The plane ride home was a quiet one for Veronica, she sat in her window seat with Betty next to her chatting to Jughead about The Blue and Gold and how they were going to have to find students who would be passionate enough about reporting to take over from them once they had graduated.
Archie was seated in the row of seats in front of them, with Reggie who was talking loudly to the guys from the football team, Veronica heard Archie comment a few times to not draw any attention to himself but she could hear how distracted he was by the sound of his voice.
She sighed and bit on her lip, folding her arms onto the open tray table in front of her and staring out the window and trying to forget that this holiday even happened, that when she wakes up tomorrow morning in her room at the Pembrooke she will be a normal, carefree high school senior going to school to stress about finals and have a good time with her friends until a time when they get split up for collage.
Half way through the flight, they had all quietened down, Betty was asleep like most of them probably were, her head on Jugheads shoulder, Jughead was reading with his earphone's on bopping his head gently to the music, he and Veronica had never been close enough to have conversations without Betty or Archie so neither tried.
Veronica couldn't take not knowing if Archie were angry with her or not especially after yesterday, they didn't speak once they entered the hotel, at the beach he stuck to the guys and sometimes Betty, every time Veronica was in range he'd make an excuse and move to someone else. She didn't intend to sound so harsh when they had left the court, no matter what had happened between them and how much they disagreed over hoe to move forward from everything that happened in Las Vegas, she didn't want him to be angry with her.
There was a space between his seat and the wall of the plane so she leaned forward in her seat a little more and stuck her hand through as inconspicuously as she could, she had the tray open to cover where her hand was and she hoped Archie was still awake enough to feel her gentle prodding.
She didn't have to wait too long before her hand was covered by his, pressing it to his other arm and his thumb gently rubbing her skin. "Hey," he whispered, when his head dropped to the window pane and she could see the red of his hair.
"Hi," she whispered back cocking her head so that her hair fell like a veil, covering her from anyone looking at her. "Are we ok?"
The movement on her hand stopped and Veronica nervously curled her hand around the arm she was holding. "We will be Ronnie," he said eventually, squeezing her hand and starting up the rubbing again. "Get some sleep, I know you're tired."
"Ok," she whispered, her eyes were already closing, she went to pull her hand back but Archie's grip tightened and Veronica stopped moving, content to leave her hand in his. It took her longer than usual to fall asleep, long enough for her to feel her hand move and Archie's lips press a kiss to the back of it and know that it wasn't a dream.
"I booked us for hers and hers massages before we have to be stressed out seniors," Veronica said when she breezed into Betty's room. The blonde sat up in bed and squinted at the time and then her friend sourly, today was supposed to be recovery from their trip for school the next day. "It's a full day experience B, we're burning daylight."
"Are those cupcakes?" Betty asked stretching and yawning. Veronica held up the white box and grinned when she nodded. "The last time I got pastries and a hers and hers anything from you was that night at Cheryl's party when you had 7 minutes in heaven with Archie and I was angry with you, something you want to tell me?"
"Of course not," Veronica said waving her off and touching the space on her left hand where her wedding ring was supposed to sit. "Can't a best friend do something special for her other best friend especially when said first best friend needs a massage after her wild Vegas trip."
"It's too early in the morning for that talk V," Betty laughed grabbing her clothes and walking to the bathroom. "I'll try to be quick."
"Take your time," Veronica said softly, catching movement in the window of the house next door, taking a seat on Betty's window seat and looking across to Archie's window. She smiled when she saw him, he was shirtless digging around in his cupboard, tempting her.
She thought about their second kiss, it was after Betty had started dating Zeke seriously. Her parents were keeping things from her and that ended up in a huge fight and her leaving the house, Betty was on a date and Kevin was out of town so she couldn't go to them. That left Archie and Jughead at his house or one of the other girls from the class, she refused to go to Cheryl's creepy mansion and she was sure Josie and the Pussycats were practicing. Besides all that, if there was anyone she wanted to see it was the gorgeous redhead that could always make her forget her problems with his cheeky smile.
Archie opened the door for her with exactly that smile and Veronica couldn't help but smile back. "What brings you here?"
"I had a fight with my parents and I ended up here," she said with a shrug as he let her into the house.
"Everyone else busy?" he asked and she gasped at the accusation. "I'm just asking Ronnie."
"Yes everyone else is busy, but you're not my last choice Archikins," she said sweetly, sitting herself down on his couch and leaning back. "You're actually just the person I wanted to see."
"Well you've got me all to yourself," he said smiling at her as he sat next to her and slouched down, dropping his head to the back of the couch and turning the volume of the T.V down all the way. "Jughead is with his dad and my dad has gone to see my mom."
"Are they still going through with the divorce?" Veronica asked carefully, Archie had spoken to them about his parents a few times before, he never really told her what his feelings toward this divorce was but Betty and Jughead seemed to understand so she just had to deal with the fact that she got to Riverdale too late to be so deep into their group.
"Yeah they are," he said sighing and rubbing his face. "I'm ok with them getting divorced, I know it's better for them, I just wish things were different, when I get married I hope that I stay married to that one person forever, but anyway, tell me what brings you all the way here from the comfort of the Pembrooke."
Veronica told him about her parents being shady and keeping things from her, her dad had just been released from prison and she wanted full transparency but that was too much to ask for, Archie just listened to her without offering any unwanted advice because she just needed to vent and held her hand comfortingly as she spoke. One thing led to another that night with them, Archie leaned up and kissed her and she stopped, she was going to stop it completely and remind him about Betty but Betty was on a date and Archie was looking at her with a hopeful expression and she wanted to kiss him, she wanted to just lose herself in him. So she kissed him back.
