Chapter Text
Reggie was over the bushes when he heard Betty call out his name.
“Reggie, goddamnit,” she was cursing, and Reggie stopped walking and stood still for a moment, his chest heaving.
Tears were threatening at the corners of his eyes, and he couldn’t say why, if it was the embarrassment from the whole senior class seeing him lose his shit over Betty Cooper, in a stupid, jealous move that would put Big Moose to shame. More likely, it was the way Betty had looked at him, almost disgusted.
“Reggie, I’m kind of in a pickle here –“ she called out, and finally, he turned around and pushed back through the bushes.
Betty was dangling from the outside of the fence, one black high heel stuck.
She whipped her head around to look at him. “I got in this because of you,” she said, dryly, “Now you have to get me out of it.”
Suddenly, mercifully, the tears receded and Reggie started to belly laugh at the sight of Betty Cooper dangling from the fence.
“Oh, stop it, you jerk! Come help me!” Betty protested, but she was smiling, chuckling.
Reggie managed to keep it together long enough to pull the stiletto through the fence, and she practically fell into his arms.
She smirked at him. “Fancy meeting you here,” she said, her voice low and sexy.
Reggie wanted to kiss her, but he couldn’t get the image of Arche wiping away her tears, her grateful smile and the hero worship in her eyes as she looked at him.
He didn’t respond, sitting her on her feet. She was a bit wobbly.
“Look, Reg, I’ve had a LOT of hunch punch but I think I’m all here enough to know something’s going on with you.”
Reggie let out a bitter laugh. “You mean you followed me instead of inspecting Archie’s tonsils?”
He couldn’t stop snarking, couldn’t stop being Mr. Ego, because he felt like something was breaking apart in his chest, and he couldn’t figure out what that meant.
Betty raised a perfectly groomed brow. “You can’t fool me, Mantle. I know things have been….strained since the other night – but I really thought that meant something,” Her voice turned soft, and she looked down at her cuticles, hurt.
“Did it?” Reggie stiffened.
Betty shrugged, then, looking up with her blue eyes flashing. “I guess not,” she said. “But you certainly don’t have the right to tell the whole school about it! I didn’t think you were that type of guy, Reg.”
“I’m not!” he all but yelled, running a frustrated hand through his hair again. “I’m not, Bets,” he said, stepping closer to her, his voice softened, pleading.
He hated that he sounded like he was begging, but he was. He pushed Mr. Ego down, looking into her questioning baby blues.
“I just…I guess…I wanted him to know that you…”
“That I what, Reg? That I put out?” Betty’s chin poked out, prideful and angry, and Reggie wanted to kiss her there.
He took in a ragged breath instead. “God, no, Bets…I just…it was stupid and mean and petty and I’m really sorry. I guess I wanted him to know...” he paused again, looking for the right words. “wanted him to know that you wanted me, once.”
“Reggie, that doesn’t make any sense – “ Betty was shaking her head, turning back toward the fence, and Reggie felt panic rising in his chest. He grabbed her elbow and turned her to him, her breasts hitting his broad chest, her breath hot against his neck.
He looked down at her, breathing hard, and put his hands on her face. “Don’t you know what you do to me, Betty Cooper?” He asked, his voice hoarse and ragged, and he felt like the words were coming from someone else, not Reggie Mantle, not Mr. Ego.
She flicked her eyes down at the straining material of his jeans. “I can guess,” she said dryly.
Reggie shook his head, stepping away from her and telling his body not to react. “Not like that, Bets, I mean of course you do, but I know that you know that all the guys react to you like that-“
The brief thought of Betty against Adam or Archie in that same way, her eyes heady and floating down to see what her curves and mouth did to their teenage hormones, made him want to scream, so he sat down on a bush stump that the gardener had left, putting his face in his hands.
He couldn’t get it out. He couldn’t think of a string of words that made any sense to explain how he felt, because there was such an ache in his chest, a burning in his gut, as if he was sick, fevered, maybe dying, and he didn’t know how to say that to her without sounding like a pathetic idiot.
