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Jughead thinks he’s escaped the diner without being spotted, but he isn’t so lucky.
He fails to notice as he turns his back away from their table that movement manages to catch Betty’s eye. She sees a glimpse of the Serpent logo on his back and knows instantly it’s him.
He doesn’t see her eyes immediately well with tears, her bottom lip trembling.
He doesn’t hear her whisper his name as she swallows the sob that threatens to rise in her throat.
In fact, he’s already out the door by the time the rest of his friends follow her gaze and realize he had been there the entire time.
“Are you okay, B?” Veronica asks softly, reaching across the table to grasp Betty’s hands.
Betty blinks several times before giving her best friend a sad, watery smile. She wants to say she’s fine, but she’s far from it. “He didn’t even say hi.”
Veronica winces, knowing all too well how their break-up had impacted Betty. She puts on a brave front but was still picking the pieces of her shattered heart.
In a well-meaning attempt to distract her best friend, she had casually invited Trev to join them that night. Veronica knew Trev was sweet, and she thought Betty needed sweet. Although Kevin and Archie had originally protested, she insisted. Now she found herself regretting the entire thing. Trev was watching Betty with concern, reaching out to rub her arm reassuringly.
Kevin does the same, frowning at the path that Jughead had taken out the diner. Archie, sitting next to Veronica, stays silent. There’s a tension in jaw as he glares out the window.
He too had felt the sting of Jughead’s abandonment and this would only further the drift between the lifelong best friends. Archie still didn’t fully understand why Jughead had pulled away from them so suddenly, but it was his break-up with Betty that had been the last straw for him. He hadn’t spoken to Jughead in weeks.
Betty takes a deep breath, trying to will away the tears that have already formed in her eyes. She’s cried too much over Jughead and refuses to shed anymore tears.
She wants to believe that Jughead had his reasons for leaving her, however ill-formed they might be. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, she thinks bitterly, remembering when he had once said that to her.
Although she had begged him not to shut her out, whether they were together or not, he had done exactly that. He walk away with no explanation and existed in and around the outskirts of Riverdale, passing by her like a ghost.
Another emotion begins to stir inside her chest: anger. She’s angry at him, at herself, at the circumstances they couldn’t control. Betty thinks the least he could do is explain himself. She deserves that much.
Wordlessly, she removes her hands from Veronica’s grasp, stands up, and all but sprints towards the back exit. Her friends stare silently after her, before Archie and Veronica quickly follow suit.
Betty doesn’t know how much time has passed since Jughead walked out of Pop’s. A part of her almost hopes that he’s long gone and she won’t actually get to confront him.
To her mild surprise, Jughead is only in the process of putting his helmet on, his motorcycle still turned off. She now sees that Toni is with him, mimicking his movements with her own bike and helmet.
“Jughead!” she shouts, stopping short a few feet away.
Jughead instantly freezes, knowing her voice anywhere. He lowers his helmet and slowly turns around.
“Betty,” he whispers, eyes softening at the sight of her. He had gotten used to seeing her from a distance and now seeing her closer than he had in weeks reminded him how beautiful she was. Even though she is clearly upset and angry, and those emotions are clearly directed at him.
“Is this how it is now? You can’t even stand to be in the same room as me?” she demands, taking one step closer.
Jughead shakes his head, trying to think of the right thing to say. He knows he can’t give her the answer she wants, or even the truth. He has to keep at her at arms length, for her own good.
He still has yet to speak when she continues.
“What did I do wrong, Juggie?” she asks sadly. “Where did we go wrong?”
His heart shatters in his chest at the question and he’s crestfallen when he see tears gathering in Betty’s eyes. Does she really think she did anything wrong? It was all him. He was to blame, not her.
It’s only now that he realizes that what he had hoped would be a temporary pain was still an open, gaping wound for the both of them.
It’s at this point that Archie and Veronica appear, flanking Betty from a distance. They, along with Toni, know it’s best for them to stay on the sidelines as they quietly watch the scene before them unfold.
Jughead puts his helmet down and stands, moving slowly towards her as if he’s afraid she’ll bolt if he gets too close.
“Betty, please… you didn’t do anything wrong. You need to believe that,” he begs as he stops short of an arms length away from her.
Betty’s bottom lip trembles at his words. Don’t cry, she commands herself. Don’t let him see you cry.
“Then why was I so easy to cast aside?” she asks, choking back a sob. “I thought… I thought you loved me.”
Jughead is sure there is nothing left of his heart at this point but tiny fragments. His own eyes fill with tears and his hand trembles as he reaches for her.
“I do. I do love you,” he murmurs. His hands connects with her arm and somehow they’ve closed the gap between them. Taking a shaky breath, he rests his forehead against hers. Betty closes her eyes when he does, letting tears spill down her cheeks.
“I will always love you,” Jughead declares quietly. He savors this moment, the warmth of her skin against his, the way she smells. He doubts that this will ever happen again.
He takes another breath and using what little willpower he has left, pulls away and steps back towards his motorcycle. Betty’s eyes shoot open at the loss of contact.
“But trust me, this is for the best,” he says hoarsely, hoping he sounds convincing. He begins to turn away from her, knowing that he looks at her any longer that his resolve will crack and he’ll beg for forgiveness, beg for her to take him back. And she deserves better than that.
“Jughead, please don't,” Betty whispers as he swiftly sits back down on his motorcycle and pulls his helmet on.
He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes as his bike roars to life. Don’t look back, he warns himself. If you do, you’ll never be able to let her go.
Betty’s hands shoot up to cover her mouth, no longer able to hold back the sobs rising in her throat. Jughead pulls away from Pop’s with a look back.
She wants to believe him when he says he loves her, but it seems all too easy for him to walk away from her, time and time again.
Veronica rushes to her side and pulls her into her arms. Betty lets the tears keep falling as they stand together silently. She didn't know what she expected by confronting him, but Betty hadn't been prepared to walk away even more heartbroken than before.
“Betty…”
Betty looks over at Toni, surprised to see she hadn’t immediately followed Jughead out of the parking lot.
“I know it doesn’t seem like it now, but things will work out,” Toni says. “I’ll keep him out of trouble until he comes to his senses."
Betty can only nod weakly at her words. Toni smiles at her reassuringly before hopping on her own motorcycle and follows in Jughead’s tracks.
As she rides off, the exchange she just witnessed fresh in her mind, Toni begins to form a plan.