𝕢𝕦𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕠𝕗 𝕣𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕕𝕒𝕝𝕖

26

Eric's eyebrows furrowed at the new information that Arabella had told him.

The boy had no idea how to respond to something like that, so he just went with the best sounding answer.

"Bella," he said, trying not to sound too hurt even though he was on the verge of bursting out in tears.

Eric peeled the girl from his body and looked down at Arabella, who was trying her best to keep her sight off of the boy, not wanting to see how hurt he was. But she failed when she noticed a single tear escape and travel down his cheek.

"Eric, it didn't mean anything," Arabella interjected, trying to do what the boy did to her and wipe the tear from his face, but he flinched away from he touch.

When Arabella realized this, she added, "it only made me realize how much I love you. Eric, I love you more than anything."

It was now that Eric couldn't look Arabella in the eyes. He was too broken to even try.

The boy nodded at what now sounded like lies coming from Arabella's lips.

"If you love me," he said between clenched teeth, "you needed to sleep with your ex-boyfriend to realize it?"

Arabella stopped herself after hearing Eric's rhetorical question. She never heard Eric so upset, and he wasn't even that angry. He seemed hurt and, worst of all, destroyed.

Eric loved Arabella with everything he had and she gave him shit. It only took him a mistake so prominent for him to realize it.

Eric couldn't deal with talking to Arabella any longer; it was like he was the one to vomit now.

"I, uh-" he began, sniffling as well, "I can't do this. Uh... We're done, Ara... I-"

Arabella's heart sank at his words. It felt like a large weight was just put on her chest and she couldn't breathe.

Eric placed both of his hands on Arabella's shoulders so that she would look at him. "Arabella Queen, I love you," he said clearly so she would understand, "I always have and I always will. And I forgive you, Ara, but... I just need time."

Arabella shook her head 'no' due to her not wanting him to leave. "Eric, I need you."

The boy sighed. "Arabella, no. You never needed me... you wanted me."

Tears fell out of Arabella's eyes naturally now; she no longer tried to restrain them.

"I love you," Arabella said again to Eric, but in more of a whisper.

He shook his head as he attempted to hold back tears now. "You never did," he laughed painfully, pressing his forehead against Arabella's, "you only liked the idea of me."

Quickly, Eric kissed Arabella on the forehead and pulled away faster than he thought he would. And before she could say anything else to refute his statement, he walked away from her, towards his car.

But, like predicted, anger boiled in Arabella as she turned to get Eric's attention once again.

Grabbing his hand, Arabella tugged at it so he would face her.

"You don't get to tell me how I feel, Eric!" She nearly yelled up at him. "You have no idea how hard it was for me when I was dating Archie because I was in love with you from the beginning!"

"Then why did you date him in the first place?!"

"Because!" Arabella actually shouted, earning at most one stare from a passerby, but she didn't notice. "Nobody could know about my friendship with you and Jason!"

Eric halted his comments with slight shock, wanting to hear what Arabella would say after.

"You know well that Jason's parents couldn't know about my friendship with him because then they would've have done something cruel to either him or my family... or you!"

Eric's eyes trailed from Arabella's red ones to the floor as he understood her truth.

"I'll never forget when Jason's mother slapped you across your face after you told her that it was your fault that Jason broke his arm when we were younger! We were kids, Eric!"

Arabella's breath hitched in her throat before she continued.

"I dated Archie because he asked me to and he was my friend... one of my best friends," she said, "I dated him because if She-Devil Blossom found out that I was friends with you and Jason, she would have taken him away from us and you couldn't lose your best friend... you shouldn't lose your best friend because of some girl."

There was one question burning Eric's mind after Arabella finished her explaining.

"Then why did you stay with Archie? Why after all that time, you stayed with Archie?"

Arabella sighed shakily, wiping the excess tears from her cheeks and under her eyes. Her emotions were slightly more contained after she began to take on a mirrored expression of Eric's current calmness.

"He was happy... and I couldn't bear seeing him upset with me. So freshman year, when he told me he wanted to break up, that's why I was all for it."

Eric nodded half-heartedly, but he still needed to hear Arabella's explanation for her sleeping with Archie recently.

"We were on break," he continued after a long silence between the two. "Why did you sleep with Archie?"

Arabella should have figured that Eric was eventually going to ask that question, even if the words did make her cringe. But she told the truth quickly.

"I have no exact explanation for that... when he kissed me, it just felt like we were dating again and it just... happened."

Eric nodded slowly, now knowing that it was Archie who kissed Arabella first. He was still hurt from what Arabella did, but he also still loved her.

All he had left to say in the moment was calm and very collected, which was forgein for the atmosphere between the two.

"Get in the car," he said, pushing back his dirty blonde hair that fell in front of his face when the two were arguing. "I'll take you home."

•••

QOTC:
Lucas Till(Eric)
or
Kj Apa (Archie)?

•••

OKAY, so this is a very short chapter but I just had to stop it there because it was perfect.

and... WTF JASON, ERIC AND ARABELLA HAVE BEEN BEST FRIENDS?!?!

that actually makes a lot of sense as to why Eric asked Arabella to the formal so easily in the beginning!

Hope you guys enjoyed this drama bomb!!

All the love xx

-k8