Lexi
October 8th, 2016 | 6:00 pm
It wasn't like Lexi was not invited to the school dance, she just felt out of place. Naturally, no one had asked her because they were terrified of being beaten up by Austin. No matter how hard Lexi had tried, since Austin had punched the guy who she last danced with, she gave up.
Lexi was sitting on her bed staring at the dark red dress hanging in her closet. She wanted to go, it could have been fun, but she knew it would have been like Liam's party all over again. Besides she had no friends, and she doubted anyone would even dance with her if she showed up.
Lexi was willing to bet that if she asked Liam to sit with her, he would, but she didn't want to interrupt his night with Rachel. The girl was so insecure, Lexi wondered what had happened to her. Rachel was naturally pretty without even trying. She had soft wavy blonde hair and gorgeous grey eyes. She had amazingly high cheekbones and a beautiful body. Lexi wondered if Liam knew how insecure she was. He was her boyfriend, wasn't it his job to reassure her that she was gorgeous?
There was a knock at the door, Lexi's father was at his job so she was cautious as she went to answer it. She looked into the peephole and saw Maeve.
Lexi was surprised to see her standing there. She opened the door.
"Hi," Lexi said plainly.
"Hi," she said nervously. Maeve was wearing a very gothic looking dress. It was black with lace from the chest up to her neck and the dress itself went below her knees.
"What's up?" Lexi asked.
"I was wondering if you needed a ride to the dance," she said staring at the ground.
"You're going to hang out with me in public now?" Lexi asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well who cares what people think, you know?" Maeve said, shrugging her shoulders.
Lexi was skeptical. "You didn't feel that way a week ago."
"Do you want to come with me or not?" Maeve asked.
Lexi thought about it for a minute. It would be fun. "Fine, give me ten minutes."
Lexi quickly threw on the dress and grabbed her black heels. Lexi had already been wearing light makeup and her hair looked fine from when she had done it this morning. She quickly applied a quick touch up. She wrote on the fridge whiteboard a short phrase so her father wouldn't worry where she was, not that he would really notice. She then locked up and met Maeve in her car. Lexi had managed to get her lacy black high heels on right as they arrived. As Maeve and Lexi walked in, Maeve looked visibly disgusted by the theme.
"Who picked under the sea?" she said, making a face.
Lexi shrugged. She didn't really care for the theme herself, she assumed Rachel had picked it. In fact, it looked like the whole theme centered around Rachel. Her blue dress matched the decorations perfectly.
"So your friends don't mind you hanging out with me?" Lexi asked.
Maeve shrugged. "Are they really my friends?" she asked. "I mean we're they ever even your friends?"
Lexi thought about that. "I guess all we ever did was get high together."
Maeve nodded. "I think we were all dealing with our own problems. We bonded by getting high to tough it out."
"So how are you going to get high if Austin was your connection? Doesn't hanging out with me ensure he cuts you off?"
Maeve brushed her off. "Don't worry about it."
Lexi didn't know what to think about that but her attention was quickly taken by Austin and Rick walking in. Lexi knew they weren't here for the dance, she watched as they slyly sold drugs to some of the students, right under the teacher's noses.
Austin caught her staring. He held her gaze from across the gym. Lexi wanted to call out to him. She wanted him to come running to kiss her. She wanted him to dance with her. However, she knew it wasn't going to happen. So, this time, she looked away first. She looked back at Maeve who offered her a drink.
"Is it spiked?" Lexi asked.
Maeve looked surprised by the question. "You really got clean, huh?"
"Yeah, I'm completely sober and I would like it to stay that way," Lexi said pointedly.
"Okay, in that case don't drink the punch," she said, taking the cup back.
Lexi and Maeve sat on the bleachers for most of the dance. Neither of them had dates and they weren't in the mood to dance. Lexi wasn't even sure why she thought the dance was going to be fun anymore. Instead, they caught up on each other's lives and made plans to go thrifting later.
Eventually, Maeve went to smoke something a little stronger than the "freshmen excuse of a spiked punch," as she so kindly put it. Lexi was sitting by herself for a while until Liam joined her on the bench below her.
"Hey," he said.
"Hi," Lexi said glumly, leaning forward and resting her hand in her elbow.
This wasn't really going how she wanted it to.
"Are you here with anyone?" he asked.
"Maeve, but she went to get high and don't worry I told her no."
Liam nodded. "Rachel and her friends went to touch up their makeup."
"She's really pretty, you know?"
"I know," Liam said seriously.
"You should tell her that more often," Lexi said quietly. "When she's not wearing makeup, when she isn't trying hard, so she knows she doesn't need to."
Liam grimaced. "I try, she doesn't believe me."
"Try harder," Lexi said simply. "Before it's too late."
Liam shifted uncomfortably. "What about you?"
"What do you mean?" Lexi asked.
"You're telling me to remind Rachel that she is more than all this superficial nonsense but who is going to be there for you?"
Lexi's eyes hardened, and for a second she was mad, but she was tired of being angry and alone. "I don't think I can ever open my heart up again, not like I did with Austin," she said very quietly.
Liam nodded sympathetically. "I get it, you don't want them to break you again."
Lexi nodded glumly. "I already lost the only three people I have ever loved. I can't put myself through that ever again."
"You don't have to like me, but we could hang out if you want the company?" Liam asked. "I know you don't want a pity friend but I do want to help you in any way I can."
Lexi studied him for a while. "You are a really good person, you know that right?"
Liam's ears reddened. "You shouldn't feel isolated, it's not good for you."
Lexi took awhile to respond. "You and Maeve are the only people that have been nice to me, and you both seem like you have good intentions, I just feel like I have no room for blind trust anymore."
"Then we both will just have to prove that we are worth trusting."