#t:some people wait a lifetime

[barchiefanfiction]

Can I prompt you for Barchie Soulmate AU? (There is so many versions of those, from names appearing on body parts to seeing colors and so on, I'll let you pick which one you would like :) )

Some People Wait a Lifetime

AU where when you turn eighteen you can find out who your soulmate is, but only one of you gets to find out.

by keiraknighted

AO3 // ff.net

Cheryl Blossom is the first in their year to turn eighteen.She spends the day showing off her pretty white card, gold embossed with hername, and under it, Antoinette Topaz. Thetwo of them had gone to the soulmate office first thing in the morning andopened the envelope together, hand in hand.

“I always knew Toni was my soulmate,” Cheryl brags to no onein particular. Anyone in the common room who will listen. Betty tries not to,but Cheryl has a loud voice. “From the first moment we met.”

Betty is pretty sure that’s a lie, but who is she to rain onCheryl’s parade? Betty looks up from her book. Cheryl and Toni look happy. Whowouldn’t be, after having the fates confirm that the person they’re with istheir soulmate?

“They’re lucky, aren’t they?” Archie says, noticing hergaze. She looks to him.

“It’s not luck,” Betty says. “It’s fate. We all meet theright person eventually.”

“Maybe we already have,” Archie says. Betty’s eyes flick toVeronica, sitting by Cheryl, getting all the gossip. Betty isn’t entirelyconvinced that Archie and Veronica are soulmates, but she’s not about to tellhim that.

Cheryl’s voice carries across the room. “When we kiss it’snot like kissing just anyone. It’s like… sparks fly. Every single time.”

Betty’s gaze shifts again when Jughead walks into the commonroom.

“We have,” she says firmly.

“I guess we’ll all find out in a few months,” Archie shrugs.

Jughead is the first of the four of them to turn eighteen. Bettyknows better by now than to try and make a big deal out of it, so the two ofthem just go to Pop’s together and then go back to Betty’s to watch a movie onthe couch. Jughead hasn’t mentioned anything about soulmates all day, so Bettyhasn’t brought it up either.

They sit in silence for a moment after the movie ends,before Jughead speaks.

“You haven’t asked me if I found out who my soulmate is.”

“I figured if you wanted to talk about it you would,” Bettyshrugs. “So, did you find out?”

Jughead shakes his head. “I don’t need some glorified pieceof paper telling me who my soulmate is. I know it’s you.”

Betty smiles, and Jughead gives her a soft kiss.

“But if you want to get the proof when you turn eighteen, Iwon’t mind,” he clarifies.

Betty shakes her head quickly. “We don’t need that. I knowit’s you too.”

And for a moment, she really believes it.

 When Veronica turns eighteen, she throws a huge party at thePembrooke. Hermione agrees to vacate the building for the night, and the placeis occupied solely by drunk seventeen and eighteen-year-olds playing music tooloudly and doing things they’ll probably regret later.

Betty only has one drink, and even that goes to her head fartoo quickly. Thankfully she’s staying at Veronica’s tonight and doesn’t have totry and convince her mom she stayed sober the whole night.

There’s no talk of soulmates, not from Veronica or fromArchie, and for some reason Betty can’t bring herself to ask. But the two ofthem dance together and she sees them kissing at one point, so she supposeseverything must be alright.

It’s two in the morning when Hermione finally gets back andmakes everyone leave. Betty falls into bed beside Veronica, her eyes alreadyfalling shut. But Veronica is in the mood for a heart to heart.

“Thanks for staying over,” Veronica whispers.

“I think I’m supposed to thank you for letting me stay, notthe other way around,” Betty murmurs.

Veronica doesn’t seem to hear her. “I went to the soulmateoffice today.”

Betty is suddenly wide awake.

“I had this whole thing planned where I was going to get mysoulmate envelope and open it at the party in front of everyone.”

“And?”

“And it had already been picked up. My soulmate got therefirst.”

Betty stays silent, processing. She feels sad for Veronica,in a way. Sure, it’s always a possibility that your soulmate gets the cardbefore you do. (Though Betty has never been able to figure out why there can only be one). But shefeels like Veronica is missing out on an important rite of passage.

“It’s no big deal, obviously,” Veronica continues. “Whenonly one person can get the name, it’s bound to happen a lot. I guess I’ll justhave to wait for him to find me. And it means—”

“Archie’s not your soulmate,” Betty finishes. She’s notsurprised. But she does feel oddly… relieved.

