There had been a number of occasions where she had stolen men right under Lexi's nose. It was never on purpose exactly, but men just gravitated towards her. So when she found out that Ramsey had zero interest in her, they had gotten along even better.
"Yeah, I know," Lexi told her reaching back into her bag and pulling out her laptop and power cord.
"Then you also know that I think you're an idiot," Chyna remarked staring up at her ceiling. Lexi could hear her sigh of discontentment which only broadened her smile.
"Yeah, I know," she repeated popping the top on her laptop, pressing the power button, and waiting for the system to warm up.
Chyna shot up from her place on the bed and stared down at Lexi. A broad smile had formed on her face. Lexi knew that look meant only one thing. Chyna was up to something devious. Lexi tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and waited for Chyna to let loose her revelation.
"You know what?" Chyna asked.
"Nope."
"You could always just…not go."
"Wow, what a revelation," Lexi muttered sarcastically rolling her eyes dramatically.
"Oh, come on," Chyna cried throwing herself back on the bed. "This is not good for you. I thought after everything that had happened, you wouldn't put yourself through this all again."
"This isn't like Jack," Lexi muttered defensively. She hated associating the two together even though they were interrelated. When she was with Ramsey in the beginning, she forgot about everything else that had gone on with Jack. He was a brief reprieve from the heartache that she kept locked up. Sure she had left Jack behind, but that didn't make it any easier to really leave him behind. And just when she thought she was starting to succeed on that point a little more each day, everything had come crashing back down around her.
No this wasn't like Jack at all. Jack took over her world, and she had to force herself to push him out bit by bit. Ramsey had forced himself in her world bit by bit and filled a void she hadn't known existed. And she knew all too well what it felt like being with and without Jack. Ramsey was something altogether different. The emotions he elicited from her were foreign, and thus, incredibly vivid because they had never been tamed, harnessed, or numbed over years of self-torture.
So, no this was nothing like Jack.
"This is exactly like Jack," Chyna muttered under her breath.
Lexi closed her eyes and silently counted to ten. She didn't want to have this argument right now, because she knew she would think about it all night. Ramsey would be picking her up shortly and she didn't need those thoughts on her mind. By allowing him to come visit, she was taking a huge leap of faith, one that she wasn't entirely comfortable with.
But she wholeheartedly hated the thought that he was just another Jack in her life. No matter what had happened between them over the past year, Ramsey was a different man. She didn't completely approve of him or his choices, but no one was perfect. And honestly, she wasn't entirely willing to give up on him just yet.
"Can we talk about something else?" Lexi pleaded opening her eyes and fixing them on the computer screen in front of her. She pulled up a blank webpage and directed it to her inbox. A confirmation email was highlighted at the top of the screen with information about Ramsey's flight into JFK airport. If everything went alright, he would be landing in only twenty minutes giving her just enough time to mentally and physically prepare herself for their evening together.
"Sure," Chyna replied, her tone snarky. "How about the fact that you still haven't given me Mystery Man's name yet?"
Lexi gulped hard, a tentative smile spreading across her face as she looked up at Chyna. "Why are you so desperate to know?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you never hide anything from me. Maybe because I've never met him. Maybe because I have to wrestle information out of you. Do you want me to keep going?" Chyna asked arching an eyebrow. She flipped her feet to the other side of the bed, rested her elbows on the comforter, and leaned over to get a better look at Lexi's reaction.
"Well, it's nothing, that's why it doesn't matter," Lexi stammered out under the intense scrutiny of Chyna's stare.
"Or maybe it's because it's a huge f**king deal and that's why you keep it a secret," she hypothesized her green eyes taking in every movement that might tip her off to what was going on.
"It's not such a big deal," Lexi huffed returning her eyes to her computer to escape Chyna's fierce looks. She wasn't ready to tell anyone about what was going on with her Mystery Man yet. She wasn't even certain if anything was going on with him yet. What had happened between them was a fluke, an accident. She hadn't seen him again, and a part of her felt like that was probably the best choice she could make. She didn't need to get into anything else right now. At least not while Ramsey was still filling her mind…and Jack. Of course Jack.
"You're such a terrible liar."
"No, I'm not," she cried knowing that was a lie too. She had always been a terrible liar. That was why she had never been able to get away with everything that had gone on with her and Jack. She hadn't been able to look someone in the eye and lie to them without giving herself away. The talent had improved some with practice, a fact she wasn't exactly proud of, but she had to admit it did come in handy on occasions. Chyna knew her too well though. She knew when something was up with her.
"Yeah, you really are. So, who is he? Are you going out with him again? Has he called?" Chyna blabbered on asking questions Lexi had no intention of answering.
"I don't want to talk about him alright?" Lexi asked shutting her computer with a bit more force than she anticipated.
