Lexi was having a chat with Ethan between classes, exchanging some notes and comments regarding the Jake scene. The two had found out they shared a lot of common interests in theater and even music, and well, he was a very nice guy in general, getting along with each other had been more simple than she'd anticipated, which greatly helped the environment of the play since he was her biggest acting support and liked amongst all, it wasn't like the environment without Ethan would be bad, but Bobbi and she were a bit intimidating, it wasn't intentional, but it was totally intentional. Her whole life she'd been overseen and ignored, so she would not take any chances on that being the case now, not for personal reasons or a big ego, but because Our Life deserved fucking professionals, and that's exactly what they'd deliver.

"Heeey" Maddy's melodious voice called, she looked cheerful and smiled brightly at both, but Lexi could tell there was something she wanted to say about them hanging out "you've seen Cassie?"

"Must be with Kat" Ethan answered.

"Where?"

He suddenly shrugged a bit embarrassed "Oh, I don't actually know, just haven't seen Kat either, perhaps they're hiding together"

Lexi pressed her lips together before a low chuckle escaped them, not because his joke had been particularly good, but because Maddy was completely oblivious of his attempt at humor.

"Ah" Maddy let out and added a cold "thanks" before fleeing from them.

Ethan sighed "Just what I needed, Kat's gonna get upset because I embarrassed myself in front of her friends"

"What are you talking about? All of Kat's friends love you, especially Maddy. Trust me, they hang all the time at home, and I've heard them praise you" she placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

Ethan sighed, he didn't seem comforted at all "Thank you, Lexi. I should probably find Kat"

"Yeah"

Lexi watched him make his way down the hall, he seemed lost and confused, she would be too if the person she was in a relationship with was as cold and distant as Kat behaved lately. It wasn't like she was particularly close with Kat but had clearly noticed how the girl's feelings and relationship with Ethan had deteriorated, there was probably a reason behind it, but it didn't change the fact that whatever was happening wasn't clear enough for him, and that their break-up was most likely coming soon.


"Maddy was looking for you in school," she told Cassie.

Lexi had taken some movie recommendations from Fez, well that was a lie, she was watching all movies he mentioned that she might like, but only because she fully trusted his good taste and enjoyed nothing more than to have new subjects to discuss with him, and so she decided to watch 1974's Chinatown in bed with her laptop. Lexi decided not to use earphones, and little by little Cassie, who had been doing some homework on her side of the room, started to pay attention to the movie's dialogue and had casually joined her. The two laid on Lexi's twin-size bed, the laptop balancing on both their torsos and Cassie's head resting on her shoulder. It had been a while since the two shared this closeness, so as the movie came to an end, Lexi wanted nothing more than to keep it.

"I'll call her later" her sister answered "I was probably with Kat or something"

"Hey, what's going on with her and Ethan?" Lexi asked again, it used to be a common dynamic between them to talk about their friend's well-being, they even sometimes planned something special to help them. Cassie had once said that no matter what happened, they had each other, but most of their friends didn't have that kind of support, so they should be there for them.

"What do you mean?" Cassie asked, "there's something going on between them?"

"I'm not sure. I've just noticed her pushing him aside" she explained.

"Oh" Her sister sat up and tilted her head "you might be right. I haven't talked to Kat about that, you think it's something big?"

"I'm pretty sure they're gonna break up" Lexie sighed "I'm good at that"

Cassie chuckled "What do you mean?"

"That they're gonna break up?"

"No" she suddenly grew serious "that you're good at knowing when people are going to break up"

Lexi sat up too and put away her laptop, excited to have a conversation with her sister after a long while "I just notice when relationship dynamics change and people stop feeling comfortable or excited with the other, and so I kind of always know when things are over"

"When's that worked?"

"Remember BB's last boyfriend? They were all over themselves and then little by little she stopped giving him the attention she used to give, I called it a week before it happened"

"So, you're saying you can tell when people fall out of love?" Cassie's tone was calm, but she looked anxious.

"I guess?" Her tone lowered and slowed down; this was clearly a delicate subject.

"What about Maddy?" Her sister suddenly asked, "Is she still in love?"

Lexi took a deep breath and felt terrible, Cassie had always worried about her friend's toxic relationship. It was probably so hard for her sister to watch Maddy in that dangerous and rotten cycle without being able to do something about it. "I think that a part of Maddy can't stop loving him, but at the same time I feel like this time might be different, and hopefully, she'll finally leave him for good"

"And... him?"

