Background info/summary: au in which Veronica moved to New York a few months after her breakup with Archie during junior year. After graduating high school, Veronica is invited to a small get-together with her old friends on the beach. She knows Archie will be there, but she really does want to see Kevin, Betty, Jughead, etc. So she travels to Riverdale for a week to attend this mini-reunion. But when old feelings reemerge, how will she cope?
Eye contact is a dangerous, dangerous thing. Sometimes it means nothing. Usually it means nothing. After all, it's influence is often underestimated. But there comes a time in which eye contact is so incredibly powerful that it can make you lose connection with reality.
Veronica Lodge, of all people, should know this. And she does. She is well aware of this fact, especially when she warily sits in the beach chair directly across from Archie Andrews.
There is a burning bonfire between them, as well as about ten feet of space. But still. She digs her manicured toes deeper into the sand, letting the grainy bits move around her feet. She hasn't been to Maywater Shore in a long time. She forgets how soothing the sound of crashing waves were, and how the sunset adds a yellow-orange hue to the blue of the ocean. A few seagulls fly up ahead, soaring through the air with grace and ease. Veronica wishes life were like the flight of a bird. Simple yet elegant, effortless yet daring, modest yet beautiful and fascinating.
"This is so nice, Kevin," Moose pipes in, interrupting her thoughts. "It's really sweet of you to organize this. It's like a high school reunion even though we haven't even started college."
"Yeah I thought it would be good to catch up with Veronica," Kevin responds. He turns to look straight at her. "Speaking of which, how has high school in New York treated you?" He was sitting right next to her in the circle of wooden beach chairs that surrounded the fire pit. Next to him was Moose and then Toni. Cheryl sat to the left of Veronica, and then came Betty and Jughead. In between Jughead and Toni sat Archie. Archie fucking Andrews.
She shrugs, willing herself to ignore Archie, although she knows it's impossible. "Fine, I guess. I'm going back there for college so I can't bad-mouth it too much."
"What college?"
"NYU," Veronica replies proudly. It was her dream to attend NYU since she was a little girl. "How about you guys?"
"Columbia!" Betty exclaims, her eyes lighting up.
"Congrats, B! That's amazing! Columbia and NYU aren't that far away maybe we could visit sometimes!"
"Definitely!" Betty reaches over to lightly touch Jughead's arm. "And Juggie is leasing a studio apartment near Columbia."
Jughead nods nonchalantly. "Yup. Imma continue with photography and video-making. Maybe start an art gallery or something." They talk about college and passions and hopes for the future for a little while longer before Cheryl decides the topic at hand is too dull for her tastes.
"Ugh, boooring," she sings. "Lets get to the interesting stuff. Veronica, any flaming hot hookups in New York?" Veronica can practically sense Archie stiffen and drop his gaze to his quintessential red plastic cup of beer.
"Shut up," Veronica says light-heartedly, rolling her eyes. She smiles and shakes her head, but inside she's praying that Cheryl won't pry. Of course, she does.
"Ooh, someone's blushing!" Cheryl squeals.
"I'm not! I swear!"
"Did someone fall in looove?"
Veronica rolls her eyes. "You're supposed to fall in love in Paris or Thailand or some exotic vacation spot, not New York. Trust me, I didn't meet anyone of particular interest."
"Have you ever fallen in love before?" Chery asks. It seems like a mild question, like it should belong in a silly game of truth or dare, yet it means something deeper to Veronica. The truth is, she has. She definitely has. It was that fateful day at Pop's Diner, her first time in Riverdale, and she had fallen hard. The red hair, the shining eyes, the broad smile, everything about Archie Andrews had her entranced from day one.
And then it came crashing down, all because she couldn't say three fucking words. She continued to tell herself that they were just meaningless letters put together, it didn't matter whether she says them or not. She tried to convince herself of this but deep down she knew that it meant something. Those three words can strengthen a relationship, solidify a relationship. It's like a glue that holds two people close. Keeps them together for the rest of their lives.
The most fucked up thing about this is that Veronica knew she loved Archie. She loved him with all her heart and more. She would without a doubt trade her soul to keep him happy. The last thing she ever wanted was to hurt him in any way, yet that was exactly what she did that tortured night in the White Wrym parking lot.
