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Archie wasn't naive enough to think he could have sex with Betty without feelings being involved.
There have been feelings involved in every single interaction they’ve had since they were fifteen years old. When she picked up his phone call and said his name, his heart pounded in his chest. When he saw her again, sitting in that booth at Pop’s, his head spun.
He doesn't want to be friends. He wants her, all of her, in a way he's never wanted anything else in his life.
But Betty wasn't willing to give him everything, so he took what he could get. He thought he knew what he was getting into when they agreed to this arrangement, he thought he had a handle on it. He figured something is better than nothing.
He was wrong. It’s worse.
“You want to come over tonight?” Archie asks after he finishes the last bite of his sandwich, wiping his hands on his pants. Betty hands him her napkin across the desk, and he smiles at her in thanks. Most days they eat lunch in the teacher’s lounge with everyone else, but some days they spend lunch in Betty’s shop classroom, just the two of them. “I’ll be home alone.”
“That depends,” Betty says teasingly, “you going to make it worth my while?”
Archie raises his eyebrows, standing up. “Don’t I always?”
Betty stands then too, smirk still plastered on her face. She shrugs, says, “You’re alright.”
He know she’s just trying to rile him up, and she’s doing so effectively. “Just alright? I think I deserve a better review than that, after this weekend.” He’d fucked her on the kitchen counter, and she screamed so loud the whole time he was honestly worried her mother heard next door.
Betty bites her lip in an attempt to tamp down her grin, but it doesn’t work. She steps closer, invading his space like she always does when they’re alone. She leans up and kisses him, pulling away before Archie can deepen it like she knows he’s about to. She runs her hand along the band of his pants, just because she can. “I’ll see you tonight.”
The thing about their arrangement is that it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to him, and it’s torture in every way, all at once.
Sometimes Archie considers ending it while he still can, because having half of her is even harder than having none of her. He knows he’s already in over his head, but he’s afraid of just how deep this might get. If he keeps going, he might lose sight of the surface completely and drown.
The problem is, it’s the best sex he’s ever had in his life. It’s not even a competition. Any worries he has dissipate when Betty’s nails are scratching down his back, her hot breath in his ear. He’ll convince himself it needs to end, then Betty will call and tell him to come over and he’s out the door without a second thought. And if he spends every single moment leading up to that call, and every single moment after it, thinking about her – that’s just the price he has to pay.
He knows he couldn’t leave even if he wanted to. If this is going to end, she’s going to be the one to do it. He tries not to think about that.
Betty comes over after Jughead has left for work. They fuck once on the couch, then shower together for old times’ sake. The porcelain of the tub is hard on his knees, and Betty nearly slips a few times because of all the water and the fact that she only has one leg to hold her up, the other hiked over his shoulder. They make it work. Then they fuck again in his bed, just because they can.
“You’ve officially worn me out,” Betty huffs next to him. She keeps her arm draped across his stomach, the way she always does. Archie wonders if it’s standard to cuddle after having sex when you’re not dating, but he doesn’t want to question it because he doesn’t want her to stop doing it.
“Well, it was my pleasure.” Betty laughs at that, her fingers running up and down his side. They don’t say anything for a while, comfortable silence engulfing them. Archie musters up the courage to ask what he’s wanted to for weeks. “Betty?”
“Hm?”
“How do you think this is going?” Betty props herself up on her arm next to him, her eyes questioning. “Our… arrangement.”
“I don’t have any complaints,” Betty tells him, knowing smile on her face. “Do you?”
“No, of course not.” Archie rolls onto his own side to look at her, his hand gravitating towards the dip in her waist out of habit. “I just worry, I guess.”
Archie feels exposed in a way he hasn’t with Betty since coming back to Riverdale. They don’t really talk about how they’re feeling, because she doesn’t want to and because he knows she doesn’t want to. He’s never admitted any hesitation he’s had before.
Betty doesn’t seem to mind now, though. “Worry about what?”
“I just don’t want something to happen that could ruin our friendship.” It’s the truth, partially at least. He doesn’t want their friendship to be ruined, but he knows either way it will never be the same after all of this. He’s accepted and come to terms with that. What he really worries about when he’s alone at night is the both of them getting hurt again, the way they have so many times before.