“Yeah,” Veronica sighs. “We kind of always suspected weweren’t soulmates, but it’s different knowing.”

“Are you going to break up?”

Veronica snorts. “No, of course not.”

That surprisesBetty. What’s the point in being with someone you know isn’t your soulmate?Veronica seems to sense Betty’s question without her having to ask it.

“It could be years before I meet my real soulmate. I stilllove Archie. Why ruin a good thing on something that might not happen until I’mold and grey?”

Betty supposes she’s right. But it still doesn’t sit rightwith her. In a few months Archie will find out who his soulmate is, assuminghis other part hasn’t already retrieved the information. What then? She wondersif this is really what Archie wants, or if he’s just doing it to keep Veronicahappy.

“Are you still adamant that you and Jughead aren’t going to findout if you’re really soulmates?” Veronica asks.

“We are. We don’t need to find out,” Betty says.

“So then it can’t hurt to pick up the card. Frame it orsomething.”

The truth is, she does want that. Only moments ago she’dbeen lamenting that Veronica had missed out, and she realises she doesn’t wantthe same thing to happen to her.

“We’ll frame out marriage certificate,” Betty says. She doesn’task herself why she’s so dead setagainst having the soulmate card.

Veronica is silent for a moment. “Whatever you say, Betty,”she says, and her doubt latches onto Betty’s heart and gives a tiny squeeze.

 Betty is hesitant to bring it up with Archie, so she’s gladwhen he does it himself. They’re studying on Betty’s bed, as they’ve been doingall year. Archie is desperate to get good marks on his exams, and he claims hecan’t do it without Betty’s help.

“Did Veronica tell you she and I aren’t soulmates?” he says.Betty wonders how long he’s been wanting to bring it up.

“She did,” Betty says carefully, putting down her pinkhighlighter. “Are you okay?”

Archie sighs. “Yeah.” He lies down, putting his head onBetty’s pillow. Betty watches him, chewing her lip, waiting for him tocontinue. “On some level we always knew we probably weren’t soulmates. We eventalked about it.”

“That’s… good?”

Archie smiles. “I think it is a good thing.”

Betty smiles back, amused, glad he’s okay.

“It’s your birthday in a few weeks,” he says. He glancesdown. Clears his throat. Fidgets with his pen. “Are you going to—”

“No,” Betty cuts him off. “Jughead and I decided we don’twant to find out.”

Archie nods. He licks his lips. He glances up at her. Herheart races when their eyes lock. “If you’re sure.”

“I’m sure.” She’s not.

“No offence but I don’t envy you. Meeting your soulmate inhigh school? Who wants that?” he snorts.

“I think it’s romantic,” Betty says, poking her tongue outat him. Archie smiles at her fondly. Then he ducks his head and returns to hisschool work like the conversation never happened.

 Betty gets up early on her birthday. Too early. It’s barelylight out, her mom still fast asleep. Her hearts pounds and her stomach churnsas she quickly dresses and heads out of the house.

She doesn’t know why she’s keeping it a secret. Jughead hasmade it perfectly clear that if he doesn’t mind if she wants to find out forsure if he’s really her soulmate. But she still feels like she’s doingsomething wrong.

The building is just a white building, but Betty can’t helpbut feel there is something otherworldly about it. Like it kind of gives off asoft glow. There’s a building like this in every town with a population overten thousand people. Riverdale’s soulmate office is small, and it isn’t reallylocated near anything else, which suits Betty just fine. She takes a deepbreath and walks inside through the automatic doors.

She’s never been in here before. Everything inside is whiteas well, and Betty feels like she’s entered limbo, and she’s waiting for herfate to be decided. She supposes in a way she is.

A woman in glasses looks up from a computer, sitting behinda bright white desk that comes almost up to Betty’s shoulders. Betty looks downat the woman.

“How can I help?” the woman smiles, her voice sweet andtinkling. Betty is pretty sure this place isn’t really part of the human world.

“I turned eighteen today,” Betty says. “I’d like to find outwho my soulmate is.”

“Okay,” the woman nods. “Just step through those doors andsomeone will be with you in a moment.”

Betty’s eyes follow the woman’s pointed finger to a whitedoor to her left. Betty swallows and walks towards it, pushing it open andstepping into another white room. She had been expecting something of adoctor’s office, she supposes, but it’s just a bare white room with a stool inthe middle. Betty perches herself on the stool and waits.

