"Betty? Were you listening at all?" Archie asked his blonde friend before tossing Jughead his dad's old football by the bank of Sweetwater River.
"Hm?" Betty hummed, her eyes barely staying open under her sunglasses as she laid comfortably on the pink blanket she'd brought with her in the green soft grass, staring up at the blue sky.
"Jug said that Veronica Lodge is coming here….Right now." Archie repeated for her.
Betty lifted her head, taking off her sunglasses and turning to rest on one of her elbows to look at the boys. "Seriously? She is? Jug, you know how your dad and my mom feel about that family."
"Yes. I do. But I don't care. She's my friend." Jughead pointed out.
"Okay...Jug…" Betty sat up more, moving to her knees, her whole body facing the other two as they continued to toss the pigskin back and forth. "One afternoon with her does not make her your friend."
"Exactly." Jug replied. "She's coming here to get to know us. So we can be her friends."
"Does she even want to be friends with us? You were better off inviting Cheryl and Jason instead of Archie and I. They'd have more in common with her."
"You don't know that. I want her to meet YOU guys. And I want you to meet her too." Jughead practically begged.
"We've met." Betty forced herself not to roll her eyes as she recalled the moment they saw her in the diner. "And she didn't really like us that much."
"Can you blame her? The first words she heard from your mouths were harsh rumors about her family and accusations about who she was as a person. I promise you guys, she is really fun and super nice." He looked to Archie as if to beg for his help.
Archie looked into Jughead's desperate eyes and sighed. "I don't think it could hurt."
Betty sighed as well, though it wore a hint of annoyance. She moved to lay back down, closing her eyes again, feeling the sun on her fair skin.
Soon enough, they could hear the sound of Veronica's automobile pulling up to the parking spot behind the trees and up the hill. After the engine stopped and the car door opened and closed, they heard small footsteps descending the grassy hill through the woods and down to their spot. Veronica Lodge's presence was immediately known once the smell of her expensive perfume hit the air around them. "Hello, everyone." She spoke with her head held high and a confident smile on her face, something her mother and father had always taught her, growing up in the city.
"Hey, V." Jughead smiled, practically jogging over toward her with the football still in his hands. "Wanna play?"
"With that thing?" Veronica looked at the ball. "No, thanks. I just had my nails done this morning."
Betty scoffed through a chuckle from her spot on the blanket, shaking her head and rolling her eyes behind the tinted lenses of her sunglasses.
"That's alright. Want a snack?" Jug asked instead.
"Maybe later, Forsythe. Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends first?" Veronica asked while pulling off her scarlet red leather gloves, revealing her newly manicured nails. They shined in the sun and the white polish at her tips sparkled as she moved.
"Yes, this is Archie-Archibald Andrews and Elizabeth Cooper." Jughead spoke as he gestured toward his two friends while stating their names.
"You can just call me Archie." The redhead boy said as he stepped over and took her hand to gently shake it.
Veronica took note of the boy's sweaty hands and she, as kindly as possible, pulled her hand away from his and wiped it against her forest-green velvet dress. "Nice to meet you, Archibald."
"Just call me 'Betty.'" The irritated girl from the blanket said, putting her hand in the air though she never stood up to properly greet the other.
"It's nice to meet you too, Elizabeth."
Betty scoffed when she called her that. "Or DON'T listen to what I say." The blonde spoke, clearly irked already.
"Didn't Forsythe tell you? I DON'T listen to anyone." Veronica spoke in an annoyingly prideful tone and the air grew uncomfortably silent before Jughead and Veronica both broke out with laughter. "I'm kidding! Jughead told me all about you guys. You can relax around me. It's my parents you have to be EN GUARD for. Though they're such hypocrites. They're not as fancy as they make everyone think they are. They came from THIS town for God's sake!" She laughed more, Jughead joining in. "What are you all standing around for?"
"What?" Archie asked, still confused by her odd behavior from before.
"Come on. Let's go swimming." Veronica smiled, wasting no time in untying the silk ribbon of her dress in the back and removing it so she stood there in only her loose white slip. Unphased by the way both boys looked at her in her undergarment dress, she smiled and ran toward the river, jumping in with a scream of enjoyment until she hit the water.
Betty sat up, pushing her sunglasses down to look over them with her jaw dropped a little, watching the ripples of the water around where the brunette girl had just jumped in.
Jughead smirked once she hit the water and turned his head to see the other two, chuckling to himself at Archie's dumbfounded expression at what just happened. "I told you guys she was fun." Jug said before taking off his shirt and pants. Underneath, he wore a white tank with one or two small holes and a pair of light blue undershorts that were a bit ragged themselves. Even though his father bought him a whole new wardrobe with the money the Lodges had paid him, for what Jughead knew to be, a chauffeur's job, Jughead still continued to wear his older clothes in order to stay in touch with himself.
In the river, Veronica's head popped up out of the water and she smiled at them all. "Come on. The water's amazing!"
