Stay

Comfort

***VERONICA'S POV***

Rachel opened the door to her mother's motel room, tears streaming down her face. Her eyes widened when she saw J.D and I, and she knew we had been listening in on the conversation. As she began to cry harder, J.D looked at me.
"I told you to stay in the car," I mouthed to him. "This is why."
J.D looked back at Rachel, who was looking at the floor. Tears dripped off her cheeks, and I closed the door she had left open.
"Rach," I started softly, putting my hand on her shoulder.
Suddenly, she jerked forward and ran into J.D. As she buried herself in his chest, her sobbing grew stronger. I looked at J.D, who swallowed hard and put his hand on the back of her head. Slowly, he ran the other up and down her back as she cried into his shirt.
"It's okay," I said to her quietly. "You didn't do anything wrong, Rachel. You aren't the reason she did what she did."
Rachel didn't respond. She continued to cry, and J.D lifted her up. His arm slid underneath her to keep her from falling, and the other held onto her back. She buried her head in his shoulder and shook.
"C'mon, Veronica," he said, beginning to carry her towards the exit.
I followed close behind to J.D's car. He set Rachel down near the door to the backseat. She wiped her eyes and got in, and I followed to sit next to her. J.D drove, and the car was completely silence. The only noise came from Rachel's occasional whimpers that were muffled into my shoulder. I've never seen her so vulnerable.

***RACHEL'S POV***

I fell asleep in J.D's car on the way back to the apartment. When I woke, I was curled up against Scott, who was sitting on the couch playing a video game. I sat up slowly and wiped my eyes. Scott put down his controller after feeling me move, and looked over at me.
"Morning," he said quietly, rubbing my back. "How do you feel?"
"Angry," I mumbled, sniffling softly. "Where's Veronica?"
"She's in your room," Scott told me. "But I want to talk to you first."
I looked over at him. He looked so tired. It was only noon, but it was clear something had been weighing on him. His usually bright, blue-green eyes were awfully dull and grayish. The redness around his eyes told me he had also recently been crying.
"Did you get what you wanted?" he asked softly. "Did she answer your questions?"
I nodded slowly. "Yeah," I said quietly. "Yeah, I guess I got what I was looking for, not what I wanted."
"Veronica said she wanted to talk to you when you woke up," Scott told me. "Do you think you want to talk about this?"
I shrugged and sniffled again. "Holding things in hasn't been doing me too well," I admitted softly.
Scott ruffled my hair slightly and smiled at me. "You're a tough one, Bean," he said.
"I thought you were done calling me that," I whined, a smile spreading across my face.
"I'll call you Bean until the day I die," Scott laughed, and I nudged him in the shoulder.
"Whatever," I said, standing up and stretching. "You said Veronica was in our room?"
Scott nodded, so that's where I went. As I opened the door, Veronica's head turned up from her laptop.
"Oh, hey," she said quietly. "I didn't know you were awake."
"I just woke up," I said, walking over to my bed and sitting on the edge of it. "Scott said you wanted to talk to me."
"I do," Veronica told me. "I wanted to make sure everything was okay."
I nodded, and Veronica took a deep breath.
"I also wanted to ask you about what happened with J.D today," she said quietly.
My heart stopped and I shook my head. "Nothing happened," I said to her. "I was just upset. You were behind me. He was the first person I saw to run to."
"Rachel," Veronica bugged me, refusing to believe a word I was saying to her.
"What?" I asked defensively. "I just needed comfort. If you were standing where he was I would've ran to you."
"Okay," Veronica agreed, unconvinced by me. "You just seemed to really cling to-"
"Would you drop it?" I snapped, and Veronica nodded.
"Yeah, sorry," she apologized.
"Can we just... Go get some ice cream or something?" I asked shyly, and Veronica nodded.
"Of course we can," she chimed. "Want to ask Scott if he wants to come?"
I nodded and stood up. "Let me take a quick shower first," I said. "Then we can go."
"Alright," Veronica smiled, and I got some clothes and headed to the bathroom.
The shower felt nice. It was absolutely something I needed. Warm water raining down on my body, I hummed softly as I squeezed shampoo into my palm. I massaged it through the little hair I had, and closed my eyes as I leaned back and let the water run down my head and back. Taking a shower to clear your mind is something I feel is pretty universal. When I finished and got myself dressed, Scott, Veronica and I piled into Scott's car and headed out for ice cream.