"Nate?" She snorted, "I don't think he ever loved Maddy, or that he's capable of loving anyone, guy's a fucking psycho"

Cassie went very quiet and slowly added "And, what about...me?" Her voice broke on the last word.

Yes.
"I... I don't think so" she answered instead and avoided her glance.

"Lexi" her sister insisted.

She sighed "Yes, I've seen you falling out of love"

Cassie let out a nervous laugh, her eyes glistening "What are you talking about?"

Lexi had not said anything about her sister's relationships, perhaps this was the right time to help Cassie realize things she couldn't on her own. Slowly and gently, she began speaking.
"Well, I can tell when you notice guys have different intentions with you, and you...you stop feeling comfortable, but don't want to hurt them. Or when they start being jerks and you give them chances to change but deep down know they won't. You...you like staying even if you know you shouldn't"

Cassie's eyes began to water "You really think that?"

"It's not your fault that they end up being fucking jerks" Lexi quickly tried to fix the mess she'd made, why the hell had she told her?

"So that's it? You think I've only loved jerks?"

"McKay was nice, wasn't he?" Oh fuck, why did she bring out McKay?

"Nice?" Cassie laughed, tears were streaming down her face and her lower lip began quivering "well you seem quite the expert, Lexi. Tell me, how many boyfriends have you had?"

"Cassie, I never meant-"

"How many times have you been in love?!" Her sister asked again and added a cruel laugh "How many times have you ever spoken with a boy? Huh? I'm sorry if my taste in men is fucking tragic, but at least boys don't only come up to me to ask for homework"

"And it's better if they come up just for sex?"

Her sister bolted up from her bed, her face red "It's fucking pathetic that you just sit and point your finger at what you think love is and looks like, and fucking choose when it's fucking over or not real! You know nothing about love or being loved, you don't even know what it's like to be wanted, not even for casual and meaningless fucking!"

Lexi's eyesight blurred from tears and her throat burned from all the insults she wanted to shout at her sister's face, but she couldn't, nothing came out of her paralyzed frame. Lexi took a deep breath to try to calm down, but her body answered with involuntary sobbing. Perhaps Cassie was right, she was a horrible person for making a hobby out of observing people fall in and out of love, living vicariously, being pathetic.

"What the fuck is going on?" Their mother entered the room interrupting Cassie from continuing.

"Turns out Lexi has been silently judging all my fucking actions!" Cassie explained through tears.

Her mother turned to her expecting an explanation.

She wished she had never opened her fucking mouth, if Cassie wanted to ruin her life, so be it.

Lexi stormed out of the room overwhelmed and didn't stop until she noticed having closed the house's front door. Slowly she sat on her driveway and began the breathing exercises Jules had taught her, a part of her wished her mother would rush after her... any second now... they'd sit in silence until they could figure out a solution. Lexi knew she wasn't perfect, but Cassie needed a fucking intervention.

It was pathetic, but she waited at least 15 minutes for her mother to join her, she didn't.

How many times and how much time had she waited for her father just like this? Lexi stared at the dark street, a warm breeze flowing through her hair and the asphalt floor hard on her knees, the discomfort and pain so natural that it felt natural on her skin. She felt much older now as if a thousand years had gone by, and instead of being long dead, she had frozen in time and became a statue, the eternal spectator of life passing by leaving her without a single scratch.

And so, in that lonely metaphoric epiphany of her life, she did the only thing that felt right, the only thing that could make her feel real.


Tuesdays were a pretty calm day for business, so he'd figured that his night would be spent chilling with Ash and going to bed early since Lexi had texted that she would be hanging out with her family. Ash had asked him to stop at a drive-thru for the famous milkshakes he had talked about so much.

"And get the most expensive ones" his brother demanded half-joking half-serious. He was in a good mood, even asked for the aux and played his music. The two bounced their head to the rhythm and enjoyed the warm California breeze.

Even if they worked together, their minds were mostly focused on their responsibilities and staying alert, especially since the whole Mouse shit show, and the newest addition of Faye staying over with them, so the two of them just chilling was refreshing.
They had stopped at an empty parking lot to drink their milkshakes, just a couple of thugs slurping strawberry/vanilla milkshakes from eco-friendly cups and straws.
Very casually Fez got his phone out and took a picture of Ash.

"Fuck you" his brother tried yanking the phone from his hands.

Fez dodged his attempts and proceeded to tease him "You look fucking cute, man. Imma sell this to a child model agency, we gonna make money out of you"

Ash failed to pretend he wasn't laughing, but Fez could see through his serious shit, so he insisted on saying dumb shit to get him to laugh.

