Page 48 of Navigating Lexie

Lexie

Lexiewatchedthescene before her as bile crept up into her throat. The tall, lanky woman wearing a tiny red dress ran up to Nav and tossed her arms around him.

“Oh baby, I’ve missed you so much! Welcome home!” she squealed and danced around Nav.

Lexie couldn’t take another moment. She turned quickly and pushed in between Adam and Eagle as she stormed off toward baggage claim. The tears were streaming down her cheeks as the air rushing around her dried them quickly. She couldn’t believe she had let herself fall for Nav and all of his lies. He hadn’t changed over the years and she felt stupid for thinking he could actually love her again.

In the haste of her anger, she wasn’t paying attention to the signs above her head and had no idea where she was. She slowed her pace as the huffs and puffs of Avanna, Sedona, and Kennedy fell beside her.

“What the actual fuck, guys?” Lexie cried out as she slid against the wall and lowered herself to the ground, placing her head between her knees. She felt the warm hands of her friends as they wrapped around her.

“What is going on?” asked Avanna.

“Well, that would be Nav showing his true fucking colors,” she snapped back.

“Why is Victoria even here?” Kennedy asked.

Lexie brought her face up and swiped her hand across her wet cheeks. “I have no idea! Nav told me he wasn’t even seeing her anymore!”

Kennedy narrowed her eyes and shook her head. “I knew better than to believe Adam when he told me Nav had turned over a new leaf. God, I’m so sorry Lex.”

Lexie shook her head and placed her arms beside her, pushing herself into a standing position, just as Nav and Eagle flew around the corner. Nav made eye contact with Lexie and shook his head.

“Please, Lex, hear me out. Let me explain.”

She took a deep breath and stepped between the friends that had barricaded her behind them. She stood a foot from Nav and puffed out her chest in an appearance of confidence, even though she was feeling anything but. She poked out her finger and shoved it hard into his chest.

“I trusted you. I believed in you. Go back to your slimy girlfriend and leave me out of whatever sick fucking game you’re playing. Now get the fuck out of my way.”

She had no idea where she was going, she just needed to get out of the airport--with or without her luggage. She walked at a steady pace, really trying to convince Nav she was fine, but her heart was breaking and running on the inside. She quickly turned a corner and ran. She ran until her lungs could carry no more breath. She ran until her feet hit the pavement outside. She glanced around, thankful no one had bothered to follow her, though slightly annoyed that she was now alone outside the airport. She pulled her phone from her purse and switched it off airplane mode as she walked down the concrete pathway looking for signs of how to get out of there. Her phone pinged and she looked down. It was a message from Sedona.

We’ll grab your bag. Our driver is parked outside of door 3. Nav will not be joining us on the drive home.

Lexie sighed heavily. A relief. While she wanted nothing other than to be alone in her big house, she also knew her friends would respect her boundaries and give her the space she needed on the car ride back home. It was infuriating that Nav even had the audacity to leave the airport with that woman after swearing it was over. He promised her the world--they’d made plans to start dating when they returned home. Now she hated what an idiot she had been the whole time. He just wanted to get laid. He was still the same pig he was in college and she had overlooked every single flaw because she was feeling the familiar butterflies and in a moment of great grief and with her world being turned upside down, that familiar feeling was something she longed for.

Sedona was walking toward her, bagless, but with a sympathetic smile. As she approached she pulled her in for a hug, not bothering to ask before doing so. Lexie didn’t mind and allowed herself to melt into the arms of her best friend. “Do you want to talk about it?” Sedona asked.

Lexie pulled back from Sedona and stared off behind her for a moment. “I made a mistake. One I won’t make again. I just--I feel so stupid for believing he had actually changed into this man everyone has raved about over the last year. I don’t know. You probably know him better than anyone...” she trailed off, suddenly unsure of who she could vent about him to. “Sorry, he’s your friend too. That’s not fair of me.”

“Oh, hell no. No, no, no. You were my friend first. And I have no idea what’s going on with Victoria. I will say, when we met up for dinner a few weeks before the trip he told us he had officially cut ties with her. But, he had claimed to do that on several occasions in the past, and always ended up getting back together with her. Last I knew, though, it was done for good between them and Nav had moved into his own apartment.”

Lexie shrugged. “That’s just it though. That’s the same game he played with me, Sedona. The on-again, off-again bullshit relationship. So for him to spend nearly the entire trip trying to convince me he was no longer that man? I just don’t get it.” She paused, feeling another rush of emotions. “I know what it feels like to be loved by a good man. I know what it feels like to be loved unconditionally. I will likely never find another love like Oliver’s again and that’s something I had come to terms with, but I will NOT under any circumstances lower my standards to a booty call.”

Sedona nodded her head and reached for Lexie’s hand. “And you never should. Ever. I know the love you have for Nav. I do. When I first met you, you told me that you had just met Nav last year, and Eagle told me the same thing, but when I found out you had known each other for your entire lives... I wasn’t surprised. The way the two of you could read each other without saying a word or get on one another’s nerves at the flip of a switch, it was always so obvious. I know you loved him deeply in college and I know you probably still do. I don’t think it’s right to assume you’ll never love him again or never give him the time of day again, but you’re absolutely right, Lex. You have the power to say no to anything but absolute perfection.”

Lexie couldn’t stop the new tears from falling down her face, but this time she was laughing as they fell. “I love you, S. I don’t know what I’d do without you. And I’m so sorry for lying to you all those years ago,” she said with a chuckle. “But you do realize the age gap between us wasn’t something we could necessarily broadcast...”

Sedona laughed and pulled Lexie in for a hug as the rest of their friends arrived with the limo. “Let’s get back home,” Lexie said.