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Betty glanced over at the man sitting on the edge of her bed puffing on a cigarette.
She admired his muscular back as he stood to put out said cigarette.
Betty rolled over in the bed covering herself with the covers as she climbed out of the bed.
She pulled on her leggings and hoodie and made her way to the restroom.
Upon exiting the restroom, she saw Jughead finally getting dressed.
She cleared her throat slightly to get his attention.
“I have class in less than an hour so I’m just going to head out. I hope to see you soon.”
Jughead just gave her a simple nod as she exited.
The two of them had been technically broken up for 6 months now. However, they liked to do this thing where even though the two of them were broken up they’d still hook up.
Betty knew it was psychological torture for her to still be with Jughead whilst not being with him.
She still loved him.
Obviously.
She didn’t think she’d ever stop loving him but they had been torn apart.
And it just wasn’t the right time for them to be together right now.
At least that was the excuse Jughead had fed her.
She knew once again he was trying to do the noble thing and protect her.
But he should know by now she didn’t need protecting from the serpent life he led.
She didn’t care.
She wanted to be with him no matter what life he was involved in.
Upon becoming the serpent king Jughead had broken up with Betty claiming he didn’t want to drag her into that life.
It was a life she didn’t deserve to be a part of.
When was he going to get it through his thick skull she didn’t need protecting.
Especially not from the serpents.
“Betty!”
Betty looked up to see Kevin jogging towards her.
He was the only one she had told about her escapades with Jughead despite their breakup.
“Have another dreamy night with the sexy brooder?” Kevin asked with a wink.
Betty glanced around nervously shoving Kevin’s shoulder.
Despite it not being that much of big a deal Betty still didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of the school knowing she had a friends with benefits situation going with her ex-boyfriend.
“Well were you?” Kevin insisted.
“Yes I was and can you keep your voice down please,” Betty said under her breath.
“When are you two going to get your shit together and just get back together. I mean I know the boy wants to protect you but how is being his sex buddy protecting you any more than just being his girlfriend.”
“Alright, Kev we’re done,” Betty said walking away.
Passing Jughead in the halls was probably the second to the worst thing about being together but not really together.
The first being the fact that unless they were screwing he completely ignored her.
Today however she saw him talking to Ethel Muggs surrounded by his friends from the south side.
She knew Ethel wasn’t truly a threat but she was not blind to the fact that Ethel had liked Jughead since grade school.
Feeling oddly confident today and fueled by her mild jealousy she walked up to him to say hello.
Normally she would never say hello to him in the halls. The only time they truly spoke was if the two of them needed to relieve some tension or if he felt the need to check on her out of nowhere.
“Hey, Sweet Pea how’re you doing today!”
Jughead looked up at her with a stony look.
He was definitely pissed.
Good.
Sweetpea was clearly confused to be approached by his best friends ex-girlfriend.
“I’m fine.” He trailed off for a brief moment “How are you, Betty?”
“I’m doing well thank you!” Betty said smiling sweetly.
Betty carried on a slightly flirty conversation with Sweetpea as long as she could manage.
Each time she glanced up she could see Jughead getting more and more annoyed.
Good.
Served the dick head right.
If he wanted to ignore her and flirt with Ethel Muggs of all people she could play that game too.
The bell rang out loudly and Betty gave Sweetpea a brief goodbye and with a light pat to the chest, she began walking off in the opposite direction towards her class.
However, before she could get there she felt a hand yank on her wrist and was pulled into the janitor’s closet.
Betty was not surprised to see Jughead glaring at her once she had closed the door nonchalantly.
She raised an eyebrow at him waiting for him to explain himself.
“Do you have something to say?” Betty snarked.
“Okay Betty what the hell. You’re going around flirting with my friends now? That’s pretty low even for you.”
“You don’t get to call me low Jughead Jones. All you do is ignore me unless you want a nice screw. Then you’re ready to talk but only for a few short moments because then once we’re done it’s magically too dangerous for us to be together now.” Betty spat.
Jughead couldn’t control his anger.
If only Betty knew everything that was currently going on with the Ghoulies.
If only she knew how dangerous it would be for her to be his girlfriend.
If only she knew the threats they made against her. The threats to hurt her.
To kill her.
“If only you knew half of what was going on maybe you wouldn’t be so quick to jump to conclusions,” Jughead said.
“Well maybe if you told me what the hell is going on in your life instead of ignoring me I wouldn’t have to jump to conclusions.”
“Betty we are not having this conversation in a janitors closet.”
“Whatever I need to get to class anyway,” Betty grumbled shoving past Jughead to make her way towards class.
Jughead reached out his hand to try to stop betty but she merely shoved his hand off and stormed out the door.
*****
After school Betty still found herself stewing in her anger at Jughead.
She just needed the dumbass to tell her why he was icing her out and what the hell he wasn’t telling her. She had a right to know what it was seeing as it most likely involved her.
So that’s how Betty found herself outside Jug & FP’s trailer.
After ringing the doorbell FP answered with a look of confusion.
“Um, Betty what a surprise to see you here. Jug’s not home right now but if you need to see him I’m sure he’ll be home soon.”
