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It’s the 1st of December and little Betty Cooper tugs on her mother’s hand with all of her might, rushing towards the door of Pop’s Chock’lit Shop. The red entrance is only a few feet away, but Betty feels like she’ll never get there, with her mom holding her back. “Come on, Mommy! We have to get first pick!”
The 1st of December marks the first day of Christmas, which means Betty’s favorite songs, like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, are playing on the radio, and she can hang her stocking on the fireplace mantle. The most exciting thing that happens on what is arguably the best day of the year is when Pop puts up his Christmas tree to the left of the counter where its pretty lights can be seen by everyone in the diner. The tree is covered from top to bottom with little white, sparkly angels. The name of a Riverdale family in need adorns each angel in curling script. Picking a family to buy presents for is Betty’s favorite part of Christmas, other than leaving bread pieces out for Santa’s reindeer on Christmas Eve.
Her mother had always told her and Polly that the best part of Christmas wasn’t getting gifts, but giving them. Betty couldn’t agree more.
Finally reach the door, Alice lets go of Betty’s hand once they’re off the road, allowing her to run inside.
“Well hello there, Miss Betty Cooper.” Pop bellows with laughter at the enthusiasm bursting out of the small girl. “Why, I don’t think I have any idea why you’re here!” Pop sends a wink towards Alice but quickly brings his attention back to the bubbling girl.
Betty’s grin takes up most of her face, missing teeth on full display. “Pop! Merry Christmas! Isn’t today sensational?” Betty throws her arms out as if showing off everything around her like it’s a masterpiece.
“My, that’s a mighty big word, Miss Betty! What a smart girl you are.”
Betty bounces on the balls of her feet. “Thanks Pop! We learned it in school today when my teacher was reading Charlotte’s Web to us.” Before Pop could reply to her, Betty’s eye caught sight of the sparkly tree and was drawn towards it like a moth to a light.
Betty was vaguely aware of her mother talking with Pop but soon everything else was drowned out while she walked around the tree, scoping out the selection of angels. Squinting at the tree, with her tongue out, Betty circles around three times before running to the other side of the diner. She needs to look at all the sides of the tree before she can pick out the right angel. Plopping down on the floor, Betty places her head in her hands, elbows securely on her knees. She squishes her face with her hands and spots exactly the angel they need to take. Jumping up, Betty dashes to the tree and reaches up towards the chosen angel, but it’s just out of her reach even when she is reaching up as far as she can.
“Mommy, what about this one?” Betty glances behind her before returning to the tree, bouncing up on her tiptoes, stretching as much as her little body will allow her in efforts to reach the angel.
Alice walks up beside her and grabs the angel Betty is trying to reach, handing it to her daughter. “Here you are, sweetheart.”
Betty’s sweet little lips form a pout as she says softly, “I wanted to take it off the tree.”
Chuckling, Alice places the angel back onto the tree, but in a spot more easily reached by a 7-year-old.
Betty beams and snatches the tag off the tree, flipping it over to see what the family is like. ‘Family #12’ is displayed on the back as well as the number of family members. “See! This one is perfect! This family is just like ours, there is a mom, a dad, and two kids!”
Alice smiles down at her rosy nosed daughter with a smile. “This one does seem perfect, Elizabeth! Excellent choice, sweetheart.” They grab their hot chocolates from Pop, waving goodbye and head out to their car, hand in hand.
On the way back to the Cooper residence, Christmas music plays softly through the speakers of their minivan. As much as Betty loves the giving tree, one thing has been troubling her deeply about it. “Mommy?”
“Yes dear?”
With little eyebrows scrunched in confusion she asks, “If Santa brings us presents, why doesn’t he bring the families on the giving tree presents too? Isn’t he supposed to give presents to everyone? What makes those families different?”
“Well, Santa is just one man, honey. Sometimes he needs a little help getting all of his work done for the big day. Santa gave special instructions to Pop to set the tree up every year so that the people of Riverdale can help him.”
Betty’s face lights up at this information. “So that means we’re kinda like Santa’s elves?”
“Absolutely.”
Betty looks down at the paper angel in her hand with a newfound sense of duty. She clutches it closely to her chest, determined to help the big man in red.
Alice switches the radio over to the Michael Buble CD they have in the car. “Betty, why don’t you practice your reading and tell me what the kids on the angel want for Christmas.”
