This chapter consists of part sof the summer that I kind of skipped over in season 3, just more development of where Lane is after the accident, where she and Sweet Pea stand, as well as further developing her relationship with my OC Angie.
The lyrics that go with this chapter are from Summertime Sadness by Lana Del Rey (Alice Kristiansen Angie's faceclaim also covers this song)
X. got my bad baby by my heavenly side, I know if I go I'll die happy tonight
It was easier when he didn't see her, to breathe, to pretend like he didn't wake up at odd hours of the night reaching for her and then having to remind his panicked mind that he now slept alone, to not wanna go back to her or feel like he needed to, to pretend like he wasn't hurting. It was easier when he didn't see her, which wasn't hard because for a while she stopped coming around.
He was able to get her out of his head, at least for a little while. And gradually he thought of her less, needed her less. Felt like he could be himself again and not just one half of her. The fling with Josie was just another way to not need Lane. Everything he did those days was.
What Sweet Pea hadn't known was that the time he'd been grateful for Lane's absence she'd been back in the hospital. Fangs, who'd moved in the same day Sweet Pea moved out, had woken to her having a seizure. He was the one sitting at her bedside unable to move, taking her home and watching her too closely, of watching her breathing sometimes because he was afraid she might stop if he looked away.
They both had almost died on each other, it made them the kind of close that was often mistaken for intimate. So when Lane started coming around again with Fangs at her side, Sweet Pea noticed.
...
The first time Lane saw them together had been such a shock she almost turned the car around and went home. It wasn't seeing Sweet Pea because she'd already gotten over that, or at least she'd shoved the emotion far enough down it couldn't come back up. And it wasn't really seeing that he was with Josie, because they weren't together anymore and she'd gotten herself over that too. It was the way he looking at her, his eyes heavy his mouth forming an easy grin – flirting, happy.
It'd only been a month. More often than sometimes Lane woke still looking for their daughter, and when she remembered that she was gone it was like she'd lost her all over again. And then she'd turn reaching for Sweet Pea only to have to remember she'd lost him too. And then Fangs was left to deal with her crying.
And as Lane sat in her car looking at where the two sat across from each other at Pops, she had a thought that started brief but eventually consumed every thought of him that maybe she never meant as much to him as he had to her.
She wanted to leave, to be anywhere but here with those thoughts. But Fangs was at home expecting food and they'd already placed the order. So she took a breath and told herself to grown a pair and deal with it. So she did.
The bell above the door chimed and Veronica turned from where she stood behind the counter to see Lane walking in, and her eyes darted to the table Sweet Pea and Josie were set up before she looked back to Lane. "Hey," she said with a smile, moving down the counter so that Lane would turn with her and hopefully not see what was behind her. "Your order's about ready. How are you feeling?" She looked about as expected, tired and melancholy.
"The dahlias were beautiful, I already saw them, and you look cute in the uniform," Lane told her, simple and matter of fact. Not noticing the boy behind her whose mood fell along with his smile, his gaze continuing to stray to her back.
Veronica nodded having figured Lane probably had, she'd still had tried to spare her. "I look cute in everything. That's not conceit, it's a fact."
Lane almost smiled, wanted to smile, but it was like her mouth didn't remember how to yet. And then at the end of the week a girl with yellow hair and a fairytale face moved in next door, and she brought back Lane's smile.
.^.
Looking at the tickets for their seats Fangs climbed the stairs heading for the middle of the second to last row up top. His favorite was the very last row but the ones in the middle were taken. When he moved down the aisle he quickly saw why.
"Hey man," Sweet Pea said as he sat with an arm around Josie's shoulders and a hand on her leg. He watched Fangs' eyes widen and sudden understanding hit Sweet Pea, and he turned to see Lane coming up the stairs behind the new girl she'd been hanging out with. Swallowing heavily he pulled his arm from around Josie, feeling her stiffen as she sat up straighter. And he watched Lane walk past Fangs and sit in the chair directly in front of him without noticing he was there.
"Wait, so you're saying the military guy wants to use the dinosaurs to fight in the war?" Lane asked, having been listening intently as Angie recapped the movie before this that Lane hadn't seen.
Angie sat on Lane's right with Fangs on the other side of her, neither noticing the awkwardness surrounding them as she and Lane stayed lost in conversation. "Yeah, saying it out loud it doesn't sound good," she told Lane laughing lightly, seeing Lane pull a face as though she'd just proved her point.
"You know what, all I wanna see is dumb bitches get eaten," Lane said grabbing a handful of popcorn, that was set on her lap since she was in the middle. Which was a terrible idea because she'd end up eating it all.
