Archie walks out around ten minutes after Lacey gets into the hallway. When he sees her, leaning against a locker near the entrance, he scoffs. He walks past her, so she pushes herself off to follow him.
"Come on, Archie. Don't walk away from me."
"Wouldn't want to gross you out more, Lace."
"Don't be like that."
He turns, "Like what? You don't want to kiss me? That's fine. Keep avoiding me and cozying up to Psycho. Wait, I'm sorry, Danny." He turns back to walk, and she just yells down the hall.
"I'm sorry." He pauses. She clears her throat and glances around the empty hall. She lowers her voice a bit. "I shouldn't have called you out in front of him, and he shouldn't have been messing with you. I can't just avoid him, Archie."
And then Archie turns to walk to her. "Yeah, you can. I can help you get some space from him." She looks away. His eyes run over her face and then darken with understanding. "Unless you don't want to stay away from him."
She can't meet Archie's eye. "He was my best friend."
"Then he killed his aunt. And Regina."
"We don't know that he killed her."
Archie steps in to Lacey. He tilts his head and nudges his hand against hers to get her attention. She latches on, intertwining their fingers with a sigh.
"You know he's trying to use you, right? That's what guys like him do." She opens her mouth to say something, but he starts first. "Lacey, babe, I don't want to see you get hurt."
Then don't watch. She tugs on his hand as she steps close to wrap her left arm around his neck. She circles her finger on the backside of his shoulder. All they do is circle, circle in this fight, in the school, everywhere. She wants it to be easier, but everything she does is wrong. Every choice she makes backfires and hurts someone else. If she chooses Archie, she can't have Danny in her life. She can't have Jo if they ever even get close enough for that to be an option again. And if she chooses Danny and Jo, then she can't have anyone else.
Lacey lays her head on Archie's chest. She takes her hand from his and wraps that one around him too. Archie would never hurt her. She lifts up to kiss the side of his neck, then pulls back enough to meet his eye. "Then don't walk away from me."
His eyes go through this cycle where his brows rise a bit and then they lower in thought and then they focus on her like she's everything good in the world. He brushes his lips against hers and pulls her back into him. "Never," he promises as he tucks his head above her shoulder. "I'm here as long as you want me."
She wonders if he's asking himself exactly how long that will be. How long until she stops apologizing? How long until one kiss with Danny means more than every one with him?
At least a little longer, she decides while cozying into his hold. She mumbles, "I got us Chinese." And he makes the hug more of a bear hug and shakes them from side to side. She giggles and tugs him out of the hold to where there's food waiting in her car.