by T Gephart
“Cut the bullshit Troy. Yeah, yeah, I’m a slut.” He tried to break his arm free of my grip, “Lexi’s different and you know it. No one fucks with her.”
“Bud, all jokes aside. She doesn’t look like she is being manhandled. Chances are she’s enjoying herself. What you want to do? Go over there half-cocked and challenge this dude to a duel?” I wondered how much of Dan’s tirade was actually wanting to defend her honour and how much was alcohol induced.
“I’m going over there and making sure she is ok.” Dan became increasingly serious, “Now you two pussies can sit here with your balls in your purse or you can come watch my six. Either way, shit is going down.” Fuck me sideways! Dan wasn’t joking. I guess out of all of us, I figured Dan would be the least likely to think of Lexi as a sister (Judging by his continuous, relentless flirting with her) but he saw her exactly how we all did, she was our family and no one messed with our family.
“Ok, we go over there and talk to her BUT you chill the fuck out ok.” I agreed staring Dan down, “And you leave the talking to us, agreed?”
“Stop flapping your gums and let’s get over there,” Dan pushed past us as he made his way toward the Gen Pop part of the club.
“You get the feeling this going to end badly?” Jason hollered above the noise. I nodded as we moved through the crowd; Dan stalked forward like a heat-seeking missile.
I shot Jase a cautious look as we edged closer to Lexi, her head tilted back as she laughed. “Dan, I think she is fine, dude.”
“We’re checking in.” Dan affirmed not willing to back down.
“Ok. Ok.” Jase agreed, “But kick it down a notch ok.”
“Lexi,” shouted Dan, totally ignoring our directive as we came up behind her.
“Heyyyyyyy,” Lexi slurred slightly. “Whatttttt areee youuuu doooin’ hereeee.” She reached out her arms and hugged Dan. She was drunk. If the slurred speech and glassy eyes weren’t enough of a tip off, the fact she was having full body contact with Dan threw up the flare.
“Hey Baby,” Dan crooned, going with it. God now I hoped she was drunk. I’m not sure how she felt about being Dan’s baby. “You want to introduce us to your friend?” His voice leered on the word friend.
“Ummm, this is …” Lexi smiled and then looked at the dude in front of us who was obviously not happy about being cock-blocked. “Dave?” Lexi giggled.
“Dylan,” he corrected her.
“Oh yes! Dylan,” Lexi smiled, “We were dancing!”
Dylan silently pulled Lexi up to his side, his eyes burning a hole through Dan’s head.
“Sounds like fun,” Dan did not remove his eyes from Dylan, “Mind if I cut in.” Funnily enough there was no actual question there. He was taking this whole territorial pissing match to a whole new level.
“Dude, I believe the lady is with me and I’m not into sharing. Find your own broad or wait around for my seconds,” Dylan unwisely shot back, getting up in Dan’s grill. Now I was pissed.
“Buddy, why don’t you step back!” I sidled up next to Dan while Jase fell into formation behind me. If he was taking one of us on, he was taking all of us. We might be living in Manhattan now but we grew up in The Bronx and we could drop this SOB before he could check the time on his entry level Rolex.
“Really? I’m not WITH you, asshole so I can talk to whomever the fuck I want,” Lexi hissed pushing in front of Dan, “And did you just call me a BROAD?” I couldn’t help but smile. The tongue lashing Lexi was going to give poor Dylan was going to hurt a lot more than any beat down we could have provided.
“You dumb, stupid ass!” Lexi continued, “I’m not your property. You don’t get to decide to share me! Who the fuck do you think you are?” She pushed him hard in the chest.
“Easy,” I grabbed Lexi and pulled her up against my body, “I thought you were supposed to stop us from getting into fights, not the other way around.”
Dan continued to stare Dylan down, daring him to make the first move. I had to admit it but I was itching to have a little fist to face discussion with the asshole too.
“You’re not worth it,” Dylan huffed half under his breath as he adjusted his jacket.
“That’s it, walk away Champ,” Jase warned as we watched Dylan disengage and walk off.
“You should have let me hit him,” Lexi smiled and turned into my arms to face me. “Can you believe I was going to go home with him? There’s a mistake I’m glad I’m not making!”