Sitting in her carseat, Betty flips over the paper angel and begins to read the list out loud. “Child #1 is a 7-year-old boy—Oh! That’s my age!—He wants Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books, a notebook, pencils and a flashlight. He sounds amazing, Mommy! I wish I could meet him, I think we would be best friends.”
Alice looks at Betty through the rearview mirror and gives her a warm smile. “He does sound like a nice boy. You and he asked for quite a few of the same things. It must be fate, Santa really knows what he’s doing, huh?”
…
Later, she and Archie are playing Candy Land in his basement, Archie having just been sent all the way back to Mr. Mint. Pouting, he grabs another cookie off of the plate that Betty brought to soothe his sorrows.
“Who did you pick from the giving tree this year, Arch?” Betty picks up a card from the deck and jumps ahead to Princess Lolli.
Archie’s mouth falls open at Betty’s luck, crumbs falling from his mouth. She giggles and takes a cookie herself.
“That’s so unfair! How are you winning for the third time in a row?” Archie scans the board, trying to break the code to winning.
Betty shrugs. “I’m just lucky, I guess.” Archie only grumbles in response, muttering something about cheating through putting loser dust in the cookies. “Anyway! Who did you pick?”
Archie begins playing with his matchbox cars, suddenly bored with the board game. “My mom picked it this year and we got a family who has one girl. She asked for hot pink hair chalk. Who did you get?”
The smile on Betty’s face grows bigger as she thinks of the boy on the card. “There are two siblings, a boy and a girl. The boy is our age, and he sounds so cool, Arch! I wish we knew who he was. He asked for all the things I did, we both want a flashlight, a new notebook and Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books. Doesn’t he sound amazing?” Betty’s hands were grasped together, showing her excitement.
Crumbs fall from Archie’s face as he looks away from his cars to glance at Betty. “He didn’t want a football?”
Remembering Polly talking with her friends, she repeats as her older sister had said. “Well, not all of us are blessed with athletic skill.”
She can only smile and shake her head. Betty has learned many things in her seven exciting years, but the most important thing was that there are two types of people in the world: those that like to read, and those who like football. Archie Andrews is Betty’s best friend, but she can’t help but want another best friend that’s like her, one that likes to read.
…
Later at dinner in the Cooper’s house, at Betty’s insistence, they each choose a member of the angel family to buy presents for. Of course, Betty chooses the boy in the family, Polly chooses the sister, and Mr. and Mrs. Cooper take the parents.
For the next week, Betty is determined to find everything on the boy’s list and get him her very favorite books. Sitting in her room, surrounded by all the things that she picked out (with just a little help from her mom), Betty begins to plan out just what she wants to wrap with her Mickey wrapping paper and how. She folds the corners as precisely as she can, her tongue sticking out in concentration.
Many pieces of tape and a few bows later, Betty gets to the books she picked out. First is The Castle Conundrum, her favorite Hardy Boys adventure, which was a must to be read. But the best part of the whole gift is her very favorite of all time and quite frankly, the best Nancy Drew mystery, The Quest of the Missing Map . Uncapping her glittery purple pen, Betty picks up the book and gingerly opens it to the inside cover. In her best print, Betty writes a message to her secret friend.
A special gift for a special boy.
Never let the adventure be someone else's.
Love,
Elf B
Before shutting the book, she leaves it to dry, careful not to smudge the script inside. Betty stacks the books together once it was ready and wrapped them together. Triumphantly, she gathers all the gifts together and brings them downstairs in her little arms, cheeks pink at the thought of her mom knowing what she wrote in the book.
Alice Cooper beams at Betty as she comes down the stairs. “Those look wonderful sweetie, the first time you didn’t my help!”
“Thank, Mom.”
Once all the gifts for the family were wrapped and ready for drop off, all the Cooper piled into the car in order to deliver them back to Pop’s. The gifts, labelled with what family and child they needed to go to, were placed under the tree.
Leaving the diner, Betty couldn’t help but take one more look at the present under the tree. I sure hope he like those adventures as much as I do.
...
Betty, Archie, Veronica and Jughead all attend NYU together and are finishing up their first semester of college. The first three were thick as thieves before going to college as they stumbled through high school alongside one another.
