Rebound Love

Chapter 3

 

“Reggie!”

“Yo, Blondie!” Betty ran straight into Reggie's arms and the friends shared a long hug. Moments later Betty pulled away and appraised Reggie carefully. Somehow, Reggie seemed even more good looking in person, as compared to his posters. “You look good, Bets,” Reggie commented, and she looked up at him with a gentle smile.

“You don't look too bad yourself,” She replied, trying not to overdo the praise, and cause Reggie's swelled head to explode with accumulated hot air.

“I do, don't I?” Reggie asked, grinning.

Betty laughed. “Come on, sit. We have half an hour till the show starts,” She said, taking a seat in one of the comfortable armchairs in Reggie's dressing room.

“Your own cooking show,” Reggie said. “How did you score that one, Blondie?”

“Well, you know... I wrote that whole series of cooking books, and people kept asking me to demonstrate the recipes. Before I knew it, the TV station was offering me my own slot,” A short version of the full story, but it'd do in the time they had to chat.

“Oh... Right, the books. I have them all, you know. I've practically mastered them all,” Reggie boasted, watching her expression for the knowing grin he knew would spread across her face. The grin that told him that she knew he was lying. Or exaggerating at least.

“I've watched all your movies too, though. I especially liked Express Lake,”

“Yeah? I liked me in that too. Then again, I like me in everything,”

Betty rolled her eyes and when Reggie caught this gesture, they both laughed.

“You never called me after you left though,” Betty said, letting some of her disapproval seep into her voice.

“About that... I'm always moving about, you know? Some locations we don't even get reception. And I rarely get to touch my laptop,” He listed off his excuses. She raised an eyebrow at him, and he had the decency to look guilty. “Okay, okay, and I've been caught up in being surrounded by people who love me as much as I do,”

“That's more like it,” She said.

They chatted a bit more, about their lives, about people they had met, about their alumni.

“Speaking of which, you know about the reunion, right?”

Betty blinked. “What reunion?”

“The alumni reunion. I got the letter yesterday. It's to see where we're at and how we're all doing...” Reggie explained.

“Oh. I didn't check my mail this morning. It's strange though, isn't it? I thought they'd call for a reunion ten years later, not eight,”

Reggie shrugged. “Beats me. But I'm not going to pass up a chance to flaunt my stardom in their faces. By the way, are you even still in contact with Carrot-top?”

Betty wasn't expecting this question, and it took her a longer pause than she would've liked to answer him. “Well, not exactly. I mean, I talk to him on the phone sometimes, but he's always really busy, so we don't get to say much. And he's barely ever here in Los Angeles, so...”

“In other words, Blondie, you're not actually in contact with him,”

Betty cast Reggie a withering look.

“How about you? Have you talked to Ron lately?”

“Like I said, we don't always get reception on location and I've been busy,”

“...You're still single, aren't you Reggie?” Betty guessed. She knew that he, like her, had to have been waiting for Archie/Ronnie still. Even so many years later, even after searching for replacements.

“Yup. Why deny all my fans of myself by keeping to just one girl? There's more than enough Mantle to go around,”

Betty snorted. “Yeah, that's totally the reason,”

They were silent for a while, thinking of their respective loves, before someone knocked on the door. “We got ten minutes, people,”

“We'll be there,” Betty called, then got up. Reggie caught her wrist and Betty looked down in surprise at his expression. He seemed dead serious.

“Blondie. What do you say we collaborate one last time? The reunion could be our last chance,”

“Reg...”

“Bets. I'm begging you here. You know how it feels. Every night I think about how wrong it is that I don't have Ron lying next to me. I can't do it alone. Please, help me.”

“Sure, Reg. Why not?” Betty finally said. Reggie's face broke into a relieved smile then, and she couldn't help thinking how good he looked with such a sincere smile.

“Thanks, Blondie. You're the best,”

But Betty couldn't help wondering what she had just gotten herself into.

...Again.

---

All worries about the reunion aside, the episode with Reggie Mantle got her show the greatest ratings ever. Because no matter how mean and egoistical Reggie could get, he truly was a joker. Not only did he boast openly about his cooking prowess, he then proceeded to mess up the whole recipe, replacing strawberries with meat, carrots with olives, sugar with ground cumin spice and various other outrageous actions – on purpose. Betty could barely host her own show, she had laughed so hard.

When the dish came out... it looked disgusting. Of course. Reggie shrugged off the thinly-veiled insults from Betty, then assured her it would taste just as well as it looked. And then with his insistence – as well as the insistence from the rest of the audience, whom he had roused expertly, as would be expected from such a famed celebrity – he made her taste it.

It confirmed one thing for her. He had been right. The dish tasted as bad as it looked.

But somehow Reggie had managed to make it the most entertaining episode ever.

