
Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/13894311.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      F/M
  Fandom:
      Riverdale_(TV_2017)
  Relationship:
      Archie_Andrews/Veronica_Lodge
  Character:
      Veronica_Lodge, Archie_Andrews
  Additional Tags:
      Romance, Angst, varchie, Seduction, Veronica's_Bedroom, Revelations,
      Varchie's_First_Time, My_First_Varchie_Fanfic, Emotions, Jealousy, I
      haven't_gotten_the_hang_of_tags_yet
  Series:
      Part 1 of Varchie_Stories
  Stats:
      Published: 2018-03-07 Chapters: 8/8 Words: 10508
****** Every Minute ******
by ForASecondThereWedWon
Summary
     Originally posted on Fanfiction.net. Expanding on the events of the
     season one finale, Veronica brings Archie back to her bedroom. I
     thought this scene needed a little bit of a punch to rationalize the
     characters' choices/to make me give a damn about them when all I
     really want to see is Bughead. Rated E for a night passed between
     Archie and Veronica that's not just hot, but intimate.
***** Für Veronica *****
                                       I
Liar, liar, liar, Veronica’s brain screeched as she pulled Archie further into
her room, kissing him impatiently. Why was he so hung up on worrying about her
mom hearing them? He’d clearly demonstrated he didn’t feel the same qualms
about being naively obvious in other aspects of his life. Like when he was
staring at Betty and Jughead kissing, with that small town rom-com look on his
face; it screamed ‘There she is, the one who got away!’
Veronica was mostly annoyed because, early on, she’d done her damnedest to push
those two together and now, when she wanted him, he was honing in on her best
friend. He’d denied it to her face. Liar!
She pushed away from Archie’s chest, trailing her fingers down to his abdomen
before yanking her arm out of his reach.
“Be right back, Archiekins.” She stared into his surprised face with her flat
cat eyes. Who knew he’d turn out to be the manipulator, the deceiver, the femme
fatale, when she was the one who looked the part? Veronica just had to make
sure this night was as hollow for her as it was for him. She would act out her
role perfectly on the surface, but feel nothing inside. The alternative was to
allow Archie to make her a shade of Betty.
She turned on her heel and rocked her hips from side to side as she walked away
from Archie. At the door of her walk-in closet, she looked back and gave him a
sultry wink before disappearing inside.
In the small space, Veronica’s façade cracked and she felt her face collapsing.
She sunk down against her door, resting her forehead on her knees and taking
deep breaths. She had brought Archie here. She was the one in control.
When it came down to the crunch, nobody ever picked her. Her father picked his
stupid corporate maneuvers over their future together. Her mother picked her
slippery, back alley real estate deal over Veronica’s trust and respect. If
Betty were available, Veronica was sure that’s who Archie would be with right
now. Veronica had to pick herself for once.
She stood and riffled through a drawer brimming with satin. The nightie she was
after slipped between her fingers like a sharp knife through sushi. When her
mother had seen it, she’d been scandalized. Veronica snorted at her mom’s
ability to be so morally rigid about this and yet so crooked when it came to
protecting her father’s interests. She had told her mother she only bought it
to wear over a white cotton T and jeans, capitalizing on the ‘90s trends that
were suddenly back in fashion and unlikely to return again while Veronica was
young enough to fully embrace them.
Veronica pulled off her clothes and slipped the negligee over her head.
Normally she wouldn’t leave her things lying on the floor of her closet―if her
mother had coached her in the joys of spending, she’d also impressed upon her
the responsibility of wardrobe stewardship―but she reminded herself that she
wasn’therself tonight.
She stepped out of the closet to see Archie looking at a photograph on her
dresser. He had taken his jacket off. Veronica clicked the door shut behind
her, making him turn. She was angry that his brown eyes looked so honest now.
“I―Ronnie―I―oh man…”
Archie’s eyes stroked her from head to toe and back up. Veronica’s heartrate
picked up and her stiffened nipples felt sensitive as the material brushed over
them. It was her signature royal blue with a neckline low enough to put the ‘V’
in ‘Veronica’ and a severely straight hem that made the distance between it and
her mid-thigh look like a mile.
She raised one of the eyebrows that had been crafted with more intention and
artistry than the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
“Haven’t you ever seen a girl in her pajamas before, Archie?”
Archie tucked his chin and lifted both eyebrows.
“You and I both know that isn’t pajamas.”
Veronica shrugged and sat on the edge of her bed, crossing her legs carefully
so they would look as long as possible. Internally, she was already exhausted.
In the safe, quiet moments when she daydreamed, she’d thought about her first
time with Archie happening spontaneously, with excitement, and nerves, and none
of the orchestration Veronica was trying to pull off tonight.
Seeing Veronica seated seemed to hand back some of Archie’s ego and she watched
his posture relax. Apparently a girl who didn’t look like she was about to
stalk towards him and pounce like a wild cat wasn’t a sexual priority, because
Archie actually looked kind of distracted.
He looked back over his shoulder at the collection of frames she had on her
dresser.
“I didn’t know you could play the piano. All you ever do with the Pussycats is
sing.”
“What’s the matter? Worried that dating two Pussycat pianists will start to
look like a fetish?”
Archie rolled his eyes and crossed the room to sit next to her.
“No, you pervert.”
Veronica smirked but Archie was still looking at her so she nodded her head
slowly and explained.
“I can’t play the piano, but I can play the part of someone who can.”
Archie looked confused in his adorable way. Watching his face made Veronica
feel sick. His honesty is an act!
“You’d make a great spy, Ronnie. If you were ever interrogated, it would take
so long to get the truth out of you that they’d probably just give up.”
Veronica laughed, surprised.
“I know certain pieces. Für Elise, Bach’s Majorthis and Minor that, some slower
works of Gershwin’s. Basically anything straightforward enough to be memorized
but never read off the page.”
Archie shook his head.
“Veronica, that’s incredible. But why?”
She leaned back on her hands, unconsciously opening up her body language.
“Because a daughter with a pretty face and a classical repertoire is a great
prop at dinners that are really meetings,” Veronica rocked her head to one side
like an old fashioned metronome, “that are really deals,” she rocked it back
the other way, “that are really fraud.” She looked sideways at Archie.
“That’s messed up.” Archie looked genuinely pained. Veronica bit the inside of
her lip. She shrugged.
“But I bet you could play the fuck out of Für Elise.”
Veronica’s jaw dropped.
“Go wash your mouth out with apple pie, you despoiled all-American! I didn’t
even know you could swear.” She leaned her shoulder into Archie’s. “But you’re
right. I could.”
