Author's Notes: Reposted from AO3, written in Feb. 2017. Set immediately after 1x02. For femslash february & the prompt "gals being pals". Uhhhh this is kind of a mess but they're in love thanks bye. Title from Ease My Mind by Hayley Kiyoko.
The night grows late and Pop's Diner empties out. Jughead eats three burgers, and then he and Archie take off, probably to reaffirm their friendship with video games or something. Betty watches them go, fondly. It's good that they're friends again, it restores balance to Riverdale.
Except...maybe not entirely. Betty's world still feels askew, and there's only possible reason, one new addition to the town, currently watching Betty from across the neon-lit booth.
"Now that we're proper best friends," Veronica announces as she pushes her empty milkshake glass away, "I think there's only one thing left to do."
Betty raises an eyebrow amusedly; for one thing, agreeing to not fight over boys is not necessarily a best friend agreement. Secondly, she wonders if Veronica always talks like she's making a grand announcement. Betty has a feeling she does, and it's one more reason to like the brunette girl. Betty feels like she could use a little more excitement - of the dramatic teen girl kind, not the small town murder kind.
"It's not a blood oath, is it?" she jokes and to her delight, Veronica laughs. Betty still feels like she's trying to find her footing around Veronica. She's not quite sure how to treat her. And Veronica, she seems sure of everything, which only makes Betty feel more determined to get this right.
"No silly, a sleepover! Come to my place?" Veronica asks, reaching across the table to tangle her fingers with Betty's and squeeze lightly.
She asks so easily, so confident that Betty will say yes, that Betty does.
Betty smiles and texts her mom without thinking too hard about it, willing to deal with her anger tomorrow, when she realizes she's forgotten something important.
"Oh," she says. "I don't have any stuff, pyjamas or anything, and if I stop at home, my mom might-" Her mom will.
"You can just borrow some of mine, come on," Veronica replies with a small roll of her eyes, and Betty feels dumb all of a sudden, like she should've known that was a given.
Well, she doesn't know anything about what friendship with Veronica Lodge is going to be like. She feels like she's trying to catch up, always out of breath and Veronica's just walking.
She wants to catch up, though. She wants to keep up with Veronica.
Back at the Lodge house, Betty feels out of her element once again. Veronica wanders through the elegantly-decorated mansion like it's nothing, pointing out sitting rooms and studies and her freaking butler like those are things everyone has. In Veronica's world, they probably are.
Betty feels small and out of place until Veronica ushers her into her bedroom and firmly closes the door. When it's just the two of them, Betty relaxes. The vibe is completely different from her and Cheryl earlier in Betty's room, and Betty is completely sure she can trust Veronica, no matter what her mom thinks. Veronica is no Cheryl Blossom.
Veronica hands her a pyjama set that is dark purple, and silk, Betty's pretty sure. It's a matching set, shorts and a camisole top, and it suits someone like Veronica completely. Betty's extra glad now they didn't stop at her house, or she'd be feeling self conscious of her sweatpants. She runs her hands over the folded fabric softly, not sure what to do now. Ask for the bathroom, or…?
Then Veronica is slipping her dress off, hands nimble on the zipper, and pulling another set of pyjamas out of her dresser, and Betty quickly turns her back and changes as well, as fast as she can. Seems like she doesn't get to skip being self conscious, after all.
"So now what?" Betty asks after enough time has passed that she feels it's safe to turn back around. Veronica's waiting expectantly, already stretched out gracefully on her bed, on top of the covers, and Betty joins her, perching awkwardly near the edge. "Do you wanna watch a movie or something?"
"No!" Veronica says, wrinkling her nose the tiniest bit. "This is a sleepover! It's secrets time, Betty Cooper." She pats the bed next to her, indicating Betty should move closer. "I want to know all your secrets."
Betty freezes, for a moment, and her hands automatically clench. She looks down at the plush carpet, looking for a way out, because all the things that spring to mind first - her pills, her therapist - are things that she'd rather not talk about. It's not even about trust, it's just. Not yet.
"Hey, whoa," Veronica says gently. "I meant boy secrets, gossip, stuff you tell your best friend. I wasn't…you don't have to talk about your sister or anything that you don't want to."
Veronica is not Cheryl Blossom, Betty reminds herself. She's being genuine, not fishing for dirt. She forces herself to loosen her fists, to relax, and shifts herself to sit at the head of the bed next to Veronica. Veronica's been very open about herself, she assures herself. There's nothing malicious here. There are things that she won't tell Veronica, not yet, but it's not because she doesn't trust her.
"Sorry," she tries for casual. "I...don't really have girl friends. I'm not sure what to do." That's probably the stupidest thing anyone has ever said. She doesn't know how to make friends? Way to paint yourself as a small town leper, Bets. But it doesn't seem to phase Veronica.
"Ooh, I'm your first?" she squeals. "That's so exciting, and I promise I'll be gentle."
Betty amends her thought from earlier. Everything Veronica says is either a dramatic statement or breathy innuendo. And weirdly, Betty doesn't mind it at all. It's all part of Veronica's distinct charm.
