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This magic moment, so different and so new
Was like any other until I kissed you
And then it happened, it took me by surprise
I knew that you felt it too, by the look in your eyes
This Magic Moment - The Drifters
Betty had imagined kissing Archie so many times she’d occasionally forgotten that they’d never actually kissed. It would be a gorgeous day, she knew, maybe after school at the football field or outside Pop’s. A warm wind would blow, rustling Archie’s hair, playing with his bangs above those soulful, dark eyes, and the bright sun would create a halo around them. She didn’t entertain any other possibilities, because even the universe knew they were destined to be together. Slowly, slowly, Archie would take her in his arms, and she would breathe in his sweet, boyish smell, and feel his rough cheek against her hand, and she would be swept up in a kiss so epic some overwhelmed Riverdale resident would snap a picture of them that would hang on Pop Tate’s wall forever, and generations of teenagers would look at that picture of Betty with her perfectly popped leg and dream that one day they'd have such a magical kiss.
Of course, like most of Betty's plans, this one when right out the window almost the moment Veronica Lodge blew into town, with her dramatic cape and flashing brown eyes, and swirled all of them up in her path like a tornado. It made Betty feel a little like she had whiplash, going from seeing the brunette as competition to tentative friendship to betrayal, and now...
Well, she hadn't really felt like she could breathe since she'd met Veronica, so the idea that that might just be a permanent state of being was actually a little reassuring.
She was never planning on telling the other girl that she'd taken her first kiss. One, because it was obviously no big deal to the brunette in a fantastically chic, New York City, I-kiss-my-friends-all-the-time way, and she didn't want to seem any more hopelessly provincial than she had to. Two, because she couldn't stop thinking about it.
It was becoming a bit of a problem, actually.
She couldn't sleep, because the calming bedtime ritual of imagining kissing Archie and their fabulous, picket-fence life together had suddenly been invaded, short red strands morphing into raven curls under her fingers.
It was even worse because she knew what kissing Veronica was like.
Now the pleasant tightening in her chest she'd always felt when daydreaming about Archie seemed positively childish when compared to the way Ronnie kissed, full, soft lips lingering on her own, swallowing her shocked, half-formed protests. She knew what it felt like to grasp at another person like a life-line, knew what it was like to have her face caressed by a gentle touch, as if she were something precious, as if anything too rough would startle her. For several seconds stretching into infinity, she'd been the sole focus of Veronica Lodge's attention, and now it was impossible to go back. Damn her.
So really, it was all Veronica's fault she couldn't sleep, because now she knew what kissing Veronica was like and then Veronica had to go and kiss Archie like she hadn't upended Betty's entire world, like she just went around kissing people like that every day, and she probably did but Betty didn't want to think about it, because it lead to even more confusing thoughts like who, exactly, she was jealous of.
It was Veronica's fault that she couldn't sleep, which meant it was now Veronica's fault that she'd gotten her very first 'B', because she'd been daydreaming in class about what their picture would look like up on Pop Tate's wall and she'd missed an entire section of notes.
"Are you ok, B?" Veronica asked as they were walking home. "You seemed kind of out of it today."
It was also Veronica's fault that Betty couldn't stay mad at her when she looked up at Betty with soft, concerned eyes.
"Yeah," Betty tried to laugh it off. "Totally fine. No problem. Just, you know, normal everyday teen stuff."
Veronica raised an eyebrow and Betty cursed internally. What was it with her? Was she doomed to forever act like an idiot around this girl?
"Ok, now I know something's bothering you. Spill."
"Ronnie..."
"C'mon Bets, you know you can tell my anything, right?"
"Of course!" Oh no, now Veronica was going to think she didn't trust her.
Veronica stopped walking, putting a hand on Betty's arm and getting alarmingly close in that way she did when she was about to be Super Serious.
"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but I'm here for you, ok? B&V forever."
Dammit.
Betty knew she was going to regret this, but she couldn't deny Veronica much of anything when she got that vulnerable almost-pout on her face, and she supposed if this was her life now she might as well get used to being perpetually embarrassed. They were near Riverdale Park, so she pulled Veronica deep into the carefully manicured woods with her. Which she realized belatedly might not have been the best idea when she heard Veronica grumbling about her heels on the spongy, dirt-and-mulch path. Oh well.
When Betty had dragged them far enough in that she felt reasonably confident they wouldn't be disturbed, she abruptly turned to face Veronica.
Honestly, it was kind of disgusting how good Veronica looked, flushed and laughing, face highlighted by a ray of sun spiking through the trees. Betty was pretty sure at this point that the universe was conspiring against her as she struggled to put all the conflicted feelings she'd been dealing with into coherent sentences.
She was not the slightest bit surprised when she failed. And she called herself a writer.
"What was it like to kiss Archie?" She blurted out.
Veronica's expressive face smoothed into the bored, slightly bitchy expression Betty was coming to realize stood for things Veronica did not want to talk about because they might hurt. For a moment she seemed to try to smile, but it didn't reach her eyes.
"Not as good as kissing you, if that's what you mean."
The comment was so like Veronica, flippant and flirty and hiding any semblance of truth, that Betty almost groaned aloud. For the sake of her sanity, this had to end soon. One way or another.
"But did it...did you mean it?"
Veronica softened, as if she knew what Betty was driving at, which was pretty impressive since Betty herself was making it up as she went along.
"It was a mistake, I promise. Some sort of demonic possession brought on by Cheryl's creepy haunted house. Archiekins is all yours."
Betty thought she'd probably have to fight Val for him, but that wasn't the point.
"And when you kissed me? What 'possessed' you then?"
Veronica's eyebrows rose, and she actually looked nervous. Good. Betty didn't want to be the only one.
"Y-You heard Cheryl. She was practically taunting us, we had to do something."
"Did you know it was my first kiss, Ronnie?"
Veronica looked stricken. "I had no idea, Betty, I'm so, so sorry..."
"Veronica..."
"...I just assumed - your first kiss should be with someone special, and I took that from you..."
"Ronnie..."
"...but also, like, how, you're pretty much the hottest girl in the school, what the hell are these guys waiting for..."
Reasoning that after all that she couldn't get too mad at a little payback, Betty pressed her lips to Veronica's, cutting her off mid-rant with a little gasp that made the small part of Betty's brain that wasn't totally focused on the task at hand pretty damn proud of herself. She couldn't have ever imagined the way Veronica could make her feel with just a simple touch of skin against skin. She felt dizzy, like the one time she and Archie and Jughead had snuck a bottle of wine at the summer barbecue. Flushed, heart pounding, but more grounded than she had ever know she could be, perfectly present in this moment, with this girl, and time stretching out behind and before them with warm possibilities.
"I'm glad it was you." Betty whispered against the other girl's lips when they finally pulled apart.
"Oh thank God." Veronica exhaled, running her fingers over Betty's jawline. "I was so afraid you were straight."
That cracked Betty up, of course, and Veronica joined her, leaning against the trees and each other, the laughter as cathartic as the kisses had been. The summer breeze rustled the leaves around them as the world fell away. Maybe her first kiss hadn't been exactly what Betty was expecting, but that was okay, because the second was perfect.
This magic moment while your lips are close to mine
Will last forever, forever 'till the end of time