TEENAGE FEVER | VIII.
"ONLY BECAUSE I LIKE YOU"
(' LONGING ')

"I LOVE YOUR STOMACH."

Lexi lets out a loud laugh following Makayla's words. The soccer player looks up at her and smiles, "Why are you laughing?"

"Who says that?"

"Says what?" Makayla asks her.

"I love your stomach," Lexi repeats, "You're such a weirdo."

"I am not!" Makayla exclaims, "I do love your stomach, especially when it makes those weird noises that it does."

Lexi shoves Makayla, "Shut up."

"Make me," Makayla teases and Lexi's smile slips away.

"Really?" Lexi asks, "Like do you want me to-"

"Lexi?" Makayla interrupts.

"Yes?"

"Just kiss me," Makayla orders and Lexi nods her head.

"I can do that."

Lexi smiles as she leans down and kisses Makayla. The angle was kind of weird since Makayla's head was resting in her lap, but Lexi didn't care. She just wanted to kiss Makayla and she would suffer through anything if it meant she got to kiss Makayla McKay.

"So," Lexi says, biting her lip when she pulls away from Makayla, "We should do a couples costume for Halloween."

Makayla sits up, eyes lighting up, "Really? What are you thinking? Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn? Elsa and Honeymaren? Oh, Sam and Deena!"

"Bob Ross and Mr. Rogers!" Lexi exclaims and Makayla's smile slowly slips away.

"Bob Ross as in the painter from PBS and Mr. Rogers as in would you be my neighbor?" Makayla asks and Lexi nods her head. She'd been planning her Bob Ross costume since the summer, and she thought it would be cool if she got Makayla in on it.

"Yeah!" Lexi exclaims, "Mr. Rogers and Bob Ross were both on PBS so it would work. Kind of."

"I assume you want to be Bob Ross," Makayla says and Lexi smiles at her and the soccer player reciprocates the smile as she plants a kiss on Lexi's cheek, "You're lucky you're cute."

Lexi's smile widens as she reaches up to brush a strand of hair from Makayla's face, "So you'll be the Mr. Rogers to my Bob Ross?"

"I will," Makayla answers, "Only because I like you."

Lexi's heart beats faster at the words and she wasn't sure if Makayla knew just how much those words affected her. She also didn't know if Makayla meant it as in, she liked her or she liked her, but Lexi wasn't going to complicate things by seeking clarification.

There's a knock on the door that gets both of their attention.

"Are you guys dressed?" Cassie's voice from the other side of the door and Makayla lets out a laugh.

"Yes," Lexi answers, and the door opens as Cassie enters.

"You know the whole point of inviting Makayla over for breakfast was so that the two of you would eat breakfast, not hideaway in our bedroom," Cassie says as she grabs her bookbag and cheer bag.

"We'll get breakfast on the way to school," Lexi says.

"And we'll be late if we don't leave so bye Cassie!" Makayla says as she jumps off of Lexi's bed and rushes out of the room.

Lexi grabs her things and is about to leave when she catches Cassie looking at her.

"You haven't told her."

"Told her what?" Lexi asks.

"That you're in love with her," Cassie retorts and Lexi scoffs.

"I am not in love with her," she retorts.

"Right," Cassie says with a smile, "Well you should go, wouldn't want to leave your girlfriend waiting."

Lexi rolls her eyes as she heads out of the room and downstairs. Makayla is waiting for her in the car and Lexi climbs n and smiles at her as she tugs on her seatbelt. They stop and get Dunkin for breakfast before heading over to school. They walk in together and things are normal.

Alexis wanders up to them, eyebrows furrowed, "You two are still together?"

"Is there a reason that we wouldn't be?" Lexi asks as she looks over at Makayla.

"No," Alexis answers, "I'm going to walk away now."

Lexi watches confused as Alexis disappears down the hall before looking over at Makayla who now looked very annoyed.

"What was that about?"

Makayla shakes her head, "Ainsley and I got into an argument. Alexis was there."

"An argument about what?" Lexi asks.

"Us," Makayla says, "Our feelings."

