I was wiping down a table in Luke's diner on a Saturday afternoon. The place was relatively empty except for Babette and Morey who sat in a corner table. Luke had gone out to get some stuff from Doose's since we had run low on coffee beans and some other stuff.

I waited behind the counter for Jess to come down so we could head out and get lunch together. But he was running late and I couldn't exactly leave now since no one else was there to manage the diner.

"Hey, sugar!" Babette called from her table as I smiled in response. "You mind refilling our coffee?"

"You got it," I say as I grabbed the coffee pot that sat on the counter and headed over to their table. As I refilled their cups I heard the heavy sound of footsteps from behind me, probably Jess.

I turned around to see him standing behind the counter with his back to me. Jess was wearing a brown collared shirt with a pair of slacks. I put back the pot of coffee on the counter and went up to him with a smile.

"Hey," I greeted with a smile as he turned around to face me.

"Hey, Cherry," he kissed me lightly as I looked up at him with a frown.

His skin around his left eye was bruised and cut up. I winced as I took in the injury, my eyes scanned across his face to see if he was hurt anywhere else but it seemed that he was lucky. No where else on his face seemed to be inured at all.

I take his face in my hand and move his head to the side so I can look at it closer. "Oh my god! Are you okay?" I ask frantically as he groaned at my question. I brush my hands across his face gingerly, careful not to hurt him.

"Calm down," he placed his hand on my shoulder. He looked into my eyes to get me to stop freaking out but it wouldn't help at all.

I push his hands of me and take a small step back. "What the hell happened to you?" I exclaim catching the attention of Babette and Morey. The black eye on his face didn't seem to disappear no matter how hard I stared at it. It was like one big ugly sign saying 'Look at me!'

"Stop it, you're overreacting." He tells me with a sneaky glance in Babette and Morey direction. The two of them try -and fail- to hide their interested gaze by avoiding all eye contact.

"I'm overreacting?" I repeat incredulously. "Look at your face! I think if my boyfriend gets a black eye I deserve to overreact!" I gesture to his bruised up face which gave me a pang of nostalgia to when he fought Chuck Presby.

"It's no big deal," he says with a pleading look, trying to convince me to drop it. "Nothing happened."

"Did you get into a fight?" I ask as I tilt my head to side. I pressed my lips into a fine line as I cross my arms over my chest.

Jess clenched his jaw as he answered me. "No," he said sternly. "Will you drop this?"

I shake my head at him, some stray hair from my ponytail falling into my eyes. "I am not gonna drop this until you tell me what happened," I say as I brush some hair out of my face.

"You wanna know what happened?" He asked with an icy stare my way. I open my arms wide for him to continue. "Nothing, that's what happened."

I was foolish to think he would actually answer me honestly. "Why don't you just tell me what happened?" I exclaimed exasperatedly as Jess scoffed. "Is it your ego? Your pride?"

"No," he answered with a glare my way.

"Is it cause you got in a fight?" I ask again hoping for him to answer me truthfully for once. We both knew that he had been trying so hard stop getting into fights so it would make sense for him to lie about it.

He points his finger at me accusingly. "I told you, I didn't get in a fight!" He raised his voice, his anger getting the best of him.

"Then tell me what happened!" I argue back with a frown. "I don't get it, why won't you just tell me?"

"Cause I don't need to explain myself to you," he spit out with his arms wide open. "I don't have to tell you anything!"

I glare at him with an amused look on my face. "Oh, so you don't have to, do you?" I sneer at him, fed up with him. You're supposed to tell each other things in a relationship. That's how it worked.

"No I don't," he says with hostility laced in his voice. He sent me a mocking smile.

I let out a bitter laugh at his words. "Fine," I said angrily as I stomped pass him toward the door. I ignored the looks sent my way by Babette and Morey as I took my coat of the pegs by the door. If he didn't want to tell me anything then I didn't have to wait for him to open his mouth.

Shrugging my coat on, I opened the door. "Where are you going?" Jess asked me from behind the counter as he ran his hand though his hair in frustration.

