Varchie Oneshots

Not Just a Summer Fling

Veronica's POV
Summer is for fun. For pool parties and beach days. For waking up to see the sunrise and going on road trips. Most importantly, for uncomplicated, carefree relationships. Because it was my last summer before college, since I was doing summer session of college after senior year, I had wanted this to be the best summer ever. Archie and I had agreed to have a friends-with-benefits type summer fling, and it had truly been amazing. But as the summer was drawing close, it was time to end things with him. It was such an amazing summer with him, he had been a contributing factor in this being the best summer I've ever had, but sadly we had agreed it could never be more than a summer fling. 

"So remind me again why you are breaking up with him?" Cheryl said in disbelief. 

"We can never be more than friends. As much as it breaks my heart to think about the fact that we have to go back to that after having had such an amazing time with him this summer, I know it won't work." I sighed. 

"I don't understand. You guys are perfect together." Betty exclaimed. 

"I don't think he likes me back, and besides, it's senior year, so even if we did get together, we'd be leaving each other right away for college." I said, curled up in my bed, burying my face into a random throw pillow. Betty and Cheryl were sleeping over at the Pembroke tonight, so Cheryl had immediately brought up her favorite topic, Archie's and I's love life. 

"Girl, are you blind?" Betty said, exasperated. 

"Of course he likes you back. If not completely in love with you." 

"And besides, you're not leaving right away for college. We still have all of senior year. And even so, you guys might even end up near each other. Or if not, you can make long distance work, like Toni and I." Cheryl added. She did speak from experience, as Toni had been living in Seattle for almost two months already, after graduating" early and leaving for college before senior year had even started.  

"I don't know. I mean, we did agree to not have this be anything more than friends-with-benefits for a summer fling." My voice trailed off as Betty and Cheryl both gave me looks. 

"What?" I protested. 

"Do not tell us that you guys look at each other with benefits, you are clearly more than that. You guys look at each other with so much love in your eyes, that there is no way that the only thing you are is friends with benefits." Betty scoffed. 

That got me really thinking. What if he actually did like me back? Then we could be more than his silly label of friends with benefits that made my heart ache because I wanted more than that. I knew we would be able to work our relationship out after senior year, so maybe we should try. 

"I think I'll talk to him about it." I gave in to Cheryl and Betty's advice, and decided to tell him how I feel. 

Archie's POV
Last night Ronnie had sent me a text message stating 'we need to talk.' I had agreed and we decided to meet at Pop's at 11 AM today. 

I, of course, knew exactly what the topic of discussion was going to be, our relationship. Or lack thereof? I have no idea what we are doing at this point. At first we had agreed that this was going to be a no strings attached, friends with benefits type summer fling. But unsurprisingly, I, who had fallen for her back in sophomore year, was not capable of no strings attached. The summer was drawing to an end, and I knew that today would be the day that Ronnie and I would end things. 

I walked into Pop's fifteen minutes early only to see that Veronica was already sitting at our usual booth. 

"Good morning." I greeted her, sitting across from her. 

"Archie." She said, jumping right into the topic of discussion. 

"Let's not pretend like we don't have something important to talk about." She look anxious and I didn't know what to say. 

"I know what you want to say. The summers almost over so it's time to end things." I finally said. 

"Yeah. It's time to end things but I don't want to." She admitted. I waited for her to elaborate. 

"This summer has genuinely been the greatest of my life with you, and I have unsurprisingly fallen for you. I don't want to let it end just because of the silly agreement that we made at the beginning of the summer of not being anything more than a summer fling." 

"Ronnie..." I started but she quickly cut me off. 

"I'm sorry, I understand it if you don't feel the same. We can pretend this conversation never happened." She said, not meeting my eyes. 

"No, Ronnie." I grabbed ahold of her hand. 

"I feel the exact same way. I came here worried that you were going to break up with me. But Ronnie, I've been in love with you since sophomore year, and those feeling aren't going away anytime soon." I told her. 

"Really, Arch?" Her eyes were full of tears, but when she heard me say that, her face brightened. 

"Of course, Ronnie." I told her. 

"We'll work everything out. We have the whole year to be together, and even after high school, we can still make things work." She said softly, making me understand that the reason she was worried about finally getting into a relationship was that she was scared for after high school. 

"Can I just say, I'm glad we've gotten this conversation out of the way before eating? Because I feel so much less anxious now, and I probably wouldn't have been able to eat if we were going to wait to have this conversation." I chuckled with relief. 

"Oh, me too. I was worried that you didn't feel the same, but clearly you do, and I'm glad we communicated instead of pushing each other away." She smiled. 

"What can I get for the happy couple?" Pop Tate came over to us after a few minutes. Every time we met here, even before the summer had begun, he had said that, and every time we would correct him, because at the time, we were nothing more than best friends, or friends with benefits, depending on when we were there. But now, there was no need for correction, because we had finally let our true feelings be known. We ordered our breakfast, chatting away as we ate it, excited for the most amazing school year to come. I was so glad to be more than friends, or friends with benefits, or whatever, with the girl I had loved since sophomore year.