Moments later, a woman in a white dress enters the room. Adifferent woman from before. The woman smiles brightly.

“Congratulations on turning eighteen,” the woman says. “So,you’re ready to find out who your soulmate is?”

Betty nods.

“Okay,” the woman says. “What we’re going to do is we’rejust going to prick your finger to take a tiny sample of your blood to determineexactly who you are. Then I’ll go and put it into the system. We’ll wait a fewminutes, and then your card will be ready!”

“Okay,” Betty says nervously.

“But just be warned, that in half of cases, there is noresult,” the woman says. “This doesn’t mean you don’t have a soulmate! It justmeans your soulmate has already claimed your card. So you’ll just have to waitfor them to find you. Romantic, right?”

“I guess.”

“Are you ready?”

Betty nods.

 Betty doesn’t open the envelope right away. She carries ithome and puts it under her pillow. Then she decides better of it and puts itinto her schoolbag. Can’t risk her mom coming in her and finding it.

It weighs on her mind all day. She can barely concentrate inclass, or on any conversation. Her friends give her gifts, but she barelyregisters what they are. Veronica brings her a fancy cake she had madeespecially. Betty can barely eat two bites. She feels sick. Her thoughts restonly on the envelope and what it might contain. It could easily be Jughead. Hehasn’t been to the soulmate office. But it might not be him either.

She races home after school, not bothering to wait forArchie. She slams her door close and tugs the envelope out of her schoolbag. Sheholds the blank white envelope in her hands. She swears it feels hot, like thecard could burn through the envelope at any moment.

She holds her breath, and pulls the card out, tossing theenvelope away. She turns the card over and her stomach flips as she reads whatit says in gold cursive.

Elizabeth Cooper

&

Archibald Andrews

She stares at it, like it somehow might change before hereyes. It doesn’t. She clutches the card to her chest. She can’t breathe. Thisis the last thing any of them wanted, right? Betty wants to be with Jughead.Jughead wants to be with Betty. Archie doesn’t want to meet his soulmate inhigh school.

Soulmate. Bettyswallows. She shuts her eyes, her head spinning. Archie is her soulmate. It’ssomehow a shock and not a shock at the same time. It’s everything she wantedwhen she was fourteen years old. It’s everything that could derail her plansnow.

But no one has to know. No one saw her go to the soulmateoffice, and she has told no one. She’ll just hide the card and pretend it neverhappened. She grabs a book from her shelf, one she hasn’t read in years, andtucks the card between the pages. She replaces the book on the shelf and takesa deep breath. Nothing has changed. Nothing is different than if she had neverseen the card.

 Betty’s heart skitters when she sees Archie waiting for heroutside the next morning. She reminds herself nothing has changed.

“Hey,” he grins. Her heart skitters again. “Where’d you runoff to yesterday?”

Betty tries to formulate some sort of response. Why are herhands sweating so badly?

Archie’s eyes widen. “Did you go to the soulmate office?”

“No!” Betty says quickly.

“Okay,” Archie says. “Sorry. We were all going to go toPop’s to celebrate your birthday but you took off so fast after school.”

“Sorry,” Betty says. “I guess I just didn’t feel likecelebrating.”

“It’s okay,” Archie nudges her arm with his softly. “We’llmake you celebrate tonight instead.”

 The thing is, Betty had completely convinced herself she wasover Archie. It’s like somehow, as soon as Jughead entered the picture, she wasable to completely switch those feelings off. Only, she’s beginning to realisethey were never totally turned off. It’s like the pilot light was still burningall this time, just waiting for something to catch, and that goddamn card hasset her stupid heart on fire, reigniting old feelings.

And it’s not like she doesn’t still love Jughead. But herfeelings for Archie are something else entirely.

“I heard,” Veronica says coyly, as she and Betty walk into adress shop on a Saturday morning, “that sex with your soulmate is supposed tobe mind-blowing. Even just kissingthem is supposed to be better than just kissing a normal person.”

Betty fingers a blue dress tilting her head, considering.Their senior prom is in a few weeks, and Veronica has been wanting to takeBetty dress shopping for months. Veronica herself is getting a dress custommade, of course, but she wants to help Betty find the perfect dress. Betty isglad of the distraction. Anything to get her mind off Archie.

“Sex with Archie is pretty great, so if it’s automaticallybetter with your soulmate then I can’t wait to see what’s in store for me,”Veronica continues.

“But what if your soulmate just kind of sucks in bed?” Bettyasks.