Beside her Fangs looked to Angie, "did you tell her what happened to him?" When she shook her head he continued, "Blue bites his hand off, and then eats his face."
"Dumb bitch deserved it," was Lane's reply. Then Angie and Fangs took turns explaining the rest of the movie, and Lane nodded doing a very poor job of looking impressed. At the end of the day she wasn't really a movie person, she was just there for the company and the popcorn.
Sweet Pea looked between them seeing even Fangs had forgotten he was there, and he noticed that Lane and Fangs were sharing a drink, that the two sat shoulder to shoulder, that she was smiling again in her small way. Fangs had all but slung an arm across her shoulders.
Remembering the girl beside him he looked at Josie, who he'd brought to the theater to make out with like they'd been doing every movie they went to, but her eyes were on the screen. Lane wasn't his problem anymore, he was getting tired of having to remind himself that. And yet all through the movie his gaze continued to fall to the back of her head, and he could've sworn he smelled her shampoo.
Lane watched the movie with an unsurprising level of disinterest, as someone unable to suspend her disbelief enough to enjoy it, feeling both Fangs and Angie reaching across her to dig into the bucket poised on her lap. The two girls reached for popcorn at the same time and Angie's fingers slid in the spaces between Lane's, it felt similar to if they'd shocked each other and it had them pulling away.
For the rest of the movie Lane sat consciously aware of how close Angie felt, of the twisting in her stomach that made breathing seem hard, and the dryness in her mouth. It made her want to jump out of her skin but at the same time she wanted to reach for her hand just to feel it again. It was almost a relief when the credits finally rolled and Lane could stand up, get a little space between them, catch her breath.
"What'd you think?" Fangs asked looking at where Lane moved slowly behind them as they headed for the stairs. He noticed immediately she was uncomfortable, and he reached back squeezing her hand gently thinking she'd finally noticed Sweet Pea and Josie.
"I wanted to see people get eaten, it delivered," was her simple answer.
Nodding he then looked to Angie, not knowing her well enough yet to see her own discomfort. And she smiled, like she usually did, and said it was a really good. But even she'd stopped really paying attention to the movie, her mind too focused on the way Lane had stiffened and seemed to lean away from her.
It was a quiet car ride with the radio on and the windows down enjoying the warm night air. Fangs had taken the backseat and it left Angie sitting beside Lane as she drove, knowing Lane was refusing to look at her. And she had a brief insecure thought that everything was now ruined, that she'd been so horribly wrong about it all.
"I had a really nice time," she said as they stood in the driveway, Lane and Fangs to go inside and her to go to her own house. She said this more to Fangs because Lane still wasn't looking at her, and she gave a small smile that quickly fell as she cut across their yard.
Her parents looked up from where they sat on the couch and her mother smiled warmly. "How was it?"
"It was good," she answered a little too quickly, trying to get to her room too fast.
"How did Lane like it?"
She knew what her mom meant and Angie raised a hand to her hair scratching unhappily. "I don't think she likes me like that," she told her, feeling the crack in her voice from the lump in her throat.
"Oh honey," her mother said as she stood with her arms raised.
But Angie shook her head and stepped toward the hall. "It's fine," she said trying to brush it aside. "I never really thought anything would happen, but – it's fine."
They watched her head to room and Mrs Harper sighed wishing these things didn't have to be so hard. But it was her husband who stood, who hadn't been sure of Lane's character from the moment they met her and even more so now seeing how she'd affected his daughter. "I'll check on her."
In the house next door Fangs watched Lane quietly go to the bedroom exchanging her jeans for pajama pants, wishing there was something he could do. "I know tonight probably wasn't easy," he told her, still thinking it was about Sweet Pea.
But Lane never noticed he'd been there, that he'd close enough to touch. Her mind was elsewhere warring with what she guessed was her stupid heart and it had her sighing heavily before she walked out the front door.
Angie was pulling off the St Jude pendant her brother used to wear when she heard a faint knock at her window. With her heart in her throat she slid it open and sat on her knees looking at where Lane knelt on the other side.
"I had a nice time too," Lane told her softly, seeing Angie's faint grin though it still fell quickly. And that was her fault. "I'm sorry I'm so difficult."
Difficult didn't seem big enough to encompass everything Lane was that had her keeping everyone at arms length, and Angie could see how much of an effort it was for Lane to let her even a little closer. Yet Lane continued making it. "You don't have to be sorry," Angie told her gently. "But I still appreciate it."
