8dr Whovian: Thank you! I'm glad you think so. :) Yeah most definitely not haha. I can promise their reunion will certainly bring the fireworks! Yep! She's definitely got her work cut out for her. For as much as she's trying not to be like Hiram, she did spend a good chunk of time living under his roof. Glad to hear you liked it, I'm hoping to show them both slowly but surely work on their individual issues over time. Aw thank you! Oh god tell me about it! If they weren't speed-running through Cheryl's stories they were dumping a bunch of trauma porn on her, all while treating her like a joke. No it really shouldn't have. *Applause* Hear hear! To think of all the interesting stories they could have thought up for them! But nope, we've got to dump some more trauma porn on them! Stay tuned for more on that particular subject! Thanks for continuing to read!
BloodforInk: Lol big mood on the Hiram front! Prepare for some upcoming drama on the Blossom side of things is all I'll say haha. Thanks for reading!
About half an hour into the drive back to Riverdale, Nell finally worked up the courage to ask Patrick about what her mind had been fixating on since her latest trip to Pop's. It took a major mental pep talk and some long self deliberation, but she was more than certain that there was no one better to ask. He'd been her best friend since they were fourteen years old, he was someone she considered a second brother, she could talk to him about anything.
He was going to make so much fun of her.
Don't be a chicken. Just get it all out!
Her knee bounced erratically as she considered how best to word it, before finally dipping her toe in the water. "So... Patrick you've had some significant experience with women."
Patrick looked up from his phone, a corner of her mouth turning upwards as he eyed her curiously. "I've been with a few, yeah." He'd had a new girlfriend nearly every other week when they'd been teenagers, so Nell reasoned if anyone could advise her on this it would be him.
Nell bit into her lip, eyes remaining straight ahead. "You always seemed more attuned to what they were thinking and what they wanted from you-"
"Ouch." Patrick mock winced, rubbing at his chest.
"Sorry." Nell cringed, realising the double meaning of her words. "What I mean to say is- Okay how do you know when a woman is flirting with you?"
Patrick smirked, his small smile transforming into a Cheshire Cat like grin. "Alright..." He turned his full attention to her, tucking his phone into his pocket. "Girl talk. We're doing this." He sniggered, causing Nell to scowl in momentary annoyance. "Well what's the mystery woman like? What's she said to you?" He queried. "Has she fluttered her eyelashes at you? Made kissy faces at you from across the room?"
"Not helping." She huffed.
Patrick held up his hands in apology. "Okay, okay. Go on."
"Well I said that I thought she looked good wearing any colour without meaning to just the other day. And she looked pretty happy about it." Nell explained.
"I imagine most people wouldn't take offense to that."
"No! But-" Nell paused, taking a second to formulate into words the unspoken thing she'd been feeling around Hermione. She was attracted to her, no doubt about it. She was gorgeous to a ridiculous degree and even just thinking about her reduced Nell to a puddle. But there was always something bubbling beneath all of their interactions, some deeply hidden spark that was building and building until it would eventually explode. God, what was she thinking? She'd only interacted with the woman a handful of times and here she was pondering if there was something there. "There was a thing."
"A thing?" Patrick frowned, his face scrunching up in confusion in a way that reminded Nell so much of Cheryl.
"You know- A spark! An underlying message, or-" Nell shook her head to herself. "Or I'm reading way too much into this and she's just being friendly. And even if there was something she's married, so nothing could ever happen there."
"Have you seen the husband?" Patrick questioned.
Nell shook her head. The most she knew about Elena's father was one Google search she'd done after Elena had told her about him being arrested, along with some not so complimentary stories courtesy of Elena and her grandparents over the years. "He's in prison."
Patrick let out a loud snort. "Okay then you're way too much of a goody goody for your mystery woman."
"I am not a goody goody!" Nell protested, wincing a little at the volume of her voice.
"Nell her man's in the slammer and the worst thing you've ever done is cuss out Alice Cooper."
Nell shrugged, completely and utterly unashamed. "She had it coming."
"Well to answer your question, if you don't wanna outright ask her the best way to tell is to flirt back." Patrick shrugged, attempting to kick up his feet only to have them swatted firmly back down by Nell's free hand as they came to a halt in traffic. "OW! Good god woman!"
"What do you mean?" Nell frowned.
