Avoiding Commitment (5 page)

Seth threw his hands up. “Geez, Clark, you’re
very forward. I feel like we’ve just met. At least take me to
dinner first.”

“Ha. Ha,” Clark said sarcastically, placing
his tickets firmly back into his own pocket.

“Hey guys,” Jack said laughing along with the
rest at their behavior. “Not sure if you’ve met already, but this
is Lexi.”

The guys gave their names and nodded hellos.
That was all the introduction they afforded her before they were
ready to attack the rides. “Let’s hit the Bumper Cars before the
line wraps around the park,” Seth said edging towards the far side
of the field.

“Bumper Cars? No way. I’m never riding Bumper
Cars with you assholes again. Ya’ll gang up on me every time,” Luke
complained. “Can we just do something like the Scrambler?”

Seth rolled his eyes. “Don’t be such a fag,
Luke. We would never pick on you. How old do you think we are?”
This coming from the guy who just snagged someone else’s
tickets.

After finally convincing Luke to join them,
the group moved over to get into line for the Bumper Cars. Jack
sidled up to Lexi. “We actually do gang up on Luke,” he whispered
in her ear, laughing. “Better make sure you join in on the fun. His
reaction will be well worth it.”

Of course, he was right. Luke instantly began
pummeling anything he could get his hands on, even knocking over a
tiny blonde in his angst. His friends’ laughter only egged him on
further.

Jack slung his arm across Lexi’s shoulders as
they doubled over in a fit of giggles. “I cannot believe him,” she
said wiping away tears of laughter.

“He is a riot,” Jack confirmed watching Luke
try to take a swing at Seth who ducked under his half-hearted blow
easily. “Why don’t we get you something to rot your teeth,” Jack
suggested pulling her away from his friends who had begun to brawl
outside of the Bumper Cars and directing them towards the cotton
candy machine. “So tell me, Lex, what do you normally do on Friday
nights?”

She shrugged. “I hang out with my roommate or
Olivia, go downtown, see movies, game nights, dinners, fraternity
parties,” she added at last.

“Cool. I like to do all of those things,” he
said with an easy-going smile.

“Fraternity parties?” she questioned raising
an eyebrow.

“Mike’s in a fraternity. So, yes, even
fraternity parties. Probably not as often as my freshman year
though.”

Lexi snatched a piece of the sweet pink cloud
and stuck it in her mouth as they walked towards the Ferris wheel.
The sticky goodness dissolved almost instantly leaving a trail of
sugar across her lips. Jack’s eyes had zeroed in on the traces of
the candy still on her lips. She licked them experimentally tasting
a mixture of her lip gloss and sugar. “You’re such a mess,” he said
indicating where she had missed a spot. His eyes gave away other
thoughts.

The Ferris wheel line had already begun to
wrap around the edge of the giant machine. The two placed
themselves at the back of the line and continued their
conversation. “What’s your major?” he asked plopping a piece of the
cotton candy into his own mouth.

“As of today, I’m undecided,” she proclaimed
cheerfully.

“An indecisive one, I like it.”

“I’m not indecisive. Just open minded.”

“Same thing.”

“Well, what’s your major, Mr. Decisive.”

He shook his head. “I’m not decisive, just
practical. I’m Pre-Business, likely going to the accounting route.
Not so sure though.”

Lexi wrinkled her nose. “Eww. I’ll forestall
practical. Thank you!”

His laugh boomed out of him. “Yeah, it’s what
I’m good at.”

“At least there are a lot of jobs out there
for you. Not much a person can do while being undecided and what I
really want to do has only a few more jobs than that,” she said
shrugging her shoulders helplessly.

“And what is that? What do you
really
want to do?” he asked giving her a very serious meaningful
look.

Lexi considered not telling him for an
instant then gave in. “Gymnastics.” Her eyes glazed over at the
thought of being able to fly through the air, jumping effortlessly
from a spring board, weather-worn calluses coating her hands from
the uneven bars.

“That’s awesome. Have you talked to the
Gymnastics Team here? If you like it so much, you should try out,”
he said enthusiastically.

She shook herself out of her cloudy visions.
“No,” she responded solemnly.

