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"Uh, yeah, sorry," she said, wringing her hands. "I, know it's bad." She hated losing her temper. "And all of my bottles. Most were perfumes, some were essential oils. Super concentrated stuff, kinda like what you use to make perfumes." She'd started buying them for the bottles, really. She loved the little vials. So pretty, so different. They had once been many shapes and colors, and now, they were just broken glass. "That's the smell. Sorry about that, too." She did notice that not-quite-cough.

"You don't have to stay." She reached out to pat him on the shoulder. "But if you want to help, you can just...pick up the clothing and put it on the bed." At least the clothing on the floor would be perfume free.

"I'm...going to start on this dresser." She meant both the glass in front of it...and whatever liquids had seeped down it's sides. Hopefully...nothing had gotten inside. Or well, maybe that wouldn't be so bad. Her things would smell nice.

Sherry was trying to find the silver linings in all of this.

"Well, at least...the window is open." Though the curtains were not. "You'll, uh, get used to it. Or...Maybe you should open the curtains. It might help." She really felt bad about putting him through this.

But he was insisting.

So she let him do what he would, while she grabbed the dustbox and a small towel. There were enough small bits of glass she planned to just try and scoop them up with the towel, then shake them off into the trash. It was a good idea ok.

What she needed was a vacuum cleaner. She'd have to see about renting one or whatever later. For now, she'd get what she could, and at least try to make things habitable.

"Yeah," she smiled. "It will smell nice for good bit. I don't think anything will turn sour or anything." Surely it would have already if it was going to.

"Everything I own is going to smell." She sighed. "You'll probably not want me sleeping over for a while."

"If you're certain," she said. She was grateful for his help, she had to admit. The task was... a little daunting. It would have been a million times easier to clean things up if she hadn't decided to throw everything onto the floor. That's why we don't lose our temper.



It would seem so. Sherry wasn't really in the mood to argue. Not when she had all this to clean, not when she had all these emotions to deal with, and not when she was focused on picking up the glass. Purple. Oh, that bottle had been shaped vaguely like a cat. She'd miss it.

"Hm?" Jake's question caught her off guard. She didn't look in his direction, keeping her eyes down. "Yeah... is it that easy to tell?"

"uh-" Now she turned to look at him. Oh, no. The notebook. There was a flood of emotion, shame, embarrassment, mortification... Sherry wasn't sure. She didn't really think about what she felt. She did her best to wipe the shock off her face as she got to her feet and quickly, carefully, moved toward Jake.

"I was, but it was all just petty revenge stuff. Oh my god, Jake, I am so sorry. I.. I.." She didn't know what to say. He wasn't supposed to see that. Why couldn't' he have found the page filled with hearts and his name? Why did it have to be the angry page?

To Sherry, this was terrible. She looked at the notebook, rereading all the things she'd written. Some were worse than others.

"But... I mean, I was angry. But these are all... they're not all important. Silly things to be mad about." She sighed. "They're not all your fault." She ran her fingers down the page, still afraid to look at him. Her voice got quieter. "Some are. Important."

She smiled at him, blinking tears away. "I guess we do vent differently," she said, normal voice this time. "But I'm still sorry."

She'd looked away when he had. Back at the notebook with it's violent scribbles and petty words. It's not okay, she nearly said. Nearly. But Jake wasn't done talking. Just a few more lines, a few more words and...

Sherry swallowed, she bit her lip. It didn't help she'd been nearly ready to cry already. But she didn't say anything for what seemed like ages, to her at least. In her mind she heard his words repeat, she processed them. Her eyes didn't lift from the page.

"I guess I can cross off 'afraid to be honest'," she said quietly. She immediately regretted saying it. "Thank you, for telling me, I mean."

She refused to cry. She really, really didn't want to. That was why she couldn't look at him. She'd cry if she did. And she'd already cried that morning, and the night before... "You're probably right."

Sherry was amazed at just how much those words hurt. Even after the night before, when she'd thought it might have been over she'd not quite let herself believe it was. But having Jake calmly and rationally tell her that they should basically take a break... Well. It was different. There wasn't anything to question.

But when she coupled his words with his actions from the night before... "I'm sorry," she said. It was all her fault. All her pushing, all her clingy neediness... Stupid suggestions and stupid wants. She might not have been the only cause behind him snapping, but she'd certainly been part of it. And she was mad at herself for that.

The notebook slipped from her fingers and she pulled her too him. Sherry just stood there, a little numb. There was no real anger, not like before. Other than that...it felt the same. This was how she'd woken up feeling. Only worse. So much worse.

She knew he was trying to make it better, trying to smooth it over. All it did was make her cry. Hang out? What did that mean? What did any of it mean? Sure, she could understand... keeping different rooms, and sleeping in different rooms after what had happened. She could. But she was Sherry and... that hadn't meant she'd wanted what was logically best. Stupid, Sherry. Stupid, she told herself. Always pushing, always needing more.

And he'd humored her all morning. Not with his apologies, she knew those were sincere, but everything else. Of course things couldn't just go back to normal. Stupid. They shouldn't. But she'd been so afraid of losing him that it was easier to just accept it and move on, almost like it hadn't' happened. Stupid.

Besides, they could still hang out. Maybe he hadn't meant for it to sound like it had, but those words had stung, too.

"Waffles," she said with a sniffle, "were a date." Yes, Jake. It sounded to Sherry like this was a breakup. It also sounded like she'd put a little too much spite into her words. "I'm sorry, I just..."