***** Muse to My Ears *****
                                      II
Archie laughed and cautiously twined his fingers into Veronica’s, looking
nervously into her eyes. There was a struggle in her face that had no reason to
be there, as far as he could tell. Something wasn’t right. Something about this
whole evening wasn’t right. There was an uncomfortable edge to Veronica’s
sexiness that made Archie feel like he was sitting there with a prostitute on
her first night doing it for money. (He’d watched the scene in Pretty
Womanwhere Julia Roberts tells Richard Gere her tragic backstory… before his
mom had noticed his seven-year-old self lurking in the doorway of the TV room.)
It was hard to say what was weirder though: Veronica laying on the sex appeal
even thicker than usual, or seeing the persona he’d come to know as Veronica
Lodge slowly peel back in ways he wasn’t expecting. Archie wasn’t sure when
he’d become the guy who was more interested in the first, but it’d been that
way for him since the previous summer. Miss Grundy had wanted him and Archie’s
head had been turned so fast, he’d never had a chance to figure out more about
her until it got to the point that his friends had to do it for him because
they thought he was in danger. It was a little different with Val―she was so
awesome and they were both into music―but it took them breaking up (followed by
the brutal rejection on Jughead’s birthday) for Archie to see that he hadn’t
really known her at all. Cheryl was a mistake he easily could have made―that
body, that confidence, that red, red mouth―if the fact that the girl was so
obviously pure evil hadn’t deterred him.
Veronica too had pulled him in dick first, but when Archie considered it, he
felt they’d actually gotten a lot of the sexual tension out of the way with
that first kiss in one of Thornhill’s closets on the night of the dance. They’d
established a friendship since then, but whenever Archie watched her, in person
or in his mind’s eye, she was never the same self he’d seen last. When it came
down to it, he was certain he’d never know anyone as well as he knew Betty.
After the others he’d been with this year, Betty would be an emotional palate
cleanser. It would be her because it was supposed to be her. Seeing her with
Jughead was wrong. It was so clear to Archie. Why wasn’t it clear to everyone?
Oldest of friends! Girl next door!
But Betty wasn’t waiting for him like she’d waited before, which had been
enough to snap Archie out of it. He’d thought moving forward with Veronica
would cement the idea that the image of him and Betty was only a fantasy. If he
and Veronica broke up after this, she would be as ok with it as he would. She
wasn’t fragile and emotional like Betty.
Liar, liar, liar, he thought, watching her resistant brown eyes. He had to stop
giving himself permission not to care by treating her like a cardboard cut-out
instead of a person. Because really he did care. Veronica was there for him
when Betty stopped texting, drifting down the Blossom case rabbit hole. When he
needed Jughead to have his back, but he was off with Betty instead. When others
didn’t take his passion for music seriously and he had to face his own personal
horror, stage fright, sitting behind that mic alone.
His hand tightened around hers and Veronica looked down at it.
She was like that Billy Joel song: frequently kind and suddenly cruel. She
wasn’t the fake Betty Archie had held in his mind for so long. She wasn’t like
the actual Betty Archie had to let go her own way. Veronica was real. She was
real and she was here.
“I’d love to hear you play sometime.”
Veronica tossed her hair over her shoulder.
“Sure, when our crime fighting careers are over.” She tilted her head. “I
wonder what Bruce Wayne did for a hobby.”
Archie felt like a weight had been lifted and was enjoying just being near her
exponentially more with every moment that passed. He laughed, his chest
vibrating with the sound and the speed of his racing heart.
“You remind me of Bruce Wayne.”
Veronica stared at him.
“Because I’m rich?”
Archie shook his head vehemently.
“No, because you help people when you don’t have to. You show up for people.
Betty, Cheryl, Ethel, Jughead…”
“Yeah, I know what a kindness he considers it that I broke and entered his
dad’s trailer.”
“First of all, that was both of us. And second, he’ll get over it. Jughead
needs something to be pissed off about so he doesn’t have to start buying his
clothes in a colour other than black.”
Veronica smiled but looked down. Archie felt his own smile slipping.
“What is it?”
“What about you, Archiekins? Have I ever shown up for you?”
Something in her tone was self-demeaning and Archie frowned.
“Of course you have. I look for your face every morning at school. I count on
you without even realizing it.” Archie’s eyes scanned the room as he struggled
to show her, to tell her. “You made my music a duet when it would have failed
as a solo act. You’ve been my… my…”
“Groupie?”
“Muse. Definitely muse.”
She smiled, replying in a teasing voice. “I know you mean it as a compliment,
but I think being a muse is kind of a passive role for women since the muse
generates the idea, then the creator, typically a man, gets all the―”
Archie leaned forward quickly and pressed his lips to Veronica’s. Her mouth was
warm and his felt comfortable against it, resting on her fuller bottom lip like
a meandering Sunday walker on a park bench. He had kissed her so firmly, he
couldn’t tell if she was responding, so he pulled back.
“―credit,” she finished.
Her eyelids flickered up and down and Archie looked down and grinned, mostly to
himself, at the thought that Veronica was surprised by a kiss after they both
knew she’d brought him to her bedroom for a lot more than that.
“You’re wrong if you think you don’t get any credit. You should try looking at
the faces in the audience instead of through them the next time we perform
together.” Archie smiled at her. “They’re always looking at you.”
Veronica rolled her eyes and flopped straight back onto the bed.
“I hate to break it to you, Archiekins, but that’s the influence of the
Pussycat uniform, not my supressed musical talent.”
Archie laughed and glanced down at her, trying to keep his gaze far from the
hem of her nightgown, which had seemed slippery enough to expose her completely
if she started shifting around.
“I can’t deny that’s probably part of it, but you’re magnetic, Ronnie. Really.”
“Yeah, the pole of the magnet that’s the same as whatever everyone else’s is
around here. My mere presence is enough to force them away.” She made a shooing
gesture with her hand.
Archie laid back next to her, not quite letting their arms touch, though their
hands were still tangled together. He looked at her out of the corner of his
eye; she was staring at the ceiling, so he kept his head turned that way too.
“Not when you’re singing.”
The duvet rustled and Archie looked eagerly towards Veronica. Her back remained
flat to the bed, but her legs were now curled up towards him and her face was
turned to his. Her steady brown eyes were waiting. With the vibrant blue satin
below her and her black hair spread out, Veronica looked weightless―as though
she were suspended in water. And Archie was breathing, breathing shallowly,
although he was drifting at the bottom of the ocean.
