AVOIDING COMMITMENT (Avoiding #1)

Chapter 2-2

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

Jennifer shrugged. “You should probably pull your hair down, run a straightener through it, and put on a cute dress.” 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 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.” She faced 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. 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. “I’m going to go. 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, “Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Jack. Do you want me to come upstairs?”

“No point in making you try to get past security. I’ll be right down.”

Lexi scrambled down four flights of stairs, making it to the landing before the elevator dinged. Racing down the steep hill that led to the street below, Lexi saw his little silver sports car waiting with the hazard lights on. She opened the door 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.

“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. One step at a time.

As Jack drove them away from the center of town, John Mayer’s acoustic cover of Free Fallin’ filled the silence. 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 brake at a red light.

“Well, don’t you seem to be good at everything.”

“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.

When they turned onto a stretch of university property that until now had been empty fields, Lexi’s eyes widened. 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. “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 toward the vinyl ticket booth. Handing over their student ID cards, the student association representative scanned their cards and then let them pass.

“Have a good time and don’t forget to grab a complimentary t-shirt on your way out.” She gestured to a display of boxes containing hundreds of bright green tees.

Jack grabbed 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 f**k are you doing?” Clark cried. He launched himself at Seth.

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

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

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

“Ha. Ha,” Clark said sarcastically. He returned his tickets to his own pocket.

“Hey guys,” Jack said. “Not sure if you’ve met already, but this is Lexi.”

The guys gave their names and nodded hellos. And that easily, she was one of them.

“Let’s hit the Bumper Cars before the line wraps around the park,” Seth said.

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

Seth rolled his eyes. “f**k off, 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. “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. They watched Luke try to take a swing on Seth, who ducked under his half-hearted blow easily. “Why don’t we get you something to rot your teeth.”

He pulled her away from his friends who had begun to brawl outside of the Bumper Cars and directing them toward the cotton candy machine.

“That sounds good.”

“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.”

“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 toward 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.

“You’re such a mess.”

He indicated where she had missed a spot. His eyes gave away other thoughts. She wiped off the rest of the sugar and followed him into the Ferris wheel line.

“What’s your major?” he asked.

“As of today, I’m undecided.”

“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 the accounting route. Not so sure though.”

Lexi wrinkled her nose. “Ew. I’ll forestall practical. Thank you very much.”

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.”

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

“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.”

She shook herself out of her cloudy visions. “No.”

“Why not?”

“You don’t try out for the Gymnastics Team. 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.

“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 look she gave to him was as if she were approaching a Martian.

“Okay, maybe not,” he said.

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

“Never know until you try. 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.

When the machine cranked them around in an endless circle, Lexi felt weightless. They rotated three or four times, Jack shaking their bucket back and forth until he rattled the whole ride. The girl in front of them threatened 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.” Still, he threw his arm across the back of the bucket seat and stopped.

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 toward the exit with the rest of the crowd. An associate stuffed two green t-shirts in their hands as they stepped across the field.

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 grabbed her purse from the floor and raised it to her shoulder. With shirt and bear in hand, she popped the door open.

“Hey, wait,” he said.

He threw the car in park and darted 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.