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Fezco leaves the chilly autumn air behind him and enters the house. The speakers are blasting a random rap song. A bunch of drunk teenagers ran past him towards the liquor. Fezco sighs. It’s going to be a long night but business is business.
He walks past another group of teenagers and starts looking for a quiet corner. The room is messy, dark. There are a bunch of black cut-out bats on the white tile floor. Someone must have dropped the decorations while setting up for the party. Finally, across the room, he finds a big window that seems to be open. He approaches the spot mumbling “sorry” every time he passes someone. “Finally” he thinks to himself and takes a deep breath of the cold air coming out from the window. He leans back against the wall and lights up a cigarette. Inhaling the smoke, he starts to look around for potential customers.
***
Lexi enters the party with the girls laughing behind her. He dressed up as Bob Ross for Halloween. She was so excited about her costume, even ordered the wig online just so she could look like the painter. Unfortunately, the minute her friends and mother saw her costume they started to make fun of her.
“Hey Lex, we’re going to get something to drink and then hit the dancefloor. Do you want to join us?” asks Kat. She’s wearing a beautiful nun costume. Lexi looks back at her and Rue and Jules and nods her head.
“I’ll look for Cassie and then probably get something to drink. Have fun!” she responds. The girls weave and go towards the kitchen.
Lexi takes a deep breath and starts walking around to find her sister. Unfortunately, she doesn’t spot her. Instead, she meets a lot of her peers, every person more and more confused with her costume. Giving up, she decides to go to the kitchen to mix herself something to drink. She enters the kitchen and directly starts looking for a spirit she likes. Lexie isn’t much of a drinker. However, to entertain herself whilst going to random parties with her sister, she decided to (over time) try and rank all the available spirits. Approaching the counter with all the available hard alcohol, she firstly finds dark rum. Lexi winces. After many trials she realized that she is not a fan of dark alcohol. Next to it she saw Fireball. Now this is an exception. The cinnamon aftertaste of the liquor. She quickly shakes her head against it. She’s not in the mood to drink shots. Finally, she sees her favorite, gin! Grinning, she pours some to her cup and starts looking for some tonic. She quickly pours the other liquid and starts looking for some lemon or lime to add to her drink. Opening the fridge, she hears a snicker. She turns around. In the corner she can see a group of people she doesn’t know the names of. But she remembers the girls being on Cassie’s cheerleading squad. They’re accompanied by three guys who look like they belong to some type of sports team. She quickly realizes they’re pointing at her and talking to each other. Embarrassed, with tears prickling in her eyes, she quickly takes her drink and walks out of the kitchen. Leaving the room, she hears one of the guys speaking up. “Yo dude, what the fuck went through her head. The little Howard always looks like an old prude but today… Fuck. She could have tried at least once.”
She quickly runs outside. Her face is hit with cold autumn air. She takes a few deep breaths. “Stupid, so stupid. Why do you even care” She tells herself. She starts walking around taking more deep breaths to calm herself down. Who is she lying to? Of course, she cares. Of course, she wants to be regarded as pretty, or at least funny.
***
Fez steps out of the party. He needs to take a break from everyone. He’s used to a lot of chaos and noise, however, something about high school parties tires him out. He stares into the dark, a big tree with fairy lights around its crown catching his eye. He lights up a cigarette and walks towards it.
He leans against the big tree and looks into the misty sky, allowing for his thoughts to run wild. Suddenly, he hears a sniffle. He quickly turns around and sees a figure with a frizzy hair walking towards the tree. He freezes. From the way she walks and how her face is turned, he can deduce the person doesn’t see him. Quickly, he realizes it’s a girl, dressed up as Bob Ross. The painter his grandma would often turn on the TV at night when they were winding down after a deal. This memory brings a smile to his face. He decides to speak up.
“Cool costume you’ve got there”
The girl freezes. She clearly didn’t expect to meet anyone in the garden so late at night on Halloween. She must recognize him as she continues to walk towards him.
“Um thanks” she responds, her voice sounding unsure.
“Nah for real.. Bob Ross right?” he continues, smiling.
The girl approaches him. She looks so familiar. Quickly, he realizes he must have seen her hanging around Rue.
“Wait, you know who I am? I mean who I’m dressed up as?” she responds. She sounds so excited, Fez can’t stop himself from feeling excited as well.
“Yea man. Bob Ross the cool painter on CBS, the happy trees shit” he smiles.
The girl smiles under her nose.
“Can’t believe you’re the first person who recognized me, I mean him.” She responds softly. “I’m Lexi by the way” she adds quickly.
“Lexi.. That’s a nice name.” he responds, nodding his head. “I’m Fez”.
Silence falls between them as both of them smile at each other. Fez feels the overwhelming need to continue talking, although usually he feels comfortable in silence. He wants to know more about the mysterious girl. He clears his throat.
“So whatchu doin outside?” he asks, already cringing. That’s a stupid question to ask he bashes himself in his mind.
The girl, Lexi, chuckles nervously. “I could ask you the same thing. But yeah, I just needed a break from all the noise”
“Me too” he responds, lifting his hand showing a cigarette. The girl nods.
They continue talking for the duration of him smoking. He quickly lights up another cigarette to continue talking, not knowing what to do with his hands. The Bob Ross girl makes him nervous. Suddenly he hears a group of teenagers outside. They’re laughing about something. He hears Lexis breath hitching and quickly looks down at her. She flinches, her eyes teary. She quickly uses her sleeves to dry up the mess and sniffles.
