CHAPTER FOURTEEN, RECOGNIZING FEELINGS
"Ronnie."
Lauren's whisper had snapped Veronica out of her train of thoughts. The raven haired girl was seated right next to Lauren, the girl resting on the brunette's bed, her heels kicked off and her head resting on Lauren's pillow. Lauren's notepad in her hand as the other sat on her phone looking through social media,
Veronica had brought the girl some chocolate and popcorn, claiming they needed some girl time, alone. Veronica hummed in response, the Living Room, that was in Lauren's room, played Breakfast at Tiffany's.
"What do you do if you, more than like, someone, who you shouldn't more than like when you just like someone else." Lauren rushed out. Lauren had been struggling to get the words out of her mouth, she had to let it out, she needed to let it out.
Somehow, Veronica was able to understand every word the girl had spoken as she sat up straighter in the bed, her eyes widened, facing her. "Do you like two guys at the same time, Laur?"
Lauren gulped, her shaky hands rucking her hair behind her ear, Lauren felt sick when Veronica put it like that, her mind swirling with doubt and regret, she shrugged, hoping the other would see her nonchalant expression despite it eating her alive. "I don't know what I feel."
"You more than like Jughead and just like Reggie?" guessed Veronica, her eyebrows quirked at the prediction.
Lauren didn't want to let the surprise and shock cover her face completely but she was almost one hundred percent sure she had failed as she sat up quickly, her jaw dropped. "How-"
"Your eyes, Laur." Veronica chuckled halfheartedly, her arm now supporting her head. "It hides so much but reveals so much at the same time."
Lauren sighed, falling back onto the bed.
"Explain." Veronica ushered, her making a small hand gesture.
"I always had this weird kinda crush on him," Lauren admitted, "It was weird, my mom always encouraged me to tell him but I was too introverted to do so. And Reggie... He just kinda happened, I don't know about my feeling with him if I'm honest."
Veronica let a small smile grace her lips, a knowing look on her face. "What do you feel when your around Jughead?"
"He's my best friend, Ronnie. I feel like... myself when I'm with him and I feel just free. His hair, his beanie, I've grown up admiring him for himself and he's grown up admiring me for me. There's no lock when it comes to us, which might be bad but good at the same time, we can always get over something, it's never a dull moment when he's around."
It was that moment when Lauren Davis had finally realized that she was in too deep, probably not for her own good, she had poured her heart out to the the dark haired girl who simply sat digesting her words. With that Lauren knew, whether she wanted to or not, she would end up breaking her heart without a doubt and she was most certainly not ready to feel that.
Veronica smiled brightly, her eyes gleaming as she watched the girl grin as she spoke, the tiniest of smiles gracing her pink lips, the raven haired girl whistled. "Wow. That my friend, is love."
"Love?"
Lauren was not in love with Jughead, at least she didn't think she was. Could she really feel such a powerful emotions for anybody? She never felt proper love for her own family. Was feeling this way about someone really love? Lauren shook her head, standing up as she paced her room, anxiously rubbing her face with her sweaty palms.
"V, Don't say that, these things make me anxious." Lauren mumbled, slowing down as she looked at the ground beneath her.
Veronica frowned, standing up as well and walking over to her. "Laur, you can't hide your feelings like that, it's not good for you, it's just gonna result in you blowing up all at once."
Lauren nodded in agreement, her stomach suddenly churning at the thought of simply saying her feelings out loud to the boy, whispering out. "You're right."
Veronica mustered up another encouraging smile as she gave the girl a hug, before pulling away and grabbing her stuff.
"I should get going, Cheryl invited me for a sleepover." Veronica mumbled with grimace as she thought of the events that could happen.
"Have fun." Lauren laughed patting her shoulder as she led her out of the house and bid her goodbye, locking the door behind her as she huffed.
Just as she was walking back into her room, the doorbell rang, Lauren rolling her eyes as she predicted the raven haired girl had left one of her belongings the girl jogged back to the door, opening it wide, expecting to see her long haired friend.
Instead she saw Jughead, standing in her doorway, giving her a strange beam. Lauren rolled her eyes and attempted to close the door slightly slower than usual so he would catch on.
Jughead put his foot on the door to stop it from closing, giving her a look of offense as she mumbled incoherently and walked away from the door.
Jughead closed the door behind her, locking it and following her into the kitchen. "I'm sorry."
Lauren narrowed her eyes in mock shock and gasped sarcastically. "For what, Jug?"
