01; First Step Is The Hardest

Summer.

It was more than a season for some people. It was the time of year that most people under the age of 18 counted down the days for.

It was the time of freedom; no school and no responsibilities.

It was a time to sleep in, lay out in the sun, hang out with friends or just stay locked up in your room without a care in the world- or at least it was for most of the students at Riverdale High, but for Lauren it was the time for her to make a decision; one she had been dreading to make since she still didn't know if it was the right thing to do.

Blowing out a breath, she forced herself to climb up the front steps leading to Archie Andrews' front door, then stood frozen in front of the door. She had been in this spot more times than she could count in her life.

After meeting Archie at a young age, the two became fast friends- along with Betty Cooper and Jughead Jones. The foursome were inseparable, then the group grew one more when Kevin Keller moved to town in middle school.

There was another small shakeup in the gang the year before- the summer before their freshman year- when Archie kissed her and they took their friendship to the next level. The others didn't mind the change up in the group and saw it coming years before, but she had a feeling they wouldn't see what was coming this time.

Raising a fist, she went to knock on the front door, then jumped back a step when it was pulled open before she could by Archie's father, Fred. Coming out of the house, he flashed her a friendly smile when he saw her standing on the porch.

"Hey, Lauren, how are you? How're your parents?"

"Good. Everything is good." She nodded. "They left about an hour ago for their big summer trip."

The summer trip was a several week-long vacation as they traveled through a few different European countries.

"Right, I remember that was coming up. When are they coming back?"

"First week of July. Back in time for their huge 4th of July bash."

"Well, if you need anything while they're gone, you know you're always welcomed here."

"Thanks a lot, Mr. A. I really appreciate that," she said with a soft smile. The man in front of her had always treated her like she was his own; most of the time he was more of a father to her than her own.

"Not a problem." He smiled back, then motioned toward the front door. "You can go on in. Archie's in his room and I have to head for work. I'll see you later."

"See you later," she repeated as she turned her body to watch him walk away. Regardless of what happened, once she entered the house, she hoped she would still hear things like that from him.

Turning back toward the front door, she pulled in a deep breath knowing what she came there to do, then took a cautious step inside the house and slowly closed the front door. Hearing the sound of scurrying steps running down the stairs, she glanced over and smiled when she saw the Andrews' dog, Vegas.

Dropping down to her knees beside the Labrador Retriever, she began to pet him and chuckled when the dog licked her face in excitement. She softly spoke to him, then gave him a quick kiss on top of his head before standing up from the floor. She patted her leg and clicked her tongue at him, telling him to follow her to find his owner, then made her way upstairs to Archie's room with Vegas at her heels.

Arriving at his closed bedroom door, she softly tapped on it, then pushed it open when she heard him call out to come in from inside. She saw him turn from the window, the bright afternoon sun spilling in and making his red hair even brighter, but it paired in comparison at the bright smile on his face when he saw her.

"Hey, Lolly," he greeted her by her nickname.

"Hi, Arch," she said back while standing in his doorway.

She knew she should enter the room, like Vegas, who didn't hesitate to run in and jump on the bed like normal, but it was like she couldn't make herself move. She knew once she went into that room nothing would ever be the same again.

If Archie thought her actions were weird, he didn't mention it. Instead, he crossed the room toward her and lightly laid a hand on her arm before leaning forward and pressing his lips against hers for a chaste kiss.

"Sorry, I'm all sweaty." He stepped back with a chuckle and removed his hand from her arm, then nodded toward the dog on the bed. "I took Vegas for a run."

"That's fine," she softly said with a small shake of the head. Forcing herself to take a step into the room, she cleared her throat. "How-How was it? The run?"

"It was good. Not bad for my first run in months." He laughed.

After football season ended earlier that year, Archie vowed to use the summer to work out and get in better shape after being winded several times during practice and at games.

"Well you have three months of running to go, I'm sure by the end of it you'll be a pro at it."

"Yeah." He smiled, then changed the subject, "So, what are you doing here? Not that I'm complaining, but I thought you were spending the day with your parents before their trip."

"I was, but they decided to grab an earlier flight," she said with no emotion.

She wished she could say she was surprised by their action, but she wasn't. She and her parents didn't have a typical relationship. They weren't the type to sit down for cell phone-free meals together while asking each other about their days or having family fun nights where they played games and laughed; instead, she and her parents were usually just different ships passing each other in the night.

Her father, Gregory, was gone from home a lot, thanks to his demanding job of high-priced lawyer turned judge. She got along with her father for the most part, but she wouldn't call herself a daddy's girl- it helped that with his guilt from being absent a lot in her life that he hardly said no to her when she asked for something.