"Ohhh," Chyna cooed, "someone is defensive."
Lexi took another deep breath. "Please stop. I really do not want to think about anything while I have this…thing with Ramsey tonight."
"Date is the opportune word chica. Don't think you'll be getting away with not talking about this forever. After your…thing," she said mimicking Lexi's tone of voice, "I want details on Mystery Man. Please, please, please just give me a name," she begged.
"No can do," Lexi told her hopping up off the floor and wandering into Chyna's massive closet.
"You're so incorrigible," Chyna cried following behind her.
"Big words," Lexi said sarcastically her eyes widening and mouth opening in surprise.
"Don't be such a shit," she said smacking Lexi on her arm. "Just because I didn't go to college doesn't mean I wasn't smart enough to go."
"You don't have to tell me twice," Lexi said knowing full well that Chyna was brilliant and succeeded at anything she applied herself to. The only problem was getting her to apply herself. She preferred to live a luxurious life of leisure rather than work for more money. She was in possession of enough money as it was.
If the positions were reversed, Lexi wasn't sure she'd be able to do what Chyna was doing. She would be too bored all the time, and feel like she was wasting her time just sitting around. Studying law was one of the most difficult and rewarding experiences of her life, and now that the experience was over, she was all but certain she had made the right decision.
But Chyna had never been self-motivated to work. Lexi blamed it on her parents. They had coddled her as a child and never forced her to do anything she didn't want to do. She had opted out of college to pursue modeling like her mother. After a few successful photo shoots, she had gotten tired of the work and quit, turning down an extensive contract with a very prestigious underwear company. She just kept saying she couldn't find anything to hold her interest for long enough to commit to for a career. That was the same reason she didn't hold onto a boyfriend…for the most part.
"What's the latest endeavor?" Lexi asking hoping to distract Chyna. She needed to keep the focus away from her life at the moment. She seemed to endlessly be discussing the different men in her life.
As Lexi perused Chyna's closet for something to wear that evening, Lexi's mind drifted over the experiences in the past seven years. Her memory landed on a green tourist bench. She could feel her face flushing at the image of her first time with Jack at the beach house. She licked her lips as her hand trailed over a tiny pair of skinny jeans. She knew she shouldn't let her mind risk going down memory lane, but sometimes it was so difficult.
Her memory was so vivid that sometimes it was as if she were reliving her past. The feel of his skin hot against her own, breathing in the salty air with her rapid inhalations, his intense blue stare reflecting the ocean. She could feel him almost as if she were in the moment.
She shook her head and tried to focus on Chyna talking about the new thing that she was interested in at the moment. Her mind couldn't focus however, and suddenly she was swept back to a time when she was cuddled up in a familiar navy blue comforter. She could hear him whisper his affection for her and pull her closer.
She cleared her mind and blue eyes were replaced with green ones staring intently into hers on a balcony overlooking the Turner Field baseball stadium. The way he washed away any knowledge of what was going on that night. Her hair pulled high on her head and the light breeze made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end, or was it the way he was looking at her. Her breathing hitched as his head tilted to meet her waiting lips.
She forcefully closed her eyes and willed her mind to stop picturing her past. Tonight was about new futures…another new future.
"Are you even listening?" Chyna whined pushing Lexi out of the way so she could get a closer look at her closet.
"Nope," Lexi said giggling and falling back into a plush cream chair.
"I'm thinking of going to back to school," she muttered her voice quavering a little at the admission.
"For what?" Lexi asked staring at her incredulously.
"I don't know. Don't you figure that stuff out in college?" Chyna asked pulling a flowy dress off the rack and pressing it to her body.
"I guess," Lexi agreed knowing that she had had that same philosophy at one point in her life. "Where would you go?"
"I don't know. Maybe I'll find a good fashion design program," she said dreamily. "I have enough clothes. I know what looks good."
Lexi smiled at her friend's dreamy state. She was happy that she had found another adventure to pursue, but was really wondering how long this was going to last. Chyna attention span lasted a total of a month and half before she got bored. She never saw it as failure just indecision.
Just as Lexi was about to give her two cents worth about Chyna's new career path, Chyna's hand brushed against an article of clothing Lexi had never seen. "What was that?" she blubbered, shooting out of the chair, and reaching forward to latch on before the item disappeared into the depths of Chyna's closet.
Lexi unhooked the hanger from the metal rod it had been resting on. Her hand rubbed gently against the red silky material. She smiled softly to herself and wondered how she had never seen Chyna wear this before. When she flipped the dress around to closer examine the front, Lexi got her answer. A black rectangular price tag still hung from the dress. Lexi gaped at the price. She didn't think she would ever get used to seeing price tags in the three, four, or even five digit range for one garment…especially not something to just throw in the closet and never wear.