Hometown

Sunday

    I wake up and see Betty at my side. I smile and then remember yesterday. I take a deep breath and fall back onto my pillow.
    "You okay?" She asks, rolling over to face me.
    "No, are you?"
    "No."
    I wrap my arms around her and pull her close to my chest. She tilts her head up and kisses my jaw.
    "Could I take you up on that date?" She asks.
    "Betty..."
    "Oh no. I've heard that before. What's wrong?" She asks, sitting up.
    "It's just, you've been through a lot lately and I don't want to take advantage of that."
    "I know, but those things have made me realize that...I need you. You care about me and you help me."
    I smile. "Okay, let's go tonight then."
    She smiles back at me and jumps in my lap, giving me a kiss. "It's a date."
    We get out of our pyjamas and put our clothes on before heading downstairs. Cheryl and Toni are still curled up on the couch, Jellybean and dad are playing cards at the table with Archie drinking a coffee next to them and Veronica is curled up, sleeping in Sweetpeas lap in the living room. Betty walks into the living room and starts talking to Sweetpea while I go into the kitchen, grabbing a burger for lunch. We slept in late today, it's already 12:30 and nobody is really awake.
    "I remember playing tho and with mom. She always won and I never knew how." Jellybean said with a nostalgic smile.
    Dad smiles and so do I. "I remember when you first brought all of your friends home, Jug, she made a big dinner, although Cheryl and Betty left early. Betty was crying and your mom gave her a bag of food from dinner for her and Cheryl." Fp said.
    "We went out and ate that in the park." Cheryl says, rubbing her eyes as she walks into the kitchen.
    "Why was Betty crying?" Jellybean asks.
    "Your genius brother went and had Archie dare him to kiss Veronica in front of Betty." Cheryl says, shooting daggers at me.
    "It was a long time ago and I had a crush on Veronica."
    "Ya, that's how it started, but don't forget what you did at the party that night. I know we all don't."
    "What happened at the party?" Jellybean asks.
    Betty walks in and her face goes white.
    "Well, " Cheryl began.
    "Cheryl, don't," I say.
    "We went to a party in the summer of grade eight. Right before the incident in grade nine. So..."

    Betty walked into Chuck Clayton's party wearing her favourite pink dress. She scanned the room before finding Cheryl and the rest of her friends in the corner. She sped over to them and smiled. Cheryl draped her arm over Betty's shoulder, smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Betty looked over at Chuck Clayton who smiled at her Cheryl winked at Betty and she headed down towards him.
    "Hey." She said, twirling her hair in between her pointer and middle finger.
    "Hey." He said, leaning up against the wall. "What's up?"

    "Can we not bring this shit up?" I ask, raising my voice. "My mom isn't even cold yet."
    "You brought this upon yourself, Betty isn't complaining, so why are you?"
    "Actually, Cher, I'd rather not dig that up." Betty finally spoke.
    My eyes soften at the tears in hers. I hate what I've done to her. I really do. I've made her anxious and shy. She isn't the Betty I knew all those years ago, and it's my fault. I step towards Betty and she speeds out of the room and up the stairs.  I follow her into my room and she sits on my bed, taking deep breaths. She shakes her head and stands up, releasing a sob.
    "I can't. I can't do this. I can't do...us. I can't forgive you. I cant." She sobs.
    "Betty, I'm sorry...but it was a long time ago. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I really am, but I can't change that."
    "I know you can't. I just...I can't deal with this all it's too hard, I can't."
    "Betty, " I say, resting my hands on her shoulders. "What can I do to fix this?"
    "I really don't think you can fix this."
    "Betty, please. I just got you back."
    "Well, maybe you don't deserve me back. You traumatized me. I didn't get a childhood because you thought being popular and having Veronica was more important."
    "It's not my fault you felt that way."
    "Why was it just me?"
    "What?"
    "Well, you didn't push away Cheryl or Archie. You didn't make fun of them. So what was your problem with me?"
    I stay silent. Why did I do that? I still remember how fast she whipped around. How her hair stuck to her wet cheeks. How Cheryl didn't talk to me for the rest of the summer. How Betty gave me a second chance. How I took that for granted.
    "Well?" She presses.
    "I don't know. I don't know why I treated you like that."
    "I'm out of here."
    She walks towards my bedroom door with a packed bag in her hand. She reaches for the doorknob and I say the first thing that comes to mind.
    "My mom just died." She stops cold in her tracks and tears sting my eyes. "My mom just died, I just lost my mom. I'm not going to lose you too."
    "Ya, I lost my mom, I just lost my best friend and I never had you. Therefore you never had me. You always had Veronica. Now that you can't have here, you're settling. I'm sorry your mom died, but you don't realize that she was my best friend in the entire world and like a mother to us all. Don't pretend like we didn't all lose a mother today."
    "Betty..." And with that, she walked out of my room. Out of my house. Out of my life. "I need you." I choke out in a whisper.