Archive of Our Own

School bell rings, walk me home. Sidewalk chalk, covered in snow. Lost my gloves, you give me one.

When Betty and Archie start walking to school together, Archie takes it very seriously. 

Until the winter of fourth grade, Archie’s dad has always accompanied both of them to and from school. It's their routine for a long time, but with Fred beginning to put in more hours at Andrews Construction, and with the approval of Betty's parents, it's decided that Betty and Archie are old enough to make the short journey on their own. 

Before Archie leaves the house, Fred places a hand on his shoulder. “I trust you’ll keep Betty safe, Arch?” he asks. “I’m counting on you.”

Archie nods fervently, standing up tall. “Of course, Dad.”

Betty meets Archie at the end of his driveway, all bundled up in her coat and mittens. There’s enough snow on the ground that Archie can see the footprints leading from her front door to his lawn. 

“Ready to go?” she asks, grinning.

The elementary school is only a five minute walk from their houses, but that doesn’t stop Archie from being paranoid the entire time, looking in every direction as they walk side by side. Betty laughs at him, shaking her head. “It’s okay, Arch. No one’s going to attack us.”

“I just want to make sure you’re safe,” Archie tells her, puffing his chest. He always tries to stand up as straight as he can when he’s beside Betty, since she’s still a little taller than him.

“My knight in shining armor,” she says with a smile. 

At the end of the day, Betty and Archie meet at the front doors to walk home together. Snow is still falling softly, covering up the sidewalk chalk drawings scrawled on the schoolyard pavement. 

They talk about school as they walk, even though they’re in the same class and see each other all day. Archie is recounting his exciting dodgeball win in gym class when he glances over at Betty and sees her blowing on her hands before shoving them back into her coat pockets.

Betty sees him looking and smiles sheepishly. “I lost my gloves. They’re probably back in my cubby at school or something.”

Immediately, Archie pulls off one of his own gloves and hands it to her. “Here.”

“Arch, I’m fine.”

He shakes his head. “You look cold. I don’t mind sharing.” Betty sighs, taking the glove from him and sliding it on. “Now we match,” he tells her. He can’t tell if her cheeks are rosy from the cold or if she’s blushing. 

“Thank you,” Betty says. Her warm smile is enough to make Archie forget about the snow falling all around them.

He likes making her happy, he thinks. 

"Wanna hang out?” Yeah, sounds like fun. Video games, you pass me a note. 

“I’m not doing this again, Hal!”

“God damn it Alice, would you just listen to me?”

Betty presses her hands over her ears, trying to drown out the sound of her parents fighting. Attempting to study for her history test is proving fruitless, the yelling completely ruining her concentration. She’s always assumed her parents would get easier to deal with once she got older, but she’s thirteen now and the sound of their raised voices still makes her want to hide in her closet.

She looks out her window and sees that Archie has his curtains open. She spots him sitting in his chair by the window, strumming his guitar like he sometimes does. Betty feels a wave of relief wash over as she waves waves to get his attention, needing an escape from the hell that’s going on downstairs.

Archie looks up and sees her, his brow furrowing when he notices her pained expression. Betty points to her doorway, knowing that he’ll understand. She remembers feeling embarrassed the first time she'd told him about her parents, whispering the words softly to him when she'd been over late one night, but he had only reassured her that there was always a safe place for her at his house. 

He nods in understanding, gesturing immediately for her to come over, and Betty sighs gratefully as she throws her study notes into her backpack. She’s worried her parents will try to stop her from leaving, but they don’t even glance her way when she comes downstairs. They’re in the kitchen, still locked in a heated argument. 

When Betty knocks on Archie’s door, it’s Fred who answers. “Hi, Mr. Andrews,” Betty says, “I’m just here to study with Archie.”

“Come on in, Betty,” he replies with a kind smile. Betty guesses that Archie’s dad knows there’s more to the story (He's undoubtedly seen her parents yelling at each other outside on multiple occasions) but she knows he’ll never say anything to her about it. Fred and Archie have always welcomed Betty into their home, no questions asked. 

Betty runs up the stairs, finding Archie in his room. She knocks gently on his doorframe, greeting him with with a small smile.

“Hey,” he says. He pats the space beside him on his bed. Betty sits down and starts taking her notes out right away. 

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Archie asks. He always offers, even though she rarely does.

She purses her lips and shakes her head, holding up her history textbook. “Help me study for my test?”

For the next two hours, Archie quizzes Betty a dozen times on every historical fact she has in her notes, before he declares that it’s time for a study break.

“Do you think I’m prepared, though?” Betty asks. “I really need to get a good grade.”

Archie rolls his eyes good-naturedly. “Betty, you’re the smartest person I know.” When she tries to protest, he holds up a hand. “My dad already ordered us pizza, so you’ll have to take a break to eat, anyway. And I just got this new game that I’ve been dying to try. Do you wanna play?” 

Betty isn’t really one for video games, but she never gets tired of seeing the excited look on Archie’s face every time he inevitably wins. “Alright, you had me at pizza,” she concedes, and Archie grins.

At school the next day, Betty sees a note land on her desk in science class. She glances behind her to find Archie smiling and giving her a thumbs up.

She unfolds the note, seeing a short message that reads: “Come over after school for a rematch? Check yes or no” with two boxes below it. 

She checks “yes” immediately, folding the note up and tossing it back to her best friend.

Sleeping in tents, it’s nice to have a friend.

Archie has been looking forward to the freshman camping trip all year.

He's not sure what the point of it is, really. The teachers hardly seem enthusiastic about chaperoning a bunch of teenagers at the Sweetwater campground, but Archie will take the so-called "hands-on learning experience" over falling asleep in a classroom any day. He’s already let Jughead rope him into ditching the group for some birdwatching thing, and he hopes he’ll be able to spend some time with Betty, too. 

When Archie boards the school bus on the first day of the trip, he immediately scans the seats for Betty. He finds her sitting near the back, her overnight bag placed neatly on her lap.

“Hi, Arch,” she says as he slides into the seat beside her. “Look, I brought us snacks for the bus ride!”

It’s only a half hour drive to the Sweetwater campground, but Archie digs into the snacks emphatically. Betty has packed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, gummy bears, liquorice and Doritos, as well as two milkshakes from Pop’s that she’s poured into travel mugs so they’ll stay cold. “Thanks, Betty, you’re the best,” Archie tells her, his words muffled by the candy in his mouth. Betty laughs, taking a sip of her milkshake.

Their first day involves a "nature hike," which Archie is about one hundred percent sure he'll be sneaking off from. Sure enough, as one of their teachers is droning on about species of beetles in the forest, Jughead pulls Archie into the woods and gives him a map to hold. Archie watches him squint up at the trees through his binoculars, occasionally gesturing for Archie to find a location.

When they eventually make their way back to the school group, Betty finds Archie right away. “Thank God you’re back,” she whispers. “Cheryl was driving me crazy talking about how she broke a nail.” 

“Sorry, Jug didn’t want to come back until he’d spotted an American coot,” Archie says.

“American what?”

Archie shrugs, laughing a little. “Never mind.” He looks over and sees some of their classmates heading toward the river carrying beach towels. “Wanna go swimming?” he asks.

“I’m game if you are,” Betty replies.

