cherry [fezco]

0.9

|cherry hill— russ|

Juniper stood in front of Fezco's stove with a spatula in her hand. She had woken up on the couch a few hours prior, but her stomach had finally reminded her that she hadn't eaten in nearly 24 hours. Fez's kitchen was small, so finding eggs and pancake mix wasn't too hard. Juniper had nearly a full plate of pancakes and another of eggs sitting off to the side.

She felt bad about what had happened the night before-- though it wasn't her fault. Mouse was being a bitch, and no one knew what would have happened if Juniper hadn't taken the Fentanyl. She wanted to try to make up for the whole mess by making Ash and Fez breakfast. Juniper couldn't help but feel like everything had happened because she didn't listen to Fez when he tried to send her away.

But what Juniper didn't know was that after she had fallen asleep, Fez and Ash had a very similar conversation.

"Yo," Ash hit Fezco's shoulder as he walked back into the living room. "You good, bro?"

Fez nodded his head slowly, staring off at the wall ahead of him. He hadn't said anything since Juniper had fallen asleep, which was nearly 2 hours ago. Ash knew that Fez was a quiet person, but this was different. Fez was being silent.

"She's going to be okay," Ash spoke softly, sitting on the arm of the couch next to Fez. He chewed on his bottom lip before looking up at the younger boy.

"How was I supposed to know?" He murmured.

"What?"

"How was I supposed to know," Fez repeated, absentmindedly running his finger tips through Juniper's hair. "that the Fentanyl wasn't goin' to kill her?" Fez brought the hand that wasn't playing with Juniper's hair up to his mouth. He paused for a moment. "What if she didn't end up waking up?"

"Fez--" Ash tried to speak but was cut off.

"What if she fuckin' died?" Fezco whispered, his voice fragile-- so soft that it felt as though if he spoke any louder, it would break. "Right here?" He looked up at Ash, and gestured toward his arms. " just 'cause I didn't send her home?"

Fezco had always had some doubts being a dealer, and would occasionally feel guilt too. He never wanted to hear that one of his clients had ODed because he sold to them one more time, or that he was the cause of someone's death. That was the shit that got to him. Sometimes, it felt like too much.

With Juniper it was different. He felt his heart drop the moment her tongue made contact with Mouse's knife. He started freaking out as soon as Mouse and Custer left, but he hid his fear. He didn't want to freak out Ash. For the first two hours after Juniper had ingested the Fentanyl, Fez stayed right there on the couch with her-- watching to make sure she was breathing, and putting his fingers against her neck to check her pulse.

He knew that Juniper had never touched a drug besides a few drags off of his joint at McKay's party. Fez was terrified of what the Fentanyl could do to her body. He didn't know what she could handle.