"Just shut up."
Betty stared right into Archie's eyes. She felt embarrassed and frustrated, and yet she wouldn't look away. Archie looked like the cute puppy he always was, but at this point Betty didn't even care about how nice his eyes were.
"Betty, I... I don't understand what you're mad about."
Betty sighed and rolled her eyes. Of course he didn't. He never does. Betty didn't want to be the type of girl who assumes guys should always know what she's thinking, but for God's sake! How dense can one be?
"It really doesn't matter. I'm just gonna go home," she said and grabbed her bag. It was already getting late, and Archie's dad was probably gonna arrive soon. She still needed to finish her history essay, and didn't even have the time to deal with Archie drama tonight.
"Wait, don't go. I don't wanna go to sleep knowing there's something off between us," Archie said and took a few steps closer to Betty. "You know you can talk to me about anything, right?"
Crap. Did he have to look so sincerely concerned of Betty's feelings, when he was the one causing the storm inside her? Well, she bet Archie showed this face to Veronica too. Betty wasn't special. This was just Archie's nature, friendly to everyone.
Archie gulped. "Or. If. Um. If I've done something, then..."
"It's not about you," Betty lied.
Archie grabbed Betty's hand. "If this is about me canceling our movie night, I can still talk to Ronnie and -"
"Holy fuck, Archie! My world doesn't spin around you!" Betty snapped and tried to pull her hand away. If it was so easy to cancel things with Veronica, why'd he blow Betty off in the first place? Or that time when they were supposed to go try out that new café together? Or when they were supposed to hang out at Betty's place? Or all the times Betty had made an effort to see Archie, but Archie told her they'd talk some other time?
"Go hang out with Veronica for all eternity and see if I give a damn!"
"You know Ronnie is new here and really needs a friend," Archie said. "You're giving me a hard time here," he claimed quietly.
"I'm giving you a hard time?!" Betty gasped out of anger. Maybe she really needed a friend too. "You've been blowing me off for months now!" Betty took a few steps back. "I'm the only one actually trying to be friends!" Betty held back the tears and bit her lip. "You don't even care!"
Archie looked like he'd been punched in the face. Betty felt the tears of frustration and loneliness that'd been building up for so long pour down her cheeks. She didn't want him to see her cry. A couple of months before she would've been fine with showing him weakness, but not anymore.
Archie stood there frozen as Betty ran out of the door.