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There was so much going through his head. How could he have let this happen? How could he have let himself fuck his teacher, lose his virginity to someone he had known just from seeing her around school. He didn't even know her name until they were having sex and he didn't know what to call her.
Geraldine.
And now she was gone. Gone because of the his stupidity. He wasn't mad at Betty specifically, it wasn't her fault but he was just mad at everyone, mad at himself for getting lost in her.
Fred Andrews had always been the best dad a boy could ask for, he had always been there for Archie when he needed him, but he could tell his dad was disappointed in him.
Archie was disappointed in himself. He didn't know why he had done it in the first place, was he really that much of a horny teenage cliche? Some people would call it love and Archie had believed that at first, until he realised that he couldn't live without her but she could live without him.
It was all a fucking lie and Archie wanted to scream.
The drive home from school, from the last time he was going to see his first love, - as wrong as it fucking was - was like torture. The deafening silence between him and his dad was something Archie had never experienced before.
His dad was right about him. He had changed.
Conversation had always came easily for the two Andrews men, but since the summer, Archie had changed and he hadn't realised it until that moment. The moment where he had fucked up so badly, he couldn't even talk to the one person he used to be able to tell everything to.
Archie felt like his world came to a stop for the second time in one night when the worn out truck came to a standstill. He continued to sit in silence as his dad exited the truck, the redhead was trying to ignore everything around him. He just needed to sit and pretend everything was okay, because it really wasn't.
He had never fucked up so badly before.
After the car door was opened, Archie heard his father sigh before he placed a hand on the truck. He looked at his son's face. Seeing the tears run down his cheeks struck Fred in the heart, all he wanted to do was protect his son and he felt like he had failed at the one thing he was supposed to do.
How had his son been in a relationship with his teacher? A teacher he had talked to and praised for her help with Archie's music. How had he not known?
His son had been abused and he hadn't known.
The sixteen-year-old was trying his hardest not to break down but when his dad opened the passenger door to the truck and pulled Archie into his arms, the boy couldn't help but cry.
"You are not those things you said. You are not stupid. This wasn't your fault." Fred meant every single word that came out of his mouth and Archie knew this, but that didn't change the situation.
Geraldine had abused him but it didn't feel like she had, he had wanted and agreed to do everything they had done but he knew it was wrong and he should have guessed this is what was going to happen.
He buried his head into his dad's neck, not knowing what else to do. He hadn't cried since his mom had left and that was four years prior, even then he had been alone and he couldn't remember the last time he had broken down in front of his father.
Archie and Fred stood there for what felt like hours.
•°•°•
Archie didn't feel like he had a purpose anymore. Four days after Geraldine had left and he hadn't moved from his bed since. He had no energy to do so.
"Hey, buddy." Fred greeted as he walked into his son's room. The place was a mess but Fred didn't have the heart to ask Archie to clean it. "Betty is here, she wants to walk to school with you."
Archie mumbled something along the lines of too tired before he turned away from his father to go back to sleep. Fred sighed quietly before heading out to work, he would try again later.
•°•°•
When Archie was little, video games were the only way he could let his anger out. His mom had a strict policy against shouting, especially when it was Archie shouting at his parents. He found himself getting angrier as he grew older, he blamed it on his parents fighting every single second of their day.
Archie loved to lock himself away in his bedroom and play on his X-box until his eyes hurt and his body ached. He loved it even more when Jughead came to play and Fred knew that.
That's why he rang FP Jones to get Jughead to try and help Archie.
Archie was laying in his bed, browsing through his phone when he heard a knock at his front door. He was the only person home so he threw on some sweat pants and went to open the door.
"Hey." Jughead smiled. "You wanna play some Call of Duty?" Archie appreciated the effort that he and his father were putting in, but video games weren't going to fix his broken heart.
•°•°•
It had only been a week. Seven days exactly. Seven days and he was still wallowing away in his room. His dad had given up on trying to get him out of the house and had decided it would be best for Archie to decide when he was ready.
He never thought Veronica Lodge would be the one person to get him out of the hole he had dug.
It was late afternoon on a Thursday when Veronica came knocking on the Andrews' door, demanding Archie to leave his bedroom.
