Chapter Text
I Pinky Promise (that I'll forever love you)
Betty Cooper was used to the silence that comes from being around her best friend. His chatter is constant, but he brings a sense of peace to the booth they sat in. The noise that runs through her head is buzzing from Archie Andrew’s voice that cracks sometimes, deepens in others. His voice still rises an octave when he talks about things he’s passionate about. Most notably music. He never liked music before, or that she can remember. Only last summer his passion was football because; “I’m good at it, B…” and so she spent many cold nights out at the field with him. Stacking bricks was another thing he was passionate about, his eyes brightened as he showed her what he was going to spend his summer doing because; “It’s in my blood, Betty…” and so the following week, she had blisters on the palms of her hands. There are things she does for her best friend. There are things she would do a million times over if he simply asks.
Because that’s just the way it is.
Betty catches Veronica slip into a booth next to Jughead Jones while she follows Archie out the door. There’s a smile he wears as he steps out of Pop’s, all pink cheeked and grinning as Betty can almost see the radiance of Veronica Lodge rolling off him. She may have been head to toe in dark colours and glassy lips, but her Big Town Charm was all too hypnotic on Archie’s Riverdale Pep. “You like her, don’t you?” Betty manages, letting the words slip off her tongue before her nerves get the better of her.
Archie’s still a small boy in the presence of a pretty girl and easily impressed when he kicks stones along the road. Betty internally curses her mother for not picking them up and driving them home, the Riverdale breeze stings her lips while her teeth chatter but it’s like he reads her mind, unzipping his Letterman, Archie drapes it over Betty’s shoulders in one instinctive move. “She’s nice,” he shrugs.
She tries to contain her scoff. I’m nice, she thinks. She’s new…
Betty’s grip on the lapels of the Letterman tightens so much, she can feel her nails on her own skin. “She is nice,” she sighs. She's beautiful, she’s nice, she’s everything… “And New York seems like a world away.”
“It is a world away, B, and yet, she’s here… Maybe it’s a sign,” he laughs, kicking a stone across the road.
Betty fakes a fleeting laugh. It’s autopilot again. The dishonest laugh, the skin breaking grin, she even kicks a stone herself to keep up with Archie’s step. Archie’s signs are one of the things she loves about him. Everything has a reason. When they were five years old it was a sign that they lived next to each other because he had a friend. Being in every class at school was a sign because he knew he couldn’t pass anything without her by his side. This sign, she hated. “Don’t you go running away to New York on me, Arch,” she whispers, not sure if she was talking to him, or herself.
“Promise,” he chuckles, leaning into her shoulder.
She replies, trying to keep the skin breaking grin on her lips. “Okay.”
“Pinky promise,” he says seriously, stopping on the spot. And this time, she believes him.
Her fingers loosen on the Letterman that smells exactly like him. Her eyes prickle and sting, but the way he holds out his hand and his eyebrows knit together make her feel that maybe this was a sign too. He’s telling the truth and no amount of Big Town Charm was going to take him away from her. Archie Andrews has never, ever broken a pinky promise. It’s just the way it is.
She links her finger with his and this time, his honest, deep hearted, soul shaking, skin breaking grin matches her fake one. They continue down the road, hand in hand.
Everything’s on autopilot when it involves Archie Andrews. At times, Betty didn’t even know if she was breathing because she wanted to, or because he had told her he couldn’t live without her.
Everything is on autopilot when Archie is around. He brings peace. He’s familiar. He’s like home .
And Betty knows that she can’t be the only one who feels that way about Archie Andrews. There must be a million girls on earth who want to call Archie their home. She reminds herself that she may only be a drop in the ocean, but she’s the only one that makes the ripples that Archie is able to feel . It’s just the way it is.
Betty feels everything and she feels them all at once. The last six nights had been the same. Archie sits at his window, she sits at hers. She wonders how she can help her best friend because she knows that if the shoe was on the other foot, he’d do anything in his power to help her.
But it’s not. And he’s in love. And there’s nothing she can do to change his mind unless, by some miracle, Grundy falls off a cliff.
So instead, Archie sits at his window and Betty sits at hers. And she tells him through the phone that if he ever needs anything, she’s there. And she is. Until they both get tired and somehow make it from the window to their beds.
