VII | concoctions

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❝ i think there's a flaw in my code 

Imogen didn't know where she was going, but she got into her car and drove and drove and drove away from all her problems. She wanted to go to a place where Liam wasn't dead, where her relationship with Archer wasn't so complicated, or even a place where neither of them existed. Liam was too painful, and Archer was too confusing. She sped down the highway, breathing in and out, trying to ease the rising anxiety levels.

"Fuck it," she whispered under her breath, and swerved onto the lane leading to New York City. Imogen was a city girl, and even though she had been stuck in Rennwood for the past two years, she always had returned to her roots. Her crowd, her people were in the city. Imogen's friends were not exactly the good type, Jeff and his crew stood testament to that. But she couldn't think of anyone else she wanted to be hanging around with.

Her fingers itched to wrap around a bottle, her throat burned for the taste of hard liquor, not the mild, watered down shit they had in Rennwood. She wanted the lucid haze that always made her forget.

She was way past the speed limit now, but the faster the better. She needed something to make her feel alive, something to fill the void. Although Jeff was an asshole, it was simple to be with him. The crew that she had back in New York, they didn't ask questions, they didn't judge her every move like Rennwood did, they just let her do what she wanted. And they didn't let complicated emotions get involved.

Imogen knew she was bordering on an unhealthy addiction, but at that moment she didn't care. She wanted something to distract her, to give her a release, and substance abuse was always there for her when nothing else was.

The night time scene of New York City was familiar to her by now, the neon lights and musky scent that wrapped its arms around her like the loving mother she never knew, the city never slept.

As she entered the club, she knew how out of place she looked in her school clothes, but she didn't care. Imogen beelined for the back room where she had so often gotten high. The door opened, and Vana stood before her. Vana was an addict, a couple years older than her. Vana had become her substitute older sister, in Erin's place. Vana squinted at Imogen before she finally recognized her, "Immy! Bitch you came back?" she squealed, embracing Imogen and dragging her into the room.

"What the fuck is she doing here Vana?" Jeff's voice is rough like nails scraping across a chalkboard, and Imogen feels a stab of fear enter her heart.

"Oh shut the fuck up Jeff, she's here to get high like the rest of us. You can't just kick her out because she said no to you," Vana rolled her eyes, guiding Imogen back into the group.

Vana orders her some vodka concoction, saying she looks like she needs to get hit hard tonight.

She's right. It's times like this where Imogen feels most vulnerable. The moments before she starts using again. She felt as if Erin was watching her, judging her for the person she had become. Imogen just wanted to forget the shithole she was stuck in.

She met all her old buddies that night. Not just people, but the high that she'd been longing for. She welcomed their embrace, clouding her mind, letting her momentarily forget about Liam, Archer and Erin.

✦ ✦ ✦

Archer was worried.

He'll admit later that their actions were out of place, that he shouldn't have done that, pushed her when she was still grieving for Liam. He wasn't the kind of guy to steal his best friend's girlfriend, even if she was his first before she was Liam's. Archer has called her exactly 56 times in the span of two hours, hoping she'll pick up and tell him she got home safely. The only sound he hears is the slow drone of the phone ringing. He feared for the worst, but he tells himself that she's past that. She wouldn't dare drive down to New York at this time of night. She doesn't do that anymore, Imogen said so herself. His finger wavers over the call button, but he's stopped by another incoming call. Archer snatched his phone up with lightning speed, but to his disappointment, it's not the girl he hoped for, rather her father.

"Hello?" he asked tentatively. Although Christopher Li was not as fearsome as Helen, he was indeed the sheriff in town, and that counted for something.

"Archer, this is Christopher Li, Imogen's father. She told us she would be spending the night at your house tonight, with the permission of your mother of course," Christopher wasn't too worried about his daughter. She was responsible and could hold her own, and the Yuvosky boy was respectable and never got into trouble. Their families could be almost friends, with Helen and Gracie regularly going out for coffee and shopping trips.

Archer tried to keep shock out of his voice. Imogen was using him for a cover, which meant her parents didn't know where she was. He supposed that he did owe her, and proceeded to lie, "Yes of course, she's in the bathroom right now, but we are working on a project for school," The lie slipped through his teeth, as he wondered, where are you Imogen?

Archer waited an hour, looking at his phone and waiting for it to ring until finally, it does.

He picked up with lightning speed, "Imogen?"

"Archer?" an unfamiliar female voice rings through the phone, definitely not Imogen's.

"Who are you?" he asked, his voice darkening as his concern rose. A strange girl answering Imogen's phone didn't seem to be a good sign.

"Vana, Immy's friend from the city," Archer knew what kind of friends Imogen kept in contact with back there.

"Where's Imogen?" he demanded.

"Immy's fine, I think. She went really rough tonight, had a few too many drinks, got a little too high. I'm taking care of her right now, she's kind of delirious, mumbling to call a Liam or Archer. I wanted to find someone in case I get too–" Archer cuts her off. Imogen went back there?

