Young Gods || [Not Updating]

•16•

[chapter 16]

He opens the door as soon as her foot hits the first step.

He looks tired, with his messy hair and crumpled clothes. Emotions fight for a permanent spot on his face. Anger, sadness, disappointment, confusion.

"Veronica."

The tone of his voice stings more than the slap and every snide comment she's ever gotten about the flyers. Because, when it boils down to it, it's the voice of someone who was just proven right about every bad opinion he had.

She tries her best to blink back tears, swallowing as they roll down her cheeks, and opens her mouth to speak.

"I shouldn't have come here."

He takes a step towards her. "Then why did you?"

Deep in her heart, she knows exactly why she's at his house. She's in pain. She's lost and she's come to the one person who makes her feel found. The one person who believed she could be better.

"Veronica?"

Her heart beats against her rib cage and every inch of her body tells her to run. It always does. Run and never look back. Don't make friends, don't feel, don't live. Nothing good ever lasts. Not for her.

Fight or flight. That's what it's called. And Veronica Lodge always chooses flight.

She steps back, only stopping when he reaches out for her arm. His hand hovers an inch above her skin.

Her eyes meet his.

He never tried to reach out to her. No phone calls. No texts. He left her outside of Pops and never looked back. If he can run away so easily, why can't she?

He glances down for a split second and everything else dissolves.

She can't leave because no matter how far she runs she'll always end up back here.

So, she doesn't leave. She reaches up for his face and pulls it down to hers. Their lips are inches apart, their foreheads resting on each other's.

"Jughead," she whispers as he wipes tears off of her cheeks. "Can we stop fighting now?" Her voice is shaky. "Please?"

Nodding, he pulls her faces into the crook of his neck and wraps his arms around her. His heartbeat is a lullaby to soothe her aching heart.

"We're OK, Veronica," he says softly into the top of her hair. "I promise."

They're not OK. They're the opposite of OK. Two broken people trying to fight things a thousand times bigger than themselves. 

But Veronica has chosen to fight and she won't stop till everything is perfect. Her friends, her family, him.

If she's going to fight, she's going to do it till the end. No matter what that means. No matter what that takes.