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...
"Who's tha-" he began to ask but realised the sixth head had been scratched out. Cherish and her friends struck him as the type of people who were very tight and stuck together unfailingly. Sort of like an inbred family; they played as a group, dated within that group and would probably marry within that same group.
The boy whose head had been scratched out of the picture had probably been Cherish's ex-boyfriend. One who probably deserved to be scratched from pictures- and the group as it seemed. Because Seven had met her friends, and not once had another boy been mentioned. Nor had Cherish avoided anyone at the party.
"Oh, it's Cash," he laughed again, pretending not to notice the slightly stricken expression on her face.
"Yeah," she smiled when she glimpsed Cash's marker covered face. "He can be such a freak sometimes."
The silence could have been a hundred times more awkward, but as they lay there Cherish didn't feel the need to fill the emptiness with words. The quiet stretched on for what seemed like hours before a sad strained smile spread on Cherish's face, "God, I'm so messed up."
"Yeah," Seven drew his hands up under his head, "me too."
Cherish twitched, unable to stop herself from asking the question she had no right to ask, "What... What happened? Why'd your parents kick you out?"
Seven sighed, but didn't respond. Cherish didn't press the matter, instead she reached over Seven for her photo albums again. This time she went through the pictures herself, smiling at some of the stupid things. She was very aware of Seven beside her examining the pictures, a sad thoughtful look on his face.
"My dad killed himself."
In her shock, she dropped the album. He didn't react, except to lean into her a little more, "You know, if Jackie could have, she would have told me he was sick like she told my sister, Chantal, but I saw it, so I knew. No one wants a messed up kid, right? She ignored me for the longest time, and she wouldn't let Chan come near me. She put me in therapy, but she went right along pretending it hadn't happened."
This time it was awkwardly quiet. She didn't say anything; what was there to say?
"I was kind of a problem then; I hated Jackie for what happened. It wasn't her fault, but at first I felt like it was, like she should have been able to tell, like she could have stopped it, you know? Even when I finally got that she couldn't have done anything, I still hated her. What drove me nuts was that she kept pretending. Pretending it didn't happen, pretending I didn't exist, telling Chantal not to believe what I said about Dad. It didn't fix anything."
He took a deep breath and released the fists he had been balling up.
"I was pissed when she married AJ. Hell, I didn't even know she was dating him. He didn't like me much... Like I said, no one wants a messed up kid. No one wants a thirteen year old hell bent on destroying his life. I was getting into trouble all the time. I used to come home drunk outta my mind, or absolutely strung out on some drug or the other. I got my first tattoos when I was thirteen. I never bothered hiding them, I used to throw them in his face. I didn't fit into his perfect lifestyle. He told me to get the fuck out, and Jackie didn't argue, so I did."
Cherish quietly let his words sink in. Was there even an appropriate response? Anything she could think to say seemed trivial and massively inconsequential against what he'd gone through. She knew how much she hated the frivolous things people said to her when they found out about her loss. Of course you can't imagine what I'm going through! So she chose to stay quiet, as he was.
"I have a baby sister who doesn't even know who I am," Seven suddenly laughed.
"Chantal?"
"No. Jackie and A.J. had a baby. Before I left, Elise was the one thing I loved about that place. Now she thinks I'm Chan's boyfriend, because I'm only ever there when Jackie and A.J. are gone, and Chan bribes her into secrecy. She'll keep her mouth shut if she gets an ice cream every time I go over."
"Wow. That is messed up. So, you've been living with Ian all this time?"
"Yeah. Ian's like my brother, always has been."
Cherish had a feeling that Ian was more than just a brother to Seven. It seemed to her that whatever trouble Seven used to get into, he didn't get into now. It was clear from the way he spoke about his mother and her husband, he hadn't calmed down for them. Seven would do anything Ian asked, even if it meant dragging a drunken mess of a girl he hated along to his party. As she thought about the way Seven got anxious whenever she told Ian things he'd been trying to hide, it occurred to her. Ian was Seven's Len. It was almost as if Seven was afraid to disappoint Ian, like his approval meant the world to him.
"He saved my life you know."
-.-
"Cheven! Cheven? I know you two are here, I saw the car out front!"
"She's calling us Cheven, now?"
"Apparently, we're not two people anymore!" Cherish smirked, raising the volume on her T.V.
In a matter of seconds the door to her bedroom was flung open, and a sparkly, frilly monster barged in. "People! People, why are you just sitting around? We have a lot of work to do!" Ari's arms were full of bags, struggling to contain ruffles and petticoats. "You can just put those in my room, thanks," she called over her shoulder as she dropped the bags. As Delia, right behind Ari, dragged a chair into the room, Cherish flicked off the T.V. and frowned apologetically at Seven. Grinning, Ari pushed Cherish's chair over so the seats were side by side in front of the dresser, "Butts in chairs, now, please!"
"Ari, I am not letting you give us makeovers or anything stupid like that. We are perfectly capable of putting together our own costumes for tonight." Even as she grumbled her complaint, Delia pushed her and Seven into the chairs with almost no fuss.
"Oh, no, no, silly! I'm not giving you a makeover... I've hired only the best to take care of you two!"
"Ari, I'm not dressing as some pink fairy princess or some shit like tha-"
But Cherish's protest died when Audrey walked into her room, dragging a stack of three large silver cases behind her. If Audrey was involved, Cherish knew there was no way she was leaving the house looking anything less than fabulous. She would be one hundred percent Cherry Malice and definitely not one hundred percent Ari approved.
"Salut, ma belle!" Audrey shook her head as Ari bowed happily and skipped from the room. "She is a very strange girl, your sister. Delia, the music, s'il vous plait?"
Cherish watched as Audrey popped the three cases open one after the other, and dumped out the bags of frilly things that Ari had brought in. She plucked two exquisite masks from within the mess, both black, and set them gently on the table. As the music finally exploded into the room, Audrey grabbed a make up brush and spun around, "On'y va!" Shimmying over to Seven, she picked a container of white face makeup and popped it open, "You first!"
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* Title song by Elvis Presley (and lots of other people)