Dan gently pulled her from my arms and into his. “Well baby, if you’re looking to make a mistake….”
“Ha! I don’t think I’m that drunk Dan.” Lexi laughed as she hugged him back, “Wow you smell good.” She nestled her neck closer to his. News flash Lex, I think you are that drunk!
“Why don’t we go hang in the back for awhile?” I offered as I watched Dan’s face light up like it was Christmas fucking morning.
Dan led Lexi back to the VIP section and helped her onto one of the large leather couches. Jase and I settled opposite her. It was actually kind of cool just to be relaxing with Lexi in a non-work capacity. She looked straight up killer in a fitted, tight blue dress.
“Sooooooo.” Lexi laughed, “Other than skulking around in clubs, what are you guys up to?”
“Pretty much nothing,” I flagged a waitress, “I’m heading out of town tomorrow. James and Alex are mixing so I can take off for a few days and still be back to re-master any additional bits without pissing anyone off.”
Dan took his seat right next to Lexi, draping his arm over her shoulder and loving the fact she wasn’t immediately asking him to remove it.
“Oooooooo.” Lexi’s eyes widened, “Where you going?”
“Upstate. Maybe Canada?” I shrugged, “Wherever I end up!” Having not given it much thought other than needing to make tracks.
“Sounds like fun.” Lexi mused as the waitress approached us.
We ordered drinks though Lexi had decided to switch to water. Clearly she wasn’t as drunk as we thought she was and was still very much in control.
“You should come,” I offered without really thinking it through. “Have you ever seen Niagara Falls from the Canadian side? It’s pretty spectacular.”
“Canada blows,” interjected Dan. “Why would you want to go there?”
“What have you got against Canada?” Lexi asked, relaxing into her seat. Three beers and one bottle of water were delivered and placed on the small table between our two couches.
“Are you kidding?” Dan took a sip of his beer, “Where do I start? It’s like Diet America!”
“Diet America?” Lexi asked as she raised her bottle of water to her lips.
“You know. Just one calorie, not quite American enough!” Dan snarled as he continued, “And that accent. Ey, Ooot and Abooot, what the fuck is that?”
“Dan is still pissed the Maple Leaves put a hurting on the Rangers.” Jase explained. To say Dan was sensitive over the latest Hockey standings was an understatement. The NY Rangers took a soul-destroying loss from the Toronto Maple Leaves. Now, Dan refused to even drink Canadian beer.
“Dude I could handle it if we went down to Chicago or Pittsburgh but fucking Toronto?! They can keep their tree-tapped maple syrup; Aunt Jemima kicks its ass! Give me the real deal - the red, white and blue!” Dan took another swing of his beer.
“Anyway,” I continued, ignoring Dan’s anti-Canadian rant, “It’s beautiful this time of year. We could just load up the car and head up.”
“Troy, I hope you are going to take a real fucking car and not your bug, cause that shit won’t make it past Westchester in the snow!” Jase was only half joking.
“I got some tricked out snow tires for it,” I boasted. I wasn’t going to let a little snow stop me from putting some more miles on my baby.
“So do we need to book a hotel?” Lexi asked, seeming to warm to the idea.
“Ummmm no. That’s the point. We just kind of rough it. A friend of mine has a cabin not far from the border,
we can crash there.” If it wasn’t so freaking cold we could have just tented it but I wasn’t willing to risk losing a finger or toe to hypothermia this close to an album launch.
I watched as Lexi’s eyes widened in disbelief. “A Cabin? Like in the woods?”
“Yeah, it has an indoor shower and bathroom too. Completely secluded. It’s pretty sweet actually,” Jase offered.
Lexi swallowed, “I don’t do nature, boys!” her head shaking side to side, “I see no point in going out into the middle of freaking nowhere and singing fucking Kumbaya.”
“You know no one actually sings that song anymore, right?” I laughed amused by her refusal to consider the trip because of its modest accommodations.
“Irrelevant.” She dismissed.
“It’s probably just as well Lex,” I bit back my smile, “You know, being a girl and everything. You’d probably just slow me down.” Jase coughed as he caught my eye. He knew exactly what I was doing. Lexi did not back away from a challenge, ever. I also knew one of her biggest pet peeves was being told she wasn’t capable of something purely based on her gender. Hell, I could probably convince her to trek the North fucking Pole just by telling her she couldn’t.