Things with her mother, Melissa, were different. She spent her time volunteering all over town, which surprised Lauren because she always assumed her mother didn't care about anything.

Melissa wasn't the type of mother that showed a lot of emotion, she was usually straightforward and blunt.

Growing up, if Lauren fell and scraped her knee, her mother wasn't the type that rushed to her side and doted on her. There were no kisses on the boo-boo or motherly whispers that things would be okay. There would just be a quick clean up and a band-aid placed on the problem area before her mother went back to what she was doing and warning her to be more careful next time.

After her comment, Archie watched her rub her hands together, then turn her head to look away at nothing- which he knew was a telltale sign that something was bothering her. He knew what her relationship was like with her parents, making him assume that was what was bothering her.

Hoping to cheer her up, he said, "Well, their loss is my gain."

When she turned to look at him, her eyebrows lowered in confusion, he suggested, "After I shower, why don't we go to Pop's for burgers and fries? I'll even buy you your own milkshake. No sharing this time."

A chuckle escaped her lips at his comment as she lowered her head.

Usually, on their dates, he would buy a milkshake for them to share. He claimed it was because it was romantic, but she knew it was really because he didn't have the extra money- which was okay with her and she never called him out on it. She would sometimes joke about how she couldn't wait for the day she could get her own milkshake since she was such a fan of them.

"Thanks, Arch, but I-I'm not really in the mood for burgers and shakes." She raised her head to look at him.

"Okay, then, we can stay in and watch a movie." Taking a step toward her, he reached out to push a lock of her brown hair behind her ear. "I still have those movies you borrowed from Betty last week. Or if you don't feel like a movie, we can do something else. Just whatever you want; today is about you."

Her eyes began to water and a soft puff of air escaped her lips at his words. He was so good to her, he had always been. Looking at his face, all she could see is the love he has for her; it was in the way he smiled at her- a special smile he only gave to her. It was in the way his eyebrows quirk up and the way his eyes shined brighter around her. It was all those little things that he never tried to hide- he had always worn his emotions for the world to see.

But even if she couldn't read it on his face, she would still be able to tell by the way he treated her. He had always treated her well, even from an early age he was soft with her- which she would admit drove her crazy at times- she wasn't made of glass and she wouldn't break with a touch, but he would treat her as such. She knew he only did it because he cared and wanted to protect her, so when those times became too much she just took a deep breath and shot him a smile.

She wasn't the type to speak up and complain. She didn't want to cause problems for anyone or make a situation worse; she had to keep the perfect façade intact at all times. She didn't know why she had to hide behind a mask.

Maybe it was growing up with parents who had perfected their own fake smiles and false appearances or maybe it was years of going along with the crowd and seeing the smiles on friends' faces when she agreed with them- either way, being perfect was starting to get tiring.

Remembering why she was there, she took a step back from him and nervously rubbed her hands together. She knew what she had to do, but she was dreading it. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt him; at the end of the day, he was still one of her best friends and she never wanted to cause him any pain.

Blowing out a breath, her green eyes locked with his dark brown ones and she saw a new look appear on his face- a look of concern. Placing his hands on either side of her face, his voice was soft and full of care as he asked, "Are you okay?"

She gave him a short shake of the head, losing her voice for a moment.

Feeling him slide a hand from her face to the back of her neck, he pulled her toward him and pressed a kiss to her forehead. He silently held her for a moment, hoping to give her some comfort before he pulled back to speak again.

"Whatever's going on, everything will be okay, Lolly. Somehow things will work out."

"I wish that was true, Arch."

"It can be-" he tried to argue until she shook her head and interrupted.

"But it's not! Things are not always okay, things are not always perfect!"

Taking a small step back, Archie's eyebrows slowly raised in surprised at her outburst. This wasn't like her. She wasn't acting like the petite brunette that always had a smile on her face and never raised her voice. It was almost like looking at a stranger as she paced in front of him with her chest heaving as she tried to get control of her many emotions, but for once she couldn't stop the words from falling out of her mouth.

"I mean, if things were perfect your mom would still be here. She wouldn't have left you and your dad and move to Chicago."

Coming to a quick stop before reaching one of his bedroom walls, she almost tripped on her own feet as she quickly turned and began to walk the same path she just traveled. Her voice raised slightly, almost turning hysterical as she continued, "If things were perfect then maybe my parents would act like real parents for once. Maybe they would sit down and have a freaking meal together...just one! Out of all the times in a day someone might grab a snack or eat a meal, they can't do that together- not even once!"