Even though that ship had sailed, the whole senior class had seen him acting like a pathetic jealous idiot.
He felt her close to him, could see her black heels in his peripheral vision, but he didn’t look up.
She put her hands on his thighs and when he looked up she was kneeling between them, which would have been a great sexual fantasy in a different situation.
Reggie sighed, looking into her too blue eyes instead of gazing at her body. “You’ve made me a mess, Bets. I’m all turned around. I don’t know which end is up.”
Her eyes were confused if a little hazy from the hunch punch. “Reggie, please tell me what’s happening. I can’t help if I don’t know.”
Reggie searched her face, not even knowing what he was looking for. He was afraid. Terrified, in fact, because he was falling for this slip of a girl whose voice was strong and proud in debate club, who didn’t cry when she scraped her knees in elementary school but ran through the pain, not wanting to stop playing with Ronnie because she loved her so much. This girl who wouldn’t take an ounce of shit from him, who called him out and found the good in him, found the emotions he’d kept deep down inside since childhood. He’d told her about Jilly, for god’s sake.
Finally, he sighed, so deep in his chest it hurt, and tried to tell her that.
+++
It seemed to Betty that Reggie Mantle had lost his mind.
He’d looked so upset back there, over something so small, over her sitting in Archie’s lap, which was innocent enough. Granted, Adam wouldn’t have liked it, but he wouldn’t have made a scene like that, would’ve just politely asked her to go inside with him and would have kissed her possessively so everyone knew who she had come there with.
But she found herself untethered and oddly sought after. Even Jason Blossom had given her an appraising glance when she had pulled off her party clothes to get in the pool, and he’d slid an arm around her waist during a party wide shot, put his head close to hers and whispered in her ear that she should text him sometime.
Her head spinning from the attention and the alcohol, Betty hadn’t given Reggie a second thought for the first time in what seemed like forever.
He’d been avoiding her since that night, or maybe she’d been avoiding him, because she wasn’t sure what happened, what it meant to him, if anything. She knew he ran around, knew the girls talked about him, about his fingers and his mouth – and boy, they were right, she had to admit.
She didn’t want to feel like just another girl to Reggie, and that scared her a little. They’d known each other since they were children, and he’d teased her mercilessly and then chased her mercilessly in high school. But ten or twelve dates, a few makeout sessions in his Lexus, and a couple of heartfelt talks when they were drinking enough didn’t amount to what happened the week before.
He had looked so lost, even during their “lesson”, and she’d felt powerful and sexy, like a goddess when she grinded against him.
Then later, his eyes hazy and dreamy, telling her deep dark family secrets with his hand trailing up and down her bare skin, his face so close to hers.
Now, this. He had been such a jerk at the pool, but he’d kept his eyes on hers and they were so dark and deep, hurt shining in them like a beacon. The slump of his shoulders, the way his chest was heaving, looking like he was about to cry – it hurt Betty’s heart and she just had to follow him, stilettos be damned.
Would she have followed Archie like that? Adam?
She didn’t think so. There was something about Reggie. She’d always seen the good in him, even back when he was pulling her pigtails and throwing spitballs at her. He’d accidentally knocked her down once during kickball in junior high, and he’d bruised her thigh something fierce. She fought back tears and Reggie had run off without a word, but the next day at school he’d brought her a daisy and a card with a puppy on it with soulful eyes. It just read I’m sorry, signed Reggie Mantle at the bottom. He hadn’t looked at her, just thrust it onto her desk and went back to his desk behind her, but she’d smiled and pressed the daisy into the card when she got home.
Betty still had it in a keepsake box. She would bet he didn’t even remember that, but she did. She liked to think she knew who Reggie Mantle was, more than the rest of the gang, more than the girls in and out of Reggie’s life, and now, she knew something was wrong.
She half hoped she’d caused it somehow, and half hoped it was nothing to do with her. She didn’t know what she wanted, but she figured at 18, she had plenty of time to figure it out.
