One More Time

Chapter 3

This is a long one!

Veronica's POV
"Is that the last box Miss?" The moving guy asks me while loading the truck. "Yeah that's it" I say while holding Natalie in my arms. I decided to take my moms advice and move back to Riverdale, everyone in this city looks at me with pity and I can't take it anymore. I just hope the people of Riverdale accept me, well maybe just 1 person of Riverdale. My phone rings in my pocket and I shift Natalie so I can pick it up.

V: Hello?
B: Hey V, it's Betty. Are you going to the airport yet?
V: Hey Betty, I'm actually going to leave in a few minutes. Why?
B: Nothing I'm just dying for you to come back.
V: Well this time tomorrow you will be helping me settle into my new apartment at the Pembrooke and everything will be as it should be.
B: Very Optimistic, that's new.
V: Yeah well optimism and sardonic humor is all I have right now, see you in about 15 hours?
B: Can't wait!

I smile and hang up the phone. I turn around and look at my house, well my old house. It has some good memories, but those are mostly covered by the bad ones. Finding out I was pregnant was a mix of both, good and bad. Good because I've always wanted to have a baby, bad because I've always wanted to have a baby with Archie. Who is probably married with kids by now, I wouldn't know because we haven't kept in touch and Betty and Jughead never mix their friendship with him with their friendship with me. I could google him.... "mommy" Natalie says. "Yeah baby?" I ask turning my attention back to her. "Who is Archie?" She asks. Oh my god I was thinking out loud. "Mommy's old friend, he lives in Riverdale. The place you and I are moving too" I say poking her belly. She giggles and I take her to the car and put her in her seat, "are you excited" I ask smiling. She nods her head and smiles and I lean down and kiss her head. "I love you" I say putting my forehead on hers. "I love you" She says back with her baby voice. I smile and close the back door. I climb into the front seat of the car and start it up. I carefully pull out of the drive way and I take one last look at the house before I go. I take a deep breath and start driving down the street, finally going home.

Archie's POV
"I can't believe she's moving back" Jughead says in shock. I nod my head in agreement and sip my beer, "you okay with seeing her again?" He asks. "Dude it was 10 years ago. I'm over it" I say. "So you're telling me that if Veronica, our very own big city raven haired princess, were to walk in this bar right now you wouldn't fall in love with her again, drop to your knees, and beg her to be with you again" he says giving me a look. I roll my eyes "I'm not that dramatic" I say. He scoffs and sips his beer, "I'm serious dude. And besides she just got out of a relationship and she has a daughter, she probably doesn't want to be with anyone" I say. "Yeah well you're not anyone, you're Archie" he says with a laugh. I laugh with him and shake my head. There are so many reasons why Veronica and I shouldn't get back together. Her messy relationship, the fact that she has a daughter and I have no experience with kids, we haven't seen each other in 10 years. It's just impractical, but that doesn't mean it's not what I want.

Veronica's POV
If anyone said flying with a toddler is easy I would like to personally hit them with a car, because this is more difficult than anything I've ever done. I finally got her to sleep and I'm entirely too tempted to jump out of this plane. I check my watch and it's 4:17pm, we'll be landing around 6. I can at least try and get some sleep, so I close my eyes and drift off.

"Ma'am" I feel someone tap my shoulder. I sit up and look over and it's the flight attendant. "We're landing now, could you put your seat belt on" she asks smiling at me. "Yes, Thank you" I say and she nods and walks away. I look over at Natalie and she's still asleep so I decide to carry her off the plane. I sit up and rub my eyes, waiting for the plane to land.

