Chapter Text
"Thanks for having me over, guys."
This must've been at least the fifth time tonight Martha has said this, but it's just as sincere as the first. She practically melts into Veronica's sofa, sleepy eyes glued to the last few scenes of The Princess Bride. Normally Veronica would suggest sweeping off the Jiffy Pop crumbs from her pink sweater, but... whatever. All three of the girls probably look terrible, Veronica decides, chuckling to herself at the thought.
"No problem, Martha. We're glad you came."
Heather McNamara is quick to nod and agree, curled up by Veronica's other side. "Yeah! I haven't--"
She takes a sip at her icewater before continuing. "I haven't seen The Princess Bride yet, but the way my mom kept talking about it, I thought it might be lame, but you have really good taste!"
Martha dips her head, hair shielding her blushing face at the kind words. "No, haha... I'm glad you like it, but I bet you have way better taste in movies than I do. Maybe you could pick a movie next time, Heather...?"
Heather's eyes widen a bit, grinning -- but Martha seems to instantly regret saying anything at all, padding onto her suggestion:
"I-- I mean if you two w-- would like to do something like this again; I'd totally understand if you wouldn't."
Reaching across Veronica's lap, Heather gently taps at Martha's hand.
"Chill out, Martha! We'd love to... I'm no con-nois-seur," Veronica flinches at Heather's pronunciation. "But this time, next week, we can do it all over again. In fact, I know the video rental place uptown just got new copies of The Breakfast Club AND Sixteen Candles to replace all the... lots, actually... of copies they had stolen. Anyway!"
Another sip, and Heather sets her drink on a coaster. "Try not to worry so much... Like Veronica said: 'war is over', right? She's the 'new sheriff in town'? So we can learn how to chill..."
Heather giggles, repeating Veronica's proclamations from earlier that day, which only earns her an eye roll from the brunette in question.
But then Heather is patting her arm too, doing a faux-pouty lip. "Oh, come on, I'm just teasing... you're really smart and creative like that, coming up with those cool phrases on the fly."
She then rests her head on Veronica's bicep, batting her lashes. "I like them!"
Another eye roll from Veronica, but this time coupled with a knowing smirk. "Okay... Anyways, Martha, she pretty much covered it. We can try setting this up as a somewhat regular thing, at least until finals, and then-- oh, you're asleep."
And with a smile on her face, nonetheless. Veronica's eyes flicker towards the TV; turns out Martha missed only a few minutes before the credits started rolling.
Looks like she got her happy ending anyway.
Heather glances between the sleeping girl and Veronica a few times before asking meekly, so as not to wake her: "Should we move? I can take the floor, and you can go to your room."
Already getting up, Heather takes a few steps back, watching Veronica gently adjust Martha so she could sleep peacefully, sprawled out along the couch rather than just curled up in a little ball. "Yes, we're gonna let her take the couch; no, you're not gonna take the floor. I have a king sized bed in my bedroom, unless you just... want to, I guess."
Veronica peeks over her shoulder at Heather as she removes Martha's glasses, folding and setting them on the coffee table. Heather quickly shakes her head. "No, no, I'd like that."
After draping a blanket over their friend for good measure, Veronica nods and leads the way upstairs. "Okay, cool. Just follow me and-- watch that third step from the bottom, it creaks."
"What, this one--" Whoooosh. Focused too much on determining which stair was faulty, Heather failed to grab the rail, resulting in her nearly hitting her face.
Great.
Quietly as she can, Veronica rushes back down to help her to her feet. "You okay?"
"Sorry! Yeah..."
Still, she helps the relatively unharmed Heather up, and the two make their way to Veronica's room.
Once inside, Veronica removes her red scrunchy, fishing through her dresser for some comfortable pajamas. Heather sits on the edge of the bed, peeling off her yellow jacket and letting down her curls.
"Wait... Did you bring a change of clothes, Heather?"
The blonde had already started unbuttoning her blouse. "No, I didn't actually plan on spending the night at first... But I don't mind, I could've just made an undershirt work -- unless you would let me borrow something?"
An oversized t-shirt and shorts fly across the air, which Heather barely catches, knocking her back a step or two. But, she changes into them anyway with her back turned to Veronica.
Veronica, meanwhile, crawls into the bed wearing yoga pants and a tank top, exhausted after the day's events. Her eyelids are heavy, and she doesn't see Heather in the darkness, but feels her weight shift the mattress ever so slightly once she crawls in, pulling the blankets over herself.
They talk on-and-off about things that don't matter, with Veronica finding a way to gracefully end the topic, and Heather finding a new one to relight the conversation.
After a certain point, Veronica would've usually considered ignoring it all and falling asleep, but... Heather's best friend and boyfriend just died. Come on, Veronica. She's lonely.
So it continues, and the brunette finds herself lowkey enjoying the miscellaneous topics Heather conjures up -- in a "hey who cares if there's things to do in the morning, let's stay up and talk till 3 am" kind of way.
...
"Veronica...? Are your parents going to be here in the morning?"
"Yeah, we can drive you home, don't worry about having to wait on your dad."
"Oh, okay."
The girl turns on her side, yawning loudly, but not loud enough to drown out her friend.
"Veronica...? Do I get on your nerves?"
Her eyes open a bit, wondering if she heard that correctly. She doesn't worry much about it. "I mean, sometimes, but everyone gets on everyone's nerves eventually."
"Oh, okay."
A few minutes pass, and just as Veronica is on the sweet, sweet brink of sleep, she's interrupted one more time.
"Veronica...? Do you know how to do... it... with other girls?"
"...What?"