“I refuse to believe the universe would want me to be withsomeone who quote sucks in bed,”Veronica rolls her eyes. “If I’m being honest, I envy whoever Archie’s soulmateis. Like, imagine the best sex you’ve ever had, and then multiply that bywhatever magic connection you have with your soulmate. Like—out of this worldfantastic sex. That’s what’s in store for Archie’s soulmate.”

Betty just about chokes on thin air.

“Oh wait, you’ve only ever had sex with Jughead,” Veronicamuses. “Multiply it by even more then.”

Betty huffs, annoyed. “Jughead isgreat in bed.”                                                

“Soulmate good?” Veronica presses.

It’s not like Betty has anything to compare it to. And she’snot lying when she says Jughead is great in bed. But definitely not soulmategood. She knows this because of the simple fact that he is not her soulmate. Ifthey’d had this conversation before she knew? She probably still would haveknown it wasn’t soulmate good.

The only other person Betty has even kissed, is, well… Archie. And yeah, maybe kissing him in that carthat one night rocked her to her core. Maybe his lips felt like they werepulsing electricity through her body. Maybe she’s always kind of known she andArchie were soulmates, even if for a while there she denied it to herself.

“Yes,” Betty says adamantly. She thinks Veronica believesher.

 It’s Archie’s birthday a week later. He makes Betty come tothe soulmate office with him. She goes, even though she knows there’s nothingthere for him.

If the woman at the front counter recognises her, she doesn’tshow it. Betty waits in the foyer as Archie nervously walks into the otherroom. He comes out ten minutes later looking disappointed.

“Well?” Betty says, keeping up her charade.

“Nothing,” he says. “I guess my soulmate already has it,” heshrugs.

“Oh,” Betty nods. “That’s disappointing.”

“It’s okay,” Archie says, putting on a smile. “I guess itwill be more of a mystery this way.”

 Archie and Veronica break up two days later. They both tellBetty it was mutual.

“We decided to end things, seeing as we could meet oursoulmates at any moment,” Veronica tells Betty, a complete turn around fromwhat she’d said a few months ago.

“We just don’t see the point in being with someone who isn’tyour soulmate,” is what Archie says, and that’s how Betty knows the break upwas his idea.

She doesn’t know how to feel about it. He’s single and he’sher soulmate. How could anyone, even Veronica and Jughead, judge her forwanting to act on that?

And yet, she knows he won’t want to know. He doesn’t wanther to be his soulmate. He wants to believe in the mystery of it all. Hedoesn’t want his soulmate to be some girl he’s known since he was four yearsold.

And Jughead still believes he and Betty are soulmates, andshe has said nothing to prove him wrong.

She reminds herself again that nothing has changed.

 It’s date night for her and Jughead, which involvessnuggling on the couch in FP’s trailer while they watch a horror movie. FP isat the Cooper’s, and Betty prefers not to think about what he and Alice mightbe doing. Betty has no idea if Alice and FP are soulmates. Betty had askedAlice once if she and Hal were soulmates. Betty was six at the time, and Alicehad simply said, of course, now let’s nottalk about this again. Now she’s pretty sure her mom had been lying. Butthen, maybe she wasn’t. Things don’t always work out, even for people who aresupposedly meant to be together. Fate can bring two people together, but itcan’t make them stay.

“Betty,” Jughead croaks, startling her in the middle of atense and quiet moment in the movie. Betty presses pause and turns to him. “Ihave a confession to make.”

“What is it?” she asks, worried.

“I went to the soulmate office today.”

Betty’s heart sinks. He knows.

“Were not—” he cuts himself off. He shakes his head. Hereaches over to the coffee table and picks up an envelope that Betty hadn’tnoticed until this moment. “We’re not soulmates,” he says, handing her theenvelope. She knows, of course, but she opens the envelope anyway, curiositygetting the better of her.

Forsythe Jones III

&

Rachel French

“Rachel French,” Betty reads aloud. “Do you know a RachelFrench?”

Jughead shakes his head. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I know wesaid we wouldn’t find out. But I guess I just had this niggling feeling.”

“Me too,” Betty admits. “Do you wish you hadn’t looked?”

Jughead shakes his head. “It’s better this way. I love you,Betty, and I think we could have been happy together for a long time. But wewould have always wondered if it was meant to be. It would have driven both ofus crazy.”

“So…” Betty swallows. “This is it then?”

