Avoiding Commitment Read Online Free Page B

to rouse her from the
coffee shop. None of them could understand why she would want to
work in such a loud, crowded, poorly lit space with a feeble
internet connection. When they asked her why she refused to leave,
she gave them the excuse of enjoying the atmosphere, but they
finally weaseled it out of her.
    Him.
    The next day after her secret was revealed,
Lexi found herself sitting at her usual table with her friend,
Olivia, for company. “Well, what do you think?” Lexi asked as she
flipped through her introductory philosophy class notes, skimming
through the most recent lecture on Empiricists.
    “You’re right. He is pretty hot,” Olivia
confirmed, running her fingers through her bleached blonde pixie
cut, letting the tiny strands of hair fall effortlessly back into
place.
    “I meant about Locke.”
    “He’s dead right?” Olivia asked
uninterested.
    Lexi rolled her eyes. “No, I mean...what’s
his idea about knowledge?” she asked trying hard not to glance up
at him while Olivia blatantly ogled the eye candy.
    “Honestly, I don’t care. I hate this stuff. I
might just drop the class altogether. I don’t get it,” Olivia said
shrugging her shoulders at her own indecipherable notes. She
glanced back up at the guy working the counter. “Him, I can fully understand. You should give it a shot.”
    Lexi brushed her off, feeling the weight of
her gaze uncomfortably. “No, what I need to shoot for is an A on
this test.”
    Olivia rolled her eyes dramatically.
“Whatever, you know you’re going to get an A, but don’t you want to
at least meet him? Know his name?”
    It was Lexi’s turn to shrug. “Yeah, I guess,”
she conceded.
    “Have you ever even had a boyfriend?” Olivia
asked giggling a little at that inexplicable possibility.
    “Of course I’ve had a boyfriend,” Lexi
retorted defensively. “I’m just not looking for one now.”
    “I didn’t say you wanted or even needed a
relationship. We’re freshman. We’re just supposed to have fun and
make mistakes anyway. So you should at least meet him and hang out
with him,” she uttered persuasively. Lexi shrugged noncommittally
returning to her notes.
    After a pause, Olivia changed topics, “So,
anyway, are you coming to Nick and Neal’s show tonight at The
Theatre?”
    “Yeah, I should be there,” Lexi
confirmed.
    “Good, I’ve been helping them plan this for a
month. I need as many people there as possible.” Lexi just nodded
since she had heard this same rant nearly every day since Olivia
had decided to become their publicist. “I’m going to get myself a
drink from sexy Coffee Guy,” she added a wink just for good
measure, “and then I’m going to head back to the dorm to get ready
for tonight. You comin’ with, doll?”
    “Nah, I’m going to finish here,” she said
gesturing to her notebooks sprawled on the table. “But I’ll meet
you later,” Lexi said scribbling a quick note into her study guide.
She watched Olivia slink over to the counter to get her coffee.
Lexi quickly averted her eyes to avoid watching her shamelessly
flirt with the guy she was interested in. She figured it didn’t
really matter that much anyway. This guy was no one to her. He was
just a pretty face in a sea of pretty faces in the crowd or at
least that’s what she tried to convince herself.
     
    *****
     
    A few hours later, Lexi, Olivia, and fifteen
other people they had managed to drag out of the dorms were
casually standing in front of the stage at The Theatre waiting for
Nick and Neal to begin their set. The Theatre was a large open
space with couches positioned around the perimeter and for smaller
shows, like tonight, on the main floor.
    As the time passed, the room gradually filled
with regulars and other locals. Considering this was Nick and
Neal’s first real performance, the crowd was relatively large. A
unanimous bounce began as the throng of people fell into rhythm
with the flow of the music that Nick was spinning, Neal’s