To Find the Lie, We Must Discard the Truth

“RYAN!!!!” Veronica screams and I literally jump out of bed.

She wasn't in bed next to me so I look around the room, noticing the door to the bathroom closed. I open it and she's standing there in her pajamas, freaking out.

“you screamed for me?” I say, still tired.

“why the hell is my hair black?”

I scan her once again and notice that, indeed, she had black hair. “oops.”

“oops? This was your doing?”

“well no, I just forgot to tell you about the pranks. Each group born in a decade, as in the 90's, 80's, 70's and so on, prank the decade above them, or the people younger than them. So the 70's would prank the 80's who would prank the 90's...”

“how does that explain my hair?!”

I smile, “last year they dyed my skin red. Be happy that they just messed with your hair.” I step behind her so that I'm in view in the mirror. “besides, it suits you.”

she turns around so that she's facing me. “you think?”

“well, the blonde looks better, but this isn't too terrible. Contrasts well with your pale skin and brings out the blue in your eyes.”

“wow, you're actually nicer to me when something terrible happens.”

I laugh and kiss her forehead, “get out of here so that I can shower.” she smiles and leaves the bathroom.

I make sure to just stick to the bar of soap. That's what's nice about having short hair, I don't need to use shampoo, soap works perfectly fine.

Veronica was already dressed when I got out and she was watching the T.V. “when's breakfast at?” she asks. I glance down at my watch and it read eight.

“um, about nine. Usually they come and tell us.”

“okay.”

I sit down on the bed beside her and we just sat and watched the morning cartoons for a little bit.

“Hey Veronica?”

“hmm?” she turns to look at me.

“I have a really weird question for you...”

“random weird or personal weird?” she asks.

“um, personal weird. But, like between us personal.”

“okay then, you can ask.”

“when we kissed last night, did you feel like, I don't know, a spark?”

she laughs, well actually it was more like a giggle. “that's your question?”

“well yeah...”

she smiles and shakes her head, “what do you think the answer is?”

“I don't know, can't exactly read your mind.”

“well it's yes. And for future reference, something like that goes both ways. It's practically impossible to feel a spark and have the other person not feel it. But, people do lie. So technically you already knew the answer.”

“I never said I felt anything.”

“you wouldn't have asked if you didn't.” she crawls over so that she's sitting in my view of the T.V. “so, what does that mean?”

“what does what mean?” I ask, not understanding what she was talking about.

She points her finger between her and me, “what does that mean about us? I know we're getting married no matter what but I mean, if we both feel something when we kiss shouldn't we actually start dating or something.” I bite my lip, not knowing how to reply to that. “I know you're still in love with Sky, and trust me, I'm not even close to being over my ex either. And no, I'm not talking about Blake. I actually had a boyfriend before I moved in with my aunt. Anyways, what I'm saying is that we don't have to be really serious about this. It just seems like we should put some type of label on it. Even if it was just frie-” I cut her off, pressing my lips to hers.

Though it was just a quick kiss and I pulled back shortly after, “you talk too much, you know that Veronica?”

She smiles, “so...dating?”

I nod, “dating sounds good.”

“and you can call me Ronnie like everyone else, you do realize that, don't you?”

“but Veronica is such a pretty name, why would I want to call you anything else?” I grab her waist and pull her to me so that's she's more or less sitting in my lap.

“Does Blake ever fall in love?” she asks randomly.

My eyes widen, “What?”

“Blake, you know, your best friend? He has a new girlfriend and I was just curious to if he ever really cared about the girls.”

“Sara is Blakes new girlfriend, and he does love her. He's loved her for a really long time though and they just got together that night when he called me.”

“so all the other girls were just there until Sara would finally give into him?”

“sounds bad, but yeah, that's pretty much it. He's really a hopeless romantic when it comes to Sara.”

“When do I get to meet your other friends?”

my other friends. I hadn't talked to them since graduation. “um, I'm not quite sure. Probably around Christmas.”

There was a knock on the door, “Breakfast you two!” Rick calls out. Veronica hops off the bed and I follow. She pauses at the mirror near the door.

“I really have black hair. This is seriously going to take some time to get used to.”

“we can just dye it back when we get home.” I remind her, “now come on, food goes fast with my family.” she laughs and we head down to the dining room hand in hand.

~~

That night when we got into bed we were both silent. The day had passed by fairly uneventful. Everyone, and I mean everyone, kept asking what happened to Sky. I felt bad for Veronica though I knew she felt bad for me too. It was like I just couldn't get away from her.

“so, your family seems to miss her.”

“yup.” I reply.

“want to talk about it?”

“nope.”

“do you want to talk at all?”

I roll over and rest my head on my hand, holding myself up on my elbow. “tell me about him.”

“who?”

“your ex. The one you mentioned this morning.”

“you want to know about my ex?”

“you know about mine.”

she sighs and copies my position on the bed, facing me. “Ironically, he wasn't that much different from you. Though his name was John and he's a senior at the boys school that's connected to the girls. He plays football and all that, quarterback I think. Um, we pretty much grew up together and started dating about two years ago. This past year we broke up because it wasn't working. And it didn't have to do with me moving out here or anything, we just weren't meant to be together romantically. He's still my best friend, and I'm still his. He's actually with another good friend of mine and last time I heard they were doing good.”

“so there's no guy for me to beat up?”

she laughs, “no Ryan, there's no guy for you to beat up. Now come on, get some sleep.” Veronica closes the space between us and gives me a short kiss before resting her head on the pillow. I follow in suit and wrap my arms around her, pulling her to me.

“night Ryan.” she says quietly.

I smile and reach over her, turning off the light. “goodnight Veronica.”