TW: Mentions of self harm.
Veronica's fist never actually makes it to his chest, it's intercepted by JD's right arm flying up and grabbing it by the wrist before being thrown down.
"Really, Veronica? You're gonna do that now?"
Oh, Veronica wants to hit him so bad. She wants to scream at him, shove him into the ground, beat him, throw things at him, she wants to do so many things to him that would allow her to take out her anger on him. And with Heather having run off...
JD knew he shouldn't have followed Veronica. She's angry, she's attempted to hit him more than once, and she seems to be unreasonable. For all accords, JD should've just slammed his door shut after she turned on her heel and stomped away.
But he didn't.
And that would be the story of how he narrowly avoided getting a vase to the face. He just rounded the corner when Veronica chucked it. He dodged to the side almost immediately as the glass shattered against the wall and rained down. He shot her a delirious glare.
"Really?"
Veronica literally cannot explain it. She feels beyond reason and it makes her even more angry. Infuriated. Rage that she had been suppressing ever since Heather threatened her with social suicide at that party was now being given an outlet to be thrown at anyone and anything.
It just so happened that the one person she was the most angry at happened to be JD.
Why was she so angry? It was a multitude of things if she was being honest. JD being alive. Life not working out the way she wanted. JD being alive. JD being selfish. JD not being able to handle her needing space. JD. The fact that she was in love with him. JD. Taking a look at JD's face, anger creased deeply in his brows only furthered her fury.
Her hand quickly found another piece of vasery. She said no words as she picked it up to throw.
. . .
Heather's front door is unlocked, allowing Heather easy access into her home, and allowing her access to the absolute shit show that is JD and Veronica's fight. Upon shutting the door, Heather hears the sound of glass shattering from down the hallway. She glances in that direction, a bewildered look crosses her face as shouting immediately follows it.
Heather notices Heather enter and runs over to her instantly, grabbing her by the arm and yanking her over to the couch where she crouches down.
Heather looks at her with a delirious look. "How long have they been going at this?"
"Oh God," Heather shakes her head rapidly. "Since before I called you, and then the time you took to get here, so," Heather quickly adds everything together on her fingers. "Twenty minutes at the very least."
"Jesus Christ." Heather massages her face. The echo of glass shattering drifts into the living room. Heather motions towards the direction the noise came from. "How long have they been doing that?"
Heather presses her lips into a firm line and shakes her head. "The same amount of time."
Heather massages her face again. "Jesus fucking Christ." She shakes her head. "Do you know why they're at each other's throats?"
"Veronica keeps yelling about how he's selfish and needs to learn to fuck off, JD keeps yelling that she can't keep avoiding him and treating him like a secret, nasty stuff, basically."
Heather sighs. "The best thing we can do for them right no-" A glass flies into the living room and shatters not too far away from where Heather and Heather are crouching. Heather and Heather share a look. "The best we can do right now is to stay out of their way."
Yelling starts again as it gets closer to the living room. JD form peeks out from behind a wall before he backs out of the dining room entirely, an extremely pissed off Veronica Sawyer behind him. In her hand is a rather cheap piece of vasery that she instantly throws at him.
Fortunately, Veronica misses and it shatters against a wall nearby. Although, Heather took notice of how Veronica seemingly didn't even try to aim, giving her the impression that she wasn't really trying to hit JD.
"You can't keep doing this, Veronica, it isn't healthy!"
Veronica lets out a painful laugh. "Because you fucking know what healthy is?" Her voice borders on screeching, it's extremely easy to tell that Veronica's on edge, and at any moment, could easily go overboard if she hadn't already.
"I don't! I never said I did! But you can't act like flinging shit at me is any better!" JD shouts back. Veronica's expression weakens for a second. Whatever resolve that was trying to hold her back instantly evaporates as she charges towards JD with the intention of pushing him over.
JD narrowly dodges it, not without taking a punch in the shoulder and a hiss of "What the fuck!" He massages his shoulder in an effortless attempt to get the pain to disappear as Veronica presses herself against the wall. Her facial expression stuck between one of horror and anger. She hesitantly reaches a hand out, as if she wants to help assuage JD's pain, but quickly yanks it back to snarl out another insult.
