"Polly wants to wait until summer." Jason munched on the bowl full of pretzels at the bar.

"What!?" Cherry whipped the twisted rag across the bar nearly hitting the boy's hand. He pulled it away, looking shocked at his cousin. "I can't wait that long J."

She pulled herself a tequila shot and poured it smoothly down her throat.

"You know I can't wait that long."

She stared down at her empty glass.

"She wants to finish her exams." Jason said quietly. He broke a pretzel into little pieces, watching the crumbs fall on the sticky bar.

Cherry scoffed.

"Summer." She sighed.

"July." Jason added. "Go without us. It's only a few months."

She brushed her fingers through her hair. "A few months is a risk, Jason. What if you change your mind? What if she changes her mind?"

"We won't." He stood up, annoyed at the distrust of his cousin.

" And how do we know that's true?" Cherry rolled her eyes. She was used to the Blossoms. They were all similar in ways, all untrustworthy.

"Because her parents hate me."

Cherry laughed. "Sounds like the Copper's, all full of hatred."

He stared at her. Polly Copper was not like that. Nor was Betty. Just like Cheryl and Jason were nothing like their parents.

"We're running away so we can finally live a happy life, together. And I'll be damned if anyone gets in the way of that! Even you Cherry." He threw a pretzel down on the bar, in anger.

"I love her, Cherry." He choked, standing up off his stool. "I love her. And I'd do anything to make her happy, why don't you understand that?!"

"Because love doesn't exist, Jason!" She shouted back. She had had her doubts about their relationship ever since he told her he wanted Polly to escape with them. "Not at your age! Not at my age!" She gripped tighter on the shot glass, and it broke in her hand. "Love doesn't exist." She whispered, looking down at her bloody hand.

"Who hurt you?" Jason shook his head. He picked up his jersey and left the club and left his cousin.

"Bit of a bold statement." Fp strolled to the end of the bar where Cherry was and leaned across it, peeking at her cut hand.

"Where's your first aid?" Fp asked when she ignored him.

"It's fine." She choked, hiding her hand behind her back.

"Cherry, there's glass stuck in it."

"I said it's fine!" She slid out from behind the bar and quickly walked to the exit of the club, needing the fresh air to hit her.

"Sorry." Cherry muttered as she barged out the back exit and crashed into another body.

"Your hand." He said in shock.

She looked up. His hair was sticking out at every end and his dirty flannel shirt lay over a plain t-shirt.

Fp came running out the club after Cherry and stopped suddenly at the doorway, seeing the pair.

Fred was cradling her hand, inspecting the damage. "Be careful with her." Fp spat. Like many of the men he grew up with, he was also always jealous of his best friend. His relationships were always healthy, stable and full of love. He family life growing up was always healthy, stable and full of love. Three things that FP Jones had struggled for all his life, and never quite achieved. Health. Stability. Love.

"Don't worry, FP. I've got her." He would of normally felt awkward being seen at the strip club, especially by his employee. But he was distracted by the distressed woman in front of him.

"I've got a first aid kit in my car if you want me to patch it up for you." It wasn't really a question, because Fred Andrews wouldn't accept a no.

She nodded and followed the man to his truck parked in the car park. Fp watched as they walked away, before sighing in defeat and reentering into the noisy club to try a distract himself from letting her slip away once again.

Fred opened the glove compartment and pulled out his first aid kit, and walked round the car to where Cherry was sitting in the cargo bed, swinging her bare legs over the edge.

He unzipped it and dabbed cotton wool in anti bacterial. "Working in construction and having a son as clumsy as Archie means I always have to carry it around." He chuckled, trying to distract her from the pain as she winced loudly as the cotton hit the wound.

"The amount of bones that boy has broken scares me." He smiled and Cherry smiled back. "Sometimes I worry it means I'm not a good father." He quietened. Cherry stared down at her hand as he wrapped it up in gauze.

"I bet you're a great father." Cherry smiled at the man.

"Why am I here then?" He sighed. "Wanting to see the girl my son is fooling around with."

"We're not fooling around, if that makes you feel any better."

He shook his head. "Who are you Cherry?" He whispered. "How have you got my attention so easily, so quickly?"

She shrugged. "Is that a bad thing?"

"Yes!" He raised is voice, leaning his hands on either side of Cherry against the truck. "You're too young for all this." He looked up at the club and the rock music that thumped out of his cracks in the brick and open windows in the bathroom. "You're too young for me!"

"Im eighteen, I'm legal." She shuffled forward towards him.

"That's no excuse, that doesn't make it right."

"It's a fucked up world Mr Andrews, and I'm used to doing the wrong things."

His eyes glanced up to the girl, hair blowing in the wind, strong pheromones wafting his way. She was beautiful under the pale moonlight, under the luminous glow of the buzzing neon signs.

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Fuck, I'm going go hell!" He grabbed the back of her neck and their lips melted together with more desperation than Cherry Blossom had ever felt on a man.