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"Oh I didn't realize you were doing your residency here," Jessie cried again her face breaking into an even bigger smile. "If I'd known we would have come to visit you."
Parker shrugged. "Well I did kind of fall of the face of the planet while finishing med school. Didn't really announce to everyone that I was here." Another looked passed between Parker and Ramsey. "But hey I'm all finished at the end of the semester," she said her face brightening.
"Oh my God," Jessie shrieked. "Tell me you're coming home."
Parker's smile was brilliant. "I'm coming home."
Everyone around them suddenly went into motion. Congratulations were yelled. Everyone pulled her in for hugs. Suddenly a round of shots appeared before them in early celebration of Parker's return. Lexi suddenly felt like it was a long time ago when Ramsey had told her that he loved her. She felt very out of place in this situation. She had friends back home and from college, but nothing quite like this. She couldn't think of a single person outside of Chyna who would be this excited for her return. All these people it seemed had known each other their whole lives. Who was she – an outsider – to intrude on their moment?
Just as she was about to turn to give them all some time together, Ramsey was there. He held out a shot glass full of clear liquid. Leaning in close so no one else could hear he murmured, "I believe a toast is in order."
She arched an eyebrow. "And what are we toasting?"
"A toast to us," he said softly.
Lexi's smile instantly returned as she reveled in his momentary display of affection. She took the shot and let the alcohol sooth the nerves making her overreact to the situation. She was sure there was perfectly reasonable explanation for Parker's absence from all conversations. She might actually not be all that important, or he just didn't think about her.
She had plenty of old friends that he didn't know about. The only one that was threatening in any way he had knowledge of so clearly it was a non-issue. She didn't want to stress anything tonight. Not after what had happened earlier between them. She didn't want to constantly bring her baggage and insecurities into the relationship. Ramsey had given her no reason to doubt him in any way. The only problems she had were her own...and she could be the only one to deal with them.
Taking a deep breath, Lexi pushed aside all of her pride and reluctance. She couldn't be hindered by it any longer. If she was really ready to give her heart away, she needed this. A smile broke across her face as she spoke, "Parker seems nice. How do you know her? From back home right?"
Ramsey nodded taking a beer that Jason handed him. "Yeah, she's Bekah's year. Been a family friend since I was yea high," he told her motioning to a toddler's height.
"So you've known her a really long time then. That's cool," she said accepting a drink that was handed to her. She took a sip to steady herself before continuing. "Did she graduate with Bekah?" she asked chewing on her bottom lip to keep from fiddling with her hair.
"High school?" he asked but didn't let her continue. "She was supposed to, but she graduated a year early."
Lexi raised her eyebrows. "Smarty," she chirped. "And she's a doctor now? She said something about residency."
"Doctor," he confirmed, "Finishing two years early."
Lexi could detect the admiration in his voice, but refrained from commenting on it. The feat was pretty incredible regardless. "Wow, that's impressive."
"She's always wanted to do a lot with her life," he told her taking another swig of his beer.
"I know what that is like," Lexi said tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. With a million other questions swirling around in her head, she asked, "So did you know she was here?" She was pretty certain after seeing his shocked face that he hadn't a clue, but she wanted to know anyway.
"No, no, no. I didn't have any idea where she was." Lexi's stomach loosened more "Or that she was coming home anytime soon."
"Well that's good then," she said trying to be reassuring, but unsure if she was successful or even needed to be.
"It should be...interesting," he intoned taking another big gulp.
Lexi wanted to ask interesting how, but suddenly she was swept up by Jason and Brad. She was then deposited on the karaoke stage next to Jessie and another of Ramsey's friends, Katie. "Hey hey hey," she called pushing Jason back, "no karaoke for me. I'm not drunk enough for this."
"What you can't sing doll?" he asked pushing her backwards.
"I can sing just fine," Lexi said bucking against him to try to get off stage. "I just don't sing karaoke unless I'm drunk."
"Well tonight's your night," he called out picking her up and placing her in front of a microphone.
"Jason, I'm warning you. I'll get you back for this!"
He just smiled up at her as if he were oblivious to her discomfort. Lexi cast her eyes up to the screen. Lexi and Katie groaned as the guy's selection appeared before them.
"How did we get into this?" she asked the two girls next to her as the first few notes to It's Raining Men blasted through the speakers.
Jessie shrugged never breaking from her cool demeanor towards Lexi. However, to Lexi's relief it was clear that Jessie was more comfortable on the stage than either Lexi or Katie. She snatched a microphone and began flirtatiously calling out the introduction. The crowd before them cheered uproariously as Jessie provocatively engaged the audience swinging her long fire red hair around. Seeing all eyes trained to Jessie shimmying and egging on the crowd, Lexi loosened up and leaned into the microphone she was sharing with Katie. The girl looked back at Lexi thankfully, and sang along to the tune to the best of her ability.
Lexi's heart was beating rapidly as she heard her voice spill through the speakers. Lexi never had stage fright when performing gymnastics before an audience ten times the size of the small karaoke club, but it was something about singing that made her clam up. She knew she didn't have a bad voice per se, but she definitely wasn't a singer.
As Jessie kept the crowd energized, Lexi found it more and more clear that her fear of singing in front of crowds didn't matter. Everyone else in the bar was incredibly drunk, and Jessie's voice carried much louder over the speakers than Lexi's. By the time the trio had hit the second verse, all three were belting out the words that appeared before them. Lexi wasn't adventurous enough to move away from her microphone like Jessie who took over the stage with her presence, but she held her own through the remainder of the song.
