NEBULOUS ⇢ REGGIE MANTLE

FOUR - A BONDING MOMENT FOR THE BOTH OF US

act i - nebulous
four
( riverdale - season 1 ep 6; faster, pussycats! kill kill! )

I WALK INTO POPS, JUST DESPERATELY WANTING FOOD, I was so hungry and extremely out of it from school.

"Sandra." I hear Reggie yell

I saw Reggie sitting down in of the booths. All alone.

"What do you want Reggie?" I say in an annoyed tone.

"Sandra, nice to see you again too. Come over here and I'll tell you." Reggie demanded. I walk over to him.

"Well, what's up?" I ask

"Can you sit down?"

I give him a "really?" look.

"Reginald."

"Please? It will only be a moment."

"Fine," I say and sit down, across from him at the booth

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry about everything today, you're clearly not interested, I should just stop."

I sighed.

"It's okay, but thank you for respecting that,"I told him. He nods his head and smiles.

"I mean I'd still like to be friends though."

"You do?"

"Yeah, you seem cool so, but my irritable charm might make you want to be more than friends though."Reggie flirts and winks at me

"Ignoring that last sentence......why don't we get to know each other, let's play 20 questions,"I asked

"Ask away."

"Alright, why are you here alone on a Friday night? Shouldn't you be at a party or something?"

"Yeah, but I just didn't feel like going. And besides their kegs there and every time when I get super drunk I throw up while doing them."

I laugh

"Really?"

"Yup, I've sworn them off for good."

"That's interesting, very interesting."

"Yeah, but anyways my turn. What's your backstory?"

"Well I'm from southern California but my dad decided to move us across the country because his job relocated him. That's my backstory."

"That's sad. What about your mom?."

"I don't have one,"I admitted

"Damn, she dead?"

"No, I don't really know. I never met her. She bolted sometime after I was born. My dad doesn't have a clue where she is either."

"Geez, that must be terrible not having a mom and stuff."

"It's not really. In some ways, my dad was like a mom too. It's always been me and him."

"Cool."

"Alright my turn again, why do you bully Jughead?"

○ ○ ○ ○

"What are your interests? Well, what were they?" Reggie asks before taking another sip of his milkshake

"It's a pretty cliche I'm from SoCal. I surfed, I play guitar,  I did-"

"Weed?"

"One, you don't do weed, it's not coke, you smoke it, and two...no, I don't really smoke weed."

"Oh then what did you do, sorry."

"I did well, hosted, bonfires. I just remember how much fun they would be. It was always warm outside so my friends and I would do some late-night swims, and we'd sing 99 bottles of beer on the wall and remix it with any Britney Spears song by the fire every time." I sigh "Those were good times."

"You miss California don't you?"

"More than anything. Having to pack up everything and move to a crap small town where you truly don't know anyone or anything is just depressing."

"I feel you, But you'll learn to love it here, well at least try to."

I laugh

"Why that's one good way to make a person feel better," I say then take another sip of my milkshake

"Isn't it?"

I shrug

"You wanna talk about you now."

"I would love to, talk about how good looking I am."

"Obviously I don't expect that much from you and I've only known you for almost 48 hours."

He shrugs in response

"But I truly I know how this will end. Tomorrow you're gonna run off and tell your football buddies that you hooked up with me or some shit. I know how this works with guys like you, no offense."

"Hey, I know I'm a jerk, but I'm nowhere near Chuck Clayton,"

I raise my left eyebrow

"Okay.. who the hell is Chuck Clayton though?"

"Former varsity captain football captain. There was this big scandal with him a few months ago, ask Betty or Veronica, they were involved."

"Oh well, I'll take your other word for that then, hopefully, it won't actually become a case."

"Trust me it won't, I like you too much to do something like that to you, and I'm not that kind of an asshole."

I smile at him and he puts his hand on top of mine.

"I think I might like you too."

"Really?"

"I'm still debating."