ALL TOO WELL | jess mariano

𝐢𝐱. 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞

If you asked Cherry Doose, she'd never admit that she missed Jess Mariano.

But she did. And he'd only been gone for a few days. But the lack of his presence left a distinctive whole in Cherry's life. His witty comments, their back and forth bickering, the understanding glances they shared. His friendship brought Cherry some brightness in her never ending routine of every day, and now he was gone. Gone before Cherry could figure out her feelings for him. The flutter in her chest she kept feeling.

Maybe it was for the best. Maybe they were doomed from the start. 

Cherry sighed, shaking her head before continuing to mop the floors. Her mother approached her, grabbing a strawberry before popping it into her mouth before sitting on the counter. "Penny for your thoughts?" Cherry glanced at the window that divided Luke's Dinner and her grandfather's Soda Shope, frowning at the empty, closed dinner. Bethany followed her daughter's gaze. "Luke's only been gone for a few days and I already miss his coffee. He's gone because of his nephew, right? Jeff or something."

"Jess." Cherry corrected, ignoring her mother's smirk.

"Ah, yes. Aren't you friends with that boy?"

Cherry kept her gaze on the floor she mopped. "Was." she muttered, which went unnoticed by Bethany.

"Didn't he get in a car accident?"

Cherry looked up, clenching her jaw. "It wasn't his fault. An animal suddenly darted in front of him and he had to swerve otherwise he would've crashed into the animal."

Bethany smirked amused at how quickly her daughter defended the boy, lifting her arms in defense. "I never said it was his fault."

Cherry blushed, shaking her head.The two went unnoticed as the bell above the entrance door rang softly, and Rory Gilmore walked in, wearing her Chilton uniform and her dark hair cascading behind her back. Cherry looked up, her gaze stopping on the cast around Rory's wrist before looking down.

The blue-eyed girl approached the counter, pressing her lips together. Cherry sighed, tucking a blonde curl behind her ear. "Hey, Rory. What would you like?"

"Uhm, just a vanilla ice cream. On a cone, please." Cherry nodded, avoiding Rory's gaze as she scooped the ice cream. "Have you, uhm, heard of Jess?"

Cherry slightly froze, meeting Rory's gaze. "No, sorry."

"No? But you two . . . " 

Rory trailed off when she saw Cherry's pained look. "Jess did what he does best. Pushed me away."

"I'm sorry." Cherry shrugged, handing her the ice cream. "You wanna sign my cast?"

"Really?" the blonde asked, softly grinning as her eyes sparkling under the bright lights. When Rory nodded, she dug out a permanent pen from her school bag before handing it to Cherry. She grabbed it hesitantly, softly grabbing Rory's arm as to make sure not to cause her any pain before scribbling on it. 

Once she was done, Rory quickly read it before laughing. "Real funny, Cher." 

On the cast in a dark pen was written 'maybe you should drive next time'.

The blonde shrugged, smiling amused as Rory handed her the money for the ice cream before walking out. 

It wasn't long before her daily shift was over. Luckily, Taylor had granted his granddaughter the Fridays with short shifts after the blonde had groaned and moaned during a whole of a shift because she was stuck there instead of going out. Granted, Cherry only spent her Friday evenings watching Baywatch but her grandfather didn't have to know that.

As she locked the Soda Shoppe, a car pulled up behind her before parking between the dinner and the store. Cherry shoved the keys into her purse before turning around, meeting a frustrated Luke as he locked his truck. She raised her eyebrows, hesitating before jogging towards him. "Hey, Luke. How was the fishing trip?"

Luke turned to her, nodding at her. "Oh, hey Cherry. Not too bad, caught some fish."

She nodded, shfiting her weight in her spot as Luke stared at her expectantly, waiting for whatever she had to say. "Have you . . . have you heard from Jess?"

Luke sighed, shaking his head before running a hand through his dishevealed hair. "Not since he left." Cherry slightly slumped over, a disappointed look on her face. She didn't want to feel this way, when if he wanted to keep in contact he would've just got in contact. "But he left you a note before he left."

"What?" Cherry stood agape, watching as Luke dug his hand into his back pocket before pulling out a yellow sticky note, slightly crinkly. It was folded in two, and the top half that was seen read her name in nice yet messy handwriting.

"I haven't read it, in case you're wondering." he said, but Cherry was already flipping it open. The older man walked away, leaving the blonde to be as her blue eyes reread the two words over and over again, not believing what they said.

'call me.'

To call him? Cherry groaned frustrated, scrunching the note in her hand before throwing it away in the nearest bin. Jess freaking Mariano. Is that all he thought to say? No sorry? No explanation? Just a call me.

Jess must think he was pretty delusional if he thought Cherry was actually gonna call him.

cherry be a female steve harrington lol