A persistent tapping on glass stirred a reluctant Lexi from her peaceful sleep. She yawned and stumbled out of her bed to investigate.
Fez.
He was outside her window, looking in. He was covered in what looked like rainwater, or alcohol, or sweat. Fez gave her a pleading look, and she slid the window open.
"Lexi Howard." He peered into her room. "Can I come in?"
"Oh, um. Yeah, of course." Fez crawled through the crack in her window and landed on her floor with a soft thud. The open window let in a whiff of petrichor, it must have been raining then. And God, Fez was soaked.
Fez gave her an apologetic look. "I'm sorry for comin' in like this. I wanted to make sure you were good, you know, after all'at." He smiled softly at her and her heart melted.
"I'm okay. I was going to call you, you know, to check up on you."
"I wanted to see you in person, Lexi Howard." A smile escaped from her lips.
"Are… are you okay?" She whispered, not able to meet his gaze.
"I'm fine. You should see the other guy." Fez chuckled before looking down at his bloody knuckles.
"Could I, could I stay here tonight? I'll sleep on the floor, I ain't no creep or nothin', I just… there are people out there, they lookin' for me. Gotta lay low for a bit."
Lexi flushed. Fezco? In her room? Together?
"Yeah, okay" she blurted out before she could stop herself. The truth was, she wanted him to stay. She felt safe with him, in a way she hadn't felt with anyone else.
"But you need to change out of those wet clothes. You're going to catch a cold," Lexi cleared her throat.
"I would, see, but some chick's got on my sweater." He looked her up and down, giving her a goofy grin.
Fuck. She had forgotten she had pulled that sweater on to sleep in. And besides that stupid black thong, she wasn't wearing anything else. Lexi's cheeks flushed a bright red; she felt completely exposed.
"Oh – shit. I'm sorry, I can give it back. I just…"
"Nah. I like it better on you." Before she could respond, Fez was pulling off his white shirt. Lexi looked away, blushing.
"I'll bring you a towel, and something to change into." Bolting from her room and into her mother's bathroom, she snatched a towel from the rack and began searching through the cabinets. Lexi knew her mother kept some of her father's clothes in the house somewhere. There had been multiple occasions in which Lexi had found her mother, usually passed out on the couch, cradling his things close to her chest, a forgotten glass of wine on the coffee table.
Finally spotting a pair of gray sweatpants, she snatched them up and walked slowly back into her room to give them back to Fez. She put them down on the bed and turned away, giving him some privacy while he dried off and changed.
"This was all I was able to find, I hope that you'll be comfortable."
"Don't you worry bout me, Lexi Howard." She smiled to herself and, after a couple of moments, turned around to face him.
Fez stood in front of her, shirtless. The gray sweatpants were slightly baggy on his lean frame. Her treacherous eyes fell to his smooth, bare chest. He was so beautiful. She couldn't help but wonder how it might feel to have that chest pressed against her….
Lexi shook her head. Tearing her eyes away from him, she sat down on her bed and pulled the covers over her legs. Fez crouched to the floor, a shiver running through his spine.
"Hey… It's cold. You don't need to sleep there. Not if you don't want to." She looked away meekly.
"I'll be aight."
"You don't even have a shirt. It's the middle of winter!" Fez chuckled at her persistence.
"A gentleman don't get cold."
Lexi sighed, exasperated. "You are ridiculous. I will not have you getting sick on me, now." She crawled to the foot of her bed and stepped onto the floor, walking barefoot across the room to Cassie's bed. There, she yanked two Sherpa blankets from the pile of blankets on her sister's unmade bed.
"Here." Lexi walked back over to where Fez was sitting on her floor. "If you don't want to sleep with – uh, I mean – next to me that's fine, but you are not sleeping without a blanket." Before she could think twice, she wrapped one of the blankets around his bare shoulders. The other she cocooned herself in and sat next to him on the floor.
"You're real sweet, you know," he whispered to her. His eyes were glued to her face, unblinking.
"I know. But only to you."
"Why only to me?" She paused.
"I don't know, I guess I feel like an outsider most of the time. People don't really talk to me, or look at me, not the way they do to my sister at least. So, I spend most of my time by myself. I don't get lots of chances to be sweet to people."
"I talk to you."
"Yeah, you're about the only one." They sat in silence for a minute. Lexi thought back to those moments at the party, on the couch. She had never met anyone who was so interested in asking her questions. When she had gone on rambles about pagans and Christians and their made-up holidays, he had listened carefully. I mean, truly listened. He was invested in her. She hadn't expected that.
"You're wrong." She gave him a confused look. "About people not looking at you," he continued. "Because they do. I saw it myself."
"What do you mean?" Lexi asked, startled.
Fez huffed in response. Was he embarrassed?
"Jus, like, at that party, you know? All them guys couldn't keep their eyes off you. I'm surprised you didn't notice."
Lexi let out a surprised laugh. "That is definitely not true, but thanks anyways."
"Man, why you keep doin' that shit. I'm telling you. You're beautiful, people see you."
After a long pause, he whispered something else.
"I see you."
She was taken aback at the intensity in his voice. He wasn't kidding. His eyes fell to his hands and stayed there. Was he nervous?
"Uh, hey, what you got here then?" As if to change the subject, Fez picked up the book that had been resting at the edge of her bed. Her copy of Romeo and Juliet.
"Oh yeah, they're doing auditions in a couple weeks in the theater department. I thought I might, I don't know, give it a go or something?"
"No shit! Who you gonna be?" Fez was grinning ear to ear. He was adorable.
Lexi smiled to herself. "Probably the nurse or Lady Capulet. Someone minor."
Fez was flipping through the pages now. "Nah, Lexi Howard. You a star."
She scoffed, but before she could think of a witty reply, he began to read aloud.
"Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
Having some business, do entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return."
Fez paused to look up at her, before turning back to the play with a smile on his face.
"What if her eyes were there, they in her head?
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,
As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night."
"Hey, you're pretty good at that!" Lexi was surprised at the eloquence with which he recited the passage.
"That's some lovey dovey shit right there. You like that sort of thing?"
"Yeah, I mean, I guess. Who doesn't like to be loved?"
"I guess you right."
They sat in silence for a few minutes while Fez continued to peruse the pages. She took the opportunity to get a good look at him. He was so cute when he focused, his brows furrowed in concentration. Her heart thundered in her chest, so loud she was entirely sure he could hear it. The thought of him realizing how embarrassingly smitten she was with him shook her from her reverie. She didn't want to scare him off. Hell, he was so clearly NOT into her that he refused to even sleep in the same bed as her.
"I should probably get some sleep. Feel free to keep reading that, if you want." Fez grunted in response, not looking up from the book in his hands.
Lexi crawled back into her bed, snuggling into the softness of his sweater, and watched him a little while longer. He laid back on the floor, book in hand, muttering the words to himself.
"Goodnight, Fezco," she whispered softly. "A thousand times good night."
