A Little More Dangerous

pity parties

It was on Wednesday that Reginald Mantle was waiting at Veronica's locker, expecting her to arrive soon.

They hadn't spoken since Friday, and she never thanked him for kicking Archie out of Pops after punching her.

Reggie was furious to see that Veronica was walking down the hallway with a smile on her face, accompanied by Archie Andrews.

Reggie and Archie go way back. They met in middle school, though they had both lived in Riverdale their whole lives. They were always great friends, at that young age, there was never any competition. Until Freshman year. They both tried out for the football team and only Archie got in, by some miracle. He was the only freshman accepted. That's when the rivalry began. Though they didn't hate each other, most would describe it as a rivalrous friendship.

Most of the time, Archie would win. In everything. Particularly with girls. This one wasn't a competition though, as far as the red head was aware. Veronica was never some sort of prize, a trophy for the winner. As far as Archie was aware. Reggie, however, couldn't stand their relationship. Betty and Jughead may have been the serpent king and queen, but at Riverdale High, the king and queen were Archie and Veronica. Everyone knew it.

Every time they walked down the hallway, Archie's arm loosely hanging over Veronica's shoulder, or lightly holding her waist, people would part and let them walk by, practically bowing to them. And Reggie wanted that. He wanted to see Archie lose something for once.

And so, when Archie did go to juvie, and after convincing Veronica to let him go, Reggie managed to score a date with her, which eventually became something else. And she became his trophy.

He just wishes things hadn't gone to shit when Archie came back, boy would he have loved to see the look on the red heads face when he saw Veronica holding someone else's hand.

Reggie clenched his jaw as the two teens approached Veronica's locker where he was waiting. He wondered what they were talking about, why they were both smiling so much. It felt too normal.

"Reggie, what are you doing?" Veronica asked with a reasonably surprised, yet kind tone. Reggie let out a small sigh and managed a smile.
"Figured Is walk you to class babe, we haven't spoken in so long" He said, making Archie's smile drop slightly.

Veronica dipped her head with a bit of frustration rising, she let out a silent sigh.
"Archie, would you give Reggie and I a minute?" She asked with gritted teeth, hoping Archie would know deep down that there was nothing between her and Reggie. He nodded.
"Uh yeah, sure. I actually have to get going, Weatherbee wants to meet up with me. I'll see you around" He said with a small smile.

"Around? Aren't you sitting with us at lunch?" Veronica asked, forgetting that Reggie was there. Archie pulled her a few steps away from the locker for a brief moment.
"I haven't really talked to anyone except you and a few others recently. Won't it be...kinda weird if I'm suddenly just sitting with you guys?" he asked in a hushed tone.
"Don't be silly" Veronica reassured "it wouldn't be weird at all. You're our friend Archie"

Archie looked down at the floor.

Friend.

He had been so used to boyfriend. He knew that they had been broken up for months now, yet it felt odd to hear her call him a friend. Before that, Archie had gone from having a full on relationship with Veronica to nothing, no talking or even seeing each other. She stopped visiting and he stopped wasting all of his phone calls on her. There was no 'we've decided to be just friends' phase that most couples have after they break up.

"What if someone says something that triggers me? I don't want to hurt anyone" he said, trying to make the conversation quick.
"I'll be right there with you, it'll be fine. C'mon, we miss you. Even for just 5 minutes, for me?" She pouted her lip jokingly and gave Archie puppy dog eyes. He scoffed and shook his head, knowing full well that he wasn't tonight to win this.
"Fine. For 5 minutes." Archie agreed and looked over Veronica's shoulder at Reggie who was staring disapprovingly at them.