Lexi realizes just how stupid she's been. Makayla brought her sister home safe and took her to the freaking Ferris wheel and Lexi thought that they were going somewhere, that this could be real, but once again she'd forgotten that Makayla and Ainsley had history, history she couldn't compete with.

"Oh," Lexi says, and she feels that it's best to leave it at that because she doesn't want to burst the blissful bubble that she's created.

"Nothing happened," Makayla says quickly as though sensing Lexi's trepidation, "Between me and Ainsley. We're not together or anything like that."

"Okay," Lexi says nodding her head. Makayla watches her as though trying to gauge her reaction.

"So," Makayla says, "Lunch?"

"Lunch isn't for like four hours," Lexi says and Makayla laughs.

"I meant lunch with me. Do you want to get lunch with me?" Makayla says formulating a complete thought and she lets out a laugh, "Sorry I'm just kind of nervous."

"Nervous?" Lexi asks, "But we eat lunch together all the time."

"Which is why I'm not understanding why I'm having trouble making complete sentences," Makayla says with a nervous laugh and Lexi stares at Makayla. She was never nervous at least not around Lexi so that had to mean she was guilty of something. Or Lexi made her nervous, but that didn't make any sense.

"Well, I'd love to get lunch with you," Lexi says with a shrug, "Not like I have anyone else to eat with."

Makayla frowns as she looks at Lexi, her brows furrowing on her forehead, "Oh okay um I have morning workouts, so I'll see you at lunch."

"Okay," Lexi says she leans in to kiss Makayla, but the soccer player is already turning on her heels and disappearing down the hall. Lexi blinks as she stares at Makayla's retreating figure and feels like something is off.

The day goes on and it's weird. It gets even weirder when the police come to the school and arrest Nate. Lexi watches with Cassie as the officers escort him out of the school and into a police car.

Cassie turns toward her, "What was that about?"

"Probably because Nate tried to kill Maddy," Lexi responds and Cassie's eyebrows furrow.

"What?"

"She found all that gay porn on his phone," Lexi states, wondering if her sister recalled telling her any of this.

"Who told you that?" Cassie asks and that answered Lexi's question.

"You did," Lexi reminds her.

"When?"

"Last night," Lexi tells her, "After the carnival."

"Okay," Cassie says, "Never repeat that because literally none of that is true."

Lexi watches as her sister closes her locker and disappears down the hallway. There obviously had to be some truth to the situation because Nate was begin arrested, but Lexi was very confused as to why everyone in her life was acting weird.

Granted it was only Cassie and Makayla, but Lexi didn't really have a lot of people in her life so maybe that was the first problem.

Lunch was weird.

Makayla sat across from Lexi almost stiffly and she wasn't understanding why things had been so good between the two of them that morning and now they were extremely weird. She wondered if she should ask Makayla more about what happened with Ainsley, just so that they could clear things up.

"I wanted to-"

"Can I ask you-"

The two of them speak over each other and they both let out a laugh, loosening the tension between the two of them.

"You first," Makayla says.

"What happened at the carnival. Between you and Ainsley?"

Makayla sighs and her gaze lowers to the table, "Ainsley thought that I told Alexis about her crush on me, which I didn't, but she was mad, so she told everyone that I liked her too, which wasn't a lie, but also wasn't the full truth."

"What does that mean?" Lexi asks.

"I don't like Ainsley anymore," Makayla states, "I mean I did, but now we're back to how things were, and I think that's best for both of us."

"Oh," Lexi says, "That's good. Glad you cleared that up."

Makayla looks at her with a small smile, "Since we're clearing things up, you should know that Nate also expressed interest in me."

"Nate Jacobs?" Lexi asks, her stomach twisting. Ainsley and Makayla had history, but Nate was her brother's best friend. It was a reverse of that Victoria Justice song. But Nate was an asshole who'd hurt Maddy and was literally on his way to jail.

"The same one," Makayla says, "Crazy what's been happening at school."

"Do you think he did it?" Lexi asks.

