jock → reggie mantle [riverdale]

11

My eyes wandered the semi-empty diner as I waited anxiously for Reggie, closing my eyes I could still imagine the nervous smile on his face as he asked me to meet him here after school. A bell chimed as the door to Pop's opened, only to allow Archie and Valerie inside, "hey." I smiled as they walked by, but I only got a small smile in response, they seem like they're going through a rough patch.

The same bell went off and I looked up as the all too familiar boy came over to the table, a small smile tugging on his lips. "Hey." We said at the same time, I laughed sheepishly and put my eyes on the wall across the diner. "So.." He looked around, neither of us knowing what to say or do. "How's football?" I asked softly, picking at the end of my jacket as it sat on my lap. "Good, listen." He paused catching my attention, "I'm sorry about the other day, when I snapped at you in school." I nodded slowly, "it's fine, I guess." I locked eyes with an oddly familiar looking boy across the diner, but I shrugged it off, looking back towards Reggie.

"Moose said you went to the bar with him and Archie the other night." Reggie stated, crossing his arms on the table, not intimidatingly, just casually. "Yeah." I answer softly, placing my hand on the center of the table, watching his fingers inch toward mine. "The usual?" Reggie nodded at the waiter before looking back at me, and our now intertwined fingers. "I'm sorry about what I told you, I should've just said yes." I blurted out, although at this point it was probably obvious. I watched with wide eyes as he slid out of the booth, but felt relief washed over me as he came to my side of the table and sat next to me. "What do you keep staring at?" He mumbled, looking across the diner, grabbing my hand again, "nothing, that guy just looked familiar." I shrugged.

"This is the closest thing we've ever had to a real date, aside from the drive-in." I pointed out, pulling his gaze back towards me, "I guess it is." He smiled, despite wanting to hold it back, claiming it made him look "soft". I didn't try to hide the smile on my face as he dragged his thumb across the top of my hand slowly as we talked.

And I couldn't help but shake the feeling that this was to good to be true.

***

I laughed as Reggie's fingers ran across my sides, making my stomach jump as I stood in the school hallway. "What are you doing?" I questioned, looking away from my locker for a moment as he watched me intently, "nothing." He answered, smiling lightly, "have you met the new guy yet?" He added, stepping aside so I could shut my locker. "New guy?" I furrowed my eyebrows, there's a new guy? "Yeah, he's right over there actually." I followed his outstretched finger, my eyes landing on a tall, muscular but still lanky kind of guy, his eyes bright blue, standing out even more against his olive skin and dark hair. 

"Didn't we see him at Pop's the other day?" Reggie put an arm around my shoulder as we started walking, our relationship status still unknown but not none existent. "He looks so-oh my god." I cut myself off, instantly trying to shield my face, but my effort went unnoticed as Kevin started rushing over to me, "Jackie!" My brother called making me shoot daggers at him with my eyes. "Tom is here!" Kevin whispered harshly, standing in front of me, blocking my view of the unfortunately familiar "new guy". "Yeah, I freaking noticed!" I pulled Kevin along with us as Reggie started questioning me. 

"Who's Tom and why are you flipping out?" I groaned at the question, I turned to my somewhat boyfriend and sighed, "the new guy, his name is Tom, I dated him over the summer, he's an ass." I explained shortly, hearing the bell and realizing I didn't want to be late. "I'll explain later, I gotta go." I stood on my tip toes and kissed his cheek before joining in the other students rushing around. 

"What is that?" Kevin asked as I purposefully held my sleeve down farther, "Jackie?" He asked again as I looked away, trying to force the tears to stay in my eyes. "What, Kevin?" I responded in a completely monotone voice, "let go of your sleeve." He ordered, gently pulling at my hand, I gave in, letting my grip go limp as he saw the mark on my arm. I winced as his fingers lightly ran over the black and blue spot, "what happened?" He looked at me, which only helped the tears fall as I threw my arms around him. "Hey, it's okay, it's gonna be okay." He whispered, doing his best to soothe me.