Where do the good boys go to hide away?

Where do the good boys go to hide away? Part 13

Monday. The day I had to face Archie again. I had spent my weekend crying. Crying a lot. I felt stupid for crying over Archie. To be fair, he never said he was in love with me. He probably only took advantage of me after I basically told him that I loved him. This was his plan, to fuck me and then get rid of me. And he successfully did so. But why would he then have gotten so happy when I told him how I felt? He was the most confusing human being out there. Despite my heart telling me to stay in bed all day I listened to my brain and got up. I could just not care, show up to school looking broken and show Archie that he won. But I could also get ready and pretend like he meant nothing, which felt like the better plan. So I took a shower, got dressed, put some makeup on and went to school. I could feel my heart beat faster the closer I came to school. I had no idea if Archie even was there, but I guess that it didn't matter. I walked inside and the first face I saw was Betty's.

"Veronica! Where the hell have you been all weekend? What happened with Archie?" she said while giving me a hug.

"Ehm, nothing happened with Archie and I've been home"

"Home? Then why haven't you called me? And something must've happened"

"I'm sorry, I took the weekend to think and relax. And nothing did happen, he doesn't want me" I said and I could hear my voice breaking.

Betty looked concerned but she didn't question me further. That was one of her good qualities, she saw when I didn't want to talk about something.

"Let's get to class" she said smiling at me.

Betty grabbed my arm and started to pull me to the classroom. Being in class felt good. For the first time I could just relax and think about something else. Or maybe not relax, but I could focus on something that wasn't Archie. The day went by pretty fast. I managed to avoid Archie and I actually focused in class. I said bye to Betty and started to walk to the bus. I really needed a car. Standing there leaning against the car was Archie. He was smoking, and I don't think he saw me. I started walking faster to get away from him. Looking down at my feet I wasn't paying attention and I bumped into someone.

"Veronica?"

"Reggie? What are you doing here?"

"Well I haven't left yet and Betty asked me to pick you up"

I turned to look at Archie and this time he looked straight into my eyes. He was the one to break eye contact before he got into his car and drove away.

"Boy problems?" Reggie asked.

"I guess so. Thank you for coming here"

"Of course. Now get in" he said pointing to his car.

We walked over and I sat down in his car.

"How long are you staying?"

"I go back tomorrow morning"

"You decided to stay longer?"

"Yes, I barely got to spend time with you and that's why I came here"

"Well then let's do something" I said surprising both Reggie and myself.

"Really? What?"

"Let's go to the abandoned lake house that we always used to go to" 

Reggie smiled at me before starting to drive to the lake house. It wasn't that far from where we lived and we had been going there since we were kids. Just a few minutes later we arrived and got out.

"It's so pretty here" I said walking over to the dock. 

Reggie came after me and sat down on the edge. I was just standing there behind him admiring the view. Everything felt so good, it felt like we were back to being kids. Before boys or Reggie moving. Before Archie. 

"Come sit down, the water is cold, but still"

I walked over and sat down next to Reggie. He smiled at me before looking out over the water again.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked. 

"Sure" Reggie said, turning his focus back to me.

"Did you ever like me, like more than a friend" I asked, hoping that it wasn't a stupid question. 

"I thought I did once, but that was before I knew what it felt like to have feelings for someone. Why are you asking?"

"I used to have a huge crush on you. No one knew, but Archie somehow figured it out. He's always been mocking me about it. I thought that it was because he hated me, but maybe it's the opposite"

"Do you want him to like you?"

"I know that I liked you, but I never loved you. I didn't know what love was until I recently fell in love with Archie. And now I'm mad for letting him in. So I don't really want him to like me, cause I don't want him to break my heart"

"What happened between you two?"

"I told him how I felt, and he didn't say it back. But he kissed me so I thought everything was good. But then he introduced me as a friend and he hasn't talked to me since I left him"

"Maybe you should talk to him"

"I don't wanna talk to him. I know things would never work out between him and me"

"How can you be sure?"

"I told him I loved him and he didn't say it back. Strike one. Strike two was the fact that it took him a day before he turned into an asshole again. I am not making a third mistake when it comes to him"

"Have you always been this stubborn?"

"I guess so. Besides, I think he might've used me for sex" I said, regretting it as soon as the words left my mouth.

"Spare me the details" Reggie said laughing.

"I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have said that" I said, feeling my cheeks go red.

"It's okay. Just promise me to not make anymore decisions that you end up crying about when I'm gone, okay?"

"I promise. Archie was my biggest and dumbest mistake, I won't do it again"

I felt my phone buzz in my pocket so I picked it up.

"Speaking of the devil" I said, suddenly feeling tears burn in my eyes as I saw the text from Archie.

Asshole; I am not the one who ran right back into the arms of my boy toy

I felt like throwing my phone in the water. Reggie wasn't my boy toy to begin with. And Archie was the mean one, not me. Yes I chose to hang out with Reggie to forget about Archie for a few hours. But that was only because he messed up in the first place. He was the one who couldn't have a relationship, not me.

Veronica; Why do you care? We're just friends, at least that's what you said.

I didn't want to sound so mean, but I knew that I had to forget everything about Archie. Since that day in PE when he said he wanted to have sex with me he had been on my mind everyday. But that was over now. No more Archie. I was going to focus on myself for once. Not some stupid and mean boy.