He looked over at me longingly as I adjusted the coat on my shoulders with my hand on the open door. "Oh I'm sorry," I say with fake regret in my voice. "I thought we didn't have to tell each other anything," I repeat his words from before as I watch his face look crestfallen.

With that I sent him one last overly fake smile as I slammed the door behind me on the way out.

~~~

I sat on the bridge over looking the lake alone with my legs skimming the surface of the water. The small pile stones that sat beside me were getting smaller as time passed. I took a storm from the pile in  my left hand and pulled my hand back before releasing the stone into the depths of the lake angrily.

The stone I threw almost hit a nearby swan, making it hiss at me. I almost hissed back in annoyance but stopped myself. Unlike swans, I had a big enough brain to know that hissing at people were not okay. Stupid swans, stupid birds. Birds had given me a very traumatic childhood.

From the chicken that chased me around the farm as a child to the peacock that stole little eight year old me's handbag. I had my favourite toy phone in there. It was safe to say that birds didn't like me and I didn't like them.

Picking up another stone, I threw it up in the air a few times before catching it. My arm was pulled back, ready to throw when a voice interrupted me.

"There you are!"

I jumped in surprise as the stone slipped from my grasp and fell on my head. Making me wince in pain as I rubbed my head soothingly.

My body turned to face who has interrupted my me time. I looked up to see Rory standing a few feet away from me with her hands in her pocket. Her hair was in a neat braid as she tucked a few stray strands behind her ear.

"Sorry," she apologised sheepishly as she took a seat beside me. The pile of stones between us.

"It's fine," I brush her apology away as I pick up another stone in my hand. I turned it around in my palm as I spoke. "What're you doing here?"

"I heard about the fight," she admits with her blue eyed gaze on the trees across the lake. I see her fingers lay tangled in the lap of her skirt.

I let out a light laugh at her words. "Babette?" I ask already knowing the answer.

Rory nods her head softly, "Babette," she confirmed. "How're you feeling?"

"I just don't get it!" I exclaim as I throw the stone into the lake before standing up abruptly. "Why won't he just tell me?"

I pace across the bridge as Rory stays in her seat. "Maybe he's embarrassed?" She suggested as she looks up at me. Her hand shielding her eyes from the sun.

"Embarrassed of what?"

"You know, that he got in a fight." She explains slowly as she gauged my reaction.

I stop my pacing to shake my head at her, dismissing her theory. "He didn't get into a fight."  

"How do you know?"

"Cause he said he didn't," I tell her confidently. If he says he didn't then he didn't.

"But," Rory starts cautiously. "It's Jess."

I frown, not understanding what she meant. "So?"

"He could have lied," she says as if it's obvious.

"No, he wouldn't do that." I reply back with a nod of my head. "Besides, who would he even get into a fight with?"

"Josh?" She tried to come up with an argument.

I shake my head at her again with a frown. "I already told him that there was nothing to worry about," I stated. "Plus, Josh looks like he can punch as well as my grandmother."

"But-" I cut Rory off with a pointed look.

"If he says he didn't get into a fight, then he didn't." I snap at her angrily. "He may not want to tell me things but he's not a liar."

Rory stayed silent after my outburst. Realising that I may have been a bit harsh toward her, I sit back down next to her, ready to apologise. "I'm sorry."

She waved her hand in the air. "It's fine," she sent me a small smile.

"It's just getting to me, this whole thing." I admit with a heavy sigh. This was probably Jess and I's first fight since we'd been together. "How do you and Dean do it?"

"Dean is another story," she says with a light laugh. "He expects me to tell him everything and vice versa. Sometimes he gets mad even if I don't tell him what I had for breakfast."

"Yikes," I voice my sympathy as Rory nods along, agreeing with me. "Guess they both got something they need to work on."

"You bet," she agreed.

~~~

I was walking home from the bookstore later that evening. The sun was setting in the distance, casting bright golden light against the town. I look down at my shoes as I walk, trying to fit my footsteps into the small rectangle shaped cobblestone of the sidewalk.