“What did you say, Harris?” Lexi leaned in, her eyes wild with anger.
“I said,” I cleared my throat, “You couldn’t handle it ‘cause you are a girl!”
“Oh I can handle it! I will boy scout the FUCK out of your cabin.” Lexi shot up out of her seat to reinforce her resolve.
“You sure?” I goaded her further, “No one will think less of you if want to chicken out.”
“When are we leaving?” She demanded snapping her fingers.
“Tomorrow, say…. ten? Don’t pack anything fancy. Jeans. Sweats. Warm clothes. The bears aren’t much into labels.” I smiled, genuinely excited that Lexi was going to be joining me.
“I’ll be ready Harris,” Lexi settled back into her seat as she lifted her bottle to her lips. The alcohol fog that previously had seemed to affect her was now gone. Dan resumed his not so subtle shimmy to get closer to her.
“Not going to happen Dan.” Lex smiled as she carefully removed his hand from her upper thigh.
“Fine!” Dan conceded, “Have it your way. But you just turned down the best sex you’re ever going to get. I’m talking multiple mind-blowing orgasms. I just wanted to give you one last opportunity in case you didn’t make it back from Shitsville. So you’d have something to live for while fighting off bears and fucking elk.”
“Awwww,” Lexi sighed, “Would you miss me if I didn’t come back?” She ruffled Dan’s hair and ran her hand down his cheek.
Dan got quiet as he touched Lexi’s hand on his face, “You’d better come back.” There was no humour in his voice as he met her eye.
“I swear on my Chanel,” Lexi hugged Dan. “There’s nothing that could keep me from coming back. Not even a hockey-loving-Canadian-grizzly.”
“Is this the part where we sing Kumbaya?” Jase laughed.
“If we are,” Lexi chuckled “I’m going to need to start drinking again.”
I shook my head in amazement. Dan was right. Lexi was different. I couldn’t explain how it came to be that she came to mean so much to all of us in such a short time. I didn’t believe in all that “meant to be” spiritual bullshit, you made your own destiny. BUT whether it was fate, luck or some other Keanu Reeves freaky Matrix shit that brought her into our lives, it was going to have to be some fierce ungodly force to take her away.
Chapter 12 – Taylah
Author’s Note: This takes place after Alex’s father’s funeral at Lexi’s Manhattan apartment after having been shunned by Alex. Taylah is concerned for her friend, who she hasn’t heard from in a few days.
As I sat at my desk, mindlessly drumming my fingers beside the keyboard, it occurred to me it had been too quiet last few days. Lexi, my lively - somewhat crazy - Aussie neighbour, who could usually be heard stumbling in at early hours of the morning, had been noticeably absent from her apartment. Hmmmm when was the last time I’d seen her? Monday? Maybe earlier? I picked up my phone and as I thumbed her digits into the screen.
“Hi this is Lexi Reed. I am unavailable at this time but if you leave your name, number and short message I’ll get back to you at my earliest convenience.” Voice mail? Interesting.
Lexi Reed was not the kind of girl who would sit idly in her apartment. The girl had an appetite for men and shopping that, had I been more conservative, would have made me blush. Of course I’m not easily offended so her stacked wardrobe and revolving door of bed partners was of little consequence to me. I did wonder if perhaps the bed-hopping and retail therapy was symptomatic of a deeper problem but as much as I could tell, it really was just her choice.
While she didn’t “date”, Lexi had immersed herself in the NYC nightlife, which included “sampling” the local talent on offer. Usually I’d say girls who want to play the “sex without emotions” game were angling for heartache but Lexi was different. The girl had ZERO interest in a relationship with these guys, in fact less than zero. Most of those poor fellas didn’t even get a call-back. I had half joked that she was going to have to branch out to the other boroughs at the rate she was burning through them. She never brought them home though, that was one of her elaborate rules. She would have her wicked way with them at their place and then unceremoniously make for the door. She didn’t want them in her space or even to know where she lived. No cutesy “hold-me-spooning-enjoying-the-afterglow” for our Lex, she was like a booty-call bandit, just missing the theme music and a cape.