It didn't take long for Jughead to run and jump in, joining her and the splash from his jump hit her and she squealed followed by a laugh. The moment Jughead came up to the surface, Veronica playfully splashed him. He laughed, splashing her back thus causing an all out war between the two of them, one that resulted in some of the water hitting Betty's blanket nearby.
Betty gasped, looking down at the wet corner of her blanket. "Guys!" She shouted, her expression angry at first before their contagious laughter caught her and she finally smiled, taking off her sunglasses and standing, immediately ridding herself of her own dress and she jumped in with them.
Archie smiled at his two best friends and the new girl, just admiring them having fun at first before he soon stripped down to his undergarments and jumped in with them, joining in on the splash war, mostly aiming for Jughead or Betty since he didn't want to engage too much with Veronica yet. He was always a little shy on the inside, a trait he'd gotten from his mother. And he was always quite a gentleman, one he'd inherited from his father. Both traits caused him to think about how he didn't want to splash Veronica too much on their first day getting to know each other because he was too shy to want her to notice him just yet and he was too much of a gentleman to target her, especially in a new place with new people.
One big splash from Betty caused Archie to snap out of his thoughts and he laughed with the blonde, splashing her back over and over again while Jughead and Veronica seemed to focus on each other.
The new girl squealed and laughed along as she turned her face away from Jughead's splashing and she found an opportunity between splashes to move closer to him, placing her hands on his shoulders and she wrapped her legs around his waist under the water, "Stop splashing me!" She demanded through a giggle once their noses touched.
"Why should I?" Jughead asked her with a wink, placing his hands on the middle of her back.
"I can give you a good reason." Veronica smirked at him before cupping his face with both her hands, tilting her head to the side and she leaned in to kiss him.
Betty and Archie both noticed that the other two had stopped splashing and they turned their heads to see Jughead kissing Veronica back as he held her up, her body clinging to his. Betty's eyes widened when she noticed this was definitely not their first kiss and Archie uncomfortably looked away though he held a hint of a smile for his best friend.
After a while, the couple finally stopped kissing and smiled at each other, almost forgetting the other two were there until Betty cleared her throat and they both snapped their heads to look at her. Veronica blushed and giggled a little as Jughead cleared his throat and bit his lip, always a bit flustered after kissing her. "S-Sorry." He said to Betty and Archie. "Did I forget to tell you that she and I are seeing each other?"
"Uh...Yeah. You kinda did, Jughead." Archie chuckled.
"How long?" Betty wondered aloud.
"Since that day….after Pop's." Jughead admitted.
"You've been together for weeks?" Betty asked, sounding hurt that he kept that a secret from them.
"I didn't want you guys to judge us." Jug responded.
"Why would we judge you?" Archie asked.
"Because we only knew each other for about twenty minutes before she kissed me." Jug gulped nervously, waiting for them to laugh or scold him.
"At first, I just did it because he was kinda cute and he seemed like someone my dad would be pissed at me for seeing. But now I'm obsessed with him and his adorable button nose and his yummy lips and perfect green eyes and his sweet little laugh and the way his eyebrows fold when he's concentrating. Oh! And he has a cute butt." Veronica giggled.
"Babe." Jughead said quietly, feeling embarrassed as he blushed.
She giggled again. "I'm sorry, Juggy." She kissed him again quickly before looking back at the other two. "I hope you guys don't mind. I know he was yours first."
"He was never OURS." Betty rolled her eyes before chuckling. "He can date whoever he wants. Though I'm not so sure his father will see it the same way."
Jughead rolled his eyes now with a groan. "I don't care what he says. If he gets to work for the Lodges, why can't I date one? We're not poor anymore now."
"Even if you were, I wouldn't give a damn." Veronica pouted a little before kissing him again.
"When do you guys see each other?" Archie asked.
"Every night." Veronica bit her lip through a bright smile. "I sneak out sometimes."
"And sometimes I sneak out." Jughead shrugged. "It's no big deal."
"If it's no big deal, then why are you sneaking around?" Betty pointed out.
"We're not ready to tell our parents yet. And not because of what we think they'll say about where we both came from. We don't care about that. But because they'll be judgmental about how long we've known each other. And I'm just not in the mood for a big brawl between my overbearing parents right now." Veronica explained.
"And my dad is just annoying enough as it is." Jughead added.
"But when the timing's right….we'll tell them." V smiled at Juggy again. "Right, muffin?"
"Of course, darling." Jug said and they both giggled as if those nicknames were part of an inside joke and they hugged each other, Jughead still holding Veronica up with her legs and arms wrapped fully around him, her face nuzzled against his shoulder.
Archie looked at them with a sweet smile, just so happy to see Jughead that happy while Betty looked at them warily. She was happy for them. She was. But she had read many articles about Veronica's parents and a part of her had a feeling that they would not be as pleased about this relationship as the two love birds believed they would be.