CHERRY. [JESS MARIANO]

I Love You

Jess

He looked at her for what felt like the first time in years. When in reality it had barely been six months since he'd last seen her. Nevertheless, he took note of all the little changes in her appearance.

How it seemed that she was slightly taller than he remembered, or maybe that was her shoes. The way that her hair was longer than before, passing a few inches below her shoulders. It was also slightly lighter, as if sun kissed.

The one thing he was glad didn't change at all was the fact that her eyes were the same shade of green from the first day he met her. What he didn't like was how tired those eyes looked.

When Jess finally found his voice, he cleared his throat. "Your hair is different," he said with a light smile. He honestly didn't know how to act around her anymore because the one thing he wanted to do was hold her in his arms.

"Your hair is longer too," she replied and he sighed in relief at the fact that her voice sounded the same as well. Jess ran a hand through his hair absentmindedly, he hadn't had time to cut it. So it was longer that he was used too.

"Yeah, it is," he mentally slapped himself at how stupid he sounded. His mind was clouded with ways to tell her everything he needed to say. Jess had opened his mouth to speak but Cassie beat him too it.

She crossed her arms in front of herself and pulled her denim jacket closer to her body. "What're you doing here, Jess?" She cocked her head to the side and looked at him questioningly.

"I was just in the area," he lied. The truth was that he was halfway across the city. It took him a full week to prepare himself to come here and stand in front of her. A full seven days of thinking of what to say and how to say it.

Cassie shook her head at him. "I mean why're you here?" She rephrased, getting straight to the point.

"I just had to tell you something," Jess breathed out as he played with the strap of his messenger bag. He rehearsed whatever he had to say in his head once more.

She let out a small chuckle. "After all this time?" She asked bitterly as Jess hung his head low. "Go on then," she continued without waiting for his answer. "What could you possibly have to say to me?"

Here it goes, the moment of truth. The words that could either save or completely ruin whatever form of reconciliation they had left.

"I love you," Jess blurted out quickly. He expected many kinds of reaction from her. But none of them were the laugh she just gave him.

Throwing her head back, she let out a bitter laugh. When she looked back at him she shook her head as if not believing what he said. "No, you don't." She told him, sounding so sure of her answer.

"I do," Jess took a step closer to her. "I love you." He repeated hoping to get her to understand. Why couldn't she see that he meant every single word, that this was anything but a joke. That those three words were the most truthful thing he had said in his entire life.

All she did was shake her head again, her dark hair falling into her face. "If you love me you wouldn't have left," she spit out making Jess' heart drop. "Leaving me with nothing but that damn letter."

He remembered how hard it was for him to write that letter. Knowing that those could possibly be the last things he said to her. And he couldn't even say them to her face. He was just scared that if he saw her that day he wouldn't be able to leave. He also didn't think that he should add that he also left her with a book. A book with his deepest thoughts and ideas. So he kept his mouth shut.