Brushing her hair behind her ear Lane nodded wondering what the hell someone like Angie could see in her, and why it made Lane want her to keep trying to see more. That Lane could be better than the broken shell she was now, better enough to be cared for. But Lane had never been good at saying what she felt, and even if she could she was nowhere near ready. So what Lane ended up saying was, "did you know your mom put a cushion out here for me?"
With a surprised laugh Angie leaned out of the window and looked to see sure enough her mother had bought a cushion for an outdoor chair and set it in the place Lane usually sat when they talked late at night when they both couldn't sleep. "I guess we're not as sneaky as we thought," she replied sharing a grin with the girl that sat outside her window. A breath passed between them easing the nervous feeling that tried to separate them. "So the movie wasn't great," Angie admitted, taking something closer to Lane's pessimistic stance.
But Lane raised a shoulder and took something closer to Angie's optimistic one. "It wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen," she told her, seeing the faint curl of her lips. "Maybe the second worst."
Angie laughed while Lane pressed her lips together and they fell back into the kind of easy conversation that came with being comfortable with another person. In the hall outside her room Angie's stern father smiled faintly at hearing the way they both made the other laugh, the excitable way they spoke. Considering perhaps Lane might have a few good qualities as he went back to the living room. And on the front step next door Fangs grinned to himself as he went back inside, realizing tonight had been about Angie.
.^.
They saw each other every now and then over the duration of the summer, their eyes met like they'd stumbled into each other knocking them a step back before Sweet Pea looked away. He always looked away first, turned away, walked away – everything he did was to just get away from Lane. He thought it's what she needed, or maybe he was the one needing space because she was almost always with Fangs.
It left Lane looking after him wondering if she'd ever get him back. She'd convinced herself it was fine they weren't together, that she was even fine he was with someone else, but she missed him.
Fangs would shove his hands in his pockets uncomfortably, not knowing what he was supposed to do now that he was stuck in the middle. So it was Angie who'd move to Lane's side, brushing her hand against Lane's and meeting her pale pained eyes with a sad smile.
"What's on your mind?"
Lane didn't answer that often, she'd never really talked about Sweet Pea with anyone. The closest she'd gotten was with Veronica. And yet looking at Angie's openly kind face she took a breath and decided to let her in. "He always said if we weren't together we'd still be friends. I mean it's obvious now how impossible that is but," she sighed feeling her shoulders slump, "I guess I'd always held onto that."
It's the most Lane had ever said about it, Fangs stood behind her with widened eyes not only because Angie had gotten Lane to talk but because her problem wasn't really that they'd broken up it was that he wasn't in her life anymore.
Angie nodded understanding that, having asked Lane about what happened several weeks before. "I don't know him, but from what you've said he seems like he takes awhile to come around. This is really big, maybe it's just taking him a little longer."
"He might still come back," Lane said getting her point, to not lose hope. If anyone else had said that to her Lane would've rolled her eyes, probably said something biting in return, but her eyes softened towards the other girl.
With a small shrug of her shoulders Angie told her in a quiet voice, "I would." She watched Lane's normally stony face crack and fall apart as her mouth just barely curled, but her eyes squinted with the smile she tried to hide. Biting her lip Angie reached her hand out to Lane, letting it be her choice, and as she'd been doing more lately Lane timidly took it.
The two walked again bound at the hand, and Lane called over her shoulder to Fangs, "close your mouth and keep up."
.^.
Beneath the heavy noise of the blow dryer Lane heard the front door shut, or at least she felt the faint vibration beneath her feet. Turning it off she combed her hair down hearing familiar voices in the living room and she went out to meet them.
"Hey Lane," Jughead greeted when he saw her. And then his brows rose in surprise at her hair, now cut to her chin.
Before either him, Betty, or Fangs could comment on it Lane asked, "are they here to help convince me to go to the carnival?"
"How do you always figure it out?" Fangs asked.
Moving around him Betty said under her breath, "because she can think for herself," and saw in Lane's shining eyes she'd heard that. "It looks great," she said resisting the urge to reach a hand to her hair because she knew how Lane felt about being touched. "And you should come, it'll be fun. Veronica said you haven't been doing much of that."
"I didn't do much of that before either," Lane said seeing Betty nod as she realized that was true. "I bet Angie would wanna go, I don't think I've seen her today."
Behind them Fangs looked to Jughead making the quiet comment, "it'd be the first day in like two months she hasn't." As Jughead smirked Fangs turned to Lane. "Why don't you go invite her, and Betty will come up with how we can alternate who stays with you while everyone else goes on the rides."
Shaking her head Lane moved around them and headed next door, not noticing that Fangs quietly ushered Betty and Jughead to the window to watch as Lane knocked on the windowsill outside of Angie's room.
