The Madonna, The Virgin, and The Whore

Chapter Five

She folded her arms across her body, pushing her chest against her tank top and exposing more of her lace bra. "So, what? You're holding me prisoner here?"

"Once that plane lands in Beaufort you're on your own. But until then... I told Mary I'd get you there and the last thing I want to do is upset Mary."

I played the card. I used the one person that I knew Lexi would never want to hurt. Like me, she knew how much Mary had given up for us. She'd never intentionally hurt her.

"You really are no fun." She scowled at me from the bed.

"And you're too much fun," I bit back.

Before she could say anything a knock at my door interrupted us. I started to get up, anticipating yet another distraction, but before I could even get my butt out of the chair, Lexi bolted up from the bed and bounded over to the door in two graceful steps. She swung it open without even asking who it was, and then stood there, not moving a muscle when she saw Will on the other side.

Will looked from Lexi, over to me in confusion, and then back over to Lexi again. "I didn't know you were here," he mumbled, looking at her for a moment before awkwardly drawing her into an uncomfortable looking half-hug.

Despite knowing each other since we were kids, Will was my friend, not Lexi's. We studied together, went running together, and hung out all the time. He didn't have much to do with Lexi when we were growing up, and whenever she did try to hang around us, I'd shoo her out of the room.

Although most people assumed we'd dated, our relationship was nothing like that. We were just friends, but people seemed to have a hard time believe that. I know there were rumors about us in high school, and more than one of my previous boyfriends had accused me of lying about being a virgin, and one outright accused me of sleeping with Will on the side. But we had never crossed that line; it had never been that way with us, and I was happy about that because, truth be told, Will was probably the only real friend I had.

"I'm supposed to make sure this one gets on the plane." I pointed over at Lexi, falling back into old habits and speaking as though she wasn't in the room.

She whipped her head around and fixed me with a hard glare. "You are not responsible for me!" She stomped back to the bed and dropped down on it, folding her arms while continuing to scowl at me.

I rolled my eyes and looked up at Will who was still standing there at the door with a bemused expression on his face. His eyes met mine and he stepped closer to me, opening his arms. I got up from my chair and let him wrap himself around me and whisper his condolences. I knew he meant well, but Will knew what my father was like and what my relationship with him was, so he didn't make it out to be any more than it needed to be.

"You still wanna go down to the library or are you axing that for tonight?" he asked as he released me.

"Definitely the library;" I started shoving my books into my backpack and threw a look of disdain over at Lexi. "I can't concentrate in here."

She let out a snort and drew our attention back to her. "And what exactly am I supposed to do while you're at the library?" she asked, lounging back on my bed waiting for an answer.

But I wasn't Mary. I wasn't going to baby her. I zipped up my bag and pulled it up on my shoulder with a shrug of indifference. "I don't know. Stay here I guess."

She scrambled up off the bed, furiously shaking her head and planted herself right in front of me. "Oh no! I'm not staying here while you go off studying with him all night!" She tipped her head towards Will and her green eyes flamed with anger. "That's not happening!"

"Lexi..." I was starting to lose my patience and was surprised that I'd managed to last this long without snapping.

"No!" She challenged. "If you're leaving then so am I!"

I narrowed my eyes. She had no idea who she was dealing with here. She wanted to leave? Fine, but it was happening on my terms.

"You want to get out of here? Grab your coat then. You're coming with us to the library then."

Lexi's victorious smile hadn't even started before it was knocked off her face. "I am not going to the library!" she screeched, and by the look of horror on her face you'd think I'd suggested going to a cult meeting!

"It's Thursday night!" she pointed out, as if that made any sense. When neither Will nor I responded, she rolled her eyes and let out an aggravated sigh. "There've got to be like a thousand parties happening on this campus right now!" She pulled a piece of paper out of her back pocket and shoved it at me. "See!" 

I didn't even look at it; I just pushed it back into her hands and shook my head. "We're not going to a party Lexi." I hitched my bag further up on my shoulder and headed towards the door. "You can either come with us, or stay here. Those are your two options."

"Seriously? Those are my only options? I don't think so."

"If you plan on sleeping in this room tonight they are."

"And what if I don't plan on sleeping in this room?" Lexi proposed, raising a stubborn eyebrow at me in a challenge.

I knew what she was was trying to do and it almost made me laugh. "What?" I snorted. "You plan on hooking up with some random guy and crashing at his place?" I rolled my eyes at Will but he didn't look like he was finding any of this funny. His face was set in a grim frown and his eyes were wide as he stared over at Lexi in complete shock. God, she could be so embarrassing!

"Fine!' I relented. "You wanna go to a party? Go to a party! I'll tell Mary that I tried my best with you, but you were just impossible. But Will and I... We're going to the library."