Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Betty, wake up," Alice softly said to her daughter, touching her shoulder in order to make her presence sensed. Betty moved slightly and groaned, without really wanting to get up and get ready for her first day of school.

"Honey, it's 7:30, you're gonna be late," Alice informed her, feeling relieved at the thought that this was her daughter's last year of school and she won't have to wake her up by the time she leaves for college.

"Just five more minutes," Betty mumbled and pulled her sheets even closer to her. Alice sighed and left her bed with a quiet "okay", clearly defeated. Before she knew what was going on, she saw her son walking into Betty's bedroom with a glass of water in his hands and a cunning smile on his face. "Charles, don't-" she started saying, but it was too late.

"Rise and shine, sis," Charles said, emptying the whole glass on the top of Betty's head and making her get up immediately with a shocked look on her face.

"You little b-"

"Language, kids," Alice interrupted her.

"You're gonna regret this, Charles, I swear to God," an annoyed Betty said and started chasing her brother inside her bedroom but failing horribly. Charles was an excellent runner after all and Betty's relationship with running was definitely not the best. Her brother managed to sneak out of her room and lock himself inside his own room without being able to stop laughing through the whole process. After he had been sure he was safe, he shouted that Betty should be thanking him because she would be late for once again, but between all the cursing and the complaints that now she had to dry her hair because they were wet, Betty didn't seem to appreciate her brother's move.

First day of school. First day of senior year.

Everybody by the Backstreet Boys, their newest hit, was blasting through her headphones (it was a guilty pleasure of hers that no one could know about, since listening to Backstreet Boys didn't match her grunge aesthetic) while she was riding her skateboard and wished that she didn't have to see everyone from her class again. People were so dull and predictable that made Betty feel trapped in a world in which she didn't really belong to. Even her best friend, Veronica Lodge, didn't seem to really get how she was feeling sometimes. Perhaps it was because they had grown up in different ways.

Betty's family owned a record store, “Vinyl Resting Place” and Betty started working there since she was fourteen. She interacted with people, multiple of them, on a daily basis. She recognized a spoiled kid, a loner or an extrovert when she saw one. She was never wrong, and she always knew with whom she was dealing with. Well, except for one person: Veronica Lodge. Yes, her best friend was the daughter of a millionaire, and she was basically born with a silver spoon, but she wasn’t an ungrateful girl like Betty thought at the beginning. She was kind to other people, and she always tried to see the best in them. That was because Veronica rarely saw the harsh side of people. She was used to them being helpful and ready to serve her, so she was always positive and delighted when she was around them. Hearing her most beloved friend saying negative things about her classmates didn’t make any sense to Veronica and Betty couldn’t accuse her in the slightest.

While she was thinking of Veronica, her best friend that she hadn’t seen since the beginning of summer, her mobile phone rang. “That must be her,” she thought and jumped off her skateboard, ready to answer the phone.

“Hello?” Betty greeted.

“Oh my God, B! I thought you were still asleep,” Veronica said, clearly anxious. “Are you on your way? I should have come and pick you up-"

Betty let out a slight laugh and interrupted her friend, who was rumbling. “It's fine, V. I’ll be there in five, don’t worry. Charles made sure that I would be at school on time,” she sighed, still annoyed with her brother and his way of wakening her up.

“Oh, that’s great. Thank God your brother exists," Veronica murmured. She always voiced her fondness for Betty's older brother, something that frequently made Betty feel kinda uncomfortable. " I can’t wait to see you, B. I’ll probably be with Reggie when you’ll get here, don’t you dare hesitate to come and hug me just because you hate that boys’ guts,” Veronica quickly continued.

“Fine, fine. I’ll see you in a while,” she said and ended the call. She promptly got on her skateboard and sped up in order to make it to school on time (and maybe talk some sense into her friend before she decided to do something stupid with Reggie Mantle). She wasn’t even paying attention to her surroundings – which would be pretty cool if it was any other day and she wasn’t riding her skateboard while thinking about hundreds of things at the same time – and she certainly didn’t notice the man who suddenly appeared in front of her. It was too late when she finally acknowledged his presence and she was going way too fast to be able to slow down, so she ended up bumping into him. The loud thud that was heard caught the man’s attention, who realised right then that someone had collided with him since he was in the middle of a phone call that probably had him abstract.

