Living Next Door To Alice

4/ Three Year Anniversary

TW: loss of a parent

"Who picked out this color?" Archie let out a chuckle.

He had dipped his brush into the bottle of paint and looked at the tangerine color with a smile on his face. Let's say it wasn't the kind of choice he'd make for his own bedroom.

He had offered his neighbor to help her out since it was an all white bedroom that needed a little touch. When she had told him that she wanted to paint it over he hadn't expected for her to go for such a bold color.

"I did! Don't you like it?" Betty turned around as she had just started to paint the white wall at her bedside, looking at him with wide eyes and a smile tugging on her lips.

"Well..." Archie teased,  and Betty spat some paint his way that landed on his overalls.

Though the two neighbors had met each other barely a month ago, he hadn't hesitated to show her around school and offer to help her out in her room and feel more at home in Riverdale.

"Hey! I have amazing taste, you will come to learn." Betty warned him with a smug smile, but Archie wasn't done teasing her yet.

"Are you sure about that?" He asked smugly, knowing that it would get to her.

What he didn't expected, was the surprise attack from Betty who had dipped her roller into the paint once again and flipped it his way in one swift moving, getting it onto his face now, too. She giggled when she saw the look on his face and the sparkle in his eyes that told her that he was getting back at her.

"Oh, it's on."  He grabbed his own bucket with the orange colored paint and ran towards her to strike his brush over her nose.

Before they knew it, everything but the walls was full of paint, leaving them both out of breath after chasing each other. Archie had successfully tackled her, and pinned her down onto the ground. Without even noticing he straddled her and grabbed her newly tangerine colored arms, and pinned them above her head while they couldn't stop laughing.

But then Betty looked into his soft chestnut brown eyes, realizing how close the boy from next door was to her face. Their breathings faded out and to break the tension Archie cleared his throat and quickly stood up, offering her a hand to do the same.

"I'm just messing with you, it's beautiful." He said softly, as he wiped his hands (who were still wet from the paint) onto his overalls.

Betty smiled sweetly and grabbed the bucket again to resume their task of actually painting the wall like they were supposed to.

"Thanks for helping me out. Polly hasn't been in the best mood lately and my Mom got a lot on her plate." Betty thanked him quietly, her cheeks flushing more than she wanted to.

Though she had been pretty big about the divorce and the moving to another town, she was fighting her own battles. It wasn't something she wanted to bother her mother or her sister with, so making her room a little bit more like her own style truly helped her feel better.

"I am more than happy to help. Besides, I can use the distraction." The redheaded boy smiled at her as the white wall in front of him slowly turned orange.

"Why is that if you don't mind me asking?" She asked him carefully, not wanting to risk overstepping and losing the first friend she made in this new town.

Archie paused his movements and looked sidewards, realizing what he had said.

"Oh, yeah... sure. Well, it's been three years since my Mom passed away. So, today is a little hard." His eyes filled with tears, but he wasn't going to let them fall just yet.