Throwing her clothes quickly in her bag, Lexi rushed to get everything together. "Don't worry about the rest. I can bring it back with me."
Lexi nodded her head looking around to make sure she had everything of importance, and then grabbed her rolling suitcase. Ramsey took it from her hand and veered her away from the entrance to the house. She narrowed her eyes, but let him lead her through a door they hadn't entered before. "What's this?" she asked. As she walked through, she realized that they were entering a garage. She hadn't even known that they had a garage for the place. They had taken a cab from the airport and hadn't need to drive anywhere the entire trip.
She looked at the sleek Mercedes sitting in one of the slots and realized that it looked very similar to the one she was used to riding around in throughout Atlanta. This was just a slightly older model from the look of it. "Is this yours?" she asked surprised. Somehow she had been here nearly a week and never realized that he had a car waiting for them.
Ramsey popped the trunk and deposited her bag. "Yeah. I keep her here since I got the my new one," he said snapping the door closed and coming around to the side of the machine.
"You keep her here? But why do the owners of the beach house let you keep it here?" she asked unable to put two and two together.
He stared at her over the roof of the Mercedes and sighed. "This is my house Lexi," he mumbled. "I wanted to tell you. I did. I just wasn't sure how you'd react." He was stammering like the first time she had met him. Sometimes she couldn't help but feel that he was the most adorable when he was like this. "You get all funny when I display...well...when I show that I have money. I didn't want you to think that I was cheating you out of a promised vacation by not really paying for us to come out here."
"Ramsey."
"I would have paid for us to go somewhere else, but I was more worried of taking you out of the country. I just wanted you to feel like I was taking care of you, and I thought this was the best way."
"Ramsey."
"So I didn't mean to keep it from you. I didn't want to..."
"Ramsey would you shut up," Lexi cried finally getting a word in. He snapped his mouth closed staring at her intently. "I don't care about the house. Why didn't you just tell me? It would have been fine." She opened the door and slid onto the cream leather seats. She actually found it a bit funny that he owned a beach house since it had been one of the first things she had ever thought about him with his beautifully tanned skin.
He sat down next to her. "I just didn't know how you would react."
"Perhaps next time, you can let me react before making assumptions," she said with a shrug.
After a second, he said, "You're right." He backed out of the driveway and made his way out towards the highway.
"Thanks for taking me," she murmured to break the silence.
"Of course. I know how much Chyna means to you."
"Ramsey," she stammered out, "can I ask you a question?"
"Sure what's up?" he asked merging into traffic.
"Were you and Parker ever...uh...together?" she asked turning to face him in the car. "I mean I know you said that you never had a girlfriend, but you guys looked...comfortable together. And Jessie said..."
"Jessie?" he snapped. "What did Jessie say?"
Lexi paused gauging his reaction. "She didn't say anything. Just that you two were cute together."
"Are you sure that's all?" he asked clenching the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.
"Should she have said more?" she asked staring at him intently.
"No," he said taking a deep breath and releasing his firm grip on the wheel. "She just has a tendency to blab fallacies with the turn of the wind."
"Well she didn't say anything to me. But told me to ask you and trust whatever you told me," she said eager to get the truth out of him.
Ramsey shrugged. "All of that was a long time ago."
"All of what?" she asked curiously.
"Parker and I weren't together...not like we are at least."
Lexi gulped thinking of her relationship with Jack. Had he had something like that going on? She hadn't thought it possible for someone else to have a relationship anything like theirs, but anything was possible after all.
"You remember that time I told you about the dare at the bonfire after prom?" he asked.
She wasn't sure what that conversation had to do with anything. Of course, she remembered it very clearly. It wasn't everyday that someone told you they slept with someone in front of a group of people after prom. She had just filed that piece of information away in her mind hoping never have to bring it back up.
"Well...Parker is that girl."
Lexi's mouth dropped open. "What?" she cried suddenly jumping in her seat.
He sighed and glanced into her brown eyes. "I told you it was a long time ago."
"Yeah but Ramsey, you slept with her...in front of all of those people?" she asked unsure as to why she needed an answer, but realizing she did.
"A long time ago Lexi. It's been forever since I've even seen her. We were only actually together...like that," he told her.
"But she looks like me," she sputtered.
He cringed at the admittance. "Yeah, I guess she kind of does."
"Did you only like me because I look like her?" she asked her eyes narrowed looking for any signs of deceit.
"No! Never. Sure I saw the resemblance but you guys are completely different people. I would never think of comparing you Lexi...with anyone. You can't be compared. I've known Parker for a long time, and we just ended up in bed together a lot. Nothing more...nothing less," he said grasping for her hand to reassure her.
She let him lace his fingers through her own. His thumb came up and rubbed light circles into her skin. She let her breath slow and her heart return to a normal speed. His confession that he had been with Parker at one point just confirmed her thoughts. She hadn't put two and two together about his prom date, and finding out that tidbit had set her backwards a few steps. But she shouldn't let herself waver so easily. She knew that whatever had been with Parker wasn't happening now. But still she had to be sure. She couldn't keep wondering. "Promise?" she finally asked after a long pause.
He smiled down at her. "Yes Lexi. I promise."
K.A. Linde
Rules of the Game
Some sort of comfort in your pain
I can't help from taking
No matter how I change
There will be no escaping
I say I'm chasing time but you know I've been
Running away from, running away from you
- Mike Posner "Save Your Goodbye"
Chapter 15: Present
Now Lexi swore she wasn't going to go. She had told Ramsey she wasn't going to go. He had unwittingly agreed…smart boy. She had even got up the nerve to call Bekah and tell her personally that she would have to decline the invitation to fill in at the bachelorette party. There was absolutely no way she would get dragged into another stupid night out. She had the worst luck with these types of events, and she was sure that this one wouldn't be any better. Bekah always had an angle. She always had a motive behind her actions. She didn't just invite someone to a bachelorette party for no good reason especially when you despised the girl. Lexi was sure there was something more to the event.