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Chapter Forty
A Little too Much
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     ONCE TORI WAS DRESSED AND PUT ON A PAIR OF SNEAKERS, she grabbed her phone, headphones and keys along with her mother's keys and went downstairs. She locked the door once she was outside and started walking back to the hospital. When she got back, she found her mother and gave her keys back and stopped at the front desk.

     "I'm here to see Marissa Florence Jones," she said to the receptionist.

     "Room three fifteen, please sign in," the woman said after checking her sheet.

    "Thank you," Tori said as she wrote her name on the visitor's sheet and started heading to MF's room.

     When she got there, MF was still sleeping but Tori still decided to sit down in the chair by the window. She guessed that MF hadn't slept properly in weeks if she was living on the streets with no proper home or a proper place to sleep. The colour was slowly returning to her face and she was relieved that one of them was getting the sleep they were deprived of. The door opened and FP walked in while Tori sat up straight.

     "What are you doing here?" she asked.

     "I could ask you the same thing?" he said.

     "I'm a friend."

     "Well, I'm her father."

     Tori looked at MF who was still sleeping and then looked at FP. "Where were you this whole time she was here?" she asked.

     "I'm here now, aren't I?" he asked.

     "You didn't answer my question," Tori said before swallowing the lump in her throat.

     FP sighed. "I was with my son. I can't exactly be in two places, now can I?"

     "I guess not, but they woke up hours ago," Tori said. "If I'm being honest here, you're kind of a dick."

     "Excuse me?" he asked.

     "I don't think MF would want to see you here when she wakes up, so I think it'll be best for you to leave," Tori said. "There's the door."

     FP sighed as he turned around and walked out of the room and Tori exhaled in relief once he was gone. She laid back in her seat and pulled her knees up to her chest. Although she wanted to sleep as well, she wasn't able to so she decided to put her headphones on and listen to music. After a while, she noticed MF moving and she paused her music and took her headphones off.

     "Are you up?" she asked.

     "I am now," MF said while rubbing her eyes.

     "Your dad stopped by but I told him to leave," Tori said as her headphones rested in her lap. "He sure has a lot of nerve."

     "Sounds like him," MF chuckled but then looked at Tori confused. "Why did you stay? You didn't have to do that."

     "I wasn't sure if your dad was going to come back or not but I decided not to risk it," Tori said as she shifted into a more comfortable position.

     "Talk to me."

     "What?"

     Tori was confused about MF's demand and looked at her quizzically.

     "It's your turn to unleash everything," MF stated as if it was obvious.

     "What makes you think I have anything to unleash?" Tori asked with her arms wrapped around herself.

     "I'm a people watcher, Alvarez," MF said while chuckling lightly. "I can tell just by looking at you."

     "So? What does it matter anyway?" Tori asked.

     "You listened to me, so I'll listen to you."

     "Don't worry about it. It's really nothing."

     "Tori, if we're going to be friends, we have to do this thing called talking," MF said with the emphasis on the word "talking."

     For MF to call them friends came as a surprise to Tori but she figured both of them had dealt with weirder things before. Tori figured MF wasn't going to just drop the subject so she sighed in defeat. "I just haven't been sleeping well for the past few weeks."

     "Midge?" MF questioned with her eyebrows raised.

     "That's one thing," Tori answered while resting her chin on her knees.

     "What else?" MF asked.

     "Honestly, I haven't been sleeping much since I started working on that musical and the schedule just got fucked up cause Kevin wanted it to be perfect. And then Midge died and it was like things couldn't get any worse and I couldn't get the image from that night out of my head for days. Then you and Fangs got arrested for a murder you didn't commit and I kept trying to figure out what was going on so I could help you guys get out and then Fangs got shot and the riots happened and I've been trying to keep everyone else from losing their minds yet I feel like I'm losing my own," Tori said while rubbing her eyes.

     She didn't bother with any makeup after she was showered and dressed but at this point, she didn't care if MF saw the circles under her eyes. They weren't getting any better anyway so she didn't see the point in even trying anymore.

     "And Sweet Pea?" MF asked.

     Tori sighed as she nodded shortly. "And Sweet Pea."

     "You should talk to him and tell him how you feel," MF suggested. "He's a sensitive soul inside, but don't tell him I said that."

     "Yeah, well he doesn't wanna talk to me. He's mad at me cause I got mad at him for getting mad at you," Tori said while playing with the cord of her headphones.

     "Yeah, he gets like that a lot. You just gotta be patient with him. And it helps if you buy him his favourite alcohol," MF said.

     "And what would that be, assuming they don't ask me for ID?"

     "They won't, they're chill over there. And Sweet Pea likes vodka with Cherry Cola but unlike me, he likes more vodka rather than Cola."

     Tori chuckled. "Good to know," she said but the frown returned to her face.

     "Besides, if he likes you as much as I think he does, it won't take much for him to not be angry with you anymore," MF said.

     "I don't think it would matter anyway. We're two different people from completely different worlds," Tori said while looking at the floor.

     "You really are oblivious," MF scoffed.

     Tori laughed bitterly. "Thanks, I'll just add that onto the list of traits I've been given in the last few hours, right on top of annoying."

     "Listen Shorty, you don't understand how much he genuinely likes you. He's never acted like this before. Even with me in the twelve years we've known each other," MF said and Tori looked at her.

     "Like what?" she asked curiously.

     "Memorizing your favourite things, even after you mentioned them in a passing comment, diving in to protect you from a bullet and actually concerned about you and your well-being," MF listed.

     Tori snorted. "Are you sure that's the same Sweet Pea who had no problem calling me annoying and leaving me in the dark?"

     "He's weird around you. A good kind of weird. He's behaving like how he was when he was in love with me when we were in middle school."

     "Oh yeah, that's so weird."

     MF rolled her eyes at Tori's sarcastic comment but then gave her a genuine look.

     "Just promise me you'll talk to him and tell him how you feel. Even if I have to put you two in a room together and lock you in there," she said.

     "If that's what it takes to end this conversation then fine," Tori said, just wanting the conversation to end so they could change the topic.

     She wanted to talk to Sweet Pea but everyone was worried about where MF and Jughead were and Sweet Pea wouldn't even look her in the eye. She figured the sooner she talked to him, the better but it started to feel like they were back to those days when the Serpents first transferred to Riverdale High and he continued to push her away and reject her offers to help. It was like they came a long way in the past few months but then fell back to square one. One step forward, ten steps back.