Archie went random with his roommate and luckily it was Jughead, who just happened to grow up in Riverdale, only moving away before middle school. They brought Jughead into their tight knit group immediately after the first day of classes. Veronica and Betty decided to bypass the whole dorm thing and get an off-campus apartment in one of Mr. Lodge’s buildings. Archie and Jughead often resided in the girls’ apartment to get away from the constant shenanigans that occurred on their floor.
Adding Jughead to the dynamic of their little group was everything they never thought they needed. He evens out Archie’s dude-bro energy with his sardonic humor and overall pessimistic attitude. He also has no qualms about calling Veronica out when she starts to act a little too privileged. Betty is especially grateful for him when Veronica and Archie get too flirty, she has someone to share an eye roll with. Her favorite thing about him though, is how his eyes light up when he’s talking about his favorite literature. Try as he might to be an emo, stick-in-the-mud, no amount of brooding can hide his passion for words on paper.
Aside from the many times they are pushed together because of Archie and Veronica’s impromptu canoodling, Jughead and Betty are also in the same elective, Art Appreciation. Their professor is really intense which has lead to many late night study sessions, many of them leading to the two falling asleep against one another on the couch, notecards still in hand. This class’ final is tomorrow, their last one of the semester due to it getting postponed because of snow. Which leads to both a blessing and a curse, a blessing in the form of more study time, but a curse in that the dorms close at seven tonight and Jughead won’t have a place to stay.
Which leads Betty to her current conversation, “Yes, Jug, I’m sure. Come on, it’s no big deal. We were planning on taking the same train back home and we were going to study together anyway, just stay here.”
Betty’s met with jumbled mumbling and incoherent protests before she interrupts him.
“Seriously? Where else are you going to go?”
“Nowhere,” Jughead grumbles.
Betty smiles at her triumph. “Mhmm. That’s what I thought, I’ll see you in fifteen. Yup, bye.”
Cherry pull-apart Twizzlers, ranch flavored Bugles, peanut butter M&Ms, and apple slices cover the kitchen counter and her speaker is perched on the bookshelf, already connected to her phone. Betty has gotten all of their favorite snacks in preparation for their final art study session.
Her living room floor is covered with flashcards of artworks ranging from the mosaics in the church of San Vitale to Van Gogh’s paintings of the Rouen Cathedral. Betty’s bags are all packed and waiting at the doorway of her room since she and Jughead were supposed to go home yesterday after their final, but the weather had other ideas. Veronica and Archie are already in Riverdale, leaving the girls’ apartment actually quiet for once.
Exactly fifteen minutes after she had hung up with Jughead, there is a knock at the door. Betty skips up, and throws open the door with a wide smile. “Happy last study day!”
“Hiya Betts, ready to be done, are we?” He lets out a soft laugh as he walks into the apartment, dropping his bag next to the coat rack.
“My brain feels like mush! I need to go home and bake until it returns to its usual shape.”
Jughead is already popping M&Ms into his mouth. “Some of those cookies will make their way to me, of course?”
Betty nudges his arm with hers. “When have I ever made a batch of cookies and not put some aside for my favorite Cookie Monster?” Betty can’t help the blush that involuntarily rises to her cheeks at the realization of how stunning his eyes look when he wears his blue sweater. And how good his arms look with the material stretching perfe— Woah, where did that come from?! Betty rips her eyes away from the boy in front of her and tightens her ponytail. “Anyway, we should get to studying. We don’t want to waste the extra time we were given.”
Betty pops on their study playlist full of their favorite movie scores (but mostly pieces from Pride and Prejudice because that is the ultimate homework music, regardless of what Jughead says). They both settle down on the floor, Jughead making room for all of the snacks and Betty gathering the flash cards.
“Alright Juggie, let's start with an easy-ish one. What period was The Slave Ship by J.M.W Turner created in?”
Jughead’s eyes widen and his mouth opens to give an answer but all that comes out is “Va Omanfic Eriod!”
Shaking her head, Betty giggles at his antics. “Maybe swallow first, and then answer.”
Dramatically, he makes a show of swallowing the food in his mouth and then bows with one arm out and the other across his stomach. “The Romantic Period, madam.”
Betty nods in approval.
