Hopelessly Devoted ➳ a.a ♡ b.c.

nineteen

betty laid on her bed staring mindlessly at the ceiling. she looked at the single remaining glow in the dark star clinging on to the ceiling for dear life, by a piece of slowly drying, blue adhesive putty.

for the first time in a long time her world was calm, minus everything with archie that she was pushing to the back fo her mind. she was bored, and decided it was time to make a new friend.

"come on, pick up." betty whispered to herself as her phone buzzed.

"cooper, what's up?" reggie's voice came from the other side of the phone.

"well you're dating veronica, who is my best friend, and if you're going to be around her all the time i want to get to know you too. so, i just wanted to know if you wanted to go to pops with me." betty said quickly.

"yeah, i'd like that, but won't people get the wrong idea?" reggie asked hesitantly.

"to hell with everyone in this damned town. we can just be the friends no one ever expected." reggie laughed at the blonde's enthusiasm.

"alright, cooper i'll be there in ten."

"see you soon, mantle."

and just like that an unexpected friendship began to blossom.
                        ***
"do you remember when you peed on the basketball court at recess in second grade, because ms gribrock wouldn't let you use the bathroom?" betty asked barely containing her laughter enough to get out the sentence.

"oh my god, why would you bring that up on our first friend date?" reggie groaned.

"don't worry only me, you, and the rest of our second grade class will ever know." betty laughed again.

"well do you remember when you cried for three hours in third grade, because i took the pink play-doh from the bin before you?" reggie was the one laughing this time.

"i was such a brat." she chuckled in defeat.

"i'm not going to disagree." betty smacked his arm from next to him.

"shut up. we're friends now, so you're supposed to defend me. even when it's me talking bad about myself."

"i'll keep that in mind." reggie smiled at her as the bell on the door rung behind them.

"reggie, what's up man?" archie said as he walked up to the table, with josie latched to his side. his happy expression changed when he saw a blonde ponytail next to the boy.

"betty, what are you doing with reggie?" archie asked.

seeing archie looking happy with josie ignited a spark of jealousy somewhere in betty, and it may have made her come off a bit more bitter than she was trying to be.

"i don't think that's any of your business." she snapped.

the look he gave her when their eyes met tugged at her heart strings, so she averted her eyes from his.

"well, it was good seeing you both. we're just going to sit over here." josie said as she ushered archie to a booth a couple seats down from theirs.

at least he'd had the decency to skip over their booth, at least he hadn't tainted it, betty thought as she watched the pair sit in a random booth.

"what was that about?" reggie leaned in, and whispered.

"what was what about?" betty played dumb.

"did something happen between you and archie. a few days ago you two were all lovey-dovey, and now..."

"if i tell you, you have to promise not to tell anyone, including veronica." betty said sternly.

"scouts honor." he said as he put his hand over his heart.

"were you even a scout?" betty asked.

"is that really important right now? tell me what happened." reggie said.

"so, archie and i went through something pretty intense together, and the night we got back we kissed. then jughead showed up, and started yelling. he tried to hurt archie, but archie kicked him out, and we broke up. so then the next day i told archie i just wanted to be friends, because i just broke up with jughead. archie and i were still flirting a lot, and being kind of romantic though. then the next morning archie told me josie asked him out. he said he wanted to see where things could go with someone else while he waited for me."

"what happened next?" reggie asked hurriedly.

"i stormed out, and met this new guy named lucas. he's sweet, interested in me, and i like him a lot, but he's no archie. then the next day at school archie told me he wanted to be with me, and that he'd put a stop to things with josie, but like the idiot i am i said no. i told him that we needed to stay away from each other for awhile, and that's where we are today." betty sighed.

"i'm sorry, betty." reggie smiled sympathetically, and grabbed her hand.

"call me, betts." she smiled back.

"if i call you betts, you can call me reg."
                        ***
"i wonder why they're together?" archie accidentally said out loud.

"maybe they're dating. they'd be cute together, but very unexpected." josie said as she leaned into archie's side.

archie's stomach churned as he watched reggie hold betty's hand. were they really dating? he wanted to slam his head into a brick wall.

"yeah, very unexpected." archie frowned at the sight in front of him.

"wait, but isn't reggie dating veronica?" josie asked.

"i don't know about dating, maybe all they did was make out." archie said, his eyes were stuck to betty and reggie.

"i don't care if they are dating. i'm team beggie." josie said cheerily.

"what the hell is a beggie?"

a/n - beggie is the crack ship i'd die for, but in this story they're strictly platonic don't worry