“What the fuck?” the man shouted, anger evident in his voice. He quickly proceeded to end his call, and he brought all of his attention to Betty. Her first thought was that this guy was gorgeous. He was tall, dressed in a black turtleneck and black pants and he had curly, ebony black coloured hair and the bluest eyes she had ever seen. She could probably stand there and stare at him for hours, but the scowl on his face reminded her of the way he reacted to her bumping into him, which was totally not cool.

“Hey, you don’t have to talk to me like that,” Betty exclaimed while crossing her hands in front of her chest, ready to defend herself.

“If you wanna use that thing, learn how to ride it first and try not to kill anyone,” he continued with a pointed finger towards her skateboard.

Betty scoffed and rolled her eyes. She was used to people being rude and dramatic, but this guy was on another level. “Kill? Oh, relax a little. It’s not like you are injured or something. And after all, you’re the one who appeared in front of me out of nowhere while you were talking to your mobile phone.”

“Woah, wait. So I’m the one who’s irresponsible, huh? That’s rich coming from you,” he angrily yelled and took a deep breath in order to relax.

“At least I remember to look around me while I cross the street-”

“I wasn’t even crossing the damn street; I was at the sidewalk!” he harshly reacted to Betty’s words. His eye colour had switched to a darker shade, making his eyes look clouded, but omg that wasn’t the point of what was happening at that moment.

She tried to calm herself and tried to end the conversation. “For the record, I’m a high school student-”

“No duh!” he ironically commented and tried to hold back a laugh.

“First of all, stop interrupting me! And secondly, it’s 1997, you moron, no one uses ‘no duh’ anymore,” she responded and noticed that he smirked, despite the fact that she had just insulted him. “Anyways, as I was saying, I’m a high school student who’s trying to not be late on her first of school and I am not in the mood of fighting with you, so get out of my way and let me leave,” she cried out, not succeeding at remaining calm. If it was any other person, she would have apologised by now, but this man’s behaviour made her furious and Betty wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of an apology.

“Do you think that this is pleasing to me?” he gestured to the space between them. “Go on, you can leave,” he took a step to his left, allowing her to start moving. Before she took off, she heard him mumble “By the way, being an emo bitch isn’t a trend anymore,” and after giving him the finger, she moved away.

What a jerk, she thought. She couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that she was attracted to him at first (and kept staring at his eyes when he seemed extremely angry with her).

Ten minutes after she had talked with Veronica on the phone, Betty had finally arrived to school. Finally? She wasn’t glad to be back there, but at least her days wouldn’t be too boring anymore. She would see Veronica on a daily basis and start writing for the school’s newspaper, the Blue and Gold, for once again. The Blue and Gold was like her child in some way, since she was the one who decided to “bring it back to life”, as her mother tended to say. Back in the 70s Betty’s aunt used to run it, but after her graduation no one seemed to be interested in it, so the office for the newspaper was locked for many years. That was until Betty found out about it in her sophomore year and decided to make the Blue and Gold a thing again. With the help of Kevin Keller, a shy boy who’s a year younger than her, she organised the place and started publishing a new issue every month.

As she was walking across the school's yard, Betty noticed all the familiar faces. The one that caught her attention was Ethel Muggs, a girl from her biology class who was sitting alone (as always) and she was looking wistfully at the groups of friends around her. She would approach her and try to get closer to her this year, Betty promised to herself. She was a sweet and kind person who deserved happiness and it was so unfair that people didn’t appreciate those values anymore.

While she was deep in thought, a hand on her shoulder startled Betty and made her turn her head in order to see who was touching her. She was displeased to realise that it was Reggie Mantle, the boy who didn’t seem to take off his letterman jacket ever. He had that stupid smirk on his face and Betty wanted nothing more than to punch him. “Cooper,” he said with a teasing tone.

