Hi everyone! I want to first apologize for my hiatus. Dealing with the current health crisis in the world, especially living in the US, has been challenging. While writing has always been a form of escape for me, I just couldn't find any motivation to continue during Covid. I hope you can all forgive me.

Now, I can't promise I'll post every week, but I do promise to be better. So let's get to Barchie!

xoxo

Smileymee16


Chapter 4: Blue Walls

I woke up the next morning and gazed across the many posters coming from all directions, the scent of clean laundry and sweat filled my nostrils with familiarity. I shuffled on the bed and looked down at the figure sleeping beside me. Archie laid flat on the floor, the blanket covering just below his abdomen. A small scar peeked its way into view, and I began to wonder if he had always had that.

Shaking my head from any intrusive thoughts, I scanned Archie's room in silence, afraid of waking him from his sleep. I remembered what I could and noticed the changes he's made. I focused my attention on the pictures above his desk, watching him age in front of me. One of the unfamiliar pictures piqued my interest. The picture hid behind another picture, that one of Vegas. I squinted as I attempted to make the figures.

"Betty!?" My head snapped towards Archie who was already sitting up by the time my eyes landed on him. His gaze caught everything but mine as his eyes bounced off of the blue walls surrounding us. His breathing was quick and sharp, and with every second passing, his chest seemed to go faster.

"Archie?" I finally asked in a whisper. Archie's eyes quickly landed on me, his stare piercing right through me. His eyes were wide and alert, freezing me in whatever moment he was trapped in. I searched for an answer to his impulsive outburst, but my questions remained unanswered. I wanted to move, shake him into reality, but my instincts knew better than to create any form of movement. As I heard the battered yells coming within me, I ignored my instincts and slowly removed the covers from to meet Archie on the floor.

"Archie?" I asked again. I knelt in front of my best friend, observing the way his eyes followed my every movement. I slowly lifted my hand from my lap and rested it on Archie's cheek. The stubble lightly tickled my palm as I allowed my thumb to slowly caress his cheek. His lips parted ever so slightly, and his hot breath briefly greeted my face.

"Betty." He exhaled. I sighed in relief and smiled as his body visibly began to relax. His shoulders slouched, and the air trapped in his lungs escaped all at once after coming to realization. He blinked away the slight glaze over his brown eyes, and forced a small, but quick, smile before clearing his throat. I brought my hand back to my lap, ignoring the need to keep touching him. His gaze fell on his hands, his fingers moved between themselves.

"I better head home." I suggested. I stayed looking at Archie silently hoping he would protest my departure. He stayed silent and continued to toy with his fingers, never once meeting my gaze. I nodded at his acceptance and quietly left the room.

"Where were you Elizabeth?" my mother asked as I walked through the front door. I dragged my feet towards the kitchen and sat on one of the stools.

"I went, um, for a walk. I couldn't sleep last night." I looked down and played with my fingernails, attempting to avoid my mother's gaze, frightened she may catch on to my lie. My thoughts jumped back to Archie, and the similar movements he portrayed just minutes before. I remembered the distance in the stranger as I searched for my best friend. Fear but awareness all forcing Archie to remain in his invisible nightmare.

"Oh no, are you having nightmares again?" She stopped cooking and approached me, caressing my back when she reached me.

"No, mom, it's just … been a while since a slept in my own bed. Had to get used it is all." I lied.

"I hope you're not lying to me, Elizabeth."

"I hope you're not lying to me either, Alice."

My mom froze as she walked back to the stove. I saw her body tense and slowly turn towards me. Her smile was wide and stiff, and her eyes were hidden by her cheeks as she attempted to hide her now obvious secret.

"Now why would I do that dear?" she returned to the stove without another word. With her back towards me, I slipped out of the kitchen and headed upstairs. While I promised myself, I wasn't going to get involved, Alice's recent behavior opened my own personal pandora's box.

I quickly showered and headed out the door. My mother was nowhere to be seen so I only assumed she had also left the house. I walked around the town I was once so familiar with hoping to see anything out of place. Alice's behavior and the phone call I had last night were too much of a coincidence to ignore.

I passed by the high school, which during this time only consisted of a few students heading in for whatever summer class they had to take or teach.

The library was my second stop, and apart from the few books I looked at last time I was here, everything was the same.

Pops was my third stop. I felt a sense of deja-vu to my first day back as I crossed the door and heard the bell rang. Behind the counter was someone new, which was a change from the last time I was here.

"Can I help you?" the boy asked.

"I'm just getting a booth, if that's okay."

"Yeah, of course! Just one?"

I smiled as I followed the teenager to one of the many booths available. I scanned the room and almost froze as I met a pair of almond orbs. I quickly shook my head and sat in the booth the boy was pointing towards.

"What can I getcha?"

"Um, a vanilla smoothie please. Thank you." The boy nodded and disappeared from my view.

I slowly looked over my shoulder to the read head who was also looking over my direction. I snapped my head forward and cursed at whoever it was that allowed the town to be too small. Soon after my milkshake arrived, I heard the bell ring as the door was swung open. From the corner of my eye, and through the many window's covering Pop's diner, a bed of red hair shined in the sunlight and then quickly disappeared as it entered an old truck.

As I sat at Pop's drinking my much-needed smoothie, the diner quickly began to fill with unfamiliar faces. A swarm of whispers surrounded Pop's and an uneasiness began to brew in my stomach.

I slowly looked around at the different booths and bar stools only to find heads that were turned to whoever it was they were talking with. Families sat together in harmony, and young couples shared one side of the booth as they enjoyed their company. I was surrounded by a Riverdale that only I believed existed in fantasy. Overcome with emotion, I threw cash on the table and left the place I once felt the safest in. As I walked back home, I hugged my body close, and hoped the shaking would stop before I walked through my front door.

The shaking continued as I laid in my bed that night. I lied to my mom for the second time that day and said I didn't feel well; my excuse to refuse dinner and stay another moment not in my room.

The entire day ran through my mind like a movie. From Archie forgetting who I was, to the uneasiness I felt at Pop's. I wanted to be far away and right where I was all at the same time. My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of my phone.

"Window." Was all I read.

I rolled over to the side and got off my bed. I opened the pink curtains and white blinds to meet Archie behind his own window.

"I'm sorry." I read after another ring.

"I'm sorry too." I replied.

"What do you have to be sorry for?" Archie quickly responded.

"For leaving."

I held the phone to my heart as I looked back up at my best friend. The soft light glowing behind me allowed me to see the small smile he was forcing. I felt my eyes glaze over as I stared at Archie. I knew he was in pain, and I hated him for not telling me why. But I hated myself more for allowing myself to forget.


Now, I hope I'm not the only Barchie that recently saw 5x05! I'm so happy that we finally got what we've been waiting four years for! I swore I tole my family member that the writers must have skimmed through my fanfic cause like ... I'm just playing.

But, what did you all think of the chapter? When I got back into writing, I promise you when I say I rewrote this chapter a total of 8 times. And when I say chapter, I mean, I wrote 8 different chapter, all completely different than the other.

I'm glad to be back and I'm SUPER excited to read all of your feed back!

Dedication: I dedicate this chapter to any one of you who reads this story, and I hope you stay with me to finish /

Song: Grow As We Go

Artist: Ben Platt