"So you and Archie?" Betty said to Veronica, wiggling her eyebrows and catching the attention of Katy and Kevin who stopped their conversation to look at Veronica waiting for her answer.
"What about me and Archie?" she asked nonchalantly, flipping through her menu trying her hardest not to react to what her friend had just said and the tone of her voice.
"Come on V, we are not blind, we were all there this morning," Katy teased and Veronica sighed. "The longing looks he was shooting your way as he helped you hand out the coffee's, like he was wishing this was something you had done together as a couple."
"Oh and don't forget that he sat next to her on the loveseat even though there was a more than enough space on the couch with Jug and I," Betty commented leaving out the fact that she and Jughead were sprawled out on the couch so Archie would have to move them out of the way or sit on their legs for that to work.
"And of course the touching, he was fully pressed against you V," Kevin put in and Veronica felt her face burn as she kept it hidden behind the menu, she wasn't going to lie and say that she didn't feel anything when Archie sat next to her, he wasn't fully pressed against her as Kevin had said but he relaxed his body enough that his leg pressed up against hers like they were back in high school and that was the only way they could touch while in a group of people, trying to be inconspicuous.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, earning herself looks of disbelief from her friends which she ignored, focussing on the menu but reading nothing. "I needed help with the coffee and Archie was there, right place, right time I guess."
"I don't believe that for a second," Kevin muttered just as Betty asked. "Did you at least talk?"
"I don't need your negativity," Veronica teased, smiling at Kevin as she finally put her menu down and then looked at each of her friends who were still waiting for her to say more and she chuckled to herself deciding to give them something instead of being coy. "We spoke, I apologized for being a bitch yesterday and we decided that we were going to be friends this weekend, for your and Juggy's sake."
"Well that's good, it would make life very hard if our Best Man and Maid of Honour weren't speaking to each other," Betty said with a smile.
"As if I would let my problems rui... Did I just hear that right?" Veronica asked, pausing mid-sentence and squinting her eyes slightly at Betty to confirm that she had understood her words, when her best friend nodded, Veronica let out a loud squeal practically jumping across the table to tackle Betty into a hug.
"So that's a yes?" Betty asked through her laughs, hugging Veronica back and trying to keep them from toppling over, and Veronica nodded vigorously.
"As if that answer would be anything else," Veronica said, composing herself and making her way back to her seat, clearing her throat and smiling at the other patrons of the cafe looking over at her like she was crazy.
"And of course Katy and Kev, I would love for you to be my bridesmaid and man," Betty said with a bit of a questioning note to her voice looking over at their smiling faces.
"Don't expect a Veronica Jones level acceptance but of course we would stand with you," Kevin said, reaching over to side hug Betty and Katy nodded, excited to be a part of it all, she got very close to Veronica's friends over the last few years of being Veronica's roommate and she considered them to be her closest friends now, it was always encouraging to know that she was valued the same way.
"Oh this is going to be so exciting, we need to plan the bachelorette party and get you appointments for dress fittings, Katy knows all the best places," Veronica beamed, opening up her notes app on her phone and typing out the things that they needed to do, her fingers moving across the phone's screen furiously. "Do you have a date for the wedding? Ah we need to talk to Josie about performing, you know she's still Jugs favourite performer and oh venues, we need to start looking at venues immediately."
"Calm down V," Betty said chuckling as her other two friends leaned over to see what Veronica was typing. "Jug and I were thinking of June, here in Riverdale, the Blossoms still own the venue that Polly and Jason had their reception at so that will be the place for whichever date we eventually settle on and Josie and the pussycats are performing tonight and they have agreed to perform at the wedding as well."
"4 months? That's soon, something we don't know," Kevin teased, wiggling his eyebrows at her as he looked down at Bettys belly and Betty glared at him, pointedly taking a sip of her mimosa. "You're right, if it was that you'd be getting married today."
"Okay, since that is sorted, we need to look at catering companies and décor and we need to book you for cake tasting immediately, have you even thought about all the things that you needed to do before you have a wedding," Veronica asked, adjusting her list of things to do.
"It's fine, V, Jug and I want to get through telling everyone that we are engaged this weekend and then we can book everything," Betty said and Veronica looked at her strangely, her best friend was usually the one who had to have everything planned down to the minute, being with Jughead has definitely loosened her up.