“We’re not going to ruin our friendship,” Betty assures him. “We’re both on the same page here, right?”
“Right.” The lie sits heavy on his tongue even after he’s said it.
“Then there’s nothing to worry about.” Betty rests her hand on his cheek and kisses him softly once, twice. “Plus, we’ll always be friends.”
He wants to believe her.
A little while later, Betty moves to get up. “I should probably go.”
Archie considers it for a minute, watching her slide her bra on. “You could stay for a while.”
Betty turns her head to look at him, questioning him. She doesn’t say anything, waiting.
“Jughead won’t be home until late,” Archie continues, suddenly worried he’s crossed some kind of friends with benefits line he doesn’t know about. He thought he knew the rules in the beginning, but then Betty kissed him goodnight that first time and everything he thought he knew went out the window.
Betty smiles, a soft one he likes to think she reserves just for him. “Okay. I’ll stay for a while.”
Alice takes the twins to visit her mother for the weekend, and Betty asks Archie to stay over on Saturday night. He comes up with a lie to tell Jughead, says he has to stay overnight at the El Royale because he’s suspicious that someone tried to break in a few nights back. He feels bad for lying, and he’s not sure Jughead even believes a word he says, but if this is what it takes to get a whole night alone with Betty then so be it.
Betty cooks him dinner, and they have sex twice in her bed, and then they sleep all night with her back pressed against his front – his arm around her waist, his head on her pillow.
It’s perfect, and it’s dangerous, because it almost feels real.
He has plans to spend all day Sunday at the Pembrooke starting renovations. He told Veronica he’d be there by 9. When his alarm goes off at 8:30, he’s alone in bed. He dresses slowly to the sound of pots and pans clattering downstairs. He doesn’t want to leave. He wants to stay in their little bubble forever.
Betty is standing at the stove stirring something when he walks into the kitchen, wearing nothing but a t-shirt and her underwear. He wants to take her right there. “Hey.”
“Morning,” Betty says, turning her head to smile at him. “You want breakfast?”
“I wish, but I don’t have time. I have to be at Veronica’s by 9.”
Betty nods, turning back to her eggs. “Right.”
He told her about his plans yesterday, so he doesn’t know why he feels the need to apologize. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be, Arch.” She smiles again, so he figures she doesn’t actually mind. He’s interrupted by the doorbell. Betty glances towards the door in confusion, like she isn’t expecting anyone. “Shit, I need pants. Can you get that?”
Betty scurries towards the laundry room while Archie heads to the door.
When he opens it, he’s greeted by a man with some sort of holder in his right hand. “Can I help you?”
“Is Betty here?” The man asks. Okay, so he’s not a stranger.
“Um –” Archie starts, but is interrupted by Betty’s slightly panicked voice.
“Glen?” Archie turns around to look at her, confused. She’s wearing shorts now. “What are you doing here?”
“I heard about your sister.” He holds up his right hand. “And I brought Toffee.”
“Toffee?” Archie asks, looking at Betty. He has no idea what’s happening, but he’d like to find out.
“My cat,” Betty tells him plainly.
“You have a cat?” She’s never once mentioned she has a cat.
“Yes.”
“I’m Glen.” He reaches out his hand for Archie to shake, which he does.
“Archie.”
Betty looks at him. “Glen is from the FBI. We work together at Quantico.” Back to Glen. “Archie is my best friend.”
The way Glen just showed up on Betty’s doorstep, the way he’s holding a cat that is apparently Betty’s, the way he’s looking at Betty with the same adoration Archie is sure is in his own eyes whenever he looks at her – tells Archie he’s probably more than just a co-worker. He feels his face grow hot with jealousy he knows he isn’t allowed to feel.
“Nice to meet you, Archie,” Glen says, but Archie doesn’t miss the wariness in his eyes either.
“Archie was just leaving,” Betty tells Glen, looking at Archie expectantly.
He considers lying and saying Veronica has texted him and told him to come at 10 instead of 9. Maybe he could even say he got the times messed up himself and just realized. He wants to stay, but Betty clearly doesn’t want him to, and it’s not his place to anyway.
