What We Once Were

Chapter 7

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2 weeks later
Veronica's POV
I wake up with the sun shining in my face, blinding me the second I open my eyes. I hear someone groan next to me and I sit up and look at him. Reggie. "Wake up" I say shaking his arm. "Go away" he groans, rolling further away. "This is my bed. Get up. Remember the rules, no sleepovers. Which you clearly already broke." I say while pulling the sheet and wrapping it around me. I stand up out of bed and walk over to my bathroom. "I'm going to shower. When I get out, you need to be gone. If anyone hears about our situation, you're dead" I say before I walk into my bathroom, closing and locking the door behind me.

I step out of my bathroom to find Reggie, and all of his clothes, gone. I sigh and strip my bed of the blankets and sheets, I've done this every time that Reggie and I have hooked up. This is probably our 6th time, and each time is better than the last. Which is why I can't seem to stop it from happening. We keep everything under wraps in public, especially school. The rumors about us dating have died down and now Archie can look at me without obviously cringing, and I can go about getting over Archie by getting under Reggie. I know it sounds slutty but it's just how I cope. I can only pray that Archie never finds out about my nighttime visitor.

I walk into school like I do everyday, head held high and pretending I didn't just sleep with the captain of the football team. I walk into the lounge and so far Kevin is the only one here, also the only one who knows about Reggie and I. "There she is. Doing to good old walk of shame" he says. I roll my eyes "nothing shameful about it" I say while sitting down next to him. He smirks "you know I like this new you. 2 months post break up and hooking up with the king of no string relationships" he says. I shrug "it helps in the moment. Then I get here and realize I'm not actually in a relationship and I get sad again. Which makes me want to call Reggie, which makes the whole cycle start over. It's like..." I fade out, not knowing how to finish the sentence. "An addiction" he finishes. "Yes" I say "an addiction. But part of me wants a relationship, but definitely not with Reggie" I add. He nods his head "So are you still gonna do it?" He asks. "Do what?" Betty asks, walking in the lounge with Jughead and Archie. "Perform with Josie and the Pussycats" Kevin blurts out, saving me from having to admit about my sex partner. "So are you?" Betty asks. Out of the corner of my eye I see Archie looking at me, waiting for an answer. I take a deep breath "No. I think I'm done performing" I say, knowing that's not the answer he wants to hear. He doesn't want to feel like he's the reason I'm not performing anymore, even though he is. "But you're so good" Betty argues. I slightly shake my head at her, hoping she gets the message that I don't want to talk about this right now. She looks away and changes the subject to everyone's weekend plans. I look up from my lap and see that Archie is looking at me. I give him the tiniest hint of a smile, telling him that I'm okay. He nods his head a bit and pays attention to the conversation going on between our friends.

Archie's POV
Veronica isn't performing with the pussycats anymore, because of what happened with me and Valerie. I can't help but feel terrible, mostly because it is my fault. The bell rings for first period and I get up and walk over to Ronnie. "You're not going to perform anymore?" I ask. "You know why I'm not going to, can we not rehash this we're just getting back to being friends" she says. I nod my head "Okay yeah. I'm sorry" I say. She nods her head "Do you want to go to Pops later. We can talk to Betty and Jughead too, we haven't all hung out in a while" I say. She smiles "that'd be really fun. I was supposed to meet Reggie for our biology project but I'll reschedule" she says. Outside, I nod my head and walk off to class, but inside, I shout yes and jump up off the ground. She's rescheduling Reggie to see me, I know it's not a reunion but it's something. I'm just going to hope that I don't screw this up.

Veronica's POV
I walk into bio and go to the lab table that I share with Reggie. "I'm going to have to cancel tonight. I'm going to Pops" I say. He scoffs "picking Andrews over me?" He asks. I roll my eyes "jealous?" I joke, making him laugh. "I'm in an arrangement where I get the fun part of a relationship, the kissing and the sex, and I leave out all of the bad stuff, dates and expectations. I'm very content with how this is going, so jealous? No" he says. I nod my head "good" I say, before I walk to my chair and sit down.

"Pops?" I ask, when I walk out of the door and approach Betty, Jughead, and Archie. "Definitely. I'm starving" Jughead says. I laugh "when aren't you" I say, making Betty and Archie chuckle. "I'm still never going to understand your guys' friendship" Archie says. I smirk "we'll add it to the list of things you don't understand, Andrews" I say while elbowing him. "Ouch" Betty says laughing. "I'll admit, that stung" he says. I laugh and look back to the street that we're walking along.

"I'll have the Cob salad" I say to Poptate. "who orders a salad at Pops?" Jughead asks. "Someone who can't handle eating burgers and fries every single day" I say. We all give our orders and then we start chatting like we always do. And in that moment, in that booth, someone just looking in would have no idea that the redhead and I weren't even speaking 1 week ago. This moment is something that I will continuously look back on, after everything comes crashing down.

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