Betty settles more comfortably against the pillows. Veronica's bedroom is just as dramatic as she is, all dark colours and rich throw pillows and Betty can't see inside the closet, but it's probably bigger than her own bedroom. More nicely decorated, too.
The second she's still, Veronica slides closer and curls up next to her, laying her head on Betty's shoulder and clutching her arm. Her pyjamas are the same style as the pair she gave Betty, only black, and their bare skin is pressed together.
"I want to know everything about you," she says again, firmly. "Best friends tell each other everything, and never judge, and they always have each other's backs."
It occurs to Betty that maybe...maybe Veronica doesn't have very much experience with close girl friends either. Everything she's saying sounds right out of teen cosmo, and she had said she wasn't the nicest back in New York, whatever that really means.
Betty's always felt more at home with the guys, but she's never really been one of the guys. Sure, she'll help Archie work on his car, or play video games with Jughead, and her and Kevin - well, they mostly talk about boys, and she can tell him basically anything so she supposes that counts for something. She can tell Archie basically anything too, unless it's about how she feels about him. (Felt. Okay, she's not sure, entirely.)
She had always had a perfect balance of the guys in her life and Polly. Polly covered everything she couldn't talk about with the guys - Archie, period stuff, plans for her future. But now she doesn't even know when she'll get to see Polly again, let alone talk to her...it almost makes her feel guilty, like she'd be abandoning her sister for Veronica, but she can hear Polly's voice clear in her head, telling her how ridiculous she is. ("This girl is fun," Polly would definitely say if she met Veronica. When. When she meets her. "And you could use some fun, Bets.") She looks down at Veronica's head tucked against her shoulder and thinks, we could both use this.
So, okay. Secrets. Girl bonding. Teen Cosmo. She can do that.
"The last boy that kissed me," she says, tapping Veronica's hand so she pays attention, "was Alan M., a guy from my math class. We studied together for a big test, and when we both aced it, we went to Pop's for a shake after school. I didn't think it was a date but maybe he did, and he kissed me in the parking lot afterwards. I was so caught off guard, it was terrible. I think he kissed my teeth."
Veronica shifts away from Betty so they can see each other better. She keeps her hand linked around Betty's arm, though. Her eyes are sparkling.
"So you're saying I got really lucky when I surprised you with that kiss at tryouts? Sounds like it could've been a disaster."
So two seconds into bonding, and Betty's already thrown completely off, but she should've known Veronica wouldn't do what she was expecting. This is not how girl talk with Polly ever went. Keep up, Betty, keep up.
"Well, you had much better breath than Alan M., so you already had that working for you," Betty says, trying to laugh. She didn't think they'd talk about the kiss, for some reason. She doesn't know if she wants to. (It occurs to her suddenly; she doesn't know if she would've told Polly. She doesn't want to think about it.)
"Mm, I think we're lucky together," Veronica says happily, and then with no hesitation, ducks her head down and presses her lips to Betty's, quickly but firmly. "Still no teeth! Am I not fast enough?"
No, because no matter how much Veronica startles her, Betty always seems to kiss her back.
(Also, she doesn't think this is a normal best girl friend thing? She's really, very sure. But she also doesn't think Veronica Lodge is a normal girl, so. So she doesn't know what she thinks. She's really not thinking.)
"You know, if you keep doing that, it'll get less surprising," she points out. Sensibly, she thinks, but Veronica -
"Oh, don't worry, I can think of something else," Veronica says wickedly. "I'm full of surprises."
(And what do normal best friends say to that?)
There's not even time to answer though, because Veronica is pulling on Betty's arm and she wiggles them both down the bed so they're lying down instead of sitting, and she curls in towards Betty and sighs happily and then she says, "god, you have legs for days. You should wear shorts more often."
Betty looks down at her legs in the silk, purple shorts and then over at Veronica's, shorter than hers but still very nice legs and Veronica reaches over and brushes a finger lightly across her stomach. "Now you compliment me."
Betty almost snorts, but catches herself just in time. Again, Veronica is not Cheryl Blossom, and there's no vanity behind her request. (Okay, almost none.) Who knows, probably compliments are on the Veronica Lodge list of things best friends do.
(Oh. Yeah, they actually probably are.)
So she turns fully into her side so she's staring at Veronica, and says truthfully, "I really think you're going to be a great best friend." Great, and confusing, and probably intense, but loyal, Betty's pretty sure. She's not sure how she knows all that already, but it's a powerful feeling.
Veronica's eyes grow wide and emotional, and she launches herself forward. Betty gets her lips ready - listen, she doesn't understand it, and she doesn't want to talk about it, but it is what it is - but almost more surprisingly, Veronica only wraps her arms around Betty in a tight hug.
"That means so much to me," she whispers. She pulls back to smile, earnestly, and Betty smiles back. "I'm so glad I found you, Betty Cooper."
Then Veronica leans in again and presses a soft kiss to Betty's forehead. Again, Veronica purses her lips and Betty's mouth instinctively does a thing where - well, she doesn't know what that's all about.
Veronica makes a small, contented sound and curls up against Betty again, fingers trailing up and down her arm. It's...strange, but Betty guesses it's just something she'll have to get used to, being best friends with Veronica Lodge.
She half-wonders what else she'll get used to, but she's also kind of excited to wait and find out.