Happier

Chapter 18

Lucy is a friend of theirs and when she sees their shook-up faces, she immediately gives them milkshakes for free. They do their story, each one a little different, a little adjustment to every point of view. Not everyone has experienced the same thing in the same way. It's different for everybody.
"I'm sorry, kiddos," Lucy tells them, completely in shock, "I'm glad all of you are still alive and kicking!" she tells them, wrapping her arms around Melanie, who's sitting closest to her.
"So are we," Violet agrees, looking at Lacey in front of her. Lucy gives them a small smile before leaving the group alone and getting back to work. "It's probably going to sound crazy, guys, but I really wanted to be in that classroom with you," Violet tells them, fresh tears welling up in her eyes.
"Believe me, you didn't," Archie tells her, his eyes glued on the marble table in front of him.
"This was the most scared I think I've ever been in my life," Melanie adds, her voice croaky as if she's bound to start crying again.
"Me too," Violet says, "but not because of what was happening, but because I couldn't get to you or do anything to help you or..." she sighs deeply, trying to bring back the tears that are threatening to spill. "Or even say goodbye," her voice breaks and the tears start to escape her dark brown eyes. Lacey reaches a hand across the table to take V's whilst Archie puts an arm around her.
"I-I think the important thing is that no one got hurt," Cole tells them and everyone looks up at him. The girls with tears rolling down their cheeks, the guys with fear in their eyes.
"If anything would've happened to any of you, even you, Cole, I don't think I could've lived with myself," Violet continues to sob. Only slightly ignoring Cole. "I made your lives a living hell, except for little Goldberg," Stacey gives her a little smile through the tears, "You're my best friend, Lacey, and I've hurt you the most the past couple of weeks. I kept thinking while everything was happening that you were going to die not knowing how much I love you. How much I love all you guys," Violet continues her rant, whaling as if there's no tomorrow. There nearly wasn't a tomorrow.
"I know, V," Lacey whispers with a smile on her face. It's so weird thinking something could've happened. They only have a couple of months left together and today, those couple of months could've shortened down really quick. The six of them grow completely silent. Some sip their milkshakes whilst deep in thought about 'what if'. What if any of them actually got shot? What if Cole got shot? Lacey wouldn't be able to live with herself. She wouldn't be able to live at all. That boy is the most important thing in her life. Just like her mom was, but she lost her. If she lost Cole now, she would die. She'd rather die than live on without him. What if Lacey died? Neither Violet nor Archie or Cole could live on. Violet wouldn't be able to live with herself because of all the bad things she'd said to her. Because the last thing V ever said to Lacey was some snarky comment about Cole and her fall off the pyramid. Archie would lose his first love. The one he still loves and always will love. And Cole, he'd miss the love of his life. Without her, he's nothing. She saw him the way he was and not that creepy dude that sits in the corner of the cafeteria writing his stupid stories. Whoever had died, nobody could ever live with themselves. They've all made a few mistakes with one another whether that's cheating or backstabbing. They've all made them. They're all equally as guilty.
"So, seniors of Roosevelt High School," Stacey breaks the silence, trying to enlighten the tension, "who are you all taking to prom this year?" They all look at each other, as if they're deciding who's going to go first.
"Well, obviously, I'm taking Lacey," Cole goes first, "but I have to find a proper promposal first. I don't just want to ask her," he explains, putting his arm around his girlfriend in dismay of Archie. The ginger looks at the couple and feels his heart just break. No, not break. Being ripped out of his body, stepped on it and shred into pieces. He has to be happy for the two, but he just can't. He can't find the strength to be happy for them.
"Aw!" Violet coos, her hand on her heart, swooning over the couple for the first time in a month.
"Hashtag Cacey," Stacey jokes, making everyone laugh except Archie. "Who are you guys taking?" she asks the other three. Violet gives Melanie a glance, shaking her head subtly as if saying "don't say it".
"We're going together," Melanie then blurts out, "as in the three of us." The other five look at the blondie, all of them confused. Neither Archie nor Violet know about that plan. They're equally as confused as the others.
"Wait, what?" Violet asks. From Archie, she just gets a strange look.
"Yeah," Melanie starts, clearly thinking about what she's going to say next, "Archie and Lacey broke up and V broke up with Ryan. None of us have boyfriends or girlfriends to go with, so we'll go together," Violet then suddenly nods, agreeing to her whole made-up-on-the-spot plan.
"Err-yeah, sure," Archie agrees, only slightly hurt by the mention of Lacey and him.
"How about that senior guy from earlier, Stace?" Lacey then asks, wiggling her eyebrows. She has enough courage and is less shook up from the events now, which makes it a good idea to ask.
"Sam?" Stacey asks, a bright scarlet creeping up on her cheeks. The others start whooping and cat-calling. All of them excited to hear what little Goldberg has to say about her new crush. "He's alright," Lacey tilts her head a little, looking at her sister in shock.
"Alright?" she asks.
"Honey, that dude is a senior. A very cute and attractive senior!" Violet nearly yells.
"And he clearly cares about you, otherwise he wouldn't have come up to you after the shooting!" Melanie reminds the little sister. The boys just watch them, amused smiles on their faces.
"I don't know, guys. We've been texting and stuff, but he never really talks to me in school. Today was literally the first time he ever said a word to me," the younger Goldberg explains, clearly upset about the situation.
"Why have you never said anything to me?" Lacey wants to know.
"We never talk about boyfriends, do we?" she has a point. "Besides, you never told me about Cole, I just had to find out." Cole glances over at Archie and notices how uncomfortable he is. He sighs, moves around as if he's trying to adjust the way he's sitting. His brown eyes meet Cole's blue ones and another sigh leaves his body. It's like he's trying to give his ex-best friend a message. He's really fucked up and broken. There's so much Cole wants to say to him, but there's no courage left in him.
"I need to go to the bathroom," Archie then says, trying to hold it in. Trying to hold everything in; the anger, the tears. Everything. He gets up and walks away from the group, all of them watching him.
"Is he okay?" Melanie asks, worried about her best ginger friend.
"I'm going to go check on him," Cole states and shoos his girlfriend out of the booth so he can get out too. The boy goes into the bathroom where his ginger friend just walked in and that's where he finds him. Tears are streaming down his face and he's completely sunk down to the floor. His knees against his chest, arms hugging his legs. "Normally, in the movies, this a thing girls do. Run to the bathroom to cry," Cole comments, trying to enlighten the air. Archie laughs, but it's a sarcastic one.
"I love her, man. I love her so much and I let her go. I drove her into your arms. It's all my fault," the boy cries, not even caring about his dignity anymore. Cole has seen him in worse situations. They're best friends, right? And best friends don't care about what the other looks like. They care about what's inside and what comes out sometimes.
"It's not your fault, man," Cole begins and sits down on the floor next to his buddy, "If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. I made moves on her I shouldn't have. I knew you two were together, but I still did it and I shouldn't have. That's not what friends do to each other," Archie looks up to the boy next to him. Snot and tears run down his face, making him look like an upset toddler.
"When we heard that first shot today, I was glad you were with me. I was glad, because I knew that if I died in that very room, I'd die with you. I'd die with my best friend," the ginger boy narrates. The shot reechoes in his mind, making him flinch slightly. "I'm sorry I dumped you Freshman year, man." A single tear rolls down Cole's cheek, moved by his best friend's speech. To be fair, he wouldn't know what to do if Archie died and he didn't. Like he said, he'd rather die with him than watch him die.
"I love you, man," Cole tells him with a sniffle. He gets up and helps his friend up as well.
"I love you too, man," Archie says back and takes him in for a tight hug. For a few moments, only a few, they stay like that; holding one another and crying as if they hadn't seen each other in ages. As if they wouldn't see each other for ages.

