Rebound Love | By : sandyl666 Category: Comics > Archie & Co. Views: 13319 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0 |
Disclaimer: The comics Archie and Co, with its plot, characters, setting, etc does not belong to me. I guess they belong to John L. Goldwater, and a few others but I'm unsure. I make nothing by writing this fiction, and I don't plan to. |
Chapter 19
When Betty awoke the next morning, she was in her bed. For a moment, she wondered how she'd gotten there. A short memory of her stirring as Reggie carried her from the car into the house came to mind, and she felt horrified. She weighed a ton! And she made Reggie carry her, bridal-style, from the car.
She sat up in bed abruptly, and found that she was completely naked under the covers. Gasping in mortification, she pulled the sheets back up over her chest, then realized how silly it was. It's not like there was anyone to see her nudity.
Well, at least I'm not in bed with Reggie or anything. She noted.
For a moment, she stretched and yawned, trying to shake off the aches of sleep. Then she stared ahead at her suitcase in a daze. Could yesterday really have been a dream?
She was pregnant. And to top it all off, she realized that she no longer had feelings for Archie. Strange, but it was almost as if those feelings had been diverted to someone else.
Betty buried her face in her hands. This was terrible. She was pregnant with the child of the person she liked- maybe even loved. And they weren't in any particular relationship beyond the physical.
Wonderful, Blondie. Just a down right great mess you've gotten yourself into. Just then she heard a short knock on the door before Reggie burst in. She barely had time to pull up the blankets.
“Wake up already, Bets,” He looked at the way she clenched the blankets at her chest. “I've already seen them. Countless times,”
“I know. Thanks for undressing me last night,”
“Sarcasm?” he tilted his head at her.
She shook her head. “I'm serious. Thank you,”
He nodded, and for some reason he seemed almost cautious with her. She wondered why. Had she let out anything in her sleep? Her heart sank into the bottom of her gut. No. It couldn't be. If he knew I was pregnant or I liked him, he wouldn't have carried me to the house. Or maybe I'd talked while he was undressing me. Oh God.
“You should hurry,” He grinned, which made her think she was over-thinking things. “Arch wants us to be over and helping to greet the guests. And entertain them. Seems like there's load of them,”
“Are you okay?” She managed to voice out before he left the room. “After last night?” She asked, referring to them witnessing the people they had each loved have sex.
He looked at her for a moment, his eyes fixed on hers. Then he shrugged nonchalantly. “Yeah. 'Course. Now get ready.”
He left the room without another word.
It was completely quiet through breakfast. Betty didn't know why, but Reggie seemed thoughtful for some reason.
“Hey,” Reggie said suddenly, causing her to lift her head. “Uh...”
“Yes?” She asked, smiling at him in encouragement.
He stared at her for a long time, saying nothing. She felt uncomfortable, as if he could see through her. “...Never mind,” He said, and looked back down at his cereal.
She ran things through her head. She had to tell Reggie about her pregnancy, before he found out by himself. “Uh...”
He looked up then, his eyes fixed on her curiously. “What is it?”
Her stomach rolled, and her palms immediately got sweaty. “I...” Her insides almost rumbled with nervousness, then she realized it wasn't just nervousness. It was nausea. She leaped up and sprinted to the bathroom, before regurgitating into the toilet.
She didn't hear Reggie come up behind her, sweep her hair up into his hands so that it wouldn't get dirty. She coughed out the last remnants of her vomit and her waited patiently for her.
“Are you alright? Maybe I should take you to the doctor...” He murmured.
“No, I'm fine,” was her response, and she hurried to the sink to rinse out her mouth with minty fluid. Reggie said nothing, but the way he stared at her in the mirror made her stomach roll again.
I've really got to tell him soon.
“Betty!” Ron immediately caught hold of Betty's wrist the moment she entered the hall and dragged her towards a group of people. “I want you to meet some people,”
Betty almost rolled her eyes at her friend's pushiness, but it was a good-natured one. She knew Ron had her best interests in heart, particularly when the people she had been dragging Betty too seemed like some of the most famous chefs in the world, some of which Betty suspected was the Lodge's family friends or something like that. Their connections were infamous.
