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When Veronica opened the door to the front door of her home, she didn't expect to be met with Duke who had tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Heather?” Veronica asked in surprise, her eyes widened a little bit by seeing the girl normally dressed in green at her front door.
“Please don't tell me it's true.” Duke begged through sobs. “You're not actually moving away, right..?” She choked out between sobs and her arms wrapped tightly around herself, hugging herself for comfort.
Veronica couldn't understand why any of this was happening. It's not like Duke would miss her, right? They hadn't talked that much ever since they graduated. The only times they did talk to each other was when they bid goodbye to each other when they graduated and met up again coincidentally at a restaurant in town.
Veronica didn't know what to say so she settled on apologizing to the other girl instead. “I'm sorry” She said. Duke shook her head furiously before crying harder at the words that came out of Veronica's mouth.
“You're not sorry.” Duke chuckled insincerely before unwrapping her arms on herself. “You're never sorry for anything.” She sniffled while wiping away her tears from her face. “You've always been like that.” Duke admitted softly.
Veronica looked down at both of their shoes for a moment. It was a bit ironic that their shoes matched at the moment.
“I don't know what else I should tell you.” Veronica confessed as she looked back into Duke's eyes again. “I didn't know when or how I was going to tell you and Mac.” She added quietly as her gaze fell to the floor again.
“You seriously expect me to believe that, Veronica?” Duke scoffed. “You probably just wanted Mac and I to figure it out on our own before you would quietly leave.” She added bitterly.
Veronica couldn't say anything about that because it was true, she did want Mac and Duke to figure it out by themselves as she planned to leave town as quickly as possible without anyone knowing other than her parents.
“You really weren't going to say goodbye to neither of us?” Duke asked brokenly. “I don't think you guys would understand.” Veronica mumbled. “I'm leaving because it's the only choice I can make that won't hurt anyone.” Duke let out an indignant laugh before shaking her head again.
“You had no problems hurting us when Chandler died.” She argued. “Why would you have any problems with leaving us after everything you've done?” Duke continued. Veronica signed before rubbing her forehead in frustration.
“Would you have liked it better if I told you and Mac that I was leaving town to move away somewhere far from here before leaving both of you behind too?” Veronica asked. “You still would have been mad at me.” She added. “Mac would still be upset about it.” She pointed out.
“I still would have left both of you because it's better than me staying here and hurting you guys!” She exclaimed frustratedly, finally letting go of some of the emotions she had been holding inside.
“Don't lie to me, Veronica!” Duke shouted angrily. “How would that be any better than you staying here when it meant you would just leave me and Mac to deal with the mess you caused in the first place?” She snapped.
“You guys wouldn't be forced to live with the fact I killed Chandler!” Veronica shouted. “Heather fucking Chandler who despite being the mythic bitch herself was just a pathetic victim of circumstance!” Veronica couldn't hold back but let the tears come out of her eyes. “I killed her, Duke!” She waved her hands up in the air before dropping them helplessly by her side, fist clenched tightly into a ball. “You and Mac know that!” Veronica cried out.
“I'm sparing both of you from having to live with the ugly truth that I killed her!” She yelled, more tears falling from her eyes. “I'm saving you and Mac from wasting anymore of your own tears at how I killed her because of some stupid boy I thought was a good man!” Veronica could barely keep the volume of her voice down even when she tried because the other girl just had to make it impossible for her to do that.
Duke stared at Veronica, tears forming again in her eyes as she watched Veronica cry. She stepped closer to the brunette before enveloping her in a hug. Veronica sobbed as she buried her face in Duke's shoulder before wrapping her arms around Duke in return. Duke held the taller girl tightly against her as she cried harder.
“I'm sorry.” Veronica whispered weakly.
Duke shushed her gently.
After a few minutes, they broke apart from their hug and rested their foreheads together as their tears slowly dried.
“You didn't kill her.” Duke murmured softly. “Not intentionally, anyway.” She added, wiping away the remaining tears on the brunette's face with her thumb.
“That wasn't your fault.” She added, pressing a soft kiss onto Veronica's forehead. “I shouldn't have said all of that.” Veronica sniffled. “It's alright.” Duke chuckled.
“Is it?” Veronica couldn't help but question.
“We'll be fine.” Duke assured her. “It might take a while but we'll get over it.” Duke said with a tiny smile before kissing her once more but softly on the lips. “Come on. Let's go inside, It's getting cold.” She murmured quietly.
Veronica nodded with a soft smile.
For now, they were okay.