#cherrylulu

[goodgollymisshollywood]

text: ☆* cheersquad *☆

Holly: I don't know how to say this [unsent]

Holly: Guys I...

Holly: There was...in my locker, there was a note.

Holly: It was...it wasn't signed but it was from Coach G

Holly: she's okay but I don't think she plans on coming back.

[merrickwood]

text ✉️ lulu 💕

Merrick: Thank you for this weekend. I know I wasn’t exactly a lot of fun and I know things are complicated but

Merrick: You’re the best best friend. And I love you. And I left you some presents on your bed this afternoon. 💜💜💜

[ethjenkins]

EJ  ⇄ LJ

Ethan: can we talk?

[riversidechlo]

who: chloe alpin and lulu jenkins what: chloe decides that its about time to let lulu in on the happenings of her life when: thursday, october 24th, afternoon

She puts her phone down on the bed, moving quietly over to the mirror to look at herself. Or more so her ever-growing stomach. It’s there and noticeable to the people that actually paid attention to her and for her, she notices every tiny inch that she grows because she’s trying to remember it all. Take in every detail in the case in the end, she has to say goodbye. 

She’s not exactly happy about her situation, but she’s also not sad about it either. Not for the reasons that she should be. Taking just one more moment to engrave the image in her head, she grabs Bradley’s hoodie off her bed and throws it on. It’s been her saving grace at school because most people don’t think twice about the girl in the hoodie especially with the colder weather coming through.

Her feet patter against the cold wooden floor as she heads to the kitchen, getting the drinks that she had promised Lulu ready and waiting. The smell of alcohol lingering in the air - one that she had gotten used to over the course of the summer and the taste that she surprisingly missed. It was as if she could almost taste the tartness and she wasn’t even drinking. The bottle and glass move to the living room table where she sets it up and waits.

It wasn’t long before the knock on the door brought her out of her mindset and she almost ran to it, instantly opening it and embracing Lulu in her arms for just a few minutes before she pulls away, the smile planted on her face. “Can we not go that long without seeing each other, Lu? I’ve got the vodka already set out on the table for you if you want it.” She pulls Lulu into the house and settles onto the couch, blanket wrapping around her body. “Are you okay? Like no lies.”

[merrickwood]

text ✉️ lulu 💕

Merrick: So what are we doing for the big day? My BFF only turns 16 once. Whatever you want, it’s yours.

[merrickwood]

text ✉️ lulu 💞

Merrick: We should do something special for Gigi’s birthday.

[ethjenkins]

EJ ⇄ LJ

Ethan: Lu? i gotta talk to you about something.

[merrickwood]

text ✉️ lulu 💕

Merrick: Hey, I’m sending Ethan the Dog up with your brother and some more food so you two don’t starve to death / drink on empty stomachs. Is there anything else you might need?

Merrick: I know you don’t plan on staying much longer but if you at least stay the weekend, you’ll have to deal with home a lot less come Monday.

[ethjenkins]

EJ ⇄ LJ

Ethan: thank you.

[riversidechlo]

ca ⇄ lj

Chloe: Hey, my love.

Chloe: It feels like it's been forever and a day since I've seen you.

Chloe: How are you?

[merrickwood]

TEXT ✉ MERLU

Lulu: ugh, i can’t feel my anything

Lulu: i can’t believe you talked me into going to practice and then also encouraged me to take that 7th tequila shot

Lulu: when did You become the bad influence?

Merrick: One tequila, two tequila, three tequila floor. It's not my fault you handle your liquor better than I do. Besides, I needed the excuse to keep going too - even if I think I slept for six hours after practice today.

Merrick: You know when I'm in a weird spot with Holly I get extra reckless. Besides, you're the bad influence enough - don't I get a turn now and again?

[merrickwood]

text ✉ lulu ❤️

Merrick: I don’t know what he’s told you or if he has but he said he was going to and I’m too big of a coward to stop him but

Merrick: I’m sorry. I fucked up. I know you told me not to go after him and Lulu, I tried. But things just kind of happened and in the moment I couldn’t think about anything but how much I lo

Merrick: I feel awful. I hate avoiding you. I hate that I hurt you. I’m so, so sorry.

[ethjenkins]

EJ ⇄ LJ

Ethan: mom gave me cash and a grocery list... can you explain to me why i'm actually at the store right now looking at freaking lemons?

[goodgollymisshollywood]

Text: ☆*Lulu*☆

Holly: ✨ Happy sweet 16th Little Lulu ✨

Holly: I have your present here wrapped and ready for whenever you want to come pick it up.

