“I’m not getting this out right. It’s kind of hard to explain. Do you have a minute?”

She glanced around her tiny room, as specks of light began to filter in through the window. She visualized her planner, filled to the brim with meetings and appointments weekdays, and then her lame Saturday with only a haircut on the schedule. All she had was time. “It’s six in the morning. Go ahead, Jack,” she said letting his name roll off her tongue the same way he had…she stopped herself. No point in letting her mind venture there.

“Are you sitting down? This is kind of a strange story.”

“Uh…yeah, I am,” she said glancing around her tiny apartment. Her bedroom walls were covered in cracking soft green paint that had probably been there since the dawn of time, and a collage of hooks and holes from previous tenants. Her floor was scattered with dirty laundry and destroyed textbooks. The sparse amount of furniture she had been able to haul up the seven daunting flights of stairs still managed to make the space look cluttered, something she had never quite been able to figure out. “So…uh…what is this strange story?”

“Okay, well, just hear me out, because I promise I wouldn’t have called and bothered you if it wasn’t for a reason I thought was worthwhile.” He sucked in a long deep breath before continuing. “So, I’ve been dating this girl,” he began, coughing a little at the introduction to the conversation. “She’s really great. Actually, I think ya’ll would get along. Anyway, she is really into uh…marriage,” he said awkwardly. “And…well…you know me.”

She did know him. He despised the idea of marriage, the idea of being tied down to one person, suffocating under the monogamous bonds forced upon you by a legally binding document. Knowing that after that moment, there was no turning back. Except, of course, there was always divorce. She was pretty sure that the only thing he hated more than marriage was the idea of divorce. Breaking up was bad enough without the added effort of divvying up possessions, possibly children, moving out, starting a new life, and not to mention court fees, custody battles, and worst of all, lawyers. She giggled a little on the inside at that last thought. After all, she had spent the last two years of her life studying law. “Yeah, I know. Mr. Anti-Commitment,” she said only half-joking.

He breathed out heavily. “Now that you mention it, that’s kind of what it boils down to.”

“What? The fact that you have the capability of convincing women to hold out for you until you break their hearts?” she asked coldly. Really, she had no idea where this was leading. Why was he talking to her, of all people, about possibly marrying his girlfriend? He hadn’t spoken to her in over a year and a half, and she was pretty sure her opinion on marriage was irrelevant to his decision. After all, her opinions on relationships, in general, had always been irrelevant.

“Yeah,” he replied very softly into the phone. She almost hadn’t heard him. “Yeah, that’s what this is about.” She waited for him to elaborate. After a brief pause, he began to explain the mess he had gotten himself into. “My girlfriend asked me if I wanted to marry her. Not like a proposal or anything,” he quickly corrected, “more like a question to see where our relationship was headed. I didn’t have an answer for her. I mean what kind of guy has an answer for that? But as you know…I mean because of my parents…the thought of marriage tends to make me run head first in the opposite direction. She pinned me down though, said she would leave me that second if I didn’t give her an answer, which really took me off guard.”

Lexi felt like she was sitting on the edge of her seat about to witness a train wreck. Any girl who had ever tried to pin Jack down for anything experienced rejection like a blow to the face.

“So I told her that was what I wanted.”

“What?” she sputtered helplessly into the phone. “You told her you wanted to marry her?” Her mouth dropped open forming a little “oh” of disbelief.

He chuckled lightly at her reaction. “I told her I could see myself marrying her, but that I wasn’t ready to commit yet. I mean we’ve only been dating for a year and a half.” Jack cleared his throat before continuing. “Luckily, she took that as a positive answer and didn’t break up with me. Then comes the part of the story where you come in.”

“Me? I don’t see how I could possibly come into a story about you marrying someone else.”

“Well, she wants to meet you.”

She could have never prepared for that answer. “What? I think I must have missed something. The girl that you are dating, that you want to marry, wants to meet me. Why? I’m so…insignificant,” she mumbled disheartened. She couldn’t even think about the different times her and Jack had tried to form a relationship. Nothing had ever worked, and the last time… She stopped herself again from entertaining the thought. The hole that Jack left still ached when prodded, and she avoided irritating the wounded feeling that crept through her.

“Don’t say that. You know you’re not insignificant.” She let silence settle between them, not wanting to be the first to speak next. After listening to her breathe heavily for a while, he spoke again. “She got this idea in her head that she wants to meet every girl I’ve dated to find out why I was unable to commit to them. I guess she think it will help her figure out why I’m not committing to her. And don’t try to say this doesn’t apply to you because we didn’t date. I wouldn’t have dragged you into this Lex, but she heard about you from Kate.”

Lexi recoiled at the mention of Jack’s ex-girlfriend. “So by the way you say that, I’m guessing you actually went through with this insane decision. You are letting this girl pick and pry through your past just so that you don’t have to commit to marrying her right now?” This was low…even for him.

“It’s not like that,” he stated defensively. “I let her talk to them, because I wanted to show her I had nothing to hide. When Kate mentioned you and I didn’t, you can guess how she reacted.

Lexi couldn’t help nodding even though she knew that he couldn’t see her. She wouldn’t be happy. Any female would be unhappy with the description Kate had likely bestowed upon her. Knowing the way Kate felt about her, it probably went along the lines of temptress, devious, manipulative, conniving, two-faced whore with a few added expletives just for good measure. “So Kate told her what happened which is how she got my name, but we were never um…together,” she said not certain if that was the correct word.

“She doesn’t seem to care. She thinks that since I didn’t tell her about you, you somehow must hold all the answers as to why I am the way I am. I tried to tell her that the last I had seen or heard from you was before we’d even started dating, but she is almost as persistent as I am. So, I guess what I’m saying is that I need you, Lex,” he said affectionately using her pet name. “I need you to meet Bekah and convince her I’m worth keeping around.”

Lexi rolled her eyes to the ceiling in exasperation. She didn’t even want to consider whether or not Jack was worth keeping around. Nonetheless, she mulled the idea over. She was, in fact, overdue for an Atlanta trip to visit her family. She had never intended to see Jack, especially if that included parading around with his fiancé-to-be and explaining their history. Pass on that. “You’ve failed to explain how any of this is my problem,” she stated as firmly as possible. “It’s not like I can dash away from my busy schedule to take a wonderful jaunt in the park with you and your girlfriend, or fiancé-to-be, or whatever the hell she is. I have other things to do. I’m kind of busy.”

She could practically feel him cringe through the phone. “I know you’re busy, but I thought that maybe since school wasn’t in session, you might be able to take some time to get off work.”