"So my sources tell me you went out on a date with Chuck last night?" She suppose it should have been formed as a question but it came out more like an accusation. In her defense, she found this out late last night and has been patiently sitting on it till now.
Josie closed her locker and turned to her with a raised brow. "First of all, it was not a date." Crossing her arms she continued. "Secondly, what sources do you have?"
Ignoring her last question, Veronica rolled her eyes. "Milkshakes and burgers isn't a date, Josie? Plus, dancing?" The original plan was to approach this calmly and rationally, but as she recounts what was told to her aloud, she couldn't help but get pissed off all over again. "What the hell were you doing with that creep in the first place?"
"I stayed after school super late and he was here. He offered me a ride home." Josie shrugged and began walking down the hall, making Veronica stare after her incredulously before following.
"You could have called me. I would have picked you up." She huffed, not even trying to hide the fact that they were openly arguing in front of their peers.
Scoffing, Josie shot her a look. "And tell my mom that Veronica Lodge brought me home?"
"Oh, and telling her Chuck Clayton did went over well for you?" She challenged, staring daggers into the side of her face.
Before the other girl could snip her own reply, Betty and Jughead cautiously walked up to them with concerned looks. "Is everything okay, guys?" Betty asked nervously, glancing between the two.
"I'm fine." Josie sassed, "your girl here is the one tripping, as usual. If you excuse me, I have vocal warm ups to do." Veronica stared at her in disbelief as she pushed past Jughead without even sparing her a second glance.
"V," Betty grabbed her attention, "why are you and Josie fighting?"
Still watching her back retreat, she muttered, "we're not."
"Are you sure," Jughead pressed looking skeptical, while adjusting his bag strap on his shoulder, "because that looked a lot like a fight to me."
"Who's fighting?" A voice behind her asked as an accompanying arm wrapped around her shoulder and a kiss was pressed to her cheek. She looked up to see Archie staring down at her inquisitively.
"V and Josie." Betty butted in, making Veronica groan.
Archie pulled back a little at that information. "Ronnie, what's going on between you and Josie?"
To any ears that weren't Veronica's, it was a genuine, innocent question. But to her, it was a reminder of all her current guilt, making her snap. "There's nothing going on between Josie and I, okay! We're not in a fight, so can we please talk about something else?" She exasperated in frustration, crossing her arms. Though she immediately felt bad when the arm around her shoulder slowly slipped off, and a slightly hurt look that appeared on Betty's face. She sighed, running her hand through her hair. "I'm sorry guys."
Going to stand beside Jughead so he could fully face her, Archie asked, "Are you sure you're okay, Ronnie?"
"Yes." She closed her eyes and images of cat ears and curly hair flashed through her mind. "Y-yes. I just need to take a walk. I'll see you guys later." Giving Archie's hand a quick squeeze and Betty and Jughead a head nod, she walked away, determination in her step.
She walked up the music room, smiling slightly when she could hear the muffled sounds of Josie's silky voice. Pushing the door open, she frowned when Josie stopped at the sight of her.
"This is a closed Pussycats' session."
She chuckled slightly, closing the door behind her. "I thought I was a Pussycat."
Crossing her arms, Josie quipped. "You were a temporary fill in."
Veronica stopped. "Ouch."
Going back to her keyboard, Josie sighed in an disinterested tone. "Did you actually want something or did you come to throw more crazy down my throat?"
That did it for her.
She stomped over, yanking the cord out of the keyboard, before shoving it away from the stunned songstress. "Okay, what the hell is your problem, Josie!? Why are you acting like this?" She demanded, eyes ablaze.
Rising to match her glare, Josie responded. "Acting like what? Like I don't care about you or your feelings?" She smiled sarcastically, "baby, I'm only giving you a taste of your own medicine."
Veronica's stature deflated slightly as her brows drew together confused. "What? What are you talking about?" When the girl gave her nothing but a blank stare in response, she sighed softly. "Josie, when have I ever treated you like I didn't care?"
"You're kidding me, right?" Josie asked searching her eyes.
Shaking her head, Veronica grabbed at the girl's hands pulling her closer. "No."
"Veronica, everything you do shows me you don't spent the entire weekend with Archie, who you're still with by the way and you parade around school like you're some power couple when you know what's going on between us."
