Cherry

𝕤𝕚𝕩

"What the fuck?!" I exclaimed angrily but relatively quietly. 

"Renny, wait, let me explain—"

"Oh my god—what the fu—oh my fuck," my head started spinning and I turned to leave the room.

"One hell of a first kiss Renee," Charlie stated arrogantly as I fled from the room.

"It wasn't my first," I lied and he followed me.

"But you said—"

"I lied genius, now leave me alone. I need to breathe," I stated quickly as I stumbled down the stairs.

"Ren!"

"Sylvia, I don't want your excuses!" I yelled as she came down the stairs pulling her orange turtleneck over her head. We stood facing each other on the last couple of steps.

"But—"

"Don't you dare lie to me and say that he wasn't just a pity fuck," I saw Ivan's face drop, even more than it already was, as he ran after her but stopped at the top of the stairs. Sylvia furrowed her brow at my now sorrowful expression and turned to look where I was looking.

"Ivan, it wasn't—" She tried to deny it.

"Syl, the least you can do is not lie to him, come on now," she just looked at me trying to form some type of words but failing. "You're a fucking asshole, Sylvia Reyes. And a coward." I scorned her and walked back up the stairs to Ivan. "She only fucked you because she feels bad that I don't feel for you the way you feel for me," he scoffed and attempted to brush off my claim.

"That's not true Renee," he tried at a smile.

"Why deny it? It's the second most obvious thing about you, Ivan. The first being that you are so clearly not over Tori," his tried smile faded and all I saw was despondency in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Ivan," I said dismally, laying a hand on his shoulder. "She has a thing for emotionally unstable people," I glared at her. I never liked when she did this, but to Ivan? The kid goes through enough already. 

Moments of silence passed before anyone spoke again. "Come on, Ivan, let's go get a drink," I took his hand and ushered him down the stairs. Aggressively bumping into Sylvia's shoulder as we passed her at the bottom of the stairs. A few people stared and whispered as we went by.

I led him into the kitchen and offered to get him a drink. "Beer, spiked punch (or whatever this is), twisted tea..." His expression never changed. I couldn't begin to imagine what he was feeling. He's such a boy. He puts up a front and never shows you emotion no matter how badly he wants to. Boys think emotions are stupid so how can a guy with a majority of male friends ever show emotion? He can't. He has to bottle it up and deal with it alone. Not to mention his mom left when he was little so he lacks feminine influence and one of the most important relationships in anyone's life. "I know me being nice to you probably doesn't help, all things considered," he looked at me now but his countenance stayed the same. "I'm sorry," I said trying to hold back my own emotions. "At least now I know why she's been acting so distant and detached," I tried to laugh. "I'm sorry she pulled that on you, I knew she would so I tried to throw her off from a fact that was too obvious,"

"It's fine, Renee," he spoke quietly.

"He speaks," I smiled, trying to lighten the mood. I could almost see a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. "Listen, if you wanna fuck her, that's fine I don't care, but she's only fucking you because she feels sorry for you. I hate to put it so blatantly but..." His expression had shifted by now. At this point, it was just numb. "Come to think of it, it's a dick move to cut off a guy who only wants you for sex just to go and pity fuck someone else, my god, she can be such a fucking bitch when she wants to," at this point, I was just rambling from the awkward factor and probably making him feel worse. "Sorry,"

"It's fine, Renee," he nearly smiled. "Thank you,"

"For what?" I asked.

"Looking out for me, I appreciate it," his voice was monotone with undetected gratitude. I hesitated to do so, but I hugged him. He sunk into it and I thought I heard a quiet sniffle. It was a relatively long hug but I'd be there as long as he needed me. He pulled away with a deep sigh and asked if I wanted to go watch a movie down in the basement. I told him we could do whatever he wanted and he led me down to the basement, away from the party.

His dad made decent money so the basement was decked out like a movie theatre, with the biggest and comfiest couch I'd ever seen.

"Yo, this is so cool," I stated in awe. He didn't respond, just smiled a weak smile and turned on The Godfather.

We must've fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, I woke up to Ivan sleeping with his head down by my feet. I moved as little and as quietly as possible as I got up from the abnormally large couch, in hopes of not waking him. I walked wearily up the basement stairs and opened the door to the rest of the house. It wasn't as trashed as I thought it would be. I located my phone in the kitchen and checked the time—ten forty-seven in the morning. My head spun and I filled an empty cup with water.

"Fuck hangovers," I spoke aloud after chugging the glass of water.

"I second that," I turned around to see Ivan standing in the doorway. "Morning sunshine,"

"Morning yourself," I replied as he made his way to the cabinets and pulled out a box of Reese's Puffs.

"You can leave if you want," he said as he poured himself a bowl. "I'll be fine,"

"You sure? How much do you—"

"Unfortunately, I remember everything. I wasn't that drunk. How about you?" He wondered, pouring milk into his bowl.

"There's holes, but I think I remember most of it," he started eating his cereal and I refilled my water. "I know Sylvia's a bitch, that's a big thing, and that—" I stopped before I revealed anything else.

"What?" He questioned with a mouthful of Reese's Puffs.

"Nothing, I forgot," I shrugged. If I told him about all that shit with Charlie he'd predict I had feelings for him and it would get out. Not that Ivan's a gossip, but sometimes he just can't keep his mouth shut before something slips out. The only thing that mattered right now was stopping myself from killing my best friend.