For the next few hours, Betty and Archie swim in the river with the rest of their class. Archie notices Jughead sitting off to the side and tries to convince him to come join a game of water polo, but Jughead replies that he doesn’t “do” organized sports. 

“Suit yourself,” Archie tells him, swimming back to where Betty is treading water. He stays by her side for most of the game, occasionally splashing her with water when she isn’t paying attention and being rewarded with her laugh every time. They stay in the river until it starts to get dark, goosebumps rising on Archie's skin from the cold air.

Archie pulls himself out of the water and picks up his clothes from the riverbank, turning to ask Betty if she’s ready to go. He notices her looking around, a frustrated look on her face.

“Cheryl took my clothes!” she exclaims, shivering. “I’m sure it was her.”

Archie makes a mental note to have a word with Cheryl later. “Here, you can wear this,” he says, tossing Betty his shirt. 

“Thanks, Arch," she replies. "I'm going to kill Cheryl." She looks a little embarrassed, Archie thinks, and it makes him want to wrap his arms around her.

Later that night, just as Archie is drifting off to sleep, he hears the sound of his tent being unzipped. 

“Arch?” It’s Betty.

“What’s up?” Archie asks, sitting up in his sleeping bag. It’s too dark for him to see her face.

“Can I…Do you think I could stay in here with you tonight?” Betty whispers. “I swear Cheryl and the other girls are doing some sort of ritual in our tent. I think one of them tried to cut off a piece of my hair.”

Archie doesn’t laugh at her, even though the image of Cheryl and her cronies doing a ritual is amusing. “Of course you can,” he tells her, moving over to make room. He’s suddenly glad he brought a one person tent and isn't already sharing with Jughead.

“Thank you,” Betty says, sounding relieved as she rolls her sleeping bag out beside his. It’s a tight fit with both of them in the tent, but they’ve slept beside each other enough times before. It reminds Archie of when they were younger, when they used to have sleepovers all the time before their parents decided they were too old. 

“G’night, Arch,” he hears Betty murmur. 

“Night, Betty.” 

When Archie wakes up in the morning, he discovers that they’ve shifted closer to each other during the night. Betty is laying on her stomach, with her head resting near his shoulder and one of her arms thrown over his chest. Archie knows he should move before she wakes up, but he can’t remember the last time he was this comfortable. 

He wonders if it’s normal to enjoy cuddling with your best friend this much. 

Light pink sky, up on the roof. Sun sinks down, no curfew.

It’s been two and a half weeks since Fred Andrews died, and Betty has cried every day.

She hides it from Archie, Jughead and Veronica, because she feels selfish. It's Archie who’s lost the most, yet he hasn’t shed a single tear since the funeral while Betty has been wallowing for weeks. She knows they would all get it, probably; they know that Fred was a father figure to her. But it makes Betty feel like a burden, and she refuses to be one no matter how much she's hurting. 

Betty wakes up on a sunny July morning to a text from Veronica that reads: “Pop’s for breakfast?” followed by one that says “Have you heard from Archie recently? I haven’t seen him in a couple of days.” 

Betty realizes she hasn’t. After his dad died, Betty, Jughead and Veronica spent almost every waking moment with Archie. Now, she hasn’t seen him in almost three days. 

“Sorry, I haven’t,” Betty texts back. “Can we take a rain check on Pop’s? I’m not feeling well.” 

Veronica’s response comes immediately. “Of course, B.”

The truth is that she feels fine, in theory, but the idea of putting on a brave face today makes her stomach feel queasy. She's secretly glad that Jughead isn't here, glad he's gone out early to help Charles with something. Ever since he caught her crying herself to sleep one night, Betty feels like Jughead has been tiptoeing around her, going out of his way to avoid saying something that could upset her. She wants to grab him by the shoulders and tell him to stop treating her like she’s breakable.

Betty's not exactly sure what prompts her to go outside in the evening, not sure what gives her the idea to check if Archie's in his yard. It's a pull, sort of, a tug in her gut that she can't seem to shake. Three days without seeing him is too long; she should've been checking on him, should've made sure he's okay. 

She notices movement over in Archie’s yard, and looks over to see him climbing up into the treehouse his dad built years ago. She smiles to herself as she remembers standing in her own yard as a little kid, watching over the fence as Archie’s dad built it while Archie, Jughead and Reggie stood by. Little Betty was too shy at first to ask Archie if she could come over and see it, but seventeen year old Betty decides let herself in though the gate.

Archie sees her enter the yard from where he’s sitting on the roof of the treehouse. Fred had made the rooftop flat “for stargazing”, he’d said, and it had been Betty and Archie’s favorite place to sit and talk when they were younger. 

Betty gives Archie a wave as she reaches the base of the tree. “Mind if I join?” she calls.

“Come on up,” Archie replies.

He smiles when Betty climbs on to the roof. “What brings you over here?”

She shrugs. “I wanted to see you. It’s been a few days.”

Archie looks away, smile dissipating. “Yeah. I guess I just needed some time to myself. It's...really hard without him.”

Betty nods. “I know exactly how you feel,” she says. Despite all of the awful things her father did, his death has still left a void in Betty’s life. She knows Archie is one of the only people who can understand that.

They sit quietly for a moment before Archie speaks again. “Everywhere I look, I see him. I came up here because I thought it would make me feel better, but all I can think about is how happy I was when he built me this treehouse. I was even happy when the wood started rotting and we had to replace the roof, because it meant I got to spend more time with my dad. I hate the fact that we spent so much time fighting, and now I’ll never get to do something like that with him again-” Archie breaks off. When Betty looks at him, she sees his eyes are shiny with tears. 

“Arch…” Betty reaches out and wraps her arms around him, pulling him into a hug. She knows from experience that there’s nothing she can say to ease his pain. When her own dad died, she hadn’t wanted to talk about it; all she’d wanted was someone to hold her tight. 

“Betty,” he says softly, his face still buried in her shoulder. “How did you do it?”

“What, Arch?”

“When your dad died, you were so strong. You should’ve been the one affected the most, but instead you held us all together.”

Betty’s heart aches, flashing back to that awful night in the woods.“That’s not true,” she tells him. “I…I was hurting all the time. I thought that if I acted like everything was fine, it would be. But that’s not what happened.”

Archie pulls away from her embrace, his eyes finding hers. “I’m sorry that you felt like you had to pretend,” he says. 

Neither of them say anything for a while after that, their gazes drifting up at the pink sky above them. Betty leans against Archie, grateful for the familiar feeling of her best friend by her side. 

Eventually Archie says: “My dad always thought of you as family, you know.”

Betty bites her lip, blinking away the tears that well up in her eyes. “He was like a father to all of us. He was more of a father to me than my actual dad, to be honest.” She swallows the hiccup in her throat. “I was so jealous of you.”

She feels Archie breathe in slowly. “My dad was always so glad we were friends. I think he knew that if something like this happened, we’d be there for each other.” He shifts away from her a bit, looking down at the roof boards. Betty notices him tracing something with one finger.

“What is that?” she asks.

“Look,” Archie says, “I noticed this when I came up here earlier.”

Betty looks down and sees a message carved into the wood that reads “Betty + Archie 4Ever.”

She laughs a little. “I think I wrote that the first time you invited me up here. I’m pretty sure I lied and said Reggie did it when you asked me about it.”

