CHERRY. [JESS MARIANO]

Life Is Funny Isn't It?

Rory appeared at my front door the next afternoon. She greeted me with a wide grin before jumping into my arms. I stabled myself by using the door as a railing, almost taking it off from the force that Rory knocked into me.

"We're going to Yale!" She exclaimed happily as I hug her back. I mentally prepared myself for what I had to tell her.

When we pull apart I sent her a smile. "That makes one of us!" I say in the same tone she used before. I watch as her face falls and my heart along with it.

She dropped her arms from around my shoulder and took a step back. "What do you mean?" She asked with a frown. Her childlike face made her look like someone just stole her candy.

"I got all the letters back, and I got accepted to Columbia." I avoid her confused gaze as I spoke.

"You didn't get into Yale?" She asked sympathetically.

I shake my head at her. "No, I did but-"

Rory cut me off with a nod of realisation. "You're not going," she finished as it dawned on her what I was trying to say. "You're going to Columbia."

"Surprise?" I tried to lighten the mood. Rory just looked plain sad. There was no other way to say it. It was like I took her puppy away from her then ate it. Okay maybe not that wild but you get the point. "Rory, listen-"

She cut me off again and her sad look turned to one of slight anger. "We just got the letters back yesterday, you can't make that big of a decision overnight."

I stumbled over my words as she called me out. "You know, some people like to jump the gun." I fumbled around for things to say.

Rory crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me. "How long?" She simply asked.

"A few days," I tried to lie but she sent me cold stare, making me rephrase. "A few weeks?"

"Cassie," Rory grumbled out with a clenched jaw. "How long?"

"Just a couple of months," I said lightly as she put her head in her hands and leaned on the back of the closed door. "Since the visit to Yale."

"God, that was ages ago! Why didn't you tell me?" She looked to me for an answer. I could tell that she was frustrated by the way she bit her lip.

I ran a hand though my hair nervously as I explained myself to her. "You were just so excited that I couldn't do it."

"I'm not a child!" She retorted with a glare. "I can take it!"

"Well then take it!" I exclaim in frustration. "I'm going to Columbia! There!"

"But why?" She questioned with a grimace. "You always wanted to go to Yale."

"And you always wanted to go to Harvard," I fired back with a shrug of my shoulders. "People change."

Rory shook her head at me. "That's different."

I look at her with an open mouth. "How is that any different?" I ask incredulously. "You wanted to go to Harvard and I was gonna go to Yale!"

"It's different because we both know that you didn't make this choice on your own." She tells me accusingly.

"What?" I didn't understand what she was talking about at all. I was glad my mum wasn't home right now or else she would become another part of this conversation.

"We both know you only wanna go there because of Jess," she accused as I roll my eyes at her.

I shake my head and sneer at her. "You really think I'm that shallow that I'd choose which college to go to based in a guy?"

"I wouldn't put it past you," she commented.

"I don't get it!" I exclaim at her. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you but why are you so mad?" Rory was red in the face and frowning at the ground.

Rory pointed a finger at her own chest. "Me? What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing!" I yelled back with a smug smirk. "I'm fine!"

"Good!" Rory yelled back with a nod of her head.

"Good!" I repeated. Both of us just stood there in silence as we each took deep and bent breathes.

"I just don't get why you chose him over me," Rory said quietly as I muttered out an exasperated 'oh my god'.

"For the last time, I didn't choose him over you!" I try to explain. "He has nothing to do with this and neither do you!"

It looked like this was new information to Rory as she let her mouth open in surprise. "I have nothing to do with this?" She asked with furrowed brows.

"Well I hate to break it to you, but this is not the Rory Gilmore show." I snap at her. "I don't have to make all my decisions revolve around you."

Rory seemed like she didn't know what to do so she just stuck her tongue out at me like a five year old. I may not be a child, but I wasn't an idiot. So I stuck my tongue out right back at her. It was like an unsaid law where you just have to do it back.

Soon enough it turned into a fight of 'Stop that,' and 'No, you stop that' before she left the house, slamming the door behind her.

~~~

"So I messed up didn't I?" I ask my mum from the couch as she sits in front of the tv. I had just finished explaining my argument with Rory to her later that night.

"You should have told her the minute you realised you weren't going to Yale," she says without looking up from the pile of cd's she was sorting through.

I shrug as I play with a loose thread on a pillow case. "I didn't think it was important," I stated. "It's not like she needed to know."

"You told Jess," my mum pointed out.

"That's cause it's Jess," I say hoping that she'll get what I meant.

"What's that supposed to mean," my mum asked as she arched an eyebrow up.

I pull at the thread on the pillow, unravelling a few seams. "I just thought he'd like to know."

"And Rory didn't have to know?" She continued on with a few cd's in her hands.

"It concerned him more than it concerned Rory," I tell her with my eyes still on the pillow. "It didn't have much to do with her."

I heard some clattering from her and my head perked up. My mum looked over at me with wide eyes before scrambling to sit next to me on the couch. "Is he going to New York with you?"

"I guess so," I began slowly. "I mean we never really talked about it but neither of us want to stay here."

The implying glance my mother gave me was never a good sign. "I don't know about this," she began warily. "You said you didn't wanna go there because of him."

"I made the decision to go to New York long before I met Jess," I defended myself.

"Still," she continued on with a cautious glance. "You're both moving so fast, you're not even eighteen."

I put a hand on her reassuringly. "It's not like we're getting married." I console her the way a nanny would to a child that had lost their favourite toy.

"But will you?" She teases, her good mood coming back quickly. "Eventually, I mean."

"How did we end up here?" I avoided the question are I tried to bring her focus back to the main problem. "What should I do about Rory?"

"Well, not pulling a Paris and going crazy on her would be a good start."

I lean my head on her shoulder with a sigh. "Isn't it ironic that Paris and Rory just got their friendship back then ours went to complete shit?" I voiced out my inner monologue.

"Life's funny isn't it?" My mum said with a light edge in her voiced.

My eyes stared at the blank tv screen. "I simply cannot stop laughing," I said monotonously.