"Josie, you're the one that said that you didn't want a relationship."
"You know things have changed since then. Even if so, why would it matter to you if I went out on a date with Chuck?"
Dropping her hands, she stepped back, hurt creeping up her spine. "So…it was a date."
"No, but look at yourself. You're getting bent out of shape because I was with some else last night, meanwhile you and Archie are screwing against the lockers every chance you get as if you want to hurt me." She shook her head. "You know what Veronica, if that's the kind of game you're trying to play here, you can count me out and we can move on with our lives like nothing happened."
"I'm not playing games with you, Josie. You should know that. I really like you."
"Then why are you still with Archie, while fooling around with me?"
"Because…" She struggled to find the right words. "Archie's safe and reliable." Judging by the offended look Josie shot her, she knew those definitely weren't the right ones.
"Safe and reliable? What the hell does that even mean?"
"It means, say if we start dating. How do I know you're not going to flake on me or decide that you're no longer interested?"
"You know how I feel about you, about this. Why would you think-"
-Josie, you couldn't even tell your mom that I was driving you home as a friend. How are you going to tell her that we're dating or anyone else for that matter?" She asked in an exasperated tone.
"No." Josie wagged her finger, stepping towards her. "Don't try to put this all on me. I'm not stupid. You just don't want to break up with Justin Gingerlake." The girl spat, crossing her arms.
"Am I terrified that Archie will never speak to me again if we do this. Yes." She admitted. "But I'm willing to risk that. The problem is, I'm not sure if you're willing to do the same for me." When the girl continued to stare at her, she added,"come on, Josie, it's a valid concern."
"Maybe, i-it is." Her voice cracked a little, making Veronica sigh in relief at the girl finally showing some vulnerability. "I know I take things seriously and I can sometimes be uptight about my future and everything but it's just..I've never had someone to really care about. Growing up, I was always busy doing anything music related, that I didn't have time to have crushes or date. So when I got to high school, closer to my goal, it seemed foolish to even indulge. That… was until you got here."
Veronica stayed silent, watching the girl as she continued.
"You don't know what it's like, to not have only the pressure from your parents but the whole damn town. Everyone's expecting me to be this big star. If I get too distracted, I could ruin everything I worked so hard for."
"So..you're telling me once again, that we can't be together."
"I'm telling you that I'm scared, okay?"
"It's okay to be scared, Josie." Veronica whispered softly, pulling the girl into her arms. "It's just what you do with that fear is what really matters." She breathed out. "Look. I want to be with you more than anything,Jose." She husked, staring into her eyes. "I'm not asking or expecting for us to tell the entire world, well, maybe at least Betty. But I need to know you're a hundred percent in this with me. Okay?"
Josie gaze flickered between her eyes and lips, before leaning forward to capture them. Veronica's brows raised in surprised but she reciprocated none the less. When the brunette pulled away, a hopeful smile creeped to her lips.
"So…?"
A smile matched hers. "Yeah." She bit her lip, nervously. "I'm in this one hundred percent with you."
Veronica couldn't stop the squeal from leaving her lips as she pulled Josie flush against her in a tight hug. She never thought she'd ever get her to agreed to this.
"But…" The girl began, pulling away from her, arms folding again. "You have to break up Archie, Veronica."
A little of the black haired girl's happiness deflated at the reminder, but she quickly bounced back, nodding her assuringly. "I will." She promised. Josie smiled, pulling her back into an embrace. They pulled away abruptly at the sound of the door opening, revealing a concerned looking Betty.
"Oh." She paused at seeing the girls disentangling themselves. "I saw you come in here, and came to make sure you two weren't killing each other but it looks like you made up?"
Veronica cleared her throat."Um yeah, we did."
"Okay that's good.." The blonde trailed off, looking between the girls, confused at the suddenly awkward tension she felt around them. Her eyes found Veronica's. "V, ready for class?"
The girl glanced at Josie, before looking back at her. "Yeah, but um, let's go to the library first. There's something I need to tell you…" She trailed off, glancing back at Josie to make sure it was okay. She smiled when the girl gave her a nervous nod in response.
She knew her and Josie were going to have to take baby steps but also knew it was totally worth it.