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( 𝘨𝘪𝘧: 𝘫𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘶𝘦 )

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𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗥𝗬 𝗪𝗔𝗦𝗡'𝗧 𝗦𝗨𝗥𝗘 𝗪𝗛𝗬 𝗦𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗔𝗦 𝗦𝗢 𝗡𝗘𝗥𝗩𝗢𝗨𝗦.

Telling her boyfriend about the news of her job should be cause for a celebration. Cherry had been waiting for something like this for so long. Yet now she walked towards Truncheon, digging her nails into her skin in hesitation. Her feet dragged across the concrete as she searched for any excuse to postpone the announcement.

Because while she was over the moon to have gotten the job, it happened to be all the way in Paris. And the emerging distance between Jess and Cherry made her doubt how he would receive the news. 

Approaching Truncheon, she exhaled a shaky breath before stretching her shoulders. Cherry shook her head, eyebrows furrowed. She was being a coward. But she could remember the unsure look on Jacqueline's face when Cherry had told her.

The redhead had found out yesterday, a wide grin splashed across her pale features as she hugged Cherry tightly before punching her shoulder. "I can't believe you're moving on and upwards in the world, leaving me behind."

Cherry had smiled ruefully, a shy grin on her face as she hid behind her blonde curls. "You could always come along. I imagine the French boys would be of your liking."

"Oh, they are a sight for sore eyes." Jacqueline had smiled dreamily, before snapping out of her daze. "So you're going to accept the job? What does Jess think?"

The blonde remembered moving away her gaze, biting on the inside of her lip. "He doesn't know yet."

"Oh, Cherry . . ." 

The unsureness in Jacqueline's face still flashed in Cherry's mind as she entered Truncheon. She headed straight towards Jess's office, and when she saw he wasn't there, she took a seat and decided to wait. At least she managed to postpone the inevitable slightly. It wasn't long before footsteps resounded through the hallway, and the door swung open. Yet Cherry's gaze didn't land on the familiar face of her boyfriend.

"Oh! Sorry, I thought Jess would be here." her voice was smooth, straight blonde hair pinned back with a claw-clip, holding a stack of paper in her hands.

Cherry mustered a smile, subconsciously straightening her posture. "Just waiting for him."

Recognisition flashed in her eyes as her eyebrows shot up. "You must be his girlfriend. I'm Jocelyn ─ I work with Jess."

"I'm Cherry. Pleasure." she held out her hand.

Jocelyn firmly shook it before pulling away. "You must be so proud of him. The draft for his book is looking really good so far."

It seemed as if the ocean suddenly crashed inside Cherry's mind, a loud rushing drowning her surroundings as she stared at Jocelyn slightly frozen. Jocelyn had read Jess' book. Or at least part of it. The same book he wouldn't let Cherry read.

Not noticing her odd reaction, Jocelyn continued, observing Cherry quietly. "You know, I think it's quite romantic you two are together. You're so different from each other."

That seemed to snap Cherry back into reality, meeting Jocelyn's gaze. She often wondered the same ─ Jess and Rory had shared so many things in common, Cherry couldn't help but wonder whether Jess ever missed that, for Cherry was his complete opposite. 

Shifting her weight, she shrugged. "I guess it's because he's more myself than I am." when Jocelyn looked at her curiously, she added "If souls exist, then his and I would be the same."

Or at least that's how Cherry felt. Now, she wasn't so sure about Jess.

Before Jocelyn could answer, the door swun open once again, and this time it was Jess. His eyebrows shot upwards at the sight of Cherry, the corner of his lips tugging upwards. "Cher! What are you doing here?"

Cherry looked away from Jocelyn, the smile not quite reaching her eyes. "There's something I need to talk to you about."

He frowned, confused. "Couldn't it wait until tonight?" 

"It's . . . important."

"I'll just leave this here." Jocelyn interrupted, leaving the stack of papers on the desk as she glanced between Cherry and Jess. "Talk to you later, yeah? And nice meeting you Cherry." 

"Back at you." Cherry mustered softly, waiting until Jocelyn closed the door behind her before staring at Jess unsurely.

Jess met her gaze, eyes scanning her face with worry. "Wait, you're not pregnant, are you?"

