Chapter Text
Archie manages to drag himself out of bed around noon on Saturday. Just knowing that Betty had been on a date with Reggie last night had driven him crazy. He maybe managed a couple hours of sleep at best.
He groans when he sees himself in the bathroom mirror. Bedhead is an understatement; but really, it goes perfectly with the purple bags under his eyes.
Archie shuffles into the kitchen, hoping for coffee and possibly a lobotomy.
Instead he finds Jughead sitting at their scuffed kitchen table, laptop open in front of him and a very judgmental smirk on his face.
Archie ignores him for now and beelines for the coffeemaker.
Score. It’s a fresh pot.
He only spills a little when he pours it into the biggest mug he can find. Which actually happens to be a beer stein.
Oh well. He and Jughead are two single guys in their twenties- nobody said they had to have their shit together.
Archie finally turns back around to Jughead and takes a long gulp of hot coffee. “Thanks for the coffee, dude.”
Jughead crosses his arms and leans back in his chair. “I figured you could use it after last night.”
Archie plays dumb, “What about last night?”
“Come on, man, we both know about Betty’s date last night.” Jughead doesn’t pull his punches.
Archie winces.
Jughead sighs and closes his laptop. “Just sit down, okay?”
He reluctantly sits down across from Jughead.
Jughead watches him slurp down some more coffee. “What are you doing, Archie?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean this whole agonizing over Betty dating someone else thing!”
Archie has no response for that.
Jughead softens his voice. “Look, I know about Betty confessing her feelings for you and about you sleeping with Coach Geraldine.”
Archie chokes, “Betty told you about that?”
Jughead just shakes his head. “No, she didn’t, and neither did you, which is kind of insulting since we’re supposedly best friends.”
Archie surrenders his coffee to the table in order to bury his face in his hands. Jughead just sits there silently.
Archie lets out a long sigh and drags his hands through his hair, meeting Jughead’s gaze head on. “You are my best friend, Jug. It’s just- things between me and Betty are different, you know?”
Jughead doesn’t look convinced.
“Look, you have no idea what it’s like to be me and Betty,” Archie argues. “We’ve been skating partners for sixteen years! That’s like, a common law marriage!”
“So?” Jughead doesn’t get it. Of course he doesn’t. Even Archie isn’t sure what he feels.
“So what we had was simple- it worked for us!- before I had to look at it from an outside point of view. And then it was just, huge and, and, overwhelming.”
Jughead hums in acknowledgement. “That’s fair, I mean, we have all heard Kevin’s essay on why you two are “endgame.” And that doesn’t even take into account your fans.”
Archie chokes out a laugh. “God, our romance is already this huge public saga and it hasn’t even happened!”
“Yet?” Jughead asks tentatively.
“I don’t know. I guess that depends on how willing she is to forgive me.”
“And how her date with Reggie went,” Jughead points out.
“Fuck,” Archie groans. “I’m so fucking jealous,” he admits with a bitter laugh.
“Tell her, Archie,” Jughead says, eyes more sympathetic than Archie probably deserves.
---
Veronica and Kevin have been blowing up Betty’s phone since she got home from her date last night. And when Betty woke up this morning, she already had ten unread messages in their group chat.
It’s crazy. Betty’s never had any sort of interesting dating life, and now she's the one who has details to gush about. Not Kevin, not Veronica, Betty.
Betty loves it. (As long as she keeps her mind off Archie, she’s fine.) And her best friends are a welcome distraction from those intrusive thoughts.
She even allowed Veronica and Kevin to persuade her into a sleepover at Veronica’s tonight; hence why she’s currently sitting crosslegged on Veronica’s plush bed watching Kevin gesticulate wildly as he gives a full recount of the dating histories of every skater at the rink.
“Why do you even know all this?” Veronica laughs as she takes a healthy swallow from her glass of red wine.
“I’m painfully single, okay,” Kevin jokes, “if I’m not living vicariously through our fellow athletes, then I’m just not living at all.”
Betty giggles and takes a sip of her own wine, careful not to smudge her face mask. “Oh, come on Kev,” she gives him a pointed look, “are you really sticking to that story?”
She can’t tell if Kevin blushes under his own clay mask, but he splutters, “What are you talking about?”
“I saw you and Moose leaving the storage closet a couple weeks ago,” she admits with a shrug. “You looked pretty...disheveled.”
“What?” Veronica screeches.
“Ohmygod,” Kevin groans, “You saw that?”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Veronica shoves him playfully.
“I wanted to!” he protests. “But well, he’s not really ready to go public with his sexuality, and to be honest, I’m kind of embarrassed I started hooking up with him after all the shit-talking I do about him and Reggie- no offense, Betty.”
Betty winces, “That’s fair.”
“Also,” Kevin lowers his voice conspiratorially, “sneaking around? Is actually really hot.”
Betty and Veronica break into peals of laughter.
“You dog!” Veronica jokes.
“What about you, Vee?” Kevin deflects.
She takes a dainty sip. “A lady never tells.”
Betty smacks her with a down-filled pillow. Veronica squawks and bursts into laughter. “Okay, okay, maybe there’s something. With someone,” she points seriously at both Betty and Kevin, “Who I will not name.”
“Oh, there’s no need,” Kevin says slyly.
Veronica glares at him.
Betty smiles, confused but still amused by their antics. “Should I know what you’re talking about?”
“No,” Veronica says firmly. “Kevin’s just teasing, aren’t you?”
“Sure,” Kevin very obviously lies.
Veronica makes the most affronted noise.
Betty just laughs as Vee snatches the pillow out of her hands and threatens Kevin.
A girls’ night was just what she needed