This time, things are different. Today of all days. She feels like maybe Jughead needed the support when the drive-in closed down, but Archie’s mind was floating away with the breeze and if she’s being honest with herself, she was floating away with it. She left Veronica there with nothing but a feeble smile and a promise she’ll keep in touch. Archie left wherever his mind took him and Betty went home with anger in her heart and worry on her shoulders.
But finally the windows separate them and his frown speaks so much louder than his words through half hearted messages. It’s not until his message asks her “Can I come over?” that she feels that maybe, for the first time in a long time, he wants his best friend back.
Betty cracks open the window just enough for him to be able to open when he gets out of his window and over to hers. She gets into her bed, all warm and pink hued. She waits. She always does. It’s just the way it is.
Like clockwork, she hears the window open wider and his extra cautious and over clumsy, quiet footsteps shift their weight on her bedroom floor. The bed shifts and she feels his breath on her neck. “It’s been so long,” Archie mumbles as his breathing slows and his eyelashes flutter on her skin. It’s been so long, she thinks. Since summer took you away…
Betty lets beats pass. She wonders if her parents know there’s someone in her room. She wonders if Grundy wonders where Archie is. She wonders if their friendship can withstand a storm, a flood of emotions, the thunder of their uncertainty, the clashing of Archie’s loveblind battles, the crashing of their world around them. The fierceness of her love for her best friend.
Because that’s what it is. Love . For the boy with his arms around her but no space in his heart for her. It’s just the way it is.
“What are you doing here, Archie?” she asks, trying to keep the confusion out of her voice. Trying to force herself to be happy with the fact he was there at all.
“I’m scared, B.”
“Why?” she asks, but she feels she already knows the answers. Scared of the unknown. Scared of love. Scared of what’s going to happen when his entire life of lies starts unravelling.
“Just am,” he replies instead. “Promise me you’ll always be there to protect me,” he almost begs. “I can’t live without you…”
And she believes that. He’s said it before. He’s pinky promised her that before. He’s the reason why she’s still in his arms with breath in her lungs. “Pinky promise,” she murmurs.
They fall asleep with their fingers intertwined. Because it’s just the way it is.
She can still taste Jughead on her lips as Archie climbs through her window. And he still smells like Veronica, cinnamon and sweet. There was something that had grown in her as her best friends had grown in love with each other. She could see something growing in Archie as his eyes constantly scan Jughead as if the snake on his back was going to come out and strike them at any moment.
Archie hates the snake, Betty does too. But, she knows, she has to stand by it. It’s just the way it is.
This time, he isn’t hushed tones with his tired form slumped on her bed. He’s pacing her room with anger etched on his face and chiffon billowing in her windows. His red hair is fiery against her soft pinks. “I don’t trust him, B,” he hisses like the snake he hates so much on Jughead’s back.
“It’s just a gang, Arch,” she tries to soothes but his anger seems to roll faster.
“It’s not just a gang, Betty,” he hisses again. “They’re dangerous! You could get hurt!”
“Jughead is your best friend,” Betty argues. “FP has been in the gang for as long as we can remember -”
“That’s not the point! What if something happens to you! I’d never forgive myself!”
This time, she feels the anger growing in her. Archie hadn’t cared what happened to her in a long time. She feels the distance, no amount of climbing through her window when Jughead’s gone was going to change that. No amount of promises were going to erase that. Veronica is her best friend, but she stole Archie on the way. “Your physical strength doesn’t mean anything if you can’t even give me the time of day, Archie. I’m not a damsel in distress. I’m a friend who barely gets to see her best friend anymore.”
All that she feels rolling off him in the silence is loss .
He doesn’t argue. He never does. Betty knows that with the whole ‘good guy’ persona comes with the less appealing attributes like letting people have the last say and never rising to the challenge when it comes to fighting but she would have liked to think that for once, he might have fought for her.
But he doesn’t.
He leaves Betty sitting with the words; “Promise me you’ll be safe, B. I don’t think I can live without you.”
She doesn’t promise him anything. And Betty sits on his words a little longer, because he never used to be able to live without her, and now, he’s simply not sure.
It’s amazing where the universe puts you when you think you might not live. He tasted just as she imagined. Mint. Axe spray. Home. Love. Jughead tastes like muted cigarettes and too much coffee. She hates comparing the two because at the end of the day, Archie tastes like forever and Jughead tastes like attention .
