She was probably the most surprised when a bunch of people attended the casting calls, especially since she had even considered cutting roles, but fortunately, that wouldn't be necessary.
While writing the play, Lexi had given much thought to how much could she play with the characters and the way they were portrayed, as a theater enthusiast she always admired how a single actor could play different secondary roles, it was a challenge to find someone capable of doing it, but she set her mind to find that person even if there were more than enough people for every role. "Quality over quantity", wise words and advice from Fez.
The easiest casting choice had been Jade, something about the girl's gaze reminded her of the strength and vulnerability that Rue had always embodied, eyes you could trust but that perhaps couldn't trust themselves. Self-note to check on Rue and have a little chat with the actress backstage.
There were three good Marta's, sensuality and loyalty were her start-up elements to work on, so she'd have a chat with Bobbi and make a choice about them. And to her luck, Luna was kind of easy because Kat's literal clone (okay not literally but scary almost) came to audition, so that had been random luck honestly.
Funny enough, the largest number of girls auditioning was for Hallie's character, she couldn't help but admire that even in fiction and without context, Cassie was still the most wanted. Lexi loved her sister, and she would always do no matter what, but the play had made her relive some awful life-defining experiences with Cassie throughout her puberty and present time, and so maybe she was going to take Bobbi's advice and choose the girl who gave the cold-hearted bitch side of Cassie (strictly for entertainment reasons) it wasn't like her sister's recent behavior had something to do with it… there was clearly something going on with Cassie, but she wouldn't tell Lexi or let her help and instead was rude and hurtful, either that or disappeared completely.
On a different and cheerful note, she was very surprised by the casting of a particular person. None of the people interested in theater had something to do with her social circle (which consisted of Cassie's friends, plus Rue and Jules), so it had been an interesting surprise to see Ethan trying out for the "various-roles" part, which so far had been a cringing mess.
Once Lexi had given him the script, she could see in his eyes that he knew who these characters were in real life, and that's exactly what he delivered. A drunken comic relief on-point performance of her mother, and then slowly began to morph into dickhead Nate. Ethan had the range to play anyone and everyone, and Lexi was the happiest.
Her mother had picked her up since it was already dark, and had taken Cassie to the movies. Suze had been surprisingly supportive of the play and the fact that she was directing and starring in it.
Lexi couldn't wait to get home and lock herself in her room and call Fez, so she would have the room all to herself, no worrying about possible eavesdropping.
He usually helped her remember not to overthink things, and that even if things were going wrong, that she was capable of adapting to anything, he was her anchor not only in the play but also in life in general, she hoped he knew.
Truth be told, not only did she wish to tell him about her accomplishments, and thank him for his unmeasurable support, but she also just wanted to hear his voice, and know how he was, even if they talked earlier that very same day, she bit the inside of her mouth to prevent a silly smile on her face.
"You look different" her mother pointed out after a few minutes of the car ride.
"Different?" Lexi frowned.
"Happy" she explained and added "and present. You have such beautiful eyes, baby, it's nice to see them looking up from the floor"
She hadn't stopped to think about her current feelings or emotions, but now that her mother pointed it out...she definitely felt happy, and also like she was starting to live her life.
Lexi couldn't believe that things were starting to look bright for her and that she had someone to share them with.
XXXX
Fez was alone in his living room watching a movie when Lexi called, he had been glued to the screen, but decided to find it online some other time and turn the TV off.
"Sup' you got your actors yet?" he answered the phone.
Lexi's excited squeal warmed his night "We still have a few callbacks, but the main parts are taken care of, and we have the whole backstage crew too. I have already made sure to tell all of them that I'm going to be up to their ass this whole time because I don't do things halfway, so yeah, they were surprisingly cool with that."
He chuckled and leaned back on the couch "Good things ain't easy, it was good you made sure to tell'em who was the boss"
"It's too soon to know if someone will file a complaint against me or something" she laughed "but it felt…fucking powerful"
"I'm sure no one's gonna try question your choices, cause I feel bad for the poor fucker that tries messin' with you"
He could tell she blushed with that comment, he could picture Lexi's cheeks painted a soft pink while her eyes went to the floor and a little smile crept in, suddenly felt like he was blushing too.
