Cherish had never been good at coping. She knew this. It had always been Len who'd held her together. But with Len gone, Cherish turned to the only coping mechanism she knew- denial. It was easy, simply pretend it hadn't happened; pretend he had...
Warning: While there is nothing explicit in this chapter, there is mention of violent/sexual encounters hat some individuals may find triggering.
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The driveway had never seemed longer, thanks to the painful torture devices Ari and Audrey had insisted she wear. While she lived in heels, it was never ones as needlessly excruciating as these were. Clutching Seven's arm, she made her way from the curb, up her crowded driveway and to her house. The front door was open and she noted that Harper's car was already there. She didn't realise they had taken so long to get there, but Ian had driven halfway to his house out of habit, so she supposed it made sense.
The group had scattered upon entering her house in search of food and drinks. Cherish with two trays of wings in hand flopped heavily onto the partially unoccupied couch beside a scantily dressed harem girl.
"Fetch me some drinks, Slave!" she commanded and the girl looked at her appalled. Cherish scowled, "Not you! I don't even know you!"
"Cherish, I'm stuck to you, you'll have to find another slave for your drink fetching."
"I wasn't aware you considered yourself a slave, Lord Severin of the Underworld!"
"Then who were you talking to?" the harem girl asked in confusion seeing no one else around. Flushing, Cherish pointed at random, and to her luck it was at the Batman who had asked her to dance earlier in the night. Oh well, too late to turn back now, "You! Slave-man, fetch me some drinks!"
Seven laughed as the confused boy gave her a strange look and took off. As he settled into the couch beside Cherish, Ian, armed with a giant sized roll of paper towels and a plate of wings, landed on the floor in front of him. Seconds later, Juss and Harper appeared with Allie and a tray of plastic party beer mugs in tow. With one look at the amount of food Seven and Cherish had stocked up on, they broke down in laughter. "Got enough food there?"
Shrugging, Cherish took the roll of paper towel from Ian offered it and the tray of wings to the harem girl she'd effectively stolen the couch from. The poor girl looked uncomfortable at being squished amongst them. "Oh look, I see my boyfriend!" she exclaimed and scurried away without a backward glance.
"You'd think my wings were poisoned or something," Cherish frowned. "Oh well, more for me!"
It felt good to be eating, after being offered nothing but the tiniest of finger foods as dinner at the Ball. Stupid 'gourmet' cooking and the freaking small portions of food they thought suitable. Cherish hadn't had an honest to goodness pig out party since way before she had left Montreal. All that was missing was the ice cream, chocolate syrup and strawberries. Oh she wished desperately that she could have an ice cream sundae! But as it was, she resembled a table cloth, covered in as many paper towels as she was, and had to eat carefully so her dress would come out unscathed. Ice cream sundaes would only complicate that.