"Is that what's bothering you? That your parents don't eat together?" he asked confused.

"No, not just that." She groaned and ran her hands through her brown hair. Coming to another stop, she turned to face him. "It's-It's everything, Archie."

"Everything?"

"Everything!" She threw out her arms to get her point across. "It's-It's...Okay, did you know I almost failed algebra last year?"

"What?" he questioned, a little confused where the conversation was heading- she wasn't making much sense to him and if she was being honest, she didn't really know where the conversation was headed. There were too many thoughts jumping around and she was just trying to hang on to one.

"Yeah, it's true. The Lauren Kinley sucks at math," she admitted.

Realizing what she said, he quickly shook his head. "No, wait, you passed algebra with an 'A'."

"Yeah, and I had to work my butt off for that 'A'. I stayed after school a time or two to get help from our teacher and even joined a few online groups for help."

"Why didn't you ask me for help? Or Betty?" he questioned. "Betty's great at that kinda stuff. You remember how she helped me in the second grade with the reading? She would have jumped at the chance to help you with algebra."

"That's why. I knew one of you would have fixed the problem, but I didn't want to be fixed," she explained. "For that one moment when I knew I was failing there was this feeling of relief because for that moment, I wasn't perfect anymore."

After her confession, a genuine smile appeared on her face. For a moment she took a deep breath and felt like she could breathe, but then the smile disappeared just as fast as it appeared. "But then it really hit me- 'oh, my god, I'm failing algebra'- and I had to get my grade up before my parents found out their darling daughter isn't so perfect."

Seeing her chest rapidly rising and falling as she got worked up again, he took a couple of big steps toward her and pulled her toward him. Running a hand up and down her back, he softly shushed her. "Shh, it's okay. Calm down, everything's okay."

"Don't," her voice muffled against his chest. Pulling away from him, she shook her head. "I know you're trying to help, but I don't want to calm down. I-I don't."

"What is going on with you?" he asked with his eyebrows lowered in concern. "You're not sounding like yourself."

Blowing out a shaking breath, she lowered her head and felt tears fill her eyes.

For the last few minutes since her outburst, she was being the truest version of herself. For that brief moment she had lowered the mask and dropped her guard with Archie, but instead of accepting her and trying to understand her, he just looked at her like she was crazy and wanted back the girl he knew- the fake version of her.

She couldn't be mad at him, it was the only version he knew. She was a bit disappointed that he was so quick to dismiss the real version of her though.

"I can't do this anymore, Archie." Her voice so low he almost didn't hear her, and a part of him wish he didn't.

"What?" he asked, his tone matching hers as his heart began to pound. He hoped she wasn't saying what he thought she was saying.

"Us," she breathed out as she raised her head to look at him. "I can't do us anymore, Archie."

"Why?" he questioned. "We're-We're perfect together."

"I know." She nodded, agreeing with him.

When he shot her a confused looked, she explained, "We're so perfect in fact, I can see us being high school sweethearts and attending college together...maybe even getting a place off campus at some point. We'll graduate, get great jobs and get married. I can see all of that so perfectly."

"So can I." Grabbing her hands, he added, "That's our future, Lolly. That was always the plan."

"I know that, but I want-I want...more," she softly said, fresh tears filling her eyes and blurring her vision. "That was the same plan my parents had too and look at how they are."

"Your parents are still together. They might not get to spend as much time together, but they love each other," he pointed out.

"I don't think they do," she argued. "Archie, it's more than missing meals together, they hardly talk to each other anymore. They're barely in the same room or touch each other. And I can't tell you the last time I heard them fight."

"That's a good thing, Lolly," he stated with a smile.

"No, it's not," she argued with a shake of the head. "When the fighting stops that means the passion is gone."

"We never fight," Archie said, his voice low. Realizing what she was saying, he dropped her hands and took a step back. "You think the passion's gone with us too."

"Archie, we have been so intertwined in each other's lives since we were kids," Lauren tearfully explained. "I don't even know who I am anymore without you. I need to find myself, Arch."

"Okay," he muttered with a nod, then forced himself to raise his head to look at her. "Maybe you're right. Maybe we need to take this summer to get to know ourselves again."

He didn't understand what was going on with her, but hoped maybe a few days alone she would get back to herself. School had just ended and maybe she was just feeling stressed and needed some time to relax.

"I'm sorry. I really am, I'm so sorry, Archie," she cried. She took a step toward him, then laid her hands on either side of his face. "And I don't want you to think this has anything to do with you. You're perfect, you are...and I-I love you. I really do, but I-"

"I know," he cut her off, his heart not able to hear any more.