She sighed audibly and added "It was a good day"
"I'm glad"
"How was yours?"
He cleared his throat "Shit, Lexi. Honestly?"
"Yeah, of course"
He had had the strangest most uncomfortable conversation with fucking Cal Jacobs earlier, it had been so surreal that Lexi's voice had made him forget about it for a couple of minutes.
"You remember that man you warned me about? Playboy's daddy? Well Ash found him outside our place"
"Nate's dad? Cal Jacobs?" Lexi began talking fast and was clearly angry "You know he's got the whole police department in the palm of his hands, so please be careful, okay? I hate that family so much! What's his fucking problem? He should be taking care of Nate's psychopath ass instead of bothering you and Ash"
Fez couldn't help but smile, she was worried about him "Don't worry, he ain't coming close to us again"
"How? Are you sure you are, okay?"
"Yeah. Fucker thought we knew something we didn't and then ended up telling us about it. You sure he's influential? Cause he was fucking dumb"
She was clearly confused "He looks so intimidating"
"Ash beat the shit out of him" he added "didn't look so intimidating rambling about sex tapes or some shit, I ain't even sure, it was fucking confusing"
He wasn't lying, shit had been confusing, but felt he should keep to himself that Jewel was involved, it wasn't because he didn't trust Lexi, but it was a very private subject that even he didn't wanna know about, so maybe Jewel's identity in the sex shitshow scandal should be kept anonymous.
"That family is so fucking weird" she agreed "I'm glad you're okay and that problem is taken care of"
"Yeah, I hope so"
"Hey" she cleared her throat "you don't have to tell me or anything but, why did you hit Nate that night?"
He told her about Rue's request for him to lightly threaten Nate, and how that ended up with Nate calling the cops on them, which had caused losing shit ton of money and later lead to…bigger problems (those he was never going to talk about).
"Did Rue ask you to threaten Nate because of Jules?"
"Yeah"
"Rue told me about one of her theories about Jules being catfished by Nate. I didn't think much of it then, but now I…ugh. Just when I thought I couldn't hate Nate Jacobs more"
"So, it was good that I beat his ass?"
She chuckled "Violence is never the answer, but umm… I'll let it slide cause it was you and it was towards Nate"
That made Fez smile.
"Hey, Fez?"
He really enjoyed hearing her voice calling his name. "Yeah, Lexi?"
"I…Wouldn't it had been nice if we had known each other last year? Like we could've helped each other through all these problems. We were so close and so… unaware of the other, even if we technically had met before"
He took a deep breath. How would have last year been with Lexi Howard in it? Mouse's death still felt very fresh on his hands…
"I don't know, Lexi. I… Last year I did some shit I ain't proud of" he confessed.
"Well, last year I…I didn't do anything" she had a knot in her throat "People I love were going through lots of terrible things and I just… I didn't do anything. I still feel like I'm not doing anything, so maybe I don't understand what you went through, but that doesn't mean I'm not guilty. I'm not saying this to compare our experiences or make this about me. I just want to make sure you know that I… I want to be your friend in any scenario and would have loved to be there for you, even last year"
To say he was speechless was an understatement, he truly didn't know what to do or say, or how to breathe or think or… exist?
How come after living such a careless and violent life, had Lexi Howard appeared in it? What had he done to deserve someone so…?
Fez didn't even know how to describe what she meant to him.
"Fez?" Lexi's voice called again, this time nervous "I-I'm sorry if that was weird or over the top, I don't know why I said that-"
He interrupted finally remembering how to think and speak "No no, it's cool. I-I just-. Thank you, I… just that…that's the nicest thing someone's ever said to me"
"Oh" her tone had calmed down "well you always say beautiful things to me, even if I don't feel deserving, so, please. Let me speak my mind about you"
Bro, he wanted to fucking cry.
"You're fucking out of this world, Lexi Howard"
They hung up not long after, as much as he loved talking with her, she needed to focus on school and homework, and he wasn't going to stand in her way to a successful life filled with an expensive ass private college and lots of intelligent people who could give her what she deserved.
Fez went to bed and as he tried to fall asleep, he felt like a kid, a happy one, or at least what he imagined the purest form of happiness felt like.