"Waht? No!" Cherry quickly shut down, gulping. She opened her mouth, hesitating and looking for an excuse. "So . . . you let Jocelyn read your book?"

His smile faded before shrugging. "Is that what you came here to discuss?"

"Why her?" Cherry ignored him, pushing her chair back before standing up. "Have I done something wrong?"

"What?" Jess frowned at her. "Cherry, you haven't done anything wrong. This isn't about that." after Cherry's unconvinced look he sighed, licking his bottom lip. "It's just . . . Jocelyn has nothing to do with the book. She can be completely unbiased." taking a few steps towards her, he reached out his hand to hold her face as if he were holding his entire world in his hands. "But if you want to, you can read it."

Cherry felt slightly guilty, for jumping to conclusions and presurising Jess into sharing his book. "No, I can wait until it's finished."

Jess smiled, making sure she was alright before removing his hands from her cheeks. "So what did you have to tell me?"

The dreaded, inevitable moment. Cherry couldn't put it off any longer. Taking a deep breath, she said the memorised words.

"I got the job."

A bubble of surprised laughter sprouted from his lips as he picked her up, going round slightly. "This is great news! Oh, we need to celebrate." realising Cherry wasn't sharing his enthusiasm, he faltered. "Why the gloom? I thought it was good news."

"The job is in Paris."

The smile on Jess' face faded as he took a step back, gulping. "Oh."

"Oh." Cherry agreed, searching his face for a reaction.

He nodded, licking his lips. "Paris is a long way away."

"It is." she sighed, rubbing her hands nervously together. "I have until June to decide."

Jess met her gaze. "And what are you thinking?"

"I don't know." she answered honestly, and she could tell he was disappointed that she hadn't said she didn't want the job. "What are you thinking?"

He hesitated, eyes darting around. "I don't know. This is a lot to take in."

"You don't need to tell me now." Cherry assured him, squeezing his hand. "We can talk later, okay? Let it sink in." 

Nodding, Jess stood up. "Okay. Okay."

Cherry smiled at him reassuringly, and the matter was dropped for the time being. 

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𝗧𝗪𝗢 𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗛𝗦 𝗤𝗨𝗜𝗖𝗞𝗟𝗬 𝗙𝗟𝗘𝗪 𝗣𝗔𝗦𝗧.

Before Cherry knew it, it was the end of May, and her and Jess still hadn't discussed the job offer. And the time to give an answer was running out. 

It's not like Cherry hadn't tried to sit with Jess to talk. For weeks, Cherry would attempt to bring it up, or mention France into whatever conversation they were having. But Jess was quicksand ─ he'd either avoid or ignore the comment, or be too busy writing his final chapters of his book to pay his full attention on her.

And at first, Cherry understood. It was a massive, overwhelming decision. She was as lost as he was. It was an opportunity of a lifetime . . . yet her life was in New York. 

But Jess's lack of response started to irritate the blonde. Didn't he care? Didn't he care whether she stayed or left? 

Cherry was miserable, but not saying so. In other words, business as usual. 

But Jacqueline had pushed her to pressure him into a conversation, or she'd go over and snap his legs off. Her words, not Cherry's. But the redhead wasn't wrong ─ she needed to figure this out, and she couldn't do it without Jess.

Knocking on his apartment door, Marcus swung the door open. "Cherry, hi! It's been a while. Congrats on the job, by the way."

Cherry shifted her bag from her shoulder. "I haven't accepted it yet."

Tilting his head, Marcus glanced back before lowering his voice. "Jacquie told me Jess was, uhm, refusing to talk about it."

"Refusing is a strong word." Cherry protested, but squirmed under Marcus' stare.

"I'll give you two some space." he muttered, grabbing his jacket before giving her one last reassuring look. 

Cherry shut the door behind her, leaving her bag on the kitchen table before venturing into the living room. Jess was typing on his laptop, eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration as he chewed on the end of his pen, a habit he never realised he was doing until the ink had splattered over his shirt. The flicker of movement caused him to raise his eyes for a second before continuing to write.

"Hey Cher, what are you doing here?"

Drumming her fingers on the table, she glanced at his laptop. "Have you got a quick second? We need to talk."