"I know it's cliché to say it's not you, it's me, but that really is true," she explained. "It is me and maybe after I figure out who I am, you'll want to meet that girl."

Taking a step back from her, he slightly turned to the side away and nodded his head- not trusting his voice to speak.

After he turned away, she pressed her hands together and intertwined her fingers to stop herself from reaching out to him. She was so used to being the one to comfort him, but now she was the one breaking his heart.

"Archie, I'm sorry-" she began to apologize again until he shook his head to stop her.

Sensing he wanted to be alone, she brushed a tear from her cheek and cleared her throat. "I guess I'll-I'll get going."

Walking toward the bedroom door, she passed by him and paused for a moment as she debated on saying something, but when he turned his head and refused to look at her, she knew there was nothing she could say that would make a difference- in the end she hurt him and she hated herself for it.

Before she could stop herself, she raised on her tiptoes and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek then rushed to the bedroom door. She whispered out a goodbye to Vegas as she passed by the bed and heard him let out a small whimper- almost like he was worried he would never see her again- and for a moment, she wasn't sure if he would or not.

After shattering his heart, she had no idea if Archie Andrews- childhood best friend turned boyfriend and now ex-boyfriend- would ever want to see her again.

•••

Walking out of the Andrews' house, Lauren forced herself not to look back, instead, she slid behind the wheel of her car and pulled onto the road. Any emotions she was feeling she kept them shoved down and drove numbly toward her house.

Pulling into the garage, she clicked the button to close the door behind her and continued to sit behind the wheel. She stared straight ahead for a moment, not focusing on anything as she thought back to breaking up with Archie. She placed a hand over her heart and pulled in a shaky breath, her other hand touching a keychain he had given her for her last birthday as fought the urge to start the car and drive back to his house.

In the end, she pulled the key out of the ignition and stepped out of the car. As much as it hurt to break up with him, she knew she had made the right choice- at least that's what she kept telling herself as she walked past her parents' cars to get to the door.

Entering the house in the kitchen, she went straight for the freezer to grab a carton of rocky road ice cream and stuck a spoon in her mouth, then headed for the stairs to go to her bedroom.

She slipped off her flip-flops and tossed the car keys onto her desk. With an arm wrapped around the cold carton of ice cream, she crawled into bed and grabbed the colorful comforter to toss over her head. Feeling tears fill her eyes, she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to keep the tears at bay as she shoved a big spoonful of creamy ice cream into her mouth.

"I did the right thing," she mumbled to herself after taking a few more bites of ice cream. "Breaking up was the right thing. Sometimes the right thing hurts, but that doesn't mean it was wrong. It was the right thing...right?"

With a sigh, she sat up and threw the soft comforter aside. Placing the carton in her lap, she turned her head and saw the mouse plush toy her godfather Travis gave her when she was a baby, sitting on the bedside table.

"I did the right thing, right, Mr. Moony?" she asked the small toy. "I mean, what if we're not meant to be and there's someone else out there better for him? If I hang on to him because it's safe and comfortable, then I'm being selfish, right?"

Sitting the ice cream aside, she stood up from the bed and began to pace back and forth across the plush carpet. "It's not fair for him. Archie is a great guy and he deserves the best, but that's not me."

Coming to a stop in front of her vanity table, she saw a recent picture of her and Archie in the corner of the mirror causing her to pull her bottom lip between her teeth in thought.

Catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror, she blew out a breath and shook her head. "Or is it?" she mumbled.

Reaching behind her, she pulled her cell phone from the back pocket of her cutoff shorts and brought up her contacts. Her finger hovered over Archie's name for a moment, before she let out a groan and turned to toss the phone onto her king-sized bed.

"No! No, I won't call him," she stated. "I did the right thing. We were good together, but that doesn't mean we should be together. There's more to a relationship than being good together. I'm right. I know I'm right."

A soft chuckle escaped her lips as she realized she just had a whole conversation with herself. She rolled her eyes, then dragged herself over to the light-colored vanity.

Reaching up, she grabbed the picture and looked at Archie's smiling face. It was the same smile she had seen hundreds of times in her life and now she feared she would never see it again.

"I'm sorry, Archie," she quietly whispered in the silent room.

Feeling something roll down her cheek, she reached up to swiped away a tear she didn't realize had fallen. With a sigh, she opened one of the side drawers and placed the picture inside, then slowly slide the drawer closed.

Looking at herself in the mirror, she noticed a few more tears before her vision began to blur. She let out a soft groan, then placed her hands over her face to wipe away all the moisture.

