All characters are at least 18 years old. This is a non-canonical story related to the Family Morsel series.
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Drew
Cherry and I were quiet on the walk to school. She was still afraid of breaking the tension and I was still afraid of... her. Seemed ridiculous: big tall guy afraid of a tiny girl. Or maybe it wasn't fear. After all, we'd sorta settled things last night. No, maybe it was because we were in this huge unknown point in our relationship. Like, other than kinda ignoring what happened, how did we proceed? She'd freaking initiated an encounter right in front of our parents, for crying out loud. The girl's boldness seriously knew no limits. I took a deep breath. But how could I ignore what happened? I still remembered everything so vividly.
As soon as Cherry had fled her bedroom, I'd collapsed against a wall, ridden with guilt. I was a monster, after all. She'd urged me to touch her body and pretend I didn't have her permission, and against my better judgement I'd listened to her. But she'd come to her senses, realizing how much of a pervert I was, and run away. For the best, really. I didn't want her anywhere near me if I was so sick in the head.
I heard Leon calling after her, his voice and mom's fading away as they followed her out of the house. I didn't know how much time passed, but the next thing I knew, Leon had taken me by the shoulders and slammed me against the wall. If I'd had a shirt on, I expected he would've opted for grabbing my collar instead.
"What did you do to her?" he snarled. I'd never seen the calm and amiable Leon like this, eyes full of righteous fury, and it was terrifying. I had no idea what he was capable of, though if it concerned his only daughter, perhaps I could come up with a few possibilities.
"I..." I choked out before faltering, still caught up in my own guilt.
"Leon, he didn't do anything!" Mom was at his side, both hands on one of his arms and being firm but not forceful, trying to avoid violence.
"Impossible," Leon growled. "He's in my daughter's room, and suddenly she screamed in terror, running out with her face covered in tears." Now addressing me, his nostrils flared as he glared at me. "You must have done something. Speak! Did you touch her?" When I only gulped in response, his grip on me tightened. "Did you touch her in her sleep?" I bowed my head in shame, and he slammed my shoulders into the wall again.
"Leon, back off," mom said sternly. "Let him explain himself, there has to be a misunderstanding here."
Leon sighed angrily and relented, releasing me and taking a step back. Mom moved to hug me but he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, nodding at me to defend myself.
"She wanted it," I mumbled faintly, and suddenly I was back against he wall, Leon's arm crushing into my throat.
"That's what they all say!" he hissed. "I don't care that you're Coco's son, I will
end
you--!"
"Leon, let him go!" mom shouted. When he didn't, her voice lowered yet took on a much more threatening intensity. "
Let. Go. Of. My son.
"
Leon looked over at her and her dark expression before turning back to me. Taking a calming breath, he released me again, scowling deeply. Wonderful, because of what I'd done, now the two of them were fighting. I really was such a self-centered asshole, ruining the lives of everybody around me just for some quick pleasure. Finally free, I coughed and slumped to the floor in defeat, and mom quickly knelt next to me and took me in her arms.
"I think we all need some space," she declared, her voice raised just enough to be pointedly directed at Leon. "You should go call them. We'll need help searching for her."
He glowered at me for a moment longer before taking another slow deep breath, his anger fully tempered. If only I could control my emotions as well as he could, we wouldn't be in this mess. He stalked off, leaving me with mom as she continued to cradle me. After a while, when I finally got over the shock, I clutched the arm she had wrapped around my chest.
"It's alright, baby, just breathe," she murmured. She was right, I wasn't really breathing. I forced myself to inhale deeply, and it came out choppy. Instead of taking a moment for myself, my busy mind had to focus on something, and scrutinized what mom had said.
"Where's Cherry?" I whispered.
"Don't worry about that right now--"
"You said we had to search for her."
Mom let go as I got to my feet, her hands fluttering about a bit while she hesitated. "Cherry's missing," she finally said, and the pit in my stomach only grew deeper.
"This is all my fault. I have to find her," I rasped, moving to leave. Mom putting a hand on my chest made me realize I was still topless.
"Baby, are you sure you're in good shape for that? Why don't you just take a moment and talk to me about--"
"We can talk later. I need to find her." With that, I returned to my room to put something on before heading out.
"Drew?" Cherry said softly, snapping me back to reality. We'd arrived at school and were standing outside as everybody filtered in. I looked down at her and she stood on her tiptoes, tilting her head up at me. I smirked as I realized she wanted a public display that we were together now. God, I was gonna get so much shit from the boys on the team later.
I leaned down and kissed her, a simple one on the lips, and she beamed when we parted. The school bus pulled up behind us and the twins stepped off, Brie's eyes brightening when she saw us. Cherry, however, immediately broke off and hurried inside.
"Is... Is she okay?" Brie asked me faintly as we watched her disappear into the crowd. "We saw the kiss from the bus, so I guess you two are fine now, but..."
"I'm still trying to figure out if I'm in good standing myself," I confessed.
"You still haven't told us what hap--" Stef began.
"Not now, guys. We need to sort through all this. I'll explain everything at some point, okay?" They nodded, and I looked back at the school, wondering if Cherry really was back to normal.
--
"So folks are sayin' that you and Cherry are a thing now. Word?" DeShawn asked.
We were practicing layups and bantering between points. Of course, the guys were doing their best to pretend this wasn't just an interrogation.