Lean on me

What to write?

Archie sat against the headboard of his bed his guitar in his lap, a notepad in front of him and a pen in his hand. Chewing on the pen as he concentrated. "I only have a week to write a original song, a 50s sounding one at that." He said out loud to himself

He had started attempting to write as soon as he returned home from doing homework with Veronica and Betty. Jughead had even came, luckily South Side High School was on the same curriculum as Riverdale High so they were able to all do homework together like old times. Jughead pulled him aside and informed him that he hadn't gotten a chance yet to snoop around the Phillips house to find out more about Chadric but they were going to visit their oldest son for the weekend which would leave the house to himself. Archie had to admit the similarities between the two were shocking.

Archie looked up for a second and casually glanced out his bedroom window, he dropped the pen from his mouth. There in clear view he could see Betty Cooper, dancing around in her room wearing her bra and panties. "Look away Archie you aren't a perv" he mentally scolded himself. He couldn't deter his eyes from the scene unfolding from the bedroom next door. He watched Betty raise a hand to her head, she pulled out her hair tie and shook her head her hair falling messily around her face as she danced to the music.

He licked his lips and quickly jumped up from his bed, sprinting across the room he pulled the blinds closed so his view was now blocked. Archie leaned up against the wall and took a deep breath "I need to go for a run" he said out loud. He pulled off his shirt and headed out the door beginning a 3-mile run around his neighborhood.

As he neared his house he was joined by someone unexpectedly "Betty, hey" he gasped but blamed it on being out of breath from running

"Hey Arch" she smiled standing at the end of the walkway to her front yard.

Archie looked at her, her hair was down and slightly curled in a wave like way, she had on a mid-thigh length blush pink dress with a pull over white jacket on her shoulders.

"Where are you going?" he asked

She smiled and twirled a little watching her dress as it spun around "Juggie's picking me up, his foster parents are out of town so we're going on a dinner date" she explained

Archie nodded

"What were you up to?" she asked

He smiled "I was trying to write a song for my dad's benefit. Nothing was coming to mind I thought a run might jog my brain" he told her

She smiled "Did it work?"

Archie shook his head "Not yet."

"Well at least there's no school tomorrow, you'll have all day to think of a song and I'm sure something will come to you" she assured him

Archie nodded "Hopefully, I'm going to be kinda busy though. My dad's getting released so I have to go pick him up"

"I completely forgot! Text me when he's up to visitors" she told him

Archie nodded "I sure will"

It was now that Jughead walked up the sidewalk "Hey guys, how's it going?" he asked with a small smile

"Archie was just reminding me that his dad is coming home tomorrow, isn't that great news?" Betty asked with a smile

Jughead nodded "I know I'm so happy everything checked out good for him. He really is like a 2nd father to all of us teens in Riverdale"

Archie smiled "You should put that on his get-well card I'm sure he'd love it" he half teased

Jughead grinned "You know what, I'm seriously going to consider doing that."

Arche smiled

"You ready to go Betty Cooper? The Phillips may be out but considering they bought me this new cell phone before they left I get the notion that they're the type to call and check in." he said waving the new cell phone as he threw an arm around her

Betty nodded "Let's go, see you Archie" she waved

"Bye Arch, I'll call you later" Jughead waved as he walked off

Archie opted to skip the song writing for tonight since he was still drawing a blank and instead decided to go visit Veronica. It had been a while since he was at her house.

He stood in front of the Lodge residence and knocked on the door.

Hermione Lodge was quick to answer

"Archie Andrews what a pleasant surprise" she smiled opening the door wider for him to enter

He grinned and walked in to see Veronica sitting on the couch when she saw him she looked surprised at first but slid off the couch and walked toward him "Hey I didn't know you were coming over" she smiled hugging him

"It was a rash decision, I've been trying to write this song since this I got home and was getting absolutely nothing so I figured I needed a break" he explained pulling away from the hug

Veronica nodded in understanding as a man wearing a suit with dark slicked back hair and a 5-o clock shadow style beard walked into the room catching Archie's attention

The man walked toward Archie and Veronica

She laid a hand on his chest "Daddy this is..."

"Archibald Andrews, I'm Hiram Lodge Veronicas father" her dad cut in sticking his hand out toward Archie

"I actually go by Archie but yes that's me, it's nice to meet you sir" Archie said shaking the man's hand

Hiram nodded "Same here kid, I hear your father was in a bit of an incident how's he is holding up?" he asked as he stuck a cigar in his mouth and lit it

Archie nodded "He's doing good, they say he should be able to come home tomorrow actually"

"Oh, that's great news" Hermione said stepping forward with a big smile on her face

"Yeah Archie was telling us today that he's been in great spirits the whole time" Veronica added resting a hand on his shoulder

Hiram nodded "That's the only way to be when life gives you a blow. I should know" he said

Archie sent him an awkward smile

He stayed at the Lodges for another hour making small talk with Veronicas parents before heading back home. Once he did his round of checking the house nervously for any intruders he decided to get back to trying to write a song.

He sat in his bed tapping the pen against his guitar trying to come up with something, but his mind kept looking back at the window the blinds still closed. Finally, he pushed himself up and walked over to the window he pushed the blinds open slightly so he could peek out. The lights in Bettys room where all still off. After living next door to Betty for years he knew she always kept her tv on even after she fell asleep so since he didn't see the flickering lights of a television he knew that meant she still wasn't home. He glanced at the time. It was 11:30 wasn't Jughead supposed to be home by 11? He thought back to what Jughead had said about his foster parents checking in on him while they were gone. That meant one of two things, either Jughead was staying out past curfew and they were still on their date or Jughead was taking advantage of the fact that his foster parents weren't home and had Betty staying the night with him

He looked down toward the Coopers front porch the lights were on allowing him to see Jughead standing there with Betty pressed up against the front door kissing her passionately

Archie sighed and moved away from the blinds "Why did it matter where Betty was with Jughead? She is Jugheads girl after all." He silently thought