Rory had taken me book shopping to cheer me up, but left early to go meet Dean at the movies. I didn't mind honestly, it gave me some time to think about the whole situation with Jess.

Should I talk to him first? Or should he be the first one to make the move. I really had no clue. This was the first time we'd ever fought and it was confusing to say the least. Was he in the wrong, or was it all my fault for wanting him to open up to me.

But it seemed like something you'd tell your partner. You know, like 'Hey, I got a black eye' and then they'd say how they got it and it'd all be over. Then I'd help clean him up a bit it like one of the scenes from the movies.

I was so engrossed in my thoughts -and fitting my footsteps in the rectangles in the ground- that I didn't notice Jess who leaned against the lamppost by my house, until he spoke up.

"Hey, Cherry." He greeted, making me look up from the ground with an alarmed expression. When I realised it was just him, I rolled my eyes.

I walked over to him and stood a few feet away from him. "What're you doing here?" I ask.

"You didn't exactly tell me where you went," at my raised eyebrow he held up his hands in defence. "Which I totally deserved." He added. "So I've been here for a few hours."

The last part that he said made my heart melt. He'd been waiting here for hours. But I wasn't gonna give in that easily. "So?" I asked, waiting for him to say something.

"I'm sorry," he told me with sincerity in his brown eyes. "I shouldn't have yelled," he apologised.

"Well, maybe I did overreact." I admitted with a tiny smile.

Jess shakes his head at me with a ghost of a smile on his face. "You had every right to since I showed up with a black eye."

"Does this mean you're gonna tell me what happened?" I ask hopefully as I look up at him.

He nods his head before speaking. He took my hands in his. "I was just messing around with a couple of buddies with a football. Then one of them kicked it right in my face," he explained.

I look at him skeptically. There was something off about what he said. The way it seemed to rehearsed. I pull away from him with a frown. "I'm not going to stay here if you're gonna lie to me," I tell him sternly.

Jess' face falls as I take a step away from him. I began to make my way toward my house when he spoke up again. "It was a swan by the lake."

I stop in my tracks and turn to face him. "A what?" I ask not believing what I heard.

"A stupid swan," he mumbled just loud enough for me to hear. His cheeks heat up as he walks over to me. I look into his eyes to see he was telling the truth.

One thing was for sure, Rory was right. He was embarrassed, just not about what we thought. "Poor baby," I cooed as I cup his cheek in my hand.

"It's a vicious bird," he leaned into my touch as I tried not to laugh at how sad he sounded. "I'm gonna get it back."

"Sure you are," I nodded as I pulled him in. He leaned his head in the crook of my neck as my hands went up to his hair. "They are pretty scary," I agreed as I remembered how the bird hissed at me earlier.

He pulled his head up but kept his arms around me. "It just came out of nowhere then bam! Beaked me right in the eye!" He recounted the story as I felt a grin creeping onto my face. "You're laughing," Jess pointed out with a look at my face.

"No I'm not," I lied as I bit my lip to contain my laughter. They may be very scary birds but watching Jess go on about how he got 'beaked' was just too amusing not to laugh. "I've just never heard someone use beaked as a verb before."

"I thought you wanted the truth!" Jess groaned as a few giggles escaped my lips.

"I do and I really appreciate it." I kiss him lightly on the lips. "But you have to admit it's pretty funny." I laugh ecstatically.

"Weren't you the one who got chased by a pigeon?" He changed the subject with an accusing look down at me.

I tsk at him. "It was a chicken," I correct. He just rolled his eyes at me. "But thank you, for telling me about the swan. Really."

"If we're gonna make this relationship work, we've gotta communicate." Jess says as if quoting someone. The Jess I know couldn't have come to this realisation by himself.

"Did you swallow a self help book on the way here?" I joke as he kissed my forehead.

"Nah," he said. "Luke just knocked some sense into me." He continued with a small smile.

"Thank god, someone finally did."