Picking up another card from the J.M.W. Turner pile, Jughead asks, “What elements of Romantic Period paintings are found in The Slave Ship?” Betty’s eyes are drawn to the movement of his lips as he asks the question.
Betty closes her eyes to help her focus on the question and not a certain beanie wearing goofball. “Romanticism appealed to raw emotion rather than reason. Turner does this through his use of intense color as well as the variance of colors used throughout the painting.”
Jughead flashes her a mischievous grin before flicking the card to the other side of the living room. “Correct! You’re such a genius, should we just stop studying all together?”
“Jughead!” she insisted.
He reaches across and shakes her shoulder gently. “Come on Betts, we’ve gone over this information at least a dozen times. Let’s just watch a movie or something.”
Trying not to let the warmth from his hand distract her, she pushes back. “But Jug,” Betty leans closer and lowers her voice into a whisper. “Bromberg scares me. I have to do well on her final. Please? ” She gives him her best puppy dog eyes and refuses to break eye contact with him.
His resolve seems to break and his arm falls away from her shoulder, and head rolling back. “ Fine .” Bringing his head back upright he glares at her. “I hate when you play the victim card.”
She just smiles at him and continues to ask him questions. They study for the next few hours, the sun going down halfway through their time. Although Jughead agrees to continue studying with her, he demands breaks every half hour, and when she refuses, he throws candy at her until she puts the flash cards down.
When they’ve made their way through the cards twice, Jughead jumps up from his spot. “Put those cards away, Cooper! We are done. You know everything and I know as much as I’m going to know.”
Betty opens her mouth to protest holding up one of the cards with the Cordoba Mosque on it. “If you ask me one more question Betty, I will go into your bathroom and lock myself in there until our final tomorrow.”
She can’t help the giggles that leave her mouth at his dramatics. “Okay, okay you win. But,” she hesitates for a moment and then rushes out, “who was the patron of the Cordoba Mosque?”
Sticking out his tongue, Jughead yells, “Nooooo!” He runs down the hallway in the direction of the bathroom, but before he can make it too far, his socked foot slips on the hardwood and his face goes directly into the floor. A loud grunt comes from his general direction.
Betty gasps and a hand flies up to her mouth as she scrambles to get to him. “Oh my god, Jug!”
When she gets to his side, he is still in the position that he fell in, his face to the ground and arms lying limp by his head. She rests a hand on his back, shaking him slightly. “Juggie?”
A muffled response comes from him. “This is what happens when you insist we keep studying.” Betty lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, knowing he was okay. “Injuries occur. This is all your fault. I may never move again, all because you wanted to keep studying.”
Betty slaps him on the arm. “Hey!”
He rolls onto his back and throws a hand up in her direction. “And now she’s hitting poor injured boys! She must be stopped!”
Her mouth drops open and she gets up, walking away from him. “Say goodbye to those cookies I was going to bake you, Jones. All I have to say, is at least you’ll pass that exam now, all thanks to my trusty notecards.”
Betty glances over to Jughead, still sprawled out on the floor, through now his face has a look of total betrayal that makes her burst out laughing.
“Oh come on, Betty! Don’t deprive me of one of the two most beautiful things in this world.”
From the kitchen she calls to him in confusion, “And what might be the other most beautiful thing in the world, hmm?” I swear if he says Kennedy from his writing class I’m going to beat him up.
“That’s a secret to be disclosed at a later time, my sweet Betty Cooper.”
Betty rolls her eyes and continues to get two mugs down from the cabinet as well as hot chocolate packets out. “Why are you always so cryptic?”
Jughead finally pulls himself away from the floor and makes his way over to the kitchen and leans against the counter so he’s facing Betty. “How else would I maintain my mysterious and broody demeanor?”
Busying herself with the mugs in front of her and without thinking Betty says, “I mean you could just… not. When you aren’t so worried about hiding things I get to see glimpses of what’s hiding behind the brood, and it’s amazing.” She kind of trails off towards the end, realizing that she is actually saying this out loud. Great, you couldn’t keep your mouth shut for 5 minutes? She finishes making their hot chocolate and hands his mug to him avoiding looking at his face.
“Sorry Betts, I didn’t quite catch that. What’d you say?” He blows on his cocoa, looking at her over his mug, eyes inquisitive.
Her cheeks heat up again and she has to look away from him, any courage from before now definitely gone. “Oh, I was just talking to myself. You wanna watch something? You can pick.”