Right now, what she wanted was uncomplicated. She wanted Reggie to tell her what was bothering him so they could go back to the party of their lives.
When he finally did speak, she rocked back on her heels to watch him, his dark eyes always on hers, always searching her face, with that strange mix of hurt and longing. She felt like she had seen that look before, in the mirror, back when she was pining over Archie.
He put his hands on hers over his thighs, looking at her earnestly.
“The truth is Bets, I can’t stop thinking about you.” His voice was low and husky, and it sent a shiver down Betty’s spine.
Betty gave him a small smile, humoring him a bit. “Did you pregame too much, Reg? Can’t stop thinking about mousy old Betty Cooper?”
“Mousy my ass,” he growled. “The only guys not slack jawed and drooling over that bikini were Kevin and Jughead.”
Betty couldn’t help a small snicker that she hid under her hand.
Reggie groaned. “Don’t do that.”
Betty was confused. “Do what?”
“Don’t be so fucking cute. Don’t you get it? I want you all the time. Not just your body, either, but I want to make you laugh, to see you smile, talk to you about movies and books and fight over why you are inexplicably Team Stark after Civil War.”
“I have a great time with you too, Reggie. But I can’t understand why you acted like that back at the pool.”
“Because it burns me up to see Archie touching you.” He said, something suspiciously like hurt in his voice.
“It was innocent, Reggie, we were just fooling around-“
His eyes shot to hers and she realized through her tipsy haze that she had worded that all wrong.
She couldn’t help but inwardly smile. She’d never had anyone fight over her, and of course it was barbarian and stupid, but it did make her feel pretty.
What she didn’t like was how his coffee with cream eyes went darker with hurt, how he looked away from her.
“I didn’t mean it like that, Reg. He hasn’t touched me in months, he was just drunk and joking around.”
“Months?” Reggie asked, incredulous.
“Well, I’ve kind of had a boyfriend, Reg.”
“So Adam has been doing all the touching?” Reggie asked, his throat tight.
“Is that a problem?”
Reggie closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them, they were flashing at her, not quite angry, but intense, anyway.
She was really too drunk for this. She rocked back on her knees, still holding his hands.
“It’s a problem for me, Bets. At least lately.”
“You’re what…jealous? That Mr. Ego doesn’t get all the attention?”
“Fuck Mr. Ego. He’s gone right now and I’ve barely had a drop of alcohol, Bets. It’s just me and you.”
“So you don’t like Adam?”
“I hate him when I see him touching you. I want to rip his arms off when he puts them around your waist. Same goes for Archie. I saw him touching your face and I couldn’t stop myself. This isn’t like me, Bets. I’m going out of my mind.”
“I’ve never seen you get jealous! We’ve always dated around in our gang and you’ve never batted an eye. What’s changed?”
Reggie shook his head, exasperated. “I don’t know. I guess it was that you were interested in someone else besides Carrot Top. I think I always thought that Archie would come to his senses and make you happy – that I was just a distraction when he hurt you.”
Betty frowned at him. “Reg, you were never just a distraction. I like you. I’ve always liked you. But you know, there was Archie, and you were always such a player –“
“You like me?” Reggie’s brown eyes filled up with hope, and it made Betty’s chest ache.
“Of course I do, Reggie. Do you think I’m the kind of girl to….to do that with you, and spend the night with some guy I didn’t even like?”
“So I’m not just a tutor?”
Betty laughed. “No way, Reg. That lesson turned into something else, and we both knew it.”
Reggie leaned closer to her. “So what do we do about it now?”
Betty shrugged. “Play it by ear?”
Reggie shook his head. I don’t know if I can do that, Bets. Not if I have to see guys flirting with you or see you with Adam –“
His face went pale all of a sudden.
“Reggie? Are you sure you didn’t drink too much, because you can tell me –“
He took his hands out of hers and sat back on the stump, eyes closed.
