The Friend of Three

The Friend of Three

                It was 20th March ,a  hot and humid afternoon in Orlando , Florida . The would be groom's father Mr. Lodge had meticulously managed to get his entire family and closed ones to the would be bride's place  for the engagement ceremony. Once the luggage was unloaded from the boots of the cars and arranged at the appropriate place , the round of introductions commenced. Jughead was already feeling a little awkward to be one of only two friends invited by his would be groom friend Reggie . At the same time Jughead felt privileged to be a part of this auspicious occasion.  With this dual thought , Jughead opted to stay way behind in the round of introductions. As Mr. Lodge finished the family and relative introductions he introduced the other friend of Reggie – Sebastian . He had an easy introduction Reggie’s childhood friend . Finally the pointer came to him.  Jughead was already receiving all the suspicious looks from bride’s side e.g. Who the hell  is this guy !!  When Mr. Lodge introduced him – “ This is Jughead , he is both Reggie and Veronica’s friend” . However there was another voice saying    -  “ Hey uncle he is my friend too”.  That voice was from Archie.

That moment was extremely overwhelming for him, Jughead had just managed to hold back his tears, quickly moved away from the scene.  Jughead had never felt so loved and respected in his life by a family which is really not his own family but has  always made him felt one of them.

                You must be wondering who is Reggie ? Who is Archie ? But most importantly who is Veronica ? Let us wind the clock back by … not much just  by one year and three months.  You won’t believe Jughead didn’t know either of them. Jughead was just a regular Software Developer who had joined a new company . Jughead had found a few new friends viz. Jake from his practice  and Cheryl and Michelle from HR.  Cheryl- kudos to her dynamic personality was the pioneer of the group of four . She mentioned she has a friend named Veronica . However Jughead was not sure whether she would really gel with the so called “group” then.   One fine day Veronica  Lodge made  an entry returning from her big Rajasthan trip.  She gets introduced to him . The typical Hi –hello type.  Suddenly there was word uttered by him which like turned the ignition on for their engine of friendship . That word was undoubtedly – “Riverdale” . The seemingly reserved kind of girl Veronica opened out and within no time they became good friends and she became the fifth member of the group .  Both of them connected on different level from other members of the gang. I won’t delve deeper in the activities of this group because that will be like writing a book.

                Till now , Jughead just talked about how Jughead became friends with Veronica . You will say that is pretty normal and Jughead won’t deny that at all. Yes , it was pretty normal when 3^rd recruiter of the company became very good friends with an engineer. Also it was normal that she was 6 years younger to him.   Friendship has no professional barriers  and no age bar  . However you still don’t have clue on Archie and Reggie ? Let’s start with Archie.  Veronica might have just mentioned to him about Archie being her special friend / boyfriend / fiancé .  However she was not really keen on introducing him . She was really trying to save her clandestine affair from the office folks.  Jughead didn’t probe her too much on the topic. Some days later , Jughead completed his first ever Half marathon . Jughead was excited and he decided to throw a party at Long Island club to his dear gang. However this time he had some expansion plans  Jughead called them along with their spouses. He  insisted Veronica to call Archie.  Archie Andrews walked in the restaurant  shook hands said in this typical tone “Congratulations Dude” .  Jughead never knew that handshake was just the foundation of another friendship .  They talked briefly that day , but somehow the Archie who is an extremely social person, exchanged numbers and volunteered  to stay in contact even after the party .  Soon there were more plans where Jughead met him and they became better friends.  

Still no Reggie in the picture isn’t it .Well keep reading .

                One of the days when Jughead was enjoying his lunch at a friend’s place close to Veronica’s house.  He  was invited by Veronica to her place after his lunch plan.  There he  was introduced to Reggie for the first time. Reggie appeared extremely shy to him and he hardly talked. He came out from his room ,  carrying this look of  “Who is my sister’s friend ? Let me check it out”  . That day their conversation was short lived as Jughead had to rush to his French class. Jughead would shy away from the story telling for one moment and say that Veronica was definitely a big catalyst in introducing Archie and Reggie to him.  

 It is one of the weekends in April, Archie came over to his place so that they could plan something and he convinced Veronica and Reggie to come over as well. They did come after a lot of persuasion. They went for long drive and then went for some snacks.  During this time , Jughead got to know Reggie better and he too started opening up . Well that was first of the big meets .  After some days Archie the travel enthusiast, came up with a plan to go to Rocky’s with  Reggie , Jughead and couple friends of Archie . They were all excited to go there on bikes but hearing about the lands slides in Rocky’s they decided postpone their plan indefinitely. Jughead was actually very disappointed that the plan had not materialized.  A few days later Archie made a breakfast plan at Panama dam along Reggie , Veronica and Jughead.   There,  they decided that if not Rocky’s lets go to some other place. Then someone (not sure who) came up with the idea of Bahamas.  Within no time the plan became a reality and all the bookings were done and three of them flew to Bahamas.  Honestly , Jughead was really not sure how will be able to gel with this brothers – in –law pair on an international trip . However his scepticism was killed , by the some awesome time spent together in Bahamas and formed the “Wolf Pack” . It was not even a year of friendship with Veronica and Jughead was already on a Bahamas trip with her fiancé and brother J The whole world was shocked. A unique trio indeed. 

               

From then onwards , there hasn’t be any important occasion in the Lodge and Andrews family where Jughead hasn’t been invited. For a person like Jughead whose family was reduced to two members and was reeling under personal problems, this friendship was like  the God’s priceless gift.  The time Jughead has spent with three of them in last 1.5 years was simply magical. Jughead doesn’t know what will happen next , where each of them will land up or whether they are able to maintain the same momentum of their friendship , but at this present moment Jughead is  happy to have them in his life.