"Archie?" A voice called.
Everyone in the waiting room turned to face the doorway, already knowing who the voice belonged to.
"Oh thank God!" She let out a sigh of relief.
As Lexy Andrews, Archie's sister, entered the hospital, it became abundantly clear to everyone that she had absolutely no idea why her brother was there. The silence was deafening. Reggie glanced over at Archie, who had a look of fear and sadness on his face.
"I was worried sick." Lexy stood in front of Archie. "You never came home last night, dad was gone when I woke up and neither of you were answering your phones. I've been walking around town for the past hour looking for you guys until I saw the truck outside here."
The aide in the room suddenly felt heavy as she spoke. Everyone stole glances at one another, waiting for Lexy to realize what was going on or waiting for someone else to break the news to her.
"Wait..." She furrowed her brows. "Why are you here? And where's dad?" She looked at everyone around her. "Why is the whole town here? And why are they all looking at me like they know something I don't?"
Her now hard eyes were trained on Archie as she anxiously waited for an answer. But he kept his gaze planted firmly on the ground however, wishing it would open up and swallow him whole so he wouldn't have to deliver this news to his sister. He knew it would break her.
"Archie, what's going on?" She urged, growing more and more impatient by the second.
He decided he just had to put her out of her misery and cleared his throat.
"Lexy... this morning dad asked me to meet him at Pop's. While we were there... I went to the bathroom and... and when I came out..."
Archie's voice was shaking and tears were threatening to spill from his eyes. Lexy was already shaking her head at the thought of something bad happening to her dad.
"There was a man wearing a hood. He had a gun." Archie continued. "Dad was shot, Lexy."
Lexy's breathing sped up. Her eyes grew wide and she was worried her legs would give out at any moment. She looked at everyone staring at her and shook her head.
"I can't be here." She mumbled, making a b-line for the exit.
"Wait Lexy please!" Archie begged as he ran towards her. He took hold of her arms and spun her away from the door.
"You can't leave me here alone. You don't know how to deal with this? Neither do I. We have to stay strong together. Right now it's all we got." He said.
She tried to slow down her shakey breaths so not to sound like she was going to cry. Lexy never cried. She wanted to say something to her brother. Anything to make him feel just a little bit better.
"I'm not ready to lose him." Was all that came to mind.
Archie sighed and wrapped his arms around her tightly and she pressed her forehead against his shoulder.
"Me neither, Lex." He whispered.
***
Lexy sat in a chair in the waiting room, her eyes focused on nothing in particular on the floor. She was fiddling with a coin when someone approached her.
"Hey Little A." Reggie greeted her.
Little A was the nickname Reggie had given her meaning 'Little Andrews', a play on the size difference between her and her brother. And only Reggie got to call her that.
His voice was a lot warmer than usual. This warmth to his voice was something he only ever really used when he was with Lexy. They had a special bond. And Reggie knew he was a better person when he was around Lexy. But then again, anyone in the town could say that.
"Hey Reg." Lexy said lightly.
"How are you doing?"
A grin grew on her face. "Swell." She replied sarcastically.
"Sorry."
The two laughed together for a moment before Lexy coughed nervously.
"Ummm... I don't think I'm supposed to laugh right now." She said.
"It's good to distract yourself. And I've been told I'm a pretty good distraction."
"Are you sure that's a good thing?"
"No... but it comes in handy sometimes."
Lexy laughed and shook her head. Reggie noticed how her fingers twitched as she fiddled with her coin.
"You're shaking, you know that?" Reggie placed his hand on her wrist.
"Oh yeah. It's just... nerves. I get them all the time."
Reggie knew she was trying to be tough. So instead of trying to console her he simply wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side. Lexy rested her head on his shoulder.
"Everything's gonna be fine." He reassured her.
"We don't know that. There's no way we can know that."
He sighed knowing she was right. His eyes trailed down to her hands again which weren't shaking quiet as violently as before. He noticed her coin and an idea came to him.
"Or maybe there is..."
Lexy furrowed her eyebrows at him. Reggie gestured towards the coin and the two shared a smile when they realized they were thinking the same thing.
"Okay, heads, everything turns out okay. Tails..."
Lexy didn't even want to finish that last part. She flipped her coin high into the air. Reggie watched as it spun through the air and prayed that it would land on the right side.