"Yeah," Makayla states, "Which is crazy to me. I knew Nate had like anger issues, but I never knew how deeply they ran."

"So like," Lexi shifts in her seat and avoids Makayla's gaze, "I don't have to worry about you and Nate, right?"

Makayla lets out a laugh, "Definitely not. Even before this whole situation, Nate just wasn't what I wanted."

"Good," Lexi says nodding her head, "Great."

"Should I worry about you and Rue?" Makayla wonders.

"No," Lexi answers, "That ship has sailed so far out of the dock you can't even see it in the water."

Makayla chuckles, "A simple no would have sufficed."

"Where's the fun in that?" Lexi asks with a smile and Makayla's smile widens even more.

~*~

The fallout of the Nate and Maddy situation ended up having a larger impact on the school than anyone expected. In the days that followed there were rallies about domestic violence and tapes being played in class. Lexi was happy that she and Makayla had been forced in the same classroom to watch the tape on coming forward about domestic violence. She tried to pay attention, but Makayla was just so distracting.

They were in the back of the classroom, backs against the wall. Just to the right of them were Rue and Jules and seated in front of them was Maddy. Lexi's attention would go to Rue and Jules, but she didn't find herself envious of the pairing, not at all.

Makayla's arm was hanging loosely around Lexi's shoulder and without really thinking, Lexi reached up and laced their fingers together. Makayla looked over at her with a soft smile and Lexi grinned back as she rested her head on Makayla's shoulder.

That night Lexi sat in her room scrolling through Instagram as she waited for Makayla to get out of soccer practice so that she could text her and ask how things went. It probably should have been a red flag to Lexi that she was eagerly waiting for her. She didn't want a repeat of Rue, but she also had the tiniest feeling that her feelings weren't one-sided.

Lexi's phone buzzed in her hand, and she read the notification, eyebrows furrowing as she realized that it wasn't from Makayla, but rather Rue. Lexi sat up in bed as she read over the text message.

I know I haven't been a great friend but I'm sorry and I want to make it up to you.

Lexi stared at the text message, unsure of what to say. Makayla had told her she could say no to Rue, but this wasn't like that. This felt like an apology and while she no longer had feelings for Rue, she did miss her best friend. And so, Lexi took and deep breath and typed her response to Rue's message.

"I'm going out," Lexi said as she grabbed her jacket and headed down the stairs.

"You hanging out with Makayla again?" Suze Howard asks from the couch.

"Actually, I'm going to the roller rink with Rue," Lexi says, and her mother raises an eyebrow.

"You're hanging out with Rue-Rue?"

"Yeah," Lexi says, "I'm hoping we can get our friendship back on track."

"Friendship," Suze says, "Right."

Lexi's eyes narrow slightly at her mother's tone, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you've always had this obsession with Rue. I'm your mother, I notice these things," Suze says, and Lexi honestly has to hide her surprise because she always figured that her mother paid her absolutely no mind.

"I know Rue's back from the dead or whatever, but you've got a good thing going with Makayla. You light up around her Lex and she understands your weird, introverted nature. The two of you are good for each other, so don't screw it up for whatever you wanted with Rue."

Despite the backhanded comments, Lexi found her mother's words to be slightly endearing because it meant that she cared and it also meant that she liked Makayla, which she already knew, but her mother liked Makayla because of the impact she had on Lexi.

"I really like Makayla, mom," Lexi states honestly, "I would never do anything to mess it up."

Suze smiles at her, "Good. Now get out of my house."

"Yes mom," Lexi says with a smile as she heads out of the front door. She grabs her bike and walks it to the street before getting on and riding off toward the roller rink. Rue was waiting for her outside, along with Jules, and for some reason having the blonde's presence made Lexi feel a little more at ease.

The three of them get skates before hitting the floor and honestly, it was a blast. Lexi thought she'd feel like a third wheel and there were times where she felt a little left out, but then Jules or Rue would do something to include her, and things were fine again. She'd miss the simple pleasure of just spending time with other people.

"So Makayla McKay," Rue states, "How the hell did the two of you get together?"

