V for Vixen

Too Late

Reggie Mantle sat at his computer desk desperately shifting through his folder in hopes he could find the biology paper due in the morning. As his brown eyes ran carefully over every paper in hopes of getting a glance at one titled "Seaweed - what is it good for?" among the other countless white pieces of paper.

The respite resounded through his home as the doorbell rang. He got up and barely walked two feet before it rang again. And a third time. "I'm going you greedy mongrel." He yelled. Throwing the door open, he was taken back. He honestly expected Archie to be there begging to copy his paper, or Moose who wanted another taste of The Mantle-Machine.

However, Reggie never expected the hot new girl to be standing in front of him, freezing cold and wet from the rain.

"Reggie..."

He desperately combed back his hair and tried to look cool. "Hey Ron. What's wrong?" He put his arm around her and led her into the living room. As soon as the brunette sat on the leather couch, she burst into tears.

"Ron?"

"I want her back."

"Her?"

"Betty. Help me get her back."

Reggie felt his heart sink a bit after expecting her to want to have sex but recomposed himself in seconds. "Of course I'll help. Did you two have a bff bicker?"

She froze and her crying quivering stopped. "I forgot noone knew."

"Knew what?"

"Betty...she is...well was...my girlfriend."

Reggie was puzzled for a minute before it sank in. "You two are gay?"

"Well I'm bi but yeah Betty is gay."

"How come you guys never told..." he thought back to when Mr. Cooper had given a drunk dinner speech at Archie's 16th birthday party last year and went on and on about how 'the gays were ruining the sense of community Riverdale fought so hard to keep up.'

"She doesn't want to date anymore because she is too scared. Reggie, I don't know what to do. I don't want to lose her. Cheryl is making us do this stupid routine together and I can tell Betty's furious about it. Can you get us on good terms?"

He thought for a moment. "Let me talk to her."

______

Veronica woke up and instinctively checked her phone. When the bright screen flashed disapprovingly with zero messages, she grunted and fell back onto her pillow. It had been three days since Reggie swore up and down he would talk to Betty and she hasn't heard from either one since.

"Mija," Hermione knocked on Veronica's door, "get dressed. You have a visitor."

Her thoughts raced as she got ready. Could it be Betty in apology or Reggie with sorrow?

She ran to the living room, heart in her throat, and almost fell over in disappointment and confusion.

"Archie?" She asked, tugging on a half-on sweater. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, you seemed pretty lonely in school yesterday. I was wondering if you needed a friend." He looked up shyly.

"I'd love to be your friend, Archiekins. Lets go to Pop's, my treat!"

Once inside the diner Veronica spotted Reggie across the booth from a certain blonde. They were holding hands and laughing together. Veronica furiously ushered Archie to the booth next to theirs. Veronica locked eyes with Betty and frowned. She balled her hands into fists and turned her intense gaze to Reggie.

"Glad to know there's one less person I can trust around here." With an elegant swish of her cape, she sat in the booth.

During the meal Veronica could only think about how Betty was using Reggie to make her jealous. Or as a cover to make everyone think she was straight. However, the new girl could tell Reggie was enjoying every bit of the attention the blonde was giving to his story.

"Archiekins, you're a very sweet boy." Veronica said abruptly, louder than necessary. "Did I hear you were going to the Snowball dance stag?"

Archie flushed, "I was meaning to ask..." He scratched the back of his neck, "Wanna go with me, Ronnie?"

Veronica smiled, "of course I would, Archiekins." And with a hint of resentment she said, "There's no one else in the world I would want to go with anyway."

___

A/n: new chapter in honor of riverdales new season tonight. Also I was gonna put Jughead and Betty together in this story but I wanted to write reggie in more lol. Enjoy