Archie smiles in response. “I think second grade Betty might have been on to something. We spent so many summers on this roof.”

Betty feels a twinge of something in her chest as her eyes shift from the words on the roof to Archie’s face. He’s flushed from the heat, his hair slightly disheveled from the wind. She has the sudden urge to reach out and run her hands through it. 

“What time do you need to be home?” Archie asks, distracting her from her thoughts. 

“Doesn’t matter. My mom and FP went out for the night, and Jughead is still busy with Charles,” she tells him. 

Archie lays down on the roof, placing one hand behind his head. “Wanna stay for a bit? We can look for constellations, like old times.” Betty wonders if she’s imagining the nervousness in his voice. 

“I’d love that, Arch.” Betty lays down beside him, watching as the pink clouds fade to deep purple and the stars begin to come out. One of her arms is pressed up against Archie’s, their hands only a hair apart. 

Betty and Archie forever. She really, really hopes that’s true.

Twenty questions, we tell the truth. You’ve been stressed out lately? Yeah, me too.

When Archie thinks about all the things in his life that could go wrong, he doesn’t expect prom to be one of them.

But Archie can’t seem to have anything go right for him, so it really isn’t all that surprising when things go downhill. Right from the start, the night is different from what he’s always imagined. For one, his prom date is Veronica, not Betty. Growing up, it always seemed obvious to Archie that he’d go to senior prom with Betty, but that was back before both of them met other people. He’s glad they’ll still be there together, at least, but he’s not looking forward to seeing her arrive on Jughead’s arm. He’s really not looking forward to having to perform the song he wrote for her in front of the entire senior class, after Veronica found the lyrics and oh-so-kindly volunteered him to perform it.

Veronica’s driver drops them off in front of the school, and they wait outside for Betty and Jughead to arrive. Archie tries to pay attention as Ronnie observes the outfits of their classmates, keeping a running commentary going. He feels jittery despite her firm grip on his hand. 

When Alice Cooper’s car pulls up in front of them and Betty steps out, Archie forgets how to breathe. Betty’s hair falls in soft waves around her shoulders, and she’s wearing a pale pink dress that hugs her curves before flaring out at the bottom. Archie’s mind flashes to another life, another prom where Betty wears her pink dress and Archie wears a matching pink tie. 

“Archie?” Veronica tugs on his arm. “Are you okay?”

He snaps out of it, nodding quickly. “Yeah, I’m fine, Ronnie. Let’s go inside.” 

Because Archie has the worst luck in the entire world, things go south quickly.

Everything is fine at first. He dances with Veronica and avoids Betty completely, secretly hoping that maybe his girlfriend will forget all about the song. 

But even if Veronica forgets about the song, Cheryl Blossom doesn’t. 

Just when Archie thinks he might be in the clear, he hears Cheryl tapping the microphone up on the stage. “Attention everyone! I’d like to welcome someone to the stage for a very special performance. Riverdale High’s very own Archie Andrews!”

The next few hours are a blur in Archie’s mind. He remembers flashes of it, moments playing out like a "previously on" segment: Jughead getting a phone call and stepping out of the gym, leaving Betty alone directly in Archie’s line of sight. Veronica’s face crumbling as Archie stumbles through the song. Running after Veronica when he finishes playing, even though his heart aches to go after Betty.

Archie’s not sure how, after the worst prom night imaginable, he still ends up at Cheryl Blossom’s after party. He has a visceral flashback to sophomore year, feeling like an asshole when he thinks about how both of the girls he came with back then probably hate him now. 

He spots Reggie in the kitchen, but just as he’s about to go say hi, he spots the last person he expects to be here. Betty.

She’s sitting on the couch in the living room between Toni and Cheryl, a drink in one hand. Archie knows he should just walk away before he does something he’ll regret, but he has to talk to her. 

Betty looks toward the doorway as he enters the room, quickly standing up from the couch when she sees him there. “Archie? What are you doing here?” she asks, walking over to stand beside him.

“What are you doing here? Where’s Jughead?” Archie had expected him to be by her side. 

“He got a call from Charles about the tapes, so he left. Cheryl practically dragged me here when she saw I was alone.”

Of course. “Betty, listen-” Archie starts to say. 

“Archie! Betty!” Cheryl interrupts from her spot on the couch. “Care to join us for a game?” 

“Not now, Cheryl,” Archie tells her. 

Cheryl arches an eyebrow. “I’m trying to do you both a favour. A party is not the time for melodramatic pining.”

“Oh my God,” Betty says, burying her face in her hands. 

Cheryl smiles. “Come sit down, cousin.” 

Betty reluctantly makes her way back over to the couch and sits beside Cheryl. Archie wants to leave, but he doesn’t want to go anywhere before he talks to Betty, so he takes a seat in the armchair across from them. 

Sweetpea pokes his head into the room, some of the other Serpents gathering around him. “What are we playing? Spin the bottle? Twenty questions?” 

“Ew, no,” Cheryl replies. “Truth or dare. Want to join?” Archie rolls his eyes and notices Betty doing the same. He quickly glances away when she catches him looking at her.

Sweetpea, Fangs, and the rest of the Serpents all crowd onto the furniture, sitting in a circle. Archie realizes how much of a terrible idea this is when he notices Cheryl staring at him, her lips curling into a grin. 

“I think Archie should go first!” she proclaims. “Truth or dare?”

He sighs. “Truth?”

“Who was that lovely song you sang at prom really about?” Cheryl asks.

Fuck. He’d walked right into that one. 

“Who do you think, Cheryl?” he says. Hating himself, he manages to choke out: “Veronica.”

Cheryl raises her eyebrows, and he watches her exchange a look with Toni. He purposely doesn’t look at Betty.  “Who’s next?” he asks, wanting everyone to stop staring at him. 

They play a few more rounds that involve Fangs doing a striptease and Toni telling an embarrassing story about Cheryl’s grandma walking in on them. When it’s Betty’s turn, Archie’s heart is beating at record speed.

“Truth or dare?” Cheryl asks.

“Dare,” Betty says firmly. 

“Hmmm….” Cheryl pretends to think. “I dare you…to kiss Archie.” 

The Serpents burst out laughing, and Betty’s face turns bright red. It’s the last straw for Archie. 

“Not cool, Cheryl,” he says, standing up. Even though Betty is probably furious with him at the moment, he won’t let them embarrass her. “Betty? Can I talk to you?” He gives her a pleading look, nodding toward the door.

She nods, extricating herself from her spot beside Cheryl. The group whistles as they leave, Sweetpea yelling: “Keep it in your pants, Archie!”

It’s not until they’re outside the house that Archie realizes he’s been holding on to Betty’s arm. He lets go reluctantly, turning to face her. 

“Look, Betty…” he says, trying to gather his thoughts. 

“What was that in there, Archie? I need you to tell me what’s going on,” she begins, sounding angry. Archie doesn’t think she’s ever spoken to him like this before. “I thought this was all over! And then you- you go up there and sing that song, knowing what that would do to me. And to Veronica! And now you’re trying to lie about it?!”

This is the first time Betty’s ever raised her voice at him, but Archie knows he deserves it. He knows he ruined everything. He also knows he can’t explain his way out of any of this, so he just says: “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry Betty.”

