The Maple Murders
Page 10
His forehead immediately crinkled with concern. “What’s up?”
I waved him off. “It’s fine,” I said. “Seriously. Don’t worry about it. What are you doing here, anyway?” Then I remembered. “Oh, Veronica’s with Kevin, right? I heard them disappear downstairs. And—sorry, that sounded aggressive, instead of curious.” I smiled, trying to give him a little more softness. Why was my default always so defensive?
“No worries,” Archie said. “Yeah, they’re practicing for the talent portion. Ballroom dance, I guess. Veronica got approved to perform with Kevin even though she’s not officially competing.”
“That’s fun!”
“Yeah, Ronnie wanted me to come by so I could see their dance, give some opinion on their musical selection—”
“They wanted your opinion on the music?” I couldn’t help it; I’d blurted it out like an involuntary muscle spasm, something completely beyond my control.
I blushed. “Sorry. I didn’t mean—I mean, you know I think you’ve got big talent, Archie, it’s just—” I sighed. “I should probably just quit with the whole talking thing while I’m … not at all ahead. I’m gonna choke on my own foot if this keeps up.”
“No, no, I get it,” he insisted, cutting me off. “I mean, obviously you’re Riverdale High’s resident rock star. I don’t think there’s anyone around who’d argue that.”
“Well, it’s sweet that she’s so invested in helping Kevin,” I said, my tone going low and wistful for a hot minute. “Must be nice.” The words were out before I could think about it, much less bite my tongue. WTH, Josie—what’s the deal with the self-pity party?
“Yeah.” He ran a hand through that thicket of red hair, leaving it sticking up in fifteen different directions. It made him look young, sweet, like a little kid. “You’re not doing the pageant, right?”
“No, sir,” I told him. “I’m one and done—all about the Motorcade and Music on Thursday night.”
“Oh, right! You’re singing, of course.”
“All by my lonesome,” I confirmed, unable to resist. Another stab of self-pity poked at my ribs.
“Why lonesome? I thought you deliberately struck out on your own this year.”
I knew he meant struck out on your own as in: charted your own course. But it was still hard to hear it as anything other than struck out—all on your own.
“That I did,” I said, swallowing hard.
He tilted his head, looked at me with new understanding dawning. “And things have been weird with the Pussycats ever since.”
I shrugged. “I get it. They felt betrayed. Rejected. Hell, it was rejection, of a kind.”
“Yeah, that stuff’s always hard,” he said, the look in his eyes saying he meant it, like he knew what he was talking about. “I got a lot of grief when I started to work more seriously on my music and didn’t have as much time for football. The guys definitely didn’t understand.”
I gave him a small smile. “You mean Reggie Mantle somehow lacked the nuanced emotional intelligence to make you feel comfortable with your choice?”
“Yeah.” Archie laughed. “Shocker.” Then he cocked his head, like he’d had a small aha moment. “Hey,” he started. “So, if your—brother?”
“Sure. ‘Brother’ works,” I said. “We’re still easing into it all.”
“Right. So, if your brother and my girlfriend are gonna perform together, what if we … joined forces, too?”
Later, when I replayed the little interaction with Archie in the kitchen, it seemed almost foregone that we’d come to this conclusion. It made sense: We’d played together before, we knew we were good together, and while neither of us was exactly shy about performing live, we were both nursing some mega-vulnerability. In retrospect, it was funny that it even took us as long as it did to bring the conversation around that way.
In the moment, though, Archie managed to take me by surprise. Maybe it was a mix of things, not the least being how I was still reeling from the on-off thing with Sweet Pea, the brush-off from my ’Cats, and the vague sense of random, illogical FOMO about hearing that Kevin had asked Veronica to team up with him for the pageant. Just one of those weird, insecure human moments, I guess. Any port in a storm, that kind of thing.
But a tiny part of me wondered if it was more than that, somehow. Archie was endearing, hard to resist. Like, not in a romantic way—he was with Veronica, and I’m so not that girl—but just kind of that “nice boy” thing your mom told you about. Sunny vibes that were appealing, especially when so many other things in your life felt a little stormier.
Archie had seen his share of storms, of course. But that essence of him, that quintessential “Archie-ness,” was still there, skating just below the surface. It was infectious, even for a cynic like me.
So when he suggested it—teaming up, maybe even performing an original collaboration, if we could get it together in time—I was totally surprised. Turns out I’d been in serious wallow mode, and a sunny lifeline was entirely unexpected.
Being as I’m no fool, I said yes. We agreed to meet at lunch the next day to put together a short set. You’ve gotta take the sunshine where it comes.
Veronica:
Hey! So, went over to Kev’s to practice his talent piece for the pageant.
Betty:
Ballroom?
Veronica:
Ballroom. We flipped, and the odds were not in my favor. Yours truly will be doing her best unironic Ginger Rogers to CATS. Promise me you’ll have any video evidence destroyed.
Betty:
Swearsies. And Archie came by?
Veronica:
Yup. The coin flip was his idea, actually. So. Oh! And he’s gonna perform with Josie at the Motorcade kickoff thing. They talked when he came by.
Betty:
Fun!
Veronica:
I know, I’m glad he’s getting a chance to perform instead of only working behind the scenes.
Betty:
And YOU’RE having fun, too?
Veronica:
OMG, SO much. I know I was cranky about the pageant and it having all those sexist roots, but I’ve gotta admit … I’m kind of getting into it. Being Kevin’s stage mom is a fun gig.
Betty:
How could it not be? As long as you keep him on the straight and narrow, avoid a whole Lohan-style flameout, I think you’re good.
Veronica:
Will do.
Veronica:
How goes the sleuthing?
Betty:
Still very much in progress. Give me a little more time.
Veronica:
Always. I’ve got faith in my girl. Keep me posted!