“Why not?”

“You don’t just try out for the Gymnastics
Team here. They’re amazing. If they don’t recruit you, then you
have no chance. No walk-ons. Nothing.”

“How do you know that? Were you
recruited?”

“No, I wasn’t,” she said a bit sharper than
she had intended, the bitterness sneaking into her voice.

“Oh, well, I know one of the gymnasts. I bet
she could talk to the coach. Even if you can’t be on the team, you
could probably practice with them.” The glance she gave to him was
as if she were approaching a Martian. “Ok, maybe not,” he said
raising his eyebrows and taking another bite of the cotton candy to
prevent himself from speaking again.

“Even if I could get to talk with the coach,
there would be no way she would let me practice with them,” she
stated matter-of-factly.

“Never know until you try,” he said
swallowing the remaining bit. “Here we are.” Jack handed the man
four orange tickets, and ushered Lexi into a big swinging yellow
bucket with the number twenty-five plastered against the back.

Lexi felt weightless as the machine cranked
them around in an endless circle. They rotated three or four times,
Jack shaking their bucket back and forth until he rattled the whole
ride. A large girl with too tight jeans and a way too tight shirt
rode in front of them threatening him the whole time. “Calm down,”
she said putting her hand on his knee. “We don’t want to get kicked
off.”

“I know the guy who’s running it. No way
we’ll get kicked off,” he said throwing his arm across the back of
the bucket seat, but stopping nonetheless.

As they made their final rotation, the ride
crawled to a stop leaving Jack and Lexi on the very top of the ride
looking out across the open fields. Jack’s arm fell from the seat
back and landed gingerly across her shoulders. She allowed him to
pull her into him, her head falling into place between his shoulder
and neck. She sighed contentedly, gazing out across the night sky
filled with twinkling white stars burning in the distance.

They spent the next several hours perusing
the carnival life. He even won her a huge teddy bear from a darts
game. She held it tightly as they made their way towards the exit
with the rest of the crowd. A plump associate stuffed two green
t-shirts in their hands as they stepped across the threshold. The
distance back to the dorm felt like only seconds compared to
earlier in the evening. Jack skidded to a halt in front of the hill
that led up to the dorm entrance.

“Do you want me to park and walk you up?” he
asked turning his warning blinkers on again.

“No, not necessary. Thanks,” she said
grabbing her purse from the floor and raising it to her shoulder.
With shirt and bear in hand, she popped the door open.

“Hey, wait,” he said putting the car in park
and darting around to the other side.

He reached her, immediately pulling her into
him. She slid her arms up around his neck feeling him press up
against her. He picked her up letting her legs dangle when he stood
up straight. “I hope you don’t mind, but I couldn’t leave without a
hug,” he said squeezing her a little tighter.

“Oh no,” she breathed, “I don’t mind at
all.”

Jack placed her back on her feet, and she
stared dreamily up into his eyes. He bent down planting a light
kiss on her cheek before straightening up once again and making his
way back to the driver’s side. Lexi waved as he barreled down the
road leaving her standing there breathless. It had definitely been
a date.

*****

The next few weeks went by in a blur. Lexi
and Jack were together as much as humanly possible. When he was
working at the coffee shop, she could be found studying across from
his counter. When her classes let out, he was waiting for her
outside the old brick building with a steaming cup of her favorite
brew and a moist slice of pound cake or a blueberry muffin. She
became a regular in their household staying up late into the night
playing video games. His roommates didn’t mind her coming over,
mostly because they loved the look on Luke’s face when she kicked
his ass at Mario Kart.

The only time they didn’t spend together was
football games. Olivia’s legacy went back several generations, and
Lexi usually followed her to their tailgate spot on North Campus
along with the rest of their friends. Jack typically had a space
reserved with his buddies on East Campus. Since he was from
Savannah, he tended to return there during away games, and Lexi
found that she missed him more than she was willing to admit.
That’s why she had designated Sunday movie night.

On this particular movie night, Lexi accepted
his easy hug as she walked through his door. She snuggled up into
his sweater inhaling the familiar smell of his cologne as it
lingered on his skin and in his clothes. “This weekend seemed to
drag on forever,” Lexi whispered into his ear.