“Mantle,” she responded with a stone cold expression, wishing that her best friend would suddenly appear and save her from that weirdo.

“I haven’t seen you this whole time, Betty. I missed your face,” he continued, trying to look charming and completely failing. Ew, she thought.

“I was busy. Have you seen-”

“Come on, Betty. I’ve been trying to take you on a date forever and you keep refusing,” Reggie whined and looked intensely at her, probably hoping that this look would make her fall for him.

Did he really believe that he would make her fall for him with this behaviour? “Reggie, I’m not going on a date with you. Ever. All the girls you’ve dated say that you’re a womanizer, and I personally believe them. So, go away and leave me the fuck alone,” she replied, losing her temper by the end of her sentence. The boy opened his mouth to say something – another bullshit probably – but he was interrupted by the arrival of Veronica.

“Here you are, both of you. I was actually looking for Reggie, but I’m so glad you made it on time, B. Come here,” she said and before Betty was able to move, her friend had wrapped her in her arms. Even though Betty felt uncomfortable showing intimacy in front of random people, she had forgotten about Reggie’s presence when she finally got to hug Veronica after three whole months. “I’ve missed you,” Betty informed her softly.

“I’ve missed you too, dude,” Jellybean said.

He hadn’t seen his sister for two days, since she was staying at her friend’s house for the weekend, but she quickly came back after Amelia’s mother realised that Jellybean had gotten the flue. Hearing her say the word ‘dude’ to him was a little bit weird.

“Dude? I’m your brother, you can’t call me that,” Jughead said while he crossed the room to get closer to his sister. There were scattered pieces of paper everywhere in that place and Jughead tried to understand how a 14-year-old girl had created such a mess.

“Amelia says calling someone ‘dude’ is cool, so if you don’t want to be cool, I can stop,” she shrugged. Jellybean was always the type of person that didn’t force you into anything. If you didn’t like something, she wouldn’t say or do it. She was a lovely sister and the only family he had left.

When their parents died on a car accident, Jellybean was only 10. Jughead was on his senior year of high school and while he should have started looking for colleges and applying to many of them, he ended up taking care of his younger sister. He never regretted anything when it came to her. He would take another year gap if he knew it would help Jellybean. But, as it turned out, moving from Riverdale to New York was the best that happened to both of them since then. Jellybean had found many new friends that made her happy and less lonely than she felt on Riverdale, their birth town. Jughead was studying archaeology, he enjoyed all of his classes and he loved the challenges he had to face every day, even though his other pals from New York University preferred a much simpler life and all the parties that surrounded their college life.

Jughead was definitely not a party person. He loved playing arcade games, and he often visited Pop’s Chocklit Shoppe, a 50s themed diner in which except for the delicious meals and the staff’s hospitality, an arcade machine could be found. Jughead went there with his sister or his close friend, Archie Andrews. It was a wonder how those two ended up being best friends. Archie was an amateur musician, who was obsessed with jazz music. He dropped out of college when he realised that archaeology wasn’t for him, but thankfully Jughead had already met him on his first year there and they had the chance to form this beautiful friendship. Aside from their differences (Archie was a ladies man and he liked spending his nights at clubs and getting drunk while Jughead was studying for many hours, doing research constantly and he also spent his time with his little sister), the two friends were always there for each other and loved one another deeply, creating a strong bond.

Archie was like a brother to Jellybean as well, something that Jughead always appreciated and this fact made him feel even more grateful for his read-headed friend. His sister was currently having the flue, and she was missing her first day at school, which was why Jughead had to skip his classes for today too.

“Why have you thrown away all those papers?” Jughead asked, not being used to this kind of untidiness. The paper he had picked up had a few words written on them and many smudges. “What are you trying to write, JB?”

Jellybean stood up immediately and pulled the piece of paper away from her brother, clearly annoyed with his behaviour. “These are song lyrics, moron,” she said, a blush forming on her cheeks which showed her embarrassment on the fact that she was trying to create something of her own. Archie’s impact on Jellybean was huge and Jughead was aware of that, but he didn’t know his sister was so into music.

