Beside Him

Chapter 26// Tantrums and Tacos

"Yes," I replied, after a moments pause. Not a pause of hesitation, but a pause of confirmation. "I would."

His lips lifted into a smile that made everything worth it. All the hurt that I'd unknowingly been feeling today for reasons I didn't know myself, all the insecurities. Everything.

I was officially obsessed with Archer King, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. I was locked. Trapped in the spell, in the magic, that he oozed without knowing.

"One day." he whispered. I didn't understand what that meant. Still don't.

"Erm... okay?" I said, slightly narrowing my eyes as I tried to figure out what he'd meant.

"The rest of them are going to the mall. You wanna tag along?" He said, lips still lifted but this time in an amused smile that made me forget what I was trying to figure out.

"Er- Yeah, sure..." I muttered, not fully in my senses due to not only the smile that was currently hoarding his face but also due to our closeness.

"After you, gorgeous."

I turned on my heel and walked out before he could say anything else, knowing he was hot on my trail.

Today, I'd gone for a warmer attire, considering it was mid-October and nearly snowing. Yeah, that's how shitty the weather is here.

I wore leggings, an over sized Superdry, grey hoodie that went to the top of my thighs, and a blue denim jacket with my grey vans.

I'd put my hair up into a messy pony tail, and after the clothing try on session, I'd just left it in the braid that Kelly had done.

All in all, I didn't look very 'gorgeous' after all.

"Hey, River?" Archer called behind me and I slowed down to turn and listen to what he was saying.

"Yeah?"

"You'd tell me if something was wrong, right?" His question caught me off guard.

"The same way you'd tell me if you were in some big trouble with Diego, right?" I retaliated before I had an opportunity to think and at that moment it sunk in what it was that was bothering me.

I'd told Archer everything in my power, always being honest about everything. I'd told him stuff I'd never told anyone, not even my own brother.

But here he was, still hiding s**t from me.

Immediately after I spoke, Archer's expression became guarded. With his jaw clenched, he looked away, before picking up speed to walk in front and away from me.

I couldn't hold in a scoff as a rather disrespectful 'pfft' left my lips.

We were in the middle of the mall and, due to that, I managed to calm myself down from creating a scene.

If we were away from the public, however, I would absolutely grill his sorry ass into a very sorry sausage.

"There you are." Penny said, looking between me and Archer with narrowed eyes. "You two took your time." Archer, still throwing a hissy fit, looked away and walked towards the boys as Penny and Jayden decreased their speed to walk beside me.

"You good?" Jay asked and I pursed my lips into a forced smile.

"I'm good."

The two shared a look before nodding, deciding to drop the topic.

Before rejoining the group, Jay gave me a look that said 'we'll talk later' and I nodded.

My eyes followed the rest of the group as I trailed in the back, none of them really bothering me because they somehow knew I wanted to just have a moment.

Before going down the escalator and into the food court, however, something caught my eye.

It was the entire series of Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events. And it was first edition hard backs.

My heart started beating faster, eyes widening as I stared at my literal dream come true in the shelf.

How long had I looked for this but to no avail? And now here it was.

"Rivi?" I heard Callum call and I looked to the side to see that he was waving me over. "You coming?"

I cleared my throat, eyeing the books carefully and taking mental note of the shop that it was at.

"Yeah," I said, retreating from what had been in my dreams for years. "I'm coming."

He gave me a weird look, amusement resting in his eyes before casually throwing an arm over my shoulder.

He leaned down to my ear and spoke. "I dunno if you've noticed, but Archer has been watching you like a damn hawk for the last 5 minutes. Maybe you two should talk."

I looked up and, sure enough, Archer's eyes were on me. But as soon as I looked at him, he looked away.

Coward. I thought bitterly, a surge of anger going through me.

I looked at Callum. "I'd rather give him a moment to collect himself. I think baby's missed his nap time today." I said, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Archer's head snapped to me, as everyone else laughed.

His eyes darkened and he gritted his teeth before turning back around. "I'm ordering food. Tell me what you all want."

I looked down at my phone, pretending to ignore what he was saying.

Once he had everyone's orders, he looked to me. "You?" He snapped, rather harshly and my eye twitched as I struggled to keep my gaze on the homepage of my phone.

"I'm not hungry." Is all I replied with and, as if given a cue, my stomach rumbled.

My pride caused my head to stay firmly down as I clicked on and off of random apps on my phone, checking messages and things that I wouldn't usually do.

"Fine then." He muttered, turning around to go into one of the stores in the court. Before leaving, though, he just had to mutter the word. "Starve."

My jaw tightened as he left, finally putting down my phone and dropping my head into my hands with a sigh.

"Erm... Rivi." Jay said slowly and I looked up to find everyone looking at me. "Not to ruin your day more or anything, but...er... I see Lily and Lily sees me."

I groaned. Perfect. "But on a better note she bought Lance and Kyle with her." He finished and I once again looked up to wave at the guys as they made their way over to us.

"Rivi." Lance said with a small smile and Kyle did the same, only adding a small side hug as they took their respected seats. (Lance on my left of me and Kyle beside him.).

Penny was the first to speak. "I don't think we've met. I'm Penelope but everyone calls me Penny." She said, her usual wide grin ever present.

I smiled slightly, a sudden wave of appreciation coming towards my new friend as I noticed her try and divert the attention from the awkwardness.

"Lance," Lance introduced and Kyle did the same.

