Say My Name

Chapter Twelve

The silence in the car ride home was deafening. Betty stared through her passenger side window, gazing up at the dark sky as she listened to the humming of the turned down radio. Thoughts circulated her head, and the consistency of the black paved road driving away from her had her feeling a bit drowsy.

"Do you wanna talk about what happened? You look kind of shaken up." Veronica noticed as she peeked over at her friend, who looked lost in her own thoughts. Betty jolted her head up to look at her before she shook it, then slid her hands between her thighs to warm them. "I'm fine."

Veronica shot her a few glances, patiently waiting for her to continue as she tried to make out the expression on her face. "Well... what happened? You haven't said anything about how it went."

She breathed in as she anxiously rubbed her hands against the material between her thighs. "Um... nothing really." She shrugged. "We just talked." Her mind flashed back to him grabbing her and pulling her arms behind her back, restraining her so that she couldn't move.

"Did he agree to leave Archie alone?" Veronica asked curiously.

"Yeah," she said in a mumble.

"Really?" There was a rise in her voice as if she was surprised but excited at the same time. It pained her to lie to her friend's face. Though, she didn't want her to worry about it anymore. "Yeah. He said to forget about the money Archie owes him."

"That's good! I was worried for you. I thought he was going to slice your head off." She chuckled. "But um... I know this might be a little inappropriate to say, but damn..."

"What?"

Veronica simpered and let out a breathy laugh. "...Damn."

"What?" She said a little louder, hoping Veronica would spit out her words faster.

"He is... hot."

Betty forcefully swallowed at her response and coughed as it went down the wrong windpipe.

"Like, hot hot. Like, I could probably bake cookies on him hot." Shocked at her words, Betty stayed silent for a moment, trying to comprehend what her friend had just said about the guy who left her handcuffed to a pole in a warehouse and threatened to kill her numerous times. "Seriously?"

"Oh, yeah. Way hotter than Archie and any other guy at Riverdale High." Not paying attention, Veronica gasped before taking a sharp turn around the corner, and the action caused Betty to jerk to the right, knocking herself against the door. "Ow..." She groaned.

"Oops. Sorry." Veronica choked up on the steering wheel, and Betty rubbed her arm, trying to relieve the pain.

"You don't think he is?" The dark-headed girl asked as they came to a stop at a red light.

"I mean... I haven't really thought about it. I didn't.. notice." She felt agitated by the question and tried not to think about it.

"How could you not notice? That boy is fine as hell. I was shocked when I first saw him. I thought he was a gang member's hot son or something." She smirked to herself as she kept her eyes on the road. "I bet he has a nice body too." Betty couldn't believe her ears. She tried her hardest to block out the crystal image of him in her mind, but Veronica was making it nearly impossible.

"Too bad he's a bad guy. I would climb that tree so fast."

"Veronica!" She shouted.

"What?"

"Stop talking about him. Just... go get laid or something."

"Yeah..." She let out a large exhale. "I know. Don't remind me. I was gonna get laid after the dance, but of course, that didn't happen."