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Perfect. She'd needed to hear it. It was silly, how much power words could have. Or not silly, Sherry really didn't know. But she did know she felt better, and she told him that with a smile of her own. "Thank you," she whispered.

She was still smiling when he kissed her. It was wholly unfair, kissing her after she'd been crying. At least they were tears of good emotions. The kiss reflected those emotions, at least on her end. Relief and love. Soft and gentle. Caring, apologetic. Warm and sure. It was another thing she'd needed from him right then, and she hadn't even known it.

"I wouldn't call it settling," she said quietly when their lips parted. "I've done an awful lot of chasing to get you." Another soft smile.

"And I'm sorry, too," she added, louder.

Sherry liked hugs. Especially hugs from Jake. "Nope. Not a chance." She sighed, and settled into the hug a little more.


"No, I should. I was angry." She shook her head, a bit ashamed of what she'd thought of doing to him. "But I'm glad...it was...whatever it was. Because I don't know what I'd do if you left me." Well. She would cry. She knew that.

"I love you," she said again. Then she sighed. "Maybe...we should clean this up." And talk about sleeping arrangements. Maybe. Was it too soon?

She looked back at him. "I don't know, Jake. I don't see any way a fight would end any better. But...I won't...I wouldn't let you hurt me anyway. Despite...what happened last night." She was serious. Between her and Armagnac, really, it would take some effort. A real fight.

Sherry smiled. Maybe...maybe they should talk about it more. Or... later. She was a bit tired.

So she nodded. "Best do it now, rather than leave it." She sighed. She'd had a lot of glass. "It is. The glass is going to be a pain to clean up. My room is going to smell like flowers and spices for weeks, I bet. And windows. Those will have to be replaced." More sighs.

"Can we just go back to bed and pretend none of this happened?" She laughed.

"Jake...I'll try." She had no intention of letting herself be hurt, but she also had no intention of hurting him. It was... Sherry bit her lip. Maybe they should discuss it more. "But I won't hurt you." There was actually a lot they should discuss.

Which was why she was thankful for the mess, even if it meant cleaning. "If only," she agreed.

And then she felt herself blush. "Um... My room is...You don't have to worry about it. I can do it." She had pretty much trashed her room the night before. She didn't know if she wanted him to see that. "I, uh, had a lot of glass stuff. It would just be tedious." She promptly turned her attention to picking up stuff from the floor.

Sherry stopped, one of his shirts in her hands. "Um." He had to bring it up like that. "It's not that, I don't have anything I don't want you to see. Or well, anything to hide, really." She was turning a little redder. "I just...it's a real mess." She bit her lip again. He...had a point. If she were serious about living together, well, he might as well know. "I was just really mad last night and I might have... made the mess. You don't need to help me clean that up. It's my fault."

She was just a little ashamed of her outburst, really.

Sherry glanced around her, unaware she was back to biting her lip. "Okay," she said with a sigh. "We can go to my room, but you don't have to help." If he couldn't handle seeing her worst, well- she didn't want to think about that. And it was probably a good idea to see if she could still do something to salvage anything her perfumes got all over.

Walking over to his bed, she placed the shirt semi-neatly on it. "And I mean it. You don't have to help, but I would like the company." The thought of going back to her room alone did make her unhappy, and she was a little surprised by that.

He was given an unsteady smile as she turned toward him. "You, um, haven't seen my phone, by any chance?"

"Don't have to," she said. "I don't mind if you, but I don't want to make you help. It...really is my own fault. Mostly." She was doing a very good job of staring at the floor right then, looking rather sheepish. She didn't want him to suffer because she'd been angry.

But when he confirmed that her phone was in his possession, she brightened. "Thank you," she said, walking over to take it from him. "I...would have waited had I known, but... I did want to check on you." She didn't just take the phone from him, she made a point of squeezing his hand as she did so.

And she didn't exactly let go of his hand as she turned to lead him toward the door. "Are you sure we shouldn't clean your room first?"

She only frowned at him, just a little. "I don't want you getting cut on mine," she said, pausing once they were in the hall. It wouldn't do to rush. "So you have to be careful."

They didn't have to go far to get to her room. Really, it was only a few doors down, which... made the whole issue of living together kind of silly, if one thought too hard. It didn't take a lot of effort to visit.

"But see," she opened the door and waved him in, "I... kind of trashed it. The glass was already broken, but the rest." She shrugged, sheepish again. "It's not your fault. Provoked or not, it was silly."

She felt especially silly, now. It looked worse than she'd remembered. The desk and dresser were both cleared of all their things, and even the desk chair still lay on it's side. Papers and other things that had clearly been on them now littered the floor, and in front of the dresser was a fair amount of glass. She had loved those little bottles so much, and their different colored glass might have been pretty shattered like it was, if it didn't make her sad. There was also glass under the window, and by the mirror. It also seemed like she had taken half of the closet and just thrown it across the room, but the empty laundry basket indicated that she'd been too lazy to open the closet door.

The only things that looked clean were the dresser and the desk, but they were out of place in their emptiness. Even the bed looked disheveled, she had clearly slept on it (though not in it). Her notebook and a pencil were still resting there.

"It's...my mess." She shrugged again. If he didn't want to stay, she'd understand.