"I gotta get out of here," she breathed out as she dropped her hands. She knew the longer she sat in her room alone with her thoughts, the more she was going to drive herself crazy.

She laid her hands on the chair in front of her and tilted her head to the side, her eyes falling on a colorful wig half hanging off the corner of the vanity table. The wig had gone with her costume last Halloween when she went as a mermaid.

Reaching out, she grabbed it and began to brush through the hair with her fingers to smooth it out as an idea began to form in her mind.

Grabbing her long brown hair, she gathered it up, then slipped the purple and green wig on her head, tucking her own hair under it. The pastel purple hair on the wig fell past her shoulders with loose waves and heavy streaks of teal green.

Remembering what she wore with the wig, she walked over to her closet and pulled out a crop tube top that matched the purple in her hair. She skipped over the sequined mermaid tail and instead grabbed a pair of dark-colored skinny jeans and a black leather jacket that went with another Halloween costume. She quickly changed and applied makeup; spending extra time on her eye makeup to make her green eyes pop, but kept everything else light.

Slipping on a pair of black high heels, she looked at herself in the mirror and barely recognized herself- which was the whole point. She was hoping if she pretended to be someone else for the night, she might be able to find who Lauren really was. She heard once that sometimes to find yourself, you need to get a little lost.

Grabbing her keys and cell phone, she made her way back to the garage and slide behind the wheel of her car, then paused for a moment as she tried to figure out where to go.

Obviously, she couldn't go to any of her normal hangouts. It would defeat the purpose to go where people would know her. She could go to Greendale, but she didn't feel like driving that far; which only left one place- a place she had never ventured to before- the Southside.

"Well, if I'm gonna go out of my comfort zone, might as well go all out," she mumbled to herself.

She went to slip the key into the ignition, then paused again when she realized what she was driving; a white Mercedes-Benz c-class convertible. There was no way she could drive on the Southside in a car this nice- there might not be a car left to drive back by the end of the night.

Pushing the door open, she climbed out of the car and glanced at her father's car, then at her mother's car- both the same luxury brand as hers and too nice to drive to that part of town as well.

Folding her arms across her chest, her bottom lip poked out in a pout as she realized her plan was a bust until her eyes landed on the last vehicle tucked toward the back in the shadows. It was her mother's older vehicle- an old blue and white Volkswagen van- it was the one she was driving when she met Gregory and refused to give up. It was the only time Lauren saw any emotion out of her mother. For some reason, the van was important to her.

With a smile on her face, she skipped over to the van, knowing the keys were always kept above the sun visor on the driver side. She climbed behind the wheel and turned down the visor, catching the keys as they fell, then crank the van and pulled out of the garage before she could talk herself out of it.

She didn't know what the night had in store for her, but she was hoping to find what she had been missing.

•••

Not long after crossing into the other side of town, Lauren pulled the van into a gravel parking lot and turned off the vehicle. Looking out the windshield at the older building, she quietly read the name of the bar to herself- Whyte Wyrm.

She had heard of the bar in passing and knew it was where the Southside Serpents hung out and according to Kevin, they were a dangerous biker gang of drug dealers and petty thieves. She and her friends usually avoided them and anything having to do with the Southside.

"You can do this," she whispered to herself. "Just walk in like you belong and have a drink. That's all you have to do. You can do this."

Pulling a tube of lip gloss from her jacket pocket, she looked in the rearview mirror and applied more on her lips. She rubbed her lips together, then smiled at her reflection. "You're doing this."

After a small pep talk, she pushed the van door open and stepped out into the cool night. Pushing down any nerves she had, she walked to the door and pulled it open, taking a step inside the building.

She had only taken a few steps, then came to a stop as most of the customers inside turned to look at her. She felt her heart pounding in her chest, but kept a neutral look on her face, not wanting anyone to see how scared she was.

The inside was dark and hazy thanks to the cigarette smoke hanging in the air. Most of the older Serpent members were sat at tables nursing beer bottles or glasses of dark liquor. The younger members were hanging out toward the back at the pool tables and arcade games- it surprised her that there were so many Serpents her age.

With confidence she didn't even know she had, she began to walk over to the bar and tried not to cringe when she walked past a huge aquarium with a snake inside. Coming to a stop at the bar, she lightly tapped her fingers on the countertop as she waited her turn to order a drink.

Turning her head, she began to glance around the room again noticing that most of the older Serpents had gone back to their drinks and conversations- which she was thankful for. She hated having all eyes on her. Unfortunately, some of the younger ones were still watching her; like they were trying to figure her out. She wished them luck on that since she couldn't figure herself out.