***** Hot Surfaces *****
                                      III
Veronica’s bed was a lot smaller with Archie on it. Or maybe it was bigger now
that he was there. Looking at him with her head horizontal definitely made him
seem bigger. Although, he was also horizontal, so he should look pretty much
the same as when they were both standing up. But he didn’t. He looked big… and
close. And his hair looked like the last stretch of the sun passing over her
bedspread on its fall off the edge of the Earth. If she kept looking at him,
Veronica worried that she’d fall off the edge of the Earth herself.
Her room was like a panic room. A best-case-scenario panic room. A vacuum,
clear of all other things, allowing Archie to really think about her, look at
her, and talk to her. It was almost unnerving to have his undivided attention.
Of course, she always felt like he listened when she spoke to him, but this
wasn’t the same because right now she knew for a fact that he had nowhere else
to be, and that there was nothing to interrupt them. He also wasn’t wearing his
mask of concerned empathy that occasionally made Veronica want to throw up; it
seemed so unlikely that anyone could be that compassionate all the time.
Archie was looking at her kind of intensely and Veronica had the kneejerk
reaction that maybe she should mention Betty. For some reason, the earnest way
he was staring made Veronica feel guilty, like she wasn’t supposed to be there,
she wasn’t supposed to get the guy. At least, not this guy. This good,
wholesome Andrews boy who was pride of the town―the state, if he pursued a
college football scholarship. This guy who might always belong, just a little
bit, to Betty Cooper.
Veronica didn’t know if holding Archie virtually in isolation was what it took
for him to see her without the shadow of Betty smudged in the corner of his
eye, but she was definitely feeling an intimacy with him now that a hundred
rounds of seven minutes in heaven couldn’t hope to generate. That first kiss
had been hot and exciting, but it was a flame that burned like a short match―so
quick it didn’t even leave a glow when you closed your eyes. The kiss Archie
had just given her was like lying on your back on the hot surface of your
driveway (or the roof of your luxury Upper East Side apartment complex,
whatever the case may be) on an infinite summer evening. It warmed Veronica
unexpectedly, seeped right into her bones, and it lingered.
She didn’t have such a high regard for Archie’s prior romantic experiences that
she thought he could manifest a kiss like that out of thin air unless he
actually meant it. Which meant… which meant…
Veronica pried her shoulder up from the bed and rolled to face Archie
completely. His eyes were on her immediately and she was flattered that he’d
only been looking at the ceiling as a pretense; she could tell he really wanted
to be looking at her. She leaned into him, watching Archie’s gaze dart between
her eyes and her mouth, like a tennis spectator. His nose brushed her cheek.
She could just see, as an experiment, if the next kiss was the same as the last
one. Then she’d know if it was a fluke…
They connected. Like tug-of-war, Archie and Veronica pulled back and forth,
each one pressing their mouth more firmly whenever the other started to pull
away. Veronica found she was inhaling whenever she could, and not normally, but
like she was preparing to be timed in a breath-holding contest―an underwater
one, judging by the way her legs were suddenly straightening and fluttering
towards Archie’s.
She thought he was playing it very safe. Drawn into the kiss, Archie had
shifted onto his side as well, but after his hand found her waist, it didn’t
stray either above or below. Contrary to putting her off, Veronica found she
was more excited, more eager to continue. Archie was obviously playing it safe,
but he was not playing it cool; the natural heat of his hand combined with the
friction his palm created, rubbing around almost to her back, and then almost
to her stomach. His actions were tight and controlled, but Veronica could sense
the moment of snapping approaching.
Gently, she pressed her knee into the thigh of his upper leg, forcing it away
from her, then laid her own thigh down in its place, stroking forward. The
denim of his jeans was soft but stiff against her bare skin. She wondered if
anything else would feel like that.
Veronica wrapped her arm around Archie’s neck and felt him draw her in, his
hand holding firmly against the middle of her back. She shifted to deepen the
kiss, letting her leg drag up against Archie’s at the same time, until the
hardened ridge of his erection kneaded her thigh.
Archie groaned and pulled back, panting. Veronica frowned and slipped her leg
off of his.
“What’s wrong? Am I going too fast, or…?” She tried to hold his gaze as she
waited for an answer, but Archie was busy looking all over the place.
“Nothing’s wrong. It’s just… wow,” his eyes scanned down over her chest to the
warm skin of her almost-totally-exposed thigh, “this is way too tempting.”
He looked up and Veronica was hit by how much friendlier a shade of brown
Archie’s eyes seemed to be than her own. She raised an eyebrow.
“It’s supposed to be tempting.” she ran a hand down his chest and felt Archie’s
heart slamming back against it. “That’s why they call it seduction.”
Archie laughed softly.
“You’re very convincing. I almost feel like I shouldn’t let you speak because
you might tell me all kinds of things.”
“Suddenly I feel like the bad guy. Am I Catwoman to you?”
“I wasn’t thinking it, but if you went into that closet again and came back out
in a shiny black bodysuit, I wouldn’t be surprised. Or complaining.”
Veronica rolled her eyes.
“Is that all guys get out of her character? The cat suit?” Archie opened his
mouth, but Veronica pressed her fingers to his lips. “Rhetorical. I was talking
about how persuasive Catwoman is. Manipulative. Like, leading the hero off the
path of innocence and integrity.”
Archie’s mouth spread into a smile Veronica found very unsettling as it seemed
to say he knew something she didn’t―a position she never liked finding herself
in and generally avoided at all costs.
“You think I’m a virgin. That’s what this is about. You’re just using Catwoman
to distract me.”
Veronica blushed deeply. Archie propped himself up on an elbow, looking cocky.
She was losing her edge, and couldn’t believe it was resulting in her
struggling not to smile.
“No, I know that you aren’t. Besides the fact that I was informed of all the
Grundy-gate details, you just… you just don’t…”
“I don’t… what?”
“You know you don’t look like you’d be a virgin.”
Archie grinned.
“Are you saying you think I’m hot?”
Veronica rolled her eyes again, exaggeratedly. Archie’s smile looked like it
was going to stick that way if he held it any longer.
“Well then you don’t look like you’d be a virgin either.”
“Well maybe I’m not.”
Archie’s face turned serious.
“Wait, are you?”
“Huh. Look who once again has the upper hand.” She smiled sweetly at him and
Archie groaned, pressing his face into the duvet.
***** Play it Again *****
                                      IV
Archie really didn’t have a preference either way. He could never make the
mistake of assuming Veronica’s body and the choices she made with and about it
were anyone’s other than her own. He teased her because, beyond knowing she
could take it, he had a hunch that she would like it.
Veronica was like a queen; she liked witnessing happiness, peace, and
prosperity in all she oversaw, but she had an inflexible confrontational streak
that she kept as razor sharp as a sword.
She covered her face with one hand, then pulled it away, swiping back a lock of
her hair.
