Chapter Text
Betty checked her ponytail in the mirror of her small flat. She couldn't wait to get out of that big city and visit her parents and her sister with the twins in Riverdale. It had been ten years since she graduated and for the first five years, she was equally happy to have escaped that small town with its buried secrets and sad to leave all of her friends, especially Veronica, Kevin, and Archie behind. Of course, Veronica and Archie also moved to away. They had gotten married last summer. A big wedding with lots of posh, just as Betty had always imagined how Veronica's wedding would be.
Bettys cat Caramel meowed annoyed. Betty bent down and patted her little head.
"Well, little one, guess who's going on a date tonight?" she asked her cat. Caramel looked at her with wide eyes and Betty smiled. A guy from work had asked her out and though she thought he was really nice, Betty just didn't feel it.
She had been waiting to meet the right guy for years now, but Betty had never liked a boy as much as Veronica liked Archie or Polly liked Jason. Nonetheless, Betty had decided to give this guy a shot. How bad could he be?
Betty soon regretted her optimism about her date. He barely let her speak and began to brag about his muscles. She silently cursed Kevin for convincing her to be more outgoing again. In the last few years she had her anxiety attacks under control but now, while she was sitting in a small restaurant her date, John, had invited her, her nails started digging into her palms. She needed to get out of here.
"I have to take a call," Betty stated. John nodded, not even noticing that no phone had rung. She took her bag and went outside.
While Betty was walking along the sidewalk, she thought about what she should do. She couldn't go back in there, but she also didn't want John to pay for her meal. After a few minutes, she decided to tell him the truth, give him the money and leave afterward. She turned around on the sidewalk and headed back to the restaurant.
A few meter before she reached the door something to her left caught her eye. Next to the restaurant was a bookstore and in the show window, there was a signed copy of Beloved by Toni Morrison, one of her all-time favorite books. Her eyes trailed down to the price and she sighed.
"If I had the money, my apartment would be full of old books," she muttered.
"The smell is wonderful," said a voice beside her and Betty soon around. She expected to see John next to her. But the man next to her certainly wasn't John.
He was tall, had dark hair and his blue eyes were examining her. Betty blushed a little bit. The man was handsome no doubt.
"Sorry for scaring her. I'm Jughead," he said and sook her hand.
"Betty Cooper," she breathed quietly. His blue eyes were still staring into hers and it gave Betty goosebumps.
"So, Betty Cooper, you like old books?" Jughead said nodding to the show window.
"Yes, Toni Morrison is one of my favorite authors," Betty admitted with a little smile, "You said the small was wonderful? Do you own lots of old books?"
Jughead nodded. "Yeah, I have an affinity for literature. Maybe – " he paused and looked back at her somewhat nervous, "Do you want to swing by some time?"
Betty was a little bit startled. "I would love to, but I don't know you at all. I mean, we literally just met."
"You're right, but if you change your mind, call me, " he said handing Betty a small card, "I don't have many visitors." Betty looked down at the card where she read Jugheads name and a hand-scribbled telephone number.
"Thank you," she said, but Jughead was already gone, vanished in the cold Winters snow.
***
"Hello?" Betty asked nervously after she had dialed the number Jughead had given her. He hadn't gotten out of her thoughts after that night. So, she had decided to call him, even though calling a random guy she had just met wasn't really her style.
"Hello? This is Jughead Jones. Who is this?" a familiar voice said.
"Betty. Betty Cooper. You uhm gave me your number. Yesterday at the bookstore."
"Yes, Betty. Thank god. If it hadn't been you, I would have had to change my phone number again. So, uhm, you want to come by?"
"Yes, I mean only if you want me to, " Betty stuttered.
"Of course. A pretty girl, who is interested in books, who wouldn't want to invite you?" Jughead said. Betty was glad he couldn't see her because she was blushing again. He had called her beautiful.
"When could I come over?"
"Whenever you want. I'm usually at home, but maybe give a call before you show up, okay?"
"So tomorrow at three is fine?" Betty asked shyly.
"Absolutely. See you tomorrow, Betty, " Jughead responded.
"And where do you live?"
"You don't need to worry about that. I will pick you up, " Jughead said and hung up.
Betty also set done her phone and sank to the floor. Everything seemed so surreal to her. Never ever in her life had a boy invited her to his house. Betty never surpassed the third date. Every time the boy grew tired of her or she couldn't bear to be around the guy. But Jughead had had such an impact on her. She had never felt anything like that in her entire life.
Caramel came over to her and nudged her. Betty petted her lightly. She thought about what Veronica would say. For her meeting, some guy on the street would be like a big new adventure. It was totally her style and not Betty's. She sighed and got up. Before she began to dream about her date tomorrow, she had to finish her newspaper article.
