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“So… I was your first kiss, huh?”
Betty startles but she doesn’t look up, she doesn’t have to. Veronica finding out was inevitable. Apparently the entire town knows that she and Veronica Lodge swapped saliva in front of the cheerleaders only days after Veronica’s move from New York. Every time Cheryl tells the story she adds more details and last she heard from a girl in study hall, Cheryl swears she’d seen Veronica’s tongue slip. Of course, Kevin was overjoyed, her mother chewed her out, and even Archie tried asking her about it even though they weren’t exactly on speaking terms yet. She hates this small town with its stupid, gossipy nature almost as much as she hates herself these days. “Word travels fast in Riverdale.”
The wind whips through suddenly, causing Betty to shiver and she hates that she ran off into the woods like a child without considering a coat. Goosebumps pebble across her skin and she draws her arms around herself tight. She’s already contemplated going back twice in favor of warmth but her mother was bombarding her with questions about the kiss she caught wind of and she had to get out. She preferred the wind to her mothers cool nature.
Veronica gazes down at her and Betty can’t tell if it’s with pity or concern. She can’t decide which is worse. “Are you cold? Do you want me jacket?” Veronica asks already shrugging it off.
“Oh, I’m fine,” Betty lies. She starts to pick at her nails. Veronica’s jacket comes around her shoulders anyway and Betty can’t help but look up. She’s met with brown eyes and red lipstick. She shivers but this time it’s not from the cold. “Thank you.”
“Can I sit?” Veronica asks. Betty motions vaguely next to her.
Veronica settles down beside her, leaves crunching beneath her in protest. Betty steals a look at Veronica only to find her head titled up to the tree they’re sitting underneath. “Cool treehouse,” Veronica says finally, catching Betty’s eyes before she can look away. “Is it yours?”
Betty casts her eyes back to her fingers and continues to mindlessly pick at them. “Archie’s dad built it for us when we were six or seven. But he stopped coming up here with me around when we turned twelve.” She pauses, the thought of Archie making her ache. “How’d you know I’d be here?”
“Kevin told me.”
Betty sighs. She should’ve never told Kevin about this place.
Awkward silence follows that Betty’s never experienced with Veronica before. She hears Veronica take a deep breath. “I wouldn’t have kissed you if I’d known it was your first.” For whatever reason, Veronica’s words make Betty feel worse than she already does. That worthless feeling that Kevin tells her to shrug off multiplies inside her, reminding her that nobody wants to kiss her. “I assumed that Archie held that honor.”
Betty flinches at Archie’s name, Veronica notices and takes it the wrong way. “Look, I’m sorry about Archie-”
“Stop.” Betty pleads and Veronica’s mouth snaps shut. “My entire life everyone told me that Archie and I were going to end up together. So I don’t think I ever questioned it. I didn’t think he had either, until he told me he didn’t like me. I figured he’d be my first kiss, my first time, my first everything… and then you showed up.”
Veronica leans over and rests her head on Betty’s shoulder. Betty’s sure it’s meant to be comforting but she goes stiff. Still, she’s disappointed when Veronica pulls away.
“I’m sorry he doesn’t like you back, Betts.”
Betty shrugs. “I don’t think I ever liked him like that anyway.”
Silence envelops them again, only interrupted by the sound of the wind rustlings through the leaves. Betty abandons her nails in favor of pulling twigs apart and eventually abandons that for toying with her hair. It’s Veronica who finally breaks the silence.
“Betty?”
“Hmm?”
“Do you like girls?”
Betty’s heart starts to thrum quicker in her chest. “Of course I do, half of my friends are girls.”
“Don’t be thick, Betty. You know what I mean.”
Betty’s shoulders sag. “I don’t know,” she says honestly. “Until you, I didn’t even know that was an option.”
Veronica’s head tilts curiously. “But your best friend’s gay.”
Betty presses her palms into her eyes, so hard that when Veronica gently pulls her hands back, black dots Betty’s vision. “I know, I know,” she acknowledges. “I just didn’t consider the possibility that I could be.”
Veronica nods, accepting her answer. Betty doesn’t notice that Veronica starts to inch closer. “Can I ask you something else? Don’t freak out or anything.”
Betty smiles faintly at that. “Yes.”
“Did you like kissing me?”
For whatever reason, it causes Betty to go rigid. For a second Betty assumes this is some sort of trap. Cheryl Blossom will come out from behind a tree any second now and both her and Veronica will laugh. Or maybe her mom will find her and remind her that she can’t afford to kiss whores from New York or she’ll end up like Polly, she thinks of her dads disappointed gaze, she thinks of Archie’s lustful eyes, or maybe - maybe it’ll be-
“Hey,” Veronica soothes, placing a warm hand on her thigh. Her brows knit together in concern. “I lost you for a second. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
Betty shakes her head. She doesn’t know how to explain that she’s just been hit with the sudden realization that she might like girls and how disappointed everyone in her life would be if that girl might be Veronica. “I did like kissing you,” Betty says, an understatement if she was being honest. “But that scares me.”
Veronica doesn’t take her hand off her thigh. “Why does that scare you?”
“I don’t know who I am without my happily ever after with Archie. I never considered that my life didn’t have to revolve around a boy. I-I don’t know how that makes me feel. I never considered you.”
Veronica holds her gaze and Betty’s heart feels like it might burst out of her chest at all the understanding that swims in Veronica’s brown eyes.
“Betty?” Veronica asks so softly that Betty has to learn toward her to hear. “Can I kiss you?”
In response (and a surge of confidence that she didn’t know she had) Betty leans forward and tentatively presses her lips against Veronica’s. Veronica melts into her as their mouths easily fall into a slow rhythm. Neither of them mind the slow pacing and Veronica shifts to cradle Betty’s face in her hands, stroking her thumb across her cheek. Betty shakily brings her own to tangle in Veronica’s dark hair. Their mouths move fluidly together, soft and inexplicably warm in ways that Betty’s was just beginning to discover, the warmth only spreads when Veronica’s tongue pokes out and runs along her lip. Betty shivers again which causes Veronica to draw her closer.
When they do finally part, Veronica doesn’t let her go. They both breathe out hot breaths into the cool air and Betty thinks about Archie and all the firsts that they were supposed to have and finds that feeling is nothing compared to how Veronica’s made her feel in just her few days of being in Riverdale.
“You okay, Betts?” Veronica asks nervously at her silence.
In response, Betty kisses her again.