Jughead nods. “Yeah, I mean—don’t you want to find out whoyour soulmate is?”

“I—” Betty swallows. “I kind of already did,” she admits.

“You didn’t tell me?” Jughead frowns. “Why?”

Betty shakes her head. “I couldn’t.”

Realisation crosses Jughead’s face as it dawns on him.“Archie,” he guesses.

“Yeah,” Betty nods. She feels as though she might cry. “Pleasedon’t tell him.”

Jughead hesitates. “I won’t. But you should.”

 “So, now that you know you and Jughead aren’t soulmates, areyou going to find out who yours is?” Veronica asks, putting the finishingtouches on her make up. It’s prom night and the two girls are getting readytogether in Betty’s room. Betty can tell Veronica has been wanting to bring upthis topic ever since Betty told her that she and Jughead broke up.

“You don’t have tolook so smug about it.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just—I kind of knew it.”

“Shut up.”

“I’ll go with you if you want.”

“No.”

“But what if it’s someone at school! You could dance withthem tonight at the prom!”

“I don’t want to.”

“I don’t get it. You love romantic things. Why won’t you findout?”

“Veronica, please,”Betty begs.

“Come on, Betty! Do you really want to go the rest of yourlife not knowing?”

“I already know!” Betty snaps, tired of the pestering. “It’sArchie, okay?”

When Betty finally brings herself to look at Veronica, shesees her friend looking positively gleeful. Not what Betty had been expecting.

“Archie?” Veronica says wistfully. “Well, isn’t that whatyou’ve always wanted?”

“Yes,” Betty admits. “But it’s not what he wants.”

“You haven’t told him.”

“Obviously not.”

“You should give him the chance to actually decide if that’swhat he wants or not.”

“He’ll feel obliged to be with me. It would ruineverything.”

“Betty—” Veronica starts, but she’s interrupted by a knockon the bedroom door.

“Come in!” Betty calls. Anything to stop this line ofconversation.

Archie opens the door and steps into the room. He looksdashing in his rented tux, holding a small box with what appears to be acorsage in it. He stares for a moment before clearing his throat.

“You look nice,” he says. “You too, Ronnie.”

“Thank you, Archiekins!” Veronica beams. “Is Jughead here?”

“Downstairs.”

Veronica leaves the room, giving Betty a pointed look. Thedoor closes behind her and the room is filled with a charged silence. Bettyfiddles with her earrings, not sure where to look. Not at him. He looks toogood. Her eyes fall on the box he’s holding.

“Is that a corsage?” Betty asks.

“Oh,” Archie looks down at the box. “Yeah. It’s for you.Sorry if it’s dumb.” He blushes, and goddamn it if Betty isn’t totally in lovewith him.

“It’s not dumb,” she assures him. She holds out her arm andArchie takes the corsage out of the box with some struggle, and slips it ontoher wrist. Her skin burns where his thumb grazes her arm. The pink flowerscomplement her dress perfectly. Archie drops her hand hurriedly and steps back,tripping over what seems to be his own feet, and crashing into the shelf behindhim, sending the contents flying all over the floor.

“Sorry,” Archie says as he crouches down to pick up thethings that had fallen off the shelf. “I don’t know why I’m so clumsy.”

“It’s okay,” Betty laughs, getting down on her knees to helphim. If she didn’t know better she’d think he was nervous.

“Oh shit, I think I lost your bookmark,” Archie says. Bettylooks up and sees him holding a book, and a said bookmark which appears to havecome loose from the pages. Something that is not a bookmark at all. Betty’sheart skips a beat.

“Archie—” she says, but he’s already turning the card over. Herheart pounds in her chest as he stares at the card.

“What is this?” he asks, swallowing. He’s trying to processwhat he’s seeing. “Elizabeth Cooper and Archibald Andrews,” he reads. “Is this—is this real?” he looks at Betty. She’s sure her face is bright red. She triesto say something, to explain, but she can’t speak.

Archie looks at her, the corners of his eyes creased withhurt. “Say something,” he says, like a plea.

“I’m sorry,” she finally manages. Archie just looks morehurt.

“How could you not tell me?”

“I thought it would be better this way,” Betty says.“Easier.”

“Because of Jughead? Veronica?” he asks, trying desperatelyto understand.

“No—I don’t know. They already know.”

“So you were just going to leave me in the dark? Let me waitfor my soulmate forever?” Archie accuses. Betty gapes at him. She hadn’tthought about it like that. She’d only been thinking of the foreseeable future,not like, forever.