It’s amazing where the universe puts you when you’re sick with guilt. The guilt she feels inside her blood is guilt for not feeling guilty at all. It’s guilt for wanting to be back in that car, she’d take the violence and everything that comes with it if only to have a minute back in that car with her best friend.
There’s guilt standing in front of her in her room. Her bed is still made and her diary sits open on a blank page on her desk. She can taste her own lip gloss from her lips sitting on her tongue. It’s smeared over Archie’s cheek as he stands before her.
“I’m sick of lying, B,” he tells her, her lip gloss shimmering under dim lights as his cheeks move with each word. “I didn’t think I deserve you. I don’t think I deserve to love you…”
His words are whispers and each one lands on her. Sharp and painful. Soft and promising. “What are we doing here, Archie?” she asks.
Archie simply shrugs. “I don’t know, but I don’t want it to end. I don’t want to ignore the feeling anymore. Pinky promise me we’ll never be apart.”
He doesn’t ignore the feeling and his hands are smooth against her skin. But there’s messages he ignores from Veronica and a call from Jughead. It’s just the way it is.
They make several more pinky promises, so much so, she feels like her hand is forever in his. She’s just not so sure how they’re going to keep all these promises without breaking hearts.
But breaking hearts is what Archie Andrews is good at. It’s just the way it is.
Archie and Veronica’s relationship is a storm that never ceases. Betty wipes Veronica’s tears. Over Archie. Over Reggie. Over anyone who might do wrong by her. Betty is wrapped up in Archie’s arms when he’s scared which lately, seems more often than not. She doesn’t know Jughead. He’s a different person and he’s wrapped up in snakes and bad things.
Betty has no time for herself. Her love for Archie gets all mixed up in the mess that could have been avoided. If she didn’t have a loyalty to Jughead. If she didn’t love Veronica so much. If she could do a single thing for herself for once, maybe all this would be a lot more straightforward.
But nothing ever is and life is hard, her mom taught her that from day one. So instead, she pinks her lips and blushes her cheeks and her smile is from ear to ear, the skin breaking kind. La Bonne Nuit is only lit up by sultry glowing lights and hazy body heat. She notices the distance from Jughead and the eyes from Veronica that never truly seem to land on Archie and before she knows it, Betty is sitting in Fred Andrews’ pick up, driven by her best friend. “Do you want to start again?”
“What do you mean?” she asks.
Archie smiles, skin breakingly big. “You and I. Start life all over again.”
She agrees and he seems convinced. They kiss on the floor of her room and they pray for everything to fall into place, that the universe might hear them. That one day, everything will be just so.
“I promise you, Betty. It’ll be you and me forever.”
“Pinky promise?” she asks.
The link fingers for what she tells herself will be the last time.
She’ll break this promise. And she’ll regret it.
But she’s not a bad person. She can’t be. And she can’t let him be one either. It’s just the way it is.
They haven't made any promises in months. And though she keeps her curtain closed, she can still see the light in his room on even through the billowing chiffon. And every night she falls asleep with his dim, muted light shining through on her. And for the most part, that’s enough.
Jughead spends more time over at her house. He’s there but he’s not there . He’s vacant, he’s lost. And the worst part is, she doesn’t feel like fixing him.
Jughead sleeps with his jeans still on and he doesn’t leave his eyelashes on the back of her neck and she doesn’t feel his breath on her skin. What he does do is leave her bed at midnight and if he does return, he smells like deep fried food and too much coffee.
Tonight, he stays a little longer and he’s in a deeper sleep. The light from Archie’s room is still on and shines on Jughead’s skin.
Slowly, she gets out of bed, soft footsteps creep to her window.
Betty opens chiffon for the first time in months. Her heart settles when she sees Archie sitting on his side. Her phone buzzes in her hands. “Hey,” the phone says.
She replies; “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, you were only trying to help.”
Betty knows she can’t ever be away from Archie Andrews. It’s just the way it is.
This time, it had been weeks since Jughead had stayed with her. She’d spent nights at the trailer, most of which he had spent at Pop’s. Despite the name, it’s not so sunny at Sunnyside. Betty tries to keep the curtains shut, sometimes she sucks at sticking to her own rules. They had only spent time window to window, Archie hadn’t left his window to climb through hers, but even the glass of both of their windows didn’t seem far enough when she was trying to keep their distance.
