Avoiding Commitment (4 page)

“You’re not bad. Maybe you should show them
how it’s done,” someone said to her.

Lexi laughed out loud letting her curls
bounce lightly. She turned to address whoever had addressed her and
was face to face with
him
. She froze mid-laugh.

“You think so?” she asked trying to recover
from her shock at seeing him here, standing next to her, talking to
her.

“Honestly, no,” he said with a sly smile.

“Well, thanks. I’m very offended right now.”
Lexi placed her hand over her wounded heart. “So...do I know you or
do you always just insult people when you first meet them?”

He bent down so he she was better able to
hear him. He smelled like a heavenly combination of soap and sexy
cologne. “I think you study at the coffee shop where I work.”

She turned her head up to face him. His brown
hair fell neatly across his eyes as he looked down at her. She had
never noticed just how clear blue his eyes really were until they
were set intently and solely on her. “I think you might be right,”
she confirmed giving him a coy smile. She was having a hard time
breathing with him looking at her so intently. She could
practically feel the energy crackling between their bodies at his
nearness. Trying to ease the sexual tension she was feeling, she
asked him, “Are you much into college boy rap?”

His laugh was easy and sincere and she loved
the musicality of it. “No, not really, but this guy’s not bad. Is
he a friend of yours?”

“Yeah, he lives in my dorm.” She cringed
realizing she had just given away her youth. She had no idea how
old he was or whether he would consider a freshman to be worth his
time.

“Nice. Those guys over there.” He gestured
with his thumb to three guys clustered behind him. “They lived on
my hall last year in the dorms. Which one are you in?”

Lexi let out the breath she hadn’t even
realized she had been holding. “Um...Russell.”

“That’s where we were,” he said smiling
bigger. “Fifth floor east. You?”

“Five north,” she told him. If she had only
been a year older, she could have lived on the same hall as him for
a year. Her head swam with the thought.

“Small world.”

“Yeah, it is. How exactly did you hear about
the band? I mean, if you don’t really listen to the music,” she
couldn’t help but ask.

He reached into his back pocket and pulled
out a folded piece of purple paper. He opened it revealing the PR
flyer Olivia had been relentlessly handing out for the past two
weeks. “I believe a friend of yours gave this to me,” he said
pointing to Olivia over the crowd of people.

Lexi giggled. That little devil. Olivia
hadn’t been flirting with him when she had gone to get her coffee
earlier that afternoon. In fact, she had been helping her by
convincing Coffee Guy to come here. “Well, yeah, that’s Olivia for
you,” she said shrugging, making an attempt at nonchalance. “Oh,
I’m Lexi, by the way.” She extended her hand out to him.

“Lexi...hmm...I like that,” he said taking
her outstretched hand firmly in his. “Jack. It’s nice to meet
you,”

Silence fell between them as the show
progressed. The hip-hop beats blaring in the background made it
difficult to carry on a conversation. The crowd filed outside for
intermission when the set was complete, allowing the main act time
to set-up on stage. Several people lit cigarettes as soon as they
exited The Theatre, but Lexi steered clear of them. She watched as
some of her friends made their way to the back entrance of the
black building to meet up with Nick and Neal. Lexi waited awkwardly
with Jack at the front of the building waiting for Olivia to
surface.

A few second later, Olivia exited through the
doors covered with a collage of torn flyers advertising upcoming
shows. She bounded up to them humming one of the songs she
preferred. “Hey, sweetie,” she said kissing Lexi on the cheek. Her
eyes were glazed over a little and her low cut blouse smelled
strongly of beer and secondhand smoke. Before Lexi had a chance to
respond, she stumbled along after the rest of the group.

“I guess she’s a bit drunk,” Lexi commented
shrugging her shoulders as she let her gaze land back on Jack.

“A bit?” he questioned with a smirk. “Hold on
one second.” He directed his attention on his friends hovering
behind him. “Hey guys, I’ll meet you at Chamber. I think Chasity
said she was working.” Nodding, the three guys disappeared down the
street leaving Jack and Lexi alone.

