Hi! well, this is the second chapter of my story and I wanna warn you that I did an adjustment on the first one, because I wrote that it was Sunday 25th, when in reallity it was Monday 25th. Sorry for that.

Thanks alot to MoJo for telling me the typing mistakes and everything! Why is Claire at the door..? you'll find out soon! Muahahaha!! And I'm glad you're liking the story so far haha :D. I hope to see you arround soon.

Big thanks also to RandomPersonOfDoom for the obvious interest haha! It put a smile on my face! :D And don't worry, the story is flowing well and I'll upload every time a chapter is made.

Astrakane thank you for reviewing!! it really, really makes me happy when people do that and when they like my work! thanks again for it and here's the next chapter for you :)

Also ppl, you can give me some ideas about how do you think the story should go, just to prevent writers block ;).

XOXO,

Andy

The Cherries Of The World

Yes, it was her. She had her hair a bit longer, and her makeup was flowing down trough her face, but it was sure Claire. She looked at him in disbelief, her tears now brimming from her brown eyes. She was crying, and apparently drunk. Why? Bender thought. It didn't matter, because in a second she had her arms around his uncovered waist, sobbing loudly against his chest.

"Help me, please help me..." she mumbled, holding him tighter with every word. What could he do?

John opened the door a bit more and let her in. It wasn´t his house, but it was 3 am in the morning and Vlad for sure wouldn't mind to let in a poor, indefence girl, and much less one that was crying for help this hardly. He closed the door with the girl still sticked to him and backed until his knees crashed with tthe couch. She crawled in his lap then, still sobbing.

"It's okay princess... it's okay" he said against her ear, as she hid her face on his shoulder and passed both of her arms around his neck tightly. She was still trembling, so, warily, he started to rub her back up and down gently. It worked. Her body calmed down eventually and her grip started to loose up, as Morpheus drove her slowly to Dream Land. He then took a moment to look at her asleep figure. Damn, she was still so beautiful. She wore an spaghetti striped black dress, a really, really tight one, that showed every curve of her slim figure. Growth had proportioned her a more defined shape he could see, while his eyes traveled down her body. But, wait, what was that? Looking with more detail, the dress fabric was a bit ripped at the end, by the side of her leg, and had small threads pointing in every direction, obviously out of place. She was also bare footed. Afraid of waking her up, he didn't dare to move so he could check for any further misplaced facts, so he just stayed there, ignoring it and trying in someway to comfort whatever pain she was in.

After a while he carried on with the back rubbing and she snuggled more against him. John liked that. Until now he hadn't noticed how much he mised that little girl, how his whole body and mind reacted to her unique smell, wich still remained the same even though the stink of spensive alcohol surrounded her. He then hugged her a bit more, and started to rub her left arm, but at the touch she flinched on her sleep. He took a closer look to the skin, and saw the purple stain slowly starting to appear there.

A sound coming from the bathroom interrupted the peaceful silence, and Vlad opened the door.

"Hey man! Where the fuck are you?" He shouted. Claire moved a bit on her sleep and Bender husshed her before whispering to his friend "I'm here! Shut up!"

"Why are you whis..." Vlad closed his mouth middle phrase when he came out to the living room and saw the scene. "Isn't that... Cherry?" he asked, now whispering too.

"Yes, and you should shut the fuck up before you wake her!" Bender whispered back.

"Sorry mother, I didn't know we had company".

"Look Vladimir Alexei..." John said, in a mother's reproval tone "or you shut up or there will be consequences!"

"No please mom! Not the Spanker!" Vlad said.

They laughed softly at their own joke, but suddely stopped when a little giggle sounded. Claire was laughing, apparently awake. She mumbled "The spanker..." and then fell asleep again. With the silence that her motion brought, came the unevitable question.

Vlad did it by lifting his shoulders and Bender mouthed an "I'll tell you later". Then, he carefully stood up and took Claire on his arms, taking her to the main room and laying her on the bed.

He owed an explination to Vlad for using his room and everything, and for the Prom Queen cuddled previously on his arms.

"What's going on Bender?" asked Vlad when he came out.

