xiii. BUZZED AND BITTER

Lulu made her way inside the empty house, knowing her mother wasn't home and that Zahia was "sleeping over" at Max's place. She had no idea who this Max was but her sister had actually texted her to keep her updated and Lulu didn't feel like sleeping after what had occurred at the carnival.

Lulu removed her makeup and brushed her teeth, changing into the jogger shorts and oversized tee-shirt that originally belonged to Fezco. This time, when she gazed over at the reflection in her bathroom mirror, she didn't feel nowhere near as confident as in the Ice Palace. She let out a long sigh and went back in her room, rolling a blunt.

Lulu never really smoked weed on her own but she felt like spacing out for a while.

And, when Jules came knocking at my window, Fezco decided to do the same at Lulu's.

Lulu exhaled the smoke with a hiccup, sighing as she recognized Fezco on the other side of the glass. She placed the blunt between her lips and pushed herself off her bed, opening the window with a quizzical look on her face.

She took a hit on the stick, "Uh, what're you doing here?"

"Like... you ran off without a word," Fezco said, "I got worried."

"Why? I mean... I figured you'd be busy with Milla."

Fezco rolled his eyes, which rarely happened, "C'mon Lulu."

"Don't know, didn't wanna interrupt whatever's going on with her," Lulu replied.

"Can I come in?"

Lulu nodded, going back on her bed as Fezco lit a blunt as well, sitting on her armchair.

"Why you think you were interruptin'?" Fezco asked, "You and I were talking, she ruined what we was doing."

"We weren't doing anything."

Fezco kept his eyes glued on her as she smoked, Lulu purposefully avoiding eye contact as she'd rather look at her feet then feel embarrassed.

Lulu coughed, "So, um, business was good tonight or nah?" she asked, changing the subject.

Fezco frowned, "Yeah, it was."

Silence settled inside the room as the effects of weed caused them to become quiet. They relaxed and Lulu played some music on her speakers, the two nodding their heads along the rhythm.

"Yo, didn't notice you wearing my clothes," Fezco blurted out.

"I... uh well, yeah..." Lulu said, "I mean, it's super comfy. But... I'll go change if you wanna get it back."

Fezco chuckled, "Nah, nah! Really I meant it when I said you can keep it, looks way better on you than me."

Lulu looked down at her hands, fidgeting with the rings on her fingers as she felt her cheeks warming up and her stomach slowly twitching. She couldn't believe the effect his words had on her, she couldn't even remember when she started looking at him differently, thinking it had probably been like this from the beginning as they had always loved foolishly flirting with one another.

Lulu recalled being ready to kiss him at the carnival, fueled by a confidence she didn't know could be this strong, before flipping out and being interrupted by Milla. Maybe she would have kissed him. She really craved it at that moment, certainly more than usual, and, as she was sitting on the edge of her bed, she felt really angry at the cute blonde girl who stopped her from kissing that boy she really liked.

Fezco stopped breathing when Lulu made eye contact with him. The stare was intense enough for him to feel small under her gaze, goosebumps tickling his arms and neck, "Yo... you gotta stop looking at me like that."

"Like... like what?" Lulu said, fluttering her eyelashes.

"You know what you doing," Fezco replied, "You playing with me, mamas."

Lulu lifted an eyebrow, "I'm not playing."

Fezco started smoking another blunt, "Yeah, you are," and the girl got out of her bed to sit by the window's edge right next to Fezco. She was quick to steal the blunt from his lips and take a few hits.

"You're the one telling me to keep your clothes and shit," Lulu pointed out with a side smirk.

"Yeah, and you say I'm hot so..."

"That's common knowledge, Fez," Lulu said with a small chuckle.

"See! You playin' with me!" Fezco replied as he tried getting the blunt from Lulu.

But, even though she was high, she saw that coming and quickly placed it between her lips, looking at Fezco with lust scribbled all over her face. He bit the inside of his lip, feeling his heart pounding a little faster in his chest, "Lulu, what are ya doing?"

She shrugged, "I don't know... what do you want me to do, uh?"

Fezco let out a soft breath, looking up at the ceiling, "Fuck...". He tried focusing his attention on something else but Lulu's words echoed in his head, getting more and more flustered by the soft and raspy tone of her voice, "You're too high to be doin' that."

Lulu scoffed, "What'd you mean?"

"You don't mean what you're doing right now," Fezco breathed out, "You gon' regret this tomorrow mornin'."

"So, you're in my head or something?" Lulu grumbled.

"Nah, that's not what I'm tryin' to say—"

"Alright!" Lulu interrupted, "Well then why'd you assume I'm gonna regret this tomorrow?"

"I... uh—"

"You can't guess why I came to see you at the carnival?" Lulu ranted, "Or why I keep telling you you're hot and shit?"

Lulu walked out of her room, followed closely by Fezco —who was very surprised to see her bursting out her thoughts without filter, and it looked like she wasn't done talking.

She opened the front door, "It's not cause I'm high or drunk or whatever that what I say to you doesn't exist anymore when I'm sober."

"I'm sorry, I'm a fuckin' dumbass," Fezco gulped, "I-I... I just don't want us to ruin what we have."

Lulu gave him a hard glare, "What do we have exactly, Fez?"

"Well... we're friends?!"

"Yeah, friends who flirt all the time," Lulu stated, "I don't flirt with you just for fun or I would've just fucked you a long time ago."

Fezco opened his eyes wide, definitely not expecting to hear Lulu say things like that at such a random moment. Lulu gestured for him to walk out of her house.

"Now, the only thing I'll regret tomorrow is telling you all of this when I know you don't give a shit."

And she slammed the door shut, putting her phone on silent and waiting for the arms of Morpheus until dawn, realizing she didn't sleep at all when the sunrays softly warmed her exhausted body.

( ... )

a/n do you guys hate me??? honestly i dont mind if you do, i hadn't planned for this chapter to end this way at ALL but it was also important for me to show that lulu has flaws (including anger issues) and like... she's human so obviously she's going to mess up (and frustration doesn't work good on her :///)
so like yeah i feel a bit bad for fezco cause he didn't think she'd lose her temper like that but yeah!! tell me what you thought :))