Lexy absolutely believed in her coin. Whenever something important was happening or whenever she had to make a big decision, she always put her faith in her coin. And it always seemed to be right.
The coin landed on the ground with a ping. But before the two could look to see what side had landed facing upwards, a voice grabbed their attention.
"Archie, Lexy, he's in room 12. You can see him now." The doctor performing Fred's surgery announced as he entered the room.
Archie was quick to jump out of his seat and make his way towards the doctor while Lexy remained in her seat. The doctor told him to talk to Fred about positive things. Archie nodded for a few seconds before looking over his shoulder at the still seated Lexy.
"Come on, Lex." He said.
She looked away from him. "I'm not going in there yet."
He walked towards her. "Why not?"
"Because if I see him, then all of this is real. And I don't want it to be real." She shrugged while saying it, almost sounding okay, but she was probably just trying to make herself believe she wasn't sad.
Her brother sighed sadly.
"Lex, I know this is scary. But whether you see him or not, this is real. But we have to do this for dad. You heard what the doctor said. This might coax him back. Let's go."
Lexy stood up and took a deep breath. Reggie squeezed her shoulder.
"Be strong. Be as strong as you always have been." He said.
She punched him playfully on the shoulder before leaving the room with Archie. As soon as she rounded the corner, Reggie sat back down in his seat and his eyes went towards the coin still on the floor that Lexy never got to look at.
He was shocked when he saw which side had landed upwards.
***
"I think you should start this off, I mean, you're a lot better at talking about positive things than I am." Archie said.
The two were now standing in the hospital room looking at their dad lying in a bed, unconscious and in critical condition.
"Ummmm..."
What's something that would make her Dad proud?
"Hey dad. Umm, remember that biology test I was sure I was going to flunk? Well I passed!" She said, a light tone to her voice. "I did the best in the class actually. I did what you said. I chewed strawberry gum while studying and then I chewed strawberry gum during the test."
Archie smiled as he listened to his sister's story. She really was strong. How could she smile and talk to him like this even though it's the worst possible situation they could be in? Because she loved him. And because she wanted him to come back. Now it was Archie's turn to be strong like his sister.
He began to tell his father about something random but Lexy couldn't stand seeing him like this anymore. She stood up and informed Archie she was going back to the waiting room.
As soon as she entered she got the attention of everyone in the waiting room but ignored all of their stares and rushed straight over to Reggie whose arms were already outstretched. They embraced in a tight hug which made Lexy feel better.
After letting them have their moment, Josie and the Pussycats and some of the Bulldogs approached them.
"You're a tough cookie." Josie said, placing a hand on Lexy's arm.
"Yeah, if anyone can get through this it's you." Midge Klump added.
Although none of them understood what Lexy was going through, she appreciated them trying to make her feel better.
"By the way Reg," Lexy asked, leaning out of the hug, "what side did my coin land on?"
***
Lexy pranced into the waiting room after being with her dad in his hospital room.
"As usual, my coin was right. Fred Andrews will live to fight another day!" Lexy exclaimed, standing up on a chair.
There was a round of applause like when the headlining act takes the stage at a concert. The bulldogs let out some cheers and Lexy laughed along before quieting them down again.
"And I can't thank you guys enough for being here for Arch and I. If I did lose dad today, which thankfully I didn't, at least I know I'd still have you guys." She said making smiles grow on everyone's faces. "Oh and a quick shoutout to Jughead and Betty for getting Pop's for everyone. You guys are angels sent from heaven above but if you think I'm paying you back for one second, you're wrong. You guys got us that food on your own free will!"
Jughead's smile dropped while Betty waved it off good-naturedly. The room erupted in buzz and chatter now that they knew everything would be okay.
***
It wasn't conventional, what Archie was doing. Staying up all night to watch the doors of the house was one of his more 'out there' ideas. But they had just been through a traumatic experience. Heck, Archie had seen the whole thing to go down. Who was Lexy to tell him what to do?
She handed a cup of coffee to her brother, who was sitting on a crate in the hallway with a baseball bat in hand. He smiled gratefully at her before she patted his shoulder and made her way to her bedroom.
She wouldn't say anything for now. In her experience, discouraging him would only make him want to do it more. The best thing to do would be to let him grow it out.