𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐒𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐃.
leia held up the camera.
nikki, ozzie, gwen, and cherry were forcing smiles onto their faces for the picture.
"leia, take the picture." gwen begged, in a strained voice.
"my eyes are burning. i need to blink." nikki said.
"i know. i look so good, all pictures with me are gonna look great. just take the fucking picture." cherry pleaded.
"there's only 24 pictures on this camera, and i don't wanna waste any of them." leia pulled the camera away.
the group sighed.
she accidentally clicked down on the camera, as ozzie was reaching over to pick something up.
"23. i just took one of ozzie's butt." leia frowned.
"send me a copy. i can never get a good angle." ozzie took a seat.
"i'll take your ass pics if you take mine." cherry offered.
"deal." ozzie shook her hand.
nikki stood up.
"why don't i take the pictures?" she held her hand out.
"oh, try to make me look really cool." leia said, and took her place.
nikki looked over at cherry.
"it's just a camera." nikki said.
cherry laughed.
suddenly, jay burst through the door.
cherry groaned, and stopped posing for the picture.
"ready to party? i got the snacks, nate's got the keg." jay held up the bag, and motioned to the door.
loud glancing came from outside.
nate rolled in the keg.
"sorry! i walked into a spiderweb, and she got away from me." nate picked up the keg.
"dude, it's leia and cherry's last night, and you brought that nasty keg from fourth of july?" gwen questioned.
cherry didn't tell anybody that she was gonna stay.
she thought that if she tuned it out, it'd go away.
"i'll buy you guys a new keg, that's nasty as fuck." cherry grimaced.
"i took care of this thing like it's my baby! till i dropped it down the stairs." nate said.
"just like mom did to you?" gwen questioned.
cherry laughed.
"burn!" jay shouted.
"and now it's not funny." cherry frowned.
jay rolled his eyes.
"bro." nate said, and the pair began their bro repetition.
"old, flat, skunky beer? we are not this desperate." ozzie interrupted.
nate shrugged.
turns out, they were that desperate.
minutes later, the group was pouring out drinks.
they danced along to the music, ignoring how flat the alcohol was.
jay glanced across at cherry every few minutes, and she looked away from him instantly.
"i think i'm a really good dancer." leia wrapped herself in a blanket.
"you're not." cherry said, and took another sip of her drink.
"it's your last night, so sure." gwen shrugged.
leia ignored the comments.
she turned to the boy on the seat. "ozzie, are you gonna be sad when i'm gone?"
"uh.." ozzie trailed off. "no. but i'll be sad when cherry leaves."
"aw!" cherry grinned.
"he isn't great about expressing his emotions." gwen defended.
"but he just-" leia began.
"doesn't matter." gwen said.
the group went silent.
"well, this is the perfect last night to cap off the perfect summer." leia grinned, changing the subject.
"i'll drink to that." gwen smiled.
the pair sprayed whipped cream into their mouths.
"i was worried when you had that talk with leia about breaking things off, it was gonna harsh the mood. but it didn't! i'm having a blast!" nate looked over at jay.
cherry gasped.
"i haven't told her yet." jay said, awkwardly.
the entire group looked at each-other.
"finally!" cherry called out.
ozzie resisted laughter, and gwen stared at her.
"my fault." cherry said, awkwardly.
"what?" leia questioned, mouth full of whipped cream.
nikki snapped a picture of her face.
"you're breaking up with me?" leia swallowed the whipped cream, and tossed the blanket off herself.
"you're breaking up with me?"
"no, don't say it like that! it's not a break up. it's more like, we were boyfriend and girlfriend, but now we're gonna stop." jay shrugged.
"that's a break up, you donk!" gwen pointed out.
for being just friends with leia, gwen sure was very upset.
"oh my god. i'm one of your summer things, you jerk!" leia frowned.
"leia, i'm not being a jerk. we're gonna be apart for 9 months! long distance relationships are hard." jay pointed out.
"hard." nate laughed.
jay and nate fist bumped, trying to be secretive.
"i don't wanna put either of us through that." jay continued.
"so that's it? we're not even gonna try?" leia questioned.
"leia, i know you're upset, but he's making a lot of sense." nikki butt in. "this way, you both can go off and live your lives. right, babe?"
"yeah, long distance is nuts." nate agreed.
"nuys." jay laughed, and fist bumped him again.
leia turned to cherry.
"i don't know, he kinda has a point-" cherry began.
"you're just saying that because you wanna fuck him!" leia frowned.
"i already fucked him!" cherry reminded. "several times."
the group went silent.
"it's not for the faint of heart. do your know how much it costs to fall my boyfriend in canada? well, your grandparents are about to find out." ozzie said.
"gwen, help me out here." leia looked over at gwen.
"he has a point." gwen shrugged.
"you're with them?"
"no, i'm looking out for you. i mean, it is a king time apart, and also- man whore."
"unbelievable!"
"leia.."
"do not follow me, i am not afraid to use this thing!"
leia held out the can of whipped cream, and stormed off.
cherry shrugged.
« ───── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ───── »
gwen and cherry looked over at each-other.
they were preparing to apologize to leia.
well, gwen was.
cherry wasn't.
the last thing she would do is apologize to leia.
gwen carefully opened the door, the pair unusually silent.
"do you know how lucky it is to find that special person?" leia said, to nate, who was standing in front of her. "someone who you feel comfortable with?"
"and someone you can talk too!" nate agreed.
"and everything's just easy."
"right, i mean.. someone who just-"
"-gets you?"
"yeah."
"yeah."
the pair leaned into each-other, on the. edge of kissing.
"what the fuck, leia?" cherry said.
the pair immediately pulled away.
leia looked at her.
she'd given her shit for months about being an unloyal player, and now she was kissing nate, jays best-friend.
leia ran out the door.
"there was a fly on my junk." nate lied, holding up a spatula.
gwen grabbed cherry's hand, and followed leia out the door.
eventually, the pair found leia on the water tower.
gwen said nothing, and sat beside her.
"how?" gwen said, out of nowhere.
"i don't know." leia shrugged.
"why?"
"i do not know. he's jays best-friend, he's nikki's boyfriend. he's your brother. this is so bad."
cherry was unusually silent.
usually, she would take any opportunity to insult leia.
"yeah, it is." cherry interrupted.
"it's not as bad as what you did!" leia glared.
"seriously? what did i do?"
"you were gonna play jay!"
"so? that's none of your business. besides, i wasn't really going too. you knew that i was fucking him, and it was so obvious that i liked him."
"each time you fucked him, you said you hated him! how is that supposed to be obvious?"
"because i didn't leave him! you, of all people, should know that!"
leia said nothing.
"oh my god. you knew i liked him, didn't you? you knew before i knew." valentine realized. "you knew i liked him, and you dated him anyways."
"oh, whatever!" leia glared.
cherry rolled her eyes.
"gwen, what do i do now?" leia said, out of nowhere.
"you go back to chicago, you call me every freaking day, we see each-other as much as possible, you come back for the summer, and we do it all over again." gwen said.
"fuck all of you." cherry stood up.
« ───── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ───── »
cherry walked onto the driveway.
she wanted to watch leia leave.
the rest of the group joined, including jay. nate was already there.
"oh, hey bro." jay greeted.
"nothing." nate said, out of nowhere.
nate walked over to his girlfriend, and stood beside her.
gwen watched leia and jay, more interested than anybody else.
ozzie and cherry were looking at each-other.
"what are you doing here?" leia asked.
"i did some soul-searching, and a crap ton of karate, and i realized i was wrong. i'm not ready to give up on us." jay said. "and i know i was a jerk, but if you give me another chance, leia, i will spend everyday making it up to you."
"jay, that's- that's so sweet, i-" leia began.
she glanced over at nate, who looked at the ground.
"i'm just a little confused right now." leia said.
"me too." jay agreed, trying not to look at cherry.
"she'll call you when she gets back to chicago." gwen interrupted the pair.
"last goodbyes, lei-lei." leia's mother stepped out onto the driveway.
gwen grabbed onto leia's shoulders, and cherry waited for a kiss.
it didn't happen.
"you're calling me as soon as you get home." gwen said.
"oh, we have a lot to talk about." leia hugged her.
"smile!" nikki said, snapping a picture as the two posed. "that was the last picture. my job is done."
nikki handed the camera to leia, and hugged her.
"i am so sorry." leia said, when they pulled away.
"what?" nikki questioned.
"nothing." leia shrugged.
"get in the car, get in the car." gwen opened the door, and motioned leia away.
"leia, no!" ozzie cried.
cherry laughed, watching as the car drove away.
leia looked at her through the doors mirror.
she waved, trying to be polite.
with an eye roll, cherry waved back.
"so, when are you leaving, cherry?" gwen questioned.
"oh, i'm not." cherry said.
"thank god." ozzie said.
"so.. can we hangout in your basement?" nate asked.
"ugh, i guess." cherry smiled.
the group exited the driveway, jay and cherry lingering behind.
when jay looked at her, all he could feel was that horrible heartbreak.
it felt like so long ago.
the planets had brought them together.
the stars had aligned perfectly, but their fates were fucked from the beginning.
they'd ended up in the same friend-group.
it was like cherry's revenge was being handed to her.
it'd taken one touch, and jay had crumbled into cherry's arms.
there was no way that cherry could get played.
that summer was going to be her best yet.
none of the things that happened were on accident.
every single thing that cherry did was perfectly calculated.
every thing she did and said affected jay in the perfect way.
every single insult, every single word she said to him made him fall even more in love with him.
it had all been planned and calculated.
but still, jay ended up playing her.
because cherry had fallen in love with him.
even with her in her fool-proof, man-hating plan, she'd still fallen in love with him.
from the moment she was born, she was destined to never be able to live properly.
the best she'd get was to be a pawn.
to be hurt.
which is why she always made sure she hurt them first.
except, this once.
jay was different.
cherry had always been so good at making people love her, at seeming perfectly effortless.
but this was the only time that cherry had ever fallen in love, and needed to confess.
she'd told jay the only reason she'd ever been so mean is because it was the best way she knew how to be kind.
but he didn't want to be hurt again.
maybe they could love each-other better next summer.