"Hey, Ronnie, Pop needs you upstairs," Reggie calls out across the room as he puts down the phone.
"Okay. Could you do me a favor and finish putting the centerpieces on the tables?" Veronica asks as she makes her way up the stairs.
"On it," Reggie says, as he starts the task that Veronica didn't get a chance to finish.
"What's up, Pop?" Veronica asks, leaning on the counter.
"Someone just dropped off this letter for you and left," Pop says as he hands her an envelope.
Veronica cautiously takes it and examines the messy handwriting scrawled on the back that reads "For Veronica." She opens it up and carefully unfolds the lines piece of paper.
'Dear Veronica,
I have to leave town. Your father wants my blood and I'm not safe in Riverdale. It's not safe for me to be with you. Please don't try to contact me or find me. I'll be okay, I promise. I'm sorry that it has to be this way. I have to go but know that I'll always love you.
-Archie'
Veronica stares blankly at the letter as tears begin to form in her eyes. "Excuse me," she says to Pop as she quickly walks back down into the speakeasy and drops to her knees once she reaches the bottom of the steps, crying her eyes out.
"Veronica," Reggie says worriedly as he rushes over to her and crouches down. "Hey, what happened?" he asks.
Veronica tries to form words but instead just hands him the letter that he quickly scans over.
Instead of saying anything Reggie helps Veronica to her feet and wraps his arms around her and holds her tight as she cries. Reggie places his hand on the back of her head and strokes her raven black hair, calming her down.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Reggie asks.
"No," Veronica replies in a hushed voice.
"Okay. If you change your mind, I'm here. I'll always be here," Reggie assures her.
They stand there for a few minutes as Reggie comforts Veronica.
"Thank you, Reggie," Veronica says, "but I should probably go." She steps away from the hug and wipes away the last of her tears.
"Okay," Reggie says. "If you need anything just call."
"I will," Veronica replies. "You should probably head home too and get some rest. It's getting late."
"I will. See you in school tomorrow."
"See ya," Veronica says and then walks up the stairs.
Reggie finishes cleaning off the counters and putting away some cups and heads home.
He texts Veronica to make sure that she's alright. She's not.
The phone rings a few times. Reggie doesn't even know why he's calling Veronica. He knows that he is calling to check up on her but he doesn't quite know if he's calling more for her or for himself.
Veronica answers the phone. "Hello."
"Hey, I was just calling to make sure that everything is okay," Reggie says.
"I'll be okay, thank you though," Veronica says.
"You probably don't want to but you can talk about it if you want. No pressure," Reggie assures her.
There is a long pause before Veronica starts speaking as if she's thinking about what to say. "I just feel so helpless right now. It feels like nothing but everything at the same time," she explains.
"I get that," Reggie says. "I can't imagine what you're going through right now. If there is anything I can do to help just let me know."
"No, nothing right now," Veronica insists. "I'll see you at Pop's tomorrow, okay? I should get some rest."
"Yeah, for sure. I'll see you first thing tomorrow. Goodnight." Reggie says.
"Goodnight." Veronica replies and then hangs up the phone.
As she lays in bed and tries to fall asleep, she can't help but think of Reggie. Shouldn't she be thinking about Archie. Of course she still loves and cares about Archie but there is something about Reggie that Veronica can't quite put her finger on. Maybe it's the way he always texts to make sure that she made it out of Pop's and back home safely. Maybe it's the way he always made sure to help Veronica in all the little ways that he could.
Eventually, Veronica fell asleep and soon after the call ended Reggie was able to too, knowing Veronica would be okay.
The next morning, Reggie got up, got dressed, and headed to Pop's.
He arrived before Veronica did. Down in the speakeasy part of Pop's, Reggie started his daily organizing and sorting of things that were shipped in overnight.
Once Veronica arrived, Reggie had almost finished sorting everything.
"Hey Reggie," Veronica says with a small smile.
"Hey Ronnie. I'm almost done putting away the rest of the drink mixes that arrived overnight."
"Thank you, I really appreciate everything that you do around here," Veronica says.
"Of course, it's not like I have anything better to do," Reggie says with a chuckle.
"You sure? You are literally here all the time. You can take a few days off every once in awhile," Veronica explains.
"Nah, I like to work. It builds character."
Veronica smiles and looks down at the floor. "That's one thing that I like about you so much. You're such a good person. So loyal. So honest."
"You really think so?" Reggie humbly asks.
Veronica's eyes meet his. "Yeah, I know so. You're such a better person then I'll ever be."
"That's not true," Reggie says. "Veronica, you are probably one of the most inspiring people that I know. You're kind and funny and always know how to handle a situation. You bring out the best in people. You bring out the best in me."
Both of them hold eye contact and smile.
"Do you maybe want to get out of here for a bit?" Veronica asks.
"I thought you'd never ask," Reggie says.
Reggie walks around the bar and over to Veronica and they head up the stairs together.
The go outside and get into Reggie's car.
"Where to?" Reggie asks, gripping the steering wheel.
"Let's go for a walk in the park, shall we?" Veronica suggests.
"Sounds good to me," Reggie says as he starts up the engine and drives to Picken's Park. He parks and they get out of the car and start walking. "Why did you choose the park?" he asks.
"I just needed some fresh air," Veronica says, inhaling deeply.
Reggie nods as they continue walking. The park was relatively empty. Of course there was the casual jogger or dog walker but other than that there weren't many people there.
