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Expectations don't always match up with reality. She'd expected him to walk away, or scold her, or call her stupid and remind her how he'd used her. She'd expected him to tell her good-bye again. That way she could go back to her room and resume picking up the pieces of her heart and putting them in a nice little pile for her try over.

She'd not expected a hug. So warm and encompassing, and maybe a little sad, but that could just be because she'd been not wanting to cry. "Jake," Sherry closed her eyes and let her arms wrap around him. Her head still throbbed, but she tried to make sense of things. "Do you still care? Why...why did you say you were pretending?" She didn't care if they were silly questions. "What did you remember?"

She fought down a sob. The emotional roller coaster she was on was a little too intense sometimes. "You won't lose me, Jake. Unless you don't want me."

Disgruntled weapon was disgruntled.

"I suffer more without you." It might have seemed dramatic, but really, things had been easier to bear since she'd met him.

"Do you want me to? Honestly?" She hugged him harder as she said it. "Because that's a stupid question, Jake."

She shouldn't trust him. He'd hurt her so much, lied to, and apparently lied about that. But she was stupid, and weak, and soft.

"Have I not been waiting for you? Have I not been hoping and chasing and..." She was making a fool of herself again. "Am I waiting as a friend or a lover? Or... as a work partner?" She didn't mind waiting, but she should probably start readying her heart for whatever it was he felt toward her. "Because I'll wait, Jake. I will."

She couldn't hide the way her face fell, something akin to disappointment there. What did that mean? What was with that look he was giving her? "No," she shook her head. "You know what I want from you. Even after everything that hasn't changed." She was very foolish, after all. "But I don't know what you want from me. Don't leave me waiting for something I can't have." Not that, she'd not pine after him forever, because she would.

She didn't like that smile. And his words... She stared as he moved away, as he reached down to pick up his piece of titan. Tears stung at her eyes and the emptiness in her chest met anger again. She swallowed a sob as he told her good-bye and turned away.

Several heartbeats passed by, throbbing in her head, before she moved. She was after him in a run, and the bandage the chucked at the back of his head was childish but she sure as hell didn't care. She soon followed that bandage, reaching out to grab his arm, but more or less running into him.

"No! You don't get to walk away from me after asking me to wait. Or do you just get off on this yo-yo game? What the ********, Jake? What do you want from me?"

It took her another moment to find her own words, between her head, the tears and the hurt she now felt. She might have kicked him if she hadn't been on the ground with him.

“So you can't be my friend either?” She was willing to be that, stupidly.

She choked back a sob and her tone changed to one of defeat. “I never wanted a perfect boyfriend, just you. I might be naive but I am not that silly. Just you, not perfection.”


Another sob was forced down. He couldn't find his happiness with her? Okay, well now she knew. It didn't even hurt as bad as being forgotten or used. But she was numb, too. “But thank you, for being clear.”

She wiped at her tears, then gave him a half heartrd smack to the shoulder. “Don't ask a girl to wait without being clear, asshat.” She shoved him a little emphasize the point.

Foolish Sherry. Far too late to save face now.

No where, circles. That's where this was going. Even after she'd told herself she wouldn't let him get to her again, he had. He was right, he had to be right, this wasn't going to work, no matter how hard she tried. Even as she tried to put on her best poker face, tried to act like she didn't care now that he'd told her, again, there was nothing there between them. Even though for a moment she'd hoped--

She pulled the letter out of her pocket, and tossed it on the bed. She said something about "happiness" and smiled at him, then turned around and left the room.

Right. This had happened before, she'd just...forgotten. This time... he wouldn't be coming to talk to her, would he? Of all the things she could accept in life, why was this one thing so hard to accept? Why did she keep repeating these mistakes?

Sherry blinked through more tears. "Right, sorry." She got to her feet quick as she could. Her head was still pounding, and her shoulder... the collision seemed to do nothing good for her. "I'm sorry. I should have just gone to the infirmary." I shouldn't have asked. I shouldn't have helped. I shouldn't have gone to see him when he didn't reply to my messages. She could make a list of all her mistakes, dating back months, but she was sure he didn't want to hear them.

It had taken her far to long to accept the reality of it, even when he'd said it was all a lie she'd not wanted to believe it. Reality was harsh, bitter, and lonely, but Sherry was finally able to accept it, again. "I'm sorry for being brash and stubborn. Jake, I-- I won't-- you won't have to worry about me anymore."

Dammit. She didn't want those words to be more sob than sentence, and they nearly were. She didn't want cry in front of him either, but she'd already reached a hand out to help him up. A hand that waited, and tried not to shake.

The offered hand was only polite, she'd knocked him down, after all. Polite like the smile she put on, sad and small as it was.