“Sure, you in a particular mood for watching something? I know Nicholas Sparks is usually your genre of choice when decompressing. And for you, I suppose I can sit through one of them.”
Betty sits on the right side corner of the couch, legs crossed spread out on the cushions next to her, making sure to leave room for Jughead. To her surprise though, Jughead bypasses the space left for him and seemingly, without a thought, lifts up her socked feet and places them into his lap. Okay, guess I’m not going to focus on any movie that’s being watched tonight.
“I know you secretly love them, Jug, you don’t have to pretend.” She emphasizes her point by sipping her hot chocolate.
Jughead huffs, furrowing his brow and adorably pouting his lips in protest. “Just because I admitted to liking Safe Haven doesn’t mean I like all of them.” He won’t look at her which tells her that he does, in fact, like all of them.
While he browses their options, Betty glances outside and all she can see it white. The snow flakes are thick and fluffy, dancing their way down to the ground. It covers everything in a beautiful purity, creating the illusion of everything being new. “Wow, the snow is still falling, I wonder if it’ll actually stop by tomorrow. Hopefully we keep our power.”
Just as the words are leaving her lips, the lights in her apartment flicker, and then shut off.
“Remarkable, Cooper. Absolutely incredible.” Jughead muses, a teasing note lacing his tone.
“Turn on your phone light, I’ll grab my headlamps.”
“Headlamps? What about candles? Isn’t that the making of every great holiday movie? The power goes out and the only light source are candles, creating a soft, warm glow that exudes the feeling of an old fashioned Christmas?” Jughead rambles on as they make their way down the hallway, only bumping into one counter on the way.
Giggling, she responds, “Says the man who doesn’t like Nicholas Sparks. You’re quite the romantic there, Jones.”
Jughead grumbles behind her. “I really hate it when you expose me like that. You’re going to destroy my image.”
Betty rummages around in their hall closet, finding at least a dozen Bath and Body Works candles. “Oh what a shame that would be!” she teases. “Here, take these and the matches.” Betty hands him three candles while she grabs a few more. “We’ll place them in the kitchen and the living room, we can camp out on the couch tonight.”
Jughead raises an eyebrow. “What happened to the headlamps?”
“You aren’t seriously asking me that, are you? You just gave me a long winded speech about the essential atmosphere that the candles set.” She gives him a light shove to get him to start heading back to the kitchen.
“You don’t have to make me seem so pushy. And I’m never long winded, thank you very much.” he grumbles back at her.
They dance around one another, setting up the candles, an orange glow slowly covering the apartment. The candle light flickers across the walls, imitating the dance of the people in the room.
Betty backs up and collides with Jughead’s solid chest. She closes her eyes and inhales for a moment, taking him in.
Jughead’s hands come up to her elbows and gently squeeze. “You alright?”
Betty jolts slightly and pulls away from him, spinning to face him. She tightens her ponytail just to give herself something to do other than make a fool of herself. Good Betty, be weirder, that’ll certainly get his attention. “Yeah, I um, I’m gonna get some blankets. You know, so we can stay warm. It’s gonna get cold, and yeah, anyway, I’m just gonna, y’know.” She gestures vaguely towards her room and walks away as quickly as she can without running.
Getting to her room, she closes the door and presses her back against it. She closes her eyes and lets the darkness calm her racing heart. It’s just Juggie, alone time with him isn’t new. Just relax. Letting out a breathe, she reaches for her phone and turns on the flashlight. Betty grabs as many blankets as will fit into her arms and heads back to the living room.
“Alright, this should be enough.”
Jughead grabs a few from her and settles himself on the couch, one blanket around his shoulders the other placed on his lap. He sits with his back to the arm of the chair and one of his legs along the back of the couch. “It’s already starting to get cold, you’d think Veronica’s dad would make sure to get only the best windows for his little girl. But no, these things are as drafty as can be.”
Betty throws one of the blankets around her shoulders. “Could you complain a little more?” she chuckles at him. “They aren’t that bad. Hand me the small blanket next to you.” He does as he’s asked and Betty shoves the blanket along the edge of the window, hopefully preventing too much cold air from getting through. “There.”
She sits on the opposite edge of the couch, knees to her chest. “Now we wait for the power to come back on.”
