All characters are at least 18 years old.
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Cherry
"I think he forgot."
"Eh, give him some time," Stef said, tossing another french fry into his mouth. "We guys are deceptively thoughtful."
"Very true," Drew agreed, speaking around a bite of burger. "Well, okay, we can't speak for all guys. Actually, I think most guys are pretty dense."
"'Pretty dense' is still putting it generously," Brie chimed in with an eye roll and a smirk.
"Point is," Drew continued, "you shouldn't be stressing out about it. You wait until tomorrow, see how it goes, and if he really does forget,
then
you get upset. Unless you're gonna be dropping hints to him today. Hm, but then what if that ruins any surprise he has planned?"
"We wouldn't want that, would we?" Lexi said with a wink.
I sighed, my food untouched as I wondered about how Valentine's Day would go. I knew it shouldn't have been a big deal. If dad didn't make plans of that sort, it was fine.
It's literally our name, though.
It was fine. What
was
a big deal was my friends talking about romance between my dad and I as if it was a casual night out. I looked over at Lexi, the girl who had orchestrated... well, everything. She raised her eyes questioningly, but I only smiled and shook my head as the conversation continued, with Drew spinning off to wonder at the connection between my lineage and the original saint.
"But Valentine was Italian, so if you're actually related then you'd think you'd have darker skin," he remarked. "And yet you're positively porcelain, Squirt."
"Yeah, but how long ago did he live?" Stef pointed out.
"...Third century."
"See? Plenty of time to contaminate the genes."
"Why is it that everything you say sounds filthy?" Brie groaned.
"Yeah, but you like it," Stef replied with a crooked grin, tipping his chin up at her. She grumbled, blushing a bit and turning back to her food without protest.
"My mom was a redhead too," I interrupted.
"See?" Stef turned to Drew. "Doesn't matter how far back that Italian blood goes if she's half..." He turned back to me. "...Irish?" I nodded, adding a shrug for good measure.
"Recessive genes though," Drew protested.
"She won the fifty-fifty. Or maybe you could just do one of those ancestry tests, Cherry."
"No! Those things are just designed to build a genetic database of anybody they can sucker into it. You send your saliva in and the next thing you know, they're building androids that look
exactly like
you. Fucking flesh robots!"
Brie shook her head and shot me a smile as the boys bickered about tin foil conspiracies. I turned to look at Lexi again, but she was staring off into the distance, an uncharacteristic melancholy on her face.
"Hey," I said.
"Hm?" She looked at me, seemingly genuinely caught off guard.
"You okay?"
Her trademark vulpine grin returned seamlessly. "Never not," she replied. I stared at her, scrutinizing her, amazed. She had no tells, absolutely no indication of the lie she just told. And it made me sad. The Girl with the Plan. Her friends had the utmost respect for her, but how often did they catch her when she was vulnerable like just now? Or maybe they all had at one point, yet none of them could do anything about it. Didn't hurt to offer though.
"I owe you one for helping with dad," I murmured.
"A big one," she supplied.
"Right. And you probably don't even need it, but if you ever need help... you know you can ask, right? I'm sure we'd all be ready to."
"Oh, I'll collect my dues. You can be sure of that." She smiled devilishly, and apparently decided that was the end of the conversation because she switched gears. "So, did he say yes?"
"He said he'd think about it."
"Probably the most we can expect from him," she sighed. "Makes sense. Compared to the other three, you have the most taboo to cut through."
"What makes you say that?"
She turned around on the bench so that she was leaning on the side of the table. "Brother, sister. Mother, son. Father, daughter. Typically men are viewed as the initiators when it comes to sexual matters."
"But I initiated."
"Won't affect people's perception. Men have the dicks, ergo men hold the power to aggress and instigate. Of the three relationships I listed, fathers hold the most duty to protect their corresponding partners. And, well... let's just say what's happening between you and your dad isn't what most would consider 'protecting.' Quite the opposite, as you can imagine. All that just paints the picture that your dad took advantage of his power over you, and your small stature really doesn't help that fact.
"I just want to remind you of the gravity of the choice you're making here," she went on, leaning close with a solemn expression. "You're very goal-oriented, which is great. But you're more impulsive than the others. You gotta think things through. Worst-case scenario shit. If you're caught by a less sympathetic party, are you ready to have your dad sent to prison on an array of charges, some of which may not even be true?" I paled. "You need to think about these things, Cherry. We're all damaged goods here, and that includes Drew's mom and your dad. As much as we hate to admit it, our parents aren't always going to make the best decisions. In those cases, the tables turn and it's your duty to protect him.
"I can sweep a lot under the rug, but there's only so much I can do to protect you guys." She paused, and a few seconds later a group of students passed dangerously close to our table. Lexi watched them walk away before continuing. "I'm working on a better system to cover your asses, but it's gonna take time. Until then, you can't fuck up. And even then, there's stigma. Legality isn't the same as social acceptance." She turned to me again. "Talk to your dad about it. If you're both ready for the risks and fallout, that's when you can decide to proceed."
She was a fucking goddess. Perfect honey blonde locks, stormy grey eyes, and a mind as sharp as an obsidian dagger. Next to her I felt like nothing more than a skating, dancing doll. I nodded, staring down at my hands and feeling miserable. She patted my head like a big sister, and I looked up to see a kind smile. A rare sight indeed.
"It's gonna be okay, Cherry," she murmured. "You see what happened to Lauren? Ol' Lex got ya covered." She flashed me a cheeky grin, and I nodded again, feeling a bit better.
"What did you even do, by the way?" I asked. "That was a total reversal. I got whiplash."
"Trade secrets," was all she said, her vulpine grin returning.
I looked back to our friends, feeling more at home than ever before. And I told them my plans for community college.
—
The others didn't have any sports practice anymore, and we all decided to hang out at Lexi's house for the afternoon. I was having so much fun with them that I didn't even realize it had been days since I'd really spoken to my other friends outside of school. The five of us shared such a deep secret that it seemed to strengthen our bond. Of course, I also genuinely liked them.
"You know those content houses? A bunch of friends all living together, filming skits, streaming video games? We could do that." Drew slumped into the sofa and propped his leg up, and when Drew props his leg up, it goes across your lap too.
"Oh man, that sounds fucking awesome," Stef sighed, his arm around his sister. "Too bad I don't think the girls are really into games though."
"You're also forgetting something else," Brie said coyly to Drew. "Both you and Cherry would also want to bring some 'special guests' to live with us."
Both Drew and I blushed, and he scratched the bridge of his nose. "Right. Dunno how I forgot about that."
"More of a sex house at that point," Lexi remarked. "Which would especially suck for me, since I'd be the only one not getting laid."
"And that's for lack of trying," Brie muttered. "You've shown interest in almost everyone, yet at the same time none at all. I'm starting to wonder what you're even into."
"Isn't it obvious?" Stef laughed. "She likes to watch."
There was a slightly uncomfortable silence as we all turned to look at the matchmaker herself, and she blinked back at us with feigned innocence. Finally she sighed.