"Well if you flirt back and she makes a move, you're in! If she doesn't then it's just harmless conversation. Either way it works out with minimal damage." He reasoned with a shrug.
"But she's married."
"Maybe they're separated." Patrick argued. "You said it yourself, he's in prison. Perhaps mystery woman's looking for something new." Patrick repeatedly nudged Nell in the side, a suggestive grin taking root on his face. "Maybe you can be the something new! Huh? Huh?" He teased, earning himself a pained groan.
"Please stop!" She cringed, sounding more whiny than intended. She hated how much he was enjoying this.
Still wearing a smirk full of mirth, Patrick pulled out his phone. "What's her name?"
"I'm not telling you! You'll cyber stalk and judge!" Nell protested.
"I'll find out." Patrick promised, grinning deviously.
"No you won't!" Sing-songed Nell, giving in to the grin that had been tugging at the sides of her mouth at the mere mention of Hermione. God... Even thinking about her made her feel dizzy with longing and want. It was something she hadn't felt in a long time. All for someone who was probably straight and who forgot about her the second she left the room.
Patrick took note of the dreamy look on her face, a knowing laugh escaping him. "She must be something. How hot?"
Nell let out a pained whimper. "Painfully so! And she knows it too."
"Oooo!" Patrick winced alongside her. "The worst kind." In the moment that followed, Nell knew from the look on his face that he was thinking of Hermosa.
The pair laughed together, deep and uncaring of their volume before they gradually fell into safer topics. Nell didn't dare bring up Jason, instead telling him all about Cheryl and all she'd been up to lately. Her updates about his siblings were nothing new on her part, but this one felt particularly poignant. She told him about her continuously fierce grip on the River Vixens, her grades, her insistence on never wearing an outfit that didn't have some form of the colour red in it, how she was flourishing in her archery and painting lessons and of how very, very proud he should be of the person she was becoming.
"I bet she still speaks like an 18th century aristocrat." Patrick smiled, with Nell confirming his suspicion with a laugh. During the few times they'd been around one another before Patrick had left town, Cheryl had spouted so many foreign words as a little girl around Nell that at times she hadn't quite understood how she was real.
"I have to pull out a dictionary every time she comes over." Nell chuckled, as she hummed along to a song playing on the radio. "So..." Nell tried to make her segway as seamless as possible. "About Elena-"
"Yeah?"
"I have ground rules."
Patrick waved his hand, prompting her to elaborate.
Nell brought up a finger. "No jokes about her family," she lifted one after the other as she continued, "no mental health jokes and if you're mean to her in any way, shape or form I'll leak your internet history online." She vowed, as serious as Patrick had ever seen her. "Elena's good with teeeech." She warned in a sing-song tone.
Patrick held a hand to his heart, bowing his head. "I solemnly swear to be as nice as humanly possible."
"And don't touch her."
Patrick balked, pulling a face in alarm. "I wasn't planning on it."
"No Elena's just... She doesn't like any kind of body contact with someone she's not familiar with. So don't try not to take any offense to it. Oh and no jokes about it either."
"I'm not that much of an asshole." Patrick retorted, a troubled look forming on his face. "Nell..." He ventured carefully. "I know you care about this kid so-" He sighed deeply. "You know when people are that touch averse there's usually a reason."
"I know." Nell acknowledged, her voice barely above a whisper. "She wasn't always like that. She was always slow to warm up to people but now..." Nell made a point of ignoring the tightening of her chest whenever she considered the specifics of this particular subject for too long. "If-" Her voice trembled and at once Patrick's hand flew to her shoulder. The thought of something traumatic happening to her friend made Nell want to vomit. "If it's bad- I don't wanna trigger anything, you know?"
"You said she's got a shrink?"
Nell nodded, not trusting in her ability to keep her tears at bay. "Yeah." She blew out a breath. "There's all this stuff that went on that I know she's not ready to talk about, the thing with her father especially-" As Nell navigated around a broken down car, she missed her friend freezing momentarily. "-and she's assured me like a billion times that she's talking about everything with her therapist... But- I just worry, you know? She's so quiet and gentle I just wanna bundle her up and hiss at anyone who's mean to her like a cat."
Patrick smiled at her comment, silent for a second as he considered her words. "Her luck can't be too bad if she's got you." He assured Nell, bumping her shoulder with his own. "I say keep doing what you're doing. Don't push but keep letting her know you're there for her if she needs someone to talk to. I-" Nell sensed that he was hitting emotional territory that was dangerously close to the wall he kept firmly around himself. "I know it helped with me."