Jughead mirrors Betty’s position so they’re looking at one another from across the couch. “We might be waiting awhile for that.”
Betty nudges his leg with her foot. “Well, in that case, start entertaining me Juggie.” Before she can take her foot from his leg, he gives her a shit eating grin and grabs her foot, bringing her closer to tickle her.
She lets out a squeal. “Jug! That’s not what I meant!” Jughead just laughs at Betty, enjoying her struggle way too much. “I’m gonna die!” Betty can only get her words out through short gasps, interrupting her laughter. “I can’t breathe!” She wriggles around, eventually rolling on top of him in order to get him to stop. Betty manages to pin Jughead’s arms down, grabbing his forearms. “Juggie! Stooooop!”
He’s still laughing as he concedes, “Okay, okay! I surrender. I promise I won’t tickle you anymore.” Betty lets out a little huff and lets go of his arms. Before she can get back to her spot, though, Jughead wiggles his eyebrows at her. “You trying to make a move on me, Betts?”
Her face flushes bright red as she scrambles off of him. “Ohmygod.” She covers her head with the blanket that was over her shoulders. “Sorry Jug, I was just trying to get you to stop tickling me, I didn’t even thi—”
“Betty, stop.” Jughead leans over and tugs the blanket from her face. “I was only joking.” He shrugs. “It’s not like we haven’t been in a similar situation, we tend to fall asleep on one another while studying a lot these days.”
Betty chances a glance at his face, he’s avoiding her face at all costs and she thinks she sees a blush creeping up his neck, but it’s probably just a reflection of the candle light on his skin.
They both sit in silence for a bit, unsure of what to say next. Betty watches the candle light flicker across the silhouette of Jughead’s face. The shadows define all the features she’s come to love about him. His face is somehow softer and yet more defined in this lighting. She’s so caught up in tracing every line of his face with her eyes, that she almost misses his question.
“Anyway, what are your plans for when you get home? Is Mama Copper already in full frenzy mode?” Jughead still isn’t quite meeting her eyes, staring just past her and out the window.
He definitely saw me staring. Ugh, why can’t I just be normal and communicate with him. “Hi, yes, Jughead? Marry me?”
Yup. That right there is the reason I silently pine. Good grief, Cooper.
“Yeah, she keeps sending me texts about what I want for dessert and then ignoring my suggestions and doing what she always does anyway. It’s like she uses me to have a conversation with herself. I just give her yes and no answers now.” She lets out a little laugh. “I’m sure it’ll be much worse once I get home.” Jughead’s finally looking at her again, a small smile that makes her heart skip, gracing his lips. “What about you?”
He stretches a bit before answering. “I’m not quite sure, it’s different every year. Jelly and I are supposed to be spending it with my dad this year, hence me going back to Riverdale and not back to my mom’s house. Dad always tends to go over the top to make up for the years we didn’t have enough money for Christmas as well as the ones he misses since we’re with my mom most times. It’s always a weird dynamic, but being with Jellybean is really the only thing I need, y’know?”
“Yeah, I get that. Without Polly, I think I’d actually strangle my mom. Siblings have a funny way of being the exact person to keep you from insanity while also being the exact person to drive you to insanity.”
Jughead smiles widely at that. “You’ve got that right. I love Jellybean, but boy, her preteen attitude is a lot to deal with sometimes.”
Stretching her limbs a little further along the couch, Betty takes her ponytail out, fluffing her hair. “The preteen years aren’t a good time for anyone.”
Jughead also stretches out, their legs now resting along one another. “As broody as you think I am now, in my preteen years, I wore giant over the ear headphones 24/7 and was one step away from guyliner.”
“Oh no, Juggie! The preteen years really weren’t good to you.” Betty’s hands are covering her mouth, trying to keep the laughter from spilling out of her mouth.
Jughead leans down and squeezes her calf. “Alright, Miss Betty Cooper, what were your preteen years like? Because honestly, all I’m imagining is Bo Peep.”
A barking laugh bubbles out of her, unable to keep it from escaping. “You aren’t that far off. I pretty much wore the same sweater in varying shades of bubble gum pink everyday, with a pair of medium wash jeans. And if I was feeling really dangerous, I’d wear a pair of dark wash jeans.”
