Roses

Chapter 7- Cherry

Who does he think he is? Anger rushed through my veins mercilessly as i pulled the card from between my breasts. "Everyone good with chinese?" Bailey finally speaks. In all honesty, I couldn't fathom how uncomfortable she must be. I mean, one of her best friends was married off to her brother and she just watched him slide a card between her tits. 

"I'm down," Harper speaks up. I didn't need to say anything but penny nodded and I grabbed my phone and placed the order. Twenty minutes later we all sat around on the couches. I sat besides Harper while Penny and Bailey sat on a couch opposite to us. White takeout boxes and wine glasses spread out across the coffee table between the two couches. The earlier tension in the air between Bailey and I had disappeared and we all ate in comfortable silence. One of Penny's favorite rom-coms playing in the background. Nobody had brought up the trip she had mentioned earlier, until Bailey spoke up

"Yknow, Cherry and Kyrie didn't have a honeymoon, and since you won't use the tickets, why don't you give it to them?" she suggests. My stomach churns at the thought. Living with him was already too much to handle, but going on a trip with him? No thank you. 

"No th-" I attempted to refuse before Penny chimed in, her voice filled with excitement.

"That's actually a great idea!" She squeals "Plus, the sooner you two get spicy, the sooner I can be an aunt," She says, raising her eyebrows. 

"don't ever talk about my best friend and brother getting 'spicy' witch each other around me ever again," She fakes a gag and points a finger down her throat. At this point, I was far beyond refusing. I didn't have a choice.

"Can we please all remember that him and I didn't get a choice? This was only so that my dad could hand his company over to someone," I groan and lean back into the plush cousins of the couch. "We don't need a honeymoon, we just need to put up with each other until he has a solid hold on the company so that my dad won't try to take it back," I argue. If anything, i'd rather die than go on a trip with him. It's bad enough that he slept in the same room as me. 

"Couldn't you try to make the best out of it though? We all know your not the best person when it comes to love especially after-" Bailey tries to speak

"Don't. I think I'm heading to bed. Goodnight," I mutter in anger and betrayal before standing up and marching out of the living room, leaving them all there without another word. Minutes later I heard the door slam and silence fell over the house. "God damnit," I whisper to myself as I replay the memories through my head. Sam. A guy i had given my everything to, just for him to- I cut myself off there as I marched into my bedroom. It was already hard enough to keep the emotions of sadness, anger, and betrayal at bay when I was distracted. Even if it had been years since our breakup, my heart still ached with an emptiness. I stepped into the dark cover of night blanketing my bedroom. I pull open my dresser drawer and grab a solid metal tin before walking out and into the bathroom. I knew that Kyrie was in the room and would be suspicous of what I had grabbed, but frankly, I couldn't give two fucks. The emotions from everything rushed over me as I slammed the bathroom door. 

The click of the lock and the way my back dragged down the fresh walls of the bathroom as hot and salty tears fell from my eyes. I couldn't remember the last time i'd cried or showed any of my emotions, so when I did, it was all or nothing. Opening the tin, my eyes blurred with tears, I spotted the sharp pieces of glass. I had smashes a mirror months ago and kept the sharp shards for this. I took a piece with Shaky hands and drew the sharpness against my skin, a trail of bubbling red blood followed. The damage to my body helped quiet the thoughts and emotions that overwhelmed my mind. So i kept going. Over, and over again. The same pattern. Lines slashing against the smooth skin of my thighs and wrists until all I felt was numbness in my chest and sharp pains all over my body. The cuts weren't deep enough to be able to send me back to the-- 

White walls. Purple scrubs, other girls playing cards while the staff went around and checked on us. The scratchy plastic bracelet around my wrist as I held my paintbrush above a canvas. What the hell did I do to end up here? I questioned myself, staring down at the scars and bandages covering my arms. The other girls here had the same scars. But it still didn't make me feel better. I still felt outcasted. The memory of my fathers face when he had saw me in the bathroom, blood running down my arms, tears falling from my eyes like heavy rivers as he screamed. The words echoed in my head. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" "I didn't raise you to be a crazy bitch!" the shrill screams echoed away in my ears.

Warmth. Large hands running across my tear streaked face brought me back to reality. I stared at the person holding me, a worried Kyrie kneeled in front of me.