The Great Pretender

34.2: Ain't That a Shame

Cherish woke up feeling a lot of things at once; cold, warm, hard, soft, no- hard, no- soft-ish. She could easily identify most of the feelings in order; no blanket, blanket, floor, and....? She wasn't confused about where she was waking up. She'd been out before the movie ended and vaguely recalled Seven answering her phone and telling Ari that she'd fallen asleep.

She still wasn't sure what her head resting on though. Whatever it was, it came with the comfort of a smell that had become familiar to her, and one she hadn't woken up to in a while. And though it was so far removed, it wasn't too long before she placed it. With a deep breath, she realised that some part of her mind was enjoying this a little too much.

It wasn't Seven's pillow that was for sure, the smell was much too solid to be something lingering in fabric. But she wasn't waking up with her face pressed into Seven's chest; she already knew what that felt like. Since his arm and shoulder looked to be about as hard as his chest, she knew it wasn't either of those, especially since there was a hand in her hair.

Taking another deep breath, Cherish opened her eyes and found herself staring at knees. With a sleepy sigh, she closed her eyes again, deciding she didn't care.

"Ow," there was an uncomfortable grunt and suddenly the blankets shifted. There was a weight lifted off her head, and another one promptly returned when the rest of the blanket dropped onto her. "Fuck, man! That's my head," Seven slurred sleepily as he rubbed the place Ian had kicked him.

Ian chuckled and looked over the edge of the bed to where Seven was sitting in the same position he'd been in the night before. He'd still been holding the remote control and the T.V. was giving them the news in Chinese.

"Sorry man, I didn't think you were still there." He eyed the lump of blanket in Seven's lap and the torso and legs that protruded from it at an angle that seemed impossible given the way Seven was sitting. "Is Cherish still under there?"

Seven stretched as he yawned and clamped a hand down on Cherish's head again.

"Yeah, I'm still down here. Sev, get your hand off my face."

"Oh, sorry."

When Cherish fumbled her way out of the blanket, Ian was eyeing her, "What?"

"Nothing," he smirked and bounced off his bed.

It's not like she didn't know exactly what he was thinking, and she wanted to strangle those thoughts from his head with her own hair. "No seriously, Ian, what?"

Ian grinned, "Isn't it Saturday, Cherry?"

Cherish narrowed her eyes at him, "Yes, but what does that have to do..?"

"Didn't we have a deal about breakfast?"

She wouldn't have dropped the subject but her stomach had conveniently chosen that time to agree with him and so she conceded to putting her anger aside till after breakfast. The meal did not much differ from the last breakfast she had shared with the Raymond family, only this time Seven sat beside her and Joana was so drowsy she didn't bother anyone.

-.-

"So, I think Ian thinks..." Seven dried a plate and put it into a cupboard. Breakfast was long over and Seven had volunteered to help Cherish clean up. The smirk on Ian's face at that had been ridiculous.

Cherish rolled her eyes as she scrubbed the plate in her hands, "Yeah, I know. Honestly, you'd think he's never seen friends hanging out before."