Chapter Text
“God, these things are the worst.”
“You say that but then you show up anyway.”
The two women sat side by side, eyeing the bar from their table across the room.
“Well, aside from school and work, this is the most convenient and cheapest way to drink.”
“That may be true for pleb’s like me, but you? When have you ever cared about free drinks, other than when one of your crushes is showering you with attention?”
Veronica didn’t respond. She was waiting for the man at the bar to turn around so she could see if she recognized him.
“Because, my dear, I don’t have any brainpower left to organize one of my legendary parties, so catching up with my best friend at the least-sleazy off-campus bar is a pretty good compromise.”
“Meeting me here is a compromise? I see how I rate,” replied the tall, short-haired girl.
“Darling, you know I love you with all of my heart. Please don’t be upset with me. I just don’t have the patience or energy to do anything else, and coming here for the monthly marketing club meeting allows me to pretend for a short minute that I actually have a social life.” Veronica looked down, stirring her cocktail, a look of frustration on her face. She did recognize him. He was the boyfriend of one of her econ classmates. Oh well.
“Hey, I’m not trying to make you feel bad,” Jennie said, putting her hand on Veronica’s. Veronica looked up, a resigned smile on her lips.
“You don’t. Trust me. I don’t know what’s up with me lately. I can’t seem to break out of my funk, you know?”
“Yeah I know. And after what happened, did you have any time off to process it? Or did you just power through?”
“Powered through, as usual. I mean I’ve had breakups before. Plenty of them. But this time, I don’t know. I was just blindsided. I know what happened, but part of me still doesn’t believe it.”
Veronica sucked through the straw, hitting the bottom of her drink with a loud slurp.
“Maybe I was just blind. I mean, who would break up with me?” She gestured, placing her hand on her chest, her voice full of sarcasm.
“Have you heard from him?” Jennie asked before finishing off her beer.
“No, and I don’t want to. I mean what could he say? He would probably drag me through another long-winded explanation of how he realized he never got over his ex and that trying again with her is more appealing than staying with me?”
Veronica’s voice was louder than she intended, and the people at the table next to her paused their conversation to look at her.
Jennie leaned in closer. “Martin is a complete idiot for what he did. You did not deserve that.”
“I didn't, did I?”
“No, you did not. You are an amazing woman Veronica Lodge, and if he didn’t see that immediately, then he doesn’t deserve you. And you need to find a way to get him out of your mind.”
Veronica leaned back, giving her friend a long look. “What are you thinking?” she asked, a small smile growing on her lips.
“Maybe you need a distraction. Something fun to pour your “energy” into.”
“Or someone, you mean?”
“You said it, not me,” Jennie replied, smiling back at Veronica.
“Well, if I were to embark on this new “mission” I probably need to expand my social circle beyond classes, work, and the coffee shop next to the law school. And to do that, I would have to have more than ninety minutes a month to dedicate to “socializing” like I’m doing right now.”
“Oh, don’t be so dramatic. Surely you’ve spied some potential candidates in your classes.”
“Yes, but if something goes wrong, I still have to see them on a twice-weekly basis and possibly even do a group project with them. I’d prefer to keep work and play separate.”
“That sounds fair. But what about any of the guys in here?”
“From the marketing club, no thanks,” Veronica scoffed as she attempted to get one more sip out of her drink.
“No dummy. This bar isn’t filled only with your classmates,” Jennie said as she gestured toward herself. “I’m awesome and I don’t even go here.”
“That is true. You’re an anomaly though. I think you’re giving the guys here too much credit.”
“And you are being a classic snob, Veronica. How many people in this bar do you recognize from school?”
Veronica scanned the room. “Nine maybe?”
“So,” Jennie continued, “I’m going to get us another drink and you are going to choose one guy to talk to.”
Jennie hopped down off of her bar stool, and strode toward the bar, empty glasses in hand.
Veronica rolled her eyes. This was so stupid. She did NOT pick guys up in bars. They picked her up. Of course, the guys that had successfully picked her up ended up being raging narcissists or insanely rich trust fund kids who were used to having gorgeous women following them around. Some of them had been fun for a little while, but once they realized how wealthy Veronica was, their egos took over and their urge to compete with her superseded any desire for a meaningful relationship.
I guess maybe I should figure out what I want, she thought to herself. Plus, this is just for fun. No need to take it too seriously.