"Hi, Mister Andrews." Veronica spoke with a grin. "I've come to take Archie for a walk." Fred laughed at her words, she reminded him of her mother who he had once loved himself.
Fred explained to Veronica how Archie was in his room and hadn't left it that day - the past six days - She wasted no time in walking up the stairs to his bedroom to drag him out.
Once she arrived at Archie's room, she knocked twice before walking in. He could have been naked for all she cared, but she didn't, she just wanted to get him out. She wanted to help him.
"Archie, it's time to get up. We're going out." Veronica explained to the boy who was currently hiding from the light, since she had pulled the curtains open. "It's five in the afternoon, you should be up already."
Archie grunted before he flung the comforter from his body, not wanting to fight with Veronica, as he knew he wouldn't win.
"I don't want to." He grumbled, eyes still shut.
"We have all given you a week to recover and I'm not expecting you to be fully healed from what that bitch did to you but Betty, Jughead, your dad and myself, are extremely worried about you." Veronica started, seriousness lacing her voice. "So get your ass in the shower so we can go for a walk."
"Veronica, please." Archie pleaded, pulling the blanket over his face once again. His original thought was to listen to her but he just didn't have the energy to shower, or walk, or even leave his bed.
Veronica sighed before pulling her heals off and crawling on to his bed so she could straddle his stomach. The raven-haired princess pulled the blanket and looked Archie in the eyes. He looked exhausted, but he needed to get up,
otherwise he was never going to get better.
"This will be good for you, Archie, I promise." She assured him as she placed a hand on his cheek for comfort. "Come on." She whispered.
Tears began to run down Archie face, the softness of Veronica's voice made him realise that he can't live his life in his bed, his friends and his family were worried about him and he hated that. He didn't want to cause problems any longer.
"Okay." He whispered in reply. Veronica moved off his stomach so he could sit up and get out of his bed. "Thank you."
•°•°•
They walked for hours.
Sweetwater River ran for miles so they just continued to walk until their legs hurt. Archie didn't do much talking, he didn't want to break down in front of someone he barely knew.
"Why are you so adamant to help me?" Archie asked after minutes of silence. "We barely know each other."
Veronica sighed at his words, she didn't know why she felt the need to help the redhead, the old Veronica would have ignored her friends worries and gotten on with her life but there was something about Archie Andrews which meant she needed to help him.
"Because, Archie Andrews, somebody had to get you out of bed and sometimes, it's better for it to be someone who isn't going to walk on eggshells around you." Veronica explained, making Archie smile.
What did he do to deserve her?
Right from when he first layed eyes on her, he knew she was special. The way she made everything in the room, in the whole fucking world, stop. The way he looked at her once and knew she was going to be it for him. Even at the time of Geraldine, Archie knew Veronica was special to him and he could picture anything with her.
A whole life with her.
Geraldine had been his first love but he knew deep down it wouldn't last...
And it didn't.
"You're really something, Veronica Lodge."
•°•°•
When the two made it back to the Andrews' house, Veronica was preparing to say her goodbye's before Fred Andrews came out from the kitchen and invited the girl in for dinner.
"I don't want to intrude." Veronica spoke, as much as she wanted to stay with the two men, she felt like she was intruding on time where Archie could be talking to his dad about everything. "Thank you for the offer though."
She should have guessed both Fred and Archie would convince her to stay and it's exactly what they did. As much as she tried to deny it, she liked Archie's, and Fred's, company more than her own parents.
They decided to order pizza as it was quick and easy to do. Archie and Veronica ended up getting into an argument about putting pineapple on pizza after Archie ordered a Hawaiian for himself.
As much as Veronica loved eating fruit, pizza was supposed to be unhealthy so fruit didn't belong on it. Archie just loved pineapple and would eat in on anything.
"I wouldn't try to reason with him, Veronica, he has eaten pineapple with chocolate before." Fred chuckled when he saw the face Veronica was pulling at Archie eating his pizza.
Veronica's face turned sour at Fred's words. "That's disgusting, Archie!" She squealed towards the redhead.
Archie laughed at her before saying something about it only being once, but Veronica was too grossed out to be paying attention to what he was saying.