“I really didn’t mean to get into a discussion about your virginity.” She
laughed anxiously. “I’m just starting to realize that I’ve played this evening
all wrong.”
Archie’s eyebrows pulled together.
“Played it wrong? So rewind it. Go back and play it again.” He smiled at her
seriously though he was being playful.
“I thought you were more of a live performer.” She raised an eyebrow. “Once the
song’s started, you can’t just stop and try it a different way.”
“You know, Ronnie,” he looked down, then back up at her, “you really have a way
with words… but if you’re planning to continue with the music metaphor, I’d
think again, because this is one area where I can keep up with you.”
Veronica turned her head to stare up at the smooth white ceiling.
“This is wrong. You aren’t what I thought,” she mumbled.
Archie was disturbed to see a shining track down her cheek.
“What? What do you mean? Did I do something wrong? Do you want me to go?” He
reached for her hand and held it tightly.
She shook her head steadily back and forth, but wouldn’t meet his eye.
“You don’t have to try so hard, Ronnie. I hope I didn’t make you feel like you
had to do that.”
Veronica wiped carefully below each eye before turning to him.
“No, it was never you. It was… oh god, this is going to sound so petty…”
She seemed to lose her nerve, so Archie jumped in.
“Please, just tell me, Ronnie. I thought we were really getting somewhere
tonight. I feel like I’m finally seeing behind the curtain of Veronica Lodge:
The Great and Powerful.” He smiled at her.
“It’s Betty.”
“Betty?” Archie tried to put together how Betty could have influenced
Veronica’s decision to seduce him. “Don’t tell me this is another of your
kidnap and confession schemes, because I’m pretty sure I have nothing to
confess.”
Veronica sighed and tilted her head towards Archie until he could feel a light
pressure against his chest. Her expression was thoughtful.
“It might be, if you think a scheme stands any chance against true love.”
Archie was speechless for a minute. How to even begin denying Veronica’s
assumptions about what was between him and Betty when Archie hadn’t even been
sure himself?
“I thought that…” Archie ran a hand through his hair, uncomfortable. “… there
might be something there. But I was wrong, ok, Ronnie? I was wrong.”
He looked down into her eyes, but was met with a poker face. She started to
pull her hand out of his, then paused before squeezing tighter. He thought it
meant she was giving him a chance.
“You know that I’ve known Betty forever, but what you probably don’t
realize―since I know you’ve spent a lot of time in your own head this
evening―is that I don’t have anything like this with her.” Archie gestured
between them, knowing he was missing some word that would make his point
clearer.
Veronica’s lips parted, closed, and parted again.
“Intimacy.”
“Intimacy.” Archie nodded.
Veronica groaned, but she was smiling slightly now.
“Intimacy is the void I’ve been trying to fill with blatant seduction since I
got you through the door.” She laughed and Archie’s heart jumped.
“I mean,” Archie grinned as he felt his body heat up, “I like it, but I feel
like it’s not really us.”
“Us?” Veronica’s smile grew.
“Yeah,” Archie replied, as if it was obvious. He traced his fingers over her
shoulder and felt her quiver. “There’s more to the Veronica Lodge I know than
this. She’s way too comfortable around me to need to put on a character,
especially when we’re alone together.”
Veronica nodded.
“Very alone.”
“And very together.” He wiggled his fingers through hers and she shook her
head, smiling. “You can practically smell the intimacy.”
“And it smells like Chanel number five.”
Archie snorted.
“Alright, Uptown Girl.” He took his hands from her and pulled himself up with
his abdominals so that he was back to sitting near the edge of her bed. Archie
peeled his t-shirt off and held it out to Veronica. She reached for his hand
and he helped her up beside him. She took the t-shirt.
“What’s this? You want to see my Archie Andrews impression? I’m also going to
need a guitar and a football helmet.”
“Man, a pianist anda comedian.”
She looked at him flatly and raised an eyebrow.
Archie rolled his eyes.
“I want you to be comfortable. If you feel more yourself in―” he couldn’t keep
his eyes from roaming over her ‘pajamas’ “―what you have on, then that’s fine
too.”
Veronica’s mouth dropped open. She snatched the t-shirt from his hand.
“And give you this shirt back, cutting short the experience of having a half-
naked Archie Andrews in my bedroom?”
Archie blushed as Veronica’s gaze crept over his torso.
“Besides, I’d like the chance to ‘feel more myself’ as your girlfriend.”
She slipped gracefully off the edge of the bed.
“Ok, don’t look.” She reached for the hem of her nightgown.
“Oh, I’m definitely going to look.” Archie grinned at her.
Veronica strode away from him and flipped the lights off. It was dim, but he
could still see her by the light coming through her translucent curtains. He
was immediately at war with himself over whether or not he should point this
out to her.
Unfortunately, Veronica seemed aware of the fact that she was still pretty
visible.
“I’ll try not to look, just stay out here. Don’t change in the closet.”
“I wasn’t even considering it. You’d probably find a picture of me posing at a
fashion show with Jay-Z and figure out I was exactly the girl you thought I was
up until about an hour ago.”
Archie smiled. Veronica’s face looked happily undistracted.
“Not possible, but if you know Jay-Z, I’m absolutely not above exploiting that
connection to further my music career.”
Veronica laughed.
“Just a fictional example, but I’ll bring you as my plus one if an invite to
one of his parties ever arrives in the mail.”
“That sounds very fair.” Archie relaxed, leaning back on his hands. Veronica’s
expression turned devious.
“Then, in the interest of fairness…”
She walked past him, right up in front of the drapes so that Archie could see
the swing of her straight hair (its shadow as black as reality), but not her
face. The flow of material along her body, but not the colour of the satin. She
dropped his t-shirt to the ground (he knew because she hadn’t been holding
anything else) then drew her nightgown up over her head.
Archie clenched the duvet with both hands. The light through the drapes showed
Veronica’s body in perfect silhouette.
***** First Day, First Night *****
                                       V
Veronica took a second to hold the neck of Archie’s t-shirt up over her nose
and inhale the smell of him. The scent reminded her of the first day of school,
but not because she was picking up notes of shiny new metal locks or unusually
delicious sandwiches made by moms and dads who weren’t yet creatively exhausted
from packing daily lunches for lazy teenagers. It just smelt like something
fresh and hopeful.
Veronica started feeling nostalgic for her first day at Riverdale High and
every pleasant thing the scent of Archie called to mind. She knew it was
selfish to wish herself back there, since the rest of the student population
had been feeling the still-fresh loss of Jason Blossom on that day―she just
hadn’t known it yet. Considering that, Veronica couldn’t quite imagine herself
back to a time before she was as neck-deep in this town’s problems as everyone
else she knew. She really had become one of them, and it hadn’t been nearly as
painful as she’d thought.
