“Ready?” Jack asked as she entered the living room. He looked as gorgeous as ever. A rather expensive, as she could judge by the quality, baby blue button-up fit him perfectly even cutting in a bit at the waist to make him look leaner. A tri-colored blue, black, and silver tie hung from his neck to his light grey dress pants. The shirt brought out the blue of his eyes, and when they rested on her, they seemed to be a million times more intense than normal. She wasn’t sure if that was because of her or not.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

They set off for the twenty minute drive out of town. A vast array of music filtered through the speakers. Lexi hummed along to what was playing as they pulled up to the gate of the Club.

After being cleared by the overweight security guard, they drove past the million dollar homes and around the immaculate eighteen-hole golf course to a mansion of a Club House. Jack parked his car into an available slot between a BMV SUV and a tiny Mercedes convertible. Sauntering past the other meticulously detailed luxury vehicles, they made their way towards the daunting Club House.

Lexi took in the massive arching entranceway and polished marble floors as her heels clicked noisily across the surface. The room was over-air conditioned, and smelled strongly of flowers. When she glanced around, she realized why. Hundreds of flowers of various types and colors were scattered in prearranged vases all around the entranceway. Lexi didn’t remember that from the last time she had been there, and didn’t much like it either. The whole thing made her want to sneeze.

She followed Jack through the foyer and up to the receptionist seated behind a desk large enough to swallow her whole and covered with similar vases brimming with carnations, lilies, and tulips.

As they approached, the aroma grew stronger and she did sneeze this time. Jack touched her arm briefly, smiling in her direction. After Jack announced their presence, he ushered her down the hall towards the colossal dining hall. Lexi glanced around her at the couples sitting in overstuffed arm chairs sipping on tea and reading the newspaper. She scoffed and several heads swiveled to get a look at the interruption. She skittered down the hall after Jack. Her hand instinctively went to her hair and began threading it behind her ear repeatedly.

Jack looked over at her and stopped moving. She took a few more steps before recognizing that he wasn’t alongside her anymore. “What?” she asked turning to face him.

“Don’t be nervous,” he said taking her hands away from her hair.

“Oh yeah, well, I’ll work on that.”

“There’s no need to be nervous.”

Lexi shrugged not wanting to have this conversation in public. “I’m going to go to the restroom,” she said seeing the blue sign behind his head.

“Alright, do you want me to wait?” Lexi shook her head, anxious to be alone and calm. “You’ll be able to find me?”

“No problem,” she said making a beeline towards sanctuary.

After about five minutes staring apprehensively at herself in the mirror, Lexi figured it was about time to get out of there. When she walked out, she was caught off guard by the man standing just outside of the bathroom talking to a woman who couldn’t be a day under eighty. Lexi assessed the gorgeous specimen standing in front of her. She was quite certain he had one of the tightest asses she had ever seen. The suit he wore was obviously tailored for his build. An extremely muscular build, if she did say so herself. She figured he had to work out with a personal trainer…daily. His hair was a sandy blonde. Not that ugly highlighted look that so many guys were sporting, but a color that seemed infused with sunlight as if he lived at the beach.

A look of disdain quickly crossed her face as realization hit her. It was pretty obvious that he was just another asshole country clubber like every other person here. Of course he was handsome. They bred them that way. His incredibly amazing physique was likely mandatory. His blonde hair doubtlessly was from the beach. No. Now that she thought about it, he probably owned the beach!

She crossed her arms uncomfortably. Whoever this guy was she already didn’t like him. There was no way he had a personality. Last time she had been here, Jennifer had been the closest thing to a human being in the establishment, and God that was saying something. Just as she began to move away from the attractive man in front of her, he finished his conversation and turned around nearly knocking Lexi over.

“Oh, sorry. Excuse me,” he said reaching out to steady her.

“No problem,” she said coldly, backing up a step out of his comforting grasp. Her dark brown eyes shifted up to his extremely handsome, apologetic face. He really looked concerned. Strange. She turned away from his strong jaw line and high cheek bones, ignoring his expression. When he didn’t seem to get the hint, she returned her gaze to his face. “Yeah?” she asked rudely.

“Uh…sorry…do I know you?” he skeptically asked, his eyes roaming her face.

Lexi rolled her eyes. Was he really playing this game? That had to be the most overused line ever. Why would she know him? “Um…no, I don’t think so,” she said diverting her attention again. “I have to get to brunch.” Lexi attempted to side-step him, but he cut off her path.

“No really, I think I know you from somewhere.”

“You’re in my way,” she pointed out to him. She couldn’t help how rude she was being. She wasn’t really sure why he was eliciting such a reaction either. It’s not like he had been rude to her, but Lexi didn’t want to give him the chance.

“Oh yeah, sorry, but really we’ve met before.”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Have you ever been here before? I think it was here. Actually, I’m almost certain it was here.”

“Just once a long time ago, but really I need to leave, and you’ve blocked my path.” Lexi didn’t want to have this conversation. She didn’t want to remember anyone she might have met that day when she had come with Jennifer.

“Okay, yeah, I definitely remember you now,” he said cheerfully. “You came with one of my sister’s friends. But she wasn’t here, of course. I mean you wouldn’t know that. My sister went to Duke. So she wasn’t here. Which I already said. But you were here with her friend, I’m pretty sure. And man, she’s really annoying.” Lexi looked back up at him skeptically. Had he just called Jennifer annoying? Of course, Lexi thought Jennifer was annoying, but she was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to think that. “Oh no,” he said staring down at her apologetically, “I mean she’s your friend. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.” She stared at him longer unable to believe what she was hearing. This guy was babbling. She was certain there was an unwritten rule somewhere preventing this from happening. “Wow, this isn’t coming out right at all.”

Lexi looked up at him incredulously. “Right then, I’m going to go,” she said attempting to dodge him again.

“Oh right,” he said seeming to step out of her way, but only blocking her path further. She sighed heavily, stepping in the opposite direction. He had the same idea and moved in front of her once again. He laughed heartily. Probably a little too loud for the environment. The people she had been attempting to remain invisible from turned in their direction and began staring. She cringed and pushed her hair behind her ears.

“Okay, stop,” Lexi commanded, reaching out and grabbing his arm to prevent him from moving farther. “I’m going to go right. Just…don’t move.”

“Who are you here with?” he asked, ignoring her demand.

“That’s none of your business,” she snapped, extracting her hand from his suit.

“You’re right,” he said sheepishly. “It’s just I don’t know if you remember me, which I guess you don’t, but I remember you.”

She wasn’t sure what that meant and didn’t plan on finding out. “That’s great,” she stated sarcastically.