Fezco // Safe Space (𝔼𝕦𝕡𝕙𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕒)

Chapter 9

Sofia's POV

Fez had picked me up from school later that day to go grab my bike, and once we dropped it off back at my house, we found ourselves stuck in this never ending conversation. My parents weren't home, and Maddy was out with Nate. So I decided to invite him inside that way I could see him longer before he had to go to work.

Vallie really likes Fez, she wouldn't stop jumping up on him and licking his arm. Which is surprising- she always barks at Devin. I'd go as far as to say that my dog actually hates Devin. I bring him to my living room and get him a water bottle from the fridge.

"Thank you" he says, taking it from my hand. "I was saying. People who wear flip flops in the rain are always some of the strangest folk I ever met. Who the hell wanna feel water all up between their toes and shit anyway? Doesn't make any sense." he shakes his head and cracks open the water bottle before taking a sip.

Fez and I had smoked a lot before coming here and his ways were rubbing off on me already. I haven't been as tempted to drink as I usually am. I haven't even taken 1 shot today. That is a world record for me.

I chuckle at his comment and shake my head. "I mean, people wear crocs. Isn't that like... the same type of thing?" I ask with my eyebrow raised. "Yeah but like... those are water shoes. Flip flops are meant for the summer time, imagine the suction on the bottom of your feet walkin around in puddles wearing flip flops. At least crocs are stable." he tells me. I cross my arms. "I just wear rain boots." He looks at me with a goofy smile on his face. "Good choice."

He looks around momentarily and diverts his attention back to me. "You have a really nice house... clean in here." he mentions. I hope he isn't comparing this to his own place, because I would never judge him for the way him and his brother live. But I accepted the compliment.

"Thanks... um.... can I show you my room?" I ask him a bit nervously. He swallows a lump in his throat, from the looks of it he's nervous too. Maybe even more than me, but he was better at hiding it. "Y-Yeah.." he stutters and looks around awkwardly.

I guide him to my room and tell him that he can sit on my bed if he wants. He takes the offer and looks over at my night stand. "Nice rolling tray" he says. "Ah, thanks. Got it off Amazon." I tell him. "You like... smoke way more than I thought." he says, eyeing the jar of weed I had sitting next to the rolling tray. 

I shrug. "I mean, not really. Rue gave this to me for my birthday before she went into rehab. Only smoked a few nugs so far but it's pretty good stuff." I say. "So um... how long do you have until you have to show for work?" I ask him. I hope I don't sound too desperate. He checks his phone.

"An hour." he says. "my job's not too far from here either. so we got plenty of time for whatever you planned on doing." he adds. "I didn't plan on doing anything but now that you mention it... hand me that jar." I tell him. He does what I asked and I hand him a nug after cracking it open.

"This smells really good. I wonder where Rue got this from, cause it wasn't me." he says. "Me too. You've been sparking me since the day we met, I think it's my turn." I say with a smirk. "I'm already fried." he mentions. "That makes it even better." I raise my eyebrow. "You right, you right." he tosses me a pack of backwoods he had in his pocket. "Get to rollin then" he tells me.

"Get to rollin?  Pfft. Now you can do it." I tell him, tossing it back and handing him the jar as well. He reached for my rolling tray and responded to me with something familiar.

"Damn, you gonna do me like that bruh?" Fez asks jokingly. "Yeah, imma do you like that, straight up" I mock Mouse from the night Rue got drugged and Fez basically got robbed. He looked up at me after realizing what I did and let out an uncontrollable laugh, shaking his head and looking back down at the wood he was rolling up. "You're something else Sofia. Thats messed up, you shouldn't be jokin about that. I feel really bad about what happened that night, for real." he says, a goofy smile still lingering on his face although he was being serious.

"Well, technically, I can joke about that. I paid you back for the inconvenience" I reminded him. "And you have no idea how much you helped me out by doing that." he says sweetly. "That guy was really funny looking." I joke with him. "Yeah, I don't like doing business with him." he mentions. "Well why do it?" I ask him, sitting down on the other end of my bed and plugging my phone in the wall.

"My grandmother... she had this family business. I'm just pickin up where she left off for real, I need to be able to afford takin care of myself and Ashtray." he opens up to me. "I hope everything works out for you Fez, I really do. You seem like a good person." I tell him. I begin to stare at him while he licks the backwood. 