Glancing over toward the pool tables, her hands itching to grab a cue stick, but she fought the urge and just watched two guys around her age play a game. Both were tall with dark hair and eyes, although the one leaning over the table to take a shot was the tallest of the two and a little on the slim side. The other one was sitting in a chair by the pool table drinking a beer and watching the taller one hit the cue ball like she was.

When two of the solid balls fell in a pocket, the taller boy smiled and she pulled in a quick breath- the smile on his face completely changed his appearance and it was a look she wanted to see more of.

Turning away from the bar and more toward the direction of the pool table, she folded her arms across her chest and continued to watch the tall boy play, hoping to catch that smile again. When he sank another ball, she heard the guy he was playing against let out a groan and after a quick glimpse of the table she figured out why- he was losing big time. Most of the striped balls were still on the table, while the taller boys solid balls were gone.

She couldn't stop a chuckle from escaping her lips when he hit in the black 8 ball to win the game, then jokingly call his friend a loser while he reached into the pockets closest to him to pull out the balls to rack them. The two laughed and joked while gathering the rest of the balls to start a new game.

When the other boy turned to take another sip of his beer, she continued to watch the taller one until his dark eyes landed on her.

He paused for a moment, his eyes slightly narrowed at her out of habit, but once he realized he wasn't in any danger he relaxed his shoulders and shot her a smirk.

Realizing she was caught, she quickly turned away and took a closer step toward the bar and saw a girl her age behind the counter. The girl was the same height and on the petite side like her, with light brown skin, brown eyes and dark brown hair with light pink highlights.

Lauren opened her mouth to order, but before she could, the girl beat her to it, "Jack and Coke."

"What?" Lauren asked confused.

"You look like a Jack and Coke girl." She grabbed a bottle of Jack Daniel's and poured a couple of shots over ice in a glass, then filled the rest with Coca-Cola.

After stirring the drink with a thin stirrer, she set the drink down in front of Lauren and looked at her closely.

For a moment, Lauren was worried she was going to comment on her age and take the drink away. She assumed she could get away with having an alcoholic drink in a bar full of criminals- they even had an underage girl bartending for crying out loud- but instead, the girl surprised her when she grabbed a couple of maraschino cherries and dropped them in the glass, causing Lauren to smile; she loved cherries.

"There you go." The girl grabbed another cherry to pop in her mouth, pulling away the stem. Tossing the stem into the trash, she turned back toward Lauren. "I like your hair, by the way."

"Thanks." Lauren softly smiled as she reached up to touch the wig, for a moment she forgot she even had it on. "Honestly, it's a wig."

"Why?" the girl behind the bar asked with a curious look on her face as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"Just trying something new," Lauren answered- not really sure how else to explain it.

"Well, it looks great on you."

Lauren gave her a small nod in thanks as she took a sip of her drink, then set the glass down. "I really love your hair- the pink suits you."

"It was a spur of the moment decision at the time; now I'm kinda used to it and known for it."

"My parents would probably kill me if I really dyed my hair. Hence the wig," Lauren joked as she pointed toward the colorful hair on her head.

"I thought my mom was gonna murder me at first, but even she's used to it now." She laughed as grabbed a recently cleaned glass and began to dry it off with a dish towel now that she was caught up on her customers.

"You new around here? I haven't seen you around town and I know I haven't seen you in this bar before."

"Sorta," Lauren answered vaguely. "But you're right, this is the first time I've been in here."

"Well, let me be the first to welcome you to the Whyte Wyrm." She tossed the dish towel over her shoulders, then motioned toward herself. "I'm your bartender Toni Topaz and I can pretty much make you anything you would want to drink...well as long as it's not a frozen fruity drink. They barely allowed the cherries and would definitely draw the line with drinks that require a colorful umbrella."

"Yeah, I can't imagine too many people in here ordering a drink like that...it would be hilarious though." Lauren glanced around the room at all the tough-looking bikers. She couldn't stop herself from looking back over to the pool tables and checking in on the tall guy from earlier as he started another game with a new person this time.

Not wanting to get caught staring again, she quickly looked away and turned back toward Toni to introduce herself. Her tongue pressed against the roof of her mouth as she went to say her name, then quickly caught herself to leave out the first part of her first name, instead she went with the last part- Ren. If she was gonna pretend to be someone new, why not go by something new.

"Nice to meet you, Ren," Toni said, wiping another glass dry.

"You too, Toni," Lauren said back with a smile; already liking the sound of the new nickname.

For the next several minutes, the two girls chatted back and forth while Lauren slowly sipped her drink. Whenever Toni left to deal with another customer, Lauren would find herself looking back over at the cute, tall boy at the pool table. She saw him play several other people- each time he won- then would quickly look away before she got caught watching him.