“Oh my, Betty Cooper! How scandalous of you!”
“I know,” she says, shaking her head, “I can’t believe Mama Cooper let me out of the house.”
A shiver runs through her body, making Betty pull the blankets tighter around her shoulders.
“You cold?” Jughead asks.
“Yeah, I should probably grab another blanket.” she responds, moving to get up.
Jughead grabs her wrist and tugs lightly. “Nah, just…” he seems to weigh things in his head before continuing his thought. “C’mere.” He tugs a little harder so that she falls into his lap. She sits in between his legs, his arms coming to wrap around her.
“Are you sure?” she asks, a little hesitantly. Oh god, he can probably feel my heart beating a mile a minute. Maybe I should just...stop breathing.
“Of course I’m sure.” His mouth is right by her ear and his voice is much lower than it was before. The close proximity and the soft lighting creates a fragile bubble around them. “I’m cold too, you can be my heated blanket.”
She giggles softly and relaxes against his back, her head resting on his shoulder.
“Hey Betts, what’s the best gift you’ve ever been given?” His question comes a little out of the blue.
“I think I’d have to say it was the Nancy Drew Secret Code book my mom gave me for Christmas,” she whispers back at him. “She also got me the Nancy Drew movie and an outfit that Nancy wore in the movie. I felt like a true detective and continued to sleuth around my house for months.” Betty laughs softly, getting lost in her memory for a moment. Jughead’s fingers start to trace patterns over her arms, causing her breath to hitch. Maybe if I don’t move, he’ll keep going. Like forever. I could die like this and not be mad about it.
Betty can feel Jughead’s soft breathing against her cheek as well as the smile that comes to his features. “That’s the most Betty Cooper answer that you could have given. I love it.”
Her heartbeat speeds up at his words. “I couldn’t get enough of Nancy Drew. I so desperately wanted to be her. I could never get anyone to play detective with me though, Archie always got too bored before we even got to uncovering what the mystery we had to solve actually was.”
Betty feels the rumble of laughter in Jughead’s chest before she hears it. “Yeah, that sounds like our Archie.” Jughead moves from tracing patterns on her arms to playing with her fingers under the blanket. “I would have played detective with you every single day.” His voice drops to a whisper and she has to strain to hear him.
Trying not to dwell on his words she moves the conversation along. “What was the best gift you were ever given, Jug?” In a moment of bravery, Betty laces her fingers with his. I really hope my palms don’t start to sweat.
Jughead squeezes her hand and pulls her body closer to his. “My family went through a really rough time when I was about seven. The best gift I was ever given actually came from one of those adopt-a-family programs.” Jughead shifts behind her and moves to get up. “I actually have it with me, let me get it.” He clumsily leaves the spot behind her, foot getting stuck in the blankets as he stumbles into the coffee table.
“Today just really isn’t your day with walking, is it, Jug?” Betty says with a giggle.
“Yeah, yeah,” he teasingly grumbles. Jughead makes his way over to his backpack, phone light leading the way. Betty hears a zip and then some ruffling of pages. Jughead puts his hand on Betty’s gently pushing her forward to return to his spot behind her. He hands her a book and he continues to explain. “This book is the best gift I’ve ever been given. It was more heartfelt than anything I received from my own parents. A total stranger , Betts.” Betty hears a crack in his voice and grabs his hands again, tracing soothing circles with her thumb. “But anyway, when I tell you I would have played Nancy Drew with you, I wasn’t kidding.” He hands her the book in his hand and flashes his phone light so she can see the cover.
The book is obviously well loved, the paper back cover is missing it’s bottom right corner, having been ripped off from being folded. The pages crinkle under her touch and many of the pages have folds in the corners from him dog-earing them. Jughead brings the flashlight closer to the cover of the book, revealing the title: The Quest of the Missing Map. Betty’s heart stops. She slowly opens the cover, her purple writing, now slightly faded, stares up at her.
“Juggie…” Betty can’t take her eyes off of the purple script in front of her.
“I carry this book with me everywhere. It was exactly what I wanted to hear from someone in my family but never did. It also made me believe in Santa for just a little bit longer because I thought he really did know what every child wanted.”
