Night Fall | Sweet Pea (completed)

Chapter Forty-Five.

"So, last night was big fun" Evelyn spoke up as everyone sat on the stage in the theatre waiting for rehearsals to begin. "But now it's time to dig deep."

Looking around the room every one of us was either hungover or just pure exhausted from the night before. I sat on the stage-floor in-between Sweet Pea's legs as he sat on one of the prop bleachers, his hands massaging my shoulders instinctively.

"We're each gonna share something that we've never told anyone before. Big or small." 

I watched as everyone shifted slightly in their seats, this group of people was certainly known for keeping secrets from each other, some of which were life or death. I didn't really see an ending where there was a good outcome to this exercise however I understood Evelyn's intentions.

"Does no one have a burden that the rest of us can help shoulder?" Evelyn's eager eyes looked at everyone in the room, waiting and hoping for somebody to speak up and break the silence.

"I'm being haunted by Midge's ghost." Kevin spoke up drawing everyone's attention in on him. "I've been thinking about her all the time since rehearsals started. I just feel so guilty-"

"I've been seeing her, too." My eyes darted to Fangs as he spoke up, his voice was soft and sincere and I hated the fact I didn't already know this about my own brother. "Not her ghost, but in nightmares."

My hand moved over and rested on Fangs knee in a comforting manner, he smiled down at me with a soft smile reassuring me that he was only now capable of talking about Midge again. Evelyn chuckled slightly out of relief as she stood up and addressed both Kevin and Fangs confessions.

"How beautiful. Through revealing their truth, these two young men have found an unexpected connection, perhaps more." I looked between both Kevin and Fangs, the looks they were giving each other confirmed my suspicion that they were indeed into each other and honestly I couldn't approve more. "So, um... who would like to go next?" 

"I got something." Sweet Pea spoke up making me turn around immediately in slight shock, what was there about Sweet Pea that I didn't already know? "Now,  I know that this was a long time ago and I've completely moved on but damn it felt weird seeing Archie and Josie together last night all cozied up." 

Sweet Pea's eyes looked down apologetically but I did nothing but smile at him, there was no right for me to be jealous of his history with Josie because I knew it was just that: history. 

"Arch... are you and Josie dating?" Betty asked as she leaned closer to the pair.

"Well, I mean..." Josie shuffled uncomfortably in her seat as Archie tried to speak for the both of them.

"Uh..." Josie spoke, it was clear neither of them had confirmed their relationship status between each other and never expected to be put on the spot like that.

"Did you know about this?" Reggie looked to his right as he spoke directly to Veronica.

"What? No, I had no idea." Veronica tried defending herself to Reggie but I knew better than anyone once Reggie had his mind set on something there was no changing it.

"The fact that your ex-boo has a new girlfriend has nothing to do with you suddenly being all-in with me?" Reggie's voice faltered slightly as he stared at Veronica awaiting her response.

"Veronica? Anything to share?" Evelyn encouraged as she remained standing in the middle of the group. I watched Veronica's eyes tear up and I knew that it wasn't just because of Reggie's confrontation.

"I just found out that my parents are separating." Reggie's eyes shot to Veronica in shock before she continued speaking. "My family's unconventional, to say the least, but I always thought, no matter what, they'd stay together."