sad breakfast club | riverdale

puppy dog eyes!

✰ VANESSA MORGAN ✰

The clang of the alarm on my phone dragged me from the depths of sleep for probably sixth time that morning, and I sighed heavily as I rolled over to put it on snooze yet again.

Vanessa groaned from behind me and rolled towards me, letting her arm drop heavily across my waist. "Just shut it off, babe," she slurred. "We're both so tired, just stay home."

I groaned. "I wish I could," I said sleepily, letting my eyes drift shut as Vanessa's hand slipped under my shirt to drag her fingertips along my stomach, raising goosebumps on the skin. "But I have to go to school, I have a presentation today."

"I've missed you so much, babe, can't you do the presentation another day?" she mumbled against my skin, lips brushing the back of my neck and sending a shiver through me. I wriggled under her arm and turned over to face her, bringing a hand up to her cheek and kissing her softly.

"I've missed you, too, baby girl. So much. But I have to go in today, I don't have a choice." Vanessa had come home from Vancouver around 6 pm last night wide awake with jet lag. Because of this, neither of us got to sleep until around 3 in the morning, so my 7 am alarm was a very unwelcome interruption.

"No," she said, her eyes still closed but the hint of a smirk evident in the corner of her mouth. "You're staying in bed with me." she tightened the arm encircling my waist so we were plastered together, front to front.

"Vanessa," I whined, half-heartedly trying to push away from her. "Let gooooo."

"Never," she murmured, wrapping her other arm around my back and pulling me impossibly closer, burying her face in my neck. A breathless sigh escaped my lips as I let my eyes fall shut again. This was my heaven, wrapped up safe and warm in her arms after missing her every single night for months. I felt the tendrils of sleep start to curl around me, threatening to pull me back under, when my alarm went off again. Vanessa released me so I could make the blaring noise stop, and this time I actually looked at the time before putting my phone back on the nightstand: I had less than an hour to get to school and I wasn't even dressed yet. I groaned again in annoyance and started to lift my tired body out of bed. Vanessa grabbed my arm before my feet touched the floor, and with more strength than someone who was supposedly half-asleep and so small, she yanked me back into bed and into her arms. "Don't go."

"Vanessa, c'mon, I'm gonna be late..."

"Sucks for you." she still had her eyes closed with her head resting on my shoulder.

"Seriously, babe, I have to go," I said, craning my neck to look down at her and reaching under the covers to poke her sharply in the ribs. She yelped, her eyes popping open in surprise.

"Ouch - hey!" While her guard was down, I was able to squirm out of her grasp and roll off the bed, somehow managing to land on my feet and walk over to our walk-in closet with some of my dignity still intact while Vanessa continued to protest loudly. As I was walking away, Vanessa leaned across the mattress and lazily propped herself up on her elbow. "Baby, no, come back," she said pitifully, her voice still raspy with sleep as she reached out after me. My heart threatened to break at her longing tone.

"When I get back from classes this afternoon we can cuddle..." I said while hurriedly shedding my pajamas and putting on underwear, shoving my legs into a pair of jeans.

"You realize we have four months of cuddling to make up for, right?" she said. I pulled one of Vanessa's sweaters over my head and walked back out into the bedroom to see her sprawled out diagonally across our bed with her head towards the foot of the mattress. "And, y'know... lots of other catching up to do..." she trailed off suggestively, bringing my thoughts back to the night before. Okay, so maybe jet lag wasn't the only thing that kept us up late... I tried to ignore the slow burn in the pit of my stomach that made itself apparent at the thought of how she'd taken care of me last night. She looked up at me pleadingly with those big brown eyes, still a little puffy from sleep and looking absolutely angelic. I stood at the foot of the bed and shifted my weight, putting a hand on my hip. This girl was unbelievable.

"C'mon, Vanessa, don't give me that puppy dog face. How am I supposed to say no to that?"

"You're not supposed to," she said, blinking up at me innocently. My resolve started to crumble, but a glance at the clock set me back into motion. I walked over to the ensuite bathroom so I could put on my makeup.

"I'm going to school, Vanessa," I said over my shoulder.

"Nooooo," she whined. I heard her roll over in the bed again. "Please, babe, at least let me look at you a little longer." I huffed indignantly, grabbing my makeup bag off the bathroom counter and taking it out into the bedroom.

"You're lucky I love you," I said, lowering myself to the ground to sit in front of the full length mirror on Vanessa's side of the bed and setting my makeup bag on the floor next to me.

"Damn right I am," she said, making me chuckle. I was putting on eyeshadow when I heard a thud on the floor behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw Vanessa on her hands and knees, hair sticking up out of her messy bun as she crawled towards me across the floor.

"What are you doing?" I asked, eyeshadow brush poised in midair. I watched as she silently crawled up next to me and lowered her head onto my lap.

"I just wanna be close to you for a little longer before you leave," she said lowly, her eyes falling shut again as she nestled into her position. My heart squeezed in my chest at the simplicity and sincerity of her explanation. Sometimes I forgot that being apart was just as hard for her as it was for me; even though she was busy with filming, she still ached like I did every night to be held. Looking down at her nearly asleep in my lap, I lost all willpower and put my makeup brush back in its bag. Screw it, I'll just tell prof I was sick or something.

"Hey, Nessa..." I coaxed gently, rubbing my hand back and forth over her shoulder. She stirred a little and hummed quietly to let me know he was listening. "I'm gonna stay with you today."

She smiled smugly, her eyes remaining closed. "Good."

"You wanna go back to bed?"

"No, here's good." I rolled my eyes and dragged my fingers through her messy hair.

"You're a giant baby," I teased.

"But I'm your baby."

"And I'm yours."