"I am sending you this list so you don't forget," Veronica told her and Betty shook her head but smiled, grateful for her best friends help. "Okay now I can focus on the bachelorette party, this is going to be so much fun," Veronica squealed, clapping her hands together and getting back into planning.
The rest of their afternoon consisted of them going back to the Jones apartment and getting ready for the night because Jughead wanted the set up to be a surprise so she was banned from her parents house until he was done. Veronica and Katy dressed Betty up while Kevin lay back with a glass of champagne supervising and throwing in comments here and there about what they were missing, some of his comments were even helpful.
"You look beautiful," Veronica told Betty, leaning down to rest her chin on Betty's shoulder and look at her through the mirror, Betty smiled wide and reached up to squeeze Veronica's hand. "Let's go tell everyone you're engaged."
The 4 friends walked into the Coopers back yard and gasped at how it was transformed, there was a huge wooden dancefloor in the middle of the yard, a raised stage, and fairy lights strung all around casting a glow to the entire area, it looked amazing.
"Are you guys surprising us and getting married tonight?" Katy asked looking around and blinking at the scene in front of her, it looked like a wedding reception, not a surprise engagement party.
"No, I promise, no more surprises," Betty said and then found Jughead standing close by and grinning at his fiancé, Betty smiled even wider and ran to him, jumping into his arms. "I can't believe you did all this."
"Archie and I had some fun," Jughead said, cocking his head to where the redhead was standing admiring the sting of fairy lights he had just hung. "I know we agreed on just having like a backyard barbeque but I wanted to make it a little more special for you."
"It's beautiful, thank you," Betty said resting her head on his chest. Veronica watched them, tilting her head to the side and smiling, her brother and her best friend were adorable.
"Mom, dad," Veronica gasped, when someone tapped on her shoulder and she turned to find her parents standing there, she was not expecting them to be here so early. "When did you get to Riverdale?"
"Hey princess, we just got in, Andre picked us up from the airport," FP told her, letting go of her so that Hermione could grasp her daughter in a tight hug. "How was your trip home?"
"Long," Veronica complained. "We are never taking the train again."
"Is that Katy?" Hermione asked catching sight of Veronica's roommate. "Oh I'm going to say hi."
"Always the socialite," FP said fondly and Veronica giggled.
Veronica stood with her dad, watching as their friends all came in, looked at the scene in front of them and then suspiciously at Jughead and Betty, they were expecting an average get together like they had done so many times before not this fancy event.
Jughead and Betty waited until everyone they were expecting to be there before Jughead took his glass and tapped it a couple of times waiting for everyone to stop their chatter and look over at them.
"So you might be wondering why this barbeque looks so different, to put you out of your misery," Jughead said and Veronica shook her head, her brother was the worst at this. "Betty and I are engaged."
There was a stunned silence for a second before an eruption of cheers from their friends and people rushing to the couple to congratulate them.
Veronica looked over at Toni, standing with Cheryl, cheering for the happy couple in front of them, she wondered if it was weird for her, before she moved to college, Toni and Jughead were sure that they were going to get married. Veronica shook her head of her thoughts, she loved Toni and had always imagined her being her sister-in-law but her brother and Toni were so much happier as friends and in their new relationships.
She looked over at Reggie and wondered how he felt, he harboured feelings for Betty for such a long time and then they finally dated, they gave it a good shot but at the end of the school year they both decided that friendship was better than a relationship. Thankfully their friendship just continued and there were no sides for Kevin and Veronica to choose, his and Betty's friendship was never the same but Veronica knew that he was happy for Betty.
Veronica's eyes unintentionally sought out Archie and then frowned, Katy was standing very close to him, chatting like they were old friends. Veronica narrowed her eyes at them, unsure of what to make of Archie laughing at something Katy was saying and her roommate's hand on his arm, was she flirting? Katy didn't know everything that happened between Veronica and Archie but she was very aware of the fact that there was history between them, history that Veronica was not fully over yet. Before she could do anything, Jughead called for the DJ to play his and Betty's favourite song and took Betty onto the floor for the first dance, urging their friends and family to join in.
Veronica watched as her 2 favourite people slow danced together, eventually being joined by Mr and Mrs Cooper, then her parents and Polly and Jason, after that the rest of their friends joined in. Veronica watched in irritation as Archie held a hand out to Katy and took her onto the dancefloor.
"Dance with me," a voice said next to her and she turned to see Kevin with a hand outstretched waiting for her to take it. Veronica sighed and placed her hand in his letting him lead her out to the crowd of people. "I thought you hated him."