“That’s not good enough!” she cries, her eyes shiny with tears. “I’ve been so stressed about this situation for weeks, thinking I was going to lose everything. I couldn’t sleep at night. I finally got to a good place with Jug where I thought…” She pauses, hiccuping. “I thought everything could just go back to normal. I even thought you and I could go back to being best friends, as if that’ll ever be possible. And then you went and brought all of this up again.” She laughs bitterly and shakes her head.

All Archie wants to do is wrap her up in his arms and tell her everything will be okay, but that would be a complete and utter lie. “You don’t think I’ve been stressed out about this too?” he says. “Betty, I promise I never wanted anyone to get hurt. I didn’t even want to play the song; Veronica volunteered me. But that’s not the point.” He meets her eyes. “The point is…I don’t regret it. I don’t know why I lied in there when Cheryl asked who the song was about. I want everyone to know it’s for you. And if that makes you hate me and it means we can never be best friends again, then so be it. But I can’t keep running away from the truth.”

“This isn’t just about a fucking song, Archie,” Betty replies. “How could you let his happen?”

“You were in that garage, too,” he says, more harshly than he means to. He wants to take the words back, expecting Betty to start ripping into him again, but instead her expression just turns sad. 

“I know,” she admits softly, her posture deflating. She takes a deep breath. A moment later, she says: “I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.”

“I get it,” Archie tells her. And he does. Betty has something good with Jughead, something Archie has always secretly envied. He understands if she doesn’t want to let it go. “If you never want to speak to me again, if you hate me-”

“Arch, I didn’t mean what I said about us not being friends. I could never hate you. All of this is just…really hard.”

Something clicks in Archie’s mind as he looks at her, taking in her anguished expression. He knows Betty better than anyone else, and he knows what she deserves. After everything she’s been through, she deserves someone stable and reliable. Someone like Jughead, who’s always been there for her. All Archie seems to be able to do lately is cause her pain. 

I could never hate you. He wonders if that will still be true once he says what he’s thinking.

“No, you were right. We can’t be best friends.” The words hurt his chest, but he presses on. “Who are we kidding Betty? You love Jughead, and he loves you, and I want you to be happy. I can’t just stand by and pretend like none of this happened, but I refuse to keep hurting you. It’s better for both of us in the long run if I just go.”

“Archie-” Betty reaches for him, but he takes a step back. “Arch, why are you doing this?” She looks stricken, her voice cracking. 

“I’m sorry.” I love you. “I’ll see you around, Betty.”

He can hear her calling after him as he walks away, but he doesn’t turn back. He can’t stand to look at her again and see the same expression on her face that she wore three years ago, when he walked away from her on a night similar to this one. 

It’ll be better in the long run, he tells himself.

Something gave you the nerve to touch my hand, it’s nice to have a friend.

Betty used to love Christmas. 

When she was little, she would get up at the crack of dawn and go into her parents’ room, begging them to come downstairs to open presents. They were a perfect family back then. Betty, Polly and their parents. Betty remembers the family Christmas cards they used to send out with all of them posed in front of their fireplace, smiling brightly. 

But ever since that horrible Christmastime in high school, Betty associates the holiday with her serial killer father. She remembers fearing for her life with a gun pressed to her head. She remembers burying Archie alive. She remembers seeing a man get shot right in front of her.

Suffice it to say, grown-up Betty has become disenchanted with Christmas.

Her sophomore year of college, Alice practically has to beg Betty to come back to Riverdale for the holiday season. Betty initially plans to just stay in the dorms at Yale and catch up on some assignments, but her mother isn’t having it. Alice calls her incessantly until Betty agrees to come home. Betty eventually decides she can suffer through a bit of holiday cheer to appease her mother, even if it means going back to Riverdale. And seeing Jughead.

Technically, they’re just on a break. They tried to make it work after high school, even with the distance and the memory of Archie constantly in the back of Betty's mind. It was Jughead who had eventually suggested a break, about six months earlier, and Betty hadn’t argued. She’ll be seeing him for the first time since then when she gets home.

It’s dark outside when Betty arrives at her house a few nights before Christmas. She can see her house in all of its lit-up glory, noticing that Alice has really gone ham with the decorations this year. Betty almost feels like she needs to shield her eyes as she walks up to the front door. 

She’s reaching for the door knob when the door swings open suddenly. Betty looks up, startled, and sees the last person she expected to be at her house.

“Archie?”

“Oh, hey, Betty,” he says, his eyes widening. “I was just, um, dropping off a pie for your family. My mom did some baking, you know the pumpkin ones she makes?”

He’s rambling, and Betty almost smiles. “Oh. Well, thanks.” 

Archie nods, carefully stepping around her and out the door. Betty bites her lip as she watches him go. They’ve been in a weird place ever since Archie walked away from her on the night of senior prom. She’s talked to him a handful of times since then, but they’re not nearly as close as they used to be. Certainly not best friends. 

“Betty!” Alice calls, spotting her daughter at the door. “Welcome home!” Her mother wraps Betty in a tight hug, before letting go to grab her bags. “There are Christmas cookies in the kitchen, help yourself,” she says.

When Betty looks into the kitchen, she sees FP, Jellybean and Jughead all seated at the table, making short work of the cookies. She wrings her hands together, not sure how to approach this.

“Hey guys,” she says, smiling tentatively as she walks over and grabs a cookie from the plate. 

“Betty! It’s good to see you,” FP replies jovially, pulling out the chair next to him for her to sit down. When she glances at Jughead, she’s surprised to find him smiling warmly at her. She’d expected him to be civil at best. 

He finds her in her room later. Betty is sitting at her desk, looking through some of her old stuff that Alice left out for her to sort.

“Hi,” Jughead says.

“Hey, Jug, what’s up?” Betty places the old birthday cards she’d been looking at back in the box. 

“I just wanted to talk to you; it’s been a while. I missed you, Betty.” Betty finds herself breathing a sigh of relief, not picking up any trace of resentment in his voice. 

“I missed you, too,” she replies. And she means it, despite everything.

“I was wondering, would you wanna maybe go to Pop’s tomorrow? We could catch up?”

Betty smiles. “I’d love that, Jug.”

“Great,” he says, returning her smile. “Goodnight, Betty.”

“Night, Jug.”

Betty returns to the box she’d been sorting, reaching in to grab the last few items. She pulls out a record and flips it over to see the cover.

Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me, she thinks. It’s the Swiss Family Robinson record that Archie gave her in tenth grade.

Betty has never believed in signs from the universe, but she hasn’t thought about this record in years. She can’t believe she’s finding it again on the same day that she ran -almost literally- into Archie. 

She glances out her window and sees that Archie has his light on. He’s working out in his room, probably trying to stay in shape during his time off from the Navy. Betty notices that he’s shirtless and quickly looks away, blushing. Stop acting like a hormonal teenager, she chides herself. 

She’s about to get up and close her curtains when her phone screen lights up. It’s a text from Archie that reads: Hope the pie was good.

Betty blushes more, hoping he didn’t catch her gaping at him through their windows. She glances up and finds him looking across at her. He’s put a shirt on, thankfully. 

It was delicious, tell your mom thank you, Betty texts back. She grabs the record from her desk and holds it up so he can see it. Look what I found. 