The weeks that let up to Christmas were always very stressful. People tended to do more dangerous and stupid things. Last week Betty had to write an article about a guy who nearly got his family killed whilst chopping down a Christmas tree. Betty liked writing, but she would have really appreciated it when she didn't have to write stories about when people nearly died. She had studied Journalism for a reason and she that being publishing useful content filled articles on the front page and not the Fun Stories section.
Caramel began to sleep in her lap while Betty sent her article to her boss. She was excited about her day tomorrow, although Jughead might discover, like so many men before him, that Betty Cooper was not the perfect-girl-next-door. She was scared that he might leave her when he found out about her anxiety issues. Her breathes began to fasten and Caramel lifted her tiny head.
"Everything's all right, Cara," Betty told her cat, as she tried to steady her breathes. Everything would be all right, she told herself as she slowly began to drift off to sleep on her couch.
***
In the morning she woke up to the sound of her alarm clock going off. She needed a couple minutes to remember where she was before she got up and went to the bathroom.
"Today is going to be a good day," she told her reflection in the mirror. She tried putting on some make-up to hide the dark circles under her eyes, which she managed somewhat acceptable. She hadn't gotten much sleep and she felt a little bit sick when she thought about meeting John in the office. Did he even realize that she was gone? She hadn't sent him a text in which she apologized for her behavior last night. That was what the typical Betty Cooper would have done.
Betty took a deep breath and looked at her hands to see the damage from last night but the half circles in her palm were hardly visible anymore. She grinned a little bit. Was it because she met Jughead that her anxiety attacks hadn't been that bad last night? Betty didn't know, but what she was sure of was that by the mere thought of seeing Jughead today her body filled with warmth and anticipation.
When she left her apartment and headed for the office it was snowing. Betty pulled her hat further down to cover her ears properly. She loved the snow and as she was walking through snowy New York she began humming Christmas songs.
Work was rather busy, but Betty managed to get through it just fine. At ten she accidentally ran into John on the corridor in front of her boss's office. He cleared his throat and opened his mouth to say something, but Betty just shook her head and went in the opposite direction. She knew that she had been rude, but she didn't care. Today was supposed to be a carefree day for her and talking with John about her mental issues would worsen her mood.
At two she left the office again, not before getting a ton of extra assignments from her boss, and went back through the snow to her apartment, in which Caramel awaited her wistfully.
"Have you missed me, little one?" she asked her cat. Caramel nudged her leg and Betty petted her little head. "Well, I have to get ready for a date, Cara."
In the bathroom, Betty looked through her make-up drawer and decided to put some light make-up on. A few moments she contemplated whether she should loosen her ponytail or not until she decided to let it be.
She pulled out a plain grey dress out of her closet. "What do you think, Cara? How does it look?" she asked her cat, whilst spinning in front of her mirror.
At five past three, she heard a knock at her door. She rushed to the door and when she opened it she blushed lightly. Jughead looked very handsome. He was still wearing his beanie, but he traded the S T-Shirt and the Flannel he had worn on the day they met for a nice white shirt. His eyes wandered over her body and when he looked up to her he was smiling.
"You look gorgeous, Betty," he said. Betty blushed even more.
"You look great too," she admitted, "I'll just grab my jacket." Jughead nodded and began scanning her apartment.
"It looks very tidy in here. I like your book collection," he said nodding to her bookshelves after Betty had gotten back to him with her jacket.
"Thank you, Jughead." He grinned at her and held out his arm.
"Shall me, Milady?"
Betty giggled and took his arm. He guided her downstairs where he had parked his car. Betty didn't know much about cars but Jugheads looked rather expensive.
"So, what do you do for a living?" she asked curiously.
"I write," he answered simply and opened the car door for her.
"Like as an author? Or as a journalist?"
"As an author," he admitted as he started his car.
"I always wanted to be an author, but I figured I would be better off as a journalist," Betty said as Jughead left her building behind them. She looked at the car again. Jughead obviously had to be somewhat good as an author to effort this sort of car.
"Did you write any famous books?"
"Have you read The Secrets of Ordinary People?" he asked quietly while he turned left at the next intersection. Bettys mind began spinning.
"You are…Are you F. Jones? Like the F. Jones?" she asked breathlessly.
"Yes, I am and don't ask what the F stands for you wouldn't want to know."
Betty swallowed heavily. She was sitting in the car with one of her favorite authors, one of her idols.
"How did I not know what you looked like?"
Jughead shrugged. "I'm not really the spotlight kinda guy….We are here," he said when he stopped the car in front of a huge building, "Do you still want to come in?"
"Sure. I'm still interested in that library of yours," she said still lightly shocked. Jughead smiled relieved and got out of the car.