Lane knelt on the cushion seeing Angie come up and open the window, and then settle on her knees sniffing as she lowered her reddened eyes. "I don't know what I'm supposed to say," is what came out of Lane's mouth. And as Angie looked up at her with confused teary eyes Lane cleared her throat. "It seems stupid to ask if you're okay, obviously you're not. And it seems kind of invasive to ask what's wrong." Awkwardly Lane raised a hand to brush her hair behind her ear, forgetting it was now almost too short for that. "I can go if you wanna be alone."
"No," Angie said a little too quickly. "That's okay, I'm kind of glad you're here." She moved back and helped Lane climb into her room, and then she looked at Lane with the sudden realization that she'd really been the only one she wanted to talk to about it. "It's the anniversary of my brother's death." She sniffed again, swiping a hand under her running nose.
Lane was left once more not knowing what to say, I'm sorry seemed obvious but Lane knew how hollow and useless that was. So she stepped forward slowly wrapping her arms around Angie's shoulders, feeling her hands light on her back at first before she hugged her tight. And she held her, the same way Angie had when Lane told her about losing the baby. They stayed that way as long as she needed, and she pulled back feeling Lane gently wipe her cheeks. "You can be really sweet."
"I have a reputation to uphold," was Lane's deadpan response.
It made Angie smile, and she knew that'd been Lane's intention. "So what's up?" she asked.
With a shrug Lane stepped back. "Fangs convinced me to go to the carnival a town over, I thought I'd see if you wanted to come."
She hadn't planned to do much more than sit in her room wondering if this day was ever gonna get easier, but her eyes were now dry and the lump in her throat had finally dissolved. "You know, that sounds really fun." She walked with Lane out of her room and her parents looked up almost surprised, it'd been the first time she'd really come out today. "Lane invited me to the carnival, I think I'd like to go if that's alright."
"Of course," her mother said immediately, unable to give her normal smile.
"How'd you get in?" General Harper asked fixing Lane with a heavy look.
He was such a serious man with a no-nonsense air that Lane told him nothing but the truth. "I climbed in through the window." Blinking Lane sighed at herself and told him in her own serious manner, "and no, that is not something I want to have said to you."
His eyes were still stern as he took a deep breath, but he released it in a heavy whoosh and nodded. "Have her back no later than eleven."
"Yes sir." Lane left to let Angie to get ready, noticing that Jug's bike was gone. "Why are you smiling?" she asked when she went inside and saw Fangs' dopey look.
She'd been gone a while, long enough Betty told the boys she and Jug would meet them there, and then after that it'd been long enough Fangs' mind had started to wander. "You should get ready."
"I am ready," Lane said with no plans to change. "No," she told him raising a hand as his eyes glinted. "Fangs," she cried as he rushed forward throwing her over his shoulder and carried her into the room where he'd set out a dress for her. It was the white one that hung off her shoulders and cinched at the waist, that Sweet Pea had always loved her in. She took a breath and found herself thinking of something Angie would've said – now she could love herself in it.
He stood at her back looking at her in the mirror, at her almost softened face and her short hair. "You look beautiful," he said pressing a kiss to the side of her head where the scar was hiding under her hair. As she smiled he further told her, "remember to tell Angie that when she's ready."
Turning she smacked his arm and joined him in a short laugh before a knock sounded on the door. And as Lane opened it and saw Angie in a sleeveless blouse tucked in her highwaisted shorts, the only word she could think was beautiful.
It was that way for both of them, and Fangs let them have their moment thinking Angie would get it together but even she stared at Lane in a dazed way. "Alright let's go," he said grabbing Lane's shoes and shooing her out the door.
Fangs drove with Angie beside him and Lane in the back, not yet knowing how to convince either one of them to sit in the back together. "Betty and Jughead came up with a system to alternate who goes on rides since Lane can't," he told Angie, and also Lane because he knew she'd try to get whoever was forced to stay with her to go anyway.
Angie knew it was because of the shunt, she also knew Lane was scheduled to have it removed next week so long as her last scan was clear. But what Angie said was, "I don't do rides, my brother and I got stuck upside down on one once. Took them two hours to get us down."
"That's perfect," Fangs said without really thinking, he was mostly focused on it giving the two more time together. "I mean, not what happened," he quickly corrected.
Laughing lightly Angie turned to where Lane sat behind him. "I forgot to tell you how nice your hair looks," she said, also knowing Lane had cut it because of the patch they'd shaved for the surgery was growing back.
"It's too late for that now," Lane told her seriously.
