Second Chances [Sweet Pea x OC]

Chapter 14

"Sweet Pea, wake up," I said again. "You're gonna be late."

"Ten more minutes," he whined.

"You said that half an hour ago. Now get up."

Groaning, he finally rolled out of bed and pulled his shoes on, grabbing his backpack as we made our way quietly down the stairs. "I'm going with Reggie this afternoon on another run so I'll meet you at the party tonight," Sweet Pea said quietly.

"I'll see you there," I replied, reaching up to kiss him quickly before shutting the door.

I froze at the sound of a newspaper rustling behind me. "You could have at least offered him breakfast," Mr Andrews chuckled.

Turning around I saw him sitting at the kitchen island, paper and coffee in hand. "You're up early," I said, ignoring his comment and making my way down the hall for my own coffee.

"I'm driving out to Greendale to look at a possible job at the community college this morning. Wanna come along?"

"No thanks," I replied, leaning against the counter. "I've been on that campus once or twice. There's always something weird going on there. I have some other things to take care of today anyways."

Mr Andrews nodded, raising his mug in greeting to Archie as he joined us in the kitchen.

"Morning," Archie said to both of us at once, rifling through the fridge. "Sorry, gotta run. I want to try and get to school early and see what I need to catch up on. Betty and Jughead are coming over after school to help me study for the SATs. See you guys later!" he called, slamming the door behind him.

"I'm glad he's getting back into the swing of things," Mr Andrews said, still looking at the door. "He's not letting anything hold him back."

I sighed. "True, but he's kind of rushing it, isn't he? I mean, Archie just walked through that door with Vegas a few days ago and now he's rushing off to school early and making plans to study later."

"Don't worry about him, Abigail," Mr Andrews said, folding up his newspaper. "Archie's always been resilient."

"That may be true, but everyone has their breaking point," I said softly. Suddenly the mug in my hands lost its warmth and the coffee lost its flavor. "I'm, uh, I'm gonna finish getting ready for the day. I'll see you tonight," I said, making my way back up to my room.

I'd left my remaining coffee downstairs and didn't have anything else so I forced the pill down my throat. Today was definitely not a day to skip it as I'd been starting to do recently, not wanting to be dependent on medication forever. I sat on the bed, forcing myself to remember that Archie wasn't me. His situation was different. He wasn't going to end up like I did.

Needing a distraction, I pulled Sweet Pea's computer towards, restarting the movie we'd fallen asleep watching the night before. Halfway through I was no longer lost in my thoughts and forced myself to finally get ready to head out.

I found who I was looking for near the edge of town, not far from the house I'd visited quite often with the Ghoulies. "Abi, long time no see!" Spider cheered when I came into view.

"You could've seen me sooner if you didn't pick a spot so far out of town to meet up today," I teased. "Seriously though, why the hell are we way out here?"

"Sorry, but the others are tailing some Gargoyles and they headed out this way," Spider explained. "Figured we should be close in case anything happens."

I nodded. "But I'm assuming you actually found something and didn't just want to meet up just to see my pretty face."

"Okay, okay, it's not much, but it could be the chance we've been waiting for," Spider said. He glanced around, lowering his voice before continuing. "We still haven't been able to identify the Gargoyle King yet, but they're planning something tomorrow night out your way. Some kind of big get-together in Fox Forest."