The Great Pretender

20.2: Whole Lotta Shakin'

"Good point," she giggled as she set her feet down. As she semi-spun in his arms again, she caught sight of someone and took off across the room. "Quentin! I didn't know you were here!"

He laughed as he separated himself from her, pulling his mouth back from hers. "Course I'd be here! I heard you'd be here-" he looked over her shoulder quite obviously, "who's this?"

Cherish looked behind her as if she had forgotten she was stuck to Seven. He had been surprisingly bearable all night. He hadn't been trying to upset her, nor had he tried to injure her. In fact he had let her do whatever she wanted; he had even danced, or bobbed rather, with her and her friends.

"Oh. Quinn, this is Seven. Seven, this is Quentin, he's like my big brother. I grew up with him."

Seven nodded, "Any relation to Cash?"

Quentin chuckled, "Yeah, that little shit's my brother."

Nodding again, Seven took a step back to let Cherish have her privacy; as much privacy as she could have while handcuffed to him.

Ian nudged him, "She sure has a lot of guys, huh?"

"Yeah."

"I bet she says they're all just friends."

"Yeah."

"She sure is hot, huh?"

"Yeah... wait, WHAT?"

As Ian scampered off, he knocked into a tall red head who had been approaching Quentin and Cherish. Seven watched as she draped an arm around Quentin, "Oh, hey! Cherry, this is my Nessa. Nessa, this is my Cherish."

"Oh good, I thought I was going to have to get jealous of the girl kissing my baby," Nessa drawled and enveloped Cherish in a gentle hug.

"I've heard so much about you, Cherry!" she looked at Seven with a smile. "I see you've got your own toy."

"Meh. Seven's just there for the eye candy value. I don't really use him for anything else."

Nessa laughed as she shook Seven's hand, "You should."

"You know, that's what I've been trying to tell her all this time."

"Seven?" Cherish said sweetly, despite wanting to gag at his words.

"Yeah?"

"Be a good pet and shut up."

-.-

The drive home was quiet. If only because everyone in the car, save Seven had fallen asleep. A good thing, because he was driving. Cherish herself had her chin propped on the ledge of the passenger side window, her eyes half open watching the lights of the other cars on the highway zooming by. There was no radio playing, but Cherish was humming at a barely audible volume, a contented semi-smile on her face. In the back seat, Allie was jammed between the two boys, Ian's head in her lap and Juss using her chest as a cushion.

As the car bounced over a particularly pothole filled stretch of road, Cherish sat up. Rubbing her chin, she shifted around in her seat, trying to get comfortable again. She glanced at Seven, "Why don't you turn on the radio to keep yourself awake?"

His eyes flicked from the road to her and back again, "You're all sleeping. It's fine."

"Whatever, but I think it would be better if your eyes stay open while you're driving."

He smiled, offering her a nod but no more words. Sliding over in her seat, she leaned against his arm. She closed her eyes and stretched her legs out, her feet dangling out the open window in quite an adorable fashion.