( 𝘨𝘪𝘧: 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 24𝘩 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘯 )

When Jess closed his locker, he had jumped startled at the sight of Cherry next to him, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. The pout and the puppy eyes she gave him made Jess aware of exactly what she was going to do, making him quickly shake his head. "Whatever you're going to ask me to do, the answer is no."

"Come on! You don't even know what I want." she protested as Jess walked away. Huffing, she jogged to catch up with him, her long skirt flowing behind her as her blonde locks curled by her ears. "You and me, dance marathon this Saturday."

"What part of me looks like a dancer to you?" Jess lifted an eyebrow at her amused, crossing his arms over his chest.

Cherry tilted her head. "The Patrick Swayze in you?"

"How long is this thing going to last?"

She hesitated at his question, grinning sheepishly. "Twenty-four hours."

"Twenty-fou─ no way." Jess immediately retorted as he continued down the hallway towards the exit. "What in the world makes you think I want to spend twenty-four hours with you?"

"Because you owe me." 

Jess froze in his tracks, groaning as he rubbed his face tiredly. With hesitance and reluctance, he turned around to stare at her amused grin, narrowing his eyes. "From what do I owe you? The leaving to New York without a goodbye or the argument we had before that?"

"I was actually going to say that time I bought you ice-cream, but I guess your reasons are better than mine." she laughed at the expression on his face, linking her arm through his as she pulled him across the school yard, feet slightly sinking into the grass. "Come on, we'll have a great time! We'll get all dressed up, and I'll even buy you all the coffee needed to last."

He allowed himself to be pulled by her, rolling his eyes. "It's like you're describing my nightmare."

"See you Saturday!" Cherry ignored his groans, grinning excitedly at him before walking away. Jess shook his head, smiling softly at her retreating figure. Suddenly realising his expression, he widened his eyes, blushing and looking away. 

This was Cherry Doose. Jess Mariano didn't have feelings for Cherry Doose. 

Yet there he was, waking up at ungodly hours on a Saturday for her. Buttoning his navy blue shirt on, Luke had widened his eyes at seeing him awake. "What are you doing?"

Jess raised his eyebrows, looking down. "Getting dressed?"

"But . . . " Luke shook his head, rubbing his eyes tiredly and expecting to open them and Jess being fast asleep. But his nephew still stood there, looking at him as if he were crazy. "You're coming to watch the dance marathon?"

"No." he grumbled, finishing buttoning his shirt as he looked inn the mirror. "I'm dancing. Or being forced to, at least."

An amused smirk appeared on Luke's face as he started to prepare the coffee that would keep them awake. "So . . . you and Cherry, huh?"

"Don't." Jess immediately pointed an accusatory finger at him, narrowing his eyes as Luke lifted his arms in defence. "I owed Cherry a favour, and she thinks it's funny to ask for it now. Nothing more, nothing less."

Luke raised his eyebrows, not entirely convinced but humming a response, shaking his head lightly. Luke owed Cherry a lot too, for giving Jess a chance when the rest of the town seemed to hold a grudge against the young boy, not giving him a chance to figure out who he was. Feeling what Luke was thinking from across the room, Jess exited the apartment and started to head towards  the gymnasium, where the dance was going to be held. He could feel the cold gripping his limbs as he stuck his hands into his pockets. 

He couldn't help but feel slightly giddy as he entered where the food was being kept. Yet seeing Rory and Dean approach him was the last thing he wanted, especially as she was accompanied by her boyfriend. He pretended to not have seen them, but it was impossible to ignore them when Rory planted herself in front of him, arms crossed over her chest as her bright blue eyes searched his. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here." he retorted in a deadpan tone.

Rory didn't appreciate it though. "So you're telling me you've got nothing better to do than sit inside a gymnasium, staring at a dance competition?"

"Who said I wasn't dancing?"

Before Rory could scoff, someone bounded in, a mess of blonde curls as her arms wrapped around Jess with an infectious laugh. "Good morning! Ready to bust some dance moves?" suddenly noticing Jess wasn't alone, she turned to his companionship with a smile. "Hey Rory! You and Dean dancing together?"

Rory stood there, slightly perplexed. She couldn't help but notice how Jess's eyes trailed Cherry's figure, which wore a silk silver dress with her blonde hair perfectly arranged in curls that floated around her rosy complexion. How come Cherry had managed to convince Jess to dance? Would he have agreed for her?

Realising the group was awaiting an answer, Rory gulped and shook her head. "No, I . . . I'm dancing with my mom." 

Cherry smiled warmly, making Rory feel guilty for the way she felt. "Well, good luck. Me and Jess are going to give it our all."

"Speak for yourself." he grumbled, but the soft smile on his face revealed that he'd do anything for the blonde. Anything. And that caused Rory's emotions to build up until she snapped. But that didn't happen until towards the end of the night. 