She did a quick scan of the room. A few other groups had gathered in the past thirty minutes. There was the ladies happy hour group, the blue-collared-shirt and tan-khaki-clad consulting bros group, and there was another group that Veronica couldn’t identify easily. They were all in jeans and some sort of sweater or dark jacket. It was four women and three men, and none of them fit the business school stereotype. Two of the guys were chatting it up with two of the women, while the rest listened in and made small talk or checked their phones. Veronica thought she recognized one of the guys. He was tall with black wavy hair and was wearing a dark brown Carhartt jacket. She watched as one of the women tried to get his attention, but he was completely focused on the cute blonde chatting comfortably with the other two men. Veronica remembered that he had an odd name. She sat two seats down from him in a business writing seminar last quarter. He had been very serious, but was always polite when Veronica arrived a couple of minutes late and had to squeeze past him to get to her seat. He was pretty cute but he never stuck around after class to chat, so she never had a chance to talk with him.
“See anyone worth your time?” Jennie asked as she slid a gin and tonic toward Veronica.
“No, but I do see someone interesting. See that guy over there with the dark hair and the brown jacket?”
“You mean mountain man?” Jennie asked, squinting.
“Yes, the one with the boots. I know him from class. He seemed normal.”
“And he’s cute. He is different from your usual type too. Oooh, go say hi!”
Veronica blushed and looked down at her hands. Baby steps. This was a small thing. Just go up to him and say hi. If nothing else, she could say she gave it a try.
As Veronica slid off of the bar stool, she picked up her drink and took a big swig.
“Slow down cowboy,” Jennie warned. “You need to be relaxed but not sloppy.”
“I’m never sloppy,” Veronica replied, checking her makeup quickly.
She glanced back up to discover that the dark-haired guy had migrated to the edge of the chatty foursome. It was obvious he was waiting for a break in the conversation to say something to the cute blonde. “Shit,” Veronica mouthed to herself. She and Jennie watched as he leaned over to say something to the blonde. She responded with a nod and a smile. The two of them chatted for a minute until the other man claimed her attention once again. The dark-haired guy lingered there for a minute, and then returned to his original seat at the bar.
“Go talk to him,” Jennie urged. Veronica didn’t have a good feeling about this but, like she told herself earlier, baby steps. She downed the rest of her drink and began the long journey across the room to the far side of the bar.
---
“A gin and tonic, Tanqueray with two cubes of ice, and a water.” Veronica said, holding the bartender’s eye until he smiled back at her. “Sure thing. Need anything else?”
“No, that’s it for now. The tab is under Lodge.” She slid him a tip and took two steps closer to the man at the end of the bar, who was gazing into the depths of his phone.
“Is this seat taken?” she asked. The man looked up, surprised, then shook his head no as he sat up straighter.
“Here you go,” the bartender said as he placed the cocktail and the water in front of Veronica. “If you need anything else, my name’s John,” he smiled down at her. “Thanks John,” she said as she sipped the water.
“Were you in Delancy’s 403 writing seminar last quarter?” the dark-haired man asked, leaning toward her slightly.
“Veronica,” she said as she reached out to shake his hand. He took it and gave it a firm squeeze.
“I’m Jughead, nice to meet you.”
“What? Sorry Judson?”
“No, it’s Jughead. My name’s Forsythe but I go by Jughead.”
“Oh, okay. Nice to meet you Jughead.”
They both took a sip of their drinks.
“So, do you come here often?” Jughead asked.
“Not really,” Veronica replied. “I’m just here for a happy hour for my business school.”
“Oh, is that what this is?” he replied, looking around the room.
“We don’t really talk about anything in particular,” she replied. “It’s just an excuse for me to leave work early for a school event.”
“Yeah me too,” he replied, signaling to the group behind him. “We aren’t a club or anything, just a group of people from a forensics writing course.”
He then looked over his shoulder again, only to see the blonde head toward the door with another woman and the man she had been chatting with all evening. When he turned back to Veronica, his face had fallen. As he noticed her watching him, he grabbed his drink and forced a slight smile.
“What’s her name?” Veronica asked, lifting her glass of water to her mouth.
“Oh Betty?” he replied, a genuine smile crossing his lips. “Just one of my friends from school, uh, along with Matt and Julia.” He looked down at his lap.
“So uh, Veronica, you said you’re in business school?”
