldn't be going to some extravagant place had she recognized his flip-flops before this moment. She chided herself for her lack of awareness. She needed to stay on her toes.

"I hope you're hungry," he said winking at her as they walked around the corner and down another path that opened up to the main lawn.

"Starving, actually," she admitted cringing at how that sounded.

He smiled at her bluntness. Yet another feature that he was starting to like about her. "Good. We have a banquet."

When they reached the grass, they trekked forward through a line of people. Apparently, everyone was setting up for the laser show. It was the last week before school officially started for the public schools in the area which generally brought out more spectators than any week except Memorial Weekend and Fourth of July. Lexi had no idea how they were going to find a quiet place to sit and eat after arriving so late for the show.

She should have suspected something was up when a large opening in the crowd appeared before her. Her mouth dropped open when she noticed the display before her. Ramsey had apparently called ahead and had the area cleared specifically for them. A large quilted blanket, much like the ones she slept with back in Manhattan, covered a ten by ten space on the lawn. A giant wicker picnic basket sat at the center of the roped off expanse and a cooler directly next to it. It was the most ideal location for watching the show. He must have done all this hours earlier. A grin broke out across her face.

"Is this the kind of treatment you reserve for all your dates?" she asked sitting down on the massive blanket.

Ramsey smiled brightly at her, still standing. "Not exactly," he admitted.

Lexi had just been joking not really expecting him to give her an answer. Though, she wasn't sure if he was telling the truth anyway. It could just be a line like any other. She really couldn't picture the type of women she had seen at his party the night before being happy with an outdoors picnic and laser show as their first date. She shook her head realizing that she was overanalyzing. Who cares if he didn't normally take girls on dates here? She didn't particularly want to be on a date with him anyway. But since she was here she figured she might as well enjoy herself.

Luckily, he had learned his lesson and sat on the opposite side of the blanket from her giving her a wide berth. He was always so up in her face and it really just brought out the worst in her.