“Dave, have you heard from Lexi?” My enigmatic husband poked his head out from the kitchen at my beckoning. God love him, he was so patient with my many interruptions through the day.
“Haven’t seen her or heard from her, Babe.” He leaned against the doorframe. “You know Alex’s father died earlier this week so I imagine she’s dealing with all of that. Why don’t you give her a call?”
“Yeah I know. I left her a message. Guess she must be snowed under. Still, haven’t heard a peep out of her.” Surely she would have to come home to sleep? Change? Shower? Clear the calls on her answering machine from the heavy breathing Lotharios before it melted?
Hmmmm. Nope, something didn’t fit and it wasn’t these Diane von Furstenberg pants that were cutting off the circulation to my legs (they looked amazing but I was going to need a stick of butter and possibly some forceps to peel them off). Why the radio silence? She hadn’t been on Facebook or Twitter in days, not even to give a cheeky “like” to my largely amusing and incredibly informative status about Project Runway. (I was still waiting for their representation to contact me, incidentally. My input would not only bolster ratings but I’d make sure that train-wreck of a sewing room had all its fabrics sufficiently colour co-ordinated).
- I heard Valentino is having a sale on the same day Walgreens has condoms half off. Coincidence? That’s got to be a sign to shop! Trust me, if Moses were here, I’d say he’d be trekking down the mountain with that shit written on his tablets.
My lips pursed into a smile as I hit send on the text. That should get Lexi’s attention! Even if she wasn’t, for whatever reason, taking calls she would at least see my message.
I waited patiently for a response as minutes slowly ticketed by, but got nothing. Crickets. Silence. Nada. I rechecked the number just to make sure the message had in fact gone to Lexi and not some poor unsuspecting soul but no, it was the right number.
- I also have half a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Half Baked and The Real House Wives of Atlanta on TiVo. It would be irresponsible for you for not join me. It’s no fun being so judgey on my own!
Again I waited for my phone to chirp but still minutes slipped by with no activity. Ok so now I KNOW something is off! If those two messages didn’t attract a response or at the very least a “Fuck off, I’m working” then I was either losing my touch (not likely), Lexi’s phone was off (even less likely), she was ignor
ing me (still not entirely plausible but within the realm of possibility) or something major was wrong.
- Lex. Are you ok? This is not just a request and REQUIRES an answer.
I was giving her a full ten minutes to respond before I called the FDNY to bust her (beautiful oak) front door down. My phone buzzed with an incoming message, my relief was palpable.
- I’m Fine. At Home. Can’t talk. L x
That’s it. A single line disjointed message that gave nothing away other than she was still alive and rattling behind our shared retaining wall. I know I should probably (insert cheesy analogy about leaving shit be here) but I couldn’t. The situation was just wrong town. Sure she went off the “grid” every once and a while but this time it felt different. If one of those playthings she was fooling around with had hurt her in any way, there was going to be a world of FUCK YOU raining down on his ass.
“Dave, do we have a crowbar?” I hollered as I slipped off my seat and wriggled my feet into my shoes.
“Tay, a crowbar? If you need me to open another jar of olives Babe, just ask.” Dave called back, this time not making an appearance through the doorway.
Barely breaking my stride, I palmed my phone and keys, entering the kitchen with a renewed purpose.
“Lexi’s in her apartment and won’t talk to me. I’m going to jimmy open the door with a crowbar, you got one?” I pulled open the miscellaneous junk drawer underneath our kitchen counter and started riffling through. Sheesh, the amount of odd random crap rolling together in marital discord was alarming. When was I ever going to need an un-used postcard from St. Louis (I’ve never even been to St. Louis?!) or a broken pan flute?
“Tay, if I had a crowbar it’s not going to be in the kitchen and don’t you think this is a little extreme? Do you even know how to jimmy open a door? Maybe Lexi is just having a bad day?” Dave tried to reason.
“Dave, this is more than just a bad day. It’s been a while since we’ve heard from her and when I finally do, she isn’t interested in Valentino, condoms or ice cream. If that isn’t a red flag I don’t know what is.” This was not normal behaviour and I knew I was right to be concerned.
