"You didn't just do that," Vik said as Simon pulled away from him, both looking absolutely astounded. "Please tell me you didn't just do that."
"Me?" Simon accentuated dramatically and put a hand to his chest. "You kissed back."
"Shuddup!" Vik yelled and pushed him back, "You initiated it. I can't believe you just did that." Simon stared at him, incredibly hurt for a moment; but it wasn't because Vik was offended Simon had kissed him. It was because they had now both betrayed Veroncia, and Vik wasn't admitting it. If it wasn't also his fault that Vik had just cheated on her, Simon would've been mad at him. Vik met his eyes. "Oh my god. I can't believe I just did that."
Then it really hit Simon. What had he just done? "I—You said you liked me. I thought you were over it!"
"I thought you were over it," Vik responded.
"You have to break up with Veronica," Was Simon's response.
"Excuse me?" Vik asked, "I'm not doing that."
"You just—I just—you have to."
"I don't want to."
"I doubt she's going to take anything you want into consideration."
Before Vik could response, they heard the front door open and Vik's mom greet somebody. Instantly, they both knew who it was. While Veronica wasn't allowed to stay at Vik's alone, his mom had specifically requested that she still check up on everybody else during their Vik-watching shifts. She was going on a business trip and trusted Veronica the most, just not enough to leave her alone with her son.
"But you'd better be honest," Simon added, "before she breaks you."
"Breaks up with me?" Vik asked hopefully, squinting as thought a punch was already being aimed at him.
"No."
"I figured that's what you meant," Vik said with a sigh. "But it never hurts to hope for the best."
The boys stared at each other in silence, wondering where what had just happened had even come from, while they waited for Veronica to finish talking to Vik's mom and come upstairs. When she came in, she was holding a couple of drinks she had bought from the new cafe in the mall food court. She was still tutoring Finn—because even though she'd already gotten his number for Liz and Jaeden had already said no to their relationship, she was trying to come up with a plan to reverse that. Not one word was said as she closed the door behind her with her hip. If she hadn't been so focused on carrying three drinks at once, she would've noticed the sketchy atmosphere in the room.
"Here." She handed Simon a drink, then put her own down on Vik's bedside table. She then urged Vik to sit straighter up and shoved his drink near his mouth. "Drink."
"It's alright," He tried to grab his drink and tell her. "I have hands, thank you."
"Oh, yeah? And I have compassion for my broken boyfriend," She retaliated and slapped his moving hands away, pushing his drink further toward him. "Drink." He took a sip from the straw and tried not to look at Simon, who was slurping down his drink and trying desperately to make eye contact with him, so they figure out what they were going to do. "I can't believe it."
"Huh?" Simon almost dropped his drink. "Can't believe what?"
"That game! The conclusion." She set Vik's drink down and leaned back in the chair she had sat down in. "Seriously, tore his ACL and they're not postponing your next game to give you guys time to find a new member? I almost think Jaeden has something to do with it all."
