Rachelle peeked back through her window as if to confirm that it was, in fact, miserable outside. “In this weather?” she asked condescendingly.

“Uh…yeah. I needed to clear my head.”

“Did it work?”

“Not really. I’m kind of frozen,” she told her a chill running down her back at the mention of the cold.

“You Southerners,” she scoffed, “this isn’t cold.”

“Feels pretty cold to me,” Lexi said wrapping her arms around her body.

“Whatever. Why didn’t you take your cell phone with you?” she asked disapprovingly.

Lexi cringed realizing that she had forgotten her cell. She knew when she was out in the city, especially when she was alone, that she should have it with her, but she hated carrying it with her when she was running. She felt weighed down by technology. But Rachelle was looking at her expectantly. “Uh, yeah, sorry. I guess I forgot it.”

“Yeah, I know. It has been ringing off the hook all morning...on loud,” she grumbled crossing her arms over her chest.

Lexi gulped, taking a sideways look towards her room as if her phone was going to start ringing again at any moment. “Sorry ‘bout that.”

“You should call Jack back. I finally had to answer and tell him I’d give you the message, but that you weren’t home.”

“You told him I wasn’t home?” she squeaked.

“What was I supposed to do? You weren’t in your room. Your phone was still on your desk. Your purse was missing. You had to be somewhere. I told him you were out. What’s the big deal?” Rachelle asked.

Lexi groaned. “My purse is missing? Great, just great. What a fantastic morning.”

“Just call him back,” she said slamming her door angrily.

Lexi sighed and trudged into her room. All she wanted to was shower. She did not want to have to deal with this right now.

She glanced around noticing that her purse was still exactly where she had left it safely tucked under her desk. Rachelle must have missed it when she answered the phone. Lexi breathed out a sigh of relief that nothing had happened to her purse. She unplugged her phone from where she had left it charging the night before and turned it on. Eight missed calls showed up on the phone and she had four text messages, and that was before Rachelle had gotten to her phone to turn it off.

Even though all she wanted to do was take a shower and not think about anything, she reluctantly opened the phone and dialed Jack’s number. As she waited, she peeled of her running jacket and hung it on a hook on the back of her door. Her t-shirt came off next followed by the black, long-sleeve, Under Armour shirt. Her track pants hung low on her hips and her black sports bra hugged tight against her chest.

“Lex,” Jack breathed into the phone, “where have you been? I’ve been calling all morning.”

“Yeah, Rachelle told me. Sorry about that.”

“What were you doing? Who were you with?” he asked accusing her with every word.

“I was out for a run.”

“In this weather?”

She wanted to curse. Why was it so hard to believe that she would go out for a run when it was nasty outside? She needed to clear her head. It wasn’t the end of the world. That didn’t give everyone the right to accuse her of anything. “Yeah.”

“Right.”

“What? Do you not believe me?” she asked, her earlier anxieties making her jumpy.

“Sure, I believe you. If you say so.”

“Why don’t you sound like you believe me?” Her voice couldn’t hide the hint of annoyance at his tone. He was the one who had dipped out of the party, and then left a sketchy voicemail telling her not to come over to be with him. She should be the one accusing him of not being around.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He had a rough night with the job interview. He was probably just irritated with that. There was no need for her to make it worse for him. “I’m sorry. It was just a rough night.”

“I know what you mean,” he whispered.

“Sorry, I didn’t bring my phone. I’ll remember to take it with me next time,” she apologized.

“Actually, we need to talk.”

Warning signals began blasting off in her brain even worse than this morning. Those words were never a good sign. Nothing good could come from saying that. “About what?” she managed to get out.

She could hear him take a deep breath. “Can I come over?”

“Of course you can come over. You’re here all the time,” she mumbled knowing it had to be bad, if he had to ask to come over.

“I have to take care of some...stuff here, and then I’ll be over so we can talk. Alright?”

She nodded swallowing heavily. Then she realized he couldn’t see her and said, “Yeah, that’s fine.”

“Bye,” he said hanging up the phone quickly.

Lexi shut her phone and tossed it back into the mess on her desk. She yanked her hair out of the ponytail on the back of her head and let her mass of curls fall around her face. Brushing them out of her face with her fingers, she could feel some of the tension release from her body.

The events from the past twelve hours were replaying in her head. Where had things gone wrong? They had been perfect at the party. God, they had been about to leave to have sex...make love until they had been interrupted.

The interruption.

What had Claire said about him leaving? That she had seen him exit the premises with some drunken blonde chick on his arm. Lexi could remember the look of disbelief in Claire and Chyna’s eyes when she had explained about the interview. They both had the same expression.

She shook her head not wanting to think about that. Her body hurt from running, lack of hydration, and chronic worrying. All she needed was a long hot shower and to chill the fuck out. No use worrying over something that she had no idea about. Everything her imagination was conjuring up was only successfully making her more worried about what had happened last night, and why he now so desperately needed to talk to her.

Taking the time to thoroughly wash away any lingering doubts, Lexi took extra long in the shower. She scrubbed every crevice washing away the sweat and grime from her run twice with her cranberry body wash. She lathered and rinsed her hair until it was silky smooth. When she cut off the water, the bathroom was thick with steam and the mirror completely obscured by fog. Typically, Lexi wasn’t the type of girl who primped, but today was not like other days.

After towel drying her hair, she blew it out until every long strand was dry. Then she pulled a straightener down until all the curls were gone and her hair hit her lower back. Black eyeliner rimmed her eyes and a layer of mascara touched her lashes. After adding a hint of rouge to her pale cheeks, she figured she had spent enough time in the bathroom. She was amazed that no one had bothered her already. With only one bathroom between four people, it was usually only a matter of time before someone came banging on the door.

As Lexi walked out of the bathroom, she did hear a knock coming from the door. She wrapped her skimpy white towel tightly around her body and scrambled towards the front door. “Jack,” she cried as she opened the door. “I thought you had stuff to do.”

He looked at her as if he were looking at her for the first time. The way her silky hair shone as the hallway light hit the strands. The way her side swept bangs fell neatly into her enormous brown eyes, which only looked larger and more beautiful from the make-up she had carefully applied. Her skin contrasted with the bleach white towel giving her a sun-kissed look. A smile broke out across his face as he took in the sight of her partly exposed body.

“It’s been over an hour,” he commented.

“Oh, has it?” she asked embarrassed even further. She couldn’t remember ever taking over an hour in the shower. “Are you going to come in?” she asked stepping aside and hugging her towel tight to her chest. She could feel it slipping out of place.