I wish he would lick me that way...

What, who said that ??

"You do too. Which brings me back to your situation. What is a good person like you doing with a shitty boyfriend?" he says bluntly. Well that was bold. "I already told you my situation but trust me, if I could break things off with him I would." I tell him, rubbing my arm and looking down.

"Ghost him" he says. "You mean... just stop talking to him? You don't understand how difficult that would be." I respond. "Nah, not really. You're not ending things with him officially, so he can't harass you for wanting space. Never ending space..." he continues. "I see where you're going with this. And I can't say that it's a bad idea." I agree. We don't talk too much after that until he finishes rolling the wood. He sparks it briefly before taking a long puff.

He immediately starts coughing, passing it to me after only 1 hit. "Damn, Rue really got lucky with this gas" he compliments the weed, making eye contact with me. I don't respond, instead I take a hit for myself. I already know how good this is, which is why I smoke it sparingly. I cough and then I cough some more, taking another long drag.

As time goes by, we find ourselves playing a board game I had stuffed in my closet. Fez was surprisingly good at chess, and even better at holding a conversation while my time was occupied trying to think of my next 3 moves. But even when I was 3 steps ahead of him, he was 4 steps ahead of me. I had never played against someone better than me before, and it really made me feel entertained even though I was struggling to out-think him.

Playing with Maddy was easy, I would beat her every time. Devin refused to "play my stupid games" with me, he says that it's childish. He'd rather have boring sex. Thats why it was shoved in my closet to begin with. 

I had music playing on my tv, and I let Fez control the songs most of the time. We had a really similar taste in music already, but he ended up showing me some cool new songs that I never heard before. Vallie kept humping his leg, which is strange because I've only ever seen male dogs do that. She would wag her tail and bark excitedly at him, jumping up on his lap every so often. We had a lot of stuff to laugh about during our time together.

Time flew by and before I knew it, I was putting the game away. He was ready to clock into work soon, so we wasted no time taking our smoke session into the living room. It was very obvious that we wanted to spend as much time as possible around each other before he had to go. I constantly found myself wanting to stick around with Fez up until the very last moment. Being around him makes me happy. He gives me a warm feeling inside, something I never felt with Devin. Not even in the beginning of our relationship.

I found myself staring at him next to me on the couch. He took one last long hit, passing it to me before it got too small. "Well Sophia, you have a really nice place. Thank you for letting me come here." he says, doing that thing again. Why does he always look at my lips so much? I feel my heart rate pickup when he looks at me, and I take another hit before putting it out in the ashtray.

I stand up to show him the door. "I wish you didn't have to go to work, but you'll be back another day, right?" I ask hopefully. "Of course I will, I'll text you when I get off work." he says, following close behind me in the hallway. "This weed got me on another level" I mention, feeling the haze hit me more and more as every second passes. Almost like we're frozen in time.

We reach the door and I turn around to face him, his body unexpectedly close to mine. His face too. Maybe it's just because this is a small hallway. Is it hot in here or something? "I'm glad I got to see you today. I had a really good time..." he trails off, looking down at my lips again. I do the same this time, catching him off guard. I could tell he was flustered too. Before my brain could process a response for him, I found myself leaning in closer and pushing my lips against his without hesitation. I felt fireworks go off in my stomach as our lips collided, something I've never felt before.

An overwhelming feeling washed over my body, sending shivers down my spine. I cupped his face and pulled him closer, melting into the moment as he kissed me back softly. Once it registered through my head what was happening, I stopped what I was doing and pulled away, letting go of him. He had a stunned look on his face, and I was shocked as well. I don't know what came over me, but something about the urge to kiss him in that moment was irresistible. He kept eye contact with me, making my face turn a deep shade of red. 

"You should go" I say without thinking. A slightly hurt look crosses his face and he doesn't bother covering it up. I feel bad, he doesn't deserve to feel confused. But I can't deal with this right now. This was a mistake. I have a boyfriend. "...yeah, I'm not tryna be late for work." he says quietly, scratching the back of his head. I swallow a lump in my throat. "I'll see you later, Fez" I say, still flustered from the kiss. I felt the taste of him lingering on my lips and I almost felt guilty for wanting more.

He nods and the door closes behind him, making me sigh. I lean my head against the door and fall deep into my thoughts. What did I just do?

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𝕟𝕖𝕩𝕥 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