"I'll just have to try harder next time," Angie replied, sharing a warm look with Lane before they both looked out their windows with mirrored grins. And behind the wheel Fangs sat smiling to himself.
…
It'd been a good night, it was the closest Josie had let him in public, his arm around her shoulder, both of them smiling. And then he saw her, and it was like every part of him somersaulted and he didn't know what end was up.
The sight of Lane left him having to collect himself, to remind himself he was here with Josie and that despite it just being a good time he kind of liked her. Or he'd convinced himself he did. But Lane was wearing the dress he'd always loved her in, she lost all of the baby weight and looked surprisingly toned, her short hair sharpened the parts of her face that looked the most lethal and it looked great – she looked great. With Fangs at her side, making her smile.
"Hey Lane."
Veronica looked up at Archie, who'd turned to where Lane was walking. "What are you doing?" she asked glancing at where Sweet Pea stood with Josie pressed against his side holding the prize he'd won her. She then turned to Betty, who looked just as unhappy.
But Archie wasn't paying attention, seeing Lane turn to look for who called her he raised a hand and beckoned her over. "Hey," he said when she Fangs and Angie reached their group. "He's giving out free prizes to girls who hit over 600."
Lane looked to the punching bag machine and the cocky thick armed man running it. The last score which had been 520 – it'd been Betty's, and so far she had the highest between her, Veronica and Josie. Looking at Angie over her shoulder Lane asked, "you wanna try?"
"This one's all you," Angie said knowing Lane too well.
So Lane shrugged and Archie grinned catching the guy's attention. "We've got another one."
He smirked derisively when he saw Lane, her thin shoulders, her small height, looking very pretty in her dress. "Tell you what, sweetheart, I'll give it to you if you get it to five hundred." The machine was rigged to its highest setting, only a very small number of women had actually gotten over 600. Even Sweet Pea had just barely maxed it out at 999.
Lane's brow shot up and she gave a short unamused laugh, a look Sweet Pea knew well. She turned to Angie and told her, "get ready to pick your prize," spreading a wide smile on Angie's mouth as she and Fangs stood back with the others.
The four pairs watched Lane closely, along with a few bystanders who'd overheard the deal and were either waiting for a turn or to see how she did. Lane got into position with both fists up, and she used every part of her body to pack more of a punch as she swung hard and fast. They watched the numbers shoot up and then slowly tick until it reached 860.
Betty, Veronica, and Josie all cried victoriously, Jughead blinked away his surprise before clapping along with some of the bystanders, Angie and Fangs grinned proudly, Sweet Pea stood with his mouth hung open and a familiar warmth in his chest, and Lane smirked as she passed the man with the shocked face.
Archie looked down at her with an impressed smile. "Reggie said you've been boxing. Guess he was right, you do hit harder than him."
Clapping his arm she said a brief hey to Veronica before making her way to where Angie stood waiting. "You know what you want?" she asked nudging her head in the direction of the stuffed toys hung on the wall behind him.
The two girls walked to the display and Angie bit her lip as she pointed to the monkey, and while the guy went to grab it she turned to Lane. In a rush of fragile courage she leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek. "A kiss for the winner," she said by way of shy explanation.
It had Lane swallowing as her eyes fell to Angie's mouth watching the way her lips formed the words, thank you, as she took the stuffed monkey. Clearing her throat Lane shook herself and said, "you should name him George."
Angie gasped excitedly. "He does look like curious George," she said as they moved back toward the group so they could get Fangs.
"Angie and Georgie."
"That is so cute," Angie beamed as she walked with an arm around the stuffed monkey.
Sweet Pea watched Fangs fall in on Lane's other side, the way he clapped her on the back and the way she dug her elbow in his side in return. But instead of feeling a rush of jealous betrayal at the sight of them, his eyes moved to the girl on Lane's other side seeing the way Lane curled her arm so that Angie could link hers through. "It's about time you caught on," Josie said from beside him.
The pain was sudden and sharp and it left him blinking back the swell behind his eyes, as though he'd lost everything all over again. And the thought that he'd screwed up and it was too late to take it back had him shoving it all down, sewing himself back up and carving a smile on his face until it didn't feel forced. And he turned to Josie telling her, "I think it's time I pay you some attention," and she smiled nearly purring as they walked away.
From here on out you can find the rest of the story in Tower Over Me (With Your Arms Like Towers). It's still sad but it's generally a happier story and really lets Lane be a seventeen year old girl and have a little break from all the pain and death threats (til chapter 4 which is the longest break she's had). Also, this version of the story comes with an alternate ending.