Lexi assumed Chasity was a bartender, but
refrained from asking. She had no desire whatsoever to know how
they knew each other...or how well. “I’m not sure what my friends
are doing,” she said glancing around the corner. The group she had
arrived with were stumbling around outside with Nick and Neal at
the center. “But by the look of things, I’m going to have to carry
half of them home.” At only a couple inches over five feet, that
really would be a feat. “I should go catch up with them before they
get into any trouble,” she said concerned.

“My friends are probably lost without me
too,” he said jokingly.

“Are you working tomorrow?” she asked not
anxious to leave his presence.

“Are you studying tomorrow?” he countered
flirtatiously.

“Yeah,” she confirmed, thinking about the
daunting stack of homework on her desk.

“Then I should be there.”

She stood with him another second taking in
his near flawless appearance. He wore dark snug-fit jeans, a black
button-up rolled to three-quarter length, and worn navy Chuck
Taylor’s. He was taller than her by more than half a dozen inches
with a well-toned muscular physique. She figured she wouldn’t be
able to reach his lips if she stood on her tip-toes, but he was
strong enough to pick her up to them. Quickly pushing the idea out
of her mind, she snapped herself back to reality. “Guess I’ll see
you there.”

“Sounds good,” he said as she turned and
began to walk down the alleyway toward her friends. After a
moment’s hesitation, he called out to her and jogged down the
street after her. She turned on her green high heels to find him
standing before her again. “I know you have to study tomorrow, but
what are you doing Friday?” he asked hesitantly.

She paused giving enough time to make it seem
like she was considering her schedule. “I don’t have any plans,”
she finally responded, fighting the uncontrollable silly grin
contorting her features.

“Do you want to hang out?”

She nodded. “I thought you’d never ask.”

*****

Friday night Lexi found herself pacing her
tiny dorm room twining her dark curls around her fingers. The room
was nothing special, but she and Jennifer made it look the best
they could with the space provided.

Two beds were lofted on opposite sides of the
room. A black futon rested under Lexi’s; two mini fridges and a
tiny tube television sat under her roommate’s. A red and black
print rug covered the tile floor and red curtains blocked out the
view of the other high-rise dorms surrounding them. Lexi’s side of
the wrap-around metal desk held her black laptop and a selection of
her favorite books and textbooks. The wall adjacent her desk held a
collage of photographs neatly arranged. Jennifer’s desk was a mess
of multi-colored paper clips, geometrically shaped Post-It notes,
and furry-topped pens. The walls were lined with sorority
initiation paraphernalia that made Lexi roll her eyes every time
she glanced over there.

“Jen, do you think I look okay?”

Jennifer gave her a once-over. Lexi wore
black, slightly-worn, skinny jeans, a pale green camisole with
lace-trim and black thong sandals that strapped around her ankle.
Her hair was pulled up into a high ponytail with the dark bouncing
curls streaming out of the rubber band. A light coat of black
mascara brushed her eyelashes and a hint of shimmer lip gloss
adorned her lips. “Mmm,” Jennifer murmured tilting her head to the
side before turning back to her Latin homework spread out across
the futon.

Lexi placed her hands on her hip exasperated.
“What does
mmm
mean?”

Jennifer shrugged. “You should probably pull
your hair down, run a straightener through it, and put on a cute
dress,” she said as a matter-of-fact. She hadn’t even glanced up
from her five-subject notebook. “I have this perfect purple
ensemble that will do wonders to detract from your plain brown
eyes.”

Lexi was starting to get used to this
behavior. Jennifer was remarkably honest, to a fault. But she was
also incredibly judgmental which made her blatant honesty not as
flattering. “I think we’re going to be outside though,” Lexi told
her, turning to face the full-length mirror hanging on the back of
their door.

“It’s like seventy degrees outside,” Jennifer
said. Her gum smacked against the roof of her mouth as she spoke.
“You can still wear a dress.”

Jennifer thought everyone should wear a
dress, all the time, for every occasion, even when it was freezing.
Lexi was pretty certain that the only time Jennifer went without a
dress was when she showered. She was even lounging in a dress while
studying Latin!