The word that stuck on his mind, though, was the word ‘moron’. He had already been called that earlier, by that blonde girl who had bumped into him and she didn’t even apologise to him. Her style reminded him of Jellybean, whose clothing choices were very similar to hers. The grunge outfit she wore which included a pair of black combat boots, black pants and a flannel on her shoulders is something that he could imagine his sister wearing in a few years, when she starts shopping alone more and more often. That girl’s behaviour, though, was something else and he hoped that JB wouldn’t end up like this.

He knew that if Archie was with him when the incident happened, he would definitely ignore the fact that she was acting like a bitch and would focus on her looks. Jughead could admit she was pretty. Her long, blonde hair and green eyes were a great combination and complimented her face. But no, he wasn’t Archie. He couldn’t pay attention to her good looks when she was nothing more than an impertinent girl.

With a sigh, he collected all the scattered pieces of paper from the floor and gave them back to Jellybean. Without responding to her insult (she was sick and moody after all) he touched her forehead in order to feel her temperature. She wasn’t warm, so that was undoubtedly a good sign.

“Did you take your syrup this morning?”

“Yeah, but that thing tastes horrible, Jug, I don’t even know how I didn’t end up throwing up after I drank it,” she admitted with a disgusted look on her face. Jughead caressed her head softly and advised her to be patient.

They made small talk for a while with JB mentioning how she missed her friends today since she wasn’t with them at school and Jughead complaining about the tons of assignments he had to work on. They were both good listeners, something they couldn’t say about their late parents, and just by talking about their problems to one another they felt a little bit better.

“Hey, Jug,” the young girl murmured. Jughead tilted his head and looked through his sister’s eyes. “I’m sorry for yelling at you earlier. It’s just- I'm really unsure of where I go right now and I know that I’m probably too young to think of the future, but you know better than anyone that both of us had to mature a little earlier than our peers,” she took a deep breath and she continued “I am not sure if I’m talented enough to be a songwriter, but I enjoy writing some lyrics at the moment and I want you to support me. You’re the only family I have after all and even though Archie has been nothing but amazing, he's not you,” she added. Jughead had tears in his eyes by the time Jellybean stopped talking, feeling proud of the little woman she had become. She understood what she was saying. Archie would totally encourage her to continue writing song lyrics, but Jellybean needed to listen to his opinion as well. Jughead would always support her no matter what and she wanted to let her know so.

“I’m here, JB. And I am your biggest supporter. You are amazing at everything you’re doing and I’m proud of you,” he said while staring intensely at her. He wanted to make her realise that he believed what he said and judging by her reaction, she probably did. Jellybean smiled at his words and proceeded to hug him with all of her strength. “You’re a cool brother, you know that?”

“Of course I do,” Jughead replied with a cheeky tone and laughed after he noticed Jellybean rolling her eyes. They weren’t used to show their affection, so whenever they did, they ended up feeling slightly awkward. “You would be even cooler if you took me to the movies tonight,” his sister added quickly, sounding unsure of what she was saying.

“What?” he exclaimed and distanced himself from her, “You’re sick, JB. You should recover first and then you can go to school, to the movies or even Amelia’s house.” That’s why she was being so sweet to him. She wanted a favour. It all made sense now, Jughead thought.

“Come on, Juggie,” Jellybean whined. “I don’t have a fever and my throat doesn’t hurt that much anymore. You should have seen me yesterday morning, I'm way better now. Please, please, please-”

Here we go again.

“Ugh, fine! But if you are feeling worse tomorrow, I won’t sit here and listen to you grumbling, okay?” he sighed. His sister knew how to convince him about anything and he had a hard time saying ‘no’ to her.

“Okay, okay! Thank you so much, you’re the best,”

“Yeah, I don’t even want to imagine what you would be saying right now if I refused to take you to the movies,” he mumbled.

Jellybean just smiled. “So, I guess you don’t mind watching ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ with me, right?”

“Seriously now? A Julia Roberts movie?”

“You seem to forget about Dermot Mulroney,” Jellybean responded.

