A Touch Of Colour

Chapter 17

Betty and Veronica were in Betty's bedroom when there was a loud knock on the front door. Alice was out, she was at the Riverdale Register, typing up her next article. Polly was out, the girls didn't know where, so they went to see who it was.

"Mom? What the hell are you doing here? How did you even know I was here?" Veronica hissed at her mother.

"You're still using my Apple ID. I can track your phone. But, besides the point, Veronica. You need to come home. Pack your things." Hermione hissed back.

"You don't get to order me around like one of your butlers. I'm not coming back to your apartment. This is my home now."

"Don't be daft. Alice Cooper isn't going to keep you in her lovely house forever. Come on, pack your things."

"Mom, I told you, I'm not coming with you."

"Veronica, you must. We don't have time for this. You haven't been answering my calls, nor my texts or voicemails. I'm not up for your silly games. Come home," her mother reached for Veronica's arm, but she quickly snatched it away.

"I'm not coming home. I'm staying here," Veronica protested.

"Mrs. Lodge, she's fine to stay here, really—" Betty started, but was cut off by the acid tone of her soulmate's mother.

"Betty, stay out of this. You've caused enough damage. Veronica, you don't have to stay at home, if that's what you want, but I really need you to come home."

"Why, mom? What's so important that it can't wait?" Veronica narrowed her eyes at her mother.

"Veronica, your father is home."

"I don't think my dad's home. Want to come in for a bit?" Kevin asked, opening the car door.

"Oh. Sure." Archie turned the engine off and chucked the key into his pocket. They walked to the entrance of Kevin's house.

"And this," Kevin said, throwing the front door open, "is the place I call home."

"It's nice." Archie looked around. The walls were quite bare, the furniture plain. He could tell that it was a recently moved into house, since it didn't have very many picture frames, or little things that made it homely.

"It's boring. Dad's always out, and he's the one who likes to make things interesting. I don't care much for decorating, so." Kevin swung his arms around, feeling extremely aware of everything he was doing with his body (and also feeling quite awkward about it).

"Where's your room?" Archie asked, and then from the look on Kevin's face, immediately regretted it.

"Oh. Uh, it's upstairs. I can show you if you want." Kevin led the way up to his room, which was just slightly less plain than the rest of the house. It had a few touches of Kevin — some books scattered on his desk, some clothes piled onto a chair, some motivational quotes stuck around the walls (his mom printed them for him, and lamented them, as a parting gift) — but was otherwise quite bare.

"Are you ever planning on making it a bit more... you?" Archie chuckled.

"This is quite 'me', I guess. Like I said, I'm not really the decorative type. I like simple." He threw his bag down next to his desk and sat on his bed. He patted the spot beside him, welcoming Archie to take a seat.

"Maybe I could help you decorate this place a little more, someday," Archie said.

"Maybe," Kevin smiled. Archie's eyes shifted to Kevin's lips, and Kevin leaned in slowly. Archie filled the gap between them, and pressed his lips to Kevin's. Kevin's hand moved to the back of Archie's neck, and he shifted on the bed to face him more. Kevin fisted Archie's hair as their lips moved against each other's.

Archie had kissed Veronica before — that was his first kiss — but it hadn't felt anything like this. This kiss had more passion, more emotion. This kiss was more real.

Kevin had kissed a few other boys before, mostly just drunk kisses at parties, but this topped all of the others. Archie was a surprisingly good kisser, Kevin wasn't sure how much experience he had had.

"You're good at this," Kevin said against his lips.

"Shh, you're wasting time that could be spent kissing," Archie responded.

Archie moved himself closer to Kevin, craving more. Archie's hands found their way up to Kevin's cheeks.

Suddenly the boys heard the door downstairs swing open, and broke apart. Cursing under his breath, Kevin stood up and motioned for Archie to follow.

"Wait, Kevin. Before we go downstairs... do you think we should tell your dad?" Archie reached for Kevin's hand.

Kevin smiled. "I think that'd be a great idea."

The two of them headed downstairs to greet Kevin's father.