The three continued to watch the cheesey rom-com Veronica had picked whilst they finished off the two pizzas, Archie getting a whole pizza due to the offensive pineapple on it.
Once the movie had finished, and the pizza had been eaten, Fred excused himself to bed after he invited Veronica to sleep over for the night. It was already ten at night and Fred didn't want her out alone in the dark so he would get Archie to sleep on the floor and Veronica could have his bed.
"I don't want to be a pain." Veronica smiled - she didn't know why she was repeating herself as she knew what the outcome would be - when Fred told her the plan, Archie was grinning to himself, he had realised he actually really liked spending time with the raven-haired beauty and he would sleep on the floor any day if it meant she was with him.
He knew it was probably wrong to want to have his best friend's, girlfriend's, best friend - that was more complicated than Archie had thought - stay with him, in his room, but he couldn't help. There was just something about her.
"You're not being a pain, Ronnie." Archie reassured. "We want you to stay."
•°•°•
By the time Archie had set up his bed on the floor, and changed his sheets for Veronica, the sixteen-year-old's were ready to go to sleep. Archie was exhausted from the day that was disappearing as he hadn't been so active in days.
He could admit to being proud of himself for overcoming the heartbreak of someone who didn't deserve for him to be upset over, and he had finally seen the brighter side of things. Of life.
Veronica Lodge.
He didn't know why she was the one to get him to come out of hibernation, but maybe she was right, maybe he needed someone who wasn't going to go soft on him, maybe all he needed was someone to tell him the truth, tell him that she wasn't worth it.
"Where have you been my whole life, Veronica Lodge?" Archie asked, after they had settled in their separate beds.
"I've always been here for you, Archiekins." Veronica smiled sadly. "I hope you know that."
Veronica hadn't been the best person her whole life, she had been a toxic and mean bitch who had only cared about herself and maybe that's why she had listened so hard to Betty when she was explaining Archie's situation, she didn't want to be that person anymore. She wanted to help people and be there for her friends and Archie was her friend, even if they hadn't known each other for very long.
Archie yawned and began to whisper from tiredness. "I know we don't know each other very well so I hope this isn't weird."
Veronica raised her eyebrows at his words. "What isn't weird?"
"You sleeping in my bed, I guess my house all together actually."
The girl laughed as she sat up to face him. She didn't find it weird at all, she had slept in Betty's bed and she didn't see the difference really, they were both her friends.
"There is nothing weird about a person sleeping in a friend's bed. Me and Betty have sleep over's all the time!" She giggled, but Archie felt like it was different, she was different.
"Ronnie, that's different!" Archie whined, also sitting up.
"Why?"
Archie blushed slightly before answering. "Because we kissed."
The redhead would never forget the moment his lips touched her's for the time. It was one of the best feeling he had ever felt.
Veronica's eyes darkened as she looked at him, remembering the passion that came from their first kiss. Before she knew it, Archie was climbing on to his bed and placing both of his hands on her face as he kissed her breath away.
She wasted no time in wrapping her right arm around Archie's neck as he pushed them into the soft matress.
They stayed like that for only moments, kissing each other like they'd been in love for decades, before Veronica pulled away. This wasn't the right thing to do. Their time for love and romance would come but he was too important to her to let herself be a rebound. And she knew she was important to him too.
"We can't." Veronica whispered, pressing her nose against his. Archie sighed and pressed his lips to hers once more. "Archie, we can't."
"Why?"
"I don't want to be your rebound, I can't be your rebound."
Archie let out a long breath. "Why won't people love me?" He murmured as he tried to leave the bed but Veronica grabbed his arm before he could continue his action and put her hands on his face so he would have to look in her eyes.
"People do love you! I love you!" Veronica cried, tears began to run down both of their faces. How could he think people didn't love him? "I'm doing this because I know I mean more to you than a quick fuck, so get back into this bed and sleep with me so we can talk in the morning."
Archie wiped his tears and listened to her orders. He layed down next to her and buried his head in her hair.
"Thank you." He murmured before they both fell into a deep sleep, the best sleep Archie had in weeks.
•°•°•