A/N: After this chapter, I will begin to refer to the Heathers by their surnames to make it less confusing. Thank you for reading!
Veronica reluctantly lets go of JD after a few minutes, plopping back into the uncomfortable dining chair. They sit in a comfortable silence for a few moments before Veronica takes notice of the grandfather clock against the wall across from her. And how late it is.
Veronica jumps right up. "I have to go."
"Wait," JD calls out for her right as she reaches for the front doorknob. Veronica turns to look back at him. They lock eyes. "Do you think you could..." JD gestured around him. "Stay?" He finally finishes, giving her a sheepish stare.
Veronica lets go of the door handle slowly, nodding softly. "Sure, let me just call my parents real quick." JD nods and Veronica marches off to find the nearest telephone.
. . .
"I'm just saying, Heather, it wouldn't hurt to take my advice from time to time, I mean come on, that was basically like breaking up a fight between Kurt and Ram." Heather was perched on Heather's desk chair, flipping through a magazine in a half-hearted attempt to distract herself from what had just happened. Heather was lying on her bed behind her, halfway listening to Heather's lecture and halfway not even bothering to think at all. It was a mixed bag. Listening to Heather fully would probably make her feel worse about the fiasco that just occurred, but completely zoning out would probably make Heather a little bit peeved at her. She shook her head.
"None of Kurt and Ram's fights got that bad ," Heather peered at Heather from over the magazine, an eyebrow perked, just begging for Heather to continue. "Did they?" Heather quickly assuaged her statement.
"They did," Heather paused for a moment. "Well, not 'I wish you were dead' levels of bad, but still pretty fucking bad." Heather resumed rapidly flipping through the magazine.
There's a brief silence between them. Heather sighs in frustration as she turns to the last page of the magazine. She tosses it onto the ground and starts spinning around in the chair, in a desperate attempt to keep her mind off the fight. She spins faster, and faster, and somehow even fucking faster until something catches the chair and stops it abruptly, halting it in place and immediately throwing Heather out of it.
Heather groans as her body attempts to match the stillness around it. From behind her, she hears Heather softly giggling. Heather feels a wry smirk cross her face as she plans her revenge.
She feels Heather softly kick one of her legs. "Come on, Heather, I know you're not that - woah!" Heather hooks her leg around Heather's and flips herself over, her back facing the ground. This sudden change in position causes Heather to be abruptly pulled to the ground, where she crashes onto her face, right next to Heather. Heather yanks her leg out from in between the tangled mess of Heather's legs. She hears a soft groan of pain emit from Heather as a response.
"So, you wanna play like that, huh?" Heather huffs, her face still pressed into the ground. Heather rolls her eyes, preparing to let out a snarky comment.
In a swift and sudden movement, Heather pulls herself off the ground and hooks one leg over Heather's hips before grabbing Heather by the collar of her shirt.
Heather opens her mouth to make a sarcastic quip, blinking for only a second and the second she opens them, Heather has straddled her. Heather's face is extremely close to her's, being held in place by Heather's grip on her collar. Heather's expression is playful with a devious grin gracing her lips. She squints her eyes before abruptly letting go of her grip on Heather's collar, causing Heather to crash directly into the ground behind her.
Heather is breathless. Heather's face was just millimeters away from hers. She could feel her breath on her nose. She takes a moment to recover from the thought before leaning forward, using her arms as support to keep her up. Heather is still straddling her, though she has leaned back slightly.
"Okay," Heather breathes. "You win." Heather smiles a playful grin before leaning forward again, bringing their faces unbearably close once again.
Heat almost instantly pools in Heather's cheeks, turning her a bright shade of red. Taking a quick glance at Heather's face confirms that she's not alone; Heather is practically the same shade as her. Heather averts her eyes to her lap, trying hopelessly to not think about how desperately she wants to close the distance between them.
Heather doesn't take her eyes off Heather. Not even for a second. Her heart beats at an unbearably fast pace as she feels her face grow warmer and warmer with each passing second. She notices the same blush growing rapidly across Heather's face.
"Heather," She hesitantly places a hand on Heather's cheek, forcing her to look at her. Heather gives her a wobbly smile.
Neither of them is sure who moved first. Heather is almost certain that Heather moved first, considering that as soon as Heather's hand wasn't on her face, she was going to thud herself back into the floor. Heather is certain that Heather moved first, considering that she was planning on telling Heather about her weird feelings towards her. Maybe they both moved first. Whatever it was, it didn't matter.
Heather practically melts into the kiss, her hands instantly fly up to cup Heather's face and allow her to deepen the kiss. Heather's hand remains limply on Heather's face, too caught up in the fact that her lips are pressed softly against her best friend's.
The moment can't get any more perfect. Heather has wanted this since she could remember. Part of thinking this is an extremely detailed dream, that life itself would never provide her with anything she wanted. The other part of her told her to shut up and enjoy the moment before it was over.
"Heath- woah," Heather and Heather instantly separate, with Heather crashing back into the ground as Heather topples off of Heather. Heather scrambles to her feet and tumbles over to the door Veronica has just opened, slamming it shut and barricading it with her body, pressing herself firmly against the door.
Embarrassment burns brightly on her face as she shares a glance with Heather. Heather quickly breaks the glance by covering her face with her hands.
"What's up, Veronica?" Heather calls out after taking a moment to tame her embarrassment.
"Uhh, I was just gonna ask if I can stay the night?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Great." There's a pause, but no footsteps are audibly heard. "I'm gonna go now."
"Okay." Heather's voice cracks on the last syllable. After Veronica's footsteps are no longer able to be heard, Heather slides against the door and hits the floor softly, letting out a loud sigh.
Heather's laughter breaks the silence between them. Heather glances at her. She's pulled herself off the ground, wrapping her arms around her knees.
"How's that for a first kiss?"
Heather finds herself involuntarily smiling. "Yeah, no kidding."
Heather shakes her head. "I've wanted to do that for a long time."
Heather pauses for a moment. "Really?" Heather nods. How did she never notice? Heather prides herself on being observant but she was somehow clueless to her own best friend having a crush on her? It explained a lot of things if she was being honest. Heather's constant blushing whenever they hugged or exchanged any sort of physical contact, her denial of having a crush whenever Heather asked, the random gifts she gave her on Valentine's day- Heather liked her. And looking back on it, Heather couldn't deny the slight warmth in her chest that came from the thought.
Heather plops onto the ground next to her, jarring her out of her thoughts. She hesitantly leans her head on Heather's shoulder. Heather simply lays her head on top of her's, reaching out for her hand and intertwining their fingers.
"You don't mind if I stay, do you?" Heather breathes against her neck.
"Please do." Heather presses her lips against Heather's head.
Maybe this wasn't going to work out. Maybe neither of them were ready for a relationship. Maybe neither of them wanted a relationship. There were many possibilities that could stem from what just happened, but they both pushed the possible outcomes into the back of their minds as they sat and enjoyed each other's presence.
. . .
Veronica hurries back downstairs where she finds JD, plastered on the couch, rapidly flipping through TV channels, looking for something suitable to watch. JD notices her entering the living room and waves her over. She stumbles over to the couch and crashes down next to him, sinking deep into the couch's comfortable material.
They're sat close enough to the point that their arms touch, but neither of them, out of ignorance or bliss, notices.
"How are Heather and Heather?" He asks, not even bothering to take his eyes off the screen.
"I walked in on them uhm," JD stops his channel flipping to look at Veronica, a confused eyebrow cocked. Veronica nervously scratches the back of her head, a light flush forming on her face. "Kissing."
"Oh," JD nods, turning his attention back to the TV. He flips through a few more channels before stopping, fully understanding what Veronica meant. " Oh. "
Veronica tsks at him. "Yeah, I know right."
JD shakes his head, a slight grin tugging at his lips. "Any suggestions?" He asks as he resumes his channel flipping.
"Something scary." Veronica mumbles back, exhaustion pulling her closer and closer to sleep. JD chuckles to himself before flipping through a few more channels and finally stopping on one. He places the remote on the coffee table in front of them and proceeds to put his feet up on it as he leans back.
An eerie tone emits from the TV, blanketing the room in mystery and unease. Veronica, knowing fully well that whatever is playing isn't going to affect her, smiles softly before reaching out and grabbing JD's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze before setting it between them. Her eyelids close on her before she can see JD's reaction.
Her mind drifts off before she can feel him subtly move closer to her.
. . .
Dreams are weird. They're different for everybody, they range along a wide spectrum, providing each individual with a unique experience that sticks with them. And yet, for the longest time, Veronica never had any dreams. She'd merely go to sleep and wake up, a black nothingness being her only memory of the night. That was until she killed Heather Chandler. Afterward, Veronica experienced nothing but nightmare after nightmare, reliving Heather's death over and over. Seeing JD hand her the mug, and her swiftly drinking it, immediately attempting to get whatever she had just swallowed back up, clawing at her throat all the while. Veronica couldn't move, she couldn't do anything. She was completely and entirely helpless .
Eventually, the nightmares reduced themselves down to Heather's spirit taunting Veronica, saying that even in death, she'd never be rid of her. And like the nightmare spoke prophecy, Heather's ghost appeared the next day, following Veronica around and never shutting up.
It's been a while since Veronica has had a dream. A long while. She doesn't miss it. She doesn't think she ever will.
. . .
"Veronica..." A voice pierces through Veronica's unconsciousness. She groans an incoherent word as a reply and tries to slip back into sleep.
"Veronica..." The voice tries again, this time slightly louder. It comes just as Veronica is about to slip back under. Annoyed, she huffs out a barely audible sentence about shutting up and tries, once again, to return back to sleep.
"Veronica!" The voice tries yet again, this time even louder. It's enough to send Veronica's eyelids flying open, scanning around the room for whoever is pestering her. There's no one in front of her, aside from the TV that was emitting a soft, garbled static noise. There's no one to the left of her aside from darkness. And the only person to the right of her is JD, who, she notices, has his head placed on top of hers, their hands still intertwined. A quick glance at JD's eyelids confirms to Veronica that he's asleep. Veronica shakes her head and shivers slightly. Somehow the room has turned extremely cold. She presses herself closer to JD in an attempt to steal warmth from him. It works, but not as well as she hoped.
She tries, once again, to close her eyelids when a pungent smell penetrates her nostrils. It's intoxicating, similar to the type of cleaning supplies one would use to clean a bathroom. It fills Veronica's nose and makes her want to vomit at how disgusting it is . And it doesn't go away, either. A couple minutes pass and Veronica can't find any way to block it out. It seems to be consistent in surrounding her. She sighs in frustration, taking another whiff.
Her eyes fly open.
She knows exactly what that smell is .
Drano .
Someone's here.
Veronica knows that someone is here, and she has a pretty good idea of who it is. She tilts her head back further to see the smiling face of Heather Chandler leaning over the couch. A drop of phantom drain cleaner falls off of her mouth and passes through Veronica, causing her to squirm slightly. JD makes a small groan in response to the movement but ultimately doesn't wake up.
"Heather?" Veronica says in a whispered voice, completely awestruck.
"Hello, slut." Heather answers back curtly, a wry smirk plastered across her face. Another drop of drain cleaner falls down.
Veronica takes a minute to respond, still adjusting her eyes to the lack of light around her. Heather hasn't changed in the slightest, still a pale white, with bright blue staining her entire mouth. Her eyes a milky white and her smile still as narcissistic and superior as before.
"What are you doing here?" Veronica asks after a brief pause. Carefully, she untwines her hand from JD's and uses her newly freed hand to relocate JD's head to someplace that isn't her's. Once she's certain JD is comfortable does Veronica turn back to Heather, who is now leaning on the couch, smirking at Veronica's actions.
Veronica gets up and hastily walks towards the kitchen, where, as she suspected, Heather follows her.
"So, what's the deal with you and Jessie James," Veronica rolls her eyes at Heather's insult. "Last I knew he was breaking in through your window to kill you."
Shivers instantly ran over Veronica as memories that had long suppressed instantly came to the forefront of her mind. Desperately, she tried to shake them away. Desperately, she tried, to ignore the faint sounds of JD screaming her name in her mind.
"That was a long time ago." Heather cocks an eyebrow.
"Really?" Veronica nods, slightly shaking. "You see, I wouldn't know, because I'm dead." Heather sarcastically replies. For once in her life, Veronica wishes Heather was alive so she'd have the ability to practically strangle her.
"So, where have you been?" Veronica mumbles, hoping to get the topic off of JD and onto to literally anything else. She takes a deep breath in an attempt to get rid of her shivers.
"Hell." Heather replies back in a flat tone. Veronica nods once again, a shrewd look crossing her face.
"Okay, let me be more direct," Heather cocks an eyebrow in surprise, a pleasant smirk crossing her lips as she witnesses Veronica actually be confrontational. "What do you want from me?"
Heather pursues her lips, pretending to make a thinking face. "Nothing, actually," Veronica cocks an eyebrow. Heather sticks her tongue out at her. "I just thought I'd check in with you." Heather looks behind her at JD before taking a step forward and closer to Veronica. She leans in, using one hand to muffle her voice. "You don't mind if I come by more often?"
"Even if I say no, it doesn't matter does it?" Heather gives Veronica a wide smirk, nodding her head.
"Fine."
"Goodnight, Veronica." Heather steps forward and actually into Veronica. Veronica almost instantly hits the floor by the wave of coldness that washes over her. She can barely move, shaking so intensely that it almost looks like she's having a panic attack. Veronica leans against a nearby counter, rapidly huffing into her hands and rubbing her arms in a hopeless attempt to regain the thirty degrees of temperature she just lost thanks to Heather. By the time Veronica turns around, a vicious insult on her tongue, Heather is gone, already having returned to the deep pits of Hell.
"Wish she'd fucking stay there." Veronica mumbles to herself before removing herself off the counter.
She tries, and fails, to make it back to the living room, succumbing to the cold and crashing straight into the floor, a shivering ball. She hyperventilates, her consciousness waning in and out of reality, the only feeling she is able to observe being that of complete and utter coldness. Her arms are wrapped up in each other, shaking violently as her legs try to press closer to her body in an attempt to preserve heat.
This is it. Veronica thinks. This is how I fucking die.
"Veronica?" She hears from a distance. She wants to yell out a cry for help, but her lips are frozen shut, her teeth chattering away. "Holy shit!" She hears footsteps rapidly approaching her position. Someone stops right over, their shadow looming large. They crouch down and wrap their arms around her, pulling her to their chest.
"Veronica? Are you alright?" Veronica slowly looks up, a worried JD staring straight back at her. She shakes her head, trying to press herself closer to JD. "Fuck, okay." Veronica feels the ground under her give out. Or, more like, go away. She realizes a few moments later that JD had picked her up and was carrying her towards the living room.
He carefully sets her down on the couch before shrugging off his trenchcoat and laying it on top of her. He pats it down firmly, making sure it covers almost any and all exposed skin. He looks around hastily before pulling a blanket off the back of the couch and laying it on top of his trenchcoat. He secures it and leans back, a look of mild worry on his face. Veronica shivers and cuddles into the mess of cloth covering her. He takes a seat next to her. She subtly scoots closer to him, pressing herself against his arm, stealing any and all warmth that emits from him.
"So, are you gonna explain what happened back there?" Veronica peers up at him.
"It's..." Veronica takes a moment to calm her chattering teeth before continuing. "Not important."
JD raises an eyebrow, words on the tip of his tongue, ready to tell her that whatever happened back there was important because whatever it was turned into a shivering ball that was clinging to him due to the amount of heat she had lost. But, taking a look at Veronica's face, one that was barely able to form an expression beyond pain, JD shuts his mouth and just wraps an arm around Veronica, bringing her closer to him.
She shivers into his shoulder for a few moments before ceasing to move at all. JD uses the hand he wrapped around her shoulders to check her pulse, which is, to his relief, still beating, although rather faintly. He lets out a sigh of relief before placing his head on top of hers, letting her soft, rhythmic breathing lull him back into a state of unconsciousness.
A/N: Right, so, McDuke anyone? beyond that, welcome back Heather Chandler! I've been dying to add her and now that act 1 is over, she's actually fairly necessary to the rest of the story. Hope you all are ready for fluff in these upcoming chapters because these characters deserve a fucking break lmao. Have a good day/night!