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It takes Veronica Lodge at least 2 shots before she has enough confidence to go show up outside of Archie Andrews’s house. She put on her best black minidress and her favorite pearls from her father before and then waited on his porch after knocking on the door. She takes a deep breath while she waits for Archie to answer the door.
It hasn’t been too long since she and Archie called it quits over wanting different things in life. Veronica wanted to move back to the big city in New York and Archie wanted to have his family life here in Riverdale. So she doesn’t resent him for feeling that way and she knows he doesn’t resent her either. But after giving it lots of thought over the past few days, Veronica isn’t so sure about going back to New York anymore. She isn’t sure if that fast life is even for her at all.
When she thought about leaving her friends behind and going back to nothing in New York, where all her friends were Chad’s friends and would probably hate her for what she did to him, she didn’t want to go back. She didn’t want to leave everyone in Riverdale behind and go to nothing. Betty, her best friend. And the hardest person to leave out of everyone? Archie.
Veronica hated even thinking about not being able to see Archie anymore. She couldn’t believe that she had even gone 7 years without talking to him while she was in New York and he was in the army. She made that mistake once in high school but now she was realizing that she had a chance to not make the same mistake again. She could be here in Riverdale if it meant being with Archie. That is worth it.
So here she is, outside of Archie’s door, ready to tell him all of this. She wants to tell him that she loves him and would stay here to be with him. She wants to give him the house, the family, and the kids. She’s not a New York girl. She’s Archie’s girl.
She smiles brightly when the door finally opens and Archie is there. He looks shocked to see her.
“Hi Archiekins,” she says.
“Ronnie…” he looks around panicked. “What- what are you doing here?”
She smiles again, “I came here to finally talk about things- about us. I think that we were being hasty ending this so fast. It’s always supposed to have been us together, don’t you think? We can make this work.”
“But Ronnie-”
“But nothing. There’s no reason we can’t work,” she smiles. “We didn’t know how we’d make our different versions of the future work, but we don’t have to. I want what you want- a life and family here in Riverdale. With you. I love you Archie.”
She starts to grow nervous when Archie doesn’t answer her right away. He must just be thinking about how to say he loves her back. But he takes way longer than she expects and he still keeps looking around panicked. Then she hears something that turns her entire day around.
“Arch, are you going to come back to bed?” It’s Betty’s voice. She sounds giddy and giggly. “I’m getting bored here without you!”
“I’m an idiot, aren’t I?” Veronica asks and her eyes go wide. “I’m here telling you how I feel about you, but you’re here with Betty in your bed?”
“I’m so sorry about this. I didn’t know how to tell you about this. It’s all just so new, I-” Archie sighs.
“ Our breakup is new,” she says hurt. “It didn’t take you long to jump into bed with Betty, now did it?”
“I thought that we were over for good-”
Veronica’s heart is breaking into a million pieces. The man she loves more than anything in this world doesn’t just not want to be with her, he also chose to be with her best friend instead. She can’t handle hearing any more of this. She quickly turns around from Archie’s door and starts to walk away.
“Ronnie, wait!” Archie calls after her. “Veronica, can we please just talk about this? Please?”
She doesn’t turn around. She keeps walking back towards her car. Her tears are starting and she doesn’t want him to see her cry. She already was humiliated enough today. She wishes she hadn’t started telling him about her feelings before seeing what was going on. She just didn’t ever expect such a thing to happen. No part of her ever thought that Archie wouldn’t be single just weeks after their huge breakup. She thought that he would at least be sadder about their breakup for longer before being able to date someone new.
She spends the entire day crying in her bed and she doesn’t think she’ll ever be able to get up. But it’s harder to stay here and keep thinking about Betty and Archie rolling around in Archie’s bed together. She makes herself get out of bed so that she can get the only thing that might numb this pain even a little- alcohol.
She goes to the Babylonium where her best collection of alcohol is.
Cheryl Blossom hasn’t felt this positive in a long time. She spent most of the last few years cooped up in her house without much contact with others, but ever since Archie and their friends came back into town, she started to get better slowly. She had a dark period then too but it finally is ending and she feels the best that she’s felt in a long time. She’s taking care of Britta and her Nana Rose at home and she’s seeing all of her friends regularly. She’s in a good place again and the only big piece of her life that feels like it’s missing is the girl that she’s always loved more than anything in this world- Toni Topaz.
She messed things up between them terribly at the beginning of the year, but that was when she was in her darkest period. Now that she’s doing well again, she feels good about patching things up with Toni. She goes straight to the Whyte Wyrm where Toni works as a bartender to tell her how she feels. She’s ready to try things again with Toni.
“Cheryl?” Toni asks right when she walks into the bar. “What are you doing here?”
Cheryl smiles happily and comes over to the bar and takes a seat in front of Toni.
“I wanted to talk,” she says.
