Hold You Down

Chapter 2 - Hopeless

"Leave",  she hears him, he knows it, because there's a pained expression on her face, but he can tell she's hesitant to move. For some fucked up reason, he's relieved she's not leaving. 

Closing his eyes, Archie uselessly wishes that it wasn't true, or worse that he never found out. He feels her cleaning his face, and tugging at the hem of his shirt, "we need to take this off" she says quietly, afraid that he'll flinch at her touch again, or worse, insist that she should leave immediately. But Archie doesn't have the energy to keep up the lie, he doesn't want her to leave, but he won't admit it either. He slowly nods, then lifts each arm as she carefully pulls the shirt over his body and head, perfectly removing it without getting any more vomit on him. Even though he feels beyond betrayed and gutted by his girlfriend, he's silently thankfully that she's taking care of him now. He knew it was stupid to rely on her and make her feel needed, but he was too weak in the moment to be stubborn or angry. 

Veronica watched her boyfriend, she wondered if by tomorrow they'd still be together, and that thought made her tear up again.

She took a sharp breath, causing Archie to focus on her briefly, before hanging his head back down, and slowly bringing the glass of water from the table to his mouth, still keeping his eyes glued to the floor. 

She hated herself sleeping with Reggie and mostly for hurting Archie, Veronica's whole body was tense, she tried to push away the guilt and take care of Archie while he was still willing to accept the help. She selfishly needed to be close to him, even if she could see the disgust in his eyes. "Do you think your ready to go to the bathroom?" she asked awkwardly, not knowing what to say, Veronica was walking on eggshells, afraid of saying the wrong thing and setting him off. She was waiting for the second shoe to drop, since he had vomited, Archie had barely spoken, it was only a matter of time until he would start to feel better, and less apathetic to her presence. Veronica was well aware that as soon as the nausea and initial shock wore off, that Archie would not be this calm, or zombie like. 

There will be yelling, and crying, that she knew, but Veronica was terrified of the outcome. After the fighting, and apologizing, what would be left? she wondered silently as she continued to stare at Archie.He still hadn't responded or made any movement, "Archie" she said again, still quietly, but slightly needier sounding this time.He looked up at her, and nodded sadly.Holding her hands out, he slowly took them, and used the support to pull himself up, his legs felt like jello at first but like a reflex, he started to walk to the bathroom upstairs, moving awkwardly with a wet crotch and vomit stained socks.

Veronica was relieved that he was being compliant, but also saddened by his ghost like appearance, she felt the impact of her mistake, sadness was radiating off of the person next to her, and her heart physically hurt knowing that she had caused it.

Once they finally made it to the bathroom, Ronnie awkwardly followed him in, unsure of the new boundaries. He didn't protest, still looking exhausted.Archie slowly started pulling his jeans off, as Veronica starting the shower for him.When she turned around, he was in his boxers, she could tell this was as far as he would let her in for now, Archie was clearly not willing to be naked in front of her anymore, not physically or emotionally.Veronica leaned down to pick up his dirty pants and socks, "I'm going to go put this in the wash, maybe when you're done we could talk?" she asks terrified. Archie just looks at her defeated and nods, "thanks" is all he can come up with.

Once he hears the door shut, he pulls of his boxers and gets into the shower, the water is slightly hotter than he's used to, but it reminds him of the showers he's taken with Ronnie. The water is always burning, and somehow she's always complaining that she's cold, even though he lets her hog the water. Archie gets caught up in his reverie, everything else has faded out of the forefront of his mind, and he's lost thinking about Veronica's naked body, covered in droplets of water and foamy shampoo. He vividly pictures them knocking over the trillion bottles of various expensive hair products in her huge glass shower in the Pembrooke.