playing hooky

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Immediately when Scarlett woke she knew that she had been sleeping for a long time. Her head was pounding but she very quickly reminded herself of the reasons why. There was a smell wafting through the living room that smelt like fried chicken and she felt her stomach rumble. As Scarlett sat up from the couch she looked behind her to see Fez's back turned away from her as he got something from the fridge and when she looked out the window next to him she saw It was dark out. Now Scarlett remembered very clearly that when she went to bed after a very embarrassing almost kiss when the sun was rising. Shit. She thought to herself. "What time is It?" She asked loudly causing Fez to hit his head on the fridge shelf. "Fuck um it's probably around midnight" he said.
Instantly Scarlett couldn't believe It. She had slept for around 17 hours. She didn't quite feel like herself but she was glad that she slept through the worst of her come down. "Okay I should probably start walking home." She told Fez. "Thanks so much for everything. I don't know which thing to thank you for first." Fez pointed towards the box of chicken and Mac and cheese sitting next to It. "You should eat first then I'll give you a ride, it's too late for you to be walking home alone." She nodded and quickly dove into the Mac and cheese.

The ride home was silent and her phone was long dead so she couldn't distract herself from the awkwardness she could almost feel coursing through the car. "Won't your parents be wondering why you wasn't home last night and missed school?" he questioned her out of no where. She shook her head "I doubt my mom will even know I was gone." She told him as they pulled into her driveway. "Again thank you so much for everything and Im sorry If I did anything stupid last night I didn't mean t-" she was quickly interrupted. "Scarlett I got you into a bad situation too and honestly I had no problem with anything besides that" he told her. Scarlett looked at him for a minute and wondered If he meant he had no problem with the almost kiss or for housing her for over twenty four hours and taking care of her. "I'll see you around Scar." The nickname sounded different when It rolled off of his lips and she couldn't help but feel the goosebumps rising when he said It. She gave him a smile and walked up to her house. From the driveway Fez watched through the windows when the woman on the couch in front of the Tv waved at Scarlett as she walked in but continued to never take her eyes off the television. Fez sighed, Scarlett was right about her mom not caring after all, he then pulled out of the driveway and drove home.

