Obsession Starts with a V

Chapter 21

"Keep it PG, please." Max sighed. "I would like to enjoy my night."

"I'm sorry, but she's just so fluffy!" Paul's muffled comment made everyone roll their eyes.

"Why are you into weird guys?" David asked Maria as he helped his new flame off his bike. The new girl giggled at his touch and intertwined her hand with his. He didn't seem to notice as he dragged her along.

"Because the weirdos tend to be pretty." Maria answered and blew a piece of Paul's hair off of her face.

Veronica tried to sneakily study David's new beau, but her heart stopped when she realized how pretty and womanly the girl was. She knew she could never compare.

"She's just a blonde bimbo!" Veronica grumbled.

Unfortunately for her, David had heard her little comment and looked down at the frustrated girl with an icy star that had a glint of humor in it. "Mighty strong words coming from a shrimp like you."

That did nothing to help Veronica's self-esteem and her face turned bright red.

David introduced his new girlfriend as "Harley" and she waved to everyone before patting Veronica on the head.

"Looks like you made a new friend." Sam attempted to hold back his laughter.

"I bet she was a snotty cheerleader in high school." Veronica said.

"A hot, snotty cheerleader." Sam responded as he continued to ogle Harley.

Veronica noticed, and snarled at him. "You're disgusting." She said before walking away to join Laddie on the swings. Sam was about to follow her, but one glare from Veronica was enough to keep him far far away.

"So Laddie, how's it going?" She asked as she matched Laddie's speed.

"Good."

"That's good. So, anything new happening?

"No."

"Okay."

They swung in awkward silence for a few minutes until Laddie stopped. He waited for her to slow down, then leaned over to whisper in her ear.

"I have a secret."

Veronica's curiosity peaked. "Yeah? What's that?"

"I have a friend that nobody knows about. She told me to keep it a secret."

"Ooh, who is it?"

"Ah!" Laddie shouted in her ear, then grew so excited he started bouncing up and down on the swing. "I forgot! I actually have two secrets! I'll tell you the other one, it's funnier!"

"Okay," Veronica winced. Her ear felt like it had exploded.

"Sometimes when I'm over at Max's house, I'll hear noises in the kitchen at night when all the adults are working. So, I went there one night with my pillow- in case I needed to attack whatever was there- and guess what I saw!"

"What?" Her interest came back when she remembered the mystery of all the missing food.

"You have to promise you won't tell anyone."

"Cross my heart and hope to die."

Laddie paused, debating about saying his secret. "Never mind!" He jumped off the swing and ran into Dwayne's lap, climbing onto his shoulders like he was a tree.

Veronica felt her eye twitch. She had been so close to solving the mystery, but Laddie punked out. Maybe she would have to sleep on the couch that night to find out who was raiding the kitchen.

"Hey brat! Do you want to miss the fireworks or what?" David called over to her.

Veronica smiled and joined them, sitting between David and Marko. It didn't take her long to notice Paul and Maria were missing.

David noticed her looking for them and leaned over. "You don't want to know where they are."

Harley didn't like David not paying attention to her, so she grabbed him by his shirt collar and planted a kiss on his lips. Veronica scrunched up her nose in disgust.

"What's the matter, Little V? Never been kissed before?" David laughed at her expression, causing her face to turn an even brighter red than before. David went back to Harley as she demanded more kisses from him.

Veronica got up and made her way over to where Sam was piling up food onto two plates. He finished topping off his mountain of food and nodded his head, indicating that she should follow him. Veronica didn't question and walked with him over to a park bench that was just out of sight of their group.

"Here," he handed her a plate. "You can see the fireworks even better right there. Me and Michael found that out last year."

"Thanks." She smiled at him and they sat down shoulder-to-shoulder. A loud boom signaled the start of the show. They both looked up just in time to see bright greens, blue, reds, and purples shine in the night sky and reflect off their mesmerized faces. 

☢ ♥‿♥ 𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓴 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝒇𝓸𝓻 𝓻𝒆𝓪𝓭𝓲𝓷𝓰! 𝓓𝓸𝓷'𝓽 𝒇𝓸𝓻𝓰𝒆𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓿𝓸𝓽𝒆 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝒇𝓸𝓵𝓵𝓸𝔀 𝓲𝒇 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝒆𝓷𝓳𝓸𝔂𝒆𝓭 𝓲𝓽 ♥‿♥ ☢