The next morning, I came out of the shower, ready to start my homework in the dorm when I saw Kate and Angie sitting on my bed, looking at me with their lips pursed.
I raised an eyebrow. "What's the matter?"
Kate spoke first. "What's going on between you and Archer?"
I frowned. "What? What makes you think something's going on?"
"Well, a few people saw you two dancing at the ball yesterday. What was that about?!"
I closed my eyes. Ugh, of course people would see us and start a rumour mill. What the hell was I thinking, going over to him like that?
"Nothing's going on, I swear. I just walked over to him and asked him to dance as a form of an apology."
"Apology?"
"Yeah, he had waited for me while I was getting ready for the ball yesterday. Plus he also helped me out with Ms D'Angelo's work. But as we were approaching the hall I didn't want people to think we were going together, so I left him abruptly and went inside. I could see he was a bit hurt, and I felt guilty afterwards. So..."
"So you danced with him?" Angie asked, her lips turning up into a smirk. "Viv, you could've just apologised to him and left it there. Instead you went ahead and danced with him too. I'm telling you, your feelings are still there somewhere."
Kate nodded along.
I glared at them. "No, of course not! You think after what he did, I'll still have feelings for him? He's an arsehole, that's what he is. I was just feeling bad yesterday, especially since he'd helped me out. Otherwise I'd never have danced with him, god no."
"Keep telling yourself that." Angie winked and returned to her homework. Kate gave me a Cheshire cat smile and blocked out all sounds of my protests with her headphones.
An interrogation was not how I'd imagined my Sunday to begin with.
°
I didn't see Archer all of Sunday. To be honest, I was still a bit hurt over the way he'd abruptly left me in the middle of the dance, just like that. It was... embarrassing. It made me even more aware of my stupid decision to ask him to dance. I shouldn't have done it at all. And then he'd just left me and gone back to his friends, without any second glance.
"I can't do this," he'd said.
I shook my head. There was no point in mulling over his words and ruining my Sunday. No point at all.
The next day, after class hours when I went inside the study to begin the five-hour ordeal of sitting with the Head Boy, I abruptly stopped in my tracks.
Archer was already in his chair, doing his work.
I stared at him for a second. It wasn't like him to come before me and begin his work. But I didn't let myself stand at the doorway for long, and went inside, ignoring him as much as I could. I wasn't going to give him the time of day.
I could feel his eyes burning holes into my back as I set my bag onto the desk and took out some sheets of paper. I sat down and started writing. All the while ignoring the pair of brown eyes constantly staring at me.
After a while, I heard his voice. "Are you ignoring me?"
I stopped writing. "Why would I ever ignore you?" I asked in the most sarcastic tone possible. "You're my best friend in the whole universe."
He glared. "That's not what I meant. Normally you'd have some snappy remark ready for me by the time you entered the room. Today you didn't even look at me once. Is something up?"
I looked at him unflinchingly. "Archer, firstly you're not as important as you think. I don't want to waste that much of my time coming up with remarks for you. Secondly, why do you even care if I ignore you or not?"
He looked away, hurt flashing through his eyes for a brief moment. "You're right, I don't. Do whatever, I don't give a damn."
"Fine."
"Fine."
We both returned to our respective work, the tension in the room palpable. It was getting increasingly hard working like this. Despite our bet about who could go the longest without fighting, it seemed as if we were both losing. None of us could control our emotions when it came to the other.
Finally I couldn't take it anymore. I stood up. "I need to go."
As I turned towards the doorway, Archer's hand suddenly wrapped around my arm. I froze.
"What the hell, Archer?"
"Wait, don't go. I need to ask you something."
I turned to him irritably. "What?"
He swallowed. He was clearly feeling uncomfortable. "Um-are you...are you pissed off at me because of what happened at the ball?"
I decided to play dumb. "What happened at the ball?"
He rolled his eyes. "Stop pretending you don't know. Are you angry because of how I...how I left?"
I closed my eyes and exhaled. "I'm not angry, Archer. You can do whatever the hell you want. You can dance, leave, be with your friends...who am I to stop you, right?"
Archer must've sensed my tone, because he sighed and looked down. And then whispered, "I'm sorry."
"What?"
He looked me right in the eye this time, merely inches away. "I'm sorry for leaving you in the middle of the dance like that. I shouldn't have."
I stared at him, not being able to look away. Why did he have this magnetic gaze, from which you couldn't possibly tear your eyes?
Something had shifted in the air between us. I didn't know, didn't understand. But whatever it was, I didn't like it. It felt too personal, too close. Our faces were too close.
This couldn't be good.
I was the first to take a step back, and break the eye contact. "You don't have to apologise. It's fine."
With that, I walked back to the desk, not having the energy to leave the study anymore.
I noticed Archer standing in his place for a moment, tilting his head back for a second, and then returning to the desk to continue his work.
We went on with our paperwork as if the past few minutes hadn't even happened. As if the other didn't exist. As if the tension, or whatever it was, was absent.
Maybe it was better this way, I thought. Ignore, deny, and move on.
a/n: that's it for today folks! hope you enjoyed this little filler. much more is coming your way, don't worry! stay safe and spread love (& don't forget to spread that love for this chapter too) xx
also, below is a picture of my imagination of archer and viv, ft lorenzo zurzolo and benedetta porcaroli.