﹙I DON'T SMOKE ★﹚

CHERRY SMILED TO HERSELF!

the only part of thanksgiving that she enjoyed was the food, and it was almost time for dinner.

the entire house was covered in warm fall colors.

ashtray felt comfortably at home for the first time in years.

he looked over at his girlfriend, and the word bounced through his head a million times.

she was his girlfriend.

he admired her silently as she set up the table full of warm food that they'd spent 2 days preparing and cooking.

"cher." ashtray called out. "you need help?"

"you won't plate it right. it'll look hideous." cherry joked.

ashtray forced a shocked expression.

he stood up from the couch, mumbling something about proving her wrong.

he took the turkey, and set it right in the middle of the table. cherry had set almost everything else up in a perfect order, and he was careful to not disturb it.

a loud knock came from the front door.

ashtray made his way over, and his face immediately fell at the sight of the person.

"rue?" ashtray asked.

"you remember me?" rue questioned. "i thought you were- nevermind."

"i do remember you." ashtray spoke, as if also only just realizing it.

they both stared at each-other for a moment.

ashtray could feel the rush of half memories circling through his head.

the woman in front of him buried her hands in her pockets, and looked at the well decorated house, cringing at the silence.

"rue!" cherry ran towards her, enveloping her in her arms with a huge grin.

"cherry. nice to see you." rue spoke with a smile, hugging the girl back.

another person threw themselves into the embrace. for a second, cherry thought it might've been ashtray.

it was jules.

one by one, the guests began to pour into the home, all taking a seat at the dining table which was carefully decorated with a feast of food.

"how are you, maddy?" cherry asked, as everybody stacked up their plates with food.

"i'm doing amazing. how are you?" maddy smiled at the girl.

"me too."

"i missed you so much."

"so did i. i'm so glad you and everybody else got to visit."

"it's so embarrassing to say i missed everyone here a lot. i would trauma dump, but its thanksgiving-"

the group of girls, besides ashtray, all mumbled something along the lines of please do.

"we wouldn't have anything else to talk about." rue input, her face sort f blank.

"only if you're comfortable." jules reassured. "but i feel really nosey today."

kat giggled.

"please do." lexi put her hands together.

"nate and i are, like, always on and off, he's so fucking annoying." maddy complained.

"you need to leave him, seriously. he better have money to be doing shit like this to you." cherry advised.

"start telling him to send you money for emotional distress." rue advised.

"yeah, say you'll get him in jail." jules grinned.

lexi laughed a little.

rue was a relieved the group was getting less and less tense. they hadn't all hung out in a long time.

"ooh, that's what i do with the guy i'm dating." kat nodded.

"just one guy?" jules asked.

"don't slut-shame me!"

"i'm not slut-shaming! im encouraging.

"oh. then yeah, just one guy."

cherry laughed.

"you should just shoot him." ashtray advised maddy.

kat and cherry eyed each-other.

"that's a good idea." cherry high-fived the boy next to her.

"definitely." lexi nodded, not taking her eyes off of ashtray.

she looked upset.

kat also noticed the look. she kicked maddy under the table, hoping she'd take the hint and get her to do something.

"so.. what are you doing now, rue?" lexie changed the subject.

"uh, i'm in college. i got sober." rue told them. "that's kinda it."

a chorus of 'i'm so proud' rang around the table.

rue despised having all of the attention on herself, but she was also glad her friends were so supportive.

"jules is in college, too." rue moved on.

"yeah. fashion design." jules pulled her phone out, and showed a couple of her designs.

her and cherry spoke about the clothing, exchanging business cards and gushing over the younger girls newfound success.

"are you guys together?" kat interrupted, as she looked between jules and rue.

"maybe." jules answered.

"possibly." rue continued.

"you guys piss me off. just be official." cherry complained as she took a bite of her food.

"you say that as if you and ashtray are." maddy pointed out.

"we are." ashtray spoke up.

it was basically the first word he'd said to them all night.

that dragged lexi's attention back to him, which she despised.

"i'm glad." maddy smiled.

the table was quiet.

it seemed that everybody either looked at ashtray, or lexi.

despite everyone pretending, they all were thinking about the same thing. ashtrays memory loss, and his jailed brother, who was lexi's boyfriend.

was it disrespectful to ask lexi if she was okay?

would it make her upset to ask?

would it make her upset if they didn't ask?

how did ashtray feel about everything? he hadn't even gotten to speak to his brother. it was a horrible situation all around. they would've all been better off talking about the weather for the entire night.

"this is awkward. i need alcohol." kat stood up from the table.

she entered the kitchen and peered around the fridge.

she returned with a bunch of shot glasses, and a bottle of tequila.

"encouraging underage drinking." cherry shook her head.

"not for you." kat moved the bottle away from the redhead.

she poured out shots for everybody except ashtray and cherry. rue denied hers, so lexi had two.

after a couple moments of silence, the entire table had their eyes set on the brunette in the center.

"you guys can ask." lexi spoke up. "about fez, i mean."

"is he doing good?" rue asked.

"yeah, he is." lexi tried to smile and look like she was functioning normally on the inside.

"that's great." jules nodded.

"how often do you get to see him?" maddy questioned.

"i visit as often as i can, but usually a couple times a week." lexi told.

"what's he.. what's he doing?" ashtray asked, looking up from his plate.

"a lot of reading." lexi spoke, her voice softer than it had been before. "he wants to get his ged when he gets out."

"that's great. i'm happy for him." ashtray tried to look enthusiastic.

"so you guys are still together?" cherry asked.

the rest of the night ran smoothly.

the tension in the room disappeared in an hour. cherry held ashtrays hand in hers the entire night.

even though it hurt a little, ashtray was glad to know about fez.

on the other hand; lexi had no idea what ashtray was doing with cherry.

nobody seemed to mention it. how had ashtray ended up with cherry after the accident? where were all of the adults?

as cute of a couple lexi thought cherry and ashtray made, ash needed to be at home, with his foster family. where he safe. not halfway across the country when there were active missing persons reports for him.