Only a Matter of Time // Veronica Sawyer x Fem!Reader

seventeen

I slowly sit up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I glance over at the source of the weird snoring noise to find a random guy passed out on the couch. Not a random guy. It's JD. I frown. The alarm suddenly goes off. He twitches, pushing himself up.

"What the- Where-?" He looks around the room in alarm. His gaze settles on me, and he exhales a bit. "Oh. Hey." I feel a smile on my face as I stand.

"Morning, Jason." He yawns into his fist, standing and stretching. I offered for him to stay the night since his hotel was on the other side of town, and he agreed. There's something comforting about having my friend here. I hear a buzz, and he grabs his phone from the TV stand.

"Chandler texted earlier this morning. I think she'll be here in a few hours." I feel my shoulders tense. Chandler. She was a fucking fireball. When she sees me, she'll go rabid. Unless she doesn't care about me, then she'll be calm. Maybe she won't even want to see me. "And Duke is boarding. Her flight'll be a couple hours." I swallow hard.

"JD, I don't know if I can do this," I blurt out. He looks up from his phone.

"What do you mean?"

"I-I can't face them. Why did I come here?" He walks over to me.

"Hey, hey. You okay?" I hesitate, then shake my head. He pulls me into a hug. "It'll be okay, y/n. You know they miss you, right?" I swallow.

"They do?"

"Of course. They mention you so often." He laughs softly. "And they want to see you, I know it." I look down, then nod.

"Okay."

I mean, yeah. I figured they missed me. Back when I first moved, I got texts from them daily asking where I was. I got calls, too. Picked up once, heard Veronica's voice, and then hung up, immediately blocking her number. It hurt. It hurt to hear her voice.

"Y/n? It's Veronica."

I didn't respond.

"I don't know where you are, but... Talk to me. Please. I'm here. I-I didn't expect you to move, but we can make this work, okay? We can-"

Then I hung up. Asshole move, I know. But I was so fed up with trying to keep in touch. All the times I did before, the person would eventually grow bored with me and then I wouldn't have anyone else. Just like before.

"Y/n." I look up at JD, snapping out of my memories. He rubs my shoulder, then stretches out his arms. "Trust me, they miss you."

"JD... When did you get here?"

"A few days ago." Huh. So all of us came back in the same time frame. It's kind of weird, but not unwelcome. Definitely not. Especially since I wanted to see them. I guess they made plans to meet. JD flattens out his shirt, then motions me over.

"What?" He shows me his phone, where a picture of Chandler, Mac, Duke, and Veronica is displayed. It looks like a day when one of them was leaving, judging by the slightly red eyes and disheveled looks. "When...?"

"When Veronica left for Harvard." I blink a few times, then feel a smile melt onto my face.

"She got into Harvard." He nods.

"Oh, yeah. Are you surprised?" I laugh a bit, shaking my head.

"No. Not at all." I smile. "What a nerd." He chuckles lightly.

"You should be proud."

"I am, JD. I really am." He examines me as I look at the picture. They all look the same. Just frozen in time.

"How do you feel about Veronica now?" I look at him. He carefully watches my expression. I swallow hard.

"I..." I look down. What do I want with her? I exhale slowly, looking back up at him. "I don't know."