He tries to wait for Betty to bring it up again, but the curiosity is killing him.
He doesn’t want to ask first, because he doesn’t think he’s supposed to. They meet at Pop’s for dinner the next night, sitting on opposite sides of the booth. He wants her next to him. He wants to touch her. He wonders if Glen has.
“So what ever happened with that guy from work?” He asks, casual as possible. He grabs a fry from the plate in the middle of the table. He tries not to look at her, but he can’t help it.
“Nothing,” Betty states, shrugging. “He went back already.”
Archie waits for any further explanation, but Betty doesn’t offer it. He watches her take a sip of her strawberry milkshake. Jughead comes over and asks if they need anything, which they don’t.
“Was he any help with Polly’s case?” He asks when Jughead walks away, because he genuinely wants to know.
Betty shakes her head. “There’s nothing more he could do at this point than what I’m already doing. Plus, I didn’t want his help.”
Archie nods. He wants to let it go, but he can’t. “He seemed nice, though.”
“He’s… fine.” Betty grabs her own handful of fries from the plate. Archie waits. “We sort of had a thing, before I left to come back here.”
Archie’s stomach turns. “Oh.”
“It wasn’t anything serious. Just casual,” Betty explains, “kind of like us.”
“Oh,” Archie says again, like a broken record.
“It’s over now, though. Obviously.”
Archie wants to say good, he wants to ask what that means, he wants to know everything and nothing at the same time.
Before he can do any of that, they’re interrupted.
“Hi guys,” Veronica calls out, walking towards them.
“Hey,” Archie says, smiling up at her.
“Hey,” Betty repeats lowly.
“You want to join us?” Archie asks, beginning to scoot over in the booth so she can sit.
“It’s okay, I’m just picking up.”
Archie nods, glancing towards Betty. She’s drenching her fries in ketchup like she always does. He looks back at Veronica. “Everything good at the apartment since I left?”
“Everything’s good,” Veronica confirms with a smile, eyes towards Betty. “Archie here already has it looking better.”
“I can imagine,” Betty replies, tight smile of her own on her face. Archie senses something off between the two of them, a strain that hasn’t had the chance to heal yet. He knows they haven’t really talked much since they got back, much less the seven years before that.
Jughead calls Veronica’s name, her order ready. “See you guys at work.”
“See you later,” Archie says while Betty waves bye. She doesn’t say anything else.
“You want to go home?” Archie asks when Betty slurps the last of her milkshake through the straw.
“Let’s go,” Betty agrees.
Betty’s mostly quiet on the walk back, though she does ask him about the renovations he’s doing for Veronica. He probably bores her while explaining the process of lifting hardwood floors, but she asked and she listens. When they reach their street, he doesn’t want to assume she’s coming to his house instead of going to her own. She seems off, in a way she hasn’t been around him in as long as he can remember. She’s been under a lot of stress, and maybe it’s finally starting to take over.
When they reach her house, he finally asks what he’s wanted to since they were at Pop’s. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Arch,” Betty says, like she doesn’t know why he would wonder. She looks towards his house. “Can I come over?”
“Of course,” Archie says, continuing the walk towards his own porch. “You know you don’t have to ask.”
Betty doesn’t respond to that, but she does kiss him when they reach the top of the stairs, tugging at the hem of his shirt to lift it over his head.
She pushes him on his bed, climbs on top, rides him until she comes. He rolls her over, chasing his own release, and he wants her to come again. When he touches her, he asks, “S’it too much?”
Betty moans, fisting the hair on the back of his neck. “No. Don’t stop.”
“I won’t,” Archie groans into her neck, falling over the edge. “Won’t ever stop.”
After she’s come again, he goes to the bathroom to throw away the condom. When he walks back into his room, Betty is getting dressed.
“You’re leaving already?” He asks, brows furrowed. She usually stays for at least a little bit.
Betty nods, pulling her sweater over her head then fixing her hair.
“You can stay,” Archie tells her, like she doesn’t already know that. But he doesn’t want her to go yet.
