heal.

CHAPTER 5;

CHAPTER 5:

I'm a sucker for the way that you move, babe.
And I could try to run but it would be useless.

Archie wakes up first. It's only about 7:00, and the sunlight that hits his windows is streaming in and illuminating her perfect face as she lays in his arms. Her bare body is covered by his thin sheets but he can feel her skin on his and it feels like home.

As he watches her features, her eyelashes flutter as her eyes open and she's looking back at him contently- he hopes last night felt as good for her as it did for him.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you that staring was rude, Archiekins?" The words seem to float from her mouth and he feels them, he does. In reply, he chuckles lightly as she presses her head into the crook of his neck.

"I can't help it that you look like an angel, all glowing. And you're here." He knows she understands the last part. Because she's been in town for the last month but it's really like she just arrived last night by the way their clothes are scattered on Archie's floor.

"I'm sorry about last night, you know it's about more than that to me. I missed you." She's whispering now, and he smiles at the fact that she's being so tender with him.

"You didn't regret it, did you?" The question comes from a place of uncertainty, he loved last night and he wants her to feel the same.

"No, Archie, no. Last night was- it was perfect." she shakes her head, fingers grazing his abdomen as she pecks his lips. It makes him smile, in the same goofy way as he did when they were younger- kids sitting up in this room after making love, listening to a record and not having hurt in their hearts.

"So." Archie replied, scooting over to give her room and wrapping his arm around her back hesitatingly. The touch was accepted and she grabbed his shirt from off of the floor and slipped it on silently.

"We've got a lot to talk about." Veronica said, reaching out to touch Archie's cheek when he scrunched his face.

"We do?" His nerves could be heard in his voice, his teeth practically chattering.

"About- well us, and my future. Our future."

Archie's heart swelled a bit at the last part, "What about it?"

"For this past month, I've been trying to push you away- so you didn't get hurt again. But I don't wanna push you away anymore. I want us back." Veronica says, gazing into his eyes. He looks at her, all vulnerable and real in his Riverdale Athletic Department t-shirt. Her curls from last night are loose now and she has no makeup on, she's leaning against the wall in his bedroom- it's covered in polaroids of her and the same posters she used to gaze at.

"We don't have to be our mistakes Ronnie. Since the second I saw you, you've flipped my world upside down and without you, there's nothing. I miss you."

He doesn't think she understands how much he misses her, it feels like when she's not there every bit of oxygen is being pressed out of his lungs. Like the world is ending and he doesn't care because he doesn't even have a world without Veronica.

"I miss you too Arch, you know that." Veronica insists, perfect lips pressing against his jaw.

"Then why do we both have to miss each other? Because I don't think we have to." he said, voice cracking as his honesty showed.

"Archie, you're just good. You're earnest and naive and all around good, the best person I know, really. And there's no number of things that could ever change that... you're always going to be the golden boy and I'm never going to be like that." Veronica replied, feeling her heart pounding.