“I know. I missed you too,” he murmured
directing her towards the couch. When he looked at her again, he
said, “You’re beautiful.”

A smile stretched across her face. “Thank
you. You don’t look too bad yourself,” she said knocking her hip
against his before falling against the brown suede couch. He landed
next to her. Throwing her dark chocolate boat shoes onto the
carpet, she stretched her legs out crossing them on the coffee
table. “So, what are we watching tonight?” she asked scanning his
impressive collection of movies.

Before he had a chance to answer her, his
phone buzzed on the table. Attempting to be courteous, Lexi reached
forward to hand it to him, but he was too quick. He eagerly
snatched it up off the table and stood to read the name on the
caller id. After a brief pause, he clicked a button to silence
it.

His eyes turned back to her, and Lexi met his
gaze expectantly. “I’ll call them back,” he said falling back into
his place at her side. He wrapped his arms around her waist and
pulled her into his lap, burying his head into her hair. “You smell
like Heaven,” he said taking a big long whiff.

She giggled, smacking his hand playfully. “I
showered before I came over.”

“Well…that’s a nice change.”

She smacked him harder this time, pushing at
one of his arms that was holding her tightly in place. “Stop
sniffing me like a dog.”

“Then stop smelling so
damn
good,” he
said breathing her in several more times. His face was so close to
her body that she could almost feel his lips against her bare neck.
She stopped struggling and tuned into how her body was reacting to
him being so near. Her breathing had quickened and her body felt
warm all over. His nose brushed lightly up against her ear. She
shivered as goose bumps broke out across her arms and down her back
at his touch. He didn’t let her go, and he didn’t back off. This
was new and she liked it. “God, I want you, Lex,” he said running a
line of kisses down her exposed jaw line.

Lexi’s eyes closed of their own accord. As
his kisses intensified moving from her jaw to her ear and then down
her neck, she sighed heavily cocking her head back to allow him
easier access. He laid her gently back against the couch moving his
body so that it was hovering just above her with one leg positioned
between hers. Their eyes met briefly before his mouth moved from
one cheek to another experimentally. She sighed as he inched closer
to her wet, trembling lips. Her hardly contained desire let loose a
moan as he pushed himself against her. Lacing her fingers through
his hair, she gazed up into his crystal clear blue eyes practically
begging him to continue. He leaned forward to meet her lips. She
sighed happily waiting for that moment, but it never came. Just
before his lips touched hers, his phone buzzed noisily in his
pocket. His attention wavered and he pulled back from her body.

“Don’t stop,” she urged him, leaning forward
and planting a kiss of her own on his cheek. “You can call whoever
it is back,” she reminded him. The limbo he left her in was like
torture. She hadn’t said so, but her desire for him was overflowing
and they had yet to even kiss.

He smiled at her lovingly and kissed her
cheek before moving from his position on top of her. Fishing the
phone out of his pocket, he took a look at the name, and once again
silenced it. “You’re right. I can just call them back.”

He hopped off the couch and quickly scooped
her up into his arms. Lexi laughed unexpectedly as he effortlessly
carried her into his room kicking the door open with his foot. She
fell back against the navy blue comforter, her shirt sliding up
nearly to her chest. She stretched languidly, allowing him a full
view of her lean muscled body. He crawled from the foot of the bed
up to her abdomen and left one lone kiss next to her bellybutton.
His hands raked the bare skin as he traveled upwards from there.
Sighing contentedly, she felt his lips make their way back to her
neck. He darted his tongue against her tender skin making her
writhe.

“Oh, Jack,” she breathed. Bringing his head
up to look at her, she noticed his breath was coming in short
puffs. She teasingly wiggled her hips first from side-to-side and
then in small circles, watching as he groaned on top of her.

“You’re so mean.”

“Really? I thought I was being
really
nice,” she replied twirling her hips in a figure eight.

“A little too nice.” He sighed closing his
eyes as she ran her tongue along his earlobe. “You’ve found my
weakness,” he moaned grabbing her arms in his hands and pushing
them above her head, forcing her back against the bed.