“No, I should go.” The corners of her mouth lift into a small smile. She’s fully dressed now, and he’s still naked and feeling like an idiot.
“Okay,” Archie says, and he can’t even hide his confusion. He suddenly feels like he did something wrong, but he has no idea what. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“See you tomorrow,” Betty says, nodding. She leans up to kiss him on the cheek, then walks out the door.
Archie feels like something has shifted without him even being aware of it.
He meets with Veronica before first period to discuss the renovations and go over paint colors for the walls. Betty texts him asking if he’s at school yet, so he tells her to come to the student lounge. He actually hasn’t seen her much this week, because she said she’s busy with Polly’s case. He’s missed her more than he would ever admit to her. She walks in as Veronica is trying to decide between ivory or cream.
“Hey,” Archie calls out, catching her attention. When Betty turns towards them, her eyes travel to Veronica and then back to him. Maybe he should have told her that Veronica was here too.
“Hi, Betty,” Veronica says, smiling.
“Hi.” Betty walks closer, but she doesn’t sit down.
“Everything okay?” Archie asks.
“Yeah, of course.” Betty pauses for a moment, then continues, “I actually just remembered I have a meeting with Weatherbee this morning, so I have to go.”
“Oh.”
“Well we were actually just talking about going to the Whyte Wyrm tonight,” Veronica cuts in, voice light. “It’s been a long week. You should come!”
Betty’s mouth twitches into what he thinks is supposed to resemble a smile, but she really just seems tense. “Thanks, but not tonight. You two have fun, though.”
Archie wants to ask what’s wrong, ask if she texted him because she wanted to talk about something, but she’s walking away before he can even get another word out.
“Huh,” Veronica says under her breath, but he hears it.
“What?”
She responds, plainly, “She’s jealous.”
“What?” He repeats.
“You heard me.”
“She’s not jealous,” Archie starts, shaking his head. It’s clear that for Betty there are no feelings involved in their arrangement, meaning she has no reason to be upset. “Why would she be jealous?”
Veronica turns her body towards his, eyebrows raised, smirk barely contained on her face. “I don’t know, you tell me.”
“There’s nothing to tell.”
Veronica ignores him. “Is there something going on between you two?”
“No!” It comes out just a tad too defensive, and she notices.
“You always have been a terrible liar,” Veronica points out. She isn’t going to let him off the hook. “You know, I’ve had my suspicions for weeks. And that whole… exchange I just witnessed confirms I was right.”
Archie glances at the paint samples that lay forgotten on the table. He wants to go back to listening to her debate the pros and cons of flat versus semi-gloss, he wants to talk about anything but this. “We are not having this conversation.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s weird?”
Veronica sighs, shaking her head. “It’s not weird. We broke up practically a lifetime ago, Archie. And we’re friends.”
He still doesn’t feel comfortable talking about this with her, especially if Betty is jealous. Which she’s not. “Look, it doesn’t even matter. She doesn’t care.”
“Archie, trust me. As someone who spent the entirety of our relationship being insecure over Betty, I know what that looks like. And I just saw it two minutes ago in this very room.”
She actually sounds convinced, and part of him wants to believe her, but he knows that’s risky choice to make. He can’t allow himself to hope any more than he already has. It might actually kill him.
“The difference is, she has nothing to worry about. Not like I did.” He wants to feel bad at that, but there’s no malice behind her words. Just honesty. “So why haven’t you told her?”
Archie doesn’t have to admit how he feels, because Veronica already knows. She’s known for nearly a decade, an unspoken truth between them. “I don’t think she feels the same.”
“Come on, Archie.” Veronica rolls her eyes, says it like she refuses to believe he’d ever think such a thing. “It’s Betty. And it’s you.”
Archie paces the floor of his bedroom for so long he’s sure he must be wearing the wood down. He glances out his window more times than he can count, but Betty’s curtains stay closed. He spends hours trying to muster up the courage to walk over and knock on her door.
Veronica’s words repeat in his head over and over as he heads down the stairs and out the door. It’s Betty. And it’s you.