“You good?” he asks her, looking concerned.
Embarrassed, she nods her head and responds.
“Yeah, sorry about that… It’s stupid”
“It’s not stupid if it got you feelin’ this way” he responds, concern in his eyes.
She shifts her stance, looking a bit uncomfortable. She takes a big sip out of her red cup and responds.
“It’s nothing, really… I was really excited about my costume because Bob Ross, you know? But when I met my friends nobody knew who I was. It was the same at the party, but some people started to make fun of me. I know it’s stupid, it’s just that I’m embarrassed for wearing this costume. I should’ve been a cat or something” she quickly turns her gaze, looking at the house.
Fez scrunches his brows and quickly responds.
“What you mean, it’s a dope costume!”
She looks at him, her tone unsure “yeah, thanks”
“Forreal man. I remember seeing him on tv when I was a kid. My grandma would leave him on and I would just chill.” He smiles. “Fuck em, they don’t know what they talkin bout”. He quickly adds.
Lexi smiles.
“Yeah, I used to watch him on the tv as well. His voice was always so calm. When I was little and couldn’t sleep at night I would turn the tv and listen to his voice until I would fall asleep.”
Comfortable silence falls between them. They smile at each other. This is cut short due to someone screaming “Lexi come quickly, Cassie needs you!”.
The girls smile falls.
“Uh… I need to get going, my sister needs me” she says awkwardly, looking at him.
“I get it, no worries” he responds. Nervously, he adds “It was nice talkin to you.. Could I maybe get your number?” he shifts his gaze, trying to not look too hopeful.
Lexi smiles, quickly taking out the phone out of her pocket. “Yeah sure” she responds. She gives him the device, him quickly putting in his number. He smiles and gives her her phone back.
“See you later Lexi” he smiles.
“You too Fez” she responds. She turns around and quickly walks to the house.
Fezco smiles, looking at the girl in the Bob Ross costume. He did not expect to meet anyone interesting at the party, but here he was, looking at the most interesting girl in the world. His phone vibrates in his pocket. He quickly pulls out his phone and sees the text he sent to himself from Lexis phone. He smiles to himself, already thinking of what he could text her and what the appropriate time would be before he can do so. He wants to know more about the girl. The way she spoke was so genuine, her smile cute and bright. Her eyes so big and beautiful. He had to quickly stop himself from completely going soft, thinking about her. He still has some business to do today.
***
The next day, Lexi walks downstairs and sees her mother in the kitchen.
“How was the party?” she asks
Lexi pours coffee and takes a sip. “Surprisingly, it was nice” she responds, smiling. Her mom nods her head, and leaves the girl alone in the kitchen.
The party itself wasn’t the best, she thinks to herself. However, the redeeming part of the night was meeting the cute guy with a buzzcut and a ginger beard. She smiled, thinking about his voice and those beautiful blue eyes.
Suddenly, her phone vibrates. She quickly pulls out her phone.
From Fez:
Yo Lex, it was nice meeting you yesterday.
I meant what I said about the Bob Ross costume. It was dope.
Are you doing anything today?
Lexis hearts starts beating nervously. She already opened the message. He had to see the read receipt. Nervously she tries to write up the perfect response. But what can she respond to a cool guy like Fezco? He’s a known drug dealer among teenagers, he takes care of himself. Oh god she made such a fool of herself yesterday, he probably has much bigger problems than her stupid Halloween costume. Why can’t she ever shut up? She takes. A few deep breaths. Fez told her it was nice meeting her. Maybe not all hope is lost? She tries to quickly draft a nice, smart but funny message in her notes app. Happy about it, she copies the message and opens up the messages on her phone.
She looks up, Cassie entering the kitchen. She asks her about some clothes. Lexi quickly sends the message to Fezco, not looking at the screen and walks towards her sister, trying to help her with the newest crisis.
After a minute she looks down on her phone, checking if her message was sent. She freezes. Fuck. What the fuck happened.
From Lexi:
you?
Her face reddens. She must have typed you and forgot about double clicking and pressing paste. That’s such a stupid mistake. Especially coming from a person who drafts about 80% of her messages! She quickly types up an additional response.
From Lexi:
Fuck sorry, my sister came looking for my help. That’s not what I meant.
Thank you for yesterday, it was really nice meeting you as well.
I’m not doing anything today, just chilling. What about you?
She starts biting her lips, nervously. Why isn’t he responding? Oh fuck, she must have scared him off with her weird messages. First you and then a full paragraph of her rambling? How can she fix the situation? She quickly adds.
From Lexi:
Sorry, again. It was a stupid mistake.
About the message I mean.
Not meeting you.
She cringes. How is she so helpless when it comes to talking to boys?
After a few minutes, her phone vibrates.
From Fez:
No worries Lex. That’s what I thought.
There are no mistakes, just happy little accidents ;)
Lexi smiles at the Bob Ross reference. Who is she kidding? She’s smiling at the entire message and the fact that she received one from the cute guy from the party.
From Fez:
Nothing much, just chillin
Do you want to hang out today?
She looks at her phone, surprised. What? Fezco, the cute guy, asks her to hang out?
From Lexi:
Sure!
She smiles. Today is going to be a much better day than she initially thought. And the Bob Ross costume was a genius idea. Definitely not a mistake…