Cherry

Chapter 17

Cherry

"I have to leave, Cherry. My grandma is all alone now since my grandpa died. She's getting worse every day. My parents said it's not safe for her to be alone," Olive places her hand on top of mine.

"Why can't they move her down here, so you can stay? I can't deal with being apart from you," I begin to tear up.

"They're stuck on moving back to New York. I don't know why they want to move back so bad. I've tried to convince them, but they won't listen to me."

I try to hold my tears in as I explain, "We're both seventeen. We could get emancipated, or you could move in with me and my moms-"

"Cherry," she looks at me. "I can't stay here. I have to be with my family. It's the right thing to do."

I begin to cry into Olive's arms. I've never loved someone as much as I love her. We've spent every day together since the day she moved here. I don't know what it's going to be like without her, and I don't want to find out. I'm going to miss her, and her step-sister. Amelia, Olive, and I are like a trio.

"Shh," she comforts me. "You're going to be fine without me, Cherry,"

"Please call me. Every night," I beg.

Whenever silence fills the room, I move myself from her arms so I can look at her. "Call me, Olive. Please."

Millions of unwanted memories of Olive began to fill my mind. I haven't seen her in about four years, and she looks like a brand new person. I almost didn't recognize her as she stands in front of me with her short, straight black hair. It used to be long and wavy, like mine. I guess time has changed her as it did for me.

"Cherry?" she speaks again, causing me to snap out of it. "Can we talk?"

At a loss for words, all I do is look at her, frozen. Out of all places, why the fuck is she here? I look over at Ethan and whisper in his ear, "I'll be back. Gonna catch up with an old friend."

Ethan looks at both Olive and I, and whispers, "Okay. I'm gonna look for Wyatt."

I shake my head up and down to Ethan and look back at Olive. She lightly smiles and I begin to walk beside her, leaving the large crowd and loud music.

There's nothing but silence between us, and it's making my skin itch. I don't know what she's going to say to me, or what she's trying to get out of reconnecting with me. She had her chance four years ago when she said she'd keep in touch with me after she moved.

Trying to break the silence, Olive says, "I'm uh, on vacation. I decided to come back down to good ol' South Carolina. I knew I'd find you sometime."

We stop walking whenever we reach the shore. I face her, with a perfect view of the party behind her. "Sure is a small town," I take a swig of my vodka.

"Yeah, it is. I met this guy named Wyatt here," she tells me, and I assume Wyatt is the Wyatt, as in Ethan's best friend. This night just keeps getting better. "But, how have you been, Cherry? It's been a while."

I laugh as I take another sip of alcohol. "Cut the shit, Olive."

She looks hurt by my words. "W-what do you mean?"

"I know you don't give a fuck about me and how I've been," I laugh deeply.

"Don't say that, Cherry. I've always loved you," she tries to put her hand on top of mine, but I back away before she can touch me.

"How come after all these years, now you decide to come back, huh? Don't you think if you 'loved' me, you'd at least fucking call me? Or text me?" I start to raise my voice. "Lately, I started allowing myself to have feelings for someone else after you, and now you come back and try to fuck it all up, like how you fucked me up."