Betty almost laughed at FP’s confusion.
Jughead most definitely had told him about their break up and probably twisted it and turned it to make it seem as if the two would never speak again or some bullshit like that.
“Thank you, Mr Jones, that’d be great.”
Betty sat on the living room couch.
A couch she and Jughead had most definitely made many memories on.
Out of the corner of her eye, Betty saw FP on his phone, most likely calling Jughead and asking why in the world his ex-girlfriend showed up out of nowhere.
Finally, at around 6:30 she heard the familiar rev of Jughead’s motorcycle outside.
About time.
When Jughead walked in his eyes immediately were drawn to Betty.
Betty watched as FP left the house.
She could barely keep the smirk off her face.
“Okay, what the hell is this all about. Showing up to my house out of nowhere.” Jughead seethed.
“You said you didn’t want to have a discussion in a janitor’s closet so here we are at your house and I’m more than ready to have a discussion about why I’ve been broken up with ignored and turned into a sex buddy in the past 6 months.”
Jughead couldn’t ignore the sting of the last part.
He knew he hadn’t been treating Betty quite how he should of these past few months but for her to deduce herself to just his sex buddy truly hurt.
He wished she knew that she meant far more than just that to him.
“Betty it’s more complicated than just keeping things from you it’s far more complicated and I wish I could tell you everything but it’s just not safe. I don’t want you to get hurt because I don’t think I’d ever be able to forgive myself.”
Betty could see the softness in Jughead’s eyes.
The same softness she grew accustomed to when the two of them were still together.
What in the world could be going on that he felt that need to break up with her and still keep it from her?
“Jughead please I’m sure whatever it is I’ll understand. I thought we stopped lying to each other and breaking up for stupid and noble reasons a long time ago.”
“Dammit, Betty can’t you just accept the fact that we can’t be together. It’s not that I don’t want to be with you I want that more than anything it’s that we literally can’t be together it isn’t safe. Not right now”
“Jughead I don’t care. I can take care of myself. I don’t need your protection. I don’t need you trying to keep me safe because I can do that just fine on my own without your help.” Betty snapped.
“It’s not that I think you can’t take care of yourself, Betty. I am very aware of the fact that you’d be just fine on your own it’s that I can’t take care of you if we’re together Betty. I don’t know what others might do to you just because you’re with me.”
“What others?” Betty asked with a furrow of her brows.
“Oh shit,” Jughead muttered.
Well, he already accidentally spilt too much.
Might as well tell her now.
“The Ghoulies. They’ve threatened you on multiple occasions.”
“And you didn’t tell me because?” Betty asked.
“Because I’m protecting you. They’re capable of horrible things that I don’t ever want to think about happening to you and I know they wouldn’t hesitate so it’s easier to just not have something they can’t threaten.”
“Not being together doesn’t stop them from threatening you though Jug.”
Betty’s eyebrows were furrowed.
She was really trying to understand Jughead’s logic. But even if the two of them weren’t together it put Jug in more danger than if they were together.
“Betty listen. They know if I’m with you I have more to lose than just them simply threatening me. They know how much I care about you. When we’re together they have something they can take from me. That’s just how the Ghoulies work. They never go for the person they want revenge on. They go for the person closest to them because they know that hurting someone close to me would hurt a lot more than just hurting me.”
Betty’s heart ached for Jughead.
She knew he thought he was protecting her and maybe he was but she could protect herself.
And frankly, she cared so much for Jughead she didn’t care about the risks.
She knew the serpents could protect her.
“Juggie the serpents can protect me too us not being together isn’t helping either of us. It’s just torturing us by just hooking up and pretending there’s no feeling attached. What’re you going to do if one of the Ghoulies sees me leaving the trailer? Then what? Then they assume we’re back together so we might as well be.”
Jughead sat down on the couch and ran his hands through his hair.
He knew logically what Betty was saying was true but he still could not push away the thought in the back of his head that no matter what he and Betty were she would never truly be safe.
“Jug listen to me. I don’t mind the risks we can be together. I don’t care about the Ghoulies or their threats they shouldn’t stop us from being together Jug. That’s not fair on us. And if you still think we can’t be together than I refuse to hook up with you because that physically hurts me Jug it makes the situation and things between us 10x worse than they should be.”
Jughead knew she was right.
Betty always seemed to be right though.
“I know Betty. You’re right. I just want to keep you safe to the best of ability. I don’t want to throw you into something you’re not ready to handle. But that’s selfish of me to think because you can make your own decisions. So if you want to be together we can because I sure as hell want to be with you.”
Betty’s heart leapt.
Finally, Jughead wasn’t being the stubborn little shit he normally was.
“Of course I want to be with you Jug. As long as you promise to not try to be noble and break up with me again.” Betty said with a small laugh.
“I promise to not do the noble thing and break up with you. For now, at least.”
Betty let out a short laugh then leaned in pressing a kiss to Jughead’s mouth.
“I love you Betty so much. Even when I’m a dick and break up with you.”
“I love you too Jug. Even when you’re a dick.” Betty said with a wink.