“I need you to tell me something, Betty, and I know it’s stupid and not really any of my business but I feel like if I don’t know I’ll explode-“ at the end of his sentence, Reggie opened his eyes, and Betty was almost lost in them, at their dark coffee color, something unknown raging in them. She briefly felt like she was in a romance novel or a romantic film, with the attractive male lead confessing to the lead actress.
She was no Sandra Bullock, just plain old Betty Cooper.
She remembered suddenly what Reggie had said early in the night that had changed everything.
“I like plain old Betty Cooper,” he’d whispered in her ear, sending shivers down her spine and a smile across her face.
Now, he was looking at her as if she was the most important thing in the world, and her chest felt full and aching. She wanted to touch him, but he’d moved away.
“I know you said that Archie hadn’t touched you in months. After our….lesson…did you and Adam—did you- did he—“
Betty felt her heart falling.
Reggie saw the wilting of her face and put his head in his hands again.
“I need you to say it, Bets,” he said, his voice hoarse.
“Reggie-“
“Please,” and when he looked in her eyes she felt like she was falling into a bottomless pit, they were so dark.
+++
Reggie felt as if his very well being depended on her words, and his heart was steadily dropping the longer she was silent.
Her blue eyes were liquid, no longer hazy but clear and almost pained.
“We’ve been dating three months, Reg,” she said, and infuriatingly, that was a non answer.
“Did you fuck him, Betty?” He hadn’t mean to phrase it that way. He hadn’t meant his words to come out bitter and angry.
“Reggie, that’s crude,” she said, but she flicked her eyes down in a way that made his heart drop even further.
He spoke again, not able to control the words coming out of his mouth. There was something in his throat he couldn’t swallow down.
“Did you let him fuck you? After that night when I made you come just grinding on my lap and told you about my dead sister? Did you, Bets?”
Betty’s eyes shot up to his. “Don’t act like I’m the bad guy, here, Reggie. This is stupid and barbaric and none of your business.”
Reggie wanted to scream. “Betty, please, for the love of God, just tell me.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to know if I’m going to kill him or not,” Reggie said, darkly, head spinning, not able to think straight.
Betty rolled her eyes. “Reggie, it doesn’t mean that I don’t-“
“Betty, I’m not going to be able to listen to anything you say until you tell me. Please tell me. Please.”
Betty took in a deep, long suffering sigh. “Yes. Yes, we slept together. Made love. Whatever you want to call it.”
The breath went out of Reggie in one long exhale, and he almost forgot to take another one. Something broke in his chest, and for what seemed like the tenth time this night, he dropped his head in his hands so that he wouldn’t have to look at her.
Looking at her would only make the fire inside him worse. He would see her mouth and imagine it stretched around Adam’s cock.
He made a low growl in his throat, and felt it as Betty took his hands away from his face.
“Reggie,” she said, humoring him “Don’t be stupid, ok?”
He chuckled bitterly. “Too late. I know a girl for ten years and only fall in love with her when she’s in love with someone else. This is really shitty timing.”
Betty took in a sharp breath. “In love?”
Reggie looked at her. “Of course, you dolt. Why else would I be acting like such an idiot? I can’t stand the thought of anyone else touching you now, Bets, it drives me crazy. After the other night – after – what I told you about Jilly, and how you just let me talk about it, you didn’t ask questions or anything, and I was almost too drunk to remember it. That wasn’t the first time I loved you, but it was when I realized it. I’m a jerk and a jealous idiot, Betty, but I love you. I love you so much.”
He leaned forward to kiss her, and she swayed forward, just a bit, and then his hands were in her hair, crushing her mouth against his, and her tiny manicured nails were digging into his skin over his shirt.
She pulled away first, gasping.
“What about Adam?” she said carefully.
Reggie resisted the urge to scream. “Well, that’s up to you, isn’t it, Bets?”
