About two hours later the girls finally arrive at the diner. It would've been sooner if it weren't for Cheryl's insistence they try on numerous different outfits in order to find "the perfect one." Veronica didn't mind though, they had lots of fun goofing off, trying on ridiculous outfits just for fun, and taking lots of pictures, both solo and together. The whole thing felt like a movie montage straight out of an early 2000s chick flick. Just their style.
They finally settle on wearing outfits that reflect each other's signature colors. It's obvious Cheryl's wardrobe contains a LOT of red, but surprisingly Veronica's has an almost equal amount of blue. They realize how similar their wardrobe actually is, so even though they are actually wearing each other's clothes, no one would know it. It was still fun to play around, plus now they both realize their wardrobe just doubled! That fact alone was well worth it.
Betty's face lights up with a wide smile the moment she see the two enter Pop's. Veronica had text her a few minutes ago telling her to save them seats. "You made it!" She exclaims as the girls reach the table.
The boys each say their hellos upon the girls scooting into the booth, Cheryl sits next to Archie, with Veronica on her left, while Jughead and Betty sit across from them on the other side.
"Oh Cheryl," Archie speaks up, taking the other redhead by surprise. "I meant to ask earlier, wanna sign my cast?" He moves his arm to sit in front of her on the table. Signatures from a bunch of his friends can be seen strewn about the surface, Betty, Jug, Veronica, Reggie, even ALL of the Pussycats' names are present.
Cheryl hesitates a moment, still uncomfortable knowing she's the reason he needs this thing in the first place. Veronica senses Cheryl's reservation and places a comforting hand on her knee, under the table. This action does not go unnoticed by the ever-observant Betty. Cheryl grabs the sharpie Archie holds out for her, the one he no doubt has been carrying all day for this sole purpose.
She finds a large enough blank space and signs away. She then, raises Archie's hand and meets it halfway with her lips, placing a kiss just to the left of her name. When she pulls away there is a perfect lipstick stain, in her signature red of course. She smiles at her handiwork and the others laugh at how perfectly Cheryl that move was. "Thanks Cher." Archie smiles genuinely.
Not much studying gets done now that the girls have arrived. Not that they were getting much done before hand to begin with. Books cast aside to make room for milkshakes and fries, as the gang debates the 'to dip or not to dip question.'
"You've gotta dip the fries!" Jughead exclaims, "Perfect combination of salty and sweet."
"Gross, no the hot and cold factor is too opposing." Betty practically shudders, watching Jughead take a fry and scoop it through his chocolate milkshake.
"I'm with Jug, you gotta dip em." Archie agrees, taking the same action.
"It depends on what flavor of shake you get," Cheryl begins her argument. "Chocolate yes, vanilla ok," she shakes her hand in a 'so-so' manner "strawberry no."
Jughead responds, pointing a fry in Cheryl's direction. "Mmm flavor's not a factor in my case, but I see your point."
"Nope. Still not buying it." Betty laughs. She seems to be the only one on the side of 'no fries in milkshakes.'
Veronica throws her hat into the ring, "Look, some things go together that you wouldn't expect, leather and lace, gingham and seersucker," of course they are both fashion related, she continues rather mater of factly, "me and Cheryl." She looks at the girl sitting next to her for a brief moment with a smile, she turns away continuing her point before she can see the faint blush on the redhead's cheek. "Fries and milkshakes are just another one of those pairings."
This seems to end the debate with everyone just laughing and moving on to another topic of discussion. The boys still dipping their fries.
About 45 minutes later Archie's phone buzzes, vibrating the table top. As a group they try to not use their phones when they are out together like this, a common courtesy to enjoy and spend time with the people around you. Considering everyone who Archie talks to on the regular is sitting at the table, he knows it must be his dad. He opens the message to find he was correct. "Hey. I've gotta get going. Dad needs my help at home." Cheryl and Veronica slide out of the booth to let Archie go. "I'll see you tomorrow." He addresses the group as he puts on his letterman jacket, leaving the diner shortly after.
Since she's already standing, Cheryl uses the opportunity to pick a song on the jukebox. When she states what she was planning to do, Betty grabs her wrist before she can fully turn around. She turns to her boyfriend, who once again looks at Betty confused. "Hey, Jughead why don't you go with her?" She turns her attention to Cheryl, "he loves that thing." A small eye roll accompanying her words. Jughead shoves the last bite of his burger into his mouth, dusts of his hands, and hops over the back of the booth. He places a hand on the small of Cheryl's back briefly to guide her across the diner.
Betty turns her attention to the only person left at the table, Veronica sitting across from her. "So, what changed your mind? I thought you wanted to stay in with Cheryl tonight."
Veronica finishes the last bit of her second milkshake that night. "It was Cheryl's idea. She likes being a part of the 'gang'" she uses air quotes, "as she called us earlier."
Betty awws in response. She's glad Cheryl feels like she has friends now, she has to admit, she really enjoys Cheryl's company too. "Soooo," elongating the word, always a sign she's about to ask a personal question. "what's going on with you two?"
Veronica's brow nits in confusion. She grabs Cheryl's milkshake and takes a sip.
"Veronica, don't play dumb. You know what I mean." Betty insists. She leans forward, quietly whispering, "you like her."
Veronica quickly matches Betty's pose, leaning far across the table, "shhhh. It's nothing." She shakes her head, she adds a moment later. "just a silly crush is all."