"Thank you for flying with Freedom Airlines" the pilot says over the intercom. I stand up with Natalie in my arm and the diaper bag in the other, "are we home" she asks rubbing her eyes. "Almost baby, we're almost home" I say stepping out of the plane. I walk into the luggage claim when I see a familiar face. "Betty?!" I say astonished. "V" she says walking over to me. I use my one arm to hug her, "what are you doing here? I was going to meet you" I say laughing. "I know but I couldn't let you come home without the proper welcome"
She says smiling. "Hey Natalie do you remember Aunt Betty" I ask. "Hi aunt Betty" she squeals while smiling. We laugh "Okay honey we're still in the airport we have to be quiet" I say. "Here I'll take the bag. Oh and I installed Polly's kids old car seat in my car because I assumed yours in still in your car" she says taking the bag and leading us to her car. "You're a life saver. My stuff will be here tomorrow and my car will be here in 2 days" I say stressing out. "Well if you want you can stay with me and Jughead" Betty says turning to look at me. "Thanks but my parents are dying to see Natalie" I say kissing Natalie's cheek. She giggles, "alright, but I'll still come over tomorrow to help you move into your place, it's on the floor above your parents right?" She asks opening the back door for me. "Yeah. But it's empty, until tomorrow" I say jokingly. She laughs too and walks to the drivers seat as I put Natalie in her seat. I sit in the front next to Betty and I buckle in. "How's Poptate?" I ask. She smiles "He's great, Pops is as popular as always" she says. I nod, "Archie is releasing an EP soon" she says. "What! That's amazing" I say gasping. "I know. But he's being so modest about it" she says rolling her eyes. "That's not new" I say with a laugh. I realize that I don't know what is or isn't new anymore, I mean he could be a completely different person now. "He's good though, he teaches guitar lessons, helps his dad with the company every now and then" she says while focusing on the road. "How is Fred?" I ask, I always liked Fred, I always saw him as the sanity of Riverdale. "He's good" she says. We make small talk through the rest of the car ride until we pull up in front of the Pembrooke. I look out the window "I haven't been here in forever" I say. "Nostalgic much?" She jokes, stepping out of the car. I scoff and step out too and grab Natalie from the back. We walk up the stairs to the front door and walk in, "Ah Miss. Veronica, it's wonderful to see you again" Andre says standing from his desk. "Is there any luggage" he asks. "Hi Andre, nice to see you. And no my things will be delivered tomorrow" I say smiling. We walk toward the elevator and I feel like it was just yesterday that I did this for the last time. "When did you see your parents last?" Betty asks, "They came to LA for Natalie's 2nd birthday" I say, "oh yeah. I wish I could've made it" Betty says. "Well now Aunt B can come to all of your parties" I say to Natalie. She giggles, "that's true" Betty says smiling at her. The elevator dings open and we step out and walk to my parents apartment. I knock on the door and then open it and walk inside. "Mom, dad?" I say. My mom walks out from her room. "You're here" She says hugging me. I hug her back, "hi Mom" I say, "hi abuela" Natalie says jumping up, since I put her down. "Oh look how big you are" she coos leaning down to pick her up. Betty gives me a look of shock, having never seen my mother do anything like that. "Hey Betty, thank you for picking them up" my mom says after kissing Natalie multiple times. "No problem, Hermione. V I'd love to stay and talk more but I have to get to my moms, if Jughead is alone with her too long it'll get ugly" she says. I laugh and hug her, "goodbye, thank you for everything today" I say. "No problem, I'm so glad you're back. See you tomorrow" she says. She walks out of the apartment and I turn back to my mom. "Honey you must be so jet lagged, go nap. I'll take care of Natalie" she says putting her hand on my arm. "Okay I will, but where's daddy?" I ask. "He feels bad he couldn't be here but there was an emergency at the company, he's in France right now" she says, "now go nap" she nudges me to my old room and I walk in. All of my old things are back since I got new stuff for college, I feel like I'm in high school again. If I could go back to high school I'd do so many things differently, Stanford wasn't worth losing Archie. I don't realize how tired I am until my head hits the pillow and I drift off into sleep.

Archie's POV
I'm sitting in my apartment watching the game when I get a text on my phone:

J: Betty just got back from dropping Veronica off at the Pembrooke, do whatever you would like with that information.

I laugh and toss my phone next to me on the couch. He doesn't stop does he. I sip my beer and start thinking about how I'm going to see Veronica again. This is a small town, maybe we'll just run into each other. What would I even say to her, "sorry it didn't work out between you and the guy you dumped me for, maybe we can go out again?" I groan and lay my head back. I need to clear my head. I stand up and go into my room and change into basketball shorts and white t shirt for a run.

As I'm running along the streets I can't help but feel like everything is different. Veronica Lodge is less than 20 minutes from me, and so is her daughter. I make the decision to take a left before the street that leads to the Pembrooke, that's too close for right now. I run for an hour and I stop in front of my apartment building panting and drenched in sweat, "running from your problems, Andrews" I turn my head and I see Reggie walking to me. "Reggie? What are you doing in Riverdale?" I ask him, he moved to Florida after high school and has been there since. "It's my moms birthday" he says. "I heard I'm not the only person returning to Riverdale... Veronica is here" he says putting his hands in his pockets. "Yeah. She just got here today, word travels fast" I say. He shrugs "that and I saw her outside the Pembrooke. So how long after you see her will you fall in love again?" He says winking. I roll my eyes, "no I'm serious dude wait till you see her, she's gotten hotter" he says. "And you're still the same" I say with a fake laugh. He nods, "I'll see you around Andrews" he walks away and I can't help thinking about what he said. How long until Veronica and I fall back into our old habits?

I'm pretty sure this is the longest one I've ever written 😂 Next update will be tomorrow