Betty watched her show as it aired, giggling away as she recalled how it felt to actually be there, being the one teased by Reggie and watching him literally play with his food. He didn't believe in using cooking utensils - it was too impersonal. He even went so far as to beat the eggs with his hands.

Just as it ended and she was preparing to go to bed, her cell rang. She glanced at the screen, weighing up how worthwhile it would be to answer the call. She really had to get to bed. Seeing that it was her childhood best friend, she pressed on the green button.

“Hey, Ronnie,”

“Hey, girl! How've you been? Just watched the show – can't believe you had Reggie as your guest!”

“I know! Me neither. I've been trying to get you on the show for ages, but I've never succeeded,” Betty mock-accused.

“I told you I've been trying to get on it, but my dad and the board of old geezers think it'll ruin my reputation as a ruthless, cold-hearted bitch,”

Betty giggled. “It would be pretty embarrassing to see you burn batch after batch of cookies,”

“I've gotten better!” Ron protested indignantly.

“Of course, Ron,” Betty said patronizingly. “It's strange though. I was just looking through my photos of senior year and reminiscing, then Reggie turns up! And just as we got notified for the reunion too!” There was a brief pause over the phone, and Betty wondered if Ronnie hadn't seen the invitation yet.

“That's such a coincidence,” Ron finally says, and Betty shrugs off the momentary pause as bad reception.

“Yeah, it is. Wonder why they have the reunion now though. I mean, aren't these things usually ten years later?”

“Actually, Betty dearest, I organized this reunion,”

Betty went silent. She had not been expecting that. “Wait- You? But, why?”

“It's been ages since I've seen the whole gang! I can't miss you guys?”

“No... It's not that you can't...” Betty sputtered. “It's just... You could have just called us,”

“Oh, dear Betty, don't you know me perfectly well by now? It's all about the dramatics,”

Betty smiled to herself. “Yeah, I'm sure,”

“Though I have to admit – that's not the only reason,” Ron went on. “There's... something I wanted the whole gang to know about,”

“What is it?”

“I want it to be a surprise. I don't want you to accidentally give it away to Reggie or something!”

“Alright, alright,” Betty said, though endless possibilities were runing through her mind? Had Ron bought a whole island or something? Maybe she took over the world and no one knew yet? Or maybe... she was getting married. The idea prompted Betty to think about Archie. “Hey, Ron, how's Archie by the way?”

Another long-ish pause. Betty wondered if she should change phone companies. This one was obviously really faulty, and she knew it couldn't be Ron's line. She invested loads in having the best. She always had. It had to be her own line.

“He's good. Why do you ask?”

Why? For a few moments Betty contemplated telling Ron about her completely undying love for Archie. But a fear seized her. She knew Ron liked a challenge. What if this was how Ron saw it, and the fact that Betty still loved him reignited Ron's love for Archie? And worse – Ron would have a head start on her, because she saw Archie everyday in Riverdale. Betty was far away in Los Angeles, not until the reunion. So Betty did something she barely did. She lied. Sort of.

“Just wanted to know how he was. Have you seen Pops lately too?” She asked, trying to make it seem like she had a more collective concern, rather than simply focusing on Archie.

“He's still as jolly and healthy as ever,” Ron said.

“Oh. Good,” was Betty's reply. The conversation turned awkward then. “Well. I've gotta go. I have work early morning tomorrow,” Another half-lie. She had work – work testing out more experimental recipes. Something she could've put off if she wanted to.

“Me too. You better be here for the reunion,”

“Wouldn't miss it for the world, Ronnie. Good night,”

“Night, bestie,”

Bestie. She wondered how that title could have survived all those years of competing and fighting over the same guy. Bestie. Well, she hoped her Bestie would still be her Bestie even after she and Archie were together. She couldn't imagine anyone else as her Maid of Honor.

This caused her to begin daydreaming about how her wedding with Archie would be like. She'd persuade him to take Reggie on as his Best Man, of course. And Ron would be her Maid of Honor. She wouldn't mind a double wedding, if Reggie had finally managed to make Ron completely his, though she would of course prefer her wedding with Archie to be her moment. She'd walk down the aisle, flawless, dressed in white lace and gauze and silk, guided by her dad, who'd flown all the way from Miami with her mother to attend the wedding of their youngest child.

And when she got to the front, there'd be Archie, sporting his tuxedo, looking as handsome as ever.

Somehow she skipped their vows, all the boring parts of the wedding, and finally she and Archie stood face to face.

“You may now kiss the bride,”

Their first kiss as man and wife would be a sizzling one. Brief and chaste yet full of passion and hope and burning.

Betty fell asleep on the couch, her dreams sweet and pleasant, and filled with a freckled redhead.