I can’t believe you kept that, Archie says. Betty can see him grinning. 

Of course I did, Betty replies, You gave it to me.

She watches him read the message on his phone before looking up at her. Betty wants to memorize the way his eyes sparkle when they meet hers.

The next morning, Betty gets breakfast at Pop’s with Jughead. They sit in the same booth that they used to in high school, and Betty feels a tug in her chest when she thinks about how they’ll never sit there again with Archie and Veronica. This nostalgia is precisely why she doesn’t like coming back to Riverdale. 

If Jughead notices anything amiss, he doesn’t show it. He talks enthusiastically about his writing program at the University of Iowa and asks Betty about Yale. Betty’s relieved that there’s no lingering awkwardness between them; he’s still just as easy to talk to as he was when they were dating. 

They pay the breakfast bill, and Betty is about to stand up when Jughead grabs her hand. “Wait, Betty, before you go home…I wanted to talk to you about something.”

Betty has an inkling about what he might say from the way he’s looking at her. She swallows. “What is it, Jug?”

“I know we’ve been through so much, and it’s hard to see each other when we’re both at school, but I’ve been thinking.” He takes a deep breath. “This -us being on a break- it showed me that I don’t want to be without you, Betty.” Betty can hear his next words in her mind before he says them. 

“I want us to get back together.”

As they’re walking out of Pop’s, Jughead tells Betty that he’s going to visit some of the Serpents, so she walks home alone. Snow begins to fall softly as she walks, coating the tops of the Christmas decorations in the yards she passes. Betty remembers taking this exact route countless times in high school, usually with Archie. 

Like clockwork, Betty’s phone buzzes. It’s a text from Archie. This is just getting ridiculous, she thinks.

The text reads: Can you come over? I have a surprise for you.

Betty’s heart aches reading the words. It sounds just like something he would’ve texted her when they were still best friends. 

Sure, she texts back. Be over in ten.

She finds Archie in the garage, because of course he has to be in the one place that brings back the memories she’s been suppressing for years. He’s even sitting in the exact same spot on the couch.

“Hey, Arch,” she says in greeting. 

“Betty, hi.” Archie is rubbing his hands back and forth on his thighs, his shoulders tense.

Why does he look so nervous? she wonders. 

Betty notices a large package sitting on the floor in front of him, wrapped in newspaper. She bites back a smile. “What’s this?”

“It’s a Christmas gift. For you,” Archie tells her. “The record gave me the idea.”

She sits down beside him on the couch, carefully pulling apart the newspaper he’s haphazardly taped on. When she sees what it is, her heart swells.

“Archie, your dad’s record player? I can’t take this.”

She sees him deflate. “Oh, you don’t like it? I just thought-”

“No, no, this is so thoughtful, it’s just...it’s so special.”

“I want you to have it, Betty. I’m never home, so it’s just collecting dust. I thought you might like it for your dorm room, or wherever,” Archie says. He reaches behind him and pulls out a stack of old records. “I found these, too.”

Betty recognizes a bunch of Fred’s old records that they used to listen to together. Her entire body feels warm with gratitude. “Arch, this is the best gift ever.”

He smiles a little. “Wanna listen to one?”

She nods, and Archie picks a record. Betty recognizes the first song right away, though she can’t place the title. 

They sit on the couch for a while, just listening. It’s the most comfortable Betty’s been since she can remember, listening to the scratch of the record player and the winter wind outside.

She's hyperaware of the space between her and Archie, and she realizes suddenly that she hates it. There’s been space between them for too long, too many signs for Betty to ignore. This is Archie. Her best friend in the whole world, and the person she’s always felt safest with. 

She moves her hand from her lap to her side, placing it next to Archie’s on the couch. Her heart beats a mile a minute as she grazes his hand with her pinky finger. She doesn’t look over at him, but she feels him react. He shifts his hand underneath hers, slowly intertwining their fingers one by one until their hands are tightly clasped together.

They sit like that for a moment until Betty clears her throat. “Jughead asked me to get back together.”

Archie doesn’t answer right away, running his thumb across her palm. When he eventually speaks, he just says: “Okay.” He doesn’t need to ask what her response was. It’s always the same. 

Betty tells him anyway. “I said yes.” 

They’re quiet again, until the song that’s playing is over. Betty finally turns to look at him. “Can I ask you something?”

“Anything.” His gaze is trained on their intertwined hands.

“Can we be friends again?” She needs this reassurance, needs to know that they’ll never go back to not speaking. 

“Of course, Betty. I’m always here for you,” he replies with a smile. Betty pretends not to notice that it doesn’t reach his eyes. She tries to smile back, squeezing his hand. 

The record finishes playing, but neither of them let go. 

Church bells ring, carry me home. Rice on the ground looks like snow. Call my bluff, call you “babe”.

Archie has pictured this day numerous times throughout his life.

Of course, he’s always imagined that he would be the one at the altar watching Betty walk down the aisle. Instead, he’s Jughead’s best man, and it all sort of feels like a sick joke. 

Betty and Jughead have decided to have the wedding in Riverdale, since their families still live here and a lot of their friends, too. It’s taking place outside, in a park near Sweetwater River, and the weather is perfect. Archie is sweating in his tuxedo despite the early fall breeze, which he attributes to the fact that he has to walk down the aisle with Veronica. He’s not sure when exactly she and Betty started talking again, but apparently they’re close enough for Veronica to be in the wedding party, much to Archie’s dismay.

As the bridesmaids and groomsmen line up to walk down the aisle, Veronica takes Archie’s arm stiffly. She’s barely said three words to him since she arrived. Archie wants to ask her why she’s still holding a grudge nearly six years later, but he’s certain that won’t go over well. 

Still, he attempts conversation. “It’s nice to see you again, Veronica,” he tells her cautiously, wondering if she can hear the lie in his voice. 

“Don’t bother with the pleasantries, Archie. We have nothing to say to one another,” she responds, staring straight ahead. 

“Well, since we literally haven’t seen each other in years and we’re both here, I just thought-”

“Save it. After today, we go our separate ways and go back to being strangers again,” Veronica says. 

Archie sighs. He tried, at least.

The ceremony begins, and Archie walks down the aisle with Veronica as quickly as he can without looking suspicious, taking his place at Jughead’s side. When Jughead grins at him, Archie does his best to smile back. He hopes his expression doesn’t look like a grimace.

After the rest of the wedding party takes their places, it’s time for Betty to walk down the aisle. Archie thinks that he’s prepared for this moment. He and Betty are friends and this is her big day; he’s sure he’ll find a way to be happy for her. 

He’s sorely mistaken. When Betty steps in to view, Archie feels like he’s been stabbed in the chest. 

She’s decided to walk down the aisle alone, despite FP’s offer to escort her. Her dress is a white ball gown, just the kind Archie has always imagined her wearing. She walks confidently and carries a bouquet of flowers that match the ones in her hair. 

Archie thinks she looks like a princess. She’s the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen.

When Betty reaches her place at the front, Archie’s eyes are blurred with tears. He tries to blink them away furiously, figuring that it’s probably not a good look to be crying at his best friend’s wedding. 

The priest is saying something, but Archie isn't hearing a word. He risks a glance over at Betty, immediately regretting it when they make eye contact. 