"This is all your fucking fault!" Veronica steps away from the wall, resulting in JD immediately flinching. Veronica seems to take notice, as she starts pacing along the back of the couch Heather and Heather are crouched behind. "Everything, Heather, Kurt, Ram, fucking Martha-" She swiftly turns towards him, pointing an accusing finger in his direction. "I was so fucking preoccupied with you that I let my own best friend nearly kill herself!"
JD winces upon mention of Martha's suicide. The hand massaging his shoulder momentarily forms a fist before going back to being an open hand. "Veronica," He starts.
"No! You shut the fuck up!" Veronica snaps at him, her voice in the same screechy pitch that Heather used when shouting at Heather. "You don't ever fucking listen to me, never! You are so fucking ignorant and stuck up in your own feelings to ever consider fucking asking me what is wrong!"
"Veronica," JD tries again.
"Either you never fucking ask or you never leave me alone! You want to control me so fucking badly and end up hurting everyone around you!"
"Veronica!" JD practically screams her name in a desperate attempt to get her to stop. Taking a glance at him from behind the couch, his face is torn between crying and fear. Everything Veronica was saying was starting to seriously affect him. Heather bites her lip nervously, contemplating whether or not she should intervene. If things weren't going down an extremely destructive path, Heather would've abided by her own advice and stayed behind the couch. But in this scenario? There was no letting them die out. It's very apparent to Heather that they would both run each other into the ground unless someone tried to diffuse them.
And taking a look at Heather, who is paralyzed with anxiety, watching with a distressed look on her face, too shocked to even move, Heather makes her decision.
"Okay, Veronica, that's enough." Heather emerges from behind the cough, instantly catching a glare from Veronica and a confused stare from JD.
"Heather? What the fuck are you doing here?" JD gestures at Veronica before nodding in agreement with her question.
"Listen, that's not important," Heather raises her hands as she slowly starts stepping around the couch and towards Veronica. She moves slow and methodically, desperately hoping to avoid a punch to the face.
Veronica doesn't really do anything as Heather walks closer and closer, eventually putting her hands on her shoulder and obscuring her view of JD.
"Veronica," Heather whispers as she guides Veronica further and further away from JD. "You're going too far."
The look that crosses Veronica's face is unreadable.
"Too far?" She repeats in a tone that sounds like it's bordering the line between laughing and screaming. "Too far?" Veronica repeats again, Heather hesitantly meets her eyes. Veronica's eyes are both tired and hyperaware. A weak mix of both that gives her a delirious look as she glares into Heather's soul. "Too far is nearly blowing up the goddamn school full of innocent fucking people!" Veronica peers around Heather's head, shooting a direct glare at JD as she shouts. Heather has to throw nearly her entire body weight onto Veronica to hold her back from charging JD again.
"Veronica, that's enough." Heather pushes Veronica closer and closer towards the winery and further and further away from JD. She hopes, desperately, that the more distance put between the two would cause Veronica's anger to dissipate. It seems to do the opposite, as Veronica keeps snarling out insults, increasing her voice every time.
Heather sneaks a glance over her shoulder to see Heather desperately yanking a distraught JD away from the living room and into the dining room. He keeps rapidly ripping his arms away from Heather to wipe his face with. His head keeps perking up at every insult he receives, only to dip back down. Heather can't exactly see his face, but she's certain it's laced with tears.
They're almost in different rooms. They're almost out of each other's sights. As soon as Heather got Veronica in the winery, she would lock the door and try to diffuse as best she could. Heather could console JD or something. Yeah. This could work. Heather gives herself a premature and entirely metaphorical pat on the back for breaking down and defusing this entire destructive situation. Until Veronica lets out a piercing laugh and screams the following.
"None of this would've happened if you were fucking dead! I wish you had never fucking survived!" Heather stops in her tracks completely. Her grip falters, though her fingers linger on Veronica's shoulders, feeling her breathing hitch rapidly and become erratic very quickly.
She glances over her shoulder to see JD's reaction. Heather is standing still beside him, her hands covering her mouth. JD is standing completely still, slack jawed. He takes a deep breath. The silence that settles over the four of them is sickening and thick, threatened only by Veronica's heavy pants.
"I wish I was dead too." JD mutters quietly.
Veronica lets out an ear piercing scream before she collapses into Heather, wrapping her arms around Heather's body, desperately hanging on. Her sobs quickly fill the house, trickling out of the winery and seeping into the living room. Heather awkwardly wraps her arms around Veronica's quivering form, softly patting her on the back. Heather turns her head back towards Heather's direction to see Heather ushering JD into the dining room, rubbing his back the entire way.