It had been twenty hours into the competition. Cherry had kicked off her heels to a side and now danced barefooted, her head leaning on Jess's shoulder as they both slowly waltzed across the room. Exhaustion manifested itself across the room, with eyelids starting to flutter shut and yawns spreading infectiously on everyone's features. 

Jess chuckled as Cherry yawned. "You regretting doing this now?"

"No." she bluffed, but when she yawned again, she admitted defeat. "Okay, fine. I'm exhausted. Who knew twenty-four hours of dancing would take this much energy?"

"I could have told you that." he retorted, making her scrunch her nose.

"Oh shush." a few beats of silence passed between the two, and she could feel his heart beating through his shirt, and Cherry pulled away her head, her eyes staring up at his. "If you want to stop, it's fine by me. I'm surprised we lasted this long, if I'm being honest."

Amusement rolled off her tongue, but her eyes looked up expectantly at him. Jess just stared at her, scared of telling her he never wanted to let go. He shrugged, looking away. "You want to give up now? We only have four hours left."

Unconvinced, Cherry kept staring at him, but smiled. "If you say so."

"Come on, stand on my feet."

Cherry frowned, chuckling slightly as she thought Jess was joking. "What?"

"Just stand on my feet. I'll do the dancing for us both for a bit." when Cherry seemed unconvinced, Jess reassured her. "Come on, it'll be fun."

But as soon as Cherry did so, Jess started to twirl the two around. Cherry laughed, gripping unto Jess as her arms held tightly around his neck. Ignoring everyone who stared and wondered how the two teenagers managed to remain this energetic after so long, the two just felt like it was only them two – and that's how it would be for the rest of their lives. Cherry and Jess.

But for the meantime, other people would intertwine themselves between the two. And this time, it was Rory Gilmore, dancing with Dean as Lorelai had to disappear using a yellow card for the meantime. Her baby blue eyes had not abandoned the happy duo, then and again quipping snarky comments about them without realising that Dean was neither interested nor happy about it, clenching his jaw. 

As Cherry laughed loudly as Jess spin her around once again, Rory scoffed, pressing her lips together. "There they go again. Don't they ever get tired? Flaunting their energy is just extremely selfish."

Not realising that Dean was not responding, Rory gasped when she felt someone push into her. Glaring, she didn't care whether it was an accident or not – the fact that it was Cherry and Jess made the matter worse.

"Sorry." Cherry giggled, tipsy on her feet from all the spinning. "We didn't see you there."

"Sure." Rory muttered, turning away slightly as she rolled her eyes. "Just watch were you're going, okay?"

Jess frowned confused, is hand tightening around Cherry's waist. "You got a problem?"

"No, just a bit tired of seeing you guys make so much noise." 

Cherry frowned confused at the sudden hostility. "Excuse me?"

But Jess stepped in quickly. "What is it any of your business what we do? We'll dance and scream if we want to, and you should simply turn away and pay attention to your boyfriend instead of bothering us."

"Sorry, she can't. I'm not her boyfriend anymore." 

Dean's statement seem to bring the whole scene to a standstill. Rory widened her eyes in confusion, Jess straightened his posture in curiosity and Cherry felt her lips part. "What?"

"You know, I tried to ignore this. I really did. But . . . I don't know what the hell I was thinking." Dean explained, shaking his head as his gaze was simply trained on Rory as he let her go, the four completely forgetting the competition and their surroundings. "You don't want to be with me, Rory!"

Rory avoided his gaze, and Cherry sighed. "Yes, I do."

Shaking his head, Dean continued. "You've been into Jess since he got to town, and I've spent weeks – months, actually – trying to convince myself that it wasn't true, that everything was fine between us. But it's been obvious all this time."

"What's obvious, what did I do?"

"Everyone can see, Rory!" he shouted, attracting the attention of those still awake. "You're into him, and you're jealous because he's been giving all his attention to Cherry. And I'm tired, but I'm over it. So go ahead, do whatever you want. I don't care anymore." 

And with that, Dean stalked away, leaving Rory standing perplexed. Cherry hesitated, uncertain on whether she should go after Dean or comfort Rory, who now started to walk away slowly in the other direction. Before she had the chance to choose, she could feel Jess's grip slither away from her, letting go off her completely. 

"Where are you going?" Cherry asked. 

Jess stood there, a similar lost look in his eyes as he glanced between Cherry and Rory's silhouette, which kept walking further away. 

And in a split second choice, Cherry found herself alone, standing in a gymnasium with her date chasing some other girl.

long time no see! 

i'm back! the all too well short film inspired me to continue writing this 

also new cover made by @illicitfilmblush so shout out to them!