Kaleidoscope- a Cherry Valance fanfic

The Reveal

The car ride back to the house was silent, neither you nor Cherry seemed to want to talk about what had happened, or what it meant for your relationship. I was still grateful that Soda had come to help because I knew it could've been worse, but it made me question why people were so hateful, and what the point of it all was if it seemed I'd never be able to be with Cherry the way I wanted. I could tell Cherry was thinking the same, even though I knew she would never admit it. 

We pulled up to the small house, the lights mostly off, besides the living room. When the car came to a stop, I looked at Cherry's face and I could see the pity in her eyes as she looked at mine. Surely the bruises that were forming weren't pretty. Cherry brought her hand up and gently caressed my face. 

"I feel like this is all my fault," she spoke softly, tears brimming her eyes.

"Don't say that," I said, looking her in her eyes.

"But it's true. If you hadn't been with me, this wouldn't have happened," her voice broke and she looked down.

"Cherry," I began, gently putting my hand on her chin to push it up until she was looking at me.

Her eyes pleaded for forgiveness, though it was unnecessary.

"I would take a bullet for you. I can take a couple punches. Plus, Bob's blows were lousy, this'll all be cleared up in a couple days," I assured.

"It's still my fault you got hurt," she said.

"Who's hurt?" I smiled, "If you think I'm hurt, you should probably go check on Bob."

She giggled as a tear rolled down her cheek, which I quickly wiped away. 

"I love you," I whispered before kissing her lips softly.

"I love you too," she said, "Now come on, I'll help clean you up."

"Inside?" I asked, looking through the window to the illuminated living room.

"No, outside with your hose," she said, rolling her eyes, "Yes, inside."

"There are people in there," I warned.

"Gee, thanks," she said sarcastically as she laughed.

"Okay," I shrugged," let's go."

I stepped out of the car and walked over to Cherry's door, opening it for her and offering her my hand. She took it and stepped out gracefully, muttering a thank you with red cheeks. When I went to pull my hand away as we walked, she clutched it even more. I looked over at her and smiled. 

As I opened the door, I could hear the TV playing and conversations going on.

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" I asked Cherry.

She simply nodded, brought my hand up to her mouth, and placed a kiss on it. With that, we stepped in. I walked straight to the washroom, knowing that my first concern was my wounds. I looked around briefly and no one spoke, they all looked extremely confused, like they didn't know what to address first.

"Uhhh, Y/N," Darry called from behind me.

"Yes?" I said, stopping in my tracks and turning around.

"What's wrong with your face... and, what's going on?" he asked slowly, as if he couldn't even put together the question he wanted to ask.

"Can I just, go clean myself up first?" I asked, gesturing at my face. He nodded quickly, but his eyes stayed on me as Cherry and I retreated into the washroom.

 As I shut the door, Cherry began to giggle, causing me to laugh too. 

"Did you see their faces?" I laughed, to which she responded with a nod.