What We Once Were

Chapter 38

Sorry this took so long, thank you all for being so understanding!

Archie's POV

I wake up with my face buried in my pillow. I groan and sit up, trying not to worsen the throbbing headache I have. "Ugh why did I drink so much" I groan to Jughead who must've crashed next to me. "Yeah, well when someone pours you a drink, you usually keep drinking" I hear voice, that isn't Jughead's. I groan, "dammit, Ashley". She scoffs, "See that's not what you were saying that night" she says, wrapping the sheet around her and climbing out of bed. I sit up and glance around, then realize we're at her apartment. "I'm gonna leave" I say, leaning out of bed to grab my boxers off the floor. "Going so soon? Usually we make a day out of this." She says as she leans against the door frame. I stand up out of her bed and lean down to pick up my jeans, "I was serious before. We're done, this was a drunken mistake" I say as I pull my jeans on and button them. She laughs and sits down on her ottoman. "Listen, Arch. I get it, you still have a thing for that widow-" she starts but I cut her off. "Her name is Veronica" I snap,  "and it's not about her." Ashley sighs and runs her hand through her long brown hair, "Okay fine. Then what is it about?" She asks. I pull my shirt on over my head and put my phone and wallet in my pockets. "It's about the fact that I don't have feelings for you Ashley, romantic feelings. And I don't want to lead you on" I say. I grab my brown suede jacket, ironically enough, Veronica bought it for me, and I pull it on. "Goodbye, Ashley" I say, walking out of her bedroom and through her apartment to the front door, not waiting for her to say goodbye back.

Three weeks later

Things between Veronica and I have finally gotten back to normal, but I honestly don't know if that's a good thing. I want something between us to change. Ever since the moment we had, feelings that I buried a long time ago found their way to the surface, and now I don't know if I can push them back down. Or maybe the problem is that I could, but I just don't want to. "Archie?" Veronica says, waving her hand in front of my face. I snap out of my trance and look at her, "huh?" I ask. She laughs and rolls her eyes, "I asked if you wanted to come over and rent a movie tonight. Reign is going to her first sleep over tonight and I don't want to be alone the whole time" she says with a laugh. I smirk, "Yeah. As long as I get to pick the movie" I say. She groans, "fine. But nothing with Vin Diesel" she orders. I laugh, "Whats with your irrational fear of Vin Diesel" I ask. She laughs too, "it's not a fear, just a strong desire to avoid his work" she says. I laugh and check my watch, "I have to go give a lesson, but I'll be by around 9 to watch the movie tonight" I say, standing up from the breakfast bar in Ronnie's kitchen. "Alright. I'll see you later" she says, walking me to the door. She hugs me goodbye and I have a sinking feeling in my chest, but I choose to ignore it. I pull out of the hug and give her a smile, then walk out of her apartment, not saying what I really want to say to her.

I walk out of the music school I work at and pull my phone out of my pocket. I pull up my conversation with Veronica and start typing:

A: want me to pick up any snacks for the movie?

I click my phone off and start to walk to my car. When I get to my car I see Ashley leaning on the hood and I roll my eyes. "Ashley?" I ask, trying to hide how annoyed I am with her being  here. "Whats up?" I ask. She takes a deep breath and leans forward. The street lights above the sidewalk shine off her cheeks, revealing that she's been crying. "Can we take a walk?" She asks softly. I nod my head and put my keys back into my pocket, "Yeah. Yeah sure, let's go" I say quickly.

We've been walking for about 10 minutes in complete silence, except from the occasional sniffling from Ashley. "Whats wrong?" I ask, finally stopping. She sighs and looks up at me, "I was going to leave you alone. I swear. I was going to forget about you, but I can't anymore" she says. I scratch at the small scruff on my face, the product of being too lazy to shave. "Why can't you?" I ask her. She takes a deep breath, and lets more tears fall from her eyes. She squeezes her eyes shut and practically whispers, "Archie, I'm pregnant."

The next chapter will be longer than this. I'm getting to the point of wrapping this story up. Probably about 3-5 more chapters, then onto the next book 😉