Reggie trailed behind silently. All the way through the car ride Betty had been trying to own up to her pregnant state, but didn't manage to. And for some reason, she felt like Reggie was trying to say something too. She wanted to tell him to spit it out, but it would seem hypocritical when she herself couldn't tell him her news.
“So what do you think about the revolutionary new knife, Betty?” One of the famous iron chefs asked her.
Betty forced a smile – she knew she would be enjoying this conversation if there wasn't so much on her mind. “Oh, the Ordainee?”
“Yes, that one. Apparently it's made out of a new metal compound,”
“Sounds interesting, but I think I'll wait for the reviews before I spend a whole month's worth of wages on it,”
The group laughed, and she tried to smile. She felt tempted to drink some of the many glasses of champagne that the waiters keep circulating the room with, but every time she did, she felt guilty for even thinking it.
To Betty's dismay, as soon as the crowd thinned out, more people replaced them. Some left to tour Riverdale and basically kill time until that night, when there would be a dinner. After that, a movie in the hotel's famous theater depicting the preparations for the wedding itself. Why such a movie was needed, Betty didn't know. So that Ron would have more time in the spotlight, she guessed. It was a relief though. At least she wouldn't have to mingle in the dark theater and make small talk.
In the middle of one of her conversations, Reggie joined her. Well, more like interrupted her. “Betty,” He grabbed a hold of her hand, seeming to ignore everyone else she was talking to. He looked up at them. “May I borrow Betty here?”
“Reginald, so good to see you. You may borrow this darling here, only if you tell us your love story,” The famous producer Alan Richmots said with a teasing grin. Betty recalled that he was the one who had produced Express Lake.
Reggie's returning grin seemed forced as well, and Betty begun to worry about the news he had to tell her. It must be something big. She was willing to bet that her news was bigger though.
“Nothing much to tell. We've known each other for ages,”
“How so?”
“We went to the same high school, along with Veronica Lodge and Archie Andrews,” Reggie informed them, his grip on her hand tightening. Whether it was conscious or not, she didn't know. “So we're childhood friends, basically,”
“And you reunited for the wedding, and realized your love. Oh, that's lovely,” Carrey Wengret, the script-writer commented. “I would love to write a movie with that as a central plot,”
“I would produce it,” Alan Richmots said with a smile of approval. “And you two could play the main characters,”
“Really?” Reggie grinned, and for some reason all his strain seemed to disappear from his face for a moment.
Betty interrupted here, clearing her throat. “I'm a cooking show hostess, Mr Richmots, not an actress,”
“You wouldn't need to act,” Alan argued. “We can feel the chemistry and pheromones just from you two standing together,”
Betty glanced at Reggie, wondering what he thought of that, and he seemed to echo this thought, because his eyes rolled towards her. Their eyes met for a second, before they both looked away. “That's very kind of you, Mr Richmots, but I'm not so sure my schedule would allow it,”
“Easily rectified,” he said with a wave of his hand. Betty forced another smile. Not so sure I'd count a baby as being easily rectified...
As everyone laughed again, Reggie leaned close to her. “I have to tell you something,” He whispered.
“What?” She whispered back.
“Oh, look at these lovebirds whispering sweet nothings to each other,” Jim Rosenberger, a business partner of Ronnie's who had joined the conversation remarked, and everyone laughed again at the blushing couple, who were more embarrassed at all the attention than of their own actions.
Reggie held her hand tight as the group they mingled with conveniently forgot that he wanted to excuse them both from the conversation so he could tell her something. They continuously dropped thinly-veiled hints about how wonderful it would be if they were both in a romance film together, when they were after all celebrities.
Every time Reggie tried to excuse them, they burst out into laughter and asked why he was in such a hurry to take her away, which mortified them both, and they found themselves trapped in the group.
“And the sixth course – the Crab Louie,” The MC enthusiastically announced as waiters came to the table and laid down more food.
Ron rubbed her hands together eagerly. “Oh, I love this,”
“Seriously, Ron? I'm about to pass out. That last course nearly killed me,” Midge whined as in the background the MC continued to speak, entertaining guests who weren't busy socializing. Betty peered at Midge, who did look a little green. “Aren't you, Betty?”
“I'm still hungry, actually,” Betty said, before realizing her mistake as everyone glanced at her empty plate.
“Strange for you to have such a big appetite,” Archie commented, and even Reggie gave her a questioning look.