She bit her lip, which did things to his groin, even though his heart was jumping in his chest, unsure how to feel. She’d kissed him back, but she hadn’t told him she loved him too, or that she was going to break up with Adam. Adam who’d been inside her where Reggie only dreamed of, who’d kissed her while connected to her—He shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts or he’d lose his mind.
“I think I’ll just play it by ear,” Betty said again, teasingly, and Reggie gave her a look.
“You really know how to hurt a guy, Bets,” he said, trying once more to channel Mr. Ego, but he really was wounded.
She put her hand on his face. “I care about you so much, Reggie. I really do. But I just now got free of Archie Andrews. All my life I’ve pinned my hopes on one boy and we have one summer left.”
“Oh, Jesus, am I getting the “let’s be friends” speech right now?” Reggie’s stomach rolled. How often had he given this speech? A half dozen times, at least?
Betty laughed at him and stood up, taking his hand and pulling him up with her. She leaned close, her hand on his chest. “No, Reg, you’re not. I want to be more than friends. I want to date you.”
“You do?” Reggie didn’t move, just looking down at her with what he knew was a desperate, hangdog expression. He was so utterly disgusted with himself, but he couldn’t help it.
She nodded, and he noticed her hair falling out of that loose knot at the back of her head. He curled a finger around one curl.
“I want to date you, Reg, but maybe not only you, so I need you to not do what you did tonight again.”
Reggie took in another ragged breath. His jaw hurt from gritting his teeth all night.
“So now you’re Mrs. Ego?” He said, teasing her, but he kept a possessive arm around her waist.
“Ms. Ego, thank you very much. We aren’t married.”
“Maybe someday,” he said soberly, and she favored him with her famous Betty Cooper grin.
“Should we lay down ground rules? I don’t know how this works, Reg.”
“I do,” he said, and she snickered a little, holding her hand over her mouth, and Reggie finally took the opportunity to move her hand away and kiss her until she gasped for breath.
“Why, Mr. Mantle,” she demurred, “I would wager to say you’ve done this before.”
“More than I care to admit,” he confessed, but what he didn’t say was that he would do just about anything to not have to do this with her. He wanted the whole package, but after pouring his heart out and getting a sound “maybe” he couldn’t admit anymore. He’d played his hand, and hadn’t folded. He had discarded Mr. Ego for Betty several times, but he had his limits.
“I don’t expect you to stop dating other girls,” she said softly, and he thought he detected a slight flash in her blue eyes.
He wouldn’t tell her that he already had stopped. He’d lied about his date when she’d stormed out of his house, and ever since she started up with that Adam douche, he’d barely looked at another girl. She wouldn’t have to know that, though.
“Naturally,” he said smoothly, rubbing his hand over the soft skin of her lower back.
She looked up at him and her blue eyes definitely flashed. He felt vindicated.
“Another rule, since I apparently can’t control myself around you,” he said, pressing his forehead to hers, “if we are together, we are together. No going home with anyone else.”
Betty hit him on the shoulder lightly. “I wouldn’t do that, Reggie! Maybe you would. Same goes for you.”
“Fair enough. I know I can’t tell you not to flirt, but please be mindful of my blood pressure. I feel like Big Moose around you.”
He slipped a hand under her bikini and grabbed gently at her ass.
She hit him again, but swayed towards him, pressing against him in a way that made his breath catch.
“Well, I can’t promise not to have a blood pressure rise if Midge hangs all over you.”
Reggie grinned and pulled away enough to hug her against him, her head resting on her shoulder.
“All right, Blondie, you’ve got me wrapped around your little finger, so I’ll wait for you. I’m such a chump.”
Betty poked a finger into his chest. “But you’re my chump.”
“Damn straight. Now about this party---“
“I want to go back. But you can be my date.”
“No more sitting on Archie’s lap?”
She crossed her heart and saluted him.
“I’m definitely going to need some hunch punch,” he muttered under his breath, but they walked around and back into the Lodge mansion as if they were starting over, his arm firm around her waist.
Like a dog looking for scraps, he’d take what he could get. This was such a role reversal. What the hell was she doing to him?