CHERRY. [JESS MARIANO]

Tragic

Jess

Jess had his eyes trained on the door as he wiped down a table in Luke's diner. He was waiting for Cassie. He last saw her in the market an hour ago, which was when he had asked her to come to the diner.

But then again, he didn't exactly outright ask her. He just kind of implied. 'Maybe she doesn't wanna talk to me,' Jess thought. After all they only spoke three times since he'd been here. Despite all of that he still wanted to know her better.

He wanted to know what her favourite band was. What her favourite book was. What her middle name was. Hell, he even wanted to know what kind of shampoo she used -he guessed it had something to do with apples. That's what she smelled like, apples on an crisp autumn day.

Jess wasn't trying to be weird. On the contrary actually. He'd been trying to get her out of his head since last night. He's been trying so hard to stop thinking about her. How her hair was as dark as the night sky. How her green eyes looked like the exact shade that you'd see in one of Van Gogh's paintings. Jess wondered if she liked Van Gogh. Maybe she preferred-

"Jess!"

His head turned towards the voice so fast he was afraid he'd get whiplash. Luke was standing behind counter with a pot of coffee in his hand. His usual baseball cap on his head along with a rag on his shoulder. Luke looked at Jess like he was crazy.

Jess scoffed in annoyance, he hated when someone interrupted his thoughts. "What?" He questioned rudely.

'What do you mean what? You've been wiping down the same damn table for fifteen minutes," Luke said with a frown on his face.

He was about to say that it didn't matter since no one was even in the diner. All the chairs were pushed neatly into the tables -courtesy of Jess. All the dishes were done and everything was refilled, from the sugar cases to the tissues on the table. With that being said Jess had no idea why Luke was pestering him.

He had opened his mouth to speak but stopped immediately when he heard the bell of the door opening from behind him.

"Hello, boys." There it was, the smooth voice that he had been longing to hear.

Jess turned around slowly to see that it was indeed Cassie at the door. She looked exactly the same as when he last saw her. Her cheeks and nose tinted red from the cold outside. Her wavy hair stopping just past her shoulders. It's dark colour making it it hard to see against the dark leather of her jacket. The only difference was that she didn't have a basket in her hands.

Cassie flashed him a full smile that made his heart beat just a little bit faster than usual. He didn't like it one bit. She was just someone that he saw as a potential friend. Nothing more.

"Hey, kid. Want some coffee?" Luke asked, raising the pot in his hands.

Cassie hung her jacket on the coat rack by the door as she answered him. "Yes please, Lucas."

Jess walked towards the counter to keep away the rag as he heard Luke reply to Cassie's teasing. "You're lucky I'm still letting you eat here."

She took a seat at the counter as Luke poured her some coffee. "Please, Lucas," She scoffed. "You'd go out of business without me."

Luke just rolled his eyes before heading up the stairs to their shared apartment. Not before telling Jess that if any customers came that he should serve them.

He stood in front of her while she drank her coffee. "You came," he said slightly surprised. Jess watched as she sipped on her coffee mug.

Cassie gave him a look that said 'obviously', she seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "Now," she started as she put down her mug. "Are we gonna talk about why on earth you think 'The Princess Bride' has a happy ending, or are you just gonna keep staring at me?" She continued with a raised eyebrow.

To say that he was taken aback at her blunt comment was an understatement. He cleared his throat before shooting her question back at her. "Why don't we start with why you think that they don't have a happy ending?"

"Because!" She simply said as she shrugged.

Jess looked at her in bewilderment. "What do you mean, because?" He exclaimed with a slight laugh.

She brushed some strands of dark hair that got into her eyes away from her face as she answered him. "If they all had a happy ending the author would've said so." She raised an eyebrow, challenging him to change her mind.

He took in her words for a minute. She had a good point, he'll give her that. "But then he left it hanging so that people will think about it. Not what people think he thinks," he argues back. "So I wanna know why you think it ends that way."

He watched as the gears turned in Cassie's head. He could see her internally debating with herself if she should tell him. It wasn't a matter of whether she had an answer or not. It was whether she wanted to open her thoughts up to him. He knew as well as anyone that your thoughts were one of the only true forms of privacy you could get in this town.

"Promise me you won't make fun of me?" She sighed.

Jess put his right hand on his chest. "Scouts honour."

She scoffed at his words, "Were you even a scout?"

"I am appalled you would think that!" He said in mock hurt.  "I'll have you know I take my two years of scouts training very seriously!" She laughs at his outburst and he felt a twinge of pride in his chest. He had managed to make her laugh. A full blown laugh that sounded so sweet to his ears.

She looked into his eyes, searching for some form of reassurance from his words. "Well, mister boy-scout. I think that way because I think the ending had to be tragic," she clarifies as she looks into her now empty coffee mug.

"Why? Why did it have to be so tragic?"

She looked up to him as he said those words. "Because life is tragic. There's no happy ending. We take what we can get. That's how life is," she gave a bitter laugh.

This laugh was so differenct than the one before. He couldn't help but wonder what made her think like that.  Most people wouldn't give that kind of answer. But then again, he didn't think she was like most people.

"But then isn't that why we read books," he said without a moments thought. "Don't we read so we don't have to worry about this life? So that we can live in the fake world where there is such thing as a happy ending. Where they don't have to worry about rent or debt." Jess found himself believing every word he said to the girl before him. He can't remember the last time he actually meant what he said.

He watched as Cassie took in what he said. Surely she thought he had point.

Instead, all she said was, "Wow. Who knew you were such a poet." She looked at him with something that he hoped was understanding in her eyes. Maybe he was wrong and she was looking at him with pity. Pity that he was still so hopeful after all this world had dragged him through.

Jess just gave her a grin and said, "Yeah, I'm a real Whitman."

"Really? Huh, I thought you were more Sylvia Plath," she suggested.

"You know Sylvia Plath?" He was surprised to say the least.

She cocked her eyebrow. "The stars go waltzing out in blue and red, an arbitrary blackness gallops in." She quotes effortlessly.

Not only did she know Sylvia Plath, she could quote her off the top of her head.

He was sure his face was surprised but he didn't even try to hide it. "Aren't you just full of surprises, Cherry."

She casts him a small smirk, "Only for you Ponyboy."