When her alarm rang the next morning Scarlett was already awake. She got up and went through her normal morning routine. She put on her concealer, mascara and lipgloss first, then went to her newly put together closet and looked through her clothes. The outfit she decided on was a pink babydoll dress and her black converse. She braided her hair into two French braid pigtails and grabbed her purse and notebook. As she walked down the street Scarlett looked forward to passing by the convenient store. She realized last night that she needed to get over the whole kiss thing and move on because she couldn't hold herself accountable for anything she did last night. It was all just too weird. As she saw the convenient store she decided to walk up to It. She saw no one in the chair parked in the same place she had seen Fez for the first time. She walked down the only aisle which were fridges of drinks until she came across one with nothing but the door. She opened It to find Ashtray inside counting money while smoking a cigarette. "Ash! What's up?" She asked him excitedly. He turned around and smirked. "Well what do we have here ? Little Scarlett, welcome to my neck of the woods what are you doing here?"he smiled. Scarlett laughed she loved his demeanor almost as much as she loved Fez's. "I live a couple blocks down the road and a couple days ago I was walking to school and saw Fez sitting outside the store. What is this place anyway?" She asked. Ashtray told her he was surprised she lived in a neighborhood like this which made her laugh again. He then went on to explain the business he and Fez ran out of the convenient store. They continued talking and Scarlett didn't care she was missing first period. Right when Ashtray was lighting up his second cigarette a costumer knocked on the door and Scarlett knew that was her cue to leave. As she opened the fridge door to step out she looked to her left to see Fez sitting on his chair directly next to the door. She smiled at him but his face looked disappointed. "What'd you get?" He asked. "Nothing just remembered you sitting out by the street a couple days ago so I came and was talking to Ash for a while." Fez nodded, "If you need green we've gotcha covered". Scarlett smiled and thanked him then asked, "Do you wanna go get breakfast? Im hungry and the last place I want to be right now is school". This made Fez perk up "damn I thought you'd never ask, that should be our last customer for a couple hours we just gotta wait for ash to be done in there so I can leave". While they waited the two started to go back and forth talking about all different things. They talked about how fucking ridiculous It was the way game of thrones ended and when Fez mentioned he loved the office Scarlett ran with It. When the customer left Ash gave them the thumbs up to leave and they started their walk to a nearby diner. Although Fez was quiet Scarlett was slowly finding out how hilarious he was. The spark between them was noticeable but neither one of them wanted to acknowledge It, they were both just happy to be starting a friendship with a really cool person. They were seated at the diner and could not stop laughing at each other so much that the waitress was rolling her eyes at them. They ordered coffee and pancakes while starting to tell each other stories from the past. Fez told her about the first time he ever smoked which sent Scarlett into a fit of laughter considering it included a call to 911. Then Scarlett shared a story of her first kiss which was with Ronnie Wieseman and told Fez about how she ended up with spit all over her face after the exchange. Pancakes were eaten and many more laughs were shared before the door of the diner was opened and in walked Caleb. When he sat down at a booth in the corner Scarlett had a clear view of his face. He had a dark shiner under his left eye, an extremely swollen cheek bone and a cut lip. Scarlett tried to duck when he looked her way causing Fez to turn in his booth. The look on Caleb's face when they locked eyes was priceless and It made Scarlett want to jump across the table and hug Fez and yell at him all at once. "Oh my god," she whispered "you did that?"
"Well... ion know who did It but he probably deserved It" Fez whispered back. Scarlett smirked and Fez reached in his pocket then left a 20 on the table and grabbed Scarlett's hand. "Common let's get out of here" he said.
As they walked back to the convenient store Scarlett tried everything she could to get Fez to talk about what happened that night before she woke up. She wasn't sure If It was because she was just curious or the thought of It turned her on a little bit but she'd never admit the ladder. But nonetheless Fez wouldn't give It up and he repeatedly told Scarlett she wasn't going to find out. "Why don't you go to school?" Scarlett questioned.
"It just wasn't a priority anymore. Dropped out when I needed the time to make more money. Back then It seemed like a waste." It was an answer she expected and she didn't question It any further. They continued to talk for the rest of there walk about Scarlett's friends back home and how Fez's "business" began to boom. As they approached the convenient store Scarlett could see a couple people lined up outside the door. One of the girls Scarlett recognized from the party, it was maddy. Fez went inside to talk to Ash so Scarlett decided to take a seat in his designated chair. "So are y'all like fucking or somethin'?" Maddy asked. "Jeez maddy I've been here for like 3 days it's not like that" Scarlett responded causing maddy to shrug and give her a wink. Fez opened the door for maddy allowing her to go inside and then he looked at Scarlett and raised his eyebrows. "You stole my spot" he smirked. "I like the chair" she said back.
He laughed and they continued the conversation they were having before.
Scarlett stayed there all day, she enjoyed Fez's company and skipping school twice in three days probably wasn't the best look but she knew no one would notice she was gone. Jules had texted her last night to make sure she was okay and asked her why she left the party so early but Scarlett knew she'd probably heard and just wanted to make sure she was good. Other than that she was new to this town and so far closest to Fez, there was no way her mom would mention It considering her new disposition. She hadn't questioned Scarlett at all about where she had been for the last 24 hours after Fez dropped her off last night and Scarlett wasn't planning on telling her anyways. "I like that you're here, makes the job a lot more entertaining" Fez had told her around noon which made her heart skip a beat but she tried her best to play It cool. They decided that they would go back to Fez's place and hang out and anything but going home sounded good to Scarlett.
When they arrived at his house Scarlett noticed the shut door across from Fez's room but she decided not to mention It. They sat on his bed and Fez began to roll the blunt on his side table. "Ion really fuck with the hard stuff" he told her "just so you know". She nodded "you don't seem like you would." Scarlett told him. For a drug dealer Fez did seem to have a great moral compass which Scarlett found kind of funny also, he was super sweet when they talked about Ashtray on the ride home and described him as "his best friend". As they smoked they watched spongebob due to the fact that she had told him this morning that she had never seen it before. The next couple hours consisted of only that before Fez took her home. When she walked through the door she saw Sammy sitting in front of the tv about to dive into a bowl of cereal for dinner. "Is mommy home?" Scarlett asked. Sammy nodded and pointed towards her bedroom door which was cracked open enough for her to see her mother laying in bed with the lights off. "Common munchkin, you can watch me cook some real dinner" she walked Sammy over to the counter and lifted him up to sit on It. She made them some rice and beans and microwaved some leftover chicken for Sammy. After they had eaten she watched him brush his teeth, change into pajamas and when Sammy asked If he could sleep in her bed tonight she told him of course. She tucked him into bed, showered and got ready then jumped into bed next to Sammy and slowly fell into a deep sleep.

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