"I... I don't know. She just rang the door bell a few minutes ago. Man she was crying and I think she was drunk... and she was obviously lost. I couldn't let her outside, ya know?"

"Drunk? The queen drank something beyond soda? That's unbelievable..." he trailed off with thoughts and then continued "Did she say why she was crying?"

"Nope, but it was sure a pretty fucked up shit. She was bare footed and her dress was a bit ripped..."

"Uhm... I think I heard about a big party the ritchies were having tonight. Maybe Cherry was there".

"Tonight? Doesn't she have to go to school later? I mean, I don't think she is the kind of girl that sleeps only a few hours and it's fine with it".

"No Johnny, she's not us" Vlad joked, but this time the brown haired boy didn't laugh.

"I'm serious Vlad. Besides, what the hell was she doing in this part of town? It's far from the ritchies zone".

"Oh please, I don't know why you worry that much! You don't remember the bitterness she hold you to during the last 4 months of school?"

"I don't care man. Bitch or no bitch she needs help, and I'm giving it to her. Please let me do it. Besides, I'm... worried. Well, any way is not like I'm going to be her rescuer or something. I've never belonged with the Cherries of the world and I'm aware of it ".

"Whatever. You know what you're doing."

Vladimir was usually a good person, one who wouldn't doubt for a second in giving a hand to someone that needed it, but that one was a diferent matter to him. He simply hated the way 'Cherry', as they referred to Claire, used to treat Bender. He saw him crushed lots of times last year, mumbling while druged or drunk about how much he missed her, and speaking of how much pained him that he "didn't belong with the Cherries of the world". But he couldn't keep going on that subject. He knew there were things Bender didn't stand to talk about for long periods of time.

"Hey... ya know? Charlie's coming tomorrow after school. She said she wanted to see you." Vlad said after a long while of uncomfortable silence.

"Yeah? Sweet! I miss that little bastard so much...".

Vlad laughed and answered "She said the same thing when I told her you were coming".

"Is the rest coming? I think we should go out or something. You still go to that metal parties we used to?"

"Not the sames, too much dope. See, we followed your recovering path... specially when we found out that screwing people when sober was waaaaay funnier".

Then they laughed and at the end decided to call their friends later and tell them about going out on the weekend.

"Uhm John, were the fuck am I going to sleep?"

"How would I know?"

"Well, I could allways go to my bed and hug that yummy thing that sleeps there" Vlad pulled his eyebrows up over and over again to Bender, as his expression turned somber.

"I'd drag you back here" Okay, he didn't know why he would, but he couldn't keep his reaction hidden. That way Vlad asked him to chill and he did so, offering the couch instead of the occupied bed.

"And were will you sleep?" asked Vlad after that.

"Not of your bussiness honey!" he said, using his pervert voice.

"Great pervert, thanks".

Bender chuckled "Dontcha' get mad at me Vlady!!"

"No, no, I'm pissed" he said with false anger.

"Awwww... do you wan't a kiss to make you fill better?"

"Uh... no! It's okay man! I forgive you!" Vlad said, hurrying his steps toward the couch and launching there.

John just laughed and really then, when his red haired friend was closing his eyes, he thought about where was he going to sleep. The floor was hard, but it wasn't so bad, just like his old days back at his parents place. His parents... oh no. A handful of disgusting memories filled his head again and was then when he noticed that Claire was the only thing that could remove the always present memories out of his mind, even if it was just for a moment. Christ... this was a hard decision.

At the end he decided a bit of both, and went to his friend's room where Claire was sleeping. He layed down on the floor next to her and reached a hand up to take hers that was falling out of bed. It felt so tiny on his huge hand, his rough skin... so warm, that even like that, shirtless and laying against the cold floor, his body felt cozy.

Cozy... that was a word and a feeling he wouldn't dare to reckon a year ago, but he was now 17 and the journey he had made showed a more mature side of John Bender.

He wasn't afraid of those sensations any more, and he was going to take advantage of every one of them while they lasted.

Revieeewwssss ppl!!! reviewwwwsss!!! they help me to keep going!