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“What are you doing?”
Marcia looked up from her fingers which had been so focused on tapping the table. She saw it was Bev, interrupting her imagining every possible scenario in her head. She had invited Cherry to just hang out and drink something at the Nightly Double café, but she kept going over the ways it could go wrong. Unfortunately, she hadn’t taken Bev coming to the café into account.
“I’m… drinking tea?”
Bev did her usual pretentious scoff and ordered a coffee. She gave a half-wave to Marcia on her way out, and walked into the rain. Marcia was grateful that was all it was.
She had set the date - wait, no, not date - hangout for 2:00 pm. It was 1:56, and Marcia had checked her watch five times in the last three seconds. Where was Cherry? Did she not want to hang out? Was she busy with homework? Worst of all, was she hanging out with boys? She had suspected Cherry had taken a liking to that Ponyboy kid, but she couldn’t be sure. She could be sure of, though, that she spent more time with him than she did Marcia. She was debating just throwing away her drink and leaving the place.
Where is she?
***
“Oh my god,” Cherry paced back and forth. “What do you think I should do?”
Ponyboy, who had been carefully reading a book in the corner of the room, dragged his attention back to his friend.
“Well, uh, you’ve been waiting for this?” he tried. Oh what was she thinking, asking someone two years younger for dating advice? It wasn’t even dating! Marcia wasn’t like that, Cherry figured.
“I mean… I guess?” How could she be in her senior year of high school and not know how this stuff worked? She dated Bob, but Bob was different. It just felt incredibly different, even if they dated, she dated him ‘as a friend’. If that was even possible. She knew they could never amount to anything, not with his drinking or whatever her problem was.
Marcia was… also different.
“Yeah so uh, well… I'm not really good at this.” He took a moment to think. Cherry knew Ponyboy didn’t date, and paid no mind to any girls. Cherry had observed the way he completely ignored Angela Shepard when she tried to hit on him. Maybe there was another reason other than having his nose stuck in a book all the time.
“Pony?”
“Yes?”
“Do you…” she bit her tongue. Why would she ask him this? “Nevermind. About Marcia, how could you tell?”
Ponyboy furrowed his eyebrows. “Tell what?”
Cherry rolled her eyes, laughing against her will. “You know what!”
Soon enough, he was laughing with her. Once it slowed down, he thought about it. “I don’t know, you just… talk about her. And when you talk about her, it’s like she’s, I don’t know, like a goddess or something.”
She frowned. Was that all she talked about with him? “I’m not trying to make it about her.”
Ponyboy did a stupid knowing grin as he leaned back into his book. “No, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m just saying, I don’t know, it’s pretty clear how you feel. And sometimes you can’t always count on the other person to give you signals to how they feel. You sort of spiral.”
Cherry let the statement hit her. She racked her brain, trying to think of times she’d searched for signals. She also pondered how Ponyboy knew this much.
“You’re smart for your age,” she teased, smiling.
“Uh… thanks?” She chuckled at his awkward response. Suddenly, feeling a boost of encouragement, she snatched her jacket off of the hook and put it on.
“Let yourself out whenever you need,” she handed him a spare key. She appreciated the freedom of having her own apartment. Cherry didn’t know how much longer she could spend in that house with her parents.
Any last doubts lingering washed away once she entered the downpour.
***
Marcia was for sure about to get up and leave the stupid café. She should’ve never planned this, never asked for this, never texted Cherry to meet her—
“Hey, so sorry I'm late.” Marcia could see Cherry rushing to her table out of the corner of her eye.
“Hey.” Marcia smiled. Suddenly all of the nerves that were itching under her skin were soothed. Growing up together, it would seem like Cherry just had that effect on her. As Cherry sat across the small table, the café waitress saw and walked over.
“Okay, would you like to order drinks?”
“Yes,” Cherry answered, somehow so socially put-together. The complete opposite of Marcia. “I would like, um…”
She turned to Marcia. “What do you want, Mar?”
Oh great, Marcia thought, more attention. Her thoughts started racing again.
What would Cherry want? What would Cherry think is cool? What did she even want? She didn’t hang out at too many cafés, really. She looked at Sherri, with those wide green emeralds she had for eyes. They were staring at her so sincerely.
“Cherry,” she muttered subconsciously. God, was she so lovesick to the point she was muttering names?!
“I’m sorry, what was that?” The waitress leaned in. Marcia snapped back to the present.
“Matcha!” she exclaimed. Both Cherry and the waitress blinked. Heat slowly spread to her face, embarrassment growing. “Can we have… cherry matchas?”
“Of course,” the waitress quickly scribbled it down, and gave Cherry an earnest grin before walking away.
“I didn’t know you liked those,” Cherry raised an eyebrow.
“I’ve never tried them,” she laughed nervously.
