Faith Morales, an aspiring artist, drug addict and the younger half-sister of Nate Jacobs, was failing school pretty miserably, so with the help of one Lexi Howard, Faith ends up learning a little bit more than Mathematics.
"Fez!" Faith cheered drunkenly when she saw her brother sitting on a couch outside by the pool. After some inexplainable words left her mouth, Fez chuckled, pulling Faith by the hand to sit next to him so he could wrap his arm around her protectively.
"Was goin' on, Kitty Kat?" Fez asked her, passing her the cigar. Faith smiled, taking a hit before passing it back.
"Just tired, looking for Lexi," Faith mumbled, resting her head on Fez's shoulder. "You hear about mom and Cal?"
"The whole fuckin' town knows about it and how you went all Love Quinn on Nate's ass for choking Maddy," Fez chuckled squeezing Faith's shoulder reassuringly.
Faith went to reply, but her eyes found a body in the crowd of sweaty college and high school students that made her eyes widen. Her mother's sister, Faith's Aunt, Isabella Morales was dancing with a drunken boy in the middle of the crowd.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Now, I know I didn't mention Isabella when I first introduced you all to Faith and her bitch of a mother, but that's because I couldn't think of what to say. Isabella was an outcast in her family, sort of like Faith.
Her father kicked her out at fifteen, for you guessed it, being a lesbian. Honestly, Mr. Morales was a dick. Isabella is nineteen, two years above us, and in college with McKay, they were sort of best friends despite being complete opposites of each other.
Isabella was quite a shy, straight A sort of student who was stupidly good at English and shared her nieces Dyscalculia. That, and the fact they were so close in age, was probably why Isabella and Faith were so close.
Isabella had been the answer to many crushes growing up, especially for me and Maddy. Honestly, I think Maddy has a thing for anyone related to Faith. Isabella, Nate, probably has a thing for Grace, and obviously she has a thing for Faith.
"Excuse me?" said Faith, using Fez's shoulder to push herself up. She stumbled forward slightly, but managed to keep her balance as she smoothed out the creases in her dress.
"Isa!" Faith called over the music, and the older girls head snapped towards her.
"Fifi!" Isabella cheered, wrapping her niece in a tight hug and swinging her around. "I didn't think you'd be here? Your mom know?"
"She kicked me out," Faith shrugged, dragging her out the back door so they could talk where it was a bit quieter. "I went psycho on my brother, her and my dad."
"What-? Fuck," Isabella whispered, shaking her head. She turned back to Faith, noticing her nieces bloodshot eyes. "You're still on drugs?" Faith nodded, causing Isabella to pinch her nose in frustration. "Has your mom ever done anything right?" Faith shook her head, causing Isabella to scoff. "Where's Lexi too?"
"Inside, I think," Faith shrugged, lighting up a cigarette. She offered it to Isabella, who shook her head with a glare.
"She's taking you home," said Isabella, pulling the back door open. "Wherever home is," she added under her breath, making a mental note to talk to her sister. She found Lexi and Rue in the garage, one of McKay's brothers in a chair in front of them.
"I don't want to know what's going on here," said Isabella, looking weirdly between the three of them. "Lex, can you take Faith home? She's had enough."
"Yeah, sure," Lexi smiled, turning back to McKay's brother and narrowing her eyes at him. "I'm watching you."
Rue and Isabella chuckled, the latter letting Lexi and the boy brush past her.
"You okay, Rue-Rue?" Isabella asked, tilting her head to the side and biting her lip.
I know I'm dating Jules and all, but Isabella Adriana Morales made me nervous as fuck.
And that lip bite- No, Rue, too horny, keep it down.
"Y-yeah, just sober," said Rue, shrugging her shoulders, a small smile gracing her lips when Isabella smiled proudly at her. Sure, her mom and sister and proud of her, and her friends of course, but Rue couldn't explain it. Isabella being proud of her just meant so much more.
Faith blinked.
And again.
And again, because all good things come in threes, supposedly.
Nothing changed, and Faith blinked slowly once more, just in case. She stared up at obnoxious night sky, a few twinkling stars meandering across her vision. Lexi had cracked the passenger window open for her, causing a slightly cold breeze to push against her skin, creating goosebumps along her arms.
Faith breathed, deep and slow, letting his eyes slide shut, not believing what she was seeing, what she was feeling.
It was just another night in the East Highlands, and yet, under the influence of alcohol and drugs, Faith had an unknown feeling stirring within her. Street lights zipped past them, spots of light illuminating the woefully empty street of the Northern Commercial district.
Lexi's dark eyes glanced at the speed-o-meter. Fifty miles per hour. Just a bit over the recommended speed limit, but it wasn't as if there were anyone out after curfew. Her hand adjusted the back view mirror, her gaze briefly turning to the face of her girlfriend. Something changed, a shift in the peace from before. Her heart twisted when Faith caught her staring, and the pink in her cheeks was too obvious to ignore when Faith placed her hand overtop of hers, both settling on the stick shift between them.
Taking her by surprise, Faith brought Lexi's hand towards her lips, placing a light kiss on the back of her hand. Lexi's eyes fell from their interlocked hands and focused back into driving, trying to dispel the desire erupting in her stomach. God, how she loved her. Even in her drunken state.
"Let's get married," Faith suggested abruptly, and Lexi's eyes widened, just slightly, glancing back to see her friend wearily inching closer to her.
"You're drunk," Lexi stated the obvious, almost as if she couldn't imagine a reality where a sober Faith would say such a thing. Still, she feebly smiled into the rearview mirror, blinking something from her eyes.
"No, I'm serious," Faith grumbled out in slurred speech, her hand producing a silver flask from her pocket. "We can go to Vegas right now. Be a bit reckless, or impulsive even. If Nathan and Haley could do it in One Tree Hill, why can't we? You know what they say, age is just a number!"
"That applies to age differences, not high schoolers getting married," Lexi's lips curled down in an exaggerated frown, but the gleam in her eyes had said otherwise. "Besides," she added with a glare at the flask Faith was holding, "as if you could stay awake long enough for us to get married while you're chugging that down."
"Ha, joke's on you - I'm all out," Faith smirked smugly, tipping the flask upside down, revealing that it was indeed empty. "Guess that means we're getting married!"
Lexi tried to bite back a grin, though it ended up breaking into a snicker.
"Lexi Howard-Morales," said Faith, testing the name on her lips, repeating it several times under her breath.
"You're so corny," chuckled Lexi, pulling into her driveway. She stepped out of the car, staring at Faith's house, particularly at the living room window where she saw Grace staring her down. Lexi just held her chin up, walking around the car and lifting Faith bridal style.
"I always thought I'd be the one carrying," Faith giggled, her head thrown back as she kicked her legs back and fourth.
"Please, you'd drop me," Lexi giggled, setting her drunk girlfriend down in her bed.