Heather pushes Veronica fully into the winery, setting her down onto a bench near the door before shutting and locking it. Veronica places her face in between her hands, the noise of her sobs hardly muffled.
"Okay." Heather says to steady herself. Her heart was pounding out of her chest. That did not go as planned. She sits down on the bench next to Veronica, slowly but methodically rubbing circles in her back in a vague attempt to calm her down.
"I'm such a fucking idiot." Veronica mumbles, her sobs seemingly having died.
"You're not an idiot, Veronica," Heather lies through her teeth. "You're just," Heather blanks on a word to say. "Terribly unfortunate so to speak."
Veronica peered up at her. Her eyes were red and tear stained, bordering on bleak and helpless. She gave Heather a tiny smile. She removes her face from her hands and leans back.
Heather lets Veronica take a moment to breathe.
"Did you mean anything you said?"
Veronica visibly winces at Heather's reminder of the argument that just happened. Biting her lip, she hesitantly shakes her head.
"Okay, then this shouldn't be too hard to fix, alright?"
Veronica nervously stares at Heather before shaking her head.
"I can't do this."
Heather gives Veronica a forced smile. This was going to take a while.
. . .
To say that JD is a mess would be a gross understatement. He's sobbing on Heather's dining room table, completely unable to get any words out. If he does manage to choke one out, Heather can't even decode what it means. She just simply sits next to him and rubs his back, methodically humming every now and then in hopes it would calm JD's nerves. It doesn't seem to do much.
So she just keeps going in a steady rhythm, starting her hand at the top of his back, going down to his shoulder blades, and returning back to the top of his neck, humming her mother's favorite song all the while.
God, this was a fucking mistake.
In all honesty, Heather is surprised that JD is letting her stay around him considering the fierce glare he shot her upon realizing that she called Veronica here. She assumes that he just doesn't want to be alone. She can't say that she blames him.
After a few more rotations on his back, JD's sobbing slowly starts to subside. He lifts his head from the table and runs a hand through his hair before flopping backwards into the chair. Heather places her hand in her lap, giving him a watery smile. He just keeps staring forward, as if he was attempting to disassociate.
"JD? Are you okay?" Heather contemplates reaching out with her hand to tap JD on the shoulder but decides against it after remembering that his shoulder is still wounded.
"Never been better, Heather." JD replies in a dry tone despite his statement dripping from sarcasm.
"JD, I'm sure Veronica didn't mean the things she said."
"Heather," JD sighs before shifting his eyes and connecting his gaze with Heather's. "Can we not talk about it right now?"
Heather bites her lip for a moment before swiftly nodding.
"Thank you." JD softly mutters, running another hand through his hair.
They sit in a quiet peace until Heather hears the sound of the winery door open. She turns her attention towards the sound, seeing Heather rapidly waving for her to come over. Heather swiftly stands up and gives JD a soft squeeze on the shoulder before running over.
"How is she?"
Heather grimaces. "She's an anxious mess, basically." Heather sighs in relief, at least anxiety was manageable.
Heather puts a finger to Heather's lips, shushing her before she turns back to the winery door, knocking on it three times. The door is practically ripped open by Veronica, who takes a deep breath.
She locks eyes with Heather and gives her a muted smile. Heather nods and watches as Veronica slowly walks her way to the dining room, her eyes locked on JD's form the entire time.
"How is he?" Heather whispers.
"He's..." Heather holds out the S, thinking of a way to describe what he experienced. "Distraught, to say the least."
Heather nods, wordlessly taking her hand. Heather blushes slightly at the notion, but squeezes back in an attempt to relieve any butterflies.
The sudden motion of a dining room chair being moved snaps JD out of his zoning out. He shakes his head, ready to tell Heather to go away, only to see Veronica slipping into the chair next to him. She folds hers fingers across one another and starts fiddling with her thumbs in a desperate attempt to distract herself.
He... Where does he even begin?
Before JD can even get a chance to ponder the thought, Veronica cuts the silence.
"I'm sorry."