“Me neither,” the redhead admitted. “I guess we’ll try them together then.”
After several minutes of awkward finger-fidgeting, Cherry broke the silence.
“Marcia, I’m sorry.”
Her eyes immediately widened. “For what?”
“I know I haven’t really been talking to you lately, and I’m sorry.”
“Cherry, it’s fi-”
“You wouldn’t have even needed to arrange a meeting between us if I just hung out with you anyway.”
Marcia pressed her lips together. Why would Cherry think it was her fault? “No. You moved out of the neighborhood, and… for good reason, okay? I’m just glad you’re here.”
She knew Cherry would still unfortunately feel guilty, because Cherry was always stubborn. She didn’t show it though, the most she did was an apologetic half-smile. The waitress eventually returned with their drinks. Once they were set down on the table. The two exchanged adventurous glances.
“On three,” said Cherry.
“One,” said Marcia.
“Two.”
On three, they both sipped from the black paper straws. It had the same original earthy taste of matcha, but mixed with vibrant sweetness.
“Fruity,” noted Cherry, nodded. Marcia giggled.
“Refreshing,” she said in a mock-sophisticated accent.
“Balanced,” the other girl continued. After, they both erupted in a fit of laughter. Marcia didn’t even know why, she just supposed their relationship had always been like that.
“I’ve missed this,” she confessed, completely honest with no filter.
Cherry nodded, tears dotting her waterline. “Me too,” - she wiped them, trying to carry on normally - “And you wouldn’t believe who I saw on the way here! I passed Bev-”
“Oh, here we go,” Marcia rolled her eyes. “What’d she say?”
“She said…” Cherry’s smile faltered for a moment. “Uh, I’ll… um, nevermind. I’ll tell you later.”
She nodded along, suspicious, but didn’t question it. And for the rest of the “date” at the café they talked and talked and talked, like old times. But once they had finished their drinks, and Marcia paid for them, she didn’t want to say goodbye just yet. Neither did Cherry.
“Hey, Sherri,” she tapped on Cherry’s shoulder. “Do you… wanna stay at my place for a little bit? Before you go back to… wherever…”
She beamed. “Of course.”
***
Cherry let Marcia pull her into her bedroom, like nothing had changed since before she moved. She watched attentively as Marcia rushed over to her shelf, sifting through what looked like a vinyl record collection. She pulled out a Fleetwood Mac record, and put it on her player.
Marcia spun back to Cherry. “Do you wanna dance?”
She looked like she was immediately ashamed of asking. Cherry paid it no mind.
“Yeah.”
Songbird was a slower song, slower than Cherry had anticipated. It was soft, soothing, unlike when they had danced as friends at junior prom. Cherry took Marcia’s perfectly-manicured hands in hers. Almost as an instinct, Cherry pulled her slightly closer to her.
“Sorry, is this-”
“It’s fine,” she said instantly. Cherry searched Marcia’s face for whatever emotion she was feeling. Was it friendship? It couldn’t be, they were slow-dancing! Cherry playfully twirled Marcia, making her feel even better.
Their hands still interlocked, they swayed throughout the entire song. But the song ended, and they slowly lowered their arms and let go.
“Sherri.”
“Marcia.”
“Cherry, I’ve been thinking,” Her eyes darted away, completely avoiding Cherry’s gaze.
“Hey,” she cut her off. “If you’re going to tell me something, please look at me. Please, Marsh.”
Marcia reluctantly looked at Cherry with her doe eyes. “I’ve been thinking that I,” her voice caught. “I don’t want to be just your friend.”
Cherry’s breath was stuck in her throat. No air was passing in or out. It was like time itself had stopped. She felt the same way, the exact same way, but for some reason, she froze up and didn’t say anything. Marcia saw her reaction and continued.
“What we have, it’s,” she giggled at her own awkwardness, “Different. I… love you. Sherri Elaine Valance, I love you. From the time we met when we were kids, I knew it meant something. You meant something.”
Cherry kept her calm, though inside, she was screaming. “I… heard. Bev. Bev told me you were, um, setting up a date with me. I thought she was teasing me, you know her. But… I guess not.” Sherri had only realized this was a part of her recently. She knew it had been, but she supposed she just couldn’t acknowledge it. Until now.
“Marcia. I think… I love you too,” she said slowly, cautiously. This was uncharted territory. The salty water in her eyes made a comeback. “And, I, uh, can’t really explain it.”
“You don’t have to.” Marcia’s voice was practically a whisper. Simultaneously, their arms reached for each other. Cherry slowly leaned in to Marcia, her soft lips touching Cherry’s briefly. She retracted immediately. She had never kissed a girl until then. She wished she had sooner.
Marcia huffed a small laugh. “Uh, cool.”
“Yeah,” Cherry smiled genuinely. “Cool.”