"I never said that," Veronica mumbled turning her face away from Archie and Katy and dropping her forehead to Kevin's shoulder.
"Yeah? You just treat him like he kicked your puppy out the 14th floor window," Kevin mumbled and Veronica rolled her eyes, Kevin never failed to take her mind of things by making strange comparisons. "What's going on V?"
"I wish I could explain it, I wish that I had spoken to him instead of just running away," Veronica said, her eyes still on Katy and Archie as he spoke and danced.
"You ran away?" Kevin asked and Veronica nodded, not looking up at her friend, knowing that he had more questions and she wasn't sure how to answer them. "We always thought that you guys had a huge fight and broke up and that's why you left so quickly, what happened?"
"I … I saw something," Veronica said, refusing to go into more detail, it was still hard for her to say the words, it was even harder to dreg up that memory. "And instead of talking to him like a normal person I ran away and now he's dancing with my roommate and laughing with her and no matter how angry I am with him, I'm so jealous."
"You know that Katy would never betray you like that, right?" Kevin asked, spinning them abruptly so that Veronica's attention was on him.
"I know," she confirmed, logically she knew that but emotionally she was not enjoying what she saw, Kevin pushed her slightly away from him and tapped someone on the shoulder behind her.
"Hey Archikins, can I steal Katy for a dance?" Kevin asked sweetly and Veronica looked up at him with wide eyes trying to communicate to him that this was not what she wanted, Kevin just winked at her and then reached out for Katy.
"Uh sure," Archie said as Katy smiled and patted his arm, taking Kevins outstretched hand and letting him spin and dip her dramatically giggling the whole time. "Archikins, haven't heard that one in a while."
"Yeah, me neither," Veronica said taking a deep breath before realizing that she was already in Archie's arms, swaying to the music.
"You still suck at dancing," Archie teased and Veronica was taken back to him commenting on her actually becoming a cheerleader after all the times she stepped in his toes during childhood dance classes.
"My cheerleading reign begs to differ," she shot back and Archie laughed, Veronica was caught between relief that he seemed so comfortable slipping back into their friendship or annoyance at the fact. "You and Katy seemed to have a lot to talk about."
"Hmm, I like her, she's funny," Archie said and Veronica made a sound to say she agreed but she wasn't sure how she felt about him saying that right now. Archie chuckled and Veronica's gaze was pulled from her friends to Archie, now aware that he had directed them to a secluded part of the dance floor and was watching her face intently. "Are you jealous? Ronnie, you haven't spoken to me in 5 years for reasons I cannot even fathom, you refuse to talk to me about those reasons because this is Betty and Jug's weekend but you're angry when I dance to one song with your friend, what happened to us?"
"You know exactly what happened Archie Andrews," Veronica said, anger bubbling up slowly at the confused look on his face. "I was there that morning, I saw you."
"Saw me?" Archie asked, narrowing his eyes slightly, his grip on her waist tightening slightly. "Which morning? What did you see me do?"
Veronica scoffed and looked away, catching her brothers eye as she did, Jughead made a motion with his head asking if she needed an out and she just shook her head, she didn't need her brother to save her, or even be aware that she needed saving. This wasn't the place for it but it was probably about time that she and Archie spoke.
"Veronica please tell me what happened," Archie said moving them slowly so they didn't bump into any of the other couples. "This has haunted me for years, one day we were fighting about the college that I was going to and surviving long distance, which I thought we were coming to an agreement about, and then the next day I wake up and you're just gone, with no explanation."
"Archie," Veronica started feeling particularly frustrated with him and then paused at Archies confused face. "You really don't know? Archie, what do you remember about your graduation party?"
"My graduation party? Veronica, that was so long ago, there was a lot of alcohol and Jug was still complaining about Toni and I'm pretty sure Jason threw up on my shoes, it was just a normal high school party," he said trying to figure out what he was missing, he had led them off the dance floor at this point, they were just standing in front of each other, waiting. "We drank and danced and probably made absolute fools of ourselves."
"And the morning after?" Veronica asked, wondering if maybe that would jog his memory and Archie looked even more confused than before.
"The morning after?" he repeated and then shrugged. "I woke up with the worst headache, I helped your brother clean up and then we came home, which is when I found out you left for New York, to go to your grandmothers."