By the end of the night after alot of kissing and laughs and fooling around, he tucked her into his bed and crashed on the blow up mattress that Jughead usually used. Veronica woke up the next morning even more fascinated with this boy than she was before, she knew it wasn't something that she could pursue not until she spoke to Betty but the butterfly's she felt from just looking at his sleeping face made her want her mornings to look like this. She kneeled down next to him and took in his features, she would never find a boy so perfect that made her feel the way he did, so she pressed a long kiss to his cheek and traced a line down his jaw as a goodbye and a thank you for letting her know what being with him could be like before sneaking out of the house to face the music at home.
"You look deep in thought," Betty said when she got back into the room, dressed up for their day and Veronica turned sharply, her eyes wide because she got caught but Betty didn't seem to care much that she was staring into Archie's room. "Is Archie there?"
Veronica turned back to look at Archie's room and found it now empty, so she shook of her guilty feelings and turned back to Betty. "No, his room is empty."
"He's up early," Betty commented as Veronica got up and made her way across the room to the door. "Veronica, are you sure you're ok, you haven't been yourself since the other morning."
"I am fine B," Veronica assured her. "I just need this massage to reset my mind."
"Let's go then," Betty smiled, grabbing her bag and following her friend out of the house.
"This is just what I needed," Veronica said, her voice slurred because of how relaxed her was as the masseuse started on her back. "I feel better already."
"I'm glad, I didn't even know I needed this," Betty said smiling with closed eyes. "Thank you V."
"Only a pleasure, bestie," Veronica said sighing deeply.
"V, I said something to you the other night and I think you were asleep because you didn't answer me," Betty started and Veronica's body tensed up so much that her masseuse clucked her tongue and pressed harder into Veronica's skin.
"What did you say?" Veronica asked, focusing of relaxing herself so she didn't look panicked to Betty.
"Do you remember when you first moved here and after you kissed Archie," Betty asked and Veronica swallowed and pressed her lips together. "We made a pact that we wouldn't let a boy come between us ever again?"
"It's all I think about," Veronica mumbled and then cleared her throat when Betty opened her eyes to look at her. "I mean, that was the night that B&V was formed, how could I forget?"
"Oh, well, I know that at the time we both had feelings for Archie and we haven't brought it up after that night but I wanted to know how you felt about him now," Betty asked, when Veronica failed to reply Betty explained her words. "I just, he and I have stayed close after that experience and I feel like maybe with this being our last year that his feelings have changed."
"I don't know," Veronica started and then she realized that she didn't actually know where Archie stood with his feelings for Betty, after they went to the court he said he had no romantic feelings toward her but Veronica wasn't sure if that was just to make her feel better about what they did.
"This last year, since my breakup, he's been more attentive, he always seems to be around me more and I feel like maybe that's a sign," Betty said and Veronica closed her eyes and sighed. Archie had tried not to make them obvious, only choosing to sit next to Veronica when there was no other seat otherwise choosing to be next to Betty as he had always done before, they never expected that it would lead Betty on. "Say something V."
"I …" Veronica was at a loss for words, she selfishly didn't want Betty to tell Archie her feelings because she was afraid that Archie would feel the same. She always knew that he had some sort of feelings toward Betty how romantic those feelings were, she didn't know. If they started something Veronica was sure it could develop into something deeper, the bitch in her wanted to scream at Betty to stop being so oblivious and see that she and Archie would never be together because he was Veronica's but she couldn't do that.
"Has he said something to you?" Betty asked curiously after Veronica failed to comment on what she said.
"No, he hasn't," Veronica said slowly, biding her time so she could form the correct sentence in her head. "I just don't think he feels that way about you and I don't want you to get hurt," she said, technically Archie was married to Veronica so it wasn't a stretch to assume that he'd say no to Betty.
"He hasn't been with anyone since Valerie and that was such a long time ago," Betty said and Veronica nodded, the night she was remembering earlier was from a few days after he broke up with Valerie. "Are you against this because you still want to be with him?"
"No, it's not that," Veronica said all the while thinking the opposite and hating herself for it and not being able to just tell Betty the truth. "I just ... what will you do if he doesn't feel the same?"
"V, what if he says yes?" she asked and Veronica shook her head. "When we were kids Archie wanted to marry me, I told him to wait till we're 18 and I'll say yes, there's just a couple months left till that and I want us to be in a position where it's not just a child's innocence asking, it's where he's actually in love with me and wants to get married to me."
Veronica cringed at the mention of marriage and blinked rapidly as she tried to stop the onslaught of tears that surprised her. "B I just don't want you to get hurt," Veronica managed to get out, turning her face away from Betty and putting it back into the face hole to hide the tears that started to fall.
"I won't," Betty said turning her head away as well.
A/N: Happy 2018 readers, I wanted to post something yesterday but I was exhausted so today would just have to be the day, I hope everyone had a wonderful festive season, I have to go back to work tomorrow so I'm sad that I need to wake up early again, my work life is going to be changing slightly so uploads might be slower, I have written a decent amount ahead so it won't be too slow just yet
Thank you guys so much for the reviews and favorites and follows on both this story and the one-shot series, that series I feel like i might put on hold for a little bit, I had a plan for it and after I posted the first chapter I changed that plan to match it with what was happening on the show and that wasn't working out for me so I just need to reevaluate what I'm doing with that series, it might be a small wait before that's updated again
I have been thinking about putting my stories on Archive of our Own, I read alot of the stories on that site so it's been something that I've been considering and a guest reviewer suggested it on the last chapter so I've decided that I will be uploading this story on that site as well, it is a little bit of a process to get onto AO3 so I will let you know once that has happened
Please review and let me know what you think, this is still my setting up chapter, I can't wait for you guys to read whats coming
Until Next Time (^^,)
