( 𝘨𝘪𝘧: 𝘫𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩 )

"No, mom, the carrot would act as a better nose. It's a classic." Cherry argued, convincing her mother to use a carrot as the snowman's nose. A few months had passed since Jess' arrival, and it had been like a roller coaster. Whenever Cherry and Jess seemed to reach some sort of understanding, they completely ignored it and went to their daily arguments. At first it was amusing, but now even Cherry was frustrated with the boy, finding him annoying and overall couldn't understand how some of the younger girls were fawning over him. Jess could pretend he was a bad boy and that he couldn't care less, but Cherry didn't believe his act for one second. "I mean, that snowman over there is incredible."

Bethany, Cherry's mother, turned around, raising her eyebrows impressed at the snowman Cherry was talking about. The two girls were very similar, and quite close. Not as close as the Gilmores, as there were things Cherry could never tell her mother, but it was activities like this one, a snowman building competition, that brought them together to rant about work and school. Bethany worked at the only beauty salon in the town, so business was good. And she looked like Cherry, with her bright blue eyes and sharp cheekbones. The only difference was Cherry had a wild mane of curls, while her mother's hair was darker and smoother.

"It is a beautiful snowman. But it's not about winning, it's about having fun, right?" Cherry narrowed her eyes at her mother, pretending to gag.

"God, that was so cheesy. Don't say that again."

Bethany chuckled, shaking her head as she stuck the carrot on their snowman's face. "So, school break is coming up. Got any plans with any friends?"

"Nothing much. Because granddad is opening his candy store next to Luke's soon, he's got me doing double shifts at the market."

"I'm surprised he managed to convince Luke." Cherry snorted in agreement, coughing slightly after inhaling some snow up her nose. "Also, I forgot to mention, but Lorelai's inn is recreating this 19th-century meal." at Cherry's confused look, her mother shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure what that entails either, but she's invited basically the whole town, and I sort of told her we'd be there."

Cherry shrugged, smiling slightly. "Sounds like fun. A perfect opportunity to snap some good pictures with my new camera." The only thing that thrilled Cherry, apart from Baywatch and pancakes, was photography. Not a lot of people her age know what they want to do career-wise, but Cherry already had it all planned out. She'd do a course in photography after graduating ( no way in hell was she returning to school at university ), travel around the world and gather an establishing portfolio before moving to New York and working with Vogue.

"It's a plan then." they continued to build their mediocre snowman, throwing a few glares at the perfect snowman a few feet away from there. "Oh, now that I've just remembered, Lorelai mentioned you and this boy arguing all the time? What's that about?"

A frown settled on Cherry's face as a picture of Jess' annoying and infuriating face flashed in her mind. "Oh, Jess Mariano. The most annoying person I have ever met. He's Luke's nephew by the way." she clarified. Bethany worked a lot, and generally didn't go eat in Luke's Diner.

"Annoying how?"

"Well, he's a boy, what do you expect?" Cherry scoffed, dusting the snow off her gloves. "He's very infuriating, never listens to what anyone has to say, thinks that it's amusing to get a reaction out of me, and acts like any edgy teenage boy who thinks he's so cool."

Bethany chuckled, shaking her head. "Well, don't be too harsh on him, okay? It's probably really hard on him to have to move here, so far from his parents."

"I guess..." Cherry rolled her eyes, not buying the sad excuse. Bethany patted her shoulders, before waving hello to a passing stranger. Cherry continued to build the snowman, thinking about her mother's words. Jess didn't seem to care about his parents.

Right?

∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎

Cherry and her mother arrived at the inn, it already being half full. They made their way to Lorelai and Rory. "Beth, Cherry! You two look beautiful tonight." Cherry smiled bashfully, twirling her dress. It was a beautiful satin blue, and while her usual outfits were rather bizarre, no one could deny that the teenage girl looked dazzling tonight. Even Jess, who had simply darted his eyes across the room, seemed to stop for a second to look at Cherry, not realising who it was.

"Thank you! And you do too, of course." Lorelai smiled at Bethany's words, and the two headed towards a conversation, leaving Rory and Cherry alone.

"As Dean already arrived?" Rory nodded, pointing at the stairs.

"He's upstairs, getting settled into his room with his sister Clara."

"Ah, young Clara. You wanna keep an eye out for that one, she's a feisty one." Rory grinned, agreeing with Cherry. The blonde stretched her shoulders, glancing back as she felt someone stare at her. She glanced back, her gaze met Jess', who had raised his eyebrows surprised to see how different Cherry looked. He waved sarcastically, and Cherry rolled her eyes, turning away, not realising how Jess put his arm down, a confused frown on his face.