“You a fan of his?” Jughead wondered.

“I mean, he’s really handsome...”

Oh no, why did he say yes to that?

“I was waiting the whole summer to come back here and watch Julia Robert’s newest film with you, B,” Veronica enthusiastically exclaimed. She was on vacation in Rome and hadn't had the chance to meet up with Betty during the summer. They were both big fans of Julia Roberts and always watched her movies together, so they had promised that they would wait until they would meet again to watch her brand new movie. “You wanna go tonight?” she added, waiting for Betty’s response.

She had promised to her parents that she would work at “Vinyl’s Resting Place” after school and she wasn’t sure if she would be in the mood of going to the cinema after her shift, but she couldn’t say no to Veronica, especially after seeing her being so excited in the prospect of watching ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ tonight. She could do both, she guessed.

“Yes, I’d love to,” Betty replied and the smile on her friend’s face was so big that she couldn’t repent about her decision.

“Great, B! Now you have to promise me that you won’t give the middle finger to another poor guy if he looks at you the wrong way tonight,” Veronica teased her for once again since Betty had described what had happened before she got to school.

“The middle finger was a bit too much, wasn’t it?” Betty wondered.

“I mean, he called you a bitch-”

“An emo bitch,” she interrupted her.

“Whatever, an emo bitch, but you were already kinda rude to him,” Veronica stated.

“It wasn’t just my fault though, V. He wasn’t being careful as well and he put the blame on me and only me,” Betty declared. The brunnete girl threw her a glance but didn’t say anything else. “Anyways, it’s not like I’ll see him ever again,” Betty added nonchalantly. New York was a city of 7,383 millions of people and there was no way she would meet that annoying man again.

Right?

tbc

Chapter Text

“Ugh, what a day. I feel exhausted,” Veronica complained by the end of the school day. The black-haired girl was determined to do as many things as she could during her last year of high school, so she tried out for cheerleading (which meant that she had to face the devil herself, a.k.a. Cheryl Blossom) and begged her best friend to give her a gossip column at the Blue and Gold, because ‘all those extracurricular activities will look great at my application forms, B’. But if she was already tired, Betty didn’t want to think about how she would survive until the end of their senior year.

“Are we still on for tonight? Because if you’re not in the mood-”

“I’m always in the mood for a movie night with my bestie,” Veronica interrupted her with a cheerful tone. “Have you seen Reggie, by the way? The last time I spoke to him was this morning when I found you two talking.”

“I- I haven’t seen him ever since,” Betty replied. “Incidentally, what was he saying to you? I know you barely stand that guy, so it was a surprise to see you casually chatting with him,” she asked Betty, making her feel kinda uncomfortable. Veronica seemed interested in him and as much as she disapproved of this new ‘crush’ she didn’t want to sound too harsh. Regardless, her best friend deserved to know the truth and Betty wasn’t planning on hiding it from her.

“He was actually asking me on a date. Again,” she took a deep breath and continued while checking Veronica’s expression and reactions. “I know you like him, V, but he isn’t good for you or any other girl if you ask me. He’s a player and tries to make you feel special only for him to dump you when he gets bored.”

When she finished talking, she braced herself to see a broken look on Veronica’s face. What she didn’t expect was seeing her friend laughing so hard, that some tears had escaped her eyes. They were just outside from the school’s yard and they had to make a stop because Betty was pretty sure that her friend would piss her pants if they took another step. After a few more seconds of hysterical laughter, Veronica finally decided to talk. “Are you kidding me, B? Me and Reggie?” she took another breath and tried to hold back a laugh before she continued. “I know he’s a lost cause, I would never try to persuade anything with him,” she admitted.

That was good, right? But why did something feel weird? Her constant need to find him and talk to him didn’t make sense now that Betty knew the truth. “Then why do you always seem to want to be around him?” Betty questioned, not able to restrain herself.