She told herself she was just a fan of the game and was slightly impressed by how good he was, and had nothing to do with the way his jet black hair fell against his forehead or how serious he looked when he lined up a shot. And it definitely didn't have anything to do with the way his face lit up when he smiled or the way his muscles flexed in his arms when he held the cue stick. She was definitely not checking him out- she was newly single, not even 24 hours yet- she could not be checking out someone new already.

Looking down at her drink, she saw the last little ice cube bob around, then took a sip as someone came up to the bar beside her. Turning her head to the side, she noticed it was the other boy from before- the one that sat by the pool table and drank a couple of beers.

"Hey, Toni, I'm heading out- what's my bill?" he called out, getting Toni's attention.

"What happened? Got tired of losing?" Toni teased as she walked closer to him.

"Yeah, SP is on a roll tonight. I'm getting my ass handed to me."

"He's on a roll most night," Toni said, then joked, "I hate it; it always gives him a big head."

"You weren't too bad. You just need to work on your aim," Lauren spoke up without thinking, her head lowered as she continued to watch the ice cube.

Feeling eyes on her, she raised her head and noticed Toni and the guy beside her looking at her. Nodding toward the tables in the back, the guy asked, "You were watching, huh?"

"Little bit," Lauren answered, then quickly turned her head when Toni laughed but covered it up with a cough. She might say she only watched a little bit, but Toni knew that was a lie- she had caught her several times looking over in that direction and she had a pretty good idea which guy she was staring at.

"Sorry. Excuse me," Toni said with a knowing smile.

"Anyways..." Lauren began to say, then turned to look at the guy. "I noticed a few times when you took a shot, the stick would kinda lean to the side which made the cue ball miss the ball you were aiming for."

Nodding his head at her words, he said, "Thanks. I'll work on that."

"I mean, I can't do anything about your big-headed friend, but I can at least offer some advice on how to improve your game," she joked.

"So, I'm big-headed, huh?" she heard a deep, booming voice say behind her, causing the other two to laugh, while her eyes slightly widen for a moment at being caught.

She didn't want to turn around, but she knew she had to face the music. She plastered a cocky smile on her face, then turned to face the guy she had been staring at on and off all night.

When her eyes landed on him, she had to remind herself to breathe- he was even more handsome up close and for a moment she couldn't stop staring at the snake tattoo on the side of his neck. Usually, she wasn't into that sorta thing, but it worked for him.

Leaning back against the bar with her elbows resting on the countertop, she appeared cool, calm and collected- which was the total opposite of how she felt on the inside.

"Just a few minutes ago there were talks of expanding the doorways so you'll be able to walk through them, but then we took a vote and realized that would take way too much time and energy; so the easiest thing to do is just kick your ass at pool and knock you back down to size," she joked.

The guy beside her let out a laugh and pointed a finger at her. "Hey, I like her."

"Boys, meet Ren," Toni spoke up as she gestured toward the girl in front of her. "Ren, meet the boys."

"Fangs Fogarty," the voice beside her said before seeing a hand coming toward her from the corner of her eye. Turning toward him, she shook his hand and flashed him a smile.

Looking back at the taller boy in front of her, she clasped her hands together and pointed at him. "And I take it you're SP?"

"Yeah." He stepped closer to the bar on the other side of her, resting his arms against the countertop beside hers. "My friends call me big-headed though."

She softly chuckled at his joke, then leaned a bit toward him when Toni and Fangs began to talk amongst themselves. Her tone was low as she said to him, "I'm not going to apologize."

Turning his head to the side to look at her, his eyes stared into hers like he was trying to figure her out. Most people when they looked at her, they accepted whatever mask she had on, but it was like he wanted to see beneath that- he wanted to see the real her.

His eyes flickered down toward her lips for a moment, then moved back to her eyes before his tongue darted out to lick his bottom lip and flash her a smirk. "I didn't ask you to."

Lauren turned in her seat to face the bar, her eyebrows lowered for a moment. "So what does SP stand for?"

"Sweet Pea," he answered, then waited for the usual response to happen afterward, but when she didn't say anything he turned his head back to look at her.

"What?" she asked, seeing him looking at her.

"Nothing." He shrugged. "Usually when I tell girls my name, they giggle and have some 'cute' comment about it."

"Maybe you've been hanging out with the wrong kinda girls," she joked as she took the last sip of her drink.

"Maybe I have." He chuckled before looking at her again, his eyebrows raised. "I don't seem to have that problem tonight."