“Been a busy day,” She said, and they nodded. She wanted to sigh in relief their conversation diverted back to other matters and they forgot about their observation of her unusual gluttonous behavior.
...Except for Reggie. “You okay?” He asked her, his sharp eyes on the heap of salad she had lain of her plate.
“Yeah. I'm fine. I'm just really hungry,”
“...Right,” He said, and she wondered what was going through his mind.
Dinner finished too quickly for Betty, who bemoaned the fact that she couldn't have third helpings of the delicious chocolate mousse – the fact that she had seconds already made her seem suspicious.
“And everybody, on to the theater. If you don't know where it is, follow the white flag!” A bellboy waved a white flag above his head and everyone chattered as they headed towards the theater, which Betty concluded had to be humongous to fit the entire crowd. She shuffled along with them, not speaking to anyone. She just wasn't in the mood.
As they left the lobby and proceeded through a hallway, she felt herself suddenly dragged into an empty aisle off the hallway.
Reggie pulled her all the way down the stretch of hall, which turned off to the right to an emergency exit, conveniently hiding them from view. As soon as he'd made sure no one could see them, he backed her into a wall, and stared right into her eyes.
“What?” she said, unnerved.
“Bets. I have a final plan,” he said.
“Final plan?” She frowned. He rolled his eyes at her cluelessness, which she thought was totally founded.
“To separate the to-be blissfully wedded couple,”
She froze. “What are you talking about, Reggie?”
“I'm talking about Ron and Arch. Let's make one last effort to get them back,” He thought about this. “Or you know, completely ruin their wedding,”
“But... we can't,” Betty said lamely.
“Yes, we can,” Reggie persisted. “Look, just listen okay? Ronnie is one of those soppy women who fall for huge romantic gestures, right? What can be more romantic than going 'I object!' during the vows?” He grinned at her. “And you can do it too, and we can confess to them about how we're meant to be with them.”
She was so horrified she thought she was going to throw up. “I thought you'd given up on separating them,”
“I thought so too, but I guess not,” He shrugged nonchalantly. “This would be a great idea. I mean, Archie's getting hilariously cold feet anyway. Might as well go for it and let him have his way out. He'd probably be happier with you,”
His words stabbed at her. She didn't know why. She'd believed that Archie would be happier with her for years, so why was she suddenly so alarmed to hear it from Reggie?
“What about the baby?” Betty felt the words fall from her mouth, and she didn't know whether she was referring to Ron's baby, or hers.
“I can raise him as mine,” Reggie shrugged. “Minor details. Besides, she'd probably not want to keep it if Archie bails on her,” The laugh Reggie made then sent shivers down her spine. Not in a good way either. “What do you think?” Is Reggie possessed by some demon or something? She wondered. Or had he always been like this?
“I can't do it,” She said instantly. He frowned unhappily.
“No need to respond so quick, Blondie. Take some time to think about it,” He encouraged.
“But-” He laid a finger on her lips. “Don't worry. You have until tomorrow to give me an answer. And besides, even if you don't do, I still will,” He leaned forward and kissed her on the lips, before flashing her a cheeky smile. “Wanna have one last goodbye shag?” His hand ran up her thigh.
She thought she was going to puke all over his shoes. Abruptly, she felt dirty. Like a whore. All those guilty feelings she thought she was going to have and never did suddenly hit her like a bus. Before, Reggie had made her feel cherished, as if he cared for her. But now... she felt, literally, like a slut.
“I don't feel so good, Reg. Let's just go watch that movie,” Betty managed to say, and then turned to leave.
“Right. Okay. That's fine,” Reggie chattered on as they headed for the theater, but Betty felt numb, unsure of what to do.
She couldn't even tell him about the baby. She didn't have the strength.
They went to the theater and got a hushed chiding from Ron, before they took their places. Betty tried to focus on the images flitting about on the screen, but couldn't. Her mind was railing. No warning. She'd thought... she'd really thought that Reggie had begun to have feelings for her, maybe. Or at least that he wouldn't just discard her like that.
She was wrong.
So distraught was she that she didn't even notice whether the theater was big, or comfortable, or anything. She didn't even know if the movie was interesting or if everyone was falling asleep. She just keep thinking and thinking and thinking.
Oh God. What am I going to do?
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