Why is she looking at me? he thinks. Doesn’t she see how hard this already is? 

“And now we’ve reached the time for the bride and groom to share their vows,” the priest says. “Betty, if you’d like to go first?”

Archie’s ears are ringing. He wishes Betty would just speak and get it over with, rip the Band-Aid off quickly. Instead, she’s standing there with a faraway look on her face. A moment passes, and it starts to get uncomfortable. Archie sees guests exchanging glances in their seats.

“Betty?” he hears Jughead hiss. Her hands are clasped in his. “What’s wrong?”

Archie looks over at her again, leaning forward a bit so he can see her better. His heart drops when he sees the tears streaming down her face. 

He can tell she’s trying to calm herself down, taking deep breaths. “Jughead- I-” She drops his hands. 

“Betty, what’s going on?” Jughead asks. She just shakes her head.

And then she runs. 

Holding her dress up, she bolts down the aisle amid shouts from Jughead and her bridesmaids. Archie reacts immediately, not wasting a second before taking off after her. He can hear the wedding descending into chaos as he runs down the aisle after Betty, Alice Cooper’s distinct voice shouting: “Elizabeth! Where are you going?!” 

Archie watches Betty disappear into the nearby trees, her white dress a stark contrast against the changing autumn leaves. It looks like something out of a movie. 

He runs after her through the forest until he finds her sitting by the riverbank, dirt smeared all over the bottom of her dress. He notices that she’s still holding her bouquet of flowers, and she’s tearing off the petals one by one as she stares at the river. A memory flashes in his mind of her sitting in a spot almost identical to this one, when they went camping by the river in high school. 

She must hear Archie approaching as he steps toward her, because she begins shaking her head. “Jughead, I just need to be alone right now,” she says.

“Betty, it’s me.”

“Archie?” Betty turns to look over her shoulder, and Archie sees a look of relief in her red-rimmed green eyes. 

“You ran pretty fast for someone in heels,” he tells her. 

She laughs bitterly. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I can’t believe I did that.”

Archie walks up beside her and offers his hand, helping her to her feet. “If you knew you didn’t want to marry Jughead, why wait until now to do something about it?” he asks. He knows Betty doesn’t like to talk about her feelings, but this is extreme. 

“Because I didn’t know,” she confesses, looking down at the crumpled flowers in her hands. “I didn’t know until I got up there, when I saw-” She breaks off, glancing up at him. “Can we just get out of here?”

Archie nods. “Where do you want to go?”

“Anywhere.”

They find their way back through the forest, walking toward the parking lot where Archie had left his truck. When they reach the tree line, Archie notices that some of the wedding guests have started to trickle back to their cars, a few of them milling around in the lot. He thinks they might be able to sneak past, until he spots Jughead. He’s with Alice and FP, all of them wearing determined expressions on their faces.

Betty spots them at the same time Archie does. “We’re going to have to make a run for it,” she declares.

Archie blinks. “Are you sure?” He can’t believe this is the same girl who was walking down the aisle less than an hour ago.

She nods, throwing her bouquet to the ground and grabbing his hand. “On three.”

They take off running across the stretch of grass between the tree line and the parking lot, making a beeline for Archie’s truck. 

Archie knows Jughead has spotted them when he hears shouts to his right. He hears Jughead yelling: “Betty!” mixed with Alice’s shrill: “Elizabeth!”

Betty glances in their direction, stumbling suddenly and nearly falling. “Shit,” she hisses. 

“Are you okay?” Archie asks, grabbing her arm to steady her. 

“Yeah, I’m fine, just keep going.”

Archie helps Betty step up into the passenger side when they reach his truck, noticing her wince when she puts weight on one of her feet. He feels a twinge in his chest at the thought of her in pain, quickly getting into the driver's seat. As he peels out of the parking lot, he glances in the rearview mirror and sees Jughead standing in the middle of it, a devastated look on his face as he watches them drive away. 

Archie tries not to feel smug.

Betty lifts up the bottom of her dress as they drive, cursing as she pulls her shoes off. “Damn it.” Archie looks over and sees her cradling her left foot. It’s bent at an odd angle, her ankle an angry red. “I twisted it when we were running.”

“Shit, Betty, that looks painful,” he says. 

She leans back against the headrest. “It was worth it, though.”

Archie bites back a smile. “I’m gonna take you to my house, I can bandage it for you.”

When they pull up in front of his house, Archie jumps down from the truck and hurries over to help Betty. 

She’s trying to hop out by herself, her dress getting caught in the door. “No way, I’m not letting you put weight on that foot,” Archie says.

“Arch-”

Before she can protest, Archie swings her up into his arms, bridal style. He doesn’t realize the irony of it until he feels the fabric of her dress in his hands and realizes what they look like, with him in his tuxedo and Betty in her white dress. 

“Archie! I was fine!” she tries to insist, but she puts her arms around his neck and lets him carry her up toward his front door. 

“No, you weren’t,” he replies firmly. “Hey, what’s all over the ground?”

There are white flecks everywhere on Alice Cooper’s lawn, spilling over onto the sidewalk and Archie’s driveway. From a distance, they almost look like snowflakes. 

“Oh, it’s rice,” Betty tells him. “Some old wedding tradition. My mom was throwing it everywhere earlier. I tried to tell her that you’re supposed to do it after the wedding, but she didn’t listen.” Typical Alice; that checks out.

Archie carries Betty up his front steps, managing to unlock the door with one hand and bring her inside. He sets her down gently on his living room couch and hurries to grab some bandages and an ice pack.

Betty watches him intently as he wraps her foot. Now that the adrenaline of the last few hours has worn off, Archie is starting to realize the reality of their situation. Instead of getting married to Jughead, Betty is now sitting in Archie’s living room with a sprained ankle and a muddy wedding dress. They’ve been in some pretty absurd situations throughout their lives, but despite the relative normalcy of their current circumstances, Archie feels like this has to be one of the most insane. He knows he’ll follow Betty to the ends of the Earth no matter what, no matter how many times she treats him like a safety net or chooses Jughead, but Archie is tired of following her blindly. 

He wants answers. 

He finishes wrapping her foot and sets it down on top of the coffee table to keep it elevated. Sitting down beside her on the couch, Archie takes a deep breath.

“Betty, I need you to tell me what’s going on.”

Her brow furrows. “What do you mean, Arch?”

Archie’s sure she already knows, but he humors her anyway. “Why couldn’t you marry Jughead? Why run away like that in front of everyone?”

“I don’t know, I just…I couldn’t do it,” she says, avoiding his eyes. “I wanted to marry him, I was going to go through with it, but I guess I needed more time.”

She still isn’t looking at him. Archie feels the frustration building inside of him, but he also knows that deflecting is one of Betty’s usual strategies in uncertain situations. While Archie wears his heart on his sleeve, Betty keeps hers hidden.

Archie decides he needs to call her out, or they’re just going to keep talking in circles. “Stop bluffing, Betty,” he says. She finally looks at him, surprised. 

He continues, determined. “I let you go at the end of senior year because I wanted you to be happy. I thought you’d stay with Jughead once and for all after that, but it was like you wanted to have the best of both worlds. Every time I saw you after that, you gave me all these mixed signals and it hurt, but I just let you, because I love you, Betty.” The words slip out naturally before he can stop them. Archie watches Betty’s face change, her eyes widening in shock.