[merrickwood]

something that we’d die for

who: @riversidelulu & @merrickwood when: saturday, august 24th, night  what: the best friends have a massively overdue heart to heart while getting their first tattoos together

As if life couldn’t get any worse, Lulu had to have had what was, on record, the worst 16th birthday a girl could ask for. Merrick had debated throwing her a party, but after the bash of the previous weekend, she wasn’t sure who would be up for it ( and really, if Lulu was, considering the state of things. ) So instead, she had brought over a pile of Lulu’s favorite movies, burgers from the diner and a cake she had made for her best friend, and they’d curled up on the couch and watched TV until they fell asleep. 

( And when, later that night, Merrick saw Ethan in the kitchen, she didn’t say anything to him, just stared momentarily, opening her mouth before closing it once again. ‘Pause’ she had said. And immediately, she regretted it. But Lulu was waiting for her, and ultimately - no matter what - Lulu was more important. ) 

By Saturday, they both needed to get out of their skin for a little while, push boundaries, do something stupid. A girls night, just like they always had. And with Lulu officially a licensed driver, Merrick was content to let her take the wheel while she controlled the stereo, picking out loud bops for them to sing along to on the way to Lulu’s ‘guy’ who would give two underage girls a tattoo on a Saturday night.

“How, exactly, do you know this guy?” Merrick asked again, scrolling through her phone to absentmindedly from the passenger seat. “Not that I don’t, like, totally trust you, but, this guy is willing to give two hot teens a tattoo. Should we have brought one of the guys along for safety?”

[ethjenkins]

four walls may not be a home but your soul is // @riversidelulu

late august 19, probably into august 20 (lulu’s birthday)

Lulu had always been the most important person to Ethan; from the day she was born, she was more his sister than she was their parents’ daughter. As they grew up, he was the one who looked after her. Somewhere around the time they he started high school, Ethan realized he’d have to learn how to provide for her too. She would be a teenage girl soon and they had needs - not just things like food and school supplies, but she’d need to pay for cheerleading and clothes and makeup. Things that teenage girls used to survive in the world and he wasn’t going to let his sister go without those kinds of weapons.

Still, he was only an older brother, ill equipped to deal with actually raising a teenage girl. Holly and Merrick and the rest of the squad helped with the actual terms of being a girl but Ethan knew. One of the biggest betrayals of their mom leaving them was that Lulu didn’t have a mother. She knew, she felt it as much as he did, that they were missing out on something.

Which made the anger and the rage that much worse every time their mom decided to show up. Once every now and then, always ironically after a time they might have actually needed her. And this time it was after Coach Brock and his wife’s funeral. When nerves were already raw and seeing her try to play family with a man who’d never been a father... it hurt more than anything.

So they had the idea to run. Ethan pulled up to their house, laughing at the mess of clothes on the front lawn, a suitcase upside down under a tree. Lulu ran down the front steps, kicking a short skirt as she ran to his car. A small bag of her own, another he recognized as his, thrown into the back.

“Get me the fuck out of here?” she whispered, leaning her head on his shoulder as he shifted gears. 

“Right now,” he agreed, peeling out, dust kicking up behind the car as he drove.

They headed to Merrick’s first. Which twisted his stomach about a dozen different ways, but mostly because, once again, he had no idea where he stood with her. He loved her. She’d said she loved him. But she was also asking him to back off. Just like she had before. Only this time, instead of using his best friend as the excuse, she was using his sister. The one person he really couldn’t explain away.

Merrick was waiting at the end of the driveway, a few plastic bags of food and the key to the cabin for them. Lulu seemed mostly asleep, exhausted from more than the day, so Ethan was the one to get out.

“Hey,” he said, reaching for the bags. And Merrick smiled, nodding, but was otherwise quiet. Which kind of killed him a little. So he reached out for her, hugging her. It wasn’t a big risk; they hugged all the time. But in the dark, not knowing how they were ever going to work out, it made his heart feel like it’d been put on pause.

He took a quick look back, Lulu slumped against the window. She wasn’t watching. And if Merrick was going to cut him off, then... he wanted to kiss her one last time. So he did that too. His lips on Merrick’s, her hands on his shoulder, sliding down his arm. And he couldn’t help but smile into this; yeah, maybe he’d never get to do this again, no matter what she said, but at least he had this. He had her. He always would.

“Gotta go,” Ethan said and she nodded, also smiling. Her hand was still on his arm and she didn’t let go of him so much as he walked out of her grasp. When he drove away, he saw her step out onto the road to watch until he was gone completely.

It took another half hour to reach the cabin and he drove in silence. Lulu seemed fully asleep when he pulled up, only stirring to the sound of plastic bags crinkling.

“Wake up, sleepyhead,” he said, handing her the bag of chicken as he fished in his pocket for the key Merrick had given him. “Help me bring this stuff in?”