The touched look Nell exchanged with Patrick in response said everything it needed to.
"Elena!"
At the sound of her name, Elena turned around in the middle of the school hall to find an extremely delighted Veronica with a box of Magnolia cupcakes in hand bounding on over to her. Elena grinned at the sight, finding her evident happiness really adorable. "The Veronica Lodge Apology Tour worked!" She announced, grinning like a kid who'd been given free reign inside of Dylan's Candy Bar. "Betty's willing to give me another chance!"
"That's great!" Elena gave herself a mental pat on the back, as she barely flinched when Veronica wrapped her arms around her for a giddy hug. She hugged her back, patting her shoulder as an involuntary giggle escaped her. "Did you weigh her down with presents?"
"No." Veronica denied as they pulled apart, eyes drifting along with Elena's down to the Magnolia Bakery box she was holding in her hand. "I went for the more subtle approach."
"And flying in Magnolia Bakery cupcakes from New York was the way to do that."
Veronica merely shrugged, her smile unchanging as she looped an arm through Elena's. Breathe. "What can I say, Betty appreciated my gesture."
"Fair enough." Elena beamed, as the two of them slowly walked to class. It seemed things had been resolved between them, thank god. Navigating through tension between other people in her life had never quite been her strong suit.
"So how are things with you and your-" Veronica glanced from side to side before mouthing girlfriend.
"Good." Elena replied. "She's doing the best she can right now. She's gone to the Principal's office with Sheriff Keller for some big school wide announcement so expect a heavy surge of gossip afterwards." It was all over the school about Cheryl and Jason's plan on July 4th. She'd had at least five River Vixens who she'd never spoken a word to come up to her with a million questions about their leader. "I think it's helping her though, getting on Sheriff Keller's ass about it."
"I can't even imagine." Veronica shook her head, her face full of sympathy. "Losing your sibling like that."
Elena nodded in agreement, seeing that her sister was on a similar train of thought. Veronica had been by her side from her earliest memories. Nearly every important memory or story from her childhood had involved her somehow, the thought of a gaping hole being there instead of her didn't bare thinking about. At least when they'd been apart, Elena had been able to take comfort in knowing she was safe and protected in New York. Cheryl was faced with navigating a kind of new normal that Elena would never wish to be able to relate to.
Thankfully Elena was given a reprieve from thinking about it too much by the sight of Ms Grundy, busy preparing for the school day ahead in her classroom. "What is it?" Veronica frowned, as Elena came to a standstill outside of it.
Elena had been considering what it meant to truly try to improve on herself and her life since her therapy session that morning. She supposed a big part of it meant unsealing all of the ugly and uncomfortable parts of yourself, staring them in the face and admitting they were there in the first place. It also meant taking some giant steps outside of her comfort zone, even if the mere thought of it was making her heart beat so fast that people could hear it as she walked down the hallway.
"I'll just be a minute." She promised, knocking on the door before popping her head inside. She'd committed to it now, there was no going back.
Ms Grundy looked up in surprise as Elena came inside, her hands clenched nervously at her sides. She shot her a questioning look. "Elena! Is there something I can help you with?"
Elena suddenly realised that she hadn't planned out how to vocalise to her teacher what she'd been thinking. She crossed the distance between her and Ms Grundy until she was by the woman's desk, before blurting out the first thing that came to mind. "I'm anti-social."
Ms Grundy's brows rose to the top of her head.
"I mean I've never really been all that outgoing, but I used to be way better at spending time with people. I was captain of the girls baseball team in my middle school, I was in the electronics club, I was even in a roller derby club! And I was good too!" She laughed sheepishly, causing the normally stern looking teacher to smile.
As she neared the point of her speech, Elena began to frantically wring her hands. What would Ms Grundy think of this? Did she think she was looking for pity or trying to make excuses as to why she was so withdrawn? She had to be inwardly cringing at this. "I was a lot closer to my grandparents than I ever was with my mom or dad. They were so supportive no matter what I did and when they both-" Elena had to stop herself, a sob catching in her throat. This was why she never spoke about them and what they'd meant to her around other people. "When they both passed I kind of went on a downward spiral. My mental health went the way of Blockbuster and now... Now the most time I spend with people my own age are either in class, work or the apartment building where I live. And I know they'd want me to get back out there, to not be afraid of everyone and be scared all the time that they're going to try and hurt me. I'll never be some big social butterfly, but I- I really want to try, but I'm not sure what to do. I know I've just completely overshared with you, but do you have any suggestions?"
