﹙I DON'T SMOKE ★﹚

LEXI WALKED IN!

fez instantly smiled, from his place near the register.

"lexi howard." he greeted.

"hi." lexi smiled.

"hey!" cherry and faye greeted.

"hi, cherry." lexi trailed off, staring at the other girl.

"how you doing?" fez asked.

"i'm good.. uhm-" she began.

"hi, i'm faye." the girl greeted.

"i'm lexi. are you guys-" lexi asked.

'oh my god, she thinks they're dating.' cherry panicked. 'no! fexi!'

"no, she's just staying with me. she's cool. what brings you out here anyway?" fez asked, nervously.

"oh, i just came to get a drink." lexi lied.

"okay, well, we got plenty of those." fez said.

cherry cringed.

"do you need help finding anything?" he asked.

"no, i'm okay." she said firmly, staring at the alcohol.

"that's malt liquor."

"i know."

"she thinks you and faye are dating, dumbass." i whispered in fez's ear.

"what?" fez questioned.

"tell her you're not! she's gonna think you don't like her!"

"but.. i do. she's a cool girl."

"tell her that, then!"

faye turned around, looking out the window.

"i feel sorry i didn't say bye on new year's eve-" fez began.

"good evening." cal walked into the gas station.

cherry glared at him.

'fucking creep.' she thought.

lexi stared him down, nervously.

fez looked through the refrigerator, into the hidden back room.

ashtray had the same confused look on his face.

cherry wondered why she hadn't just stayed in there with him, but of course she had to go out for a snack.

obviously, her nosey instincts got the best of her, and she stayed as soon as lexi walked in.

cal walked around the store, staring at everybody.

cherry continued to glare.

"you got any spearmint gum?" cal asked.

"i don't know, man. the gums right here." fez pointed at the wall.

cherry held her bag of chips carefully, searching for her gum with her free hand.

"this your store?" cal questioned.

"it's a family business." fez answered.

"do your parents own it?"

"you usually ask this many questions, man?"

"just you. she tell you who i am?"

"nah, man."

"are you a cop?" faye asked.

"no." cal answered, and placed his hand into his pockets.

lexi stared, tense.

cherry focused her eyes on ashtray, who pulled out a box of cereal.

he pulled a gun out of it.

cal finally pulled something out of his pocket; a 20 dollar bill.

"just a concerned father." cal said, and walked out of the store.

fez watched him drive away.

the lights flicked above him.

the group got home quickly after that, paranoid about what cal was planning, or why he had stopped to ask so many questions.

did he know that fez beat the shit out of nate?

fez made sure to carefully lock the door.

faye began smoking on the couch, without a care in the world.

ashtray and cherry settled into their shared room.

cherry grabbed a pair of pajama pants from one of ashtrays drawers.

then, she kicked him out of the room so she could change.

ashtray re-entered after cherry was dressed.

cherry was seated on the bed.

ashtray flopped down next to her, and just stared at the navy blue sheets.

cherry had talked so many times about re-decorating ashtrays room, but he refused.

the closest she got was the one red hello kitty plushie on his bed, in between his pillows.

they both analyzed the sheets, the room, their hands, anything except each other.

they said absolutely nothing.

the silence was heavy, like some sort of weighted blanket.

it draped their shoulders and pushed them together, both wanting to say something, but neither saying it.

cherry, finally, broke the silence.

"this is awkward as fuck." cherry complained.

ashtray looked up at her.

they made eye contact.

"because you're not speaking. you usually never shut the fuck up, but now you're not talking, so it's weird." ashtray explained.

"you're making it weird." cherry complained. "what's your favorite color?"

"i'd rather not talk, then have you tell me some bullshit."

"just answer the fucking question."

"i don't know, like, blue or something. yours is red, i already know that."

"you know so much about me. you want me so bad."

"i wouldn't say that."

"i would. what's your favorite season?"

"fuck.. uh, winter."

"why?"

"because it's cold."

"i like spring."

"that makes sense."

"how?"

"it reminds me of you. it just makes sense."

"that's so corny."

"i'm never complimenting your dumbass again."

"yes you are."

"whatever."

cherry tried to come up with a new question.

"what's your favorite tv show?" cherry questioned, fiddling with the hello kitty plushie in her hands.

"everything you're saying is so boring." ashtray complained.

they were both too awkward.

why?

usually, they could talk about anything.

cherry was way too open, and ashtray didn't care enough to be weirded out.

like, sometimes, cherry would come home and just flop onto the bed.

ashtray would be doing whatever.

playing a video game, sketching something out, or just thinking about his next sale.

cherry would tell him every detail of her day, or a date with mateo.

ashtray would listen carefully, but pretend to hardly hear her.

the pair could talk about anything.

but there was one thing on both of their minds; the stupid new years kiss.

and it clouded both of their minds, with a weird, awkward air.

they needed to talk about it.

to get the weirdness out.

"you're being weird because i kissed you, huh?" cherry questioned.

"yeah." ashtray answered, after a moment of silence.

"well, i'm sorry for that."

"why did you?"

"what?"

"why did you kiss me?"

"i don't know."

"you like mateo. and he's obsessed with you. if you wanted to, you could've kissed him. but you kissed me."

"i have no fucking idea why i kissed you, ash, i just did. and you kissed me back."

"what?"

"you kissed me back. i remember. i'm not stupid."

ashtray stared up at the ceiling.

the pair went silent.

honestly, talking about it didn't really help.

the awkward tension was still heavy in the air like a bad perfume.

but at least they talked about it.

"goodnight." cherry said, and faced the other way.

despite wanting to say several things to each-other, they continued to be silent.

some things were better kept as secrets.

later, a strange noise interrupted their sleep.

cherry and ashtray walked out into the living room.

fez was already in there, holding a gun.

but the noise was just faye, who was sitting on the floor.

"sorry. i fell." she said.

"come on, kid. let's get you to the bed." fez lifted her up, and onto the couch.

"is it true you killed mouse?" faye asked.

ashtray tensed, and frowned.

he said nothing, and walked towards his room.

"go to sleep." fez said, and walked off in the direction of his room.

he looked down at the pair of kids.

"are you guys matching fucking pajamas?" fez questioned.

cherry looked down at their legs; they were wearing identical pairs of pajama pants.

"no. those are mine." ashtray said, and walked back into their room.

fez analyzed the situation for a moment.

ashtray let cherry sleep in the same bed as her, and didn't force her to sleep on the floor anymore.

he let her wear his clothes.

he let her keep a stupid plushie on his bed.

then, fez froze.

there was no other explanation for why ashtray treated her so softly, despite what fez had just thought of.