CHERRY. [JESS MARIANO]

To Hell With Him

Needless to say, my mum was mad. Maybe not mad but definitely on the verge of killing Jess. The whole ride back from the hospital she didn't say anything. She wanted to save it all for the big finale back at the house. I just stared at the new addition to my arm. The blue cast wrapped around my arm from around my thumb to my elbow.

When the car pulled up in the driveway we both got out and went into the house. I sat down on the couch as I waited for her to start talking. She paced the room, her coat still on and her bag in her hand.

When she stopped pacing she looked me dead in the eyes. She already knew what had happened from the phone call I had given her but she wanted more from me.

"Why?" She asked me with a disappointed look. "Why did you have to get in the car?" When her voice was level and there was no screaming that usually meant she was gonna snap.

I furrow my eyebrows at her. "It's not like I'm dead-"  I knew that was the wrong thing to say when she interrupted me.

"It's not like you're dead?" She exclaims in bewilderment. "Thank god you're not, but you could've been. He could've killed you!"

I shake my head at her. "Hold on a minute." I stare at with my mouth agape. "He could've killed me? He didn't do anything!"

She scoffs at me and rolls her eyes. "If crashing a car and fracturing your wrist isn't doing anything then John Wick didn't do anything!" She yells at me. "I told you, be careful."

"Yes, and-" She interrupts me again. The thing with my mum is that when she's mad she won't let you speak. She will just go on and on.

"I told you!" She yells and pulls at the ends of her brown hair. "And what did you say? You said 'Honestly what do you think is gonna happen'!" She continues on with a shake of her head. "This is what I was scared of!"

I stand up from my place on the couch. "It wasn't his fault." I defend Jess. "There was an animal and-"

"Yes! There was an animal and he should've been keeping an eye out for it!" She butts in, making me angrier every time she does it.

"If you were in his spot you would've swerved too!" I yell back at her. But then I thought about how my eyes weren't on the road. How if maybe I hadn't chosen to lean in when I did or if maybe I had seen the animal before him, I could've stopped all of this. "You weren't there!" I add.

My mum lets out a bitter laugh at my words. "You're damn right I wasn't there and you shouldn't have been either!" She puts her head in her hands as she drops her bag on the floor.

"I should've never left you with him! He's nothing but trouble and I knew that! But no, I decided to let you two have your fun! Let him sneak in your window at night!" At my shocked expression my mum continued on. "Oh yeah, I know all about that! I even know you two are the one who pulled that stupid prank in front of Doose's!"

Realising that there was no way out of this I began to apologise. "Mum, I'm sorry."

She pinched the bridge of her nose. "I know but I'm not even half as mad at you as I am at that idiot."

I wanted to defend Jess again but I knew it would just result in us screaming. When my mother still didn't look up at me I spoke. "I'm going to sleep." I made my way to the stairs. I knew that when I woke up in the morning this would all be over.

When we had fights in this house no matter how big or small they were one of us would have to go up first. When we'd come down the whole thing would blow over. There would be no more dirty looks or snarky comments. It'd all be over, but never forgotten.