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( 𝘨𝘪𝘧: 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘫𝘦𝘴𝘴 )

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𝗡𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗘𝗡𝗗 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗬𝗘𝗔𝗥, 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗪𝗔𝗦 𝗪𝗥𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗘𝗗 𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥 𝗔 𝗕𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗞𝗘𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗦𝗡𝗢𝗪.

Lately, Jess and Cherry were being kept busy, making it hard to find time for each other. Cherry had moved out, not wanting to impose her stay any longer, after Jacqueline offered her a place to share. Apart from the vivacious redhead, Cherry made friends with her other new roommate, a law student at NYU named Arabella. But the departure meant she saw less of Jess — she had late shifts at the bar, and Jess was focused on finishing a draft of his book before the summer, as Truncheon was interested in publishing. 

But Cherry would be damned if she missed Jess' birthday. 

Sleeping over at his apartment, Cherry had awoken alone, the rays of sun creeping in  through the gaps in the curtain. Searching for a piece of clothing, she slipped on a shirt too large for her as her feet softly padded across the wooden floor. She found Jess sprawled across the couch, laptop on his lap as his head leaned on a cushion, lips slightly agape as he snored softly. Tutting, Cherry went to the kitchen to grab some things — it wasn't new the custom of Jess dropping everything to continue writing.

Returning to the living room, Cherry now had a cupcake in her hand with a lit candle, nudging Jess with her foot as she softly began singing to him, watching as his eyes flickered open. "Happy birthday!"

Jess groaned slightly as he hid his face under the cushion. "Go away, Cher."

Narrowing her eyes, Cherry placed the cupcake nearer to his face. "You better make a wish before I set this couch, and you, on fire."

"My wish is that no one gives further acknowledgement to this hollow, meaningless symbolic day of a milestone in the life of Jess Mariano." his words were muffled from behind the cushion, refusing to celebrate what he considered just another day like any other. 

"Okay." Cherry shrugged, deciding to blow out the candle herself as she adjusted herself on the couch. "But now that you've told me your wish, it won't come true."

At this, Jess removed the cushion to stare at her with a deadpan look. "You don't understand the harm in birthdays, but every single one I've had since I was ten has been a complete and utter disaster."

Cherry rolled her eyes, standing up. "Hey, at least you're not being dramatic about it."

"Look, I just want to spend the day with you, okay?" a smirk glistened on his dark features as his eyes suddenly admired her figure, reaching out to her. "You should wear my clothes more often."

Smiling, she leaned her forehead on his. "Oh yeah? When was the last time you washed it?"

"I don't think you want to know." he muttered, leaning in. 

But Cherry, with a bubble of laughter, nudged him away and pointed down the hallway. "Go get a shower, you have morning shower."

He pouted in a petulant way. "But I'm Birthday boy."

"I thought you didn't like birthdays." she retorted, chuckling when he narrowed his eyes at her. Resigned, he muttered under his breath as he trudged down the hallway, walking past Troy who congratulated him. As soon as Jess locked toe bathroom door, Cherry sighed as she sprawled her body on the couch. "I can't believe he thinks he's got a birthday curse on him."

Troy scoffed, shaking his head as he poured himself a mug of coffee. "Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous, but what are we going to do? He's hellbent on not celebrating."

Nodding, Cherry fiddled with the sleeves of the shirt as she pressed her lips together before spilling out her plan. "Okay, truth is, I'm doing a last minute surprise party at his mom's." 

Widening his eyes, Troy set his mug to glance at her. "Oh, bad idea Cherry."

Groaning, the blonde pulled at the skin next to her nails with her teeth. "I know, but what was I supposed to do? She called and she sounded so sweet and excited."

"Say no?" Troy retorted, leaning on the counter, amused at her distress.

Tilting her head, she grimaced as she hid her face behind her hands. "But I said yes."

"Well, this should be interesting." shaking his head, Troy downed his coffee. "I wouldn't miss this in the world."

Cherry pretended to smash her head as she hid behind the cushion. "Jess is going to kill me, isn't he?"

"Oh yeah, you're dead."

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

"𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗧𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗠𝗘?"

Cherry steered Jess by the shoulders, making sure he didn't trip over stairs as the two walked to the third floor of a building. "If I were going to tell you, I wouldn't have bothered with the blindfold."

In reality, her heart was pounding nervously, licking her lips every few seconds and glad Jess could not see her fidgeting. She wasn't sure how he'd react to a surprise party with a big group of people, but hopefully he'd realise there were people who cared about him. Hopefully nothing bad happened to prove his point of cursed birthdays. 

Raising an eyebrow underneath the cloth, Jess pressed his lips together. "I thought we agreed not to celebrate."

"Well . . ." she trailed off, gnawing on her bottom lip. 

"Let me at least have a guess." Jess interrupted, small smile as he slowly walked forwards. "You're leading me to a secret place where there will be champagne and you'll hand-feed me cake in Victoria Secret lingerie."