When the boys come back to the table, the group stays at the diner for a little while longer and have a few more milkshakes before they decide to go home. It's getting late and it's a school night, so they better get to bed early. On the way to the Goldberg's, Cole lets everything sink in. He hasn't seen Archie that broken, but at the same time, he's glad he was. At least now, they made up for what happened during Freshman year.
"Are you okay?" Lacey asks once they've arrived home and Lacey lets the three of them in.
"Yeah, just thinking," he tells her and wipes his nose with the back of his hand.
"Do you want to come in for a while? Or are you going home?" she asks her boyfriend.
"Err-I think I'm going to go home, if you don't mind," Lacey gives him a smile and leans in for a sweet kiss. When she steps back, she shakes her head.
"No, I don't mind. I think I'm going to go to bed early anyway," Cole now nods and his lips curl up into that smile Lacey loves oh-so-much. "Tell your parents and Cara hi for me, okay?"
"I will," Cole says and kisses his girlfriend once more before heading home. Lacey watches him until he's completely out of sight so she can go inside. In the living room, she finds her sister on the couch, scrolling through her phone.
"My Twitter and Facebook are filled with today's events at school," Stacey tells her sister without looking up. It's like she has a weird sixth sense and felt her in the room.
"It was pretty intense, wasn't it?" Lacey speaks up and sits down next to her little sister.
"Yeah, it was," she whispers, putting her phone next to her on the couch. "I honestly thought that was it," she confesses. The tears start welling up in her eyes again, along with the feelings she had.
"Yeah, me too. I was so scared," Lacey's voice is soft, like she's scared that if she talks too loudly, she might hit a rewind button and everything would just happen again. She then sighs and opens her arms to hug her sister. They stay like that, in each other's arms. Everything feels so much better when you feel someone close to you. Certainly when it's someone you truly love. Someone you wouldn't want to trade for the world. Someone who deserves the world.
"I wonder what those gunshots actually were if there wasn't an actual shooter in the school," Stacey then breaks the silence, not backing away from the safe embrace of her older sister.
"Me too, actually," they freeze. Neither of them saying anything, but both thinking about the same thing. "Want to watch a movie? I don't think I can sleep at all tonight," Stacey breaks away from the hug now and sits up straight.
"Yes, please. I don't think I can sleep either," the youngest says whilst grabbing the remote. They chose a movie and cuddle up together beneath blankets. It only takes two movies to get them to fall asleep and in the middle of the night, their dad gets home. He watches his daughters on the couch and a smile creeps upon his face. He carefully grabs Stacey without waking her up and brings her upstairs to her bedroom, tucking her in tightly. He presses a soft kiss on her forehead before getting the other sister and carrying her upstairs too. He's heard about what happened on the news, but he couldn't come home sooner. For once, he's actually mad at himself for putting his work before his daughters. They're so precious. He needs to work on his priorities and put his daughters first. From now on until forever.