"Whatever you like to believe," Bekah drawled leaning back against the bar and feeling like the queen of the universe in that moment.
"You can't possibly know our history better than I do," Lexi told her anger threatening to overflow her buzz.
"I know that you're second best," Bekah slurred back forgetting all semblance of restraint.
That stung and Lexi knew it was meant to. Bekah had always despised her relationship with Jack. No, she had always been jealous of what they had. So any kind of insult would just be coming from a jealous woman so Lexi kept her focus.
She had been with Ramsey for nearly a year which Bekah had approved of just as much as she approved of Lexi seeing Jack. And even if they were on the rocks now, it didn't mean that she couldn't still hold her head high. Their relationship was built on more than Bekah and Jack's.
"Not with your brother," Lexi spat back at her.
Bekah gritted her teeth. She clearly didn't like to hear her talk about Ramsey. "And look at how well that's going…" she said looking her up and down as if she were some low life tramp.
"You know nothing about my relationship," Lexi growled getting even more riled up.
"Just that you're naïve," she stated whisking her blond hair over her shoulder. "You think the world revolves around you, which shows how little you really know about my brother. The only thing Ramsey has ever really cared about is himself. You are no different. I've been there his whole life. I will always know and understand him better than you ever could. You're just a fling among many," she said getting more irritated the longer they stood there.
Lexi didn't even want to touch that line of conversation. Bekah would always think about Ramsey whatever she wanted. "Well I've known Jack much longer than you. So does the same logic apply?" Lexi asked a glint of victory in her eye. She knew that Bekah couldn't come back from that. She had used her own argument against her, and Lexi didn't care how brilliant Bekah was supposed to be that was a hard logic to get around.
"Jack's different," she answered immediately unable to come up with another statement.
"Of course he is."
"I'm marrying him," she growled throwing her left hand out for examination.
Lexi stared at the ring in front of her. Now that she had it so close she could see that it was in fact a duplicate. There was just something about the ring that was too…modern. The silver was too polished. The diamonds perhaps a bit too large for the enclosures. The shape just a bit too perfect. It was the delicate simplicity and raw original manufacturing of the ring Jack had given to Lexi that had made it so unique. This was not that ring. That much was finally clear to her. She had known all along after he had told her, but she had never really been certain until just then.
And then she knew what she wanted to say in that moment as Bekah stood with her engagement ring for full display. The ring…the fake ring was just as much of a sham as their relationship.
"It's fake," Lexi said never taking her eyes from the glittering diamonds. She had been thinking it but had never meant for the words to actually slip out.
"What?" Bekah gasped pulling her hand back as if it had been burned.
There was no turning back now. "It's fake," she repeated.
"I am marrying him," Bekah said not fully understanding the gravity of her statement.
"No. The ring," Lexi stated simply.
"What about my ring?" she asked turning her hand over to examine it more closely.
"You heard me. Your ring is fake," Lexi spat feeling a release of all the pent up frustration that one ring had caused her.
"It's not a fake!" Bekah gasped.
"Are you sure?" Lexi asked arching an eyebrow.
"What you think I haven't had it appraised?" she asked revealing the true depths of her shallowness.
Lexi scoffed at her statement. It would have never crossed her mind to get it appraised. The diamonds couldn't have been more real. A closer inspection was hardly necessary. It was pretty clear that it was an expensive engagement ring. "For quality and cost right?" Lexi asked.
Bekah examined the ring on her hand for a second before answering Lexi. "Of course. The ring cost a fortune. Every diamond is authentic."
"But what about authenticity?" Lexi asked knowing the she likely hadn't considered that for she had never thought that he wouldn't give her the original ring.
"Has that ring on your finger been around since before World War II?" she asked grabbing her hand and staring at the ring again. She knew it wasn't but her drunken state wasn't allowing her any discretion. "Has this ring survived Jack's grandmother as he always claimed it did?"
"Of course," Bekah said with less confidence than before. She stared forward at Lexi who was still examining the ring.
"No it hasn't because this isn't that ring. It's a duplicate," Lexi told her gritting her teeth against the reality of her statement. Because no matter how much this was going to hurt Bekah, this fact had already hurt Lexi more than ever before.
"I don't believe you," she said yanking her hand back.
"You don't have to," Lexi spat. "Just get the ring appraised and you'll figure it out real quick. The original ring doesn't belong to you and it was never meant for you."
"How would you know any of this?" Bekah asked getting flustered and reaching out for the bar to steady herself. She was losing color in her face and getting more and more unsteady on her feet.
Lexi wasn't sure she could answer that. How could she stoop any lower? How could she tell her that the ring was intended for Lexi all along? That would just fuel her fire. Lexi didn't have the ring so there was no point in pressing her luck and exposing anymore than was necessary. The real story was too humiliating anyway.
"I just…know Jack unlike anyone else," she said with a sad smile.
"No," Bekah said shaking her head from side to side. "You're just a liar. That's what you said Jack is good at well that's all you're good at. You're just lying to me. You want me to call off the wedding. You want him to yourself. He's not yours. Just wait until I tell Ramsey what bullshit you're spoutin' now. He'll never want you back."
Lexi rolled her eyes. "Oh please, I'm not here to sabotage you. Don't flatter yourself. And try and refrain from thinking you know what Ramsey will and will not do. You're just his sister."
Bekah glared at her ready to spit back at her. Just then Kersey ran up to them. "Let's go," she squeaked out wiping at her mouth quickly.
"Go?" Bekah asked distracted.
"Yeah where are Amber and Maddie?" Kersey asked looking around them to find out where the girls were. She stood on her tip toes and even in her four inch heels she was still too short to see over the crowd.
"Dancing. What's going on?" Bekah asked her concerned.
Kersey giggled and pulled something out of her purse. Lexi was still fuming from her conversation with Bekah. She could hardly concentrate on what they were saying or what Kersey had in her hand.
"Look what I got," Kersey said covering her mouth as she revealed the boxers in her hand.
"You got boxers?" Bekah asked in awe.
Kersey bit her lower lip and attempted to look innocent. "I won't tell you what I had to do to get them," she said lowering her long black lashes, "but I have them."