"Penny?" Lilly laughed and my gaze moved to her as I gave her a look that said it all. "More like Piggy."

My jaw fell open as Penny's entire face flushed a deep red.

"Did she just..." my voice trailed off to notice Jay and Callum share a look, as if knowing what was coming, Diego to look as confused as ever and Lance and Kyle to sit back in their seats as if getting ready for a show.

Lilly laughed openly but no one joined in, all of us finding her comment utterly disgusting.

"You filthy little rat." My voice was full of shock as I spoke, still surprised that she had the nerve to say something like that. "I don't know what mirror you're looking at you b***h, but from here, you're not exactly Megan Fox yourself."

She looked at me in boredom, as if I was the one who was uninteresting.

"Oh come one, Rivi." She laughed sardonically again. "It was just a joke."

That broke the string that I was so desperately holding onto. All the anger, frustration and upset I'd been hoarding the entire day suddenly exploded.

"You absolutely retarded, completely f*****g incompetent bitch." My voice was low, dripping with poison. "Your head is so far up your ass that you're literally eating your intestines. So much so, in fact, that you some how don't realise that this is planet earth, not planet Lily. I don't know who the f*ck gave you the false hope that you're some sort of super model, but you wear so much makeup that if you went to a birthday party, the kids would start eating you in position of the cake. So how about you grow some f*****g t**s and apologise to Penny before I rip your hair out of your skull."

Everyone at the table went deadly silent as Lily looked at me with wide eyes. I could sense the fear coming in waves from her but she dared not show it on her face.

"You know what, Rivi?" She asked rhetorically and just as I opened my mouth to answer, she beat me to it. "I feel sorry for you. Because I know you've been pining over Archer for years now and I know just well that he will never, ever be yours. You know why that is? It's because of your mum."

All the guys turned to Lily with wide eyes. "Lily, that's enough." Jay snapped, his eyes wide with fear.

"Do you really wanna talk about my mum again, b***h?" I asked, voice dropping dangerously as I awaited her answer. Her eyes twinkled, actually twinkled as she answered.

"Yes, actually, I do." Before she could continue on, Archer returned to the table, balancing two trays in his hands.

He nodded as the weird way of greeting boys do to Lance and Kyle and gave Lily a pursed smile that made me clench my fists.

Relax.

Fucking hell go suck your mum, subconscious.

I almost growled as Archer took a seat beside Lily, but instead shuffled over so I was closer to Lance.

He shot me a sly smirk as if knowing what I was doing as Archer handed out their respected food to everyone. Kyle got up, muttering something about getting the rest of them food.

I bit the inside of my cheek as Archie placed an extra hot taco in front of me.

Ahh, F*ck my pride. He may be a d**k but he clearly knows what food I like.

"You should eat," he grumbled, eyeing the space between me and Lance that seemed to be getting smaller. "You haven't all day."

I sighed and murmured a small thank you, zoning out as everyone else carried on their conversation.

The rest of the time passed with the continuing back and forth between me and Archer as he tried to make me jealous with her and I tried to do the same with Lance.

"Rivi, give us a bite." Lance said, grinning at me as I almost finished the taco in my hand.

I thought I saw Archer glance at me but when I looked up, he'd looked away.

I sighed and narrowed my eyes at Lance. "F*ck you. I don't share with anyone." Everyone around the table laughed, besides Lily who rolled her eyes and continued to steal Archer's fries.

"I know you'd love to, Riv, but I really don't think your boyfriend would be too happy about that." He said, smirking at Archer who narrowed his eyes at Lily's hand as she stole another chip. I noticed his shoulders tense.

"I don't have a-"

"Lily will you stop taking my f*****g fries!?" Archer suddenly snapped and I actually jumped as he yelled.

"f*****g hell." I muttered, placing a hand over my heart to try and calm its beating.

"Alright, man, calm down." Kyle said, frowning as Lily looked as if she was about to burst into tears.

I know it made me a b***h, but after everything she'd done, I couldn't bring it in myself to care.

"Sh*t," Archer breathed out, sitting back down as he looked at Lily with guilt in his eyes. "I- I didn't mean to shout." No one else caught on, but I realised that he hadn't said 'I'm sorry' directly.

Why? I did not know.

"It's ok." Lily said, sniffing and wiping her under eyes to clear up literally nothing. "I- I forgive you..." she muttered as if he'd killed her pet or something.

Dramatic much?

Ok, yeah I'm being salty, sue me.

"I'm gonna get out of here. River you coming?" He muttered, not looking at me but maintaining eye contact with Lance, who was clearly trying to piss Mr King off as he leaned forward and placed his lips to my head. "Ok, Yeah, you're coming." He said instead, coming around the table to take my wrist gently and pull me along, leaving only enough time for him to grab the bag containing the dress I'd bought today.

I sighed, following behind him without much rebuttals considering I was more than ready to get my ass home.

We didn't speak the entire ride back, but instead sat in a surprisingly comfortable silence.

"Your, uh, your grandma said to pick up some groceries. You can come with if you like." He said, keeping his eyes on the road. I muttered an ok and he turned the car into the parking lot of Walmart.

"Can you just... Can we just move on?" he said suddenly, sighing as i rolled my eyes. I don't know why I did it, but I leaned forward to press my lips to his cheek. I didn't have it in me to be a d**k to him anymore.

"You will tell me, King." I announced as he grinned when I retreated. "There's no getting out of it." He nodded, rolling his eyes at my antics before getting out of the car with me following suit.