“About what?” Toni asks and looks confused. She laughs and says, “You look brighter than usual. What’s going on?”
“Something must be in the air. Everything feels brighter than usual,” Cheryl says.
She feels even better that Toni is being so pleasant with her. They haven’t spent much time together since their fight, but Toni looks like she’s finally starting to forgive her.
“There has been so much tragedy around us lately and it’s finally starting to become calmer,” Cheryl explains. “After we lost Polly, everything has felt different.”
“It’s definitely been tough, but what do you mean?” Toni asks.
“I wanted to apologize for what happened at the beginning of the year with us,” Cheryl says. “I overstepped during your pregnancy and I sincerely apologize for how I handled things. You were right to be so upset with me.”
Toni smiles at her and everything feels right between them again. Cheryl thinks about saying more to her- telling her that she wants to be together again. From the way Toni is looking at her, it doesn’t seem like such a crazy idea.
“Thank you for apologizing, Cheryl. I really appreciate it and I’m happy that you’re still in my life,” Toni says.
Cheryl opens her mouth to say what she’s been holding in for so long, but everything comes crashing down when Fangs Fogarty comes out of the back room of the bar. He comes to where Toni is standing and puts his arm around her and kisses her shoulder affectionately. Cheryl feels like she’s falling off of her seat when she sees them together like that. She feels sick to her stomach.
Toni and Fangs are a couple? When did they get together? How did they get together? Cheryl has a million questions but she doesn’t want to know any of the answers. She can’t stop feeling sick. She wants to run out of this bar right now but she can’t with the 2 of them staring at her.
Toni looks panicked and pulls away from Fangs nudging him to stop. This only makes Cheryl feel worse because she doesn’t want to be this case of pity that the happy couple has to hide around because they know this destroys her.
“Cheryl, I’m sorry that you had to find out like this,” Toni says nervously. “I didn’t know how to tell you that Fangs and I are together now.”
“You’re… together?” Cheryl tries to smile. “That is so amazing. How did this happen?”
Toni and Fangs look at each other nervously for a second and then Toni looks at Cheryl.
“Honestly, it just kind of happened I guess?” Toni shrugs her shoulders. She doesn’t look very happy about sharing this news with Cheryl but she pushes through. “We were spending all this time together taking care of Anthony and it made sense for us.”
“Yeah, I hope all of us can be good moving forward. We haven’t told Kevin yet either but we’re planning on it soon,” Fangs says.
The more they talk about this, the more Cheryl’s heart shatters. She pretends to smile but she needs to get out of here. She can’t believe that Toni and Fangs really are together and they’re this happy family raising Anthony together as parents. It all worked out for them and now they’re a real family and Kevin isn’t in the picture anymore either- it’s just Toni and Fangs. Cheryl wants Toni to be happy but this is too much for her to handle.
“Congratulations to you both. You make a lovely couple,” Cheryl says. “I should get going.”
Toni looks worried, “Are you sure? You just got here. I can make you something to drink on the house.”
“No that’s okay. Thank you though. I realized that I made plans to take Britta out for the evening so I should go attend to her. It was nice seeing you both and congratulations again,” Cheryl says.
Right after, she gets up from her seat and rushes out of the bar. Her heart is aching and she starts bawling as soon as she gets out of the building. When she goes home to Thornhill, Britta keeps asking her what’s wrong and Cheryl just lies and goes to her bedroom where she cries over Toni for most of the day.
Hours go by and Cheryl can’t take the pain of thinking about Toni and Fangs as a couple and how they probably fell in love while taking care of Anthony. She needs something to numb the pain even for a little while, and the only thing that can do that is some alcohol. But she can’t go back to Toni’s bar where she has to see the 2 of them together or even just Toni alone. So instead, she goes to the Babylonium to get as many drinks as it takes to make this hurt less.
When Cheryl gets inside of the Babylonium, she goes straight to the bar. But then she sees Veronica Lodge sitting alone at the bar with a drink in her hand. Cheryl is confused but goes to sit next to her.
“Veronica?” Cheryl asks.
“Cheryl? What are you doing here?”
“I needed a drink so I came here,” Cheryl answers. “What about you?”
“I needed a drink too,” Veronica says. “It’s been a long day.”
Cheryl can agree with that. She stares at Veronica who looks like she’s already many drinks in. Veronica looks a bit drunk already. Cheryl wants to be like that too so that she can forget about what she found out today.
“Well I’ll see you around,” Cheryl says and starts to walk away.
Cheryl wonders if it would be easier if she wasn’t alone while she drank tonight. Drinking is supposed to help her forget about Toni but she’s scared that if she drinks all alone, her mind is going to wander and start obsessing over Toni and Fangs again. But she would never suggest anything to Veronica.
Apparently Veronica has the same idea, though. She turns around and calls after her, “Cheryl wait! What if… you stay here and have a drink with me?”