Archie’s bare skin glowed dimly in front of her, like a nightlight. Now that
she knew his heart and mind were Betty-free, Archie struck her as a man reborn.
And she was the girl in his t-shirt.
She crossed to her bed, trying not to walk awkwardly as she felt the fabric
skim her bum; there was definitely even less room for error in movement than
with her negligee. Archie straightened up on the bed and she moved close to him
until his knees pressed into the front of her thighs. Veronica brushed her hair
behind her ear and felt the hem of Archie’s shirt slide up her hip. She dropped
her arm.
“So do we still have it?” His voice was warm and full, wrapping around her and
sending goosebumps up the backs of her legs.
“Our intimacy?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know. Whisper something to me.” Veronica smiled at him, trying not to
make the request sound too sensual.
Archie shifted to the edge and curled his fingers to her, calling her in.
Veronica leaned forward and felt his fingers press into the bottom seam of his
t-shirt where it hovered over her upper upper thigh. He turned his head quickly
and Veronica almost jumped, feeling his lips bump against her ear.
“I missed you,” he whispered.
Veronica laughed softly.
“When?”
“On the morning after Jughead’s party. I woke up and you weren’t there.”
Veronica drew back so she could look him in the eye.
“Well, if you were thinking we were going to make out again, don’t worry, you
didn’t miss anything. I would have felt weird about doing that with Jughead
just downstairs.” She paused. “I mean, now that I know he was sitting just
downstairs. Knowing he could have heard us in your room would have made that
extremely awkward walk of shame even worse.”
Archie laughed.
“He does have kind of a Cheshire Cat vibe. You can’t tell when he’s going to
show up and you never exactly know whether he’s on your side or dicking you
around.”
“God, that is so true.”
Archie took his hand away from her and rubbed it up and down his leg,
anxiously.
“I just would have liked to see you. I liked knowing you were there. I think I
actually slept better.” He gave a short, embarrassed laugh.
Veronica wondered what could have been troubling Archie’s dreams that he slept
poorly otherwise. Obviously, the murder of a teenage boy was still hanging like
a black cloud over the town, but day to day, they’d all become partway numb to
the horror of it. Quizzing him about his worries and sleeping habits felt a
little too clinical to Veronica―it was more the kind of intimate conversation a
psychiatrist and their patient would have―which wasn’t really the atmosphere
she and Archie were going for.
“Huh,” she said. She stepped back from Archie and walked around the side of the
bed furthest from him. Honestly, it felt challenging and unnatural to leave him
sitting there, looking like an Abercrombie model at a photoshoot, but he’d just
almost-seen her naked (thank god for backlighting) and Veronica wanted to space
out the evening’s overtly ‘fuck me’ moments. Archie turned to watch her and she
whipped the bed covers back with a flourish.
“What are you doing, Ronnie?”
“What does it look like I’m doing?”
Archie loosely threw himself backwards on the bed, making Veronica smile.
“Um, going to bed, I guess? Since you are in your pajamas.”
Veronica had climbed onto the mattress and paused on her knees.
“You’re willing to call this‘pajamas’ but scoff at what I had on before?”
“It’s more comfortable.”
“It’s shorter.”
“So now you can kick your legs while you sleep. Like a dog does.”
He rolled onto his stomach, watching her with his bottom lip held in his teeth.
“Watch it or I’ll make you sleep on the floor, Archiekins. Then we’ll see who
feels like a dog.”
Veronica smiled into her lap as she sat and pulled the covers over her legs.
“Nah.” Archie pushed himself up. “You’d miss me.”
Veronica rested her head against the wall and smiled.
“Have I ever said that I missed you?”
Archie grinned and started to crawl towards her.
“No, but you want to.”
Veronica’s heart pounded as Archie got close. Smaller. The bed was definitely
smaller with him on it. She drew her legs up towards her under the sheet and
held her knees.
“Then why haven’t I?”
Archie shook his head. He stopped beside her.
“No idea. I used up my best words with the music metaphor thing before.”
Veronica laughed.
“So now what?”
“I give you an opportunity by re-establishing our intimacy.”
Archie glanced down and slowly moved one arm to plant his fist on the mattress
on the other side of Veronica’s hips. He looked up and Veronica struggled to
absorb as much of his face as the dim light in the room allowed. His eyes
looked dark and animal.
She put her palm on his smooth chest and was surprised at how warm he’d stayed
without a shirt. Veronica shuffled forward, collapsing her legs flat under the
blankets, then twisted so that her covered shoulder touched Archie’s bare one.
She pressed her mouth to the muscle prominent between his shoulder and neck and
felt Archie’s exhale in her hair. She turned her head to let it rest there,
leaving little space between her face and Archie’s.
His hand stroked lightly up her waist and she wondered if he would have
preferred the texture of satin. Then again, guys were known for loving their
girlfriends in their shirts above anything else―at least, that’s what film and
television had taught Veronica…
His hand skipped up her back and into her hair. Holding her gently by the back
of her neck, Archie eased Veronica’s head forward, misjudging the distance so
that her lips brushed against his.
Before he could seal the connection, Veronica moved her lips lightly against
his.
“I missed you.”
Then she held still and let Archie come to her. His mouth was warm and soft
like the cotton on her back.
***** Phosphorescent *****
                                      VI
Veronica was pure magic. Archie couldn’t explain how else he was managing to
stay on hands and knees without just diving down on top of her and getting his
hand up her skirt. Hem? Hard to say since all she was wearing was his t-shirt.
Either way, something about the touch of her hand on his chest was keeping him
from going full-horizontal. Supernatural compulsion felt possible. Everything
felt possible.
His nudged his mouth against hers a little harder and she parted her lips,
slicking her tongue across his before Archie himself knew what he’d been after.
He was necessarily always above her when they kissed (because of the height
difference) but being above her in bed was a whole other thing. Just thinking
that they were technically in bed together got him hard. Not that things would
go that far, but she’d definitely invited him to spend the night. Plus he’d
seen her naked, or would have, if he had night vision or those sweet binoculars
from Jurassic Park.
Now it sort of felt like she was wearing the wrong amount. Naked was a lot to
deal with right away (and awoke instincts that made Archie feel like a
primitive asshole after all the effort they were trying to put into being with
each other without being with each other), but half-naked, as Veronica
currently was, might have been even worse. He couldn’t touch any more skin than
he already was without divesting her completely. There was no in between. If he
started trying to get her out of his shirt, he’d be committed.
Instead, Archie dug his fingers deeper into Veronica’s hair, which made the air
he was only sometimes remembering to breathe smell intoxicatingly like lilacs.