"Can we do this later?" he muttered, scribbling something in his notebook. "Don't want to ruin the flow."

She narrowed her eyes. "Right." she drawled, chewing on the inside of her cheek as she turned to a side. That damned book. "I forgot I'm not to talk about anything else but that book."

Noticing the irritation laced with hurt in her words, Jess stopped typing, staring at her frowning. "I didn't say that."

Cherry scoffed, raising an eyebrow. "You didn't have to. But it was implied. Nothing I have to say is worth your full attention these days."

"How is that implied?" he retorted, feeling cornered with no escape. His fingers slightly twitched, dying to get back to his writing, but not doing so in case of upsetting Cherry any further.

Yet the blonde noticed, shaking her head slightly. "You're the artist, and I'm the girlfriend."

Jess pressed his fingers to his temple, feeling an oncoming headache. "Can we please do this later? I've nearly─"

"When?" Cherry snapped, interrupting him. "When is later? Because you keep saying that. Later. As if it means anything. As if you're not just sweeping me under the coach, hoping I never resurface."

"You're being─" he stopped his sentence, not daring to finish. "Not now, okay? I've been working since four in the morning."

And that's when Cherry got the look. She had been noticing lately, glances from Jess that became more apparent. It made her stupid for being in love, for fighting for their relationship. And that anger, that shame had build up and was now impossible to ignore. So, she snapped. "For months, I've been trying to talk to you, but you push me away. I am miserable, Jess! And you don't seem to notice, or care."

Jess' heart shrank in his ribcage ─ he knew that he wouldn't be enough, that one day Cherry would inevitable realise this. And it seemed that she had. "Everyone is miserable in New York, Cherry."

He could tell it was the wrong answer, for she took a step back, shaking her head. "I just don't know how to reach you anymore. It's like you've drifted to an island and you're not letting me in."

"I'm not─"

Cherry ignored him, continuing. "─you're a million miles away, all the time."

Rubbing his face tiredly, Jess met her gaze. "Actually, I'm right here."

"Are you?" she retorted, raising a challenging eyebrow. "Because I know you, Jess. You did it to Rory, you did it to Luke, and now you're doing it to me─"

And then Jess snapped. "Maybe you just liked me when I was on my ass because it made you feel better about yourself."

Regret followed almost immediately after as a flash of hurt looked back at him. Her voice had softened to that of a doubtful whisper. "Do you really think that?"

Shrugging, Jess sunk into his seat with the weight of the world on his shoulders, hiding between his hands. "I can't go with you to Paris. I can't leave New York behind."

Cherry softened her gaze, taking a step forward as she attempted to bring warmth into her cold arms. "You think I haven't realised that?"

Jess met her gaze surprised. "What . . ." he trailed off, unsure. "What do you . . . what is this? What do you want?"

She shrugged, turning away from him. "I guess I wanted you to tell me not to go."

Staring at her, Jess pushed his chair backwards as he stood up. "Of course I don't want you to go!"

"Really?" Cherry asked uncertain, her blue eyes dazed behind held-back tears. "You never said it."

Jess exhaled, staring at her. And then he opened his mouth ─ he opened his mouth to apolise, to reassure her that he loved her, loved her more than anything, that if he could he would spend the rest of his life with her. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and tell her that even if he hadn't said it, that he needed her. He just hadn't wanted to hold her back.

But before he could, Cherry cut in, looking away. Her bottom lip quivered slightly as she wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her cardigan. "I think . . . I think you and I are trapped in this relationship."

As if the air had been knocked out from his lungs, Jess took a step back. "What . . . what are you saying?"

"I'm saying  . . ." she trailed off, taking a sharp inhale. "We need a break, I think."

And Jess stood there. For all his words, all his writing, he had been left speechless. Cherry gave him one last look, before grabbing her bag and leaving without a second glance. 

It wasn't until she got back into her apartment that she broke down. She stared into the mirror, hatred towards the reflection of a girl that was incapable of being loved by Jess Mariano. 

And now she knew what her answer was.

Grabbing her phone, she quickly dialed a number and awaited for the other line to pick up.

"I'll take the job."

i LIED i'm sorry this is the last chapter of act three

also i posted another JESS MARIANO FANFIC called 'little freak' while waiting for the next update