Lexi lets out a laugh as she sips on the slushy that she'd ordered, "I don't know, we met at the bathroom of McKay's party, and we clicked instantly."

"That's so cute," Jules says, "Are the two of you doing a couple's costume for Halloween?"

"We are," Lexi answers, "Well sort of. How about you guys?"

Rue and Jules share a look and it's Rue who answers, "Yeah, I mean we haven't come up with one yet but we're definitely doing one."

"May the best couples costume prevail then," Lexi says with a smile.

Rue stands up and begins to skate back towards the floor, "I want to go around a couple more times."

"Okay," Jules says, "I'm gonna hang out here with Lexi if that's okay."

Rue pouts but nods her head before heading back toward the floor. Lexi looks at Jules, noticing the way that the smile on her lips seems to slip away as she begins taking off her skates. Perhaps there was something that Lexi hadn't noticed when it came to Rue and Jules.

"Rue seems a lot better," Lexi states.

"Yeah, she does," Jules responds.

"It's 'cause of you," Lexi says, "You've been a good influence."

Jules's face seems to go through several emotions before she looks up at Lexi, "I'm gonna go to the bathroom."

"Oh okay," Lexi says as she watches Jules get up and head in the direction of the bathroom. Lexi looks back over at Rue, watching as she does one lap after another. Eventually, Rue seems to tire herself out and Jules is still not back from the bathroom.

"Hey!" Rue says as she falls into the seat beside Lexi, eyes instantly on the search for Jules, "Where'd Jules go?"

"Bathroom," Lexi answers and Rue nods her head as she begins taking her skates off.

"Do you love Makayla?" Rue asks suddenly and Lexi looks up at Rue.

"Um I'm not really sure," Lexi states, "I mean I care about her a lot but I'm not sure I'd go as far as to call it love, you know?"

"Why not?" Rue asks.

"I guess because I don't think Makayla's there," Lexi says, "Sometimes I feel like I don't know where we stand like I'm overestimating her feelings for me and then I get scared because what if I am falling for her and she's not doing the same."

Rue's silent from beside her and Lexi feels like she's overshared, but there's a look on Rue's face, a look that Lexi knows all too well that tells her that Rue feels the same way about her situation with Jules. Except the difference was that Jules kept Rue grounded and Makayla made Lexi feel like she could fly.

Their conversation dies as Jules finally makes her return from the bathroom. She forces a smile as she looks between the two of them, "You guys ready to head out?"

"Yeah," Lexi says as she grabs her skates. They return them to the counter and get their shoes before heading out. They bike home and when Lexi hits her street, she gives Jules and Rue a wave before turning down it.

When she gets to her house, Lexi slows down, noticing Makayla's Nissan outside of her house. She climbs off of her bike and walks the rest of the distance before putting the bike in the garage and heading inside.

Her mom was passed out on the couch, which wasn't a surprise to Lexi. She walked over and turned the TV off before pulling the blanket up on her mother and heading upstairs. She opens the door to her bedroom and that's where Lexi finds Makayla, in her bed curled up with Lexi's stuffed dog.

Lexi smiles at the sight as she closes her bedroom door and climbs into bed, throwing an arm around Makayla. The soccer player lifts her head, and a sleepy smile crosses her lips as she looks at Lexi.

"You're back," Makayla says, "I tried to wait up, but turns out I was exhausted."

"It's okay," Lexi says softly, "If you were tired you should have just gone to bed at home."

Makayla turns over and looks over at Lexi, "I wanted to see you and you weren't answering my text messages."

Lexi had forgotten her phone and was already en route to the roller rink when she realized that she'd left it. 

"Well, I'm here," Lexi says as she brushes a strand of hair that didn't make it into Makayla's ponytail, "So you can go to sleep, okay?"

"M'kay," Makayla says as she slides closer to Lexi, the stuffed dog forgotten as Makayla throws her arms around Lexi's waist, her head resting on her shoulder. Lexi smiles down at Makayla and can't help as she traces her hand up and down Makayla's back.

She was falling for Makayla and she hoped that there was a part of Makayla that was falling for her as well.