"Oh, god." She groaned at his corny comment, then turned her body to face him. "I bet you're wishing you can take that back now, am I right?"

"I kinda do." He laughed.

"Come on, SP, you're better than that," she said, playfully hitting his arm. "You don't need cheesy lines."

"You're right." He nodded his head in agreement. "I'm usually a lot more smooth than that. I dunno what happened. I think Fangs' horrible game is rubbing off on me," he joked as he nodded toward his friend on the other side of her, causing her to laugh- which only got louder when Fangs asked them what they were talking about. He didn't hear the whole comment, just his name.

Sweet Pea looked over her head at his friend and shook his head, telling him it was nothing, then looked back at Lauren to say, "Let me try this again."

"Hey, I'm Sweet Pea." He held out his hand for her to shake.

Looking down at his hand for a moment, she tried not to think about earlier when she watched his finger wrap around a cue stick and wonder what else he could do with those fingers. Clearing her throat, she breathed out a chuckle, then placed her smaller hand in his bigger one, feeling the cool metal of the rings he wore on several of his fingers.

"Hey, I'm Ren." Playing along, she introduced herself.

Seeing her glass was empty, he gestured toward it. "Can I buy you a drink?"

"Better." She nodded, then teased, "A little cliché, but definitely better."

"Told you I have game."

"I'll have to take your word on that. I still haven't seen it."

"Guess that means you'll have to stick around and see." He winked.

"Oh!" She laughed and shook her head. "I did not see that coming!"

"Smooth, right?" He laughed along with her.

"Very smooth," she agreed with a nod, then flashed him a small smile. "Unfortunately, I'm gonna have to pass on that. I should get going."

As much fun as she had been having the last couple of hours, she knew it was time to cross back into her world on the Northside. It was time to lose the wig and go back to her cold, empty house.

It was time for the wall to go back up and for the fake mask to be put back into place.

It was time to put confident and carefree Ren away and be little Miss Perfect Lauren again.

After speaking to Toni and Fangs for a moment, telling them it was nice meeting them, she went to walk away until she felt someone lightly grab her wrist, causing her skin to tingle at the touch. Looking down at the hand, she already recognized it and felt goosebumps pop up on her skin when he lightly ran his thumb against the side of her wrist.

Blowing out a breath to calm her racing heart, she turned and tilt her head up to look at Sweet Pea, the permanent smirk on his face as his eyes slammed into hers.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" he asked, surprising himself. He wasn't normally the type to chase after a girl, but there was something about this girl- he knew there was more behind the mask she wore.

"I don't know." She shrugged, playing coy, "What am I doing tomorrow?"

He lightly chuckled at her actions, then said, "I think you're coming back here tomorrow, and we're gonna have a couple of drinks and play some pool- you'll get your ass kicked, of course- but I'll make it up to you by buying you a few more drinks, maybe even a little food."

"Wow, someone has a big imagination," she teased. "Because I don't see any of that."

Taking a step closer to her, his tone soft as he said, "Maybe you should take a closer look then."

"Maybe I will," she said vaguely, her tone matching his. With a smile, she took a step back from him and said, "Until next time, Sweetie Pie."

"Sweet Pea," he corrected her.

"Same difference," she joked, then quickly regretted it when she saw him narrow his eyes at her.

After all of their joking around and flirty banter, she had forgotten she was in a bar full of gang members and that Sweet Pea was a Serpent who probably didn't appreciate being teased about his name.

She opened her mouth, planning to apologize but before she could say a word, she saw his mouth twitch as he tried not to smile. Instead, he gave her a nod. "Looking forward to it, Bright Eyes."

Without another word, she turned and walked toward the entrance door with Sweet Pea's offer ringing in her ears. With a grin on her face, she told herself not to look back, but couldn't stop a quick glance over her shoulder to see him watching her walk away.

Maybe another night on the Southside wouldn't be so bad after all. What would it hurt to have a little summer fun?

•••

A/N; For this story, I plan to kinda follow along with the canon storyline, but things will be different and change at times to fit the ideas I have planned.
The Northside characters will be around, but I wanted to explore the Southside characters more and throw in some of my own characters. I'll try to keep canon characters in character as best as I can, but again, things will change and be different as I come up with my own headcanons for some characters.

Thank you to anyone who read this chapter and thanks in advance for any who might review or add the story to your favorites.
Also big thanks to my bestie, Sage Londyn, for the story cover, you are too good to me, boo! Love you much!

You can follow me on tumblr (missecharlotte) for edits, videos and anything else made to go along with this story and other stories. You can also send me questions and messages there if you prefer.

Happy reading!
xx