"You have been very quiet recently," Archie said as they sat on blankets in the back of the open truck, in the same spot that he had brought her to after the championship, his arm around her and her head on his chest, watching the water. "I thought maybe it was because of finals but that is over and you are still not talking to me."
"I'm talking to you, I'm pretty sure I spoke the entire way over here," Veronica told him snuggling further into his arms. "I've told you how Betty is finally standing up for herself, Polly is so proud of her, and how Reggie is going to get fat now that this season is over and how Kevin has surprised us all and has revolutionised the schools musicals, I wish you were still at Riverdale High next year, you would have been my perfect leading man and-"
"Ronnie, Ronnie stop," he chuckled, stopping her from going into more detail. "You have been talking about everyone else but you haven't told me what's going on with you."
"Me?" Veronica asked her voice higher than she intended for it to be and then pulled his arms tighter around her shoulders. "I am completely happy to be wrapped up in your arms for as long as I can, how about you Mr Popular, are you going to miss all your adoring Riverdale High fans? You only have 2 more days to enjoy the attention before school is over."
"The school year might be over but the party season has just begun, there is a whole week of attention before my parents whisk me off to Chicago," he said knowing that she just changed the subject and turned the attention away from herself but he let it go for the moment. "But you already know that the only person I am going to miss is you and all the attention I'm expecting before I go."
"It's going to be weird not seeing you in the hallways at school or at home," Veronica said with a slight frown turning her attention to the water. Archie had been a constant in her life for as long as she could remember and since their Sunnydale trip either she or Archie made sure they physically saw each other every day, even during the hell weeks before their final game when Jughead made the boys train every free minute of their waking days, Archie would stay at the Pembrooke until he got to see her or she would hang around at Betty's until he was home.
"We'll call and chat and video call," Archie told her, taking her hand in his and linking their fingers before bringing it up to his face so that he could place a kiss on the back of her hand. "Besides, I'm going to be close enough that I can be back in Riverdale every other weekend, you'll be sick of me."
"Are you sure?" Veronica asked, biting her lip and pulling her hand out of Archie's so that she could push her hair back.
"That I'll be in Riverdale every weekend?" Archie asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Of course I am, but I wouldn't complain if you come to me either."
"No Archie, are you sure about changing your college dreams and all of your other plans for me?" Veronica asked, twisting herself so that she could face him. He looked lost at the turn of the conversation.
"You know how sure I am about this, about us" Archie told her, pushing himself up to face her, searching for some sort of sign that she was building up to the punch-line of a joke. "I've already told Jug and my dad, I've applied to colleges closer to home, this isn't just an idea Ronnie, it's happening."
Veronica didn't say anything, she just looked at him, wondering if this heaviness in her chest would go away once the new school year started.
"Is this about Jughead?" Archie asked, when it was clear that she wasn't going to say anymore. "Is this about what he said the other day, that I would get bored of you? That distance wouldn't work for us because it didn't work for him and T? Because distance was not their problem."
"No Archie, it's not the distance, it's none of those things," Veronica said, shaking her head, of course talking to her brother made her think of things differently but this wasn't all because of Jughead. "It's just..."
"Tell me what is bothering you Ronnie," Archie asked, his eyes searching hers, looking for answers.
"I don't want you to wake up one day, in this college that you didn't want to go to with your best friend on the other side of the country, wondering what would have been if you hadn't stayed," Veronica said slowly, watching him process her words. "I think it might be better if you stuck to your original plans."
"So it was that talk with Jughead," Archie said, rolling his eyes and blowing out a calming breath. "Ronnie, I made my decision, I'm staying."
"I don't want you to," she said, her eyes filling with tears at the thought of him being so far away but knowing that this was the better decision.
"So you don't want to be with me?" Archie snapped and Veronica shook her head quickly, that was the opposite of what she meant. "Is that it? Is this your round-about way of breaking up with me?"
"No, of course I want to be with you, it's not about our relationship, it's about this plan that you and Jughead have had since you were little kids and our dads took you guys to watch college football," she told him, reaching out to place a hand on his cheek and trying not to be hurt when he moved his face away. "No matter how hard I try to make myself believe that this big college move was just Jughead's dream, it's not, you were just as involved if not more involved in this plan before we fell in love."
"So what's the plan now?" Archie asked and Veronica tensed at the harshness of his tone. "We try long distance? We only see each other every other month, we get paranoid if one of us misses a call no matter what the reason is? Long distance is hard Veronica, I love you and I want to give us a fighting chance."
"At what cost," she asked, tears leaking from her eyes before she could stop them. "I don't want to do long distance any more than you do but I don't want to deal with the resentment you might feel towards me if you aren't in California with Jug, living out the dream."