Keeping their feelings and emotions from the rest of the world except each other was a day-to-day job, and they were experts by now. Their secret language didn't consist too much of words or codes, it was more about glances and silent understanding, even when it was just the two of them alone. Fez had never been much of a talker, so maybe that had influenced Ash. They didn't really mention it or made much of a buzz about it, but Fez had raised and taught him everything he knew as well as he could manage, of course, he would have preferred for Ash to grow in a safe environment, but the two were alone in the world, so either he was very selfish or selfless, either way he was thankful for having the opportunity to have him as a brother, as his family.

Ash finally broke into laughter after another joke about how Fez would exploit him by turning him into a stock photo model.

It had been a good day for both, and they had expected to continue relaxing together at home. On their way back, Ash had taken Fez's phone to put on some music since his battery had died.

"You got a message from your girlfriend" Ash muttered.

"Yo, we talked about this" Fez sighed "and don't be seeing my shit, bro"

"Who the fuck is Cassie?" His brother asked again clearly ignoring his warning and reading the texts.

"Her sister. Yo, Ash. For real bro, don't fuck with my phone"

"You're so whipped" Ash teased "she's calling now"

It had been a quick call, Fez could tell when she wasn't feeling alright, so even if she hadn't said much, he just knew.

That had been enough for him to turn his car around and drive to her place.

"We fucking charity or what?" Ash protested "you're gonna let her stay over, we had a rule about girls, and you fucking broke it with Faye. I didn't say nothing cause I know you don't wanna fuck her, but I ain't letting you bring your hook up to the house"

"Lexi ain't my hook up, and she ain't gonna bother you in any way, okay?" Fez announced.

"I ain't gonna fucking give her my room"

"The fuck's your room gotta do with anything?" He took a deep breath and gently added "C'mon bro, please"

His brother didn't say anything else and simply avoided his glance, which was pretty much a win. They parked a few houses away from hers and he asked Ash to move to the back seat.

Lexi sat alone in the middle of her driveway, as soon as he was in her eyesight, she stood up and met him halfway. It had been weeks since he saw her in person but felt like they'd been seeing each other every day.

"I'm sorry" she began, her eyes were puffy and red from crying, but she held her head high and pretended to be perfectly fine "You didn't have to come, I appreciate it, but I overreacted. I just need to calm down and go back inside"

"Nah, it's cool, we were passing by," he said reassuringly knowing she didn't like asking for help, but he couldn't let her stay outside of the house she looked at with no intention to go back into any time soon. "Ash's here too, he wanted to watch a movie or something, wanna come with us?"

He guided Lexi to his car and was grateful to Ash for having listened and taking the backseat even if he didn't seem happy at all.

Lexi smiled despite herself and in a low and nervous tone spoke "Hello, Ash. I'm Lexi"

Fez watched his brother's reaction from the rearview mirror.

"I know" was all Ash muttered before meeting his brother's eyes in the mirror reflection, and then adding a kinder "Sup"

Fez offered an almost imperceptible smile to his brother.


She hadn't brought anything with her except her phone, which by luck had been inside her pocket and had no battery left, thankfully Fez lent her his charger. Perhaps she had been too proud or too hurt but going back inside the house hadn't been an option for her, and asking Rue if she could stay with her had somehow been more terrifying and intimidating, so she was now sitting on Fez's couch fidgeting her fingers and being observed by Ashtray's piercing eyes, while Fez got her some water, he insisted she needed to drink.

She cleared her throat and turned to Ash. "Thank you for letting me stay here, it's just going to be for an hour, maybe two"

He studied her, poker face on. Lexi smiled despite the situation, it was hard to imagine stone face Ash being the sweet and annoying boy Fez talked about, but she wouldn't blame him for not trusting her right away. "I had a disagreement with my sister"

"A fight" Ash corrected.

"A fight" she agreed "sorry for ruining your evening with family drama, but it's nice to meet you"

"Is it?" intimidating child staring back at her. She really wanted him to like her.

"Yeah, I mean, your brother and I are friends, and he sometimes talks about you, so I've been wanting to meet you, even if it's kind of awkward that a fight with my sister is what lead us to finally meet" she sat up straight, he was scanning her, for some reason she decided fixing her posture would help.

"You know Rue, don't you" Ash spoke again, the wording choice was a question, but he said it like a well-known fact.

"Yes" that was the first question she could answer right away.

"You a junkie too?" he asked.

