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"O'Neill."

Fezco's head shot up upon hearing his name called as the guards handed out mail, eyebrows raising in slight hope that he wasn't hearing shit.

He felt butterflies in his stomach as he watched the guard hold up an envelope for him, making him get up from where he sat with Jojo and a few of Jojo's homeboys to go get the letter.

Jojo whistled teasingly as Fezco was handed his mail, making Fezco shoot him a look as he made his way back to the table, where Jojo stood up from after he was called.

Fezco hadn't even looked at the sender address yet, his eyes flickering over to the top left corner after reading his name on the envelope in what he recognized as Vida's handwriting. He smiled to himself, wasting no time in reopening the envelope after the prison sealed it back up once they looked through it. 

"Your girlfriend finally wrote back?" Russell, one of Jojo's homeboys asked Fezco as he watched him pulling a few notebook papers from out the envelope.

Fezco ignored his question, like he did his best to ignore the teasing he received from the other inmates after Jojo told everyone that Fezco had a hot penpal. Jojo hadn't seen Vida's pictures, so he didn't know it was her, because Fezco was keeping them from him, growing defensive because he was calling her hot all because of the flustered lil look Fezco wore after that first time he laid his eyes on the pretty pictures.

Yeah, she was hot, but Fezco wasn't gonna call Jojo's girlfriend hot, so why was he doing him like that? And yeah, Vida wasn't his girlfriend, but still. She was his only friend from the outside world right now.

Russell leaned over to peek over Fezco's shoulder as he began to read Vida's letter, making Fezco stop and turn the papers around.

"Yo, you fuckin mind?" Fezco grumbled with an eyebrow raised.

"Do you? I'm tryna read too," Russell laughed.

Fezco just gave him a look before glancing over at the guard closest to his table and nodding at him, "Yo, can I go back to my cell?"

The guard stilled for a second before he nodded his head in the direction of the door, making Fezco get up from where he sat to follow the guard as he escorted him to his cell.

"Thanks man," Fezco mumbled his gratitude as he walked into his cell, plopping down on his bed as he reopened his letter, listening to the guard's footsteps as he walked off.

The inmates weren't locked in their cells unless there was a lockdown or it was lights out or the guarde were conducting the twice a daily head count, allowing them to come and go as they pleased throughout the day, as long as a guard escorted them.

Fezco read Vida's letter with the biggest smile plastered on his face, and once again, he read her letter at least four times.

He bust out laughing when Vida said she wanted to sell her homegirl to the cartel in Mexico after she ticked her off. He laughed a lot throughout reading her letter, the only time he actually felt genuinely happy.

He just sorta met her, but he loved talking to his new friend, even though their conversations were delayed, in a way.

So you could imagine the smile on his face when Vida asked if he would like to speak on the phone, but dropped it on his fourth time reading her letter, because he knew all that shit cost money, and he didn't want her to waste her money on him.

But he would love to talk to her, to hear her speak. He wanted to hear her laugh and listen to her ramble like she did even on paper.

Maybe he could save up the little money he made on kitchen duty, or yard work, or whatever it is he was working on, and pay for the calls himself. He originally planned to use that money to buy shit from the commissary, but he wanted to talk to Vida more than he wanted to buy Doritos.

"Bro, my girl sent titty pics," Jojo laughed as he walked into his cell, holding up the pictures but making sure that the blank back side was facing Fezco.

Fezco laughed at that, "That's wassup, mane. Is that even allowed?"

"Nah, but she be finding ways," Jojo smirked as he laid back on his bed, holding the pictures up above his face to stare at them. "Man my fucking stomach hurts, that fucking spaghetti fucked me up."

"Yo, I told you not to eat that shit," Fezco shook his head, laughing because he chose to he smart and chose a sandwich from the cafeteria instead.

Jojo sighed, clutching his stomach, "I know, shoulda gone for the pizza."