JD sighs. They lock eyes for a moment, exchanging so many emotions that simply can't be expressed with words. Hesitantly, Veronica reaches out for one of his arms. JD flinches slightly, but offers her his arm. Carefully, she hooks her index finger around the edge of the trench coat's sleeve and pulls it back. Her eyes widen upon seeing just how nasty JD's wounds were.
"Heather," She calls out, not taking her eyes off of JD's arm.
"Yes?" Heather calls out from across the house.
"Go get me some gauze," Veronica shouts. "And maybe a first aid kit." She adds on a few seconds afterwards.
Both Heathers share a nod with another, keeping their hands intertwined as they wander up one of the nearby staircases to find a bathroom that, hopefully, contained a first aid kit.
After both Heather and Heather's footsteps weren't audibly heard did Veronica bother to say anything.
"I'm really sorry," She pursues her lips, still refusing to make eye contact with JD. "I just got so angry and..." Veronica trailed off, hearing the familiar sound of clicking heels approaching near. Heather's face appeared from around the wall of the dining room. She gave Veronica a soft smile as she placed the first aid kit and a ball of gauze on the dining table. Veronica didn't bother to give Heather any sort of reply. Heather quickly exited the dining room and hurried back up to her room.
Veronica took the kit into her hands, flipping it open and pulling out various medical supplies.
"Are you going to give me stitches?" JD softly mutters. Something close to a smirk pulls at Veronica's lips as she shakes her head.
"No, don't...don't worry." Veronica shuts the kit upon pulling out two anti-infection pads and a ball of medical tape. She rips one open, taking out the damp cloth inside and opening it in her fingers.
"This might hurt." Veronica mutters seconds before pressing the cloth onto JD's skin, starting at the base of his wrist and pulling up to his forearm. JD lets out a soft hiss of pain but manages to hold his arm still.
Once Veronica finishes wiping down JD's skin she grabs the ball of gauze that Heather had placed on the table and presses it against the base of JD's wrist. Slowly and with much care, Veronica wraps the gauze around the entirety of JD's arm. Once she's gone, she leans back over to the kit to forage for a pair of scissors. Upon finding the scissors, Veronica snips off the gauze where she thinks is appropriate and tosses the gauze off to the side. She reaches for the medical tape behind her and starts taping down the gauze, making sure and checking repeatedly that it's tight enough, but not too tight.
JD just watches her wordlessly. Even after she screamed about how she wished he was dead, he still completely trusted her. JD shook his head, a light blush forming at the inane thought.
Veronica snips off the last piece of medical tape and secures it in place before gently bringing his sleeve back down. She gestures for his other arm and so he puts it there, pulling up the sleeve himself this time.
Veronica grimaces at the sight. This arm is worse than the other, with many of the cuts being sloppy, having torn bits of skin all over. Veronica shudders, but shakes her head and repeats the process once more. It goes by slightly faster, although Veronica is a little bit slower at cutting off the medical tape this time around. Eventually, she finishes, patting JD's arm and smiling softly at it. He relinquishes his arm from the table and Veronica turns to clumsily put away all the remaining supplies.
Once she's done with that, however, does the silence between them grow so unbearably thick. JD tapping his fingers against his leg is the once sound that keeps Veronica grounded, reminding her that this wasn't a dream and was indeed real.
"I..." JD glances at her, his expression completely unreadable. "I didn't mean it."
JD nods slowly, running his tongue along his teeth.
"I know you probably don't believe it anymore, but I really am glad that you're alive." Veronica lets out a breathy chuckle at the end. "I don't know what I would've done if I had actually lost someone to..." Veronica inhales sharply, hastily placing her face in her hands, slivers of tears sneaking through her fingers and plopping onto the table.
Veronica feels one of her hands slowly being pulled. Feeling no urge to fight, she lets it go. JD grips her hand tightly, staring at her with a sincere smile. His thumb drags itself against her knuckles in a soothing pattern.
"I'm not going anywhere, Veronica."
Veronica removes her face from her hand, using the fact that she's already holding her hand to pull herself closer to him. She wraps her arms around his shoulders, mashing her head into his shoulder.
"Promise?"
JD wraps his arms around Veronica's torso, leaning his head against Veronica's.
"Promise."
A/N: Yeesh, this was a nasty but necessary chapter. Welcome to the end of act 1. Act 2 is a lot more... interesting, I should say. A lot of things happen that aren't exactly... good, to say the least. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and goodnight/good day!