Jughead rolled his eyes at her exaggeration giving her a pointed look as he sighed. "Look, I'm serious. I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out like that and I know you're like super pissed and I get that. I was just hurt and I shouldn't have said the stuff about back stab when everything you said was right but please just forgive me?"
"What's in it for me?" Lauren asked, crossing her arms over her chest and pursed her lips.
Jughead grinned sheepishly, shrugging. "You get your best friend back."
Fortunately the grin the boy had offered, simply melted Lauren's heart, her stern expression deflating when he spoke as she looked down shaking her head, sighing. "Okay."
Jughead walked around the kitchen counter before enveloping her in a hug that radiated the warmth that had risen to Lauren's cheek. Lauren nuzzled her face into the boys shoulder as her own arms wrapped around his waist.
"Is that how you really feel?" Jughead whispered, not pulling out yet but referring to what she had said the previous day about her friends.
Lauren pulled out of the hug almost immediately, shaking her head slowly with a shrug. "I was just mad..."
"Laur," Jughead stated cutting her off as she spoke, putting his hands on her shoulders. "You don't need to hide about what you really feel, not from me."
Lauren gave him a weak smile, nodding. If only he knew what she really wanted to say could never be said.
****
As Lauren walked into the building with Betty and Jughead beside her, her black dress flowed behind her as she walked gracefully to the grieving family. Lauren shook Penelope's hand out of respect though she could feel her harsh glares burning the back of her head.
Lauren took a seat next to Jughead leaving an empty space for Veronica as she played with her fingers, rustling of someones attempt to sit, Lauren looked up and saw Archie's red hair peek out into view, the girl staying quiet as Betty mumbled her appreciation for something he had done.
"Days like this really put things into perspective, huh?" started Veronica, her lips pressed into a thin line as she spoke and took her seat next to the Davis. "I mean at least we're here, at least we're alive."
Lauren nodded in agreement, giving Veronica's knee a light squeeze in assurance as the ceremony had started to begin.
Suddenly heads are turning and gasps are taken, murmurs erupt as Cheryl Blossom makes her way past all the judging stares, her ghostly, white, long dress flowing beneath her as the only color of her hair and lips popped. Lauren's eyes widen just like everyone else as the girl passed her, her eyes following every movement she made. Veronica and Lauren share a quick glance before their eyes set on the red head again.
Penelope and Clifford Blossom looked outraged as they watched their daughter mourn for her brother on a completely different path, the said girl ignored everyone, including her parents who gave her a sharp look.
"Welcome to Thornhill, thank you all for coming, really," Cheryl's eyes set on Lauren, giving a nod of appreciation shocking Lauren completely. "Kindly take your seats, I would like to start the memorial with a few words about Jason."
Cheryl removed her white gloves, her eyes not meeting with anyone's, her mother, Penelope, looked as if she would faint at any moment as she resisted the urge to stand up and smack her daughter on the face with everyone watching. Veronica noticed whispering something to her, the older women glaring but complying nonetheless.
"The last time I saw Jason, I was wearing this dress," Cheryl said, a small smile on her lips though her eyes were glassy with unshed tears remaining in her eyes. "I know it's impossible, but I swear, when I put it on, it's like he's in the room with me. Even though we were twins, I used to demand I have my own birthday party until one year, out of the blue, Jason convinced me to combine them into one. It wasn't years later did I find out why... It's because no one wanted to come to mine and Jason didn't want me to know, he protected me every single day and I wish that day at the River, I protected him."
Cheryl was finally over with trying to stay strong as she let out a sob of reluctance, spinning around to face the coffin that held Jason's corpse, Cheryl lightly touched it, tears leaking out of her dark eyes. "I'm so sorry, Jay-Jay, we failed you, all of us."
Veronica had gotten up to embrace the girl, letting her cry on her shoulder as she walked her to the empty row of seats and sat her down.
Penelope was not having it though, rushing to the small podium and mumbling something about food before waving everyone in the direction, Lauren got up to speak with Jughead but found that he and Betty had already left for somewhere.
Finally, she looked around to see that all of her friends had left in different directions and she walked out of the Blossom house with her sweater wrapped around her tightly as she made her walk to the nearest bus station ,as the girl had a shift at the diner, to get home after just another long day.
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Heyyy, sorry for such a short chapter but I have been so busy with school these past few days I thought I might as well publish something. I can't promise any chapters coming soon since my exams are back next week and I'm focusing on that a lot.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter!