Avoiding Commitment (Avoiding 1)

For tonight, though, she needed to focus on Jack. It was his big night after all, and she needed to find out what he was actually going to be doing about Bekah. She would be leaving on Sunday for New York, and she needed a more definite answer about what they were going to be. They had talked a few times on the phone since she had fled his apartment, but she hadn't gone to visit him again. Too much temptation in one week wasn't good for her. He had respected her wishes thus far, but she wasn't going to hold her breath that it would continue.

Lexi gritted her teeth as she watched Bekah saunter across the room with a trio of other blonde-headed bimbos. "You know them?" Lexi asked Ramsey nodding her head in their direction.

"Ahh…yes. The fearsome four was what my friends used to call them in high school. They've been inseparable since then too. They all went to Duke, spent four years there, and came back to Atlanta together," he told her knocking back his drink.

The girls stood just a few feet from Lexi as they ordered drinks. She heard them giggling and then eventually began to pick out the voices from each other. She didn't glance their way, but soon learned the gist of the conversation. They were talking about a guy…Jack.

"I wish I could find one like him," a mousy voice squeaked.

"He is so handsome and charming," another girl spoke up. Her voice was more of an alto compared to the last girl.

"And I bet he f**ks great," the last one drawled, her thick southern accent marring her voice and grating on Lexi's eardrums.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lexi could just make out the devilish smirk that played across Bekah's innocent-looking face. "Oh God, he is amazing. Girls I don't think I delve into it enough, but last night was unlike anything I've ever experienced."

Lexi blanched at the words. Jack had been with Bekah last night. She hadn't thought he would stop seeing Bekah, but she certainly hadn't thought he would sleep with Bekah after just promising Lexi they would be together.

"The way he f**ks me," she cooed, "it's really just better than any other guy I've been with."

"Oh no need to be so crude, Bek," the mousy girl retorted giggling.

"I like it," the southern drawl sounded again. "Is he fast and wild? Does he just pound into you? Or is he gentle and smoothing pushing his c**k in and out of you forcing you to scream with pleasure?

"Amber," the mousy girl shrieked, "think about where we are!"

"I was just wunderin'," she replied her accent getting deep and throaty.

"I don't mind talking about it since he does all of the above. Last night he just took me fast and wild like you were talking about Amber. He took me as if I was the only person he ever wanted to be with, as if he was claiming me for his own."

Lexi leaned forward away from the bar feeling all the blood rush to her face as nausea took over her body. This couldn't be happening. Had she been this stupid? Could he have done this to her? She knew the answer was yes. He wasn't exactly strong on keeping his promises. The only exception being that he had never lied to her, and sometimes she wished that he did.

"Whoa, are you okay?" Ramsey asked wrapping his arm around her shoulders and hauling her back to a standing position.

"Um, yeah I'm fine," she mumbled putting one hand on her stomach and the other over her mouth.

"You don't like fine. Chyna look at her," he commanded.

Chyna pulled herself away from the hot bartender to give Lexi a cursory glance. "Oh, you do look sick. Maybe you should go get her some air," Chyna suggested.

"That's a great idea," he said supporting her as they began to cross the room towards the open balcony. The farther away she got from Bekah the easier it was to walk and not feel like her stomach was about to erupt. But dwelling on Bekah's words were completely counterproductive to any ease she might have been feeling.

"Ladies and gentleman, if you will join us over here, we have a bit of a tribute to the birthday boy over the years," Seth announced into the microphone. The crowd began to reassemble in front of a projection display.

"Will you be okay to watch this? I don't want you to get sick," he said anxious about her well-being.

Her curiosity stalled the feeling in her stomach. She stepped forward with Ramsey clearing the way for her to pass through. A series of pictures began to flash across the screen in quick succession. The first few she didn't recognize. She figured, from the looks of them, that they were bachelor party pictures. Coveted images that girlfriends were never supposed to see. As the slideshow progressed, Lexi started noticing more and more pictures. Suddenly, the film stopped on a close-up of her and Jack huddled together on the beach. They were showing off their tanned bodies. Lexi could vividly remember them goofing off that afternoon. It was the day before they had made love for the first time.

She gasped not remembering that there were still pictures out from that time of her life. Another series of photographs shot across the screen of her and Jack along with dozens of other friends. She was as much of a constant through the pictures as he was.

Her eyes scanned the room and landed on the baby blues that had already located her. The emotion that welled inside of her was completely different than what she had earlier been feeling. She was still angry, but with her past flashing before her eyes all she could see was Jack. Jack had been as much of a constant as she was to him. And they would get through this…whether or not he was currently sleeping with his girlfriend. They had gotten through everything before, and they would get through it now.

Lexi watched Jack snake an arm around Bekah's waist and pull her in close like she had felt him do to her so many times before. Bekah smiled lovingly up at him, and the same nauseating feeling began to creep over Lexi.

The only way things could be okay now is if she didn't watch them together like this. She grabbed Ramsey's hand and pulled him back towards the balcony. "Maybe I'm not feeling as well as I thought. I'd rather not be in here," she whispered to him.

"You don't want to watch the end? I think you're in the end," he told her.

She shook her head fiercely. "I think I better not."

"Alright," he said guiding her to the outside.

This time when she took one glance over her shoulder Jack wasn't there, and he wasn't watching.

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