"Uhm . . ." Cherry hesitated, slipping off the blindfold as the door opened wide open.

"Surprise!"

A mixture of emotions flashed through his face as Jess stared at the group of people cramped inside his mother's small apartment. Jacqueline had insisted on coming, despite her and Jess not being that close. A few of his Truncheon colleagues also appeared, alongside with Luke, who had driven from Stars Hollow. 

Before Jess could completely process, someone grabbed his arm and dragged him inside, disappearing into the small apartment. Cherry closed the door behind her, unaware of Troy's presence, who lifted his beer as in an attempt to cheer. "Let the games begin!"

Avoiding Jess, Cherry stayed in the kitchen, pouring herself some wine before quickly downing it. The rest caused a commotion in the living room, but Luke seemed to realise the blonde's disappearance and came searching for her, peering around the door. "Hey, there you are. Not a fan of crowds?"

Glancing at him, she sent him a weak smile. "Something like that."

Understanding, he dug his hands into his pockets. "I'm surprised Jess isn't here with you — hell, I'm surprised you managed to convince him to come. He hates birthdays."

"He didn't know, it was a surprise." she muttered.

"Ah." Luke said, a tone of understandment in his voice. "You know, I'm glad you came to New York with him, help him get his life on track."

Cherry dismissed his statement with a wave of her hand. "You've got to start giving Jess more credit where it's due — he did it all by himself."

And the blonde couldn't help but wonder to what extent did one person need another. She wondered how far could she go without communication from Jess, and whether jumping into a relationship after Rory so quickly was the best idea. She wondered how long she could go ignoring all of these doubts.

"Cherry, there you are!" Liz bustled into the kitchen, dirty blonde hair tied back in a bun as feather earrings dangled from her ears. Her skirt flowed between her ankles as she gave the blonde a short hug before dragging her to the living room, ignoring Luke's grimace. "I've been dying to show you these pictures of baby Jess ever since Luke told me you two started dating."

Jess sat squished in the corner of the couch as Liz sat in the middle, grabbing an old album and flipping through the pages. He grimaced as he saw a few pictures of younger him, glancing at Cherry apprehensively. "Liz, I'd rather you didn't—"

"Nonsense! I'm sure Cherry is dying to see them." Liz waved a dismissive hand, stopping at a certain page of a curly-haired toddler in a twin-sized bed. "He used to always steal my glasses and wear them, even when I would tell him not to. Got to the point I bought him a pair of fake ones so it wouldn't damage his eyes."

Cherry found herself smiling softly — she didn't really know a lot about Jess' past. Jess had never told her, and Cherry had learned that asking him about something he doesn't want to talk about never got anyone anywhere. As Liz flipped another page, Cherry found her fingers tracing the next picture, where Jess looked around six. "Wait — you used to be on the t-ball team?"

"He didn't tell you? Jess!" Liz scolded him, shaking her head. "He was a good little player too."

Jess clenched his jaw. "How would you know? You never went to any of my games." Liz frowned, hurt as her son stood up abruptly, muttering about needing some space. 

Cherry squeezed Liz's shoulder before standing up too. "I'll go check on him."

She found him in his childhood room. The walls were painted a dark forest green, and it seemed most of the things had been left the way they had been. Vinyls and tattered books had collected dust on the small shelves, and Jess stood near the desk, flipping through a few pages. 

Closing the door behind her, Cherry glanced around quietly, swinging her arms. "It's like stepping inside your mind."

Clenching his fist slightly, Jess remained with his back towards her. "Do you mind me asking what were you thinking?"

She licked her bottom lip, her mouth turning dry as she mustered the words to croak. "What do you mean?"

This time he met her gaze, dark eyes hard. "I thought I told you I didn't want a big celebration."

"Your family, out of the kindness in their hearts, wanted to celebrate your birthday with you." Cherry snapped, furrowing her eyebrows. "What was I supposed to say?"

Jess scoffed, hand dropping to a side. "My family couldn't give a crap about me or my birthday."

"That's not true." Cherry took a step towards him, shaking her head as her curls bounced slightly. "Why can't you accept people care about you?"

"Because I'm a disappointment that fails!" he snapped, heaving heavily as he ran his fingers through his hair, before adding in a softer tone "They don't need reminding."

Cherry gaped at him, opening her mouth to speak. But the door swung open, and Marcus bustled in. "Hey, we need the Birthday boy for the cake!" noticing how the couple stood awkwardly, he scratched the back of his head. "Am I interrupting something? I feel like I am."

"No." Jess dismissed, avoiding Cherry's gaze as he gulped, forcing a small smile. "Let's get some cake."

Jess threw her a last glance before stepping out, leaving Cherry behind in the darkness of the room, wondering about the first crack in the glass. 

sorry for the wait, i'm slightly sick and it's been hard to concentrate