Ms Grundy softened, inclining her head towards a desk in the front row. Elena sat herself down, awaiting her response. "Extracurriculars would be the best way to go about that."
Elena nodded in agreement. "I can't do debate club, I crack like an egg under pressure."
"Well we have an electronics club. Granted Dilton is the only member, but I'm certain he'd be happy to have the company. You might like the AV Club, it's just Dilton, Ethel and Ben, I'm sure Ethel wouldn't mind another girl." Ms Grundy's face transformed as she began brainstorming, her brow furrowed deep in concentration. "I suppose those would be good starters. Baby steps." Much to Elena's surprise the teacher offered her a warm smile of assurance, reaching behind her for two sign-up sheets attached to clipboards. "I'm in charge of them both, so rest assured dear there will be a friendly face."
Elena took both of them from her, her heart still thumping like a drum beat as she looked them both over. "Baby steps." She nodded to herself, before signing her name on both of the clubs sign-up sheets.
As she got to her feet and handed them back to Ms Grundy, the older woman spoke once more just as she turned to go. "Elena..."
"Yes Ms Grundy?"
Ms Grundy pursed her lips, considering her words. "I hope you leave this classroom with a little more pride in yourself. You took a giant step, as scary as I know it must seem." She smiled, eyes glancing to the clock on the wall. "You should probably get to your first class."
"Thank you Ms Grundy." Elena squeaked, still finding herself a little tense around her.
"And Elena?"
"Yes?"
"I'm sure your grandparents would be very proud."
Elena blinked back tears, smiling gratefully at the teacher as she wondered if maybe, just maybe, she didn't dislike her as much as she'd initially thought. She nodded gratefully, bidding her goodbye with a small wave as she left the classroom.
Elena and Veronica found seats next to each other in biology, the former grumbling as Veronica continued to giggle good naturedly at her. "Yeah, yeah laugh it up. Your sister's a geek."
"I'm just happy to see some things never change." Veronica grinned, elbowing her gently in the side. "Look at you getting back out there! You're officially stepping out of your Howard Hughes era!" She waved her hands dramatically, making Elena giggle alongside her.
Elena caught sight of Cheryl holding court with Ginger and Tina at the front of the class, where she strongly suspected the two girls were quizzing her about July 4th. Elena noted how tense she looked after her announcement with the Principal and Sheriff regarding Jason, in which she'd proclaimed that she would not rest until his murderer was sent off to be fried in the electric chair. She'd given the killer the mother of all verbal middle fingers. Her girlfriend was nothing if not ballsy.
Cheryl briefly turned her head and caught Elena's eye from across the room, her expression grim and thunderous. "Kill. Me." She mouthed, causing Elena to grin.
As this was occurring Veronica caught the shared look, shaking her head to herself as she too smiled.
"Seats everyone! Pair off, gloves on, scalpels up." Their teacher called as he rushed into the classroom, calling everyone to action.
"Do you mind if I pair up with Betty? I just wanna make sure everything's smoothed over." Veronica queried, nodding towards the blonde in question. Betty caught them staring at her, eyes set into a deep frown before she spotted Elena's head popping out from behind Veronica. I hope she's okay after the whole Archie/Veronica make out thing. She seemed so sad the other night.
Betty offered her a friendly smile and a wave, which Elena happily returned. "Lunch?" She mouthed.
The blonde nodded, causing a flood of endorphins to wash through Elena. So Friday night really hadn't been some weird fluke? She hadn't worked up the nerve to text her over the weekend, but she was determined to have that lunchtime catch up with her. She would give it her all and be sociable with at least one new person.
Betty's nice. Elena assured herself, a wave of anxiety coming over her. How could she make conversation with her without sounding like a robot reading from a book on how to act human? Had she sounded like that the other night without realising it? Her father had always said she sounded like she was in pain when she talked to strangers. Betty wasn't exactly a stranger, but what if he was right- OH GOD SHUT UP! Elena forced herself to focus on the activity of pulling out her text books, rather than her latest mental spiral.