“Yes, I’m getting my masters in macroeconomics with a focus on the Chinese economy.” Jughead waited patiently for her to go on.
“Jughead, can I tell you something?” Veronica asked, swapping her water for her cocktail.
Jughead squeezed his eyebrows together and nodded.
“So maybe it’s because this is my third drink but I came over to talk to you specifically.”
“Oh,” he replied, his mouth falling open in surprise.
“And I want to tell you this because I just went through a really bad breakup and my friend told me to go talk to someone and I saw you and remembered you from class. So this is me ‘getting back in the game.’” She was quickly going through her drink so she signaled the bartender for another one.
“You remembered me?” Jughead asked, peering at her.
“And I hope you don’t think I’m a complete weirdo, but I can see you like Betty and if you really want to be more than her friend, then you have to stand up and take control of the situation. I’m sure she’s very smart and sweet but if you wait for her to notice you, you’re just going to be waiting while she goes off with Mark or Matt or whomever is there to tell her what she needs.”
Jughead stared at her for twenty seconds. He opened his mouth to say something and then closed it.
“Shit,” Veronica said, putting her elbows on the bar and covering her face with her hands. This was turning into a disaster.
The bartender set a fresh drink in front of Veronica. Before she could pick it up, Jennie stepped between Veronica and Jughead and grabbed the drink.
Turning to Jughead, she took a sip of the cocktail and held out her hand. “Hi I’m Jennie. Nice to meet you.” Jughead shook her hand, still not sure what was going on.
Jennie flagged down the bartender and asked him to close out the tab.
“Sorry about this but my girl Veronica and I need to get going. I’m going to get her home. I hope you two had a nice chat and can catch up again sometime soon. Ronnie, take your bag, I’ve got your coat.” Veronica signed the tab and hopped down off of the bar stool. Looking up at Jughead, she gave him a shy smile and then swung her bag up on her shoulder.
They turned and headed toward the exit. As the door closed behind them, Jughead mumbled “You remembered me?”
---
“Well that was embarrassing,” Veronica said in between sips of water. She and Jennie were in a cab, heading back toward Veronica’s apartment.
“It was...something,” Jennie replied. She reached over, taking Veronica’s hand in hers. “I’m proud of you. That wasn’t easy. This sort of thing never is.”
“I know, I know. I guess part of me hoped that with Martin, I wouldn’t have to do this….this sort of thing again. I didn’t think I was the settling-down type, and I still don’t think I am but, dating is so hard.”
Jennie looked at her friend. “Ronnie it is not fun, especially if you are looking for ‘the one.’ But don’t let tonight put you off of dating altogether. Remember our undergrad days? When the only thing we worried about was trying to squeeze in a few hours of sleep before heading out for the night? That was fun. Maybe we don’t have as much time as we did before, but there is still a lot of fun to be had. You just need to let go of your expectations.”
Veronica looked up at her friend. “Yeah, but I have standards.”
“Oh my god, you and your standards!” Jennie exclaimed. Veronica sat up, surprised by her friend’s outburst.
Jennie turned to face Veronica. “Ronnie, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you. I know I’m really hard on you. And you’re hard on yourself. Look at you: working, going to graduate school. You need to make more time for yourself. I’m not just saying that either. Admit it, you’re more productive when you’re happy. And right now, you’re just trying to push past the pain. Don’t you think you deserve to be happy?”
“I do, I just don’t have the time to find someone I want to date, that’s all.”
“So don’t.”
“I thought you said I deserve to be happy,” Veronica replied, letting her sarcasm show.
“You do deserve to be happy. Can’t you be happy with someone and not have to date them?”
Veronica looked puzzled. “Oh!” she replied as she realized what Jennie was getting at.
“Just make it casual. Like with mountain man back there.” Jennie was grinning smugly, satisfied with her brilliant idea.
“No, I think I screwed that up. Besides, he was obviously in love with someone else.”
“That’s what I’m saying Veronica. This isn’t love. It’s just fun.”
Veronica leaned back in her seat and stared out the window. Maybe Jennie was right.
“Besides, even if you did embarrass yourself a teeny tiny bit, I doubt you scared him off. The way he was looking at you proved that.”
Veronica smiled. “You think so?” Jennie smiled, giving Veronica a devious look.
The two women laughed. The plan was too ridiculous and that’s what made it great.