Ash and Faye were waiting for him in the living room, usually he could have easily told them to fuck off and mind their own business, but he was so overwhelmed he sat down and didn't even notice them at first.
"You look like shit" Faye pointed out "she dumped you?"
"Fuckers weren't even a thing" Ash scoffed "you done with her? Is your whiny ass back to normal?"
His phone buzzed and he ignored them both to respond.
"Awww love won the bet" Faye laughed "get me my 20, Ash"
"You only getting me not pushing you out the fucking window, freeloader" the kid shot back
"Kay" she celebrated and turned back to Fez "Why the fuck you look so pale then?"
"Fucker probably said some dumb shit like he loved her" Ash snorted.
Fez looked away uncomfortable.
Ash's smirk began to fade, he turned to Faye "Show's over, leave, we're gonna work"
Faye shrugged and disappeared into one of the bedrooms.
"Fez?" Ash called; he fucking knew what happened "say you didn't"
His brother covered his face.
"FEZCO, YOU BIG FUCKING IDIOT" Ash yelled.
"What you want me to do?!"
"Call her!" his little brother yelled "say you had a stroke or some shit that fucked your brain up, don't fucking care. Tell her you was lying"
"Yo, Ash, I know I messed up, but I ain't lying"
"The fuck you know about love?" His brother shot back frustrated "you can't be falling in love with random bitches, you remember? Grandma better wake up and fuck your head up again"
"Shut the fuck up, bro!" Fez finally yelled back "I'm real about this"
"That's the fucking problem" Ash sighed and sat down, finally calming down "you let everyone you love ruin your already shitty life"
"That's not true"
"Oh yeah? Why Rue beat the shit out of you? Why you let grandma choose your life? Why you let me talk shit?" Ash seemed older than ever "fix this, okay?"
xxxxxxx
"Mom" Lexi peaked inside her mother's bedroom, usually she'd go to Cassie every time she had a question about a boy or relationships, not that she ever used much of it, but it was still better than going to her mother...
"Hey!" She greeted cheerfully and invited her to sit beside her on bed " is your sister, okay?"
"Yeah, she's doing homework and I talked with Kat so she can try to calm Maddy down"
"Good girl" her mother thanked her.
"Umm I have a thing I wanted to ask, my friend umm...Faye " she began improvising "she's been recently talking and hanging out with this guy who's really sweet, patient, nice-"
"Is he cute?"
Lexi hid a smile remembering his face "Yeah, he is"
"Anyone can be cute, is he…hot?" Her mother's eyes shined devilishly.
Fake Fez appeared in the doorway, he took off his shirt and leaned on the doorway.
"Umm yes" she had to physically look away and blink a couple of times "he's great in general, and she really likes him, in fact she's a bit scared of how much she feels in so little time..."
"What's the question Lex?" Her mother began to lose track
"He told her he was in love with her" she blurted out "they both panicked and uhh said goodbye"
"Do I know her? Her name rings a bell"
"No, you don't. She's from the play" Lexi lied as calmly as she could.
"So, she wants to know how to tell him to back off?" Her mother asked
"No! No" She cleared her throat "she really, really likes him, like could also even be a bit in love with him too?"
"How long they've been going out?"
"A month, except…they haven't? Not really. They talk a lot, deep conversations, probably stuff she's never said before, there's a real connection" she was probably even sweating.
"Sex?"
"They've kissed a lot?"
Her mother frowned "Lexi, your friend and her boyfriend sound so like non experienced middle schoolers, have you been hanging out with younger girls? I know you might find them more relatable, but baby you need to grow up"
Great, now she even felt worse, she made up some dumb excuse and went back to her bedroom.
"New sweater?" Cassie asked seeing her.
Lexi was both relieved and fucking pissed at her mom for not even thinking she could be talking about herself; she was literally wearing men's clothing and did a terrible performance explaining the whole situation.
"Aha" she answered "hey Cass?"
"Yeah?"
She seemed calm again, perhaps she could ask her.
"It wouldn't be weird if two people fell in love in a month. Right?" Lexi asked casually.
"Of course not!" She went full on defensive "Love is love! It doesn't matter what other people may think about it, YOU CAN ALWAYS KNOW IF IT'S REAL"
"Okay, okay!" that was fucking stupid "you're right"
Cassie took at least 20 minutes to calm herself back down. Meanwhile, Lexi decided it was best if she just tried talking with him instead.
Got home safe? She texted Fez, she didn't know what else to say.
yeah. He responded right away.
Can we talk?
He didn't respond for at least an hour; she was in bed by then.
what I said. didn't mean it like that
Yeah, I know. Perhaps she wasn't the expert but was pretty sure he was bullshitting her.
We good?
Yeah.
k
She was an overthinker, it was part of her nature and she had never felt anything love related, so yeah, she was not having the best time trying to let it slide. In strict sense she was in love with him too, but only what she was experiencing as love, was it legit love? Or just a crush love? Were they different? How could she tell? And how much time did it have to pass? Okay fine, even for her it was too soon to involve the love word, but it was technically his fault for bringing it up. Fez hadn't said that he loved her, just that he was in love with her. Even google agreed that those words carried different meaning.
Fuck, she had forgotten to ask if they were... dating? Wait, he also had thought she broke up with him while they weren't officially anything, so that meant they were already together? Since when? Had she missed something?
In his defense, she couldn't really imagine Fez, drug dealer Fez, leaning down and asking her if she wanted to be his girlfriend, gosh it even sounded so childish…but she couldn't deny it would be helpful to be completely clear on that subject.
