Avoiding Commitment (Avoiding 1)

She should have expected this. No way was he going to let her walk away so easy. "What is it?" she asked warily.

"Lexi you really want to be with me right?" She nodded, the anticipation rising. "Alright, if you really do want to be with me, then you have to tell Kate."

Lexi's mouth popped open. "What?" she squealed.

He wanted her to tell Kate what they had done. God, what a terrible thing for him to ask her to do. She couldn't imagine what Jack would think of her if she did tell Kate. No, actually, she did know what he would think of her. He would never speak with her again. He would never want to see her again. He had flat out told her that he didn't want Kate to know. He didn't think Clark would tell her, and he just wanted to get on with his perfect, amazing life with his perfect, amazing girlfriend.

"If you want to be with me, then it won't matter that you tell her," he stated simply.

She couldn't close her mouth she was in such a state of shock. She had never realized how vindictive Clark could be. He was asking her to ruin another person's relationship, another person's life like she had been so easy to do to her own.

So it came down to whether or not she was willing to give up Jack. Because after this, there was no turning back. Jack would never forgive her this. Earlier he had seemed slightly unsure, but she knew what that meant. He had already made his choice in Kate, and now she was going to go and ruin that for him. No, he wouldn't forgive her, because Kate would surely leave him. Lexi knew the news would crush Kate. Jack had been right in that at least.

"But Clark…it would…it would I don't know," she mumbled incoherently.

"She has a right to know the truth about him," he said darkly.

"Of course. Of course she does," Lexi said nodding. "But to have me tell her."

"I don't see a problem with it."

"It would be the ultimate insult."

Clark smiled the first true smile since she had arrived. "Not to her."

Lexi bit down on her lip…hard. Of course Clark would want to get back at Jack, and having her tell Kate would do just that. "Clark, I…I don't know about this."

"Lexi it's really simple. You said you wanted to be with me, and you do want to be with me. I can see that. So I'm just asking you to do one simple thing. Tell Kate what happened."

What he wasn't saying was that he was actually asking her to do two things. One was just supposed to be self-explanatory apparently. She would have to give up Jack and not just his friendship and the relationship that they had grown into. She would have to give him up forever. No contact with him at all. Telling Kate would ensure success in that aspect. Could she do it? Could she actually go without Jack indefinitely?

"Fine. I'll tell her."

Lexi pulled out her cell phone and found the number that she had never used waiting for her. She clicked send without thinking about it. If she thought about it, she would never actually go through with what she was about to do. She couldn't believe she was actually about to go through with this in the first place.

"Hello?" Lexi heard her answer.

"Kate. Hey, this is Lexi."

"Lexi! Oh my God, I haven't heard from you in so long. What have you been up to?"

"Um…yeah not that much. Can we meet somewhere to talk?"

Kate was silent on the other line for a minute, and then she answered, "Sure. Jack and I were going to hang out tonight because he was busy last night. But he won't be here for another hour or so. Where did you want to meet?"

Lexi tried not to show her guilt at her words. Jack had been busy last night because of her. He had told Kate he couldn't hang out, because he was with Lexi. "Um…wherever you want. I can just come over if you want."

"Sure sounds good."

After getting directions, Lexi left Clark at the coffee shop and made her way over to Kate's place. She had never been to the place, and she was dreading making this her first visit. The house was situated in a small subdivision just outside of the downtown area. Each house was a bright color ranging from yellow to pink to baby blue. Most were single stories, but the Kate resided in looked to be a two-story townhouse with a small yard and white picket fence. The area was trying to bring the suburbs to the city, and Lexi had always found them adorable. Well until now.

Kate let her inside on the first knock and ushered her into the living room. Lexi had a faint idea based on Kate's appearance that Kate's family was relatively wealthy. As she looked around the townhouse, she realized this was definitely the case. An olive green couch sat on one side and two brown chairs occupied the other side. The television that was mounted on the wall fit the size of the room to perfection. Picture frames hung tastefully on the walls and standing on the oak side tables were filled with pictures of her friends. The most common face Lexi noticed other than Kate's was Jack. He was all over her house. Scattered in nearly every picture frame. A brown jacket she recognized as his hung on a hook at the front entrance. A Wall Street Journal, Jack's favorite newspaper, sat on the coffee table.

Lexi gulped and looked up into Kate's enormous blue eyes. "Have a seat sweetie. What did you want to talk to me about?" Kate asked gesturing to the seat next to her on the sofa.

Taking a precautionary seat in the adjacent chair, Lexi shoved her hair behind her ears several times. She had no idea where to begin. She opened and closed her mouth several times before looking down at her fingers resting in her lap. She glanced back up at the oblivious girl, her heart going out to her for what she was about to do.

"Have you noticed anything different about Jack lately?" Lexi began.

"Different? Different how?"

"Uh…just anything."

Kate chewed on her bottom lip gloss covered lip seriously contemplating the question. "No I don't believe I have."

This was going to be harder than she thought. "You haven't noticed that he's been missing a lot more than usual?"

"Well…I guess he has been missing, but not really more than usual. We've always had an understanding that we don't have to be together all the time for our relationship to work. He can have his days or nights away from me if he wants and I have the same privilege. It's just how we work. Not many people would be okay with that, but we are. Why?"

"Okay well, I don't really know how to say this so I'm just going to dive right in. Jack and I slept together."