betty cooper and archie andrews were supposed to be the best of friends. however, since they both began dating their respective romantic partners they had fallen out of their usual closeness. when they finally decide it's time to get back on track...
it had been a week since the blonde and the redhead last spoke. the only few occasions where they did talk were random hellos in the hallways, and the times archie would beg her to explain everything to him.
however, life went on as normal. it was the same as before they had tried to reconnect their friendship. archie spent all his time with veronica, and betty spent her time trying to get jughead to talk to her.
"please jug, i just want to see you. it's been two weeks." she begged him over the phone.
"betty i'm really busy. i don't have time right now." his voice was harsh, and it surprised her.
"meet me at pops after school, please." she waited for his response.
"betty, i already said-"
"it'll just take a couple minutes. i just want to be able to talk, and not over the phone. i have something important i need to tell you." she had decided on telling him about the black hood before she couldn't.
"fine, whatever." he sighed.
"thanks, jug. i love-" the dial tone, signaling the call had been ended, cut her off.
"dick." she mumbled under her breath as she brought the phone down from her ear.
betty grabbed her things, and went to make her way out of the blue and gold room, but as soon as she left the safety of the small room she smacked into a hard chest.
"oh my god, i'm so sorry." she said as she reached down to grab the person's things that she'd managed to knock out of their arms. she didn't realize who it was, until she handed their books back.
"betty..." he said gingerly as he pulled her back into the blue and gold office. he closed the door behind them, and finally noticed the state his best friend was in.
he studied her face. she had large dark circles under her eyes from a lack of sleep, her hair was in a low bun which meant she was sad, and she shook with every movement she made.
betty practically attacked him with a hug. she wanted to stay in this moment forever, safe in her best friends arms, but she knew she couldn't.
"i've missed you so much." her words were muffled by his shoulder, and he hugged her tighter. her body felt feeble, and small between his large arms.
"i've missed you too, betts. just tell me why you won't talk to me, i can fix it. i'll do anything." his words hurt betty's heart and she slowly pulled away.
"arch i can't, you know i can't say anything to you. i'm sorry, but this is how it has to be." archie's heart broke at the sight of his bleary eyed best friend.
"for how long, betty. you can't just tell me you can't talk to me, and except me to leave it at that. i need to know what's going on with you, just tell me." betty bit her cheek, trying to hold back tears.
"archie, please. you're going to get hurt if you keep pushing at this." she begged him.
"i don't care. right now you're the only one getting hurt, and it's my fault. what's going on? is someone making you do this? who's doing this to you? they're killing you betty, and i can't sit by and watch." she wrapped his hand in hers.
"then don't watch. stay away from me. you'll be safe, your dad will be safe, everyone will be safe, if you just let me do this. and i do care, arch. i care if i'm going to be the reason you're getting hurt. this isn't your fault, but we need to stop talking." she hesitantly let go of his hand, and began to leave.
"betty, please let me help. i'm not letting whatever's going on ruin us. i'm not going to let you kill yourself trying to protect everyone else. we were finally getting back on track." his voice broke as he begged her, causing a tear to fall down her cheek.
betty hated hurting him, but this was the only way to keep him safe. she wouldn't be able to look at herself if he got hurt because of her.
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"i'm sorry arch, i really am, but it has to be this way. just don't quit on me now." he went to stop her, but she was already out the door. *** "archikins?" veronica knocked on his bedroom door.
"hey, ronnie. what's up?"
"i just wanted to see you." she walked over to where he was sitting on his bed.
veronica planted herself on archie's lap. she placed her lips on his neck, and began kissing up to his jaw.
"actually ronnie," he pulled away from her much to her protest, "could i ask you a question?"
she nodded, before attacking his neck with kisses again.
"ronnie, this is serious." he said, pushing her back gently.
"god, archie what is it?!" she snapped at him.
"i was just wondering if you've noticed anything weird going on with betty, or did she maybe say something was wrong?" veronica removed herself from his lap.
"i haven't noticed anything wrong with betty, but i have noticed that everytime i'm with my boyfriend he asks me questions about my best friend!" she yelled.
"she's my best friend too, veronica! i was just wondering if she was okay. maybe you would've noticed something if you weren't so wrapped up with yourself all the time."
"you know what, we're obviously going through a rough patch right now. maybe we should take a break." veronica crossed her arms over her chest defensively.
"works for me, you can show yourself out." archie's voice was laced with venom. some could argue that veronica brought out the worst in him.
veronica scoffed before leaving. her high heels stomping down the stairs, and the door slamming shut were the only noises archie could hear.
archie took a deep breath, and mumbled various profanities. was taking a break from veronica the right thing to do, or should he have put up a fight and tried to fix things?
he honestly had no idea. however the one thing he did know was, worrying about veronica was too complicated for him right now. he had to put all of his energy into fixing the broken girl next door, or at least figuring out why she wouldn't talk to him.
