Lexi heard her phone buzz again. Annoyed, she stared down at the message. “Lex?”

She really did not want to deal with him right now. She quickly shoved the phone deeper in her purse. Hopefully, she wouldn’t be able to know if he messaged her again.

As they neared their destination, they listened to whatever was playing on the radio. Neither of them minding what was coming through the top 40 station at that moment. Realization began to dawn on her as stared out at the horizon, but she shook her head in disbelief.

No, he couldn’t be taking her there. She hadn’t been there since she was a kid. Beyond that fact, it wasn’t exactly a place to take your date. She had always gone there with family or church groups. More a place for group entertainment than dating. Not that she was looking for a normal sort of date from Ramsey. She had only been thinking a while ago that she was relieved he hadn’t taken her to some special five star dinner, but this was really about as far from that as a person could get.

Ramsey reached the gate and handed over a wad of cash to the eighty-something year old attendant and breezed his Mercedes into the establishment. They took the winding road past rows and rows of pine trees until they reached a valet parking lot at the front entrance.

Lexi glanced around in awe and wonder at Stone Mountain. Her eyes focused in on the giant mural that had been hand-carved into the rock during the Civil War as a testament to their faith in the Confederacy. She felt like a speck next to the giant mountain that tourists from all over came to climb and enjoy the surrounding park which consisted of camping grounds, a water park, train station, and over the summer an amazing laser show. This was the last place she had expected Ramsey to take her. For some reason, that made it all the better. Surprisingly enough, he didn’t think that he needed all of his wealth to impress her, and he was right. At this moment, she was impressed.

She flattened out her green spaghetti strap dress she had worn for the occasion and silently thanked God that she had decided on brown thong sandals instead of her heels. Ramsey jogged around the car and directed her towards the stone pathway leading to the lawn reserved for the laser show. She let her eyes leave her surroundings long enough to glance at her date for the evening. He wore a nicely cut polo that matched the green shade of his eyes and fitted khaki pants paired with brown flipflops. She liked his casual attire, and wished she had paid more attention before. She might have realized that they wouldn’t be going to some extravagant place had she recognized his flip-flops before this moment.

“I hope you’re hungry,” he said as they walked around the corner and down another path that opened up to the main lawn.

“Starving, actually,” she admitted cringing at how that sounded.

He smiled at her bluntness. Yet another feature that he was starting to like about her. “Good. We have a banquet.”

When they reached the grass, they trekked forward through a line of people. Apparently, everyone was setting up for the laser show. It was the last week before school officially started for the public schools in the area, which generally brought out more spectators than any week except Memorial Day Weekend and Fourth of July. Lexi had no idea how they were going to find a quiet place to sit and eat after arriving so late for the show.

She should have suspected something was up when a large opening in the crowd appeared before her. Her mouth dropped open at the display before her. Ramsey had called ahead and had the area cleared specifically for them. A large quilted blanket, much like the ones she slept with back in Manhattan, covered a ten by ten space on the lawn. A giant wicker picnic basket sat at the center of the roped off expanse and a cooler directly next to it. It was the most ideal location for watching the show. He must have done all this hours earlier. A grin broke out across her face.

“Is this the kind of treatment you reserve for all your dates?” she asked sitting down on the massive blanket.

Ramsey smiled brightly at her, still standing. “Not exactly,” he admitted.

Lexi had been joking, not expecting an answer in the first place. Though, she wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth anyway. It could just be a line. She couldn’t picture the type of women she had seen at his party the night before being happy with an outdoor picnic and laser show as their first date. She shook her head realizing that she was overanalyzing. Who cares if he didn’t normally take girls on dates here?

Luckily, he had learned his lesson and sat on the opposite side of the blanket from her giving her a wide berth. He was always so up in her face and it really just brought out the worst in her.

“I didn’t know what you wanted,” Ramsey began digging into the basket, “so I just got a bunch of things. You can decide what you like.”

“When did you have time for this?” she asked. She had stayed at his house all afternoon. Granted, she had felt like shit much of that time and took nearly an hour long shower.

“I just made a list and had some people take care of it,” he said sheepishly.

“Oh.” She should have figured. It could have been worse. He could have not gone to the trouble. She shook her head again in frustration. Why did she care whether or not he went and picked out dinner for them? She had to keep reminding herself she didn’t really want to be here. Right?

Lexi watched him extract a bag of green grapes from the bag and immediately snatched them out of his grasp. He jolted in surprise. She sent a smile his way and popped one into her mouth.

Ramsey couldn’t help himself from staring at her. Lexi’s cheeks were flushed from the Georgia summer heat and lips wet from licking off the grape juice that had squirted onto her bottom lip. He gulped heavily fishing around in the basket for something to distract him. He uncovered the remaining food and removed two cans of Coke for them.

She caught him watching her, and in her eagerness scooted closer towards him so they were nearly touching. “Want one?” Lexi asked holding a grape between her fingers. He nodded and before he could reach out to take the fruit, she pressed it in between his lips.

He crunched down on the fruit trying to act as if that hadn’t affected him. “Thanks.”

Lexi batted her eyelashes before sitting back on her side of the blanket. Her hand brushed her bag and felt the vibrations through the material. She retrieved the device and flipped it open. “Are you okay? Where are you? Why aren’t you returning my texts? Lexi?!?”

Lexi sighed heavily and bit her lip as she read through Jack’s text message. She had completely forgotten about messaging him back. She quickly typed out a reply and closed her phone. “Sorry. Alive.”

“You got to your parents safe then?”

Turning her head to look at Ramsey’s perfect bone structure, she giggled a little to herself. Man, if Jack knew where she was at this moment, he would have a fit. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to tell him though. At least, not over text message. Not when she couldn’t use the information as leverage. “Safe.”

“Anyone important?” Ramsey asked casually taking a bite of the sandwich in his hand.

Lexi rolled her eyes. “Just Jack again.” God, she hated how familiar this all felt.

“Ahh...” he said unsure if he was prepared to broach that subject.

“Do you want to come over tomorrow or something?”

Lexi sighed again. Did she want to go see him? Yes. No. There wasn’t really a good answer. If she was honest with herself, the answer would be yes. The answer would always be yes. She always wanted to see him. She hadn’t spent any time with him in two years, and she missed him. A part of her always missed him. They had gone through so much, it was hard to not want to be around him. Even though things always ended so fucked up, her brain wouldn’t let her forget the in between times when things were oh so good.