"No" she cleared her throat "and Rue is recovering"

"You're not homeless" he spoke again.

"Uh...no, it was just a stupid fight, but I am going back home"

He stared into her eyes, and for some unknown reason to herself, she held his gaze.

"All good?" Fez asked as he sat next to her on the couch and handed her the glass of water.

"Yeah" she cleared her throat after finally breaking eye contact with Ash.

Fez pulled out a blunt from the front pocket of his sweater "You mind if I smoke?"

"No, go ahead" she assured him and watched his careful and gentle process of lighting it up and putting it between his lips not even realizing she was admiring his side profile. She had to physically look away to focus back on existing. "Is Faye here?"

"She ain't feeling alright, been sleeping the whole day" he spoke "we don't allow heavy stuff in the house, she's trying to get used to it"

"I hope she feels better soon," she told him and turned back to Ash to try to keep up the conversation "so what movie were you going to watch?"

Fez relaxed on the couch and gave his brother a reassuring nod.

Ash held her glance for a few seconds and seemed to relax, he stood up and checked a few DVDs laying around the console, he picked the second Godfather movie and played it. Lexi had seen it when she turned 14, her father had been obsessed with it and to see him so passionate about something had intrigued her, so after being denied the possibility to watch it because it was "too violent", he finally gave in a week after her 14th birthday because he considered she was mature enough, and so during the weekend they watched the first two movies of the trilogy (her father refused to acknowledge the third one existed, so she never got around to it). Rewatching the movie after so many changes in her life and a couple of years brought her some memories back... When they reached the part between the marital fight between Michael Corleone and Kay, she remembered seeing it for the first time and silently comparing it to the fights between her parents, a strange feeling had taken over her body and she had faced away from the screen and instead observed her father's reaction, he had seemed so calm and quiet didn't even blink when she assumed Michael struck his wife, however, he must have noticed her eyes on him because he slowly turned to her, but only commented on Al Pacino's great performance.

It was stupid to find that scene so triggering, especially since the movie was filled with much more violent scenes that she didn't mind at all, and the fact that by now she'd seen way worse stuff in real life, but for some strange reason she still found herself turning away from the screen during that scene. She discreetly turned to Fez and watched him watch it instead. His eyes followed the sequence, but she noticed his jaw had tensed a bit, and as Michael rose his voice, Fez blinked a lot faster than he would normally have, as it was hard for him to focus on the scene. Lexi's eyes traveled to his left hand, the one closest to her, his thumb gently tapped the rest of his fingers as if he was counting or keeping track of something, and when Michael struck Kay, Fez looked away too.

The scene finally ended, but her eyes lingered on him, his thumb had now lowered its speed and his jaw had relaxed. Fez began to turn towards her, she blushed and looked back at the screen before he could catch her, he probably had noticed, but she found herself not minding that much that he knew she was looking at him, so instead pretended not to realize that he was definitely casting glances at her too.

Ash turned on the lights once the movie ended, it took her eyes some time to adjust to the light, the couch had been so comfortable that it was disappointing to have to leave it. During the last half hour of the movie, she had fought back the desire of falling asleep and forgetting all of her problems, surely Fez wouldn't mind if she stayed on his couch, and would probably even offer to drive her home very early, but the last she wanted was to make Ash uncomfortable, she had grown up to be the little sister who's opinion was not taken, so she would never do that to him.

Lexi fixed her posture and reached for her phone on the table to check if it had been recharged so she could begin planning how she'd return home. Ash asked to speak to Fez in private, she pretended to not know that Ash was most likely going to ask him to get rid of her, which was fair because the movie had been long enough, and it was now probably past midnight.

Her lock screen welcomed her announcing it not only was 1:30 am, but that she had also 7 missed calls from her mother.

She sighed and called back.

"I'm fine" she announced after hearing her mother's alarmed tone.

"Where the hell are you?" She asked concerned "whatever happened between you and your sister does not give you the right to scare the shit out of me"

"I'm sorry" she genuinely was "I didn't mean to ignore your calls; my phone was charging and I was watching a movie"

"Are you with Rue?"

"Yeah" she lied, technically she knew Fez thanks to Rue so basically it was all connected and she wasn't really lying...

Her mother sighed "Are you staying with her? I'm not up for driving, but I'll wake Cassie and tell her to get you"

Fez rejoined her, he had taken off his oversized sweater and was now only wearing a short-sleeved white shirt, not that she was checking him out or anything but he had very aesthetically pleasing arms, he gave her a small smile and tidied the living room to give her some privacy during the call.