She opens her mouth to speak, but he barrels on. “I can’t keep letting you come to me whenever you’re feeling lonely or you need something, just to go running back to Jughead after. It’s not fair.” 

Betty stares at him for a few seconds, looking stunned. And then she buries her face in her hands.

Archie frowns, a stab of guilt stinging his chest. “Betty, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”

She shakes her head, looking at him with tearstained cheeks. “No, Arch, don’t be sorry.” She wipes under her eyes. “You’re right. I ruined everything, and all because I was scared.” 

Archie reaches out to take her hand. “Scared?”

“I was scared because…” She pauses again. “I love you, too.” Archie’s vision blurs, his heading spinning.  

Betty continues. “I love you so much that I don’t even understand it sometimes. I think I’ve loved you since the first day we met, even though we were just kids. I thought I could just love you as a friend, because there were so many things in our way, but I can’t do that. I can’t pretend anymore.”

Archie doesn’t know what to say. So, he leans over and kisses her.

Betty kisses him back right away, hands reaching up to cup his face. Archie has his hands pressed into her back, needing her to be as close as possible. He feels like he might die from this, from the euphoria of finally having the girl he’s loved his entire life here in his arms. His heart has been shattered to pieces and stepped on more times than he can count, but he can feel Betty putting it back together with every press of her lips against his.

When they finally break apart, Archie leans his forehead against hers, neither of them saying a word. Betty pulls away after a moment, interlacing her fingers with his. “So we’re really doing this, huh?” she says.

“What?”

“Us, together. Dating. Going to the movies, walking hand in hand, calling each other ‘babe.’”

Archie laughs, smiling at her. “Babe?”

Betty grins back. “I’ll stick with ‘Arch’ for now, but we’ll see.”

He wants to marry her right then and there. 

Have my back, yeah, everyday. Feels like home, stay in bed the whole weekend. 

Betty usually considers herself a patient person. 

She’s good at seeing the big picture, which means she understands that it takes time to get the things she wants. She’s good at setting aside her emotions and allowing the chips to fall where they may.

Except when it comes to Archie.

It’s been over a year since Betty fled from her wedding to Jughead and started dating Archie, and while Betty loves being his girlfriend, she honestly would’ve married him the very next day if he’d asked. Betty feels like she’s been waiting for him to propose for real ever since he asked her to marry him with that plastic ring in second grade. She keeps expecting him to ask her any day now.

But he still hasn’t.

Betty tries to put the thought out of her mind as she drives back into Riverdale. She’s been away on a work trip for the past week and is coming back home just in time for the Christmas holidays. Her job as an investigative journalist allows her to work from pretty much anywhere, but she still has to travel quite a bit. She’s excited to sleep in a familiar bed again, preferably with Archie next to her. 

She technically owns her own apartment about fifteen minutes from Archie’s house, but she spends virtually all of her time at his place. Pulling into his driveway, Betty thinks about how glad she is that Archie bought the house off of his mom when she moved back to Chicago and Archie decided to stay in Riverdale to run his community center. The house has been Betty's second home her entire life. 

Letting herself in through the front door, Betty finds Archie in the kitchen. She clears her throat, and she feels her face breaking instinctively into a grin when he spots her. 

“Betty! You’re back early.”

“I managed to finish up quicker than I thought. I couldn’t wait to see you, Arch,” she says. 

Archie smiles as he walks over and kisses her, his hands finding her waist and pulling her closer. Betty groans when he pulls away after only a few seconds. She leans back in and starts kissing his neck, her hands already hovering around the hem of his sweater. She feels Archie shudder and lean into her touch.

Betty is about to grab his hand and take him upstairs to his bedroom when he pulls away from her again, taking a step back. She frowns, looking at him quizzically.

“I’m sorry, I really want to stay here with you, Betty, but I was actually just on my way out,” he tells her, looking away.

Betty wonders why he looks so nervous. “To go where?”

“I…have to take care of something. I promise I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

He sends Betty a text later that night that reads: Sorry, got caught up. Don’t wait up for me. She goes to bed in a significantly worse mood than when she’d first arrived, confused by Archie’s behavior. Any other time she’s come home, he’s always been so happy to see her.

She feels even more confused when she wakes up the next morning to find him already out of bed. When she goes downstairs, he’s coming inside from a run.

“Betty, hi,” he says when she walks into the kitchen. “I’m just going to take a shower and then did you wanna go to Pop’s for breakfast?”

“Yeah, I guess” she says, trying not to sound as annoyed as she feels. Archie gives her a funny look as he passes by to go upstairs, but he doesn’t comment.

Betty acts like everything is fine while they’re in the car and pastes a smile onto her face once they sit down in the diner. She picks away at her breakfast, trying to nod along to the story Archie is telling her, but there’s still an unpleasant ache in her chest.

She’s been chewing the same bite of pancake for thirty seconds when Archie reaches out and puts a hands on her arm. “Betty, are you okay?” he asks.

Sometimes she hates that he knows her so well. She wonders if the pancakes tipped him off, since he knows she usually devours them. “I’m fine, Arch,” she replies.

“No, you’re not. I don’t think you’ve said more than three words to me since we sat down.” His eyes are warm and full of concern. It only takes one look for Betty to know she can’t lie.

She sighs. “We haven’t seen each other in weeks, Archie, and then the second I came home you brushed me off. Then you disappeared to God knows where all night with no explanation. It just didn’t feel good.”

Archie rubs a hand across his face. “I’m sorry, I’m so stupid. I shouldn’t have waited so long,” he says. 

“What are you talking about?” Betty asks, frowning. 

Archie doesn’t respond. He stands up from their booth and tosses some money onto the table, holding his hand out to her. 

“What’s going on, Arch?”

“I want to take you somewhere.”

Archie grabs Betty’s hand, hurrying outside to the car. It’s started to snow lightly, and Betty watches snowflakes collect on the windshield as they drive to wherever Archie has in mind. When he turns onto his street and parks the car in front of his house, Betty looks over at him in confusion. 

“Where are we going? Back to your house?” she asks. 

Archie shakes his head, gesturing for her to get out of the car. He takes her hand again, but instead of leading her to his house, he leads her up the steps to the front of her old house next door.

“Archie, why are we here?” she asks.

“I wanted to do it in the same place that I did in second grade,” he says.

As Betty studies his nervous expression, it hits her. “Arch, oh my God-” 

“I went out last night because I had to pick something up.” He pulls a small box out of his coat pocket, and Betty thinks she’s going to faint. “And then I went to Reggie’s house because I was freaking out and second guessing myself. He had to give me about fifty pep talks before I could come home.”

Betty’s eyes fill with tears as Archie gets down on one knee. “I love you, Betty Cooper. I know you asked me to do this when we were eighteen, so I’m sorry that I’m a few years late.” He grins, and Betty lets out a laugh as she wipes under her eyes. “You’re my best friend, and I want to be with you forever,” he says. He takes a deep breath, before finally asking: “Will you marry me?”

“Yes! Yes, Arch, of course,” Betty responds, smiling so big she can barely speak. Archie has barely slid the ring on to her finger before she's throwing her arms around his neck, kissing him fervently. She’s going to marry Archie Andrews. Her best friend since she was five years old. The only person in the world who she would trust with her life, the only one she knows will have her back no matter what. 

