"Corey!" a familiar face chirped from nearby, startling her as she glanced up. Through her tears, she saw A.J. jogging over to her from the Empire Records roof sign. "What are you doing up here," he asked lightly as he reached her, but Corey couldn't bear to let him see her like this so she rose and turned away.
"Uh, taking a break," she answered weakly, continuing to move around to avoid his gaze.
"Wow, uh, it's weird you came up here but I really need to talk to you about something," A.J. continued nervously, moving to try and stand in front of her and wishing she would stop hiding her face.
"Not now please," Corey pleaded, her voice quivering with despair, but A.J. was adamant.
"Yes! Now! It has to be now," he basically screamed, all of his pent-up emotion and nervousness boiling over. "Listen," A.J. started, after taking a big breath and staring intently at the ground while Corey faced away from him. "You remember that really horrible day when Mark set off the store alarm and Gina got dumped by the Dennis guy and cried, and I drew a picture of him and Lucas made the voodoo doll and you wore that skirt that I hate? You, you remember that?" A.J. rambled anxiously, while Corey finally turned to look at him.
"What skirt?" Corey asked confused.
"The one with the flowers," A.J. moved his hands in between them, trying to remember.
"The blue skirt?" Corey asked, looking him in the eye. A.J. nodded. "You hate-" Corey cut herself off, covering her face with her hands and looking away again.
"Yeah, listen. I hate that skirt. But that skirt made me realize that- that," A.J. let out a long breath as Corey turned to look at him with her wide, confused eyes. "If I can love her in that skirt, then this must really be it," he finished, feeling a weight lift from his shoulders as the words he longed to say finally left his lips, directed at their intended target just feet away.
A.J. was really panting now, his breaths coming out uneven and he was rising hyperventilation if he didn't calm down. "Corey, I love you," he spoke again, unable to stop now that the words were out. That did it though, Corey's expression finally morphed into a look of complete and utter surprise, her eyebrows lifting almost to her hairline, her lips parted, her mind attempting to process this news.
"What?" she spoke slowly, all of her movements halted except her rapidly blinking eyes.
"I'm in love with you," A.J. spoke proudly his lips forming a beautiful smile as he felt his heart soar with each pass of those words over his lips. "Are you in love with me?" he asked tentatively, seeming to sense her shocked response, his happiness fading a bit, his insecurity creeping through and taking back control of his brain.
Corey whined loudly, turning away and shaking out her arms. "Please, please not now," she pleaded, close to tears once again. This cannot be happening. "I'm sorry but I can't handle this right now," she sniffed, her anxiety causing her breathing to eradicate.
"What?" A.J. spoke, his usually sweet tone turning angry in a flash. "You're telling me you could handle it some other time?" he asked incredulously as he walked up behind her.
Corey choked back a sob, dropped her hands from her face and turned to face A.J., their face just a few inches apart. "I just threw myself at Archie Andrews," Corey said calmly, explaining the situation as if those momentous words didn't shake the worlds of both teens standing on that rooftop. "I made a fool out of myself," Corey continued, the words following out of her mouth like vomit, unable to keep the details to herself a moment longer, unaware that each word was like a dagger through her best friend's heart.
A.J. felt like he had been shot in the chest at Corey's words, nearly doubling over from the pain, his face screwed up with a mixture of hurt, shock, and confusion. He turned away, unable to look at her as she continued to explain what had happened, but he tuned out in fear that his heart would never recover. "You what?" he choked out, more to himself, chancing a glance at her only to find that she had crouched on the ground and covered her face again.
"I'm sorry," she squeaked out from her perch. "I can't do this right now," she continued to sob, while A.J. just stood there in shock and regret. How had this moment gone so badly wrong?
"Just forget I said anything okay?" A.J. yelled out as he backed away from her. "Nothing happened!" he yelled as he ran off the rooftop and went down to the parking lot so he could wallow in silence, leaving Corey to sob on her perch in peace.
"Forget about Archie," Gina spoke seriously, shaking her head at Corey as the two girls sat at a nearby café. Corey had found Gina and convinced her to walk to the café for some much-needed girl talk away from the drama of the store.
"We'll get you another guy, okay?" Gina continued, finding it laughable that her friend was so devastated and thinking she wouldn't find another guy.
"I don't want another guy," Corey replied shortly. "I'm not like you with guys, I don't need to do what you do all the time," she quipped angrily, starring Gina in the eye.
Gina's happy façade crumbled instantly. "Oh. You mean not a turbo slut?! What are you saying, that I gotta do every guy I see," Gina's voice rose with each word, the hurt coursing through her veins.
"Well, you certainly seem to enjoy it," Corey snarked back, with a telling smirk. Gina's jaw dropped a bit at her friends' directness.
"Well, what did you do? Did you go over there and act all perfect? All better than everyone? You think guys like you for that?" Gina screamed in Corey's face.
"Maybe not, but at least they don't do it with me and then go off and laugh," Corey threw back, the venom of her words piercing Gina's uncaring attitude towards feelings and really hitting her. Gina loudly got up from the table and stomped away, leaving Corey there to drop her head to the table, having a second friendship in the same afternoon. She didn't lift her head until she spied a familiar looking pair of sneakers sitting at her table.