Lorelai cleared her throat, gathering everyone's attention. "Welcome, everyone, to the first ever yet probably last Bracebridge dinner! And a thank you to mother nature for all the snow, as I've arranged a little surprise. Outside as we speak is a line of horse-drawn sleighs, and everyone gets a ride. Line up, keep order and it's only two per sleigh."

Cherry's eyes sparkled with curiosity, watching Rory immediately bounce over to Dean, Lorelai dragged Luke away, and Kirk surprisingly asked her mother Bethany for a ride. Slightly slumping over, Luke approached her. "Hey kiddo. Got a partner."

"Nope, but it's fine. More snacks for me." Luke tilted his head, noticing the disappointment in Cherry's tone.

"Jess! You're sharing a sleigh with Cherry." Cherry widened her eyes, immediately shaking her head. Jess started to protest too, but Luke shut him up with a glare. "If you want extra tips and less shifts, I recommend you do it."

Jess rolled his eyes, offering his reluctant arm to Cherry. Silence accompanied the two ( surprisingly ) until they reached the sleigh. They stared straight ahead awkwardly, neither of them wanting to be there. "You can jump out, you know. I won't tell Luke." Cherry eventually broke the silence, ignoring the curious look Jess gave her.

"I'd rather not risk it. I could really use some extra tips."

"What, do you need a new leather jacket because the one you have now is out of fashion?" Cherry teased, as Jess grabbed some snow from the back of the sleigh and smashed it over her head. She gasped, but the corners of her lips pulled upwards when she heard Jess give a genuine laugh. "I'll get you back for that. You just ruined my look."

"Oh, my bad. I have to admit, it's the first time I've seen you dressed in a way that's not ridiculous."

Cherry raised her eyebrows surprised. "Is that a compliment I just heard?"

"As if." he scoffed. "No one in this town will ever hear a compliment from me. It's filled with weirdos and jerks."

"I hope that doesn't include me."

Jess gave Cherry a side smile. "It especially includes you. You're probably the weirdest one out of all."

"And you're the biggest jerk of them all." Jess had to glance at her to know she was joking. He softly smiled, and they both stared straight ahead, falling into a more comfortable silence. Cherry remember she had brought her camera, and adjusting the lens, she pressed the camera near her face. She started taking pictures of the landscape, and the blanket of snow that had befallen on the town. But she couldn't help noticing how pretty Jess looked with snowflakes on his black hair.

Snapping a picture, Jess turned to her with a raised eyebrow. "Did you just take a picture of me?"

Cherry lowered her camera, grinning lopsidedly, mischief twinkling in her eyes. "Of you? I think you're mistaken." Ignoring the fact that now Cherry had a picture of him, Jess pointed at her camera.

"So you like photography?"

"Yeah, pretty much. It's my only passion really." Cherry replied, leaning back in the sleigh.

Jess nodded. "It's a good one you have there. The Sony Cyber-shot, right?"

Cherry raised her eyebrows surprised at his knowledge of cameras. "Yeah...the technical quality is really good, but to get some interior shots I have to use my tripod. I would love a Canon Powershot A480 though." Cherry paused, blushing at her rambling on. "How do you know so much about cameras?"

"One of my mom's first boyfriends. He enjoyed photography." Jess said, revealing the smallest amount of details as he could. Cherry nodded, noticing that he didn't want to talk about it as he squirmed in his seat. After a few beats of silence, Cherry shifted in her seat, turning her body to look at him.

"Let's get to know each other better. Like the deep stuff."

Jess raised an eyebrow amused. "Like what?"

Cherry tilted her head, shrugging. "I don't know...like your favourite colour?"

He chuckled, shaking his head. "Wow, that's real deep." Cherry watched him expectantly, as he sighed. "You're such a nerd. It's orange."

"Orange? Like the fruit?"

"No, more like that sunset colour in the autumn, you know? When the clock strikes at seven pm and the sun starts to set, and the sky is this mix of orange and reds?" Jess scratched the back of his neck under Cherry's curious look. "What? You wanted deep."

She grinned, sitting back once again. "I did, and you delivered. I won't question you ever again." Jess rolled his eyes as the sleigh returned to the inn. Once it came to a stop, Jess jumped off, his feet landing in the snow as Cherry stood up. "Help me get down?"

"Nope, I've done enough charity work for today." Cherry frowned as he walked away, digging his hands in his pockets.

"Okay, mister my favourite colour is the sunset!"

Cherry cackled when Jess flipped his middle finger to her.