“Let’s go inside,” Archie says against her mouth. 

“Yes, please."

They hurry back to Archie’s house, shedding their coats as soon as they walk through the front door. Betty feels hot all over, despite the cold weather they’ve just come in from. She feels the metal of her ring dig into her finger when she presses her hands into Archie’s back as she kisses him.

Archie slides his hands behind her thighs, lifting her up so her legs can wrap around his waist. Betty finds herself being thankful for his strict workout regimen when he easily carries her upstairs to his room, managing to keep kissing her the entire time. She quickly sheds the last of her clothes when he sets her down, breath stuttering. 

She sees him staring at her and smiles, cupping his face in her hands. “What is it?”

“You’re just…perfect,” he says. Betty hated that word for so long, thinking it sounded more like an insult than a compliment, but she knows Archie is completely sincere. He always sees her as perfect, even at times when he probably shouldn’t. 

“I can’t believe I’m going to marry you,” he continues, his hands winding into her hair as he leans down to kiss her neck. 

Betty sighs softly, closing her eyes. “Arch,” she murmurs.

“What?”

“I need you. Now.”

Archie obliges, laying her down softy on the bed.

Betty quickly loses track of time, caught up in the feeling of Archie's skin against hers in his bed, on the floor of his room, against the wall in the hallway. They go downstairs in the early evening to look for something to eat and Betty ends up on top of the kitchen counter, digging her nails into Archie’s back.

Betty is exhausted when they eventually climb in bed later that night to go to sleep. She wants to stay awake just to enjoy the feeling of Archie’s arms wrapped around her, but her eyes are practically closing on their own. “Love you,” she hears Archie murmur just as she’s drifting off, pressing a soft kiss against her shoulder.

They spend Sunday essentially the same way, a tangle of limbs and laughter and Archie. While they’re laying in bed sometime during the afternoon, Betty feels her eyes well up with tears. 

Archie notices right away, propping himself on his elbow. “Are you okay?” he asks, his fingers tracing patterns on her arm absently.

“Yeah, I’m just…I’m so happy,” she tells him. And it’s true. She can’t remember the last time she’s felt like this, if ever. “If you’d told me at sixteen that we would end up here, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

Archie laughs. Before he can reply, Betty’s phone rings from its place on the nightstand. She picks it up and sees that it’s her mother.

Sighing, she presses “Accept,” knowing that Alice won’t stop calling until she does. 

“Betty? Are you back in town yet?” Alice says without a greeting. 

“Yeah, Mom, I got back on Friday.”

“Friday? Where have you been the whole weekend?” 

Betty glances at Archie beside her. “I’ve been…busy.”

“Well, you better get over here and help me with my gift wrapping. Honestly, Elizabeth, waiting two whole days to call your mother…” 

“I’ll come over tonight, Mom,” Betty tells her, rolling her eyes. She looks at Archie and sees that he’s trying not to laugh. She’s glad Archie grew up with her and knows how to handle her mother, because she can already picture Alice’s flabbergasted expression when she finds out about the engagement.

“You better have a good excuse for neglecting our Christmas traditions,” Alice says.

“Yeah,” Betty replies, looking at the ring on her finger. 

“I actually have some news.”

It’s nice to have a friend.

“And then you put your pinky finger here. Yeah, you’ve got it.”

Archie is sitting on the couch with Fred, showing his son the basics of playing guitar. At seven years old, his hands are still a little too small to reach all of the strings, but Archie can already tell he’s a natural. “You’re doing great, bud, your grandpa would be proud,” he tells Fred, ruffling his hair. He’s got Betty’s thick blonde waves. 

Fred smiles, his hazel eyes wide as he strums a few more times. “Thanks, Dad. I wanna get really really good so I can play in my class’s talent show.”

The words make Archie’s heart swell. “If you keep this up, you’ll be there in no time.”

He hears the front door open and looks over. It’s Betty, coming home from her latest work trip and carrying food from Pop’s.

Archie smiles as he watches Fred immediately put down the guitar and run over to hug her. “Mom!”

“Hi, sweetheart. I missed you,” Betty says, hugging him back. Seeing Archie in the living room, she asks: “Did you have fun with your dad?”

“Yes! He let me have pizza for breakfast!” Fred says.

“Of course he did,” Betty replies, with a grin in Archie’s direction.

Archie walks over to kiss her hello. “Welcome home.”

“Thanks. Hey, did you see that our new neighbors moved in? I was just talking to them outside.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah, they have a daughter who’s Fred’s age, I think,” Betty says. She places a hand on Fred’s shoulder. “Maybe the two of you will be in the same class at school.”

Fred just shrugs, getting distracted when he spots the Pop’s bag in Betty’s hand. “Milkshakes?” he asks, eyes glimmering with excitement. 

“Of course,” Betty says.

Archie forgets about their new neighbors until a few days later, when he’s outside playing catch with Fred. A car pulls into their driveway, and he spots two women and a young girl getting out. He decides to wander over and introduce himself, nudging a reluctant Fred along with him.

“I’m Sarah,” one of the women says with a smile, reaching out to shake Archie’s hand. “This is my wife, Kiara.” The other woman nods his way, her hands full with grocery bags.

“And this is our daughter, Taylor,” Sarah says, wrapping an arm around the young girl’s shoulders. 

“Nice to meet you,” Archie says. “Say hello, Fred.”

“Hi,” Fred says quickly, eyes darting downwards when Taylor looks at him. Archie purses his lips, trying to hide his smile.

When it's time for Fred to start school again in the fall, Archie walks with him just like his own father would, which then turns into Archie walking both Fred and Taylor when he learns about her parents' busy schedules. The nostalgia certainly isn't lost on him.

Fred doesn’t say much to her at first, mostly staying by Archie’s side. But as fall fades into winter, Archie finds himself trailing behind the two of them. They begin to walk closer together, their boots making identical prints in the snow. 

Betty comments on it one day when Archie gets home. “You remind me so much of your dad,” she tells him. “I remember when he used to walk that exact same route with you and me.”

“Yeah,” Archie replies, a warm sense of fondness sinking over him. “We used to drive him crazy when we’d start throwing snowballs at each other.”

Betty laughs, kissing his cheek. “He’d be so proud of you. You’re a great dad.”

Winter turns to spring, and Taylor becomes a frequent visitor at their house. When they get home from school one day, Fred asks: “Can Taylor come inside to listen to records, Dad?”

“Of course, Fred, the record player is in the garage.” He’s glad Betty kept it all these years. 

“Thanks, Mr. Andrews!” Taylor calls from the driveway.

Archie smiles as he watches them go into the garage, hit again with a wave of nostalgia. He remembers the first time he’d invited Betty over to listen to records, and how nervous he’d been. 

While they’re eating dinner later that night, Archie sees Fred smiling down at his plate.

“Did you have fun with Taylor today?” Betty asks him, exchanging an amused glance with Archie.

“Yeah, she really liked the records,” Fred says. He pauses to take another bite of his food before adding: “I think we’re best friends now.”

“Wow,” she replies. “I’m glad to hear that. It’s nice to have a friend right next door.”

Fred nods, and Archie looks at Betty.

Yeah, he thinks. It is.