Back on the main floor, Gina slipped back into her carefree attitude and managed to snag a seat next to Archie, who has back to signing autographs for his adoring fans. She was really laying it on thick, too.
"It's this superpower that I have. I can tell what kind and what color,' Gina teased with a sexy smile at Archie, who passed back a record to a fan without glancing at Gina.
"Alright. What am I wearing now," Archie asked, going along with Gina's game easily.
"Jockeys. Navy blue," Gina answered confidently, not looking away from Archie. He gave her a side glance, trying to keep the impressed smile on his lips from reaching too high. "Am I right?" She teased in a knowing voice, leaning in a bit closer. "Why don't you check it out and let me know," she teased again. Uncrossing her legs and making a show of rising from her chair, her skirt opening wide at the back as she twirled away from Archie. All he could do was stare, with interest.
A few minutes later, Gina found herself alone in the storeroom, a bit nervous, but knowing that Archie would definitely take the bait she dropped in front of him. She didn't have to wait long. The door swung open again and there stood Archie, slipping into the room with ease, closing the door without a sound behind him. His letterman jacket was off, hanging loosely in the fingers of his left hand. He didn't speak or immediately move closer to Gina until she beckoned him forward with a smirk.
He obeyed and stepped up in front of her. "And now the million-dollar question," he smirked with a predatory glint in his eyes. Without a word, Gina reached forward and undid his jeans, letting him drop down his thighs a bit, of which there was no protest. Next, she lifted the edge of his shirt to reveal a navy-blue pair of jockeys. Gina's smile was wide and bright when she looked back up at Archie, who was giving her his own sexy smirk.
Betty Cooper was sitting across from Corey, a sympathetic smile on her face, and a look of hopeful concern in her eyes. Her hands were clasped in front of her as she locked eyes with Corey.
"Gina came storming into the back room, ranting about your encounter with Archie…" Betty trailed off, looking down at the table to avoid Corey's shocked expression. Betty looked back up, a new determination in her features.
"Can I tell you something? Something I think would really help you?" Betty asked shyly. "Sure. Anything," Corey revealed, her voice softening as she brought her full attention to Betty, turning her whole body to ensure the blonde she was listening.
Betty pressed her lips together for a brief moment as she gathered her thoughts. She heaved a big sigh, mentally preparing to reveal something she promised herself she'd never bring up again. Not since telling Jughead. Betty focused her eyes on Corey's face, her curious glance growing as Corey's eyes examined her face carefully, trying to deduce what Betty was about to reveal. Betty would have smirked at their similarities if she was trying to push down the shame of her next words.
"I used to have the biggest crush on Archie Andrews," Betty finally spoke softly, pausing as she watched Corey's face go from curious to surprised to shocked. Her eyebrows shot up, her brown eyes widened noticeably, and then her jaw actually dropped down. Betty swallowed down the giggle in her throat at the comical reaction she had received and pushed on.
"I know," Betty sighed, cringing slightly. "But we are from the same town so I was always surrounded by him or people that knew him and I just..." Betty paused again and turned her gaze out to the street, her eyes glancing around at the sky as she searched for the right term. "I thought, naively, that he was the first real great love of my life," Betty finished, glancing back to Corey who was sitting so still Betty thought she could have been a wax figure dressed like a stunned 18-year-old girl.
"Wait…used to?" Corey asked slowly, still trying to put the puzzle pieces of this information together.
"Yeah," Betty grinned widely, positively glowing with happiness. "Then I saw Jughead. Like really saw him," Betty explained with a happy tone, like recalling a fond memory. "He kissed me and all of a sudden it was like the blinders came off and I saw how he'd always been there for me, how we grew up together and he really knew me," Betty continued, beaming at the memories shining in her eyes. "After that, there was no one else. There will be no one else." She explained her voice firm and delighted.
Suddenly, Corey felt like she had been in a bubble that had suddenly burst. Archie Andrews was a stranger. A.J. wasn't.
Outside in the parking lot, A.J. was going what he knew best. Art. It was his thing. His creative outlet. The one thing that never let him down. And right now, it was exactly what he needed. A.J. was busy mixing colors to add to the mural painted on the back of the store, and he was so wrapped up in that, he didn't hear the back door swing open or Corey approach him. He also didn't look up when she spoke.
"Hey. That looks really nice," Corey's sweet voice spoke as she came to lean against the post next to where A.J. was hunched over his paints.
"Don't," A.J. spoke harshly without moving his gaze from his work, trying to swallow the large lump that had lodged itself in his throat. "Don't act like nothing happened," A.J. continued in a tortured voice, not looking up.
"A.J. when you told me that before, I just freaked because…I haven't thought of you like that…I mean you're my best friend," Corey tried to explain in a calm tone. That only served to upset A.J. more.
"That's bullshit," A.J. nearly sneered at her, finally looking up at her beautiful face, close to his and needing to get some more space. He walked away shaking his head, feeling even worse than when he had uttered those fateful words on the rooftop.
Corey stood rooted to the spot, clearly not expecting that reaction. She could feel herself spiraling a bit, so you clutched the small metal tube she always carried in her hand, popped the lid and deposited one, small white tablet in her palm, which seconds later was swimming down her throat. She recapped the lid and sighed deeply, unsure of her next move.