"No go ahead." Elena nodded, setting everything she needed into place. When she had all of her stuff in place around her, she felt a bit of order return to her brain.
As Veronica headed over to Betty's table Elena spotted Jughead searching for his own partner, promptly waving him over. Jughead gathered his things and joined Elena at her table, greeting her with a respectful nod.
"Can't help but notice the colour choice." Jughead smirked, nodding towards her sweater.
Elena glanced down in confusion, only to realise why he found it so funny. It was orange. Elena looked up, pulling a face that only made Jughead snigger. "Alright, I'm sorry I didn't tell you."
He wasn't mad was he? Did he think she was just one big crime magnet and didn't want to be friends with her anymore? She'd had that happen to her before. A girl who she'd been getting friendly with turned up to school one day, informing her that her parents had told her there was no way that they could be friends. It was nothing she'd done, she'd insisted. Later on, she would hear in the news about a politician who'd tried going after her father's business had ended up in the hospital with third degree burns. This was the mark he'd left on her. Constantly fretting if someone she cared about was going to drop her because of an association.
Elena's throat grew tight, an odd churning sensation forming in her stomach. She began to breathe in through her nose and out through her mouth, counting mentally as she gripped the table with one of her hands. You're okay. You're okay. Dr Summers had advised her to point out all the facts when she got into a state like this. He's given no indication he's mad or upset, not verbally or physically. If anything he kind of just looks concerned about why you're gripping the table so hard.
"Hey, are you okay?" Jughead frowned, taking note of her tense state.
He's your friend. He knows you. He wouldn't toss you away. He of all people knows what that's like.
Elena's hand flew to her chest. It felt like someone was tightening her chest with every breath she took. "I- I'm fine." She insisted, eyes trailing downward. As she continued the pressure in her chest slowly began to ease. "Sorry." She managed to wheeze out, a little breathless.
"Are you having a panic attack?" Jughead whispered in realisation, eyes growing wide. "Hey I was just joking about the orange thing, I'm sure they won't charge you with anything. Do you want me to go get the nurse?"
Elena shook her head, which wasn't the best call as it made her sway from dizziness. "No, no thank you." She replied. Though she was touched by his kindness, Elena didn't want Veronica to see her like this.
A few more seconds passed and she felt safe enough to talk. She plastered on a grin, giving Jughead a jovial thumbs up. "I'm good. We live to see another day!" She quietly cheered, beginning to leaf through her textbook to find the right page. She continued her breathing exercises though, trusting in them to see her through.
"You sure?" He asked, his concern evident.
Elena softened, nodding at once. "Yeah. Sorry I'm just-" She gestured vaguely to the top of her head. "A lot going on."
Jughead nodded in understanding and much to her relief didn't linger on the subject. "Tell me about it." He glanced over at her textbook for the right page, momentarily making Elena freeze. Thankfully his head returned back to his own personal space within seconds, making Elena let out a relieved breath.
"Is your Dad-"
"Still a mess." He confirmed, a grim expression accompanying his deep frown. For quite some time now Jughead had been crashing at the Twilight Drive-In, the drive-in movie theatre where he worked. His family had blown up due to his Dad's drinking, and his mom and sister had left town because of it. Jughead was steering clear of him, though Elena could see the toll it was taking on her friend. She'd tried multiple times to get him to talk to Nell, but he was convinced she would want to call child services and he'd be taken into foster care. So Elena had held off of on saying anything out of respect for him, though she couldn't help but wonder how long he could keep it up. His 18th birthday was a long way off and at some point she suspected he'd get caught, be it from his showers at school or the gear he kept stashed at the drive-in. But she didn't dare voice any of that to him.
As Elena pulled on her gloves, she took the time to think over what she should say in response. It was times such as these that made her really miss Polly. The right thing to say always came to her so easily, and had a way of cheering people that Elena couldn't help but admire from afar. She'd joke that she was the storm cloud to Polly's sun, which would just make the blonde laugh fondly.
"Is there anything I can do?" Elena offered, lowering her voice as their teacher began to speak.
"Come keep me company on my next shift at the Twilight." Jughead smiled, pointedly moving away from all things FP Jones. "I think you'll appreciate the movie choice."
"Oh?"
"Casablanca."
