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"What happened?" Lexi asked her curiosity getting the best of her.
Chyna turned around abruptly and faced her best friend. The color was draining out her cheeks again at the realization that she was going to have to talk about what had just occurred. She wasn't used to being in this kind of position. Typically, she went through her problems alone. She liked to bottle up every terrible thing that had ever happened to her and keep it hidden away in a place no one else could see.
She didn't care about the strain that put on her as well as her relationships. She didn't care that it would dampen ever having a real relationship. Her reality couldn't exist any other way. It certainly hadn't helped her parents' lives by discussing all their issues with the general public, and she didn't think it would help her either.
But this wasn't the general public. This was Lexi, someone who already knew her history.
"My dad is getting remarried," she finally sputtered out.
"What?" Lexi balked her eyes bulging out. Her heart pounded away at the mention of marriage. It was still too soon for her to dissociate herself from Jack's betrayal. But she needed to focus on the present or she would fall back into her own state of depression when she needed to be here for a friend. "Since when?"
"Since four months ago when he proposed to her," Chyna muttered dejectedly.
"Four months? Oh C, I'm so sorry," Lexi said hopping up out of her seat and standing in front of her friend.
"I've never even met her," she blubbered falling into Lexi's open arms. She hadn't wanted to cry about this, but how could she not? Her father was marrying a woman she had never met before. She knew deep down that he didn't really want her in his life, but she had never thought that he would get engaged before even introducing the woman to Chyna.
"The bastard," Lexi cried encouragingly.
"I know," Chyna said pulling back and swiping at her eyes. "I'm sorry that I'm all…" she trailed off waving her hands in front of her face.
"Oh you don't have to worry about that. How many times have you seen me in a fit?" Lexi asked knowing the answer was a ridiculous amount. Lexi had her fair share of moments of the past two years for the both of them. Chyna was certainly due tears if she wanted to cry.
"I know, but this is dumb."
"What?" Lexi asked astonished. "You think it's smarter for me to cry over Jack, then for you to cry about your parents?"
Chyna chuckled once and let a small smile tease the corners of her mouth. "Well when you put it that way."
"See, I'm much more dysfunctional than you. You have every right to be upset."
"There's more," Chyna mumbled letting her green eyes rest back on her friend. Lexi didn't like the way she said that. What more could her father want from her? After barely speaking to Chyna for two years and dumping that tidbit of information on her, it was an asinine move to then continue the conversation.
"What else could he possibly have to say to you after that?"
Chyna took a deep breath and crossed her arms over her chest. "He needs me to be at the engagement party this weekend."
"He cannot honestly expect you to show up to that."
"He didn't ask me to. He told me to," she said tilting her chin up.
"You don't have to go," Lexi told her reaching out to her.
"No, I do. You don't know what he's like. If I'm not there, it will be the end of the world. Even though I'm twenty-one, he still has direct access to my trust, and he's the owner of this apartment. He could kick me out on the streets," she murmured helplessly.
Lexi gasped. "He wouldn't dare!"
"Wouldn't he?" she screeched. "Did you see the look on his face when you got here? He was murderous. If I'd disobeyed him, I wouldn't have put it past him to ruin my life."
"But you're his daughter," Lexi cried unable to believe what she was hearing. How could anyone be so cruel?
"The daughter who is a constant reminder of his past life, of the life he was trying to get rid of. The daughter he was so eager to get rid of. He'd have already cut me off if he could."
Chyna couldn't believe she had just admitted everything. Speaking it all out loud for the first time really put everything into perspective. She truly believed that he would have gotten rid of her if he could. The only part of him that wanted to keep her around was the part that wanted to keep himself out of jail. He was a self-motivated ass**le and his self interests would always come first.
"Chyna, I…I don't know what to say," Lexi muttered sympathizing with her friend's pain as best she could.
"Just say you'll come with me."
"Oh," Lexi stammered surprised by this response. "Yeah, I guess I could. Wouldn't that be awkward?"
"My dad is a big dick, but he insisted that I be there and come with, as he put it," Chyna gulped, "a boyfriend."
"He wants you to come with a boyfriend? But you don't have a boyfriend," Lexi said unable to keep from stating the obvious.
"I know," she stated barely above a whisper. Her voice was getting raspier the longer they had this conversation and Lexi could tell she was trying to keep the tears from unleashing on the world again. "You should have heard the way he was talking to me before you got here. He said I better not bring one of the guys I'm normally with. What is he trying to say that I run an escort service? That all the guys I date are man whores? That they can't conduct themselves in proper society?"
Lexi didn't know how to respond to that. Honestly, a good number of the guys Chyna hooked up with were just those kind of men. They were all relatively well-off, but still they were hardly up to her standard. But it hadn't mattered up until now, because she never wanted a boyfriend. She never found enough interest in any one man to want to be around him for multiple occasions. Now her father, the judgmental ass**le, wanted her to just pretend to have a steady boyfriend, because the cheating bastard didn't approve of his daughter's way of life.
It was one of the most hypocritical statements Lexi had ever heard. If anything, the circumstances surrounding her parents' divorce had only further pushed Chyna the direction she was already heading with regards to relationships.
"So what are you going to do?"
