Play with Fire || c. blossom

9

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
I can assure you, none of you are ready for this chapter! Comment your reactions!

     Cheryl woke with a start. She turned her head, recognizing the sound of the landline. It was Saturday morning, and after checking the time, Cheryl realized someone was calling at seven in the damn morning. Getting out of bed, she walked into the hallway and picked it up, hoping it hadn't woken her Nana up.

    "Hello?"

    "Cheryl, how's your morning?"

    Cheryl's brows furrowed as she tried to recognize the voice. "Aunt Cecilia? It's pleasant ... and yours?"

    "Glad to hear it. I was calling to tell you your Uncle Reginald and I are on our way for a visit. We have urgent matters to discuss."

    Cheryl gulped. "My mother no longer lives —"

    "No, Cheryl, we're coming to see you."

     "Me?" Cheryl asked in disbelief. "Why me?"

     Her aunt was silent. Then, "You'll know soon enough. See you in the afternoon."

    The line went dead.

* * *

    Pop Tate slid the plates of breakfast in front of Cheryl and Betty.

     "And she didn't say why?" Betty asked, starting to butter her toast.

    "That's what 'You'll know soon enough' meant, I'm guessing." Cheryl grabbed the salt shaker and lightly sprinkled some over her eggs.

    Betty bit into the toast and started pondering. "What do you think it's about?"

    "I have a guess, but I don't know for sure."

    "What's your guess?"

      Cheryl sighed. "They want me to sign over my dad's portion of the syrup company."

      "Won't that mean you'll stop getting money from it?"

    Cheryl rolled her eyes. "Like they care." Cheryl leaned forward and split the pancakes between them as well as the side order of fresh fruit. "I'll know more once they get here this afternoon."

    "I hope it's not too bad."

    "Me, too."

     "Cheryl, I'm so sorry, but David is right behind me. I shouldn't have mentioned you'd be here."

    The girls turned to see Archie reaching their booth in a panic before—

    "Hey, cherry girl. And Betty." David instantly took the seat next to Cheryl in the booth. "Morning." He was a breeze of minty breath and a fresh shower. With the way he was leaning towards her, Cheryl felt as though he really wanted her to notice.

    Cheryl blinked away the daze of his beckoning brown eyes and furrowed her brows instead. "What the — why are you here, David? This is a closed invitation, for friends only."

    David shrugged. "I get hungry, same as you."

    "And desperate, too, apparently," Cheryl muttered, looking him up and down. The shirt that was just snug enough, the clean jeans, the knee that was dangerously close to hers; none of this went unnoticed by Cheryl, and she raised a brow at him.

    David only smirked. He could now tell she had definitely noticed his effort in trying to please her. "You know me so well."

    Cheryl frowned and turned her gaze towards Betty and Archie, who were sat across from them. Betty shrugged apologetically, and Archie wasn't meeting her eye. David was oblivious to all of it, as he was reading from the menu.