The hand she had on Archie’s chest starting rubbing against him. His dick
jerked when her nail scraped his nipple. He wanted to bury his nose in her hair
and ask her to marry him. Not really. Maybe a little bit. Her hair was so black
he forgot he knew anyone else with black hair. It was so black that he started
wondering, if they had kids, whose hair gene would get passed on?
Veronica’s other hand tickled the back of his neck when she started playing
with the ends of his hair. He didn’t think it was fair that that spot gave him
such a jolt of pleasure; erogenous zones should be secret, not broadcast with a
beacon of phosphorescent red hair.
Archie couldn’t hang out in sexual limbo any longer, with Veronica’s mouth
working against his, and her hands on his skin making him feel flushed and…
swollen. He sat back―further aroused when Veronica followed him with her lips.
For a moment, he just wanted to keep bringing her forward, right out from under
the covers and onto his lap, where he could rub himself against her until they
both screamed.
Setting that idea aside as a little extreme, Archie tore at the sheets covering
her instead. Veronica got the idea and kicked so eagerly to be rid of them that
Archie had to get out of her way to prevent injury.
Archie panted and looked down at Veronica’s long legs.
“So… this is ok?”
“God. Please. Yes. Go, Archie. I was starting to think you weren’t interested
after all.”
Archie sat back and tilted his head, staring Veronica down until she smirked.
“That comes across a little manipulative, Ronnie.”
Her expression hardened.
“Maybe I would mean it like that if I thought there was no other way to get you
to touch me.”
Archie narrowed his eyes.
“To getme to?”
She shrugged.
“Well, you haven’t so far.”
Archie gestured at her expansively with both hands.
“Yes I have! You’re probably barely holding your head up on your own right now,
you’ve gotten so used to my hand being there to support it!”
Veronica moved as if to plant her hands on her hips, but realized she was
sitting down. She thumped the mattress with her fists instead.
“My head? Worry about your own! I don’t know how you were keeping your ego in
check before, Archie Andrews, but…”
Shaking with frustration and lust, Archie laid his palm high on Veronica’s
inner thigh, wedging it in to force her legs apart. Veronica jumped as though
she had the hiccups. Archie looked her sternly in the eye as the colour rose in
Veronica’s cheeks.
“I’m interested.”
He pulled his hand back and grabbed Veronica’s hips with both hands, tugging
her down flat on her back. Then, Archie pressed on hand up between her legs.
Veronica’s hand shot out to encircle his wrist, but, from the look on her face,
she wasn’t stopping him. Archie slipped two fingers into her wetness, stroking
perpendicular to her entrance. When his fingers pressed her clit, Veronica
shook. It was seismic.
Archie let his thumb babysit her clit while his other fingers crept away to
feel out her opening. The scent of her arousal was the only thing competing
with the whiff of lilac from her hair, and Archie wanted to launch in, applying
his tongue to every sensitive swell and tuck. He might have, if not for the
fact that he’d never done that to a woman before and didn’t really want
Veronica to write him off as an amateur the very first time they were together.
Intimately.
Archie grinned to himself as Veronica ran her fingers lightly up and down his
forearm, then contradicted this gentle, patient handling by rocking her hips
roughly against his hand. He wasn’t teasing her out of some sadistic desire to
withhold her satisfaction, it was just that he’d never had the opportunity to
actually go at the pace he chose. He and Val had definitely never gotten this
far, but the few times Archie had gotten his hands on her boobs, his motions
had always been rushed and jerky, in case his dad busted in.
Miss Grundy was a whole other story. Being with her had taught Archie to do
things fast. He was never sure whether it was her preference or just the ever-
present fear of being caught having an affair with a minor, who was also her
student. Regardless, she had always been on him hot and heavy from the get-go,
with the foreplay limited at best. It could also have been a control thing,
since Archie could see how his actions might be making Veronica feel pretty
vulnerable.
He took a deep breath, unbuttoning his jeans with one hand and pushing inside
her with two fingers of the other. Veronica moaned and Archie pressed down hard
on her clit to draw out the sound. She started to pant, her chest rising and
falling visibly under his t-shirt and her legs dropping open a little wider.
Her hand left his wrist (she had starting gripping him there and Archie thought
he might have a bruise) and settled above his. Veronica took hold of his thumb
and used it to drag her clit around in a circle, like she was a toddler writing
with a thick crayon.
Archie watched her do it, practically feeling the flood of blood slosh towards
his crotch as his dick stiffened uncomfortably in his jeans. He kept at the
motion she’d shown him, switching to rub in the opposite direction. Veronica
let go of him with a sigh… only to clamp down on his leg just above the knee.
He wasn’t sure if it was meant to be forward, but anything going on within the
vicinity of his hard-on was on Archie’s radar.
He curled his fingers deep inside her channel, pressing the blunt ends of his
fingertips into her front wall. Veronica closed her eyes and cried out. Archie
continued curling and uncurling his fingers to keep Veronica’s attention on
what was going on between her legs, rather than what was going on between his.
With his free hand, Archie eased the zipper of his jeans down, exhaling in a
huff through his nose as the pressure on his length disappeared. He slipped his
palm into his boxers, taking himself in hand and stroking softly to the rhythm
he’d established with Veronica.
Archie was just admiring the shape of her and thinking he’d like to get his
hands up under that t-shirt when Veronica opened her eyes, squeezed his leg,
and climaxed, her gaze falling on Archie’s abdomen, where his hand disappeared
down the front of his shorts.
***** Snowflake *****
                                      VII
Veronica couldn’t tell whether her eyes were open or shut. She felt like
someone had just pressed the reset button in her brain and all her senses were
struggling to come back online. Somehow, she’d managed to lose her eyes’
adjustment to the darkness of her room. Shapes were coming back to her slowly,
but they seemed soft like smudged charcoal.
She brushed her hand along the sheet and Archie’s came out to hold it. Veronica
blinked hard a few times, watching Archie’s face above her clarify.
“Get down here, Archiekins.”
She pulled gently at his hand and Archie dropped down next to her, curving into
her with a hand around her waist. Veronica groaned, forcing herself over onto
her side so that her knees met Archie’s. Falling asleep would be so easy.
Archie’s face rubbed against her pillow and Veronica scooted her head closer to
his. He breathed deeply and lifted his head only slightly to kiss her, so that
Veronica felt his face against hers almost straight on, his nose along the side
of hers, their lips nearly aligned.