Betty shifted her body so she was cross-legged and facing him. Still staring at book, she whispers more to the book than him, “I was the one who gave you this book.” She lifts her eyes from the cover and meets his shining blue ones. “You still lived in Riverdale then, right?” He nodded, eyes wide, mouth slightly parted. “I was so excited when we picked your family from the tree. I picked out your gifts because they were exactly what was on my Christmas list that year.”
Jughead eyes are intently scanning her face, a look of disbelief flashing over his features.
Betty takes ahold of one of his hands again. “I used to pray at night that we would meet because I was sure that we would be the perfect best friends.”
A smile breaks out onto his face, lighting up his eyes and making Betty’s stomach flutter at how beautiful he looked in the candlelight. Jughead lifts up his hand and cups the side of her face, gently stroking her cheekbone. Betty leans into his touch and closes her eyes momentarily.
“Well would you look at that,” he sighs, “my very own Betty Cooper has been looking out for me before I even knew her. My very own Elf B.” Betty can’t help the smile that spreads across her face, matching the one that graces his lips.
“In a way, you were there for me too. Your Christmas list allowed me to create a sort of imaginary friend. It was comforting to know that there was someone out there that had the same interests as me.” The space between them had gotten smaller without her realizing. Once she finishes speaking, Jughead is only inches away from her.
“You really are incredible, Betty Cooper.” Jughead brushes a thumb over her bottom lip, eyes darting from her lips and back to her eyes.
Betty closes the distance between them and brushes her lips against his. She pulls back slightly, unsure if that was actually what the moment was calling for. Oh god, oh god, I really just jumped the gun there didn’t I. He’s gonna hate me, I’ve ruin —
Before her thoughts could spiral further into self doubt, Jughead pulls her face back to his by the back of her neck. Their lips meet and her surprise melts away as she relaxes into his touch. Pulse fluttering underneath her skin, she reaches up to grab his shirt collar, desperately trying to get him closer to her.
When he pulls away, and Betty tries to ignore the tug of disappointment in her chest. Jughead plants a gentle kiss against her nose.
“Merry Christmas, Elf B.”
They spend the rest of the night trading stories about past Christmases and traditions that each of their families have. They ward off the cold, holding each other tight and snuggling up with blankets until they fall asleep.
…
Betty opens the red doors of Pop’s, the bell jingles, alerting the diner of her entrance. Scanning the booths, Betty spots the woolen beanie she’s so familiar with and heads over.
Jughead must have finished whatever thought he was writing down because as she watches him, he shuts his laptop and stands up to meet her. He grabs her hand and pulls her to him. They hold on to one another for a moment, breathing each other in. “Betty Cooper.” He pulls back from their hug in order to scan over her face, seemingly looking for anything different from the last time he had seen her. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.” His hands comes up to cups her cheek, thumb brushing her cheekbone.
“It’s only been three days, Jug,” she says with a soft laugh.
“Yeah, but usually we see each other every day, whether just by ourselves or with the whole gang. I need my Betty time.”
The smile reaching across her face is so big it almost hurts. Kissing him on the cheek, she moves them to sit across from one another in the booth. “So how has it been, being home? I’m sure Jelly is thrilled to have you around.”
“It’s been great, she’s always so full of energy, although I think she may kill me by the end of break.” Jughead laughs. “But anyway, there was actually a reason I wanted to meet you, other than, y’know, just seeing you.” He rubs his neck before taking a wrapped package out of his messenger bag. “I wanted to give you this.”
Jughead hands her the package and Betty takes it, quickly unwrapping it to reveal a beautifully decorated hardcover book. Betty flips over the novel, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, the deep purple of the binding contrasting with the winding golden flowers all over the front. “Juggie…”
“Open the cover.” he murmurs.
She looks up to him before doing as he says. On the inside cover of the book, Jughead wrote a message in blue ink.
A beautiful book for a beautiful girl.
I can’t wait to follow you through every adventure we make together.
Love,
Your Elf J
Looking at him through her tear filled eyes, she opens her mouth to try and convey the love and gratitude she’s feeling, but words are failing her in this moment. Instead she reaches over the table and cradles his face with both of her hands, bringing his lips to hers. Jughead immediately responds, sliding his hand into her hair. Pulling away, she holds his hand over the table.
“Thank you, Jughead. I think you might have just given me my new favorite gift.”
She wasn’t quite sure if she meant the book or the boy in front of her.