"Don't give me that shit Veronica, you know that this is my decision and I know what I want for the future," he snapped and she swallowed hard and shook her head. "Plan's can change, I'm not going to resent you for a decision that I made, you were perfectly fine with it for the last month, why are you questioning it now?"
"Because I wouldn't do it," she said and then gasped, holding a hand over her mouth, but the words were already out.
"What?" Archie asked, the anger in his face replaced by an emotion she couldn't quite place.
"I love you, Archie, so much," Veronica whispered, taking a deep breath. "But ... if the situation was reversed I wouldn't stay, I can't imagine changing my dreams for anyone and I don't want you to either."
Archie was silent, he looked as if Veronica had physically slapped him across the face and Veronica waited unsure of how to proceed, she went to explain what she was thinking further but Archie held up a hand and she fell silent again. After what felt like forever, Archie pulled out the keys to the truck and handed them to her.
"Park at my place, leave the keys in the truck and go see Betty," he said before jumping out. "If you're still at the Coopers later then maybe I'll see you then."
"Wait- no, Archie, stop," Veronica called, jumping out as well and running toward him. "Please."
Archie stopped at that, his head bowed slightly and Veronica almost slammed into his back, she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her face into the middle of his back. She gulped down a hard sob when he didn't move and started removing her hands from his body when he stopped her, his hands coming up to rest lightly on hers.
"I just need to take a walk and clear my head," he told her, not making a move to turn to look at her, his voice strained and she nodded against his back, her tears still flowing. "I'll call you later."
"Archie, I love you," she said when he stepped away from her.
"I love you too," he said and jogged away without turning back, she watched him, waiting until he was out of sight before she began to cry harder.
"Is this a breakup?" Betty asked as they sat on her bed, Veronica's head on her lap.
"I don't know," Veronica whispered, closing her eyes and focusing on the soothing motion of Betty's finger combing through her hair. "That's the last thing I want."
"What are you going to do now?" Betty asked carefully and Veronica shrugged, looking out of Betty's window to her boyfriend's dark room in the house next door.
"I just need to explain to him that this is for the greater good, and I'm saving us in the long run," Veronica said as assertively as she could, she hated the thought of Archie being that far away but she knows from every conversation she had ever had with Archie and her brother about their future that their move to California was important, it meant more to them than how Archie was acting. "I'm doing the right thing."
"You are," Betty told her with absolute certainty and Veronica smiled appreciatively at her best friend, this was what she needed right now, validation. "You could have been selfish and not said anything, but V, if he wants to stay here you shouldn't force him to leave because you think that's what he needs, Archie doesn't strike me as a person to hold grudges or make decisions like this lightly, he really loves you."
"I know," Veronica said, twisting around so that she could hug Betty awkwardly around her waist and Betty laughed, patting her shoulder. "I really love him too."
"Are you sure that you want to have a friends night instead of going to the graduation after party," Betty asked when Veronica detached herself from Betty and pushed herself up to a sitting position, as Betty checked her watch.
"One, I'm spending the rest of my time in Riverdale this holiday in Archies presence, if he will still have me of course," Veronica explained holding up a finger, trying her hardest to keep her voice steady. "And two, if my brother catches me at the lake house it will create more problems than we need right now especially when things are rocky, and three, the boys will be here soon and I just really miss hanging out with you guys without everyone else."
"We miss you too," Betty said with a chuckle, it had been a while since the four friends had hung out alone, there was always a party or a date or a cover. "I can't believe you're giving up Paris for a boy."
"Just a week of Paris," Veronica pointed out. "I only changed my flight to fly up when Juggy does, I didn't cancel it."
"I just never thought I would see you give up a moment of Paris for a boy," Betty repeated and Veronica smiled pushing her hair out of her face and using the pocket mirror lying on Betty's bed to poke at her puffy red eyes, Archie wasn't just any boy.
"Do you think that I could give up Yale for him?" Veronica asked, sighing as she flopped back onto Betty's bed and looked up at the ceiling, she had been dreaming about Yale since she was a child, all her decisions and goals were made with Yale in mind, she wanted it more than anything.
"No, you're about as stubborn as your brother, you'd never give up that dream for someone else," Betty said and Veronica squinted up at her best friend.
"How do you know how stubborn my brother is?" she asked and Betty rolled her eyes at the teasing and then nodded her head to her window.
"Speaking of handsomely stubborn boys, someone is home," Veronica didn't even have time to ponder Betty's words as she turned and looked out the window to see Archie's light on and the boy himself standing at the window looking at Betty's window to see if he could get someone's attention.
Veronica waved at him and then stood and turned to Betty. "How do I look?"
"Like a mess but I'm sure he does as well," she said and Veronica paused to let out another deep breath. "Go get your boy."
"Hey," Archie whispered once Veronica reached him, he helped her over the fence and led her to the garage.