A few months later, at the beginning of their junior year, Veronica moved with her parents back to New York. She didn't want to become that girl who disappeared without a trace, so she warned her friends and there were many tearful goodbyes, but she couldn't bring herself to confront Archie face to face. She kept in touch with some people, mainly Kevin and Betty, but hadn't texted Archie since before the breakup.
Things were tense between them, she could feel it. And so could everyone else.
Moose clears his throat awkwardly, letting Veronica leave the question unanswered. "Uh, anyways, more s'mores, anyone?"
"Hand em over man," Jughead says. A few people chuckle, but that's it. The only sounds are the cracking of the fire, the breaking of waves on the shore, and Jughead ripping open yet another bag of marshmallows.
"W-would you excuse me for a minute?" Veronica stammers. Her heart always beats a little faster when she's flustered, and now she can almost hear the pounding in her ears.
She goes to stand up and before she turns around to walk away from the group, there it is. That stupid fucking eye contact that kills her every time. Those milk chocolate eyes gaze into her own, and she feels herself getting lost in them. All her surroundings are blurred and sounds fade away as she focuses on him, Archie Andrews. It's as if she's seeing him for the first time. Falling in love with him for the first time.
She drinks in his tousled ginger hair, his sharp jawline, his impossibly soft lips that she so vividly remembers kissing. The intensity in which he stares at her makes her almost overwhelmingly delirious, yet what strikes her the most is how solemn he looks. His usual bright smile is absent from his flawless features.
It only lasts a few seconds, but time slows and it feels like eternity.
She tears her eyes from his, forcing herself to slow her breathing. For some reason, she feels like crying, grinning, sobbing, laughing, everything at the same time. Too much, it's all too much. She stumbles off to somewhere, she doesn't know where exactly, just somewhere away from the group. Away from Archie.
(Archie's POV)
He tried to not look at her, to not talk to her, to not talk at all, and he almost succeeded. Almost. But his damn temptations took the best of him.
'God damnit. Why did I have to do that?' he scolds himself.
He watches Veronica Lodge walk away from the bonfire, the yellow material of her floral beach dress flying out behind her like a cape, just like the time she strutted away from his booth at Pop's the first time they met. And he can't stop himself from staring at the pale skin on her legs, and how her calf muscles tense every time she sets foot on the sand. Her hair looks the same, raven-black and not wavy, but not straight. Perfectly in between.
His immediate reaction would be to follow her, call out her name, pull her into his arms and hug her until everything is okay. He can't do that now. No matter how much he wants to, he can't hold her and kiss her and comfort her. He already let her go, no reason to come crawling back to her when he's been careful to conceal his feelings for all this time.
'I've moved on, it's for the best," he tells himself. He doesn't want to make things even worse than they are now. So, he sits in his seat, still as a statue, and plasters a fake smile on his face. 'It's for the best,' he repeats.
(Veronica's POV)
Is she drunk? No, she's not drunk. But she feels drunk. What if she is drunk? No, that's impossible. She didn't even take a sip of beer. What is wrong with her?
Veronica wobbles on the uneven sand, trying her best not to lose her footing and fall flat on her face. Her legs are shaking tremendously and her mind is too cluttered to focus on walking. Finally, she gives up and collapses onto the sand, breathing hard. She looks back to where she came from, and there's no one in sight. Good. She has walked far enough so that it would take the others a while to find her. It gave her some time to herself, something she desperately needed now.
She rubs her arms, feeling the goosebumps prickling her skin. The air is starting to get chillier, although it's not cold. The sun has completely set, leaving only a small splash of orange on the horizon. Just surveying the view of the ocean has her heart slowing and her breathing returning to normal. The deliriousness fades away and she can think clearly again.
She lays down on the cool sand, her hands resting on her stomach. Up above, the sky is an inky shade of indigo. Stars freckle the night, little capsules of light and brilliance shining against the darkness. In New York on the roof of her house, she would often stargaze to calm her nerves. It soothes her mind, her limbs, her heart. It was never as beautiful or as fascinating as this. She imagines herself from a birds-eye view, like a camera zooming out on a smitten couple at the end of a cheesy teen rom-com. Except that it's just her. Veronica. A small dot in a wide, ever-expanding universe.
to whoever read this, thanks for putting yourself through that i appreciate it:)))
btw the chapter titles are named after songs that sorta kinda maybe correspond to the plot of the chapter (don't judge me i tried my best). this one is Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Withers
also idk where riverdale is so let's pretend that there's a beach nearby okay? good.