Cheryl sat in her second period class, counting down the minutes until the bell rings. She's been riding on a high since this morning, but this was the lowest she's felt all day. Being away from Veronica was proving to be harder than expected. She knows it's just due to the fact they're in the 'honeymoon phase' of this newfound relationship. Eventually it'll die down and being away from each other won't feel like the end of the world.
The texting helped, but it didn't amount to the real thing. They saw each other for a couple minutes in between classes. Once again having to downplay their physical affection. It was so hard to keep herself from pulling Veronica in close and never letting go. It's so crazy how once that line has been crossed, it's impossible to go back.
Only 10 more minutes and they'd be reunited, this time for a full hour. God knows they're not gonna pay attention to the lesson, it's not like they did a good job doing so before. Cheryl smiles at the thought of them passing notes, trying to hide the fact that they're staring at the other, purposely bumping into each other just so they could have some sort of contact. Cheryl never imagined she'd have someone to do all the cutesy cliché romance stuff with, especially not Veronica of all people.
She always hated those couples, the ones who are nauseatingly upfront with the PDA. However now, with Veronica, Cheryl WANTS to be that couple. She wants to show her off and treat her like a princess. She wants people to look at them in envy, because she knows how incredibly lucky she is, and she wants others to know it as well. She landed a beautiful, smart, incredibly kind person. Someone who Cheryl felt she didn't deserve. So, she wants to dedicate her energy into being the person Veronica deserves.
Her phone buzzes for the first time in minutes, Veronica must have been paying attention into the lesson like a good student should. Cheryl thinks she should probably follow suit. She opens the message to reveal another picture, this time an old one they had taken a couple weeks ago. The picture depicted a scrunched faced Veronica who had a large grin on her face, and Cheryl who was kissing Veronica's cheek. The caption Veronica sent along with the picture read: "I set this as my phone background, NGL I can't stop staring at it ;)"
Cheryl blushes, the smile on her face growing wide. That was one of her favorite photos of them. She remembers that day fondly. It was one of the first times they took pictures together. They had those photos from their impromptu fashion show a few days prior, but this time they were just relaxing, watching movies like they normally do, a pastime that's become a regular occurrence in their room.
This time it was more relaxed, more natural. Veronica started it. She was screwing around on her phone instead of paying attention to the movie, which SHE had picked out by the way. Cheryl kept berating her to put the phone down. Veronica decided to fight back by snapping an embarrassing photo of Cheryl, which prompted the redhead to try to steal the phone from Veronica. Veronica just kept taking pictures until Cheryl gave in and started posing for them. They ended up laying down and taking pictures together, laughing and being silly, the movie long forgotten background noise at this point.
She had to work up the nerve to create that picture Veronica sent. The debate in Cheryl's head almost drove her mad. She got a sudden burst of bravery and decided to just go for it, they were goofing off, she could play it off if needed. Veronica squeezed her face into the cutest expression in response, and thus Cheryl's favorite picture was created.
Cheryl smiles at the memory before typing her reply, "No wonder it took you so long to respond. And here I thought you were being a good student ;p"
Her phone goes off almost immediately: "What can I say, your face isn't too bad to look at lol"
Cheryl rolls her eyes, Veronica's jokes could be so cheesy sometimes, but she loves them anyway, and the compliment does make her blush. Five more minutes before class ends. She sends Veronica a message to meet at her locker, so they can walk to chemistry together, to which Veronica replies
With a heart emoji.
When the bell finally rings Cheryl practically runs to her locker. She definitely turned a few heads on her power walk down the hall, the peasants parting for her as if afraid to be in her way. Something she couldn't be bothered to pay attention to at the moment. All she cared about was getting to her locker as fast as possible.
Her smile falters for a second when she arrives at her locker before Veronica. She was hoping to be greeted by the raven-haired girl. Cheryl goes ahead and opens her locker door to gather her things for class.
"Hiiii" the voice comes from the other side of her locker door, she shuts it to reveal a smiling Veronica leaning against the wall. Her tone of voice matching her love drunk expression from this morning. Cheryl grins in response, so happy to see Veronica again.
Veronica links her arm with Cheryl's and she begins to drag her down the hall towards her locker. "So I know now's probably not the greatest time since we have class and all, but I was hoping we could talk about this-" she gestures between them, insinuating she wants to talk about THEM. She lets go of Cheryl's arm to open her locker.
"What's there to talk about?" Cheryl asks, her voice a tad wobbly with nervousness. Surely Veronica wasn't rethinking this relationship already.
Veronica senses the worry in Cheryl's voice and places a comforting hand on her arm. "I just want to make sure we're on the same page..." She hesitates for a moment, bracing herself for what she's about to admit, "I really REALLY like you Cheryl. I just want to make sure you feel the same?" It comes off more like a question than a statement, her nerves showing now.
Cheryl wants nothing more than to pull Veronica in for the most passionate kiss she could muster, one that would express all the things she's feeling, much better than she could put into words. If it wasn't for the fact that they owe it to their friends to disclose this information before the general Riverdale public begin their gossip, she would have done just that.
She settles for the only thing she can do at the moment. "Ronn," she grabs one of Veronica's hands, "I've liked you for SO long. I'm just glad you finally got on MY page." She laughs, feeling like her response wasn't articulate enough or too dumb. She's never been good at expressing her feelings, but Veronica has helped her with that.
Veronica doesn't say anything, which worries Cheryl a bit, even though she just told her she liked her. Cheryl couldn't help but go there, it's something she's so used to, panic has become her default. Instead, the raven-haired girl pulls Cheryl, by their still conjoined hands into the nearest bathroom. She pushes Cheryl into an empty stall, following and locking the door behind her. Before Cheryl can ask what's happening, Veronica places her lips on the corner of Cheryl's mouth, she pulls away before looking at the redhead. Her eyes ask for permission to continue, and Cheryl more than eagerly allows. Who said consent couldn't be sexy?
She pulls Veronica in close to kiss her the way she wanted to in the hall. She pours all of her thoughts and emotions into the kiss, desperate for Veronica to understand. Veronica seems to get the idea as she threads her fingers through red hair, pushing forward to get as close to Cheryl as possible. All the pent up tension they both had melting away with each passing second.
Who knows where they would have ended up, had the warning bell not interrupted them. Cheryl pulls away groaning in frustration. Veronica laughs at this and places a quick kiss to her lips before reaching up to wipe the smudged red lipstick off Cheryl's face, "you might want to invest in some smudge proof lipstain babe."
They help fix each other's hair and makeup before exiting the stall, to a luckily empty bathroom. Cheryl begins to open the door to go to class before feeling Veronica pulling her back by the wrist. "Wait, one more thing." She steps up to Cheryl, hand in hers, "will you be my girlfriend?" Her voice timid.
Cheryl smiles brightly. She steps forward to place a soft lingering kiss on Veronica's lips. "Nothing would make me happier."
And with that the girls exit the bathroom and make their way down the hall to their third period class, knowing full well they wouldn't be paying any attention to the lesson, but rather to each other.