Elena made a series of excited squeaks, which had the unintended side-effect of multiple people turning to stare at her. She went bright red in realisation, lowering her head down to the desk as she pretended to carefully study the frog they had to dissect. In spite of his efforts to keep his amusement contained, Elena could see him clearly snickering next to her.
"I'm in!" She whispered, cheered by the promise of their friend-date.
With Cheryl busy elsewhere, Elena found herself mentally prepping for lunch with Betty and her friends. Whilst grabbing her lunch she'd gone through about four different potential conversation topics, as well as making note of the best times to nod or laugh.
Elena didn't have much experience with entering friend groups. She'd gradually befriended Toni, Sweet Pea and Fangs one by one, and by virtue of being Elio's best friend and a Lodge, his other friends had accepted her by default. She'd never really had to go into a social setting with only her merits to back her up. And there was no family name to catch her fall this time around.
As she neared the table Betty had texted her to meet at, much to her despair Elena found that it wasn't unoccupied. There with his head in a notebook and a guitar in his lap sat Archie Andrews, sister kisser extraordinaire.
Elena considered heading back inside to wait for the others, but her brief plan was shot down as Archie looked up and noticed her. "Hey Elena!" He greeted, all Golden Retriever-y as he offered her a friendly smile. "You coming to sit?"
Elena nodded in response, all the while very much aware of how stiff and awkward she sounded. "Betty invited me."
"Yeah she ah- She said you two are friends now." Archie commented, looking as uneasy as Elena felt. His eyes flicked between his notebook and her, clearly noticing. "About Veronica-"
Elena involuntarily cringed, her nose crinkling as she waved her hand frantically at him to stop. "Don't worry about it."
"I didn't mean for it to happen."
Elena frowned, the nose crinkle deepening significantly. "You kissing my sister or upsetting Betty?"
"Well ah- Both."
"Okay."
An awkward silence fell between them, the tension in Elena's shoulders increasing tenfold. She'd had the misfortune of not inheriting her parents and Veronica's natural ease with conversing with others, which lead to delightful moments like the one she was sharing with Archie.
Archie thankfully didn't continue, returning to his music and allowing an easy out for Elena. She began to tuck into her lunch, eventually pulling out a book and reading one-handed as she ate.
Several moments passed and once she tired of reading and put her book away, Archie unfortunately took that as his cue to speak once more. "So how come you and Veronica don't live together?"
Why was he being friendly with her? Did he want something? That was how things usually played out when she lived with her family. They thought she was the weakest link of the Lodges, so they'd butter her up to try to get to her parents or get something from her. A million different scenarios went through her head at once, but she kept coming up short.
"Why do you want to know?" Elena frowned, unable to keep the defensive edge out of her voice.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to pry, I was just-"
"My father kicked me out and we haven't spoken since." Elena bluntly answered, making Archie freeze. "There. Now you can go tell your football buddies all about it."
"That wasn't why I asked. I'm sorry, that sucks." Archie tried to apologise.
Elena unwrapped her straw and stabbed it into her milk carton with more force than necessary. "Tell me about it." She muttered, deeply thankful to see Betty, Veronica and Kevin heading on over to them.
Why did she feel so tense? Elena had to force herself to relax, sucking in a number of deep breaths as the trio approached them. The deep-set scowl eased from her face, and was promptly replaced with a relieved smile as the others began to sit down with them.
"-anyway part of me wishes he would just stay in the darn closet!"
Elena found herself frowning once more, turning around to finding she wasn't the only one rattled by Kevin's comment. Elena pulled a face as she took note of the awkward looks on Veronica and Betty's faces, promptly returning her attention to her lunch to stave off the second-hand embarrassment.
"Obviously I didn't mean literal closet-"
"Archie!" Veronica greeted as she sat herself down next to Elena, happily diverting the conversation elsewhere.
"Hey." Betty joined her opposite side, greeting her with a friendly smile. "How's the cold front with Cheryl?"
"Officially back to being warm and toasty." Elena informed her happily, making Betty smile in turn.
"I guess that explains why she said hi to me earlier then." Betty remarked, a quizzical look on her face as she chuckled slightly. As they spoke, Veronica managed to encourage Archie to showcase the song he had in progress. Though a little nervous, he seemed visibly enthused at the prospect of showing the song off. Elena suddenly felt a sharp burst of guilt for being so harsh with him. Had he genuinely just been asking an innocent question? Maybe he had been, or maybe he hadn't. But subconsciously her defences were firm and unwavering when it came to unfamiliar boys.