“He has interesting friends,” she responded. They were still standing outside the school property, so having that conversation there, was a little too risky. Thankfully, before Betty could ask any other questions, they were interrupted by a discreet cough from behind them. When they turned around, they faced Ethel Muggs, who probably appreciated their earlier attempt at approaching her during lunch break. She had opened up to them and even gave them her phone number in order to hang out sometime. Ethel was smiling at them now, and after she greeted them, she suggested to walk them to home since they were all living close to each – which was perplexing, Betty thought, since New York was a huge city –.

Betty and Veronica agreed and started walking with Ethel, talking about everything and anything, leaving their previous conversation behind. She would soon find out about her best friend’s newest crush, Betty decided.

After taking a quick shower and having lunch with her family, Betty took the train to reach her next destination: Vinyl Resting Place. She adored being there, so she was actually looking forward to it, even though she knew that she had a long day ahead of her. She was only ten years old when her family started the business and little Betty was ecstatic. Her love for music from such a young age came from her dear father, who used to be in a rock band back in high school. Betty grew up with tons of music-filled moments, which included concertgoing, singing and dancing. Her older brother, Charles, had also developed a fondness for music and he channelized it through his current part-time job of DJing.

As soon as she reached her destination, a smile formed around her lips, despite her current fatigue. There it was, her safest place in the world. Although it seemed like a small and insignificant store from afar, Betty had learned to never judge a book by its cover. 

*

“Why are we here, mom?” little Betty asked since all she could think about at the time was to go home.

“Patience, sweetie. Dad and I have a surprise for you,” Alice replied while looking at both of her children. Charles, a 16-year-old teenage boy at the time, had overheard his parents talking a few days ago about the “big step they’re about to take as a family”, so he already had an idea about the reason why they were standing at a tiny corner of New York City’s most dangerous neighbourhood: The South Bronx. Hal cleared his throat and three pairs of green eyes were staring at him right away.

“As your mother was saying, we have some news for you, kids. Remember when I told you that you’ll soon get to be more involved with music?”

“I do, dad,” Betty exclaimed, listening to her father’s words carefully, while her brother was just nodding. Hal and Alice smiled at their daughter’s excitement and decided to not delay the news any longer. “Well, both of you will now work at our very own record store.”

For a second, neither Betty nor Charles moved. They were just standing still and staring at their parents. They couldn’t comprehend what had happened. Charles, who thought he knew Alice and Hal’s secret was surprised when he heard that they owned a store, a store relevant to music. Betty was even more excited, even though when she first got to this unknown area, she was extremely unimpressed. She was sure that her parents would probably take them to another neglected diner or an arcade store, so when she faced an empty place and realized that Hal and Alice had stopped right in front of it with smiles on their faces, Betty was curious.

After a quick tour inside their new store, Betty and Charles had hundreds of questions. They wanted to know how they would get involved and how often they would visit the place when they would open it and if they had informed the people who lived there for the record store near them. Four months later, Vinyl Resting Place was the most popular place in the neighbourhood. Betty couldn’t realise back then that this new step for her family and the upcoming success would change her life forever.

*

Today was a quiet day. Betty served only three customers who had come to buy Radiohead’s “OK Computer” album in vinyl since the store was supplied with it recently. Alice didn't have anything to do with the store for the past year because she was busy with her own job, but all the other family members had managed to take over a different post. Hal was the one who was in charge of their supplies, Charles usually arranged the rows of their vinyls and Betty was responsible for the public relations (although she always thought of herself as an antisocial and lonely person).  When it came to music, she could communicate with people on a great level and she usually enjoyed the company of a well-music-educated person.

She had nothing to occupy herself with at the moment, so she decided to do her homework. Betty was bored of school and almost all of her classes (except for music and literature), but if she wanted to take the next step in her life and go to college, she knew that she had to try harder this year in order to have a good GPA.

It had been thirty minutes and Betty was ready to start screaming because physics was impossible to understand when the bell on the store’s door chimed, signalling the entrance of a new customer. When Betty looked up, she was surprised to see her brother standing in front of her. “Charles? To what do I owe the pleasure?” Betty sarcastically asked.

“I need to borrow ‘Spice’ for tonight,” he quietly said, without meeting his sister’s eyes. She couldn’t understand what he was saying so she requested a