“Archie—” she reaches forward to comfort him, but he pullsaway. Betty’s stomach jerks sickeningly. What has she done? Archie stands up.He looks like he’s about to say something else, but then he thinks better ofit. He heads for the door and doesn’t look back.

“Archie, wait!” Betty calls after him. She follows him outof the room, but by the time she reaches the top of the stairs he’s alreadyslamming the front door behind him. Jughead and Veronica stand at the bottom ofthe stairs, looking up at her, concerned expressions on their faces.

“What happened?” Veronica asks. “Did you tell him?”

Betty shakes her head. “He found the card.”

“I told you to tell him,” Jughead shakes his head. Veronicagives him a disapproving look. She looks back to Betty.

“Well? What are you waiting for? Go after him.”

Betty’s feet don’t want to move. She knows she has toexplain. She knows she fucked up, but the truth is, his reaction at seeing thecard hurt her too. He hadn’t exactly been happyto find out she’s his soulmate. Even for a moment, before he figured outshe’d lied. So yeah, she shouldn’t have lied to him. But in her defence, it wasfor self-preservation.

Somehow her feet carry her down the stairs and next door. He’snot there, though she hadn’t really expected he would be. She goes to the nextmost obvious place: Pop’s.

He’s there sitting in the booth furthest from the door, hishead in his hands. His hair is all messed up like he’s been running his handsthrough it in agitation.

Betty approaches the booth, her heart in her throat. Herfingers rest gently on the table.

“Can I sit here?”

Archie looks up, startled, and yet he doesn’t seem surprisedto see her. He nods, though he seems guarded. Betty notices the white card withtheir names on it on the table in front of him.

“I’m sorry,” they blurt out in unison.

“You’re sorry?”Betty repeats.

“Yeah, I kind of—freaked out, I guess. I shouldn’t have runoff like that. But I knew you’d find me here.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” Betty says.

“It’s fine, Betty,” he sighs. Then he seems to reconsider. “Imean, it’s not fine. You should have told me. But it is what it is. I get it,”he shrugs, defeated.

“You do?”

“Yeah,” he nods. “It hurts, but I get it. You wanted yoursoulmate to be Jughead, or—someone else, I don’t know. You were disappointed.”

“Archie, I wasn’t disappointed,” Betty hastens to tell him.

“Betty. It’s fine, I swear,” Archie smiles sadly. “It’s just—Iwanted my soulmate to be you.”

It doesn’t dawn on her until that moment, the real reason he’supset. He thinks she doesn’t want tobe with him. She feels like a huge weight has been lifted off her chest, andshe lets out a light-hearted laugh. Archie frowns.

“But, Archie,” she smiles at him, “it is me.”

Archie still has an adorably confused look on his face.Betty wishes these tables weren’t so wide so she could easily lean across andkiss him. Instead she settles for reaching her hand over and slipping it intohis. The simple act gets her heart racing.

“I hid the card because I thought you didn’t want to be with me.You said you didn’t want to meet your soulmate in high school.”

“Oh,” Archie swallows, dragging his eyes from their hands toBetty’s eyes. “That was a lie. You were right. It is romantic.”

His thumb grazes her knuckles. Her heart pounds. She has noidea what happens next. She’s not sure the whole thing has sunk in yet. They’resoulmates. They’re meant to be together. They have a little piece of card withtheir names on it to prove it.

“Take me to prom?” Betty says. She has no idea why she stillfeels nervous.

“Yeah,” Archie nods. He seems kind of nervous too. “Ofcourse.”

He doesn’t let go of her hand as they get up and walk out ofPop’s and into the mild air of the night.

“So you really don’t mind that you met your soulmate in highschool?” Betty says.

“I didn’t meet my soulmate in high school,” Archie says, andBetty realises he’s right. “Betty, I’ve known you almost my whole life. And nowwe get to spend the rest of our lives together. Not everyone gets that.”

Betty feels herself welling up, and she hastens to wipe awaythe tears forming in her eyes. She really has no reason to be crying.

“Hey,” Archie says softly, stopping in his tracks. “Are youokay?”

Betty nods. “I’m just really happy.”

Archie grins. “Me too.”

“Kiss me, Archie,” Betty commands him, and Archie obeys. Andgoddamn if it isn’t the best kiss she’s ever had. That kiss sets her whole bodyalight, and her soul too. Sometimes the universe just gets things right.