separation ; reggie peters (julie and the phantoms)

3: ghost of you (part two)

And I chase it down
With a shot of truth
That my feet don't dance
Like they did with you

- 5 seconds of summer, ghost of you

anger 

The feeling of someone drawing her near caused Quinn to transition from being in a dead sleep to being half-awake and half-asleep. She let out a soft groan, snuggling in closer to the pillow.

"Reggie...stop..." she said in a low whine right before opening her eyes.

This wasn't Reggie's room or her room. It was Bobby's. The night came flooding back to her. Her chest got tight and she immediately tried to move out from the boy's grasp, carefully as possible as to not wake him. She gathered her clothes from the floor, tossing them on. She stole a hoodie that was draped across Bobby's desk chair and put it on over top of her clothes, slipping out of the window she entered through the night before.

A feeling of disgust and grime washed over her. She felt revolted at herself and what she'd done. She'd used Bobby and despite Reggie's absence, she betrayed him and his memory. The brunette broke into a mild sprint, heading back to her van quickly. She got in and pulled off, driving aimlessly until she turned into the graveyard she'd just visited the day before. She pulled up at a curb, looking over to the royal blue tent, a tell-tale sign of a fresh grave.

She stayed in the car, staring at the tent for a long while, nerves and lingering sadness building. She'd felt this way before, but never this deeply. It never hurt quite like this.

"Why are you just sitting out here?" Reggie leaned against the white-painted door of the van.

Quinn was positioned in the driver's seat, her knees pulled into her chest, "I don't know...I thought you were probably still mad at me. I just...wanted to talk to you and to work things out, but...I got nervous."

"Q, I always want to talk to you...well, maybe not earlier...but you can thank my parents for that one." he said, "I didn't mean to yell at you...things were just...bad."

She nodded in understanding, "It's okay. I should've just left you alone. I'm sorry. Sometimes, you need space...and I get that. I'm sorry...about what your mom said."

"It's okay...you and the guys remind me I'm not a fuckup on the regular basis. So...I don't always believe it."

"But it always stings, huh?"

Reggie nodded. Quinn gave him a sympathetic smile, "Are they gone?"

"Yeah, that's why I was going to come to see if you wanted to come inside or if you just wanted to spend the night in the van."

"It's up to you."

Quinn looked at the clock on her car radio. It read 3:48 AM. She sighed, wondering if anyone would hear her or see her if she got out. With slight hesitation, Quinn chose to exit the vehicle and make her way over to the blue tent, going underneath to sit down next to the fresh pile of dirt, crisscrossing her legs.

She stared over at the dirt mound. Her mind couldn't wrap around the fact that beneath the soil was the boy she'd been with a little over a week prior, cuddled up in his bed, watching Star Wars with the tiny, plastic Christmas tree they'd just bought on impulse twinkling from his nightstand. It was peaceful. It was comfortable. Now she was alone with the realization that it was now Christmas Eve and Reggie was gone. They'd made plans to go look at Christmas lights, have the band host a small Christmas party with some of their friends from the local scene, and for Reggie to spend Christmas Eve and the start of Christmas Day with her family.