Both her parents came from old southern money
dating back pre-Civil War. The Country Club, where they resided,
played host to a number of stars. She had once complained about
missing Halloween away from home, because that year a certain male
rapper had actually answered the door to pass out candy.

“Well, it could be colder tonight,” Lexi
grumbled snatching her cell phone off her desk and cramming it into
her plum purse. “I’m going to see Olivia. Have fun studying.”

Lexi darted down the hall as her phone
trilled inside her purse. Opening the cold metal clasp, she
retrieved the cell and answered. “Hey, do you want me to come
upstairs?” Jack asked from the other line.

“Nah. No point in making you try to get past
security. I’ll be right down.” Lexi scrambled down the four flights
of stairs as fast as she could, making it to the landing before the
elevator dinged. Racing down the steep hill that led to the street
below, Lexi recognized his little silver sports car waiting with
the hazard lights blinking. She slipped her hand under the handle
to pop the door open and slid smoothly onto the black leather seat.
He let off the clutch and slung the car into gear as soon as he
heard the latch click. “So, where are we going?” she asked relaxing
back into the soft material.

“It’s a surprise,” he said, shifting gears as
they picked up speed.

“Hmm...I like surprises.”

“I thought you might.” He glanced at her
briefly before turning left.

Lexi hadn’t been sure whether or not to treat
this as if it were a date. He had asked her out, but when they
talked on the phone, he had acted as if it was no big deal. She
didn’t care to agonize over it though. She didn’t know him yet, so
as far as she was concerned the status of their relationship, if
you could even call it that, was hardly relevant. One step at a
time.

John Mayer’s acoustic cover of
Free
Fallin’
filled the silence as Jack drove them away from the
center of town. Jack tapped his fingers against the steering wheel
in time with the guitar chords. “Do you play,” she asked watching
how well his fingers moved.

“A little,” he said with a sexy smirk.

“Oh yeah? What instruments?”

“
Just
guitar, bass, piano, saxophone,
and some drums, but I’m really rusty.”

“Jesus! All I can do is sing.”

“Oh, and I sing,” he smirked as he hit the
break at a red light.

“Well don’t you seem to be good at
everything,” Lexi said staring up at him through thick dark
lashes.

She could tell that he was watching her out
of the corner of his eye. “You just wait and see.”

“I look forward to it.” She giggled turning
back to the road. Something about Jack seemed to just fit. The
flirting, the desirous looks, the uncomplicated conversation was
all so easy between them.

Lexi’s eyes widened as they turned onto a
stretch of university property that until now had been empty
fields. Instead, a bright twirling Ferris wheel had been erected in
the center of the field with an array of carnival rides and booths
displayed around the centerpiece. “I didn’t know a carnival was
coming through town!”

“One night only,” he said wiggling his
eyebrows up and down. “The university sets up celebrations like
this throughout the year. Since you’re new, I thought I’d take you
to the first one of the year.”

A plump older man in an orange vest holding a
light stick directed them into a makeshift parking spot on the
lawn.

The couple trekked across the muddy terrain
towards the vinyl ticket booth. Handing over their student
identification cards, the student association representative slid
the cards through a reader. The machine dinged each time
authorizing their authenticity. “Have a good time and don’t forget
to grab a complimentary t-shirt on your way out,” the woman said
handing them back their cards with one hand and gesturing to a
display of boxes containing hundreds of bright green tees.

“Thanks,” Jack said grabbing Lexi’s arm and
racing through the entrance.

They made it only a dozen feet before
unexpectedly running into Jack’s roommates, Seth, Luke, and
Michael, who were with two of their other friends, Clark and
Hunter. Each looked more excited than the next. Between them they
were counting out what looked like several hundred orange paper
tickets like little kids in Chuck E. Cheese.

Seth snatched up a handful out of Clark’s
palm and deposited them in his pocket. “Hey, what the fuck are you
doing?” Clark cried launching himself onto Seth.

Seth chuckled as he sidestepped Clark’s
advances. “You don’t need all of those,” he said tauntingly.

“You took all of my goddamn tickets,
jackass,” Clark yelled grabbing at Seth’s pocket as the rest of the
guys burst out laughing.