When he started kissing her slowly and deeply, weaving his fingers back into
her hair, Veronica began to tingle again. It was impossible not to put her
hands on Archie, so she didn’t try to stop herself. She traced over his
abdominal muscles with the ends of her fingers and Archie jerked like she’d
defibrillated him. She’d seen with her own eyes that his jeans were open,
though he didn’t seem as keen to force her hand down there as he had been with
his own.
Veronica pushed her mouth against Archie’s more roughly, then slipped her
tongue inside when he started kissing her with a little less discipline in
response. Seeing Archie touch himself made Veronica eager for a sleepover at
Betty’s at the first opportunity; maybe her orgasm had put Veronica a smidge
out of her mind, because that scenario seemed like an ideal sexual
stakeout―once Betty was asleep, of course―whereby Veronica could spy across
into Archie’s room for another glimpse of his self-love.
Watching someone she still viewed as so innocent (in comparison to herself? To
the rest of the town? Because of the ‘trust me, Veronica’ eyes that he was once
again giving her?) satisfy themselves to the sound and feel of her pleasure
threw her sense of right and wrong all out of whack. Nevertheless, she could
tell that particular indulgence had the potential for longevity. If she treated
it the right way tonight, Archie would want to repeat it. The way his eyes had
sparked when she touched herself vicariously through him was also something to
note.
Veronica drew her mouth away from his, running her lips, then her tongue down
the side of Archie’s neck. He let out a sigh that sounded like stolen
contentment and Veronica smiled against his skin. She took his hand from her
waist, pressing the back of her hand into his palm and linking their fingers.
Then, she pulled their hands down between them, hiking her thigh up over
Archie’s hip and letting him feel (because of the way their hands rested in the
same direction) her stroking her own fingers through her wetness to re-slick
her clit.
Archie groaned and tried to untangle his fingers from hers, but she tightened
her grip.
“Ronnie, you’re killing me.”
“Is it the pace? Because I was getting the impression you liked it slow.”
She bit the bottom of his ear and adjusted their hands so that Archie’s finger
was the one resting on her clit. Instantly, he started jiggling his fingers
against it and Veronica hummed. She shifted around to free the arm she was
laying on and reached right for the band of his boxers, pulling it towards her,
and then down so that his erection sprang out. Archie seemed like he might back
off in embarrassment, so Veronica ground herself against his hand, getting him
back into it, while she made a loose, incomplete loop with her fingers around
his dick.
“Ronnie!” he panted out next to her ear.
She smiled to herself, flattered. She hadn’t even begun.
Veronica brought her hand up to her mouth and slowly sucked two fingers inside,
letting them drag her bottom lip on the way out. Archie moaned and Veronica
could almost hear his heart falling out of his chest and rolling away off the
side of her mattress. She moved her hand down to the head of his dick to gather
some of his wetness―collecting her saliva on her fingers had been purely for
show―then slipped her hand down his length, fingertips first followed by the
flat of her palm.
As she warmed him up, Veronica was amazed by how trusting Archie was being. His
moans were frequent and she appreciated that―one, they made the muscles between
her legs clench up hungrily each time; two, they told her Archie was confident
enough to guide her; and three, they showed he had confidence in her that she
could be guided without him having to lay a finger on her (at least, not on her
hand, his fingers were still on her in other places). She firmed up her grip
and hurried her pace, doing it suddenly to provoke further reactions.
“Veronica,” Archie groaned. She felt his jaw tense under her cheek and decided
to give him back the reins. A little.
She disengaged his fingers from where they were rubbing her senseless and
placed their joined, slicked fingers around Archie’s cock. He pulled his head
back and looked at her, surprise flitting up through the lust in his eyes.
Veronica raised an eyebrow.
“What? You think I didn’t notice what you were doing before?”
Archie did nothing but swallow so Veronica gave his erection a gentle, pulsing
squeeze.
“Show me.”
Archie tilted his head back and laughed softly in disbelief in a ‘man, won’t
this be one to tell the boys about’ manner. Veronica smiled because she knew he
never would. She knew their trust would last.
He lowered his chin and looked her squarely in the eye. Veronica stared right
back so Archie gave in, tightening his hand around hers, making hers tighten
around his dick. She got her other hand out of the way and, missing the touch
of him between her thighs, took up his efforts to bring her to ecstasy again.
Archie was looking down between their bodies and how much he could actually see
Veronica didn’t know, but he obviously noticed her fingering herself because he
groaned deeply. Veronica almost laughed.
Suddenly, Archie’s thigh came up under hers, intertwining their legs and
pushing hard into her hand. Veronica moaned and Archie reacted quickly. He
pulled the hand away that had been working with hers over his length and
replaced it with the hand from the side of his body he was laying on. His free
hand tugged hers away from her core, then grabbed her firmly by the ass,
pressing her wetness against his thigh.
Veronica frowned, annoyed to have the latest source of her pleasure taken from
her (her own hand at that!). She was confused until Archie dragged her forward
and she felt the balance of her slippery arousal fight the friction of his leg
wedged against her. Veronica cried out and Archie dove at her mouth with his,
kissing her passionately though she could feel the smile at the corners of his
lips. He guided her back and forth a few times, slowly, while they also
repositioned their hands around his shaft. When both rhythms gained confidence,
Veronica took over with her hips, demoting Archie’s hand on her ass to a
supporting role as she swiped herself boldly across his skin.
Veronica was wet enough to get near her peak again quickly, so she smoothed her
hand over Archie’s abs, giving him control to get himself off as he liked. He
pulled her in tighter so that she could feel, against her abdomen, the back of
his hand or his knuckles as he stroked and twisted over his cock. She sped up,
throwing herself forward and back, the sensation augmented by the stiffening of
the muscles in Archie’s thigh as he rubbed himself closer to release.
When Veronica had to pull out of their kiss because she needed her mouth free
to moan, Archie’s lips followed her, brushing against her ear. She thought,
distantly, that he just wanted to be close to her, but then his voice came. It
was lower than she’d ever heard it, and it rasped with the sound of his soul-
deep pleasure.
“God, Ronnie, I want you to rub yourself all over me like this.”
Veronica flicked her hips against him in response and the noise he made was
animal.
“Uhh, yes. I wanna feel you inside and out. I want you to let me get you
there.”
Veronica was surprised to hear the sound of her own voice.
“Baby, you are, you are getting me there.”
“No, I wanna be―I want…”
Archie was losing himself so Veronica pushed him onto his back with both of her
hands. Losing his thigh from between her legs felt like freefalling into the
Grand Canyon, but she quickly scrambled onto his lap. Archie got his hands out
of her way and smoothed them up her thighs, groaning. Veronica aligned their
hips, letting his dick slide swiftly through her wetness. They were both too
far gone to make Veronica want to take him all the way in―she was enjoying
this, him, too much to let their first time be a matter of seconds only.
