lexi didn’t need a crystal ball, didn’t need to consult some very on-brand la wellness guru or crack open her cosmo horoscope to know that the vibes had very distinctly, very deliberately shifted — it was just there, sitting between them like something neither of them had formally agreed to acknowledge but both of them could feel anyway. this cheeky, warm, not entirely thought-through thing that probably deserved to be left somewhere safe inside the pages of girlhood and processed very carefully before either of them did anything about it. and yet. here they were. the fact that chandler had just left it dangling on more than cute and then gone completely quiet about it was doing something very specific and very annoying to her, not in the pointed, heavy way — nobody was glaring at anybody — but in that delicious, menacing sort of way that felt less like irritation and more like trouble, the kind lexi had always had a very complicated relationship with.
“more than cute, huh?” she asked, the laugh that came out of her bright and unstudied, bouncing clean off the bedroom walls like it had somewhere to be. on the laptop screen, paris hilton had been completely abandoned to her own fate — whatever murder investigation was unfolding in house of wax was going to have to sort itself out without lexi’s input this time, because her attention had relocated entirely and had absolutely no plans to return anytime soon. “are we going to land on another adjective tonight or are we just going to let cute sit there and do all the heavy lifting? because i have to tell you, chandler, i'm going to need a little more than that. my ego is literally batting its eyelashes at you right now; it's embarrassing for both of us.”
“hence why we facetimed,” she bantered back, completely unbothered, when the california survival comment landed. “those international call charges are genuinely a menace, and i paid them anyway, so. you're welcome.” she shook her head at the driving question, waving it off with the casual energy of someone who had already made peace with her own limitations. “nah, i didn't even attempt it — full uber moment, black suv, windows slightly tinted, i felt very important, and i'm not apologizing for it. some things you simply do not try.”
and then lexi softened, the playfulness settling into something a little quieter and more deliberate, her attention shifting fully and completely to chandler in the way it tended to when she actually meant something. she moved in closer, closing the already modest distance between them until the fluffy pillow beneath her felt like the most comfortable thing she’d ever rested against and chandler’s face was close enough that she could catalog the details she’d somehow never had the excuse to notice properly before — the specific warmth of hazel eyes, the effortless spring in dark curls, the way she looked when she wasn't performing anything for anyone. “i meant you, chandler,” she said, simply and without decoration. “i was your number one fan before any of this, for the record. the final girl thing? flawless. completely, embarrassingly flawless. don't think for a single second that i forgot about you in that finale because i absolutely did not and i never will.”
the complaint about hand holding pulled a slow smirk out of her, and she lifted herself up slightly, just enough that she was hovering over the other girl with this quiet, considering look on her face — like she was turning something over, deciding something, the smirk never quite leaving. “oh, you have a complaint?” she echoed softly, tilting her head just slightly, voice dropping into something a little warmer and a lot more deliberate. “think i might actually do you one better.” and then she closed the remaining distance — no dramatic build-up, no announcement — just lexi, moving in until her lips found chandler’s in the softest, most unhurried kiss she’d ever given anybody. her fingers found chandler’s cheek like they already knew the way there, holding her gently, like something she didn’t want to rush or fumble, before she finally pulled back just enough to breathe, the smirk finding its way back home where it belonged. “was that better than the hand holding?”