"That's all you remember?" she asked, she could tell that he was getting frustrated with her line of questioning, that he really had no idea what she was hinting at.
"What are you looking for Veronica?" he asked pleadingly and Veronica realized that she needed to spell it out for him. "Whatever you are trying to get out of me, I do not remember."
"So you don't remember sleeping with Ginger?" Veronica asked and Archie burst out laughing.
"Oh, you're serious," he said when her face didn't change and he reached out to grasp her elbows and keep her from running away from him because there was no way that he was letting her out of this conversation now when he was finally getting answers. "What in the world would make you think that?"
"I saw you, that morning, Jug asked me to bring painkillers to the Lake House, so I did, he told me you were still asleep so I thought it would be a nice surprise if I woke you up," she said and Archie nodded, waiting for the end because he had no idea where she was going with this story. "When I got to the room, you were asleep, next to Ginger, you were both naked, and I did the only thing I could, I ran."
Archie froze, his entire body went cold as he stared at Veronica who had tears in her eyes and was trying to pull out of his grasp. "I never slept with Ginger that night."
"I was there Archie, I saw you," Veronica said, her voice getting louder as she tugged harder until he let her go, Archie was staring at her and shaking his head.
"I promise you that I never … I know how much I drank that night Ronnie, I was definitely messed up but it was not enough to forget something like that, I went to bed alone," he promised her. "And I woke up alone."
"After all these years," Veronica said shaking her head in disbelief. "Just tell me the truth Archie."
"That is the truth," Archie said trying to control the volume of his voice and get her to see that whatever she had been thinking the last 5 years was wrong, he would never have cheated on her. "I promise you Veronica, I loved you so much, our relationship meant everything to me, I never would have done anything to jeopardize what we had, never."
Veronica blinked back tears and stepped back, "I have to go," she said, turning and doing the only thing she could think of, run. She ran to the front of the house and collapsed on the swinging chair on the porch, trying to reign in her tears, she couldn't do this, she promised Betty that this weekend was all about her engagement, she couldn't make this about her and Archie, she wouldn't.
"Hey kid," her brother said as he came to sit next to her.
"Jug," she said leaning into his arms and letting him hold her as she cried, she really didn't want to make this night about her and here she was crying in her brother's arms about something that happened so long ago that she refused to let go off.
"Do you want to tell me what's happening?" he asked, patting her back. "Do I need to kick Archie's ass, I don't know what he said to you and I don't care."
"Jug do you remember your graduation party at the Lake House?" Veronica asked, ignoring everything else he had just said and Jughead tensed, causing her to look up at him, he had the same guilty expression that he had before and Veronica squinted her eyes at him. "What?"
"What?" he parroted back to her. "What about the party?"
"Did Archie and Ginger sleep together that night?" she asked, she was done with the hiding and the pretences, it was 5 years ago, she didn't really care what her brother knew and what he thought about her and Archie anymore, but of everyone that was there, Jughead would be the one to know what Archie really did.
"Archie and Ginger?" Jughead asked with a nervous chuckle and Veronica looked very confused at him, he knew something and he wasn't telling her.
"Please Jug, just tell me what you know," Veronica said, she was exhausted and sad and angry, and all she wanted was the truth.
"Why?" Jughead asked, Veronica pushed herself out of her brothers arms and looked pleadingly at him.
"I need to know because in your senior year, Archie and I," Veronica started and then swallowed, it had been 5 years, she was well out of school, her brother knew about her other escapades so why was she still so nervous to tell him about her and Archie. "We dated for a few months."
Jughead didn't say anything, he wasn't looking at her, he was staring out to the street to where the cars were parked and Veronica sighed, this wasn't going the way she had hoped he should have laughed that off, or screamed at her, he wasn't supposed to be silent with that guilty look on his face.
"Jug," Veronica prodded, biting down on her lip as she tried to figure out what her brother was thinking.
"I know," he said, and whatever she thought he was going to say, it wasn't that.
A/N: What's this? A chapter? Only a few weeks after the last one? Why yes dear reader, it is my goal to complete this story within the next few months so that I can get on to other projects and give you guys a hopefully satisfying conclusion to this little story of mine
There are only 2 chapter left of this story as far as I can tell, they are outlined and I'm pretty sure I can post them soon if my workload allows me to
I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter, if you have any thoughts or comments please leave a review and I will chat to you guys soooooon
Until Next Time (^^,)