"No" she blinked a couple of times trying to focus back on her mom, not that she had been distracted "don't wake Cassie. I'll... I'll ask Rue if she can drive me back"

"You can stay with her" her mother sighed again "I'm letting it slide this one time because I know your sister was being fucking impossible"

"Okay" Lexi cleared her throat watching Fez stretching his neck and arms, his back to her "I'll text you"

"Don't do that shit to me ever again, Lexi" her mother warned.

"Aha" she responded, her eyes on his shoulders, since when did she ever look at a man's shoulders before? She blinked and whispered a quick goodbye.

Fez sat next to her on the couch, he looked tired, but his beautiful blue eyes were fully awake, and maybe it was the lack of sleep, but she found herself leaning closer to him, their arms touching slightly.

"Things cooled down?" He asked concerned.

"Yeah" she offered him a smile, "my mom thinks I'm staying with Rue, thank you for letting me hang with you guys, it was lovely"

"I know you've seen the Godfather movies, but Ash likes them mafia shit, and it's cool and all, but I think you might not be sold on them, so thank you for seeing it with us"

"I like the Godfather" she sighed and chuckled "just not a fan of watching couples yelling at each other. I had free VIP seats watching my parents"

Fez laughed at her humorous attempt to talk about trauma "Yeah, I get you, the world's shitty enough. Why don't you choose the movie next time?"

She smiled thinking about hanging here some other time "Deal, by the way, I've also finished watching Chinatown, my review was affected by Cassie being a bitch, but it was surprisingly sad"

"I cried, I might've been high though" He let out and the two laughed. Fez cleared his throat "you gonna be okay with your sister?"

"I guess I'll have to ignore her existence for a while, but I'll be fine"

"You can unwind and hang here anytime" he gently leaned his arm on hers to give her a small nudge "Listen, you don't gotta stay if you're not comfortable, but if you are, then you cool to stay as long as you wanna"

"I don't know" she chuckled a bit overwhelmed by such a warm welcome "what about Ash? My sister never asked for my opinion on her guests, and I don't want to do that to him"

"I just talked with him, and he's cool with you staying tonight" he promised, his eyes were clearly tired, and she really wanted to take his offer "you can stay in my room"

She finally took a deep breath and smiled "I promise it's just going to be tonight, and I'll find a way to pay you both for this favor. Thank you, really"

He smiled in response "It's nothing"

After 10 minutes of back and forth between them about Fez offering his bedroom, he finally accepted that she was sleeping on the couch. He got her some blankets and pillows, and so the two prepared the couch between low laughter and clumsy movements.
He offered her clothes to sleep in, but she kindly rejected them, that would have been way too much for her easily overwhelmed self, so instead Fez promised to wake up early and take her home, he lingered his goodbye and sweetly waited for her to be laying down on the couch to turn off the lights and let her rest.

"Goodnight, Fez" she whispered in the dark.

"Goodnight, Lexi" he whispered back, and she could've sworn he was smiling when he said that because she was too.


Lexi woke up from the deepest sleep she had had in a long while, yes, her neck hurt a little, but it was practically nothing in comparison to the full rest she had had. Very quietly she folded and organized all the blankets and pillows, as well as the few things that were left around the living room, and the bathroom she had fixed herself in.

Fez came out earlier from his room than they had previously agreed on, so she insisted on buying him a coffee on the way back to her house. It was surreal that this was the way her morning had begun, her new favorite person and her doing little everyday stuff, she felt truly lucky and unreal. They stopped at a drive-through and as they waited for their coffees, he suddenly turned with a serious look on his face.

"Imma be honest with you about yesterday. Ash and I weren't passing by your place, and we weren't gonna watch a movie. I made up that excuse to try and distract you"

Lexi relaxed; his grim expression had scared her. "I know"

"You do?" His ears turned s bit red "and you cool with that?"

"Cool? Fez, that was the nicest thing someone's ever done for me" she couldn't even begin to explain how relieved she was when he arrived at her house, inviting herself over would have never been an option, so the fact that he was able to read her and pretend it was his idea...was fucking beautiful.

He reached for her hand and gently pressed his thumb on hers, the two of them stared into each other's eyes.

Kiss him, kiss him you coward. She thought to herself and couldn't believe she was genuinely leaning towards him.

And it would have been probably perfect if the drive-through employer hadn't announced that their order was ready. Fez quickly turned to receive the drinks, so she pretended to have leaned into him to help receive the drinks. Cassie's voice played in the back of her mind.