Avoiding Commitment (Avoiding 1)

"You're right," she nodded. "I've only been sleeping for four hours."

Lexi sighed dramatically. "The world will end."

Chyna poked Lexi's shoulder playfully. "Shut up, you."

"Bernard said there was someone with you?" Lexi asked cocking an eyebrow at her.

"Oh, phew on him. What do I pay him for anyway? I threw that boy out hours ago," she said smiling mischievously. "Now, what in the world are you doing here so early? Our hair appointment at the salon isn't for a few more hours." Lexi brushed the flyaways behind her ear anxiously. "Oh God, it's a boy," Chyna squealed in excitement. "Tell me everything!"

Chyna always got this excited when Lexi found someone new. Mostly, she figured because it happened so infrequently it was cause for great excitement. Ever since she had moved to the city, she had just been too preoccupied with school, that guys had been placed on the backburner. Every now and then, she would go out on dates with guys from class or someone Chyna recommended, but in general she always thought it best to play it safe. When it came to her luck with men, Lexi tended to avoid the situation entirely.

"Well, it's kind of a strange story," she began, realizing she had mirrored Jack's words exactly. Chyna nodded enthusiastically, bouncing on her toes in anticipation. "Well…do you remember Jack?" she asked tentatively forcing herself not to wince when she said his name.

Chyna's faced clouded over and a creased formed between her eyebrows. "Oh no, not him," she said pleadingly. "Please tell me that this has nothing to do with him."

"What's wrong with him?" she asked strangely enough finding herself getting defensive.

"Alexa, Alexa," she scolded, "do you not remember yourself after that boy left?"

Lexi did remember. She could still feel it every time she thought about him. When she stumbled across a picture of them together or passed a particularly cozy looking coffee shop, that was when she remembered the most. Only in the past six months had a numbness started to take over that feeling. Sometimes it still hit her fresh over a year and a half later. How he was capable of eliciting such emotional and physiological responses when they had never really been together was beyond her. She was even more amazed that she had turned him down over the phone after no contact for that long. If he had called for anything else, she was certain she would have crumbled.

"Yeah, I remember," Lexi said softly.

"Well then why would you bring him up?"

"He called me," she said brushing her hair back several more times before meeting Chyna's disapproving eyes.

"And?" Chyna asked a look of firm protectiveness taking over her features.

Lexi sighed, and then quickly gave Chyna the run down on the mess Jack had gotten himself into. Then followed it up with what he had requested of her. She forced all the words out in quick procession not allowing Chyna to get in one word edge wise. When she had finished, she breathed out heavily and looked up to find Chyna staring at her curiously. Somewhere throughout her story, Chyna's features had changed, softened. Lexi wasn't quite sure what it meant. "So yeah, that was my early morning. Sounds great doesn't it?"

"You turned him down?" she asked. She could tell that Chyna found this hard to believe. After everything she had been through with Jack, she still hadn't had feeling for anyone that rivaled their relationship.

"Yeah, I did. Aren't you proud?"

"I think you should do it," she stated simply.

"What?" Lexi asked bursting from her comfortable lying position across the bed. "This morning is just nuts. Jack calls, and then you, of all people, tell me that I should go visit him and meet his fiancé?"

"Fiancé-to-be," Chyna quipped letting a naughty smirk creep onto her face.

"Whatever! Just explain this to me. Why should I go see him? Nothing good ever comes out of me being around him. I know this and you know this. The whole world should know this. Give me one good reason that I should go see him." Chyna couldn't be serious! After all, she had been so proud of herself for successfully turning him down for once in her life.

"Closure."

"I don't need closure," Lexi stated stubbornly.

"Come on. Honestly, Alexa. I'm not sure you have ever gotten over this guy. I've tried ridiculously hard to get you into a relationship. Sure, you've dated a few of the people I've thrown your way, but it was never anything substantial. You need to move on, but how can you do that when you're still hung up on a guy you haven't heard anything from in two years? Oh wait…you can't!" she exclaimed cocking her head to the side to really examine her. "Now you've been through some rough times, and things got you down for awhile. I get it. I've been there too, and I understand. Maybe not with a guy, but my parents and I have all those issues. You need to go down to Atlanta and have a nice time visiting your parents. When that's over go meet this girl, tell her exactly how much of a scumbag he truly is, and then get the hell out of there."

Lexi hesitated and then nodded. "Maybe you're right."

"No, I know I'm right," Chyna said hopping off the bed and moseying into her walk-in closet. Lexi stayed seated for a minute going over Chyna's argument. The girl had a point. After everything she had gone through with Jack, maybe this was exactly what she needed, even if it wasn't what she wanted.

After a minute, Lexi joined Chyna in her closet and gazed around at the disaster that had ensued after only a few minutes of Chyna's presence. Five shirts and two dresses had been flung across the floor; two shirts landing on a white suede chair and a dress was strewn on top of her three-fold standing mirror and platform. Tossing her sheer maroon babydoll to the ground, Chyna secured a matching La Perla balconet bra and shimmied into a black dress that didn't come close to reaching mid-thigh. Looking at her reflection in the mirror, Chyna crinkled her nose in disgust and threw the dress to the ground. She snatched a forest green dress from atop the mirror and pulled it over her head. She tilted her head at the image before her pursing her lips in approval.

The entire time this wardrobe fiasco ensued, Lexi remained lost in her thoughts. She knew that Chyna had made sense with her statements, but how could she ever face Jack. Once she had realized who was on the line, she had nearly hyperventilated at the sound of his voice. How would she react when she saw him in person? She didn't really know. But she rarely turned down a challenge. "Ok, I'll do it."