betty & toni as the best friends they should’ve always been
an excerpt from do you like or like like me? for @riverdaleladiesdaily appreciation week: an underrated dynamic
That Friday after practice, Toni drives the two of them out to the watering hole most of the Southsiders frequent on the quarry in an effort to avoid classist Northsiders on the banks of Sweetwater River. Toni understood, without Betty having to verbalize it, that Betty’s not quite ready to tell their other friends about her crush.
Toni takes puffs on the little one-hitter she leaves stashed in her trunk. Betty has never taken Toni up on her open invitation to smoke weed, though these days she’s thinking she might cave sooner rather than later.
It’s quiet for awhile, both of them sitting with their feet swinging over the edge.
“You really think he...like likes me?” Betty asks, voice cracking as she looks up at the night sky, so much clearer out here than it is on Elm Street.
“‘Like like?’” Toni laughs. “What, are we in seventh grade?”
Betty blushes. “It’s not that simple!” she insists. “It’s not like this is some guy I just met and now have a crush on. We have so much history. What if he doesn’t feel the same way? What if he does and it doesn’t work out?”
Toni sighs, leaning back. “I’m not saying you shouldn’t think about all these things,” she says. “You should take all the time you feel like you need. But Betty...don’t wait too long.”
Betty shrugs. “I’ll try,” she says, but she doesn’t have much confidence in herself. She pauses for a second then says, “Hey, Toni?”
“Yeah, Betty?” She turns to look at her, eyes soft.
“You know, you’re a catch. Any girl...or guy-”
“-I’d prefer it’d be a girl, but yes both are acceptable,” Toni interjects, and they both laugh.
“Right...as I was saying, any guy or preferably girl would be lucky to have you,” Betty finishes, grinning at her friend.
“Aww, Coop,” Toni says, resting her head playfully on Betty’s shoulder. “Are you hitting on me?”
Betty’s face flames red. “God, Toni. One deeply-seated crush for a close friend at a time. Sheesh.” Toni bursts into a fit of giggles.
“Okay, okay, I’m stoned,” Toni says once she catches her breath. “We’re gonna have to wait here awhile, till I’m good to drive us back.”
Betty smiles, shoving off her sandals and leaning back into the grass to get a little more comfortable. She thinks about her mom, probably hate-watching reality TV and drinking wine. She’ll be asleep soon with the aid of those pesky sleeping pills. “That’s more than okay,” she murmurs.
Toni frowns knowingly. “I figured it would be.”
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