"That pizza ain't even fully cooked, pepperoni be hard as fuck and the cheese be cold," Fezco continued laughing, looking over at Jojo.

"Still pretty good though," Jojo shrugged. "Shit, I ain't had good pizza in years. I miss Pizza Hut."

"Nah, them local pizza parlors is where it's at," Fezco told him, placing the letter Vida wrote besides him on his bed. "Yo, you got a pencil I can borrow?"

"Dawg, the packs of pencils in commissary are like two fucking bucks," Jojo scoffed, sitting up anyways to reach into the drawers besides his bed to grab an opened pack of yellow pencils to give to Fezco anyways.

"I know, I only had enough for this though," Fezco sighed, holding up the red notebook in his hand as Jojo threw the pencils over onto his bed. "Thanks."

"Mhm. Just make sure I'm on that wedding invite list," Jojo smirked before laying back down.

Fezco let out a laugh as he opened his notebook and grabbed a sharpened pencil from the little box. "What wedding?"

"Your wedding, bro. When you get married to that girl that's got your ass cheesin," Jojo taunted as he watched Fezco pick up the letter back in his hand.

"Mane, she jus my friend," Fezco shook his head with a small laugh, knowing damn well his ass was about to flirt so hard in this letter he was about to write back. "She's funny as fuck."

"Is she actually funny or you just saying that cause you like her?" Jojo smiled, turning his head to face Fezco, who kissed his teeth.

"She actually funny, bro, c'mon. Why y'all so fuckin annoying?" Fezco muttered. "I can't be just friends with her?"

Jojo tsked, "Of course you can. Do you want to be just friends with her?"

—$—

Fezco loved talking to Vida, he loved receiving her letters and he loved writing back to her. But he hated waiting for her to get his letter, and he hated waiting to get hers.

He started writing his letter back to her asap while listening to Cypress Hill that played from Jojo's speaker, which was placed on the top of his drawers.

Jojo ate a bag of hot Cheetos while he watched Fezco write in amusement, throwing a Cheeto over at Fezco every once in a while, which he picked up and ate, but never once lifted his pencil from his notebook.

It wasn't til one of the bitch ass night guards came around for lights out that Fezco finished writing his letter, getting up to hold Jojo back after he started arguing with the guard when he told Jojo to turn his trash ass music off.

"Lights better be out when I come back around or you both getting written up," He threatened as he walked off, glaring at Jojo until he was out of sight.

"C'mon bro, what the fuck?" Fezco mumbled to Jojo as he pushed him off, getting back into his bed and turning his speaker off.

"Shut the fuck up," Jojo grumbled, flicking the light off and allowing his head to hit his pillow with a sigh.

Fezco scratched his beard as he sat back down into his bed, sighing himself as he picked his notebook back up to sign his name at the bottom of the second page he wrote on.

He didn't even bother to reread it before he shoved his notebook into his drawer and neatly folded Vida's letter back up and into the envelope, placing it in his drawer as well before he kicked his shoes off and laid in his bed, staring up at the ceiling, at the little part illuminated by the moonlight that shined in from their little window.

He had been wearing some sweatpants all day, so he didn't get up to change into some more comfortable clothes before going to bed like usual, letting out a sigh as he turned to lay on his side, pulling his blanket over him.

He reached under his pillow, fishing out one of Vida's pictures from underneath where he laid his head, holding it up in the moonlight to see clearly.

The picture of her with red hair. She looked great with red hair. She looked great with any hair. She was really fucking pretty.

Fezco stared at her for a good minute before he slipped the picture back under his pillow and tried to fall asleep, wondering why he felt this way.

He couldn't even explain how he felt, he couldn't put a word on it. Because he didn't even know what he felt.

He kinda felt the same way he did back when he asked for Lexi's phone number at the New Years party they sorta met at a few months ago.

Which he shouldn't though, because Vida was just his friend. His new friend.

But did he want her to be just his friend?