Betty sits back, a hand over her mouth in shock. She didn't actually believe Veronica would admit it so easily. Once again, she leans forward, elbows on the table, head resting in her palms. "Is that why you broke up with Archie?"
"What?! No!" Veronica protests, a little louder than she'd like. She straightens up, trying to find a more comfortable position. "Archie and I were on our way down without Cheryl's help."
Betty doesn't exactly believe that, but doesn't dwell on it, moving forward, "What are you gonna do?" asking curiously.
"Nothing." Veronica shrugs her shoulders. "Cheryl needs friends right now. She doesn't need me screwing that up by complicating things with feelings." She shoves a fry in her mouth rather unceremoniously. Betty can tell she's upset.
Betty reaches out to grab Veronica's hand. "I get that, but you can't just stop feeling for the sake of Cheryl's well-being. You'll just end up hurting yourself."
"Yea, but right now she's still recovering. It's only been 3 days since the lake."
Betty sits back again, uncomfortably crossing her arms across her chest. "Its hard to believe it's ONLY been that long." Three days was nothing. A weekend really. How has it only been three days? What happened at the lake felt like a distant memory to Betty now. However, she figures she's removed from the situation. She's not reliving it every day with Cheryl by her side. It must be so different for Veronica who has to constantly keep that experience in mind because she's busy helping her through it.
The realization must be evident on Betty's face because Veronica speaks up, "Exactly." She takes another sip of Cheryl's milkshake. "It's too soon to even consider 'making a move.'" She uses air quotes, and internally cringes at her words. She unintentionally sounds so predatory. The last thing she wants is for Cheryl to think she's taking advantage of her fragile state for her own sick fantasy. That's not at all what this is about.
"I can't believe I'm advocating for this," Betty begins in disbelief, "but you two would be so cute together." If you told her last week she'd be openly rooting for Veronica and CHERYL to get together, Betty would've never believed you. She might not have been as gung-ho about "Varchie" as she led on the other day, but she was finally starting to warm up to the idea of them together, now she ships Veronica with a very different redhead.
Veronica blushes at her friend's comment. She tries to hide it, but what's the point. "I REALLY like her B." She admits, her voice sad at the reality of their situation.
Betty silently takes Veronica's hand into her own, offering a comforting squeeze, just in time for the aforementioned girl and Jughead to arrive back at the table. Betty pulls away but sends a sly smile and wink Veronica's way. The raven-haired girl merely rolls her eyes at her friend.
"Sorry it took so long, apparently Jug and I have more in common than we thought." Cheryl mentions as she slides in next to Veronica. Betty smiles at her use of Jughead's nickname.
"Girls got good taste in music, I'm a bit surprised." Jughead laughs.
"Just because I'm the bitchy rich snob, doesn't mean I'm one dimensional." Cheryl quips back.
"True." Jughead nods his head and tips his glass to Cheryl in agreement. He proceeds to suck down the last quarter of his milkshake.
Cheryl realizes HER milkshake is sitting in front of Veronica. She gives her friend a sly look as she drags it back across the table and takes a sip, batting her eyelashes accusingly.
Veronica merely shrugs, owning up to it. This causes Cheryl to laugh, she bumps her shoulder into her playfully, before sliding her milkshake back over to Veronica. A silent offer, letting her know it's ok.
Betty can't help but beam at the entire exchange, knowing that flirting was more than just joking. She just hopes it's on both ends.
The four of them spend the next hour just chatting and goofing off, telling stories, jokes, even discussing more serious topics. It's not until Betty's mom interrupts the fun with a phone call and a request to come home, that the evening ends.
Betty and Jughead get up to leave. Of course Jughead has to leave as well since he drove his girlfriend here. Betty hugs Cheryl first, before hugging her bestie. Jughead places some tip money on the table before nodding goodbye to the girls. And then there were two...
"So should we head out too?" Veronica asks turning her attention to the redhead sitting next to her.
"You wanna share one last milkshake?" Cheryl rebuts.
Veronica groans, "mmm normally I would, but I've already had two and a half, not to mention all the fries I stole from Archie. I'm way too full."
Cheryl heartily laughs. She gathers her things, and puts on her coat, standing she extends her hand to help Veronica out of the booth. Veronica puts on her coat before linking her arm around Cheryl's as the make their way to Veronica's car.
"Thanks for making me get out of the house." Veronica thanks Cheryl as she pulls the car out of the diner parking lot.
"I promise we can spend tomorrow night in." Cheryl reaches across the console and grabs Veronica's hand, "We needed this today." Referring to the heavy conversation they had earlier this evening, and everything else that's happened this weekend really. It was nice for them to get out of the confines of Veronica's room for a few hours. She gives Veronica's hand a tight squeeze, releasing it so Veronica can return it to the wheel. It may have only been three days since Cheryl's incident, but so much has happened since then, and though it was under unfortunate circumstances, Veronica is more than happy to be along for the ride.
A/N: HELLO! I was able to get this up a day early! I'm very excited about the chapters to come and I'm just dying to publish them (I still have to write them) so I'm trying to tweak my update my schedule so I can get them out sooner. I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's fun to write the whole gang together, I just really like seeing Cheryl have friends. I hope the show starts including her in more scenes with them. Thank you so much for all the wonderfully kind words y'all keep sending me! I never get tired of reading all your lovely message so please keep em coming! haha