"Fuck, where are you right now?" he grabs his jacket and keys, not caring about how late it is.

Vana rattled off an address and Archer sped out of Rennwood. If anything happened to Imogen he didn't know what he would do. He pushed a 60 on a 50 mph speed limit, trying to get down the city as fast as he could. The club was in the seedier part of town, as Archer pushed open the back doors Vana had told him to go through, the scent of tequila hit him. He pushed past a variety of dancing girls, unwinding their hands from his biceps. He only had one girl on his mind and that was Imogen. He finally found her in a back room, barely conscious on a white leather couch with an older girl standing next to her. Imogen's dark hair was spread around her like a halo, her words barely coherent.

"Archerrr," she slurred, her makeup smeared.

"She's been calling for you for the past half hour," Vana explained.

"What the fuck did you give her?" he scooped her small frame up.

"She went really hard tonight, I couldn't stop her. You should take her home, give her lots of fluids. I don't know what's wrong, but she needs to talk it out," Vana gently placed a hand on Imogen's shoulder.

"Arch don't be mad at Vana," Imogen whined swaying in Archer's arms.

"Thank you," he said grimly, "I'll take her home now."

Out of the corner of his eye, a familiar face caught Archer's eye. Jeff, the same guy that had tried to take advantage of Imogen. He turned away, shielding Imogen from his sight and carried her through the crowd and out of the club.

"Oh Immy," he murmured, "What have you done?"

He propped her down in the back of his car, revving the engine and speeding off into the night.

Every now and then Archer would look into the rearview mirror, checking to see if she was okay.

"What the fuck were you thinking Imogen?" he cursed, his eye on her.

Imogen's mind is hazy, but she vaguely knows that Archer is there with her, "I miss Liam," she blurted, as a tear rolls down her face.

Archer sighed, "I miss him too, darling."

"Sometimes when I see you I think you're him because I want him back so badly," her thoughts are barely coherent, her feelings are the ones talking, "You're the only part of him I get to keep, the only part of him left. Everything else is gone and I miss him so much because he was the only person that made me feel loved," Imogen spilled her soul out to him.

"Imogen-" he started, but she shushed him.

"Tonight when I was fooling around with you it reminded me of when Liam and I would hang out and for a moment I thought I might kiss you. That makes me a terrible person, when he just died, and I don't know where my mind is, I'm such a mess and the high made me feel good again and I know I told you I wouldn't and–" Archer cut in before Imogen started spiralling.

"I know Imogen, I get it. Don't work yourself up," he reached around and put his jacket over her fragile figure.

"No you don't. I knew I loved Liam, I really did. But we never addressed what happened three years ago in that exact same club. And now that it's just the two of us that feeling is resurfacing again and I know that it's wrong. That's the whole problem, I fell for you first and I really wanted you to be the one to save me, but then that didn't happen," the subtle reference to that same night two years ago brought Archer back all over again to what happened.

"Oh," he too remembered that night. In fact he regretted it often, when Imogen ended up dating his handsome best friend instead of him.

"When I saw you again in Rennwood, I expected you to at least say hi, but you acted like nothing ever happened. I was so embarrassed, because you had seen a side of me no one else had seen. And you had India and you still do. She's in love with you, has been for two years, and I realized that I had to move on, or else I would end up like her. Liam gave me the attention I craved, but now he's gone and I'm stuck back here with you."

"Imogen," Archer felt pangs of guilt, "I didn't know what to say to you," He didn't know what he regretted more, the fact he hadn't acted on that spark two years ago, or the fact that he didn't fight for Imogen earlier.

"The thing is, I was foolish to think that you would ever like me. The thing is, that now that Liam's gone, I don't know what to do with my feelings that have lain dormant for these years. I shoved you to the back of my mind, but every time I saw you I couldn't help but think what if," Imogen let out a frustrated breath.

"Imogen, please," Imogen cut him off again. Maybe it's because she doesn't want to feel the sting of rejection, or just that she's afraid of what the answer is.

"It doesn't matter, I'm drunk and my head isn't clear. It doesn't mean anything, let's just forget about it. My head hurts," she slurs, cutting the conversation off.

After a moment of silence, Archer realizes that Imogen's passed out. His head is spinning with these new revelations that Imogen may have liked him back all this time. Was he that much of a fool?

When he pulls back into his driveway he's still unsure of where this leaves him with Imogen. He gently picks her up and carries her up the stairs, careful to hold her head. Archer decides to gently tuck her into his bed, and just sleep on the floor next to her.

He stares at her for a bit, wondering where this relationship placed him now and as he shut off the lights, he whispered, "Maybe I'm in love with you too."

a/n: sorry it's sort of a long-ish chapter, i couldn't half-ass it enough into two chapters. the character development at the end is really underdeveloped but i'm really just forcing myself to write some content here, i'll clean it up later (and proceeds to procrastinate). anyways as always we have some drama with our protags here, do you approve of archer/imogen? and who do you suspect murdered liam?

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