“I wouldn’t mind that,” Cheryl admits and takes a seat next to her. “I was honestly worried that drinking alone would make me sadder.”
“Same,” Veronica says. She calls the bartender over to take Cheryl’s order. When they both have their drinks she turns around to Cheryl. “So what are you so sad about?”
Cheryl sighs. She doesn’t know if she wants to talk about this with Veronica. She doesn’t want people to think she’s pathetic for thinking so much about Toni when they broke up so long ago.
“The girl I have feelings for loves somebody else now and I just found out about it today,” Cheryl admits vaguely.
“Trust me, I can relate to that. I went to confess my feelings to Archie today and got rejected in the worst way possible,” Veronica laughs sadly. Cheryl looks at her curiously. “I found out that he’s seeing Betty now. Just weeks after he and I broke up.”
“What?” Cheryl is shocked. “I can’t believe this!”
“I couldn’t either…” Veronica says and sighs. “But maybe I should’ve seen it coming. Maybe I’ve been a fool this entire time. Archie cheated on me with Betty in high school. I shouldn’t have been surprised by this, but I was so blinded by how much I love him.”
“Veronica, he doesn’t deserve you if he doesn’t appreciate you. To move on so quickly after your breakup with your best friend? He doesn’t respect you,” Cheryl tells her. “You deserve better than Archie and you’re going to find it.”
Veronica feels moved by her words. She stares at Cheryl and finally smiles today after hours of sadness and crying over Archie. It makes her heart race for Cheryl. She was the only person today who made her stop feeling like shit after being rejected.
“Thank you, Cheryl. I really appreciate you saying that to me,” Veronica smiles.
“And I mean it. You are beautiful, smart, and kind. You will find somebody who recognizes that,” Cheryl says.
Veronica bites her lip. She isn’t sure if it’s because she’s been drinking but she feels so touched by Cheryl. They usually don’t talk like this but everything feels different now.
“What about you?” Veronica asks. “You got your heart broken today too?”
“That’s an understatement,” Cheryl says. “I was about to tell Toni how I feel about her today when Fangs walked in and I found out that they’re together now.”
“ Toni and Fangs?” Veronica asks in shock. “I seriously never would have guessed that.”
“Me neither,” Cheryl says. “I guess it makes sense. They’re raising Anthony together. They’re like a family now.”
“Well the same thing applies to you, okay? If Toni doesn’t see how amazing you are, then she doesn’t deserve you either. You’ll find a girl who does,” Veronica says.
“I don’t know if I will. Or if I even want to,” Cheryl admits sadly. “All I wanted was Toni and I messed that up so now she’s with Fangs. It isn’t her fault. I’m the one who ruined us. We haven’t been together in years. I can’t fault her for moving on with him, but it hurts anyways.”
“That’s completely normal,” Veronica says. “But you should want to find somebody someday. You are a total catch, Cheryl. It won’t be a problem at all.”
Cheryl finally laughs and Veronica feels relieved that she could cheer Cheryl up in the same way. They keep talking and ordering more drinks at the bar. Soon enough, Cheryl starts to feel pretty drunk too.
“You know what? Who gives a damn about Archie and Toni?” Veronica suddenly says. “We don’t need them. Look at us. Look at you, Cheryl. You’re sexy as hell.”
Cheryl now blushes from drinking so much. Veronica has drank a lot too and being alone with Cheryl is starting to make her think about just how hot Cheryl Blossom really is. She spent so much time obsessing over being with Archie that she didn’t pay attention to her. Veronica had always found girls attractive too but she had never done anything more than kissing one of her friends back home in New York.
“You too V,” Cheryl says.
She looks down at the cleavage revealed by Cheryl’s low shirt and starts to feel hot inside at her center. She feels more attracted to Cheryl than she’s ever been before. She feels so lonely whenever she thinks about Archie and Betty. Suddenly the best thing she can think of doing is kissing Cheryl. That thought makes her feel good inside.
She doesn’t think about what might happen if she tries this and Cheryl rejects her. Her ego would be so wounded from 2 rejections in a day. But she leans in anyways and surprise kisses Cheryl on the lips. Cheryl is shocked and doesn’t kiss back at first. She looks at Veronica with shocked eyes.
“I’m sorry-” Veronica says.
Cheryl shakes her head, “No it’s okay. I liked it.”
Veronica feels relieved when Cheryl leans in and kisses her again. She kissed back and it starts slow but turns hot and heavy. She grabs Cheryl by her shirt and pulls her in closer so she can kiss her. Cheryl runs her hands on Veronica’s hips and kisses her harder. Veronica moans into her mouth and starts getting hotter at her center. This isn’t like when she kissed her friend in New York. Veronica wants to do even more with Cheryl.
“Do you want to go to my place?” Cheryl suddenly asks and Veronica nods.
They stop kissing and laugh while they go outside of the Babylonium to call a taxi back to Cheryl’s house.