"Hi," she said softly wrapping her arms around herself and wondering what to say now. "I thought I would only see you tomorrow."
"I thought about going to the lake house without talking to you first but that would be really immature of me," Archie said with a sigh pushing his hand through his hair and sitting down heavily onto one of the chairs. "And I need to be mature right now."
"I don't want to break up." Veronica said suddenly before he had even stopped speaking and Archie looked up at her a little shocked but then nodded.
"I don't want to either," he said and Veronica smiled and sunk down into the chair next to him completely relieved, before he could say anymore his phone started ringing and Veronica saw her Gingers name flash on the screen before he answered. "Hello?"
Veronica cringed and frowned deeply as she heard the high pitched voice of the blonde that she hated so much on the other end of the line, she couldn't make out anything the girl was saying before the voice changed to a deeper voice that she immediately recognized as her brothers, she heard the impatience in his voice and didn't even need to hear the words clearly to know that he was telling Archie to hurry up.
"I need to go, I was supposed to have been there half an hour ago," Archie said once he cut the call rubbing a hand across his face tiredly. "We'll talk tomorrow."
Veronica didn't say anything she just nodded and Archie reached over to tilt her head up so she could look at him.
"Tomorrow," he promised, they would figure everything out tomorrow. Veronica nodded again and then leaned up and kissed him, holding him tight to her as he deepened the kiss, his phone ringing again broke them apart and Archie groaned as he answered. "I'll be there in 5 Chuck."
"You should probably go," Veronica said and Archie sighed and nodded, not making a move to leave her embrace. "Tomorrow."
Veronica got up and looked around Betty's room to find her best friend still fast asleep next to her, Reggie and Kevin went home in the early hours of the morning when Mrs Cooper had had enough of them and kicked them out, Betty wasn't allowed to have boys sleep over and they had overstayed their welcome purely because Mrs Cooper fell asleep before she could tell them to leave at Betty's usual curfew.
Veronica wondered what time Archie would be back home, she knew from their previous Lake house parties that she shouldn't expect anyone to be cognisant until after lunch time and even that was only when Toni was still around to wake everyone up and start the cleanup.
She reached over and grabbed her phone, wondering if Archie had texted her, he had texted her randomly through most of the night, sending her pictures of what was happening and keeping her updated on all the gossip that he overheard and found funny, his texts had gotten more and more jumbled and hard to read as the night went on until finally they stopped all together and Veronica figured he had either lost his phone or had passed out.
There were no new texts from Archie but she was surprised to find a text from her brother wanting to know if she would be able to drive up and bring him a couple bottles of whatever painkillers she could get her hands on, as he couldn't find the stash they should have had there. Veronica grinned to herself, she could go up to the Lake house now without searching for a valid excuse and she could see Archie much earlier than she anticipated, if her brother was as hungover as she thought he was then he would take the pills, down a bottle of water and go back to sleep until his stomach woke him up.
She quickly texted Jughead to give her an hour and then woke Betty up to let her know the plan. "The sun isn't even awake yet, let me sleep," Betty complained when Veronica shook her awake.
Veronica wasn't even sure if Betty had heard what she said before bolting into the bathroom to brush her teeth and shower.
"V, did you see last night's pictures?" Betty asked when Veronica got back into the room, smelling fresh and ready for the day. "It looks like it was so much fun."
"I'm kinda mad that we weren't invited but I don't think I would want the lower grades at our final party," Veronica said leaning over to see Betty's screen and watch Ginger dancing on a table with two of the other vixens that they didn't really know, almost falling off onto Archie who pulled her off the table and sat her down on a couch next to Harper. "Always the hero."
"Look at Polly," Betty said and Veronica looked back to see Polly in Jason's arms laughing uncontrollably at Ginger's expense. "Ah I wish I could have what she and Jason have one day."
"You and Reggie will get there," Veronica said, looking at Betty who didn't seem as convinced as Veronica did.
"We're too used to being friends, it doesn't feel ... like that," Betty said with a roll of her eyes and Veronica frowned, Betty was thinking too hard. "I just want that."
"You will get that," Veronica said touching some lipstick to her lips and then grabbing her bag. "I'll talk to you later, love you."
"Love you too," Betty called, giggling at more video's from the seniors' final night and knowing her sister was going to regret posting so much when she woke up and saw the comments on her posts.
Veronica unlocked the door to the lakehouse and walked in wondering what she was in store for, the place was trashed, there were bottles and cups everywhere, cigarette stumps were on the floor and streamers were hanging from the ceiling fan and the staircase railing. She made a face and held her breath as she walked toward the kitchen avoiding a few puddles on the floor that she desperately hoped were beer.
Once in the kitchen she found her brother in the position she remembered from the morning after her birthday, sitting at the counter with his face against the cool marble countertop, blocking any light from his eyes with his ridiculous beanie and groaning.