He smiles, she smiles back. He sits down on his chair, she sits down too. And hours pass.
Hours don’t feel long enough.
The message finally comes. “I love you, Betty. I always have.”
She can’t reply. She shuts the curtain instead.
Betty made a promise to herself that it’s better for her to hurt him than to let each other hurt Jughead and Veronica.
She’ll board the window up if she has too.
Archie was good at faking, she’s decided. For the most part, it’s like nothing has happened. School still continues, La Bonne Nuit still keeps Veronica busy and Jughead and his Serpents too. Archie keeps himself busy in the most unorthodox of ways but at least now he’s home and safe. They all spend time together and they all seem to laugh at the right times. She’s come to believe that both her and Archie are great pretenders.
Days continue, they turn into weeks and months. Everyone falls deeper into their lives, all intertwined together. Everyone gets lost but they all have each other at the end of the day and it feels like the only constant.
Archie and Betty head home together, he pulls into his driveway, rushing out of his drivers side to open the door for Betty. “Thanks for the ride, Arch,” she mumbles as she gets out, heading to her own front porch.
She ignores it, his eyes on her. Burning a hole through her skin.
She enters her house, shutting the door behind her. Letting tears fall freely for the first time in forever.
Betty should have followed her gut. She should have boarded up the window, stopped him in his tracks. If she had, she wouldn’t be staring at Archie Andrews through her window, his grin plastered on his face as he waits for her to open her window.
She doesn’t want to open it, but she does.
The silence is buzzing around them, Betty feels complete when Archie pulls her into his arms for the first time in a lifetime. She closes her eyes and lets herself feel for the first time in forever. “When I asked you to marry me, I made a promise.”
Promises, in their world, are burnt directly into the heart and she’s not sure if it's a fairytale stuck in her head that makes her feel this, but she’s sure her heart is up in flames. “We were kids,” she whispers.
“It doesn’t matter,” he pouts and she can see the child still in him. “I still meant every single word I said.”
Betty laughs with tears hanging on the edge. “I wish we were kids again.”
“It feels like you’re saying this is it,” he says a little too sternly for Betty to be comfortable with. “The end.”
“It’s been it for a long time, Arch.”
Betty watches his face fall, but understanding creeps onto it as well. He saw it coming too, she thinks. He knew this was happening. “I just thought we’d never be apart, Betty,” he says, his own tears glistening in his eyes. “What happened to us?”
“We were too much,” she says, burying her tears into his chest, not letting them fall in front of him. “Maybe we were not enough…”
“That doesn’t make sense,” he says into her hair. “How long do we have?”
“The night.”
“The night,” he repeats.
“Pinky promise we can’t keep doing this to each other?” she asks.
“Pinky promise.”
Betty and Archie crawl into bed. The bed shifts and she feels his breath on her neck. “It’s been so long,” Archie mumbles as his breathing slows and his eyelashes flutter on her skin. It’s been so long, she thinks. Since our universe aligned…
The next day their lives continue. Curtains shut. Windows too. It’s just the way it is.
Toni Topaz steps into the office, long hair, full lips and a camera around her neck “Riverdale Register, eh?” she asks, scanning the place, eyes falling on the lone desk sitting in the middle of the room with nothing but an unplugged computer sitting on it. “Did not think you’d want to buy it, Mrs Andrews,” she laughs. “But I guess, like mother, like daughter.”
Betty rolls her eyes as she sits another full box on the desk to unpack. “I’m nothing like my mother,” she laughs. “And don’t call me Mrs Andrews, it sounds so formal.”
“I, for one, love it,” Archie adds, dumping another box on the desk. “And I’m glad my wife will be running the register which is an iconic piece of Riverdale history!”
Toni grins, looking at Betty. “I see the golden retriever hasn’t changed, you’re still Riverdale through and through!”
“And this one will be, too!” he adds, placing a gentle hand on Betty’s stomach. Betty eases under his touch, glad for the extra help setting up from him and Toni. Toni heads out of the register to the car to get more boxes. “Are you happy?” he asks.
Betty thinks about everything in her life, all the ups and downs, the pain and laughter. She looks at Archie, tip-toeing to kiss his lips. “I’m more than happy. It’s just the way it is.”
“Promise?” he asks.
“Pinky promise.”