“Yeah. I’ll let you know.”

“Great.”

“So what’s up with you and Jack?” Ramsey asked against his better judgment. Lexi’s eyes immediately darkened.

“Oh, just...you know,” she stated vaguely unsure how much she wanted to reveal. He didn’t know anything now which was probably for the better.

“Not really. You two seemed pretty heated last night. Was he just drunk? I’d never seen him that way before,” Ramsey admitted hoping to push the right buttons. He could see her begin to visibly relax as the attention fell away from her.

“I’ve just known Jack for a long time, and he’s pretty protective. Kind of like an older brother,” she said dryly. She couldn’t help thinking that Jack would make the worst older brother in the world.

Ramsey smirked noticing the ever-so-slight twitch in her muscles that indicated she was lying. He had always considered himself a great judge of character even when his parents hadn’t. Lexi’s phone began to buzz next to her again.

“Hello?” Lexi asked not recognizing the Atlanta phone number. Last time that had happened, she had been led here. That thought almost made her want to drop the call, but the sound of a chirpy voice cut off her line of reasoning.

“Hello, dear,” Bekah said from the other line.

Cringing at the uppity sound of her voice, Lexi pulled the phone away from her ear. “What’s up?”

“Where are you?”

No way had Jack put her up to this. Then again she had to have gotten the number from somewhere, and Jack was the prime suspect. “I’m busy. Was there something you needed?” Lexi asked avoiding the question.

She let her eyes fall back on Ramsey who looked at her inquisitively. She shrugged and mouth Bekah to him. His eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“Yes,” Bekah stated rather deliberately. “I don’t believe we’ve finished our conversation yet. Do you have plans tomorrow? I’d really like to take you shopping for Jack’s big day, and we can talk then.”

Jack’s big day? She hadn’t heard anything about his big day. What was his big day? What were they celebrating? She had no idea, but she didn’t particularly want to give Bekah the satisfaction of knowing that piece of information.

“Fine. How about I call you tomorrow?”

“Sounds great, sweetie,” Bekah said happily. “Jack, stop,” Lexi heard her mutter playfully in the phone. She didn’t even know if Jack was actually there or if Bekah was just being a bitch. She supposed it didn’t really matter since it had worked. Lexi could feel her heart constricting and pain crease her temples. Her throat was closing up and she felt her body seizing at the thought of Jack being alone with Bekah. Lexi coughed uncomfortably and said a rushed goodbye before slamming the phone shut.

“What was that about?” Ramsey asked, concern evident in his voice.

“Your sister wants to take me shopping,” Lexi informed him pushing several strands of hair behind her ear forcefully.

“That’s nice of her,” Ramsey said. Though for some reason, he didn’t really think it was.

Lexi snorted. “Nice. Right.”

“You don’t have to hang out with her,” he stated absentmindedly. He passed a sandwich to her, and she reached into the basket to investigate the contents further.

“Yeah, I know, but Jack wants me to,” she said shrugging.

“Why is that?” he asked honestly curious.

Lexi shrugged again. “Beats me. We’ve known each other for a long time, and I guess since I’m here he wants me to get to know his girlfriend too.”

Ramsey took a deep breath to keep from asking too many more questions. “How long are you here for exactly?”

“School starts on Monday. I guess until Sunday then. A week total.” Lexi smiled at the grimace that crossed his face. She wasn’t entirely sure if that was because she was staying too long or too short, but she was going to go with the latter. She had found herself in quite an interesting scenario.

“I guess you’ll be here long enough for Jack’s birthday then,” Ramsey said leaning back on his elbows and examining her reaction.

Lexi’s mouth popped open in surprise. Oh my God. How had she forgotten his birthday? Of course, it was his birthday this weekend. And, if she recalled, this was a big one indeed. Twenty-five years old. Wow. A quarter of his lifetime gone by, and she had known him since he was just nineteen. She couldn’t believe she had forgotten. “Oh, yeah. What is he doing exactly?”

She couldn’t believe she was asking Ramsey for information about this. Why hadn’t Jack mentioned it? Had he assumed she wouldn’t come? Did he not want her to be there? There were so many questions that she needed answered. At least now she understood why Bekah wanted to go shopping for Jack’s big day.

“You don’t know?” he asked skeptically.

“I wasn’t really filled in,” she admitted awkwardly.

He sure thought it was strange that she had come to visit Jack, but he hadn’t even invited her to his birthday celebration. “It’ll be a surprise for you too. Want to go with me?”

Lexi was interrupted from answering as her phone went off in her hand. “Goddamn it. Who wants to talk to me now?” Lexi popped open the phone. “Hello.”

“Alexa!” Chyna squealed on the other line. “Oh my goodness, chica, I have missed you. How have things been going with, you know, everything? Are you planning to come home to me sooner rather than later?”

Lexi’s laughed as soon as she heard her best friend’s voice. “Chyna, it’s so good to hear from you.” Lexi glanced over at Ramsey who’s expression had lightened in accord with her own enthusiasm. “Sorry to disappoint, but it doesn’t look like I’ll be joining you back home anytime soon. Though I do miss New York terribly.”

“I knew you would,” Chyna trilled. “How could you not? I know the summer is scathingly hot, but to get away to go somewhere not only hot, but humid? Disgusting.”

“You convinced me to come down here in the first place,” she reminded her, getting lost in their conversation and not realizing that she was giving away information in front of Ramsey.

“Yes, well, how does closure suit you?”

“Actually,” Lexi said pushing her hair behind her ear as she glanced at Ramsey’s all too curious face, “I can’t really talk about that right now.”

“And why not? You’re supposed to be with your family tonight, right?”

“Err...”

“Oh my God, Alexa, you are not with him right now are you?”

Lexi’s brows furrowed together hoping to God that Ramsey couldn’t hear Chyna’s end of the conversation. “No, no, no, no, no,” she muttered quickly. “I’m just...um.”

“Do not lie to your best friend.”

“I’m not lying,” she quickly corrected. “I’m just...on a date.” Ramsey’s bright smile at the recognition of their date was totally worth it. This guy seriously had everything going for him. Which begged the question, what was he doing with her? But she couldn’t think about that right now.

“What?” Chyna squealed. Then thinking the better of it, she asked, “With whom? Jack? It better not be Jack. Your vague texts over the past two days haven’t been enough. Fill me in. What’s going on?”

“Chyna, I’m kind of in the middle of something here,” Lexi reminded her.

“Oh geez, Alexa, I’m sorry. I’ll let you go, but I better get some details. You know how long I’ve been waiting for this to happen. If you don’t call me by tomorrow...”

Lexi cut her off. “Good night, Chyna.” Lexi closed the phone and turned the damn thing off not wanting another such distraction. “I’m so sorry. I’m usually not this popular,” she admitted smiling at Ramsey who just shrugged off the statements.

“No problem at all. Was that someone from home?”

“Yeah, my best friend,” she told him.

Luckily, there were no interruptions for the remainder of the evening. The two managed idle chit chat with little interrogation or their normal rude behavior towards one another. The sun set as they finished their meal and an announcement went out signifying the beginning of the laser show. Lexi got lost in the twirling lights and loud popular music blasting from the speakers. She couldn’t believe that they were capable of displaying scenes to go along with the music that were large enough to cover the entire side of the mountain. The couple involuntarily snuggled closer together as the show continued. Ramsey had even ventured to lace his fingers with hers.