"Well, well, well, don't you look like a dream," Veronica giggled, switching the coffee maker on and dropping the bag of painkillers next to Jughead. Jughead jerked up with a start and squinted at her before groaning again.
"You are my favourite sister, I hope you know that," Jughead said when Veronica handed him a bottle of water and the pack of pills he had waited over an hour for.
"I am your only sister," Veronica said with a roll of her eyes. "Are you the only one awake?"
"Yep," he said and then glanced up when they heard the toilet flush upstairs. "That's either Archie or Jason, I should take these upstairs."
"I'll do it," Veronica said, trying not to sound too enthusiastic, she could wake Archie up and they could disappear for a bit, her brother looked like he was already falling off to sleep. "You don't look like you should be moving."
"Hmm," Jughead grunted, his eyes already shut and his face back on the counter.
Veronica grabbed a bottle of water and painkillers for Archie, the rest of them could go get what they needed from the kitchen. She wondered who stayed over this time, from the glance into the lounge it looked like the entire football team was asleep on the couches and makeshift beds on the floor, there were 4 rooms upstairs that were probably occupied too.
Veronica didn't even bother looking into the other rooms, she bee-lined straight to the room that Archie always occupied when he stayed over when they were there with their families, he was a creature of habit so she figured he would be in that room now as well. The door was closed so Veronica took a breath and opened it as gently as she could, Jughead and Archie valued their comfort over anything else so she knew that those rooms would have been locked and only they would be asleep in there, she knew she was right when she saw that the floor was empty of blow up mattresses and snoring seniors.
Veronica tiptoed into the room and looked at the bed with a grin, all she could see was the red of Archies hair peeking out from the blanket. She was about to shut the door and run to him to wake him up when the blanket rustled and she heard a yawn that did not come from Archie, she cringed as she saw the blond hair of the person that had just woken up and realized that Polly and Jason were probably using this room.
"Oh hey V," Ginger's voice said sleepily and Veronica froze staring at her, Jason and Ginger?
"You're not Polly," Veronica blurted out and Ginger looked at her confused and started to push herself to sit up.
"Why would I be Polly?" she asked, grasping at the sheet to keep it from slipping off her body and Veronica felt her body go cold as she realized Ginger was naked, and the boy she revealed when she tugged on the sheet wasn't Jason at all, it was Archie, in all his bare chested glory. "I think Polly and JJ are in the next room."
"Oh," Veronica choked out, dropping the water and painkillers on the floor before turning and bolting away from the door and back down the stairs.
"Hey kid, slow down," Jughead said, grabbing her as she was running through the kitchen. "Did you see Archie naked or something?"
"Something like that," Veronica said and Jughead frowned. "He's still asleep."
"Why do you look like you've just seen a ghost?" Jughead asked, using both hands on her shoulders to turn her toward him so that he could look at her properly and Veronica fought to keep her face as neutral as possible while her heart was pounding in her chest. "Oh God, did you go into the room that Polly and Jason stayed in?"
"No I ... I ... Abuela called, she wants me to go to New York tonight," Veronica said in a rush. "I need to go pack all my things."
"She called now?" Jughead asked letting go of her and sitting down again. "Did she ask to speak to me?"
"I'm sure she'll call you later," Veronica said, placating him, he was their grandmothers favourite and he knew it.
"Why does she need you in New York so soon?" Jughead asked furrowing his brows, it wasn't unusual that their grandmother asked them to go to New York but she would give them warning beforehand.
"I ... I forgot," Veronica said, swallowing and taking a step back, ready to flee. "She just called to ask what time I'll be there."
"You forgot?" Jughead asked slowly, Veronica rarely forgot anything. "Are you sure you're ok?"
"Fine, I'll probably only see you on Saturday at the airport," she said wanting to hug him but knowing that she would cry as soon as he touched her, he seemed to realize this too but reached for her anyway.
"If you need to talk about anything, I'm here, you know that right," he asked and she nodded against his chest, holding her breath as she attempted to compose herself.
"Love you bro, but you smell like the floor of a bar," she said stepping back and holding her nose, hoping that her voice didn't sound as wobbly as it felt.
"You're not supposed to know what that smells like," Jughead said with a deep frown and Veronica just shook her head, throwing her hand up to wave at him as she left the kitchen.
"Go shower."
A/N: *peaks out from behind the couch to see if there is an angry mob out for my head*
I mean it's been months, I don't even know if you guys are still going to read this but I hate unfinished stories so I will finish this story, that is certain, when, is another question, I just need to find the inspiration, I haven't been reading or writing very much in the last few months, I've never been as uninspired as I have been this year
Of course these are all excuses lol and this chapter ended at a point that I know you will hate me for
But anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, please review and let me know what you think
Until Next Time (^^,)