Things went well with Betty! Elena thought happily to herself, buzzing from the high of getting at least one interaction right. She was aiming for a middle ground between cheery and giddy, which seemed to be working well for her.
Archie began to sing, but was so focused on the words that he didn't notice Betty's slowly crumbling face. Elena froze as she realised, the words dying in her throat. Oh Betty. Hesitantly, half wondering if she could handle it and half wondering if Betty would let her, Elena placed her hand atop the blonde's. Now teary-eyed, Betty glanced down at the sight, before looking up to meet Elena's knowing gaze.
Thank you. It seemed to say, making Elena's heart break in two at the sight. She'd liked him. She'd really, really liked him.
Elena withdrew her hand as the others took note of her saddened expression, allowing for her new friend to say what she needed to as Archie asked if she was okay. "I'm supposed to say yes. That's what the nice girl always says, but-" She fought back a sob, jumping to her feet. "No! I'm not! I thought I could be, I want to be, but it's just too much too fast Archie."
Betty began to walk away and was quickly followed by Archie, their conversation continuing just out of earshot. "Ouch." Elena heard Kevin remark, as she watched Betty wave her hands frantically at Archie before finally making her escape from him.
It was after lunch during their shared free period that Elena found Betty once more, hiding out in the school library and working on her homework. Elena knew for a fact that her go-to study place was always the student lounge, so it was blatant she was looking to avoid Archie.
"Hey." Elena greeted as she came up from behind her, offering the other girl a small wave.
"Hey." Betty smiled half-heartedly. Her makeup had been fixed, but Elena could hear the toil her crying from earlier had taken on her voice. Did she want to talk to her about it? Or was she poking at what was clearly an already tender wound? She didn't think she was prying, did she? "So on a scale of 1-10 how pathetic did I look back there?"
"0." Elena responded resolutely, seating herself down in the chair across from her. "It's still fresh and you got upset. It happens. No one's judging you. And if they were that would say a lot more about them then you."
A small smile formed at the edges of Betty's lips at her unwavering tone, causing Elena's heart to swell to three times its size. It was a lovely sight to see, especially knowing she was the one that caused it.
"Why did I say anything?" Betty pondered aloud. "Our friendship was completely fine before I opened my mouth."
"At least it's out there." Elena offered. "Now you won't spend the rest of your life wondering what may or may not have happened with him."
Betty nodded in reply, the deeply sad look on her face remaining unchanged.
Hoping to distract her, Elena thought of something to speak with her about. "So Cheryl's older brother is coming back to town and I haven't told her."
Her curiosity thoroughly peaked by her words, Betty's eyes widened. "What are you talking about?"
"You know my roommate Nell?"
Betty nodded. "Yeah my mom got my Dad's birthday cake from her place," an involuntary grin tugged at the corners of her lips, "I remember she kept changing what she wanted, so by the time we went to go get it she looked like she wanted to rip my mom's hair out."
Elena found herself giggling as she pictured Nell's frazzled state. Elena always knew when Alice had been round to the bakery, as Nell tended to look like a very angry puppy afterwards. "Oh yeah, I remember that! She came home looking like she was about to turn into the Hulk! Well her and Cheryl's brother are best friends, and Nell's convinced him to come home. She went to go get him from the airport this morning."
"Is he staying with you?" Betty queried.
"I'm morbidly intrigued. Apparently the guy's more high maintenance than the entire Vixen Squad put together."
"So where's he been all this time?"
"Apparently his father was a little too happy with his fists." Elena shook her head in disgust, her reaction matched by an equally repulsed look on Betty's face. "He's looking to mend fences with Cheryl and be there for her. I just hope he's okay, you know, dealing with the whole Jason thing and his parents."
"And you haven't told her?" Betty stared.
Elena shook her head. "Apparently he wants to reach out to her himself. So I'm kind of just hovering on the side lines right now, hoping it all doesn't go to shit."
"Here's hoping."
"Betty-" Elena tried. "About Veronica-"
"I don't wanna talk about it." Betty told her firmly, something in her face telling Elena that all wasn't exactly forgiven.
"But if you do-"
"I know where you'll be." Betty confirmed with a smile, that reassured Elena that if nothing else, they were okay.