heartbeats ; bughead

39

Archie

In the town of Riverdale, everyone's hurting. We may look like a town of happy, cookie cutter people, but everyone has a secret.

Some that people would be willing to take their life for, just to keep the secret secret. I felt the pangs of loneliness as I went down to the kitchen. 

I knelt down to sit with Vegas, feeling his wet nose on my face. My dad turned. "Archie?" I felt kind of bad; I'd been ignoring him for the past week. I guess it was from the guilt of having to confess my day, when my days had mostly consisted of making Betty feel better and making Jughead pissed.

"Why're you still up, Dad?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Need to pick your mom up from the airport." I breathed a sigh of happiness. 

"She's coming?" He smiled softly. "Yeah.

"Wait, why are you still up, Arch?" I shifted.

"I...I couldn't sleep, I guess." He raised his eye even further. I didn't know how that was even physically possible.

But he didn't seem to say anything about it. "How's Jughead?" My stomach lurched. 

I didn't know if Jughead had forgiven me yet for being the reason Betty broke up with him. I'd tried to apologize to him, but he only shrugged it off. I wanted to reach out to him, fearing that I would lose my best friend. 

"Jughead's...fine. One sec, Dad."

I opened my texts with him, hands shaking as I ask him, hey. can we talk?

In a heartbeat, he responded. it's midnight. leave me alone. 

what could you possibly be doing? I responded, trying to incite some humor in him.

having the fifth nightmare of the night. I looked away. He couldn't be serious.

you're serious?

He immediately responded. do i have a reason to be otherwise? My heart thudded. My friend was suffering, and I'd been so caught up in myself. 

do you want to talk? jug, i'm trying here. I shook my head. I waited a minute. Did I do something wrong?

Actually, you did a lot wrong. I sighed. 

fine. pop's, he responded. I took my things, threw on a shirt sitting on my unused desk, and ran out the door. Before I could enter the cool of the night, someone grabbed my shirt.

"Archie?" I turned around to see a extremely raised eyebrow.  

"Dad...I just-Jughead needs me." He sighed. I couldn't think of anything to say. I felt so vulnerable in that moment, almost ashamed.

"Go ahead, Arch. Please...just be careful." I nodded. "And tell the guy I said hi."

I nodded like a dummy again. "See you, dad."

As I walked, block after block, I saw a dark figure coming, a girl. My stomach churned. I hadn't exactly had a good time with the female sex. 

I kept walking, but the girl clearly didn't see me, because she was running straight to me, and collided into me in a sudden move. I gasped, the wind being knocked out of me. 

"Hey, you should be more careful with your..." I faltered when I saw her face.

None other than rosy-cheeked, red lipped Veronica. 

I frowned, my head suddenly hurting. "Veronica?" She smiled, clearly drunk. 

"Archiekinssss, how you beeeeen?" She giggled. "Ooh, I just said bean!" I felt my mouth tugging into a smile, but I quickly avoided that. 

"Um, I think you should sit down? There's a bench over there..." She plopped onto the floor with the grace of a child. 

"Wow. Nice bench." She looked up, seeing me as if we were meeting for the first time. 

"Archie, how've you been?" She was sobering up. I looked away. 

"Look, I don't wanna talk to you right now, Veronica." She cocked her head. 

"Why not?" She looked at my knowing expression, finally coming to grips with the reality. Her face darkened. 

"Archie..." She reached out a hand. I refused to hold it. 

"Look, what's done is done. If I'd known you were just gonna use your trip back home just to make out with some dude, I wouldn't have sent the package in the first place—"

"Archie, you know it's not like that—"

"Do you know how dumb I feel, Veronica? How dumb I feel for pouring my heart out to you, and you just using me? It got me thinking, am I just something to take your mind off your family? Because when I caught you making out with him, laughing your asses off, clearly we didn't mean anything to you."

She fell silent. "We can-we can-you can give me a second chance. Please, Arch. Please. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I love you. Is that what you wanna hear? Is that what you need to come back to me again? Archie...I'm so, so sorry. I—"

"Ron-Veronica. I—" I've come to a crossroads. 

Do I love her? Can I handle her again? Can I trust that she won't break my heart again? 

Archie, you know you love her. Kiss her. Kiss—

"Sometimes...Sometimes those words aren't enough." Her sad smile dimmed, about to be blown out like a candle in the wind. 

"You've broken my heart too many times. I just-I think it's best we don't talk anymore." I sighed, avoiding her gaze. "See you around, Veronica." 

I couldn't help thinking of her face one more time. I couldn't help but wonder, Archie Andrews, have you made the right decision? 

Only time would tell. 

heyyy wassup. how's summer for y'all. anyways, hope you guys are enjoying the book, and thank you so, so much for 9.3k! ok but already finished riverdale season 3, and i'm hypeeeeed for stranger things season three like THE ANTICIPATION IS KILLING ME ;( also, a bunch of other shows (bear with me): chilling adventures of sabrina season 3, a possible gossip girl reboot, the good place season 3, and jane the virgin season 5 like HMU WITH THESE ALREADY, and if you like any of these tv shows please talk to me. oh! and check out my other stories, anddddd follow my instagram just for what the heck (handle: monishaxmurali) ly all so much <3

~mo