The small bit of hope that’s been planted in his chest since the second she kissed him in his living room is now fully bloomed, nearly suffocating him.
“Archie,” Betty says when she opens the door, surprised, “what are you doing here? I thought you were going to the Whyte Wyrm.”
“I changed my mind,” Archie starts, running a hand through his hair nervously out of habit. “I thought maybe you’d want to hang out.”
Betty sighs. “Look, I’m not really in the mood to –”
“No,” Archie cuts her off, realizing what it sounded like. “I didn’t mean… I just meant maybe we could, I don’t know, get dinner or something.”
Betty doesn’t say anything for a moment, just stares at him in a way that makes him feel small. “I can’t tonight.” He thinks she’ll at least give him an excuse, but she doesn’t even try to.
“Right, you did say that earlier.” He chuckles nervously, but Betty isn’t smiling. “Maybe tomorrow night then? I was thinking –”
“I’m going back to Quantico, Archie.”
“What, to get the rest of your stuff?”
Betty shakes her head. “No. For good.”
His entire body goes cold, any and all nerve he had gone in a second. “What?”
“It’s time for me to go back to work.” He waits for her to elaborate, to explain herself. She stays quiet.
“I don’t understand.” Archie shakes his head, trying to process how everything could have changed so quickly. “What about Polly? I thought you’d stay until you found her.”
“I’m still working on her case, but everything here in Riverdale is a dead end,” Betty starts, her voice even. “I can do the same thing I’m doing here back at Quantico. I’ll come back if there’s any new leads.”
So she could stay. She just doesn’t want to.
“I have to get back to my real life,” she adds, which is just enough to crush him.
“Your real life? So what, this isn’t your real life?” Archie questions, trying to keep the bitterness he’s feeling out of his tone, and failing.
“You know what I mean.”
“I don’t, actually,” Archie argues back. Betty is doing her best to stay calm, he knows, but he can’t do the same for himself. “I thought you were happy here.”
“It’s not about that,” Betty tells him, and she doesn’t look him in the eye when she says, “I just think this will be better in the long run.”
Archie doesn’t believe her. She talked about going back to Quantico once or twice, but never said it would happen so soon. Just that it would have to happen eventually. Just last week she was saying they should try to find a way to sneak away for a weekend together, rent a hotel upstate. And now she’s leaving. He doesn’t know what happened between then and now. Veronica was so sure she was jealous, she even convinced him it was true, but it clearly isn’t. Betty doesn’t want him anymore, is leaving him behind like these past two months meant nothing to her. Maybe they really didn’t.
“Right. Well, thanks for letting me know.”
He turns around back towards his house. He waits for her to say his name, to stop him, to tell him she’s changed her mind, but she doesn’t say a word.
He wakes to a knock on his bedroom door.
“Come in,” he groans out, still half-asleep. He hasn't left his bed all day. Jughead opens the door dressed in his Pop’s uniform, concern etched across his face.
“Just came to check that you still have a pulse. You can talk, so that’s a good sign.”
His curtains are drawn, but the sun still streams through. His head pounds against his skull. He closes his eyes. “What time is it?”
“Almost three.”
“I think I’m dying,” Archie mutters, burying his face back into his pillow.
“Yeah, that tends to happen when you down nearly an entire bottle of tequila yourself.” Jughead nods his head towards the empty Archie had left on the floor last night before passing out. “I brought you water.”
Archie takes the glass he offers gratefully. “Thanks.”
“So, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Archie answers, just another lie to add to the ever-growing list.
“So I take it you don’t want to talk about whatever’s not wrong?”
“Correct.” He doesn’t particularly feel like telling Jughead of all people that he’s miserable because he’s in love with Betty and she’s choosing to leave him behind, especially not today.
Jughead nods, walking back towards the door. “I’m about to go into work. You need anything before I go?”
“A time machine, maybe,” Archie tries to joke, but he’s sure he sounds pitiful. Jughead probably thinks he just wishes he could go back to last night before he got spectacularly drunk all alone so he could avoid the worst hangover he’s ever had. If only that’s all he wanted to change.
“Well, sorry, but I don’t have one of those.” Jughead crosses his arms and leans against the doorframe, smirk on his face.
“Too bad,” Archie says, mustering up the best smile he can in return. “I’ll be fine. Thanks, Jug.”
When Jughead leaves, Archie lays in silence and stares at the ceiling. He thinks about the last time Betty was in his bed, when he asked her to stay and she didn’t. He thinks about her kissing him goodbye on the cheek instead of on the lips, leaving him to wonder what it all meant.
He decides that he should probably get up and take a shower, maybe eat a meal, definitely stop wallowing in his own misery. He reaches for his phone on the nightstand, and his might heart stop when he sees Betty’s name staring back at him.
She sent him one text earlier in the afternoon.
I’m leaving tomorrow morning.
And that’s it.
She’s giving him a chance to say goodbye, if that’s what he wants.
What he wants is for her to stay, to be with him, to love him in the way he loves her. But he wants it to be her own decision to do so, and she’s already made her choice.
He reaches the same front steps that he walked up twenty four hours ago. The same front steps he walked up ten years ago, when he knew he was about to break his best friend’s heart into pieces. He feels even worse now than he did then, if it’s possible.
Betty comes outside before he can even reach the door, like she was waiting for him.
“Hi,” she says timidly. He doesn’t know the last time he saw her be anything but self-assured. “I didn’t know if you were going to come. You never answered my text.”
Archie decides to be honest for once. “I got really drunk last night, then slept all day, so.”
“Oh,” Betty nearly whispers. She won’t even meet his eyes.
“So you’re really leaving?” Archie asks, even though he already knows.
Betty nods. “Bags are packed.”
Archie promised himself he wouldn’t do something stupid like try and convince her to stay – but panic is seizing his chest, clawing at his throat, and he can’t stop what comes out. “I don’t want you to go.”
Betty closes her eyes, like she knew this was coming. “Archie –”
“No, just – just listen, okay?” Archie grabs her hand, and relief floods him when she doesn’t pull away. “I want you to stay here. With me. Please.”
He watches Betty’s eyes fill up. “I can’t.”
“Why not?” Archie asks, desperate. He doesn’t really even mean to say it, but he can’t help it. “Betty, I love you.”
“Stop, Archie.” Betty shakes her head, tears finally falling free. “You only think you do because I’m leaving.”
“No,” Archie argues back, his own vision beginning to cloud. “No. That’s not –”
“I can’t do this,” Betty cries, and then she does pull her hand out of his grasp. “It’s too much.”
Archie continues, frantic. “I knew when you kissed me two months ago. I’ve known every day in between then and now. I’ve known since high school.”
It’s the truth. Archie has always known, deep in his bones, that he was meant for Betty. It’s something he’s never truly been ready for, the weight of it still terrifying him to this day. But loving Betty is part of who Archie is – it’s woven into his DNA. Even when he was gone, even when they didn’t speak for months on end, she was the only one he always thought of. He spent years wondering what could have been. But maybe they’re destined to live in an endless cycle of ruining each other, and he’ll just never know.
“I’m not going to change my mind.” She says it definitively. He never stood a chance.
“Betty…” Archie tries, crestfallen. “I just–”
“Please don’t do this to me,” Betty finally begs. And that’s what gets him.
She brings a hand up to wipe her tears away, but it’s no use – they keep pouring, each one down her cheek another splinter in Archie’s heart.
“Okay,” Archie agrees, his own cheeks now wet, all the fight left in him gone.
“I’m sorry,” Betty says, her voice shaking. “I’m sorry I can’t give you the answer you want.”
His chest aches. Those words are something he’s never forgotten, and she clearly hasn't either. He's thought about them, regretted them, for as long as he can remember. He wants to call her out for throwing them back at him now, even though he might deserve it. But he won't, because it doesn’t matter anymore. It won’t change anything. She’s leaving either way.
“We’ll always be friends, right?” Archie asks, trying to swallow down the lump in his throat, using her own words against her.
“Right,” Betty says, nodding like she’s trying to convince herself. He knows better, and he knows she does too.
He doesn’t want to let her go, but Betty is asking him to, and he’s never been good at denying her anything.
He walks away.