Luckily, because of their preparation, she could be on him fast from the start.
Veronica’s hips jerked sloppily back and forth, Archie guiding her first by his
hold on her legs, then by moving his hands around to her lower back. In those
moments, Veronica was thoroughly thankful for his reach and his larger frame,
feeling secure enough in his sturdy hold to let go, properly and primally.
She looked down into Archie’s face. His vibrant hair was streaking sideways
across his forehead and his mouth hung open, but his eyes were sharp and
determined. Veronica stared at him, wanting everything. Wanting to suck him up
through a milkshake straw. Wanting to build a home, a whole life, deep in the
red forest of his hair like the goddamn Christmas Whos on their fucking
snowflake. Wanting to hear Gershwin pour out of the rich, woody throat of a
clarinet, propelled by the mouth of someone who played it because they loved it
and not just because their father told them to. Wanting to feel exactly this,
forever.
Veronica came, soaking him, and Archie followed right after. She flopped down
onto his chest, stretching her twitching legs out behind her. Archie’s lips
pressed soundly against the side of her face, kissing her over and over. By the
time his delayed arms wrapped up and around her, Veronica was already drifting
off to sleep.
***** Every Minute *****
                                     VIII
Veronica went limp faster than Archie’s dick and he laid still in the dark,
feeling her weight―her physical weight, but also the importance, the
responsibility of having her and holding her here like this. He eased her off
of his chest and she dropped smoothly to his side without objection. Archie
stared into her calm, sleeping face and felt his ears ringing, until he
remembered everything was quiet and decided that it must be his brain ringing
instead.
He swept the hair from in front of her closed eyes. Somehow it wasn’t right for
Veronica to look dishevelled, even after what they’d been doing. Archie ran a
hand over his face, pressing against his eyelids. He didn’t know what his own
hair looked like, but it was probably energetic and wild, unlike the rest of
his exhausted form. He figured it must be the result of having Veronica spread
out on top of him, deadweight, for a while, because he’d never felt so spent
after sex before.
And, technically, they hadn’t even had sex.
Fuck that, Archie thought. If being with her the way he had wasn’t sex, he
wasn’t sure if he really knew what was, or if it could possibly be worth it
since there was no way it would be better than what had happened between them.
He rolled onto his side, unable to stop looking at Veronica, before his leaden
body had the chance to sink down into the mattress and become one with it.
Archie wasn’t sure how the women in his life managed to look so perfect, but
Veronica had an unreal quality even when she slept. It was a little different
though, now. Her beauty, her fearlessness, her impulsiveness had always been
like ice. Now that ice was melting, and she was still made up of the same
things, but they were softer and more transparent. If he stared at her long
enough, he knew words would start coming to him, simple verbs, abstract
metaphors that he would stitch into a song. Betty would find it endearing.
Jughead would probably laugh his ass off, then switch to his serious face as he
considered the possibility that what was between Archie and Veronica really
might be serious.
Archie didn’t know how Veronica would react. He smiled. The thought didn’t
upset him. He was ready for her to be unpredictable. He tried to think only of
her possible responses and not of the words he’d like to use to sing about her.
If lyrics started gelling in his mind, he’d feel compelled to get up and right
them down, and Archie really didn’t want to move.
Veronica breathed deeply beside him and Archie closed his eyes, making
everything a shade closer to black. Her pillow smelt like lilac. The darkness
of the world with his eyes closed could be her hair. He slept.
There was a girl, a girl with black hair, sitting at a piano. Archie went
towards her, apparently deaf since he could see her hands moving on the keys
but hear nothing at all. He got near to her, but it took a long time. He hadn’t
realized she was so far off. And he wasn’t deaf after all because the music was
reaching his ears now, poco a poco. It was tinny. It was tinny because it was
coming from a wind-up music box in the shape of a girl sitting at a piano.
Archie picked it up. The metal was slick and he brought one hand to his face.
It smelt like lilac. He turned the music box over in his hand and found he was
suspended in the sky. It was an endless grey. He held the box the right way up
and felt snapped, crinkling wheat under his feet. He was in a field. He looked
up and the sky had turned royal blue and rippling. Veronica squeezed his hand
and he looked into her eyes, but couldn’t understand. Archie looked up again as
the lightning struck.
When Archie woke up he wondered why. It was still dark. He went to stretch, but
his arm was stuck. His arm was stuck under Veronica. Archie froze, seeing her
still asleep, but now with her dark head heavy on his chest. His heart was
racing and he realized he was still lying flat on his back. He’d gotten used to
sleeping like this at home; if he tossed and turned too much, Jughead would
start throwing dirty laundry at him.
Veronica’s cheek rubbed against his bare skin and she lifted her head slowly.
“Archie?”
His heart didn’t slow so Archie took her face between his hands and kissed her.
Veronica was warm and eager. Fumblingly, he started pulling his t-shirt up her
stomach. She reached for his hips, dragging the layers down until Archie could
use his feet to shove them off into the bottom of her bed. She lifted her arms,
wriggling out of the shirt. She tossed it away as Archie climbed on top of her,
pushing inside.
Veronica’s channel was hot and her muscles relaxed. She let her legs fall
apart, halfway between bent and straight as Archie stroked slowly in and out of
her, reaching deep. Her mouth was wide, gasping, when Archie tapped her g-spot
over and over. She became smooth, then slick, then wet and Archie wrapped
around her, taking her torso up into his arms. She was already shaking.
Veronica’s fingers ran through his hair and she mumbled “Archie, oh, Archie”
into his ear, like a rhythm he could put words to. Archie held her and rocked,
worshipping the space between her legs as the epicenter of all that they were
in those moments. Her thighs swayed, bumping his hips. Her back arched up,
sticking and unsticking their lightly sweating chests. Archie could feel her
all over him, an immersive work of art.
She shuddered in his arms, vibrating like an earthquake’s aftershock. Tingling
like the blade of grass that draws the lightning from the sky. “Vronca,” he
panted against her neck, losing himself inside her. Then they laid there on
their backs looking up, as if they could see the stars through the ceiling.
“If you have to leave in the morning before I wake up, you can.”
Archie rolled over. Veronica had the sheet pulled up on her chest. He liked the
shape of her shoulders. Archie left his portion of the sheet hanging loose and
low around his hips.
“Are you sure?”
“I left you last time.” She put her palm on his chest.
“So you’re offering me the opportunity to get even?” Archie smiled, too tired
to be more outwardly playful.
“No, I’m offering you the opportunity to be missed. Every minute until I see
you again.”
He took her hand and gently traced the unreadable lines of her palm with his
fingertips.
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