"You know, I really like spending time with you," Veronica says.
Reggie smiles. "I like spending time with you too."
Veronica hesitantly intertwines her hand with his. Of course Reggie doesn't mind but is confused by the sudden gesture.
"Everything okay?" Reggie asks.
"Yeah," Veronica says, "I think I'll be okay."
"Want to talk about it?" Reggie asks.
"It's just the whole Archie thing. Him leaving hurt so much because, yeah, I love him but it also put some things into perspective," Veronica begins to explain.
"Like what?"
"Well, not to be too forward but with you." Veronica stops walking and so does Reggie. "You care in such a different way than Archie did."
"And how did he care?" Reggie questions.
"He cared about me a lot, yes, but our relationship was based solely on lust and a need for each other. Looking back on it, it wasn't healthy for either one of us."
"I'm sorry that you guys didn't work out. I wish you both would've been good for each other. I care about both of you so much and it pains me to see either one of you hurting."
"I don't know why you don't let more people see this side of you," Veronica says.
Reggie raises an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"The soft, caring, loving parts of yourself that you hide when we are in school. I think they are the best things about you."
"I don't try to hide them," Reggie defends himself.
Veronica gives him an unbelieving look.
Reggie sighs. "Okay so maybe I'm not always the nicest at school. I need to defend my title, okay?"
"You can be kind and respected at the same time. Look at Betty for example," Veronica says as they resume walking, "she's one of the kindest people that I know and almost everyone respects her."
Reggie pulls Veronica over to a bench and they sit, still holding hands.
"Veronica, the way people act reflect how they were raised. Betty was raised in a kind, loving household for the majority of her life. I wasn't."
Veronica is now holding Reggie's hand in both of hers. He looks down and smiles and then looks up into Ronnie's eyes.
"I'm sorry that growing up wasn't a great experience. I wish that you were raised in a kind, loving household. The thing is, Reg, we can't change our past, but we can learn from it. Our experiences make us who we are but they don't define us forever," Veronica says and her eyes flicker to Reggie's lips.
Reggie notices and squeezes Veronica's hand almost as reassurance. She leans her head forward and they are almost inches apart but Reggie snaps back into reality and looks away.
"We should probably get back to Pop's," Reggie says and stands up.
"Yeah," Veronica says, looking to the ground and standing up too.
They walk to the car in silence. They arrive at Pop's and head down into the speakeasy.
"Hey," Veronica says once they get downstairs and Reggie stops walking and turns around to face her.
"Yeah?" Reggie asks.
"What was that all about?"
Reggie raises an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Well, we had a good conversation and then I was going to kiss you and then you turned away. Did I do something wrong?" Veronica asks.
"No," Reggie says, "it's just, you and Archie just broke up yesterday. I'm not looking to be anyone's rebound. I care about you, Veronica, a lot, but I think we should take things slow."
Veronica takes a few steps closer to Reggie. "You're right. I guess I just wasn't thinking. I shouldn't have tried to kiss you. Taking things slow is probably the best option right now."
"No, don't apologize. I don't mind that you tried to kiss me. In fact, I want to kiss you, but I just want you to make sure that's what you want too. Not just because the opportunity is there but because you really want to."
Veronica smiles. "Reggie, I really want to kiss you, not as a rebound from Archie but because I truly want to be with you. Is that enough assurance?"
Reggie smiles back. "Yeah, I'd say that's enough assurance."
"Well, in that case." Veronica says and takes a step closer to Reggie. He places a hand on the side of her face and slightly leans down to where their faces are just inches apart. They close their eyes and lean in just a bit more to where their lips meet and kiss.
The kiss was new for the both of them. They both knew that it meant something more than just a kiss. It was new in the sense that it was passionate but not too sensual. It was kind and consensual unlike a lot of other times when their past lovers kissed them by surprise just to kiss them.
They finally separate and Veronica takes a small step back. "Wow," she says, looking into Reggie's eyes.
"Wow is right," Reggie agrees.
"That was..." Veronica stretches out her words, looking for the right thing to say.
"Great?" Reggie asks.
"No," Veronica says, "it was more than great. It was fantastic."
They both stand there smiling at each other but the phone rings and snaps them both back into reality.
Veronica looks over to the phone and then back to Reggie. "Let's get back to work, shall we?"
_____________________
New OTP right here, right now.
I can't wait for January 16 for Riverdale to be back on and to finally see Veggie happen. Hopefully we also get some Choni and Kevin screen time but for now I'm just really excited about Veggie.
If there are spelling errors ummmm oops. I'm not going back to edit right now, just feel free to call me out on it if you want so I can fix it later.
I also just want to thank you guys because we reached 16k reads a few days ago and the number just keeps getting higher and higher so thank you so much for the support. I love you.
Also I've been writing these stories for just over a year now and that's SOOOO wild. I love writing these and I hope to keep writing because I enjoy it so much. It's an escape from the real world and I hope my stories help you guys escape for a bit too because we all need that sometimes.
I hope you all have Happy Holidays and a fantastic start to the new year. I'm so ready for 2019 AKA 20biteen. Although I'm really going to miss the year being called 20gayteen. I've learned so much this year and I wouldn't change a thing even when times weren't the best.
If you liked this story feel free to give it a vote so I know! Also feel free to comment if you have any suggestions, questions, constructive criticism, or if you just wanna chat. I respond to almost all of my comments when I can.
I love you all so much and I hope you have a lovely day❤️