The Last Blue Rose// Reggie Mantle (1)

Chapter Fifteen

Later that day, Caia found herself outside of Archie's garage. She had brought her ukulele, but she wasn't so sure she'd be using it. It was kind of disappointing, but Caia didn't want to complain.

Caia knocked on the door. It was opened a minute later by Archie himself. "Hey," he greeted.

"Hi." Archie opened the door wider so Caia had enough room to get in. Once insde, he shut the door behind her and walked to where his guitair was. He picked it up and slipped the strap over his head.

Caia set the ukulele down on the table. She walked over to where Archie was and sat on the couch arm. "What are we singing?" She questioned, clasping her hands in her lap.

"It's an original. I think you'll like it."

Caia and Archie proceeded to work on their duet. After figuring out both parts, they began to just talk.

Archie picked up Caia's ukulele from the table. "How do you even play this thing? It's so tiny!"

Caia giggled as she watched Archie struggle to fit his fingers on the tiny frets. "I guess it's an instrument for people with small hands." Caia reached over and placed Archie's finger on the bottom third fret. "C," She explained,

Archie strummed down once. A melodious sound floated throughout the room. Archie smiled and set the ukulele down again.

"Hey, um, I know I've been kind of a crappy friend recently," he admitted.

Caia's eyes softened. "Archie, no. That's not true."

Archie shook his head. "Yeah it is," he stated, looking up at Caia. "I totally ignored what you guys said about Grundy. And then, I've been so busy with football and my music that I've been totally ignoring you guys, especially you, Caia." Caia didn't reply at first. It was kind of true, but she didn't know how to admit it without offending Archie.

"Archie, it's fine. We all get like that sometimes," She explained. "I mean, I think I've been super distant lately, too. Maybe it's because I've been spending a lot of time with Reggie, but I hardly even know what's happening in our group anymore!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

Archie chuckled. "Honestly, same," he agreed. "Anyway, I just wanted to appologise for that."

"It's okay, Archie. I forgive you."

Caia and Archie made plans to practice the next day before classes. So Caia was surprised when she walked in the room to see Archie and Valarie singing together.

"Um, hi?" She greeted, walking towards the couple awkwardly. They looked up. She tucked a curl behind her ear. "Not to be that girl, but I didn't get the memo that we were adding another voice to the mix."

"Caia, hey." Archie greeted, turning towards her and away from Val. "Great news, Valarie quit the Pussycats." The smile on Val's face faded as she saw that Caia didn't look happy.

And she wasn't. Although she hadn't been keen at the idea of singing with Archie originally, she had actually been looking forward to it. She thought it was a good chance to rekindle her friendship with Archie and after last night, she thought it would have been.

"So that makes me what, then?" Caia started, tossing her music on the table. "Backup?"

"No I mean you were just doing it as a favor to me, right?" Archie asked.

Caia scoffed and crossed her arms. "I mean, yeah, I was but I was actually looking forward to it," She admitted. "Archie, I thought last night you said you were gonna try to be a better friend. This is definitely not that."