CHERRY. [JESS MARIANO]

You Got A Boo Boo

"Hey, Deano." I greeted with a smirk on my face. I had put my bottle of water and a chocolate bar on the conveyer belt when Dean had decided to speak.

"Do you know what he did?" Dean ignored my greeting. He was wearing his usual Doose's apron along with his usual form of clothing, a sweater and some slacks.

I furrowed my eyebrows as I tried to decipher what he was saying. "What do you mean?"

Dean scoffed at me. "You guys are all buddy buddy! You're telling me you really don't know?" He fumed at me with a harsh glare.

I was getting just a tad bit tired of Dean's shit. "First of all, I don't know what you're even talking about. As you can see, I just got back from school." I indicated to the school uniform I was still wearing, along with the backpack I was carrying.

"Second of all, I'm sure I don't deserve being yelled at for whatever you're thinking about." I looked up at him as he halted his movements at the cash register.

"Oh man, he really didn't tell you huh?" Dean let out a dry laugh.

"Ok, cut the crap and get to the point."

Dean gave me a fake smile as he said his next words. "Jess took a swing at me."

I could feel my face freeze. I hated that the first thing I thought about was whether he was okay. "What happened?" That wasn't really the question I wanted to ask but I don't think now would be the right time to ask it.

Apparently, Jess was in a fight and Dean had tried to diffuse it. Bad idea on his part, really. Jess got mad and tried to hit whoever had disrupted their fight. Honestly, with the way Dean was taking to me right now I think he deserved it.

"Where is he?" I asked as I handed Dean some money for the items.

He rolled his eyes at me. "Of course that's what you ask."

I let out a huff off annoyance at him. "Oh my god, Dean! I just wanna make sure he's okay!" I snatched the change and my food out of his hands. "I'm quite sure you're alright since you've been such a pain in the ass!"

With that being said, I walked out of the market. Slamming the door behind me and leaving a very shocked Dean at my sudden outburst.

As I strolled the streets of Stars Hollow looking for Jess I kinda wished I had waited for Dean to answer my question before taking off. Where could he be? I had checked every store there was in this tiny town. The Gazebo and Miss Patty's I've checked. I've got to hand it to the guy, he really knows where to run off to.

I was about ready to give up and head back home to enjoy my chocolate bar. I stopped right in my tracks as I passed the bridge by the lake. Well, the now frozen lake.

The beige colour of the bridge was the only spark of colour I could see for miles. The trees had long since shed their green leaves and was now covered in thick layers of white powder. The once clear water that had ripples in it was now one big solid block of ice. Nevertheless, it was still a sight for sore eyes.

Sitting there with his legs hanging over the bridge was Jess Mariano. He had on his blue coat with a cigarette in his hand. His blue coat fading nicely into the background of white and blue.

"Jess," I called out as I walked towards him.

If he heard me he didn't show it at all. He merely continued to take small drags from his cigarette. When I was standing next to him he still didn't acknowledge me at all. With a small huff I saw down next to him. He smelled of smoke and a hint of cologne.

I looked at him as he stared at the frozen lake below us. "Are you okay?"

That finally got a reaction out of him. He snapped his head toward me. That was when I noticed he had a cut right above his cheek and a bruise on his left eye. I winced as I took in his appearance.