Seeing Cash's car in her driveway was a nice and much welcomed surprise. Cherish couldn't get into her house fast enough and barreled into the living room, "Cash!"
Cash chuckled awkwardly on the couch, feeling hyper aware of the fact that Cherish's father was glaring at him. He gently pushed her off his lap and unlocked her arms from around his neck, "Cherish!"
"What are you doing here?"
"I thought I'd surprise you," Cash wished he didn't sound so fake. Cherish's father was staring him down, and with the older man there and completely unaware of what had happened to his baby, he couldn't really tell her the real reason he was there. Instead he smiled as brightly as he could. He knew he must have looked either constipated or like a complete sleaze to her father, but he'd always been crap at acting.
Cherish jumped up and taking his hand, dragged him up the stairs, "Hi Daddy! We'll be up in my room hanging out, k?"
Cash shuffled into her room, feeling just a little relieved that she wasn't as unresponsive as the last time she'd been in this situation. She dumped her bag onto her bed and began pulling out and organizing her homework. "So, you came to surprise me, hmm?" she glanced up at him, a teasing glint in her eye.
"Quentin called. How're you doing?"
"You didn't have to come all this way, Argent," Cherish smiled tenderly.
Cash frowned at her use of his real name, "I wanted to, Babe. I needed to make sure you're doing okay."
She shrugged as she perched herself on the edge of the bed, "I guess."
"So, what happened?"
"Quinn didn't tell you?"
He shook his head, but then knowing she knew both him and his brother too well, he nodded.
"He told me you flipped out because of a guy... and kissing."
"It was Seven."
"I know."
Cherish didn't look surprised, instead she flipped a notebook open and set to work on her homework.
"Cherry. What happened? Are you okay?"
"Ari cuffed us together, but you knew that. We spent a whole lot of time together because of her. I don't know who started it really, but we kissed."
"And?"
"And... I don't know Cash. He's a guy."
"And maybe he's not that kind of guy," Cash sounded just a little exasperated.
Cherish frowned, "That's not the point, Cash. I didn't want a guy. I don't want a guy. Well, I don't want a girl either, but you know what I mean. If I hadn't been stuck to his damn side then I wouldn't have... It wouldn't have happened."
"So, you're telling me you never wanted it to happen?" Cash was a strange forced calm, a tiny bit probing and a tiny bit possessive.
Cherish smiled as she watched his emotions flit across his face; skepticism at her denial, anger at Seven's actions. "I don't know. I guess I kind of did want it to happen. But then... I don't know if can trust him, you know?"
"Malice," Cash said carefully, weighing the consequences of his words, "I know this is hard for you. I know it's got to be all kinds of awkward, but not everyone is like that. If you're never going to give anyone the chance, then how will you know if you can trust them or not? You can't live the rest of your life only trusting Jeb , Quinn and I. I mean, for one thing, we're all taken."
Cherish laughed, "Who said I wanted any of you?"
"Well, you're gonna want someone one day. You're gonna feel like you need someone, you know, the way I have Jacqueline and Quinn has Nessa. If you don't ever give anyone the chance to earn your trust, you won't ever have anyone."
"I know that."
Cash hadn't expected that response; what he'd expected was blazing guns and fiery fury and a pleasant walk through every level of hell that Cherish could think to drag him through. He stared at her dumbly, not knowing what to say because he'd come prepared to argue her out of the fortress she'd built around herself. What did you say when your job just got cut in half? Into a tenth even? He examined her closely; it had to be a trick, she was definitely rallying for an attack.
"Cash," and here it came, "I have a lot of trouble with the whole trust thingy, okay? I don't know how to do it. Every time I think it might be okay, something makes me freak out. Even Ian, he's into Delia for fuck's sake- he just wanted to be my friend, and I couldn't even let him! I know you're right, and Delia's right and sometimes I do wish I could be like you guys. I wish I could have what you guys have with your others, but I'm so scared of it."
He blinked at her; it wasn't a trick? She wasn't going to jump down his throat for suggesting she get on with her life?
"You know, I wish one of you guys really got it," she said suddenly. "Not that I wish you guys were hurt or anything. But I just wish one of you really got it. Why it's so fucking hard." She watched him watch her; she could see him trying to figure out what to say, to not sound stupid by saying "get what?" like she knew he wanted to.
"I trusted him. He was like you or Quinn or Jeb are to me. He was like best friend, older brother, family, you know? I trusted him. How do you just get over that? How does it go away? If I couldn't even trust someone I'd known almost all my life, how the fuck am I supposed to trust someone new?"
Cash swallowed, "You trust us still. We're still best friends, older brothers, family. You never let that change. If you can still trust us, then why can't you give someone new a chance?"
"It's not that easy, Cash. I was terrified of you and Jeb and Quentin. I'm still kind of scared of Iggy. Don't get me started on any of the others."
"I didn't know you were terrified of me."
She smiled softly at the surprise on his face. "Did you notice that this past Halloween was the only time I've ever been alone with you and Jeb? Len was always around before that. I think this is the first time I'm alone with you. Really alone, like without anyone else within two minutes distance. Since he happened."
"I didn't notice," his brow furrowed. "But, Cherish, I'd never do anything to you."
"I know," she insisted. "And yet this is the first time we've been alone."
He was quiet for some time, staring intently at the bedspread and examining her history textbook where it lay by his knee. "I get it. He totally fucked up for every guy on the face of this earth. He turned you into a man hater and you'll probably end up alone or living in your sister's basement with twenty five cats. But before you let that happen, Babe, promise me you'll at least try to not let him win. Not every man is like him. Okay, maybe Seven's not the guy you need, but promise me you won't always run."
"Twenty five cats? I don't even like cats, Cash. And what's wrong with Seven?"
"J'en sais pas," Cash shrugged. "He seemed okay, I guess, but his friends were much better. Il est un peu d'un âne, n'est-ce pas?"
Cherish pondered this for a second and then catching the look on Cash's face, she flung a pillow at him, "ARGH!"
"What?" Cash asked with an innocent grin.
She knew exactly what he was doing, trying to trick her into defending Seven, but she wasn't going to fall for it. "He is an ass!"
"That's what I said!" Cash protested as she slammed another pillow into the side of his head.
-.-
There was a pickled cat in a jar on the desk in front of her, and it was staring at her. She wished she could say that was what was creeping her out, but that would have been just too easy. Instead it was Seven, sitting two rows back and three rows over, staring at the back of her head. Did she really need to be in biology? She didn't think she'd need to know much about pickled cats and pig fetuses to be a clothing designer.
She wondered if her father would mind terribly if she dropped the class. But then, there were French and Art as well, and she really didn't want to have to drop those classes. Deciding against moving, she continued to stare back at the cat, determined not to let Seven know he was getting to her.
"How can you stare at that thing? Don't you feel sick?"
Cherish frowned as she turned to the girl, Tamara, who sat beside her. "You're in the wrong class then," she informed her plainly.
Tamara grimaced, "Well, if you don't mind looking at it, I was wondering if you'd be my lab partner for the dissection next class?"
Cherish nodded absently, even though she wanted to tell Tamara that, she too, was in the wrong class. Looking she could deal with, touching the dead pickled animals was a whole other issue. Maybe she'd pass out Thursday morning and not have to sit through another class with Seven staring at her. Tamara scribbled down her phone number on the edge of Cherish's lab papers,
"We should get as much of this done before next class, k?"
"Uh huh."
"By the way, are you and Seven going out?" Cherish looked at the girl, startled by her question. Tamara flushed, "Sorry. It's none of my business, but it's all over school that his ex wants to kill you. And... he's been staring at you all class long."
"Ay oy! Caulisse de tabarnaque!"
"Um?"
"Sorry," Cherish glanced up at Tamara again, "this is just getting on my nerves, is all."
Tamara nodded like she understood and returned to covertly doing her Math homework.
Cherish returned to being hyper aware of Seven staring at her; in the shiny glass of the cat jar, she could see his reflection. He was ignoring Ian quite effectively as he watched her in concern. She wanted to whip her head around and yell, "I'm fucking fine!" The bell sounding gave her a happy rush of relief as Seven was dragged out of class by Ian.
French class was much too similar, only this time, there was no Ian and no one else to distract her from the fact that Seven was staring. She wasn't the only one who noticed either, and so she had to bear the embarrassment of classmates looking back and forth from her to Seven all class long. She was thankful, however, for the fact that Madame Maizareau had stuck them all with redundant writing exercises. With a sigh, she propped her textbook up in front of her and set herself to the task of completing the assignment.
She would need to talk to Ian at lunch, this thing Seven was doing- this constant gaze thing- would have to stop. Maybe if Ian said something he'd stop; he always seemed to do just what Ian wanted. As she gathered her things, she supposed she was being a little childish, but she wasn't sure if she could talk to him herself. At least not without attempting to murder him.
Handing her notebook over to the teacher, Cherish asked if she could leave since she was done the assignment. With a smile, Cherish sauntered out of the room; she had about fifteen minutes before lunch hour started. It wasn't hard to remember that Ian had History this period, since Delia was always gushing about their conversations during class. After stuffing her earphones into her ears she sauntered through the hallways to the third classroom in the Histories wing.
"Not again," Ian mouthed when he caught sight of her. With a shake of her head, she settled herself on the floor across from the open door. When lunch hour finally started, Cherish smiled as Ian and Delia left the classroom with their fingers intertwined.
"So what's up, Rish?" Delia greeted.
"You're not having another crisis are you?" Ian joked. "I don't know if my grades can handle another one of your crises."
"No more crises! Just got out of class early, thought I'd come find you guys."
"Why us?"
"Ah, Ian you know me too well," she smirked at his skepticism. "I needed to ask you a favour, but maybe it can wait till later. Do you guys have lunch plans?"
"Way to change the subject, Chicken-shit!" Ian smirked.
Cherish flushed, "Fine! He's been staring at me all day long and it's creeping me out. I was wondering if you could, I dunno, maybe ask him to stop?"
"I'll try."
"Thanks. So any lunch plans?"
"Nah, not really. Ian was gonna go hang with, uh, Sev, but I'm free. So what are the plans?" Delia linked her arm through Cherish's easily.
Cherish rolled her eyes, "I don't care if you guys talk about him, you know. Anyways, I was thinking Noodle Bowl, we haven't done that in a while."
"Sure... ah crap, no money! I'm grounded, so I got cut off," Delia frowned. "Maybe we could just mooch our lunches off Harp like usual?"
"Or maybe I could just spring for you?"
With a squeal of glee, Delia squeezed Cherish's arm, "Aww, thankles! I love you so, Cherry!"
"I know. You'd be crazy not to!"
"You'd like to think so wouldn't you?" Delia retorted with a smirk. "Anyhoo, I gotta go grab my jacket out of E's locker, so I'll see you out front?"
"Yeah, I should grab mine too. I'll be in the car!"
Cherish parted ways with them and quickly manoeuvered her way through the crowded halls to the basement. It was still quite crowded as the students were dumping books or getting food or money from their lockers before heading off to lunch. Tossing her backpack into her locker, she grabbed her jacket and turned to leave. As she passed the top of an adjoining hallway, she stopped dead. It was Seven. And Joanne.
She felt her stomach churn and didn't like it. At least this time the scene wasn't like the last time she'd stumbled upon them down here. This time they were arguing rather heatedly. It's not like it mattered what it looked like anyways; she shouldn't be feeling any sort of turning in her stomach over it. She pulled the hood of her jacket up and crossed the top of the hallway with a rush of other students.
"So, grounded?" she asked Delia as she caught up with her int he parking lot.
"Yeah. They kind of found about Ian and me. Well I told them."
"That sucks. Wait- you WHAT?"
Delia giggled at Cherish's reaction, "Yeah, I actually told them about us. So now I'm grounded. They figure if they cut off my money and fun that I'll change my mind about dating him."
Cherish could only stare in shock at the petite girl in front of her; the one who never gone awry of her strict parents' wishes.
"I'm so sick of having to be two people all the time. I have hobbies they don't like, I have dreams they don't like and I have friends they don't like- I'm not going to do and be everything they want and hate my life! I figured it was better if they found out now, rather than in January when we have colleges to apply for."
"True," Cherish wondered how she'd managed to miss her friend growing up so much. In the past few days alone, Delia had proved her wrong so many times she was beginning to wonder if she really knew the girl at all. She knew Delia was in fact an academic genius, on top of being able to do just about anything else she put her mind to. She was quirky, and fun and found a way to be a genuine friend to just about everyone. But when had she become so wise and world smart?
Delia smirked at her perplexed expression as she drove, "Yes, Rish, your little Deals is all growed up!"
Laughing, she pulled into the Noodle Bowl parking lot, "So you have to tell me what happened when you told them!"
Delia nodded vigorously as she jumped from the car and headed inside to order their meals. Once they were seated, Delia beamed at Cherish over a steaming bowl of soup.
"So yesterday I asked Ian drop me off at home. He didn't want to because he said I'd get in trouble, but I made him do it. Gosh, you should have seen my father's face when Sev's truck pulled up in my driveway. He didn't even try to hide the fact that he was spying on us from the living room windows! So anyhoo, I gave Ian a kiss on the cheek and hugged Seven when I got out of the truck, and my dad was, like, yanking the door open before I could even say bye! Jo was laughing so fucking hard!"
Cherish smiled absently, feeling her stomach lurch unpleasantly at the mention of Seven. Joana had been there? Well, of course, as Ian's younger sister, and someone who lived with both Ian and Seven, she was entitled to getting a ride home with them. Wait. Why did it bother her so much?
"My dad was all, like, 'Who are those boys and what are you doing kissing them?' It was too funny! Mom came running out of the kitchen like, 'What boys?' So I told them to calm down and that I'd been friends with the guys since pretty much the freaking sixth grade but that I'd only just started dating Ian and I didn't want to have to lie about it or sneak around to hide it. They went berserk!"
Cherish grinned at her friend's new found courage, but as Delia rambled onwards about the stipulations of her grounding, Cherish wasn't listening. She was thinking back to the last time she'd run into Seven and Joana together and why the thought of them bothered her so much. As she figured it out, she lost her appetite and felt herself growing increasingly livid.
Seven had explained his dalliance with Joana as a way to get over an issue. And had he not so eloquently informed her of the fact that Cherish herself was the issue? Which made him a lowlife scumbag of the worst degree! The issue, which he'd left open to interpretation, had not been in reality the fact that he had a crush on her, it was the fact that he wanted her. In purely a sexual context if his actions with Joana had been any indication. She'd called him on it being a booty-call and he hadn't even denied it! In fact, he'd acknowledged it.
"I was... dealing with some issues... and she was the easiest way to get it out of my system..."
He'd been right in labeling himself an ass because that's exactly what he was, and like an idiot she'd been so willing to let it go that night. That's because you know all about dealing with issues, a voice said in the back of her head. But this was different, she adamantly insisted to herself, this was him objectifying her and wanting what every other boy on the face of the earth wanted from girls (and sometimes other boys).
"We kinda figured all that tension between you two had nothing to do with actually hating each other, and everything to do with wanting each other."
"Yeah..."
This was Seven wanting, and apparently taking. But, the distant part of her mind reasoned, he didn't try getting any by forcing it out of you- he went to someone who was more than willing. That thought made her a tad bit angrier, because no matter much she disliked Joana, she wasn't really deserving of being a booty-call whenever he was too wound up to function. God, he was such a user!
And was he stupid to think that she wouldn't remember that he'd told her, he'd told her, that he used Joana to get over any feelings he might have had for her? Somehow, that thought hurt her even more. Why? She didn't know. Maybe because even though she'd kinda, sorta, maybe thought he was different, he was exactly the same as every other hormone driven sex obsessed guy! While some increasingly distant part of her mind tried to rationalize, she focused on only three words, "That fucking jerk!"
Delia looked at her in shock, as did the whole of the restaurant's population, three quarters of which were unfortunately attendants of her school. "I have a feeling you're not talking about my dad," Delia pried softly, her eyes still wide.
Cherish flushed as she realised she had undoubtedly shrieked those words out loud and not just in her head.
* Title song by Big Sandy
TRANSLATIONS:
J'en sais pas- I don't know
Il est un peu d'un âne, n'est-ce pas?- He's a bit of an ass, isn't he?
Ay oy! Caulisse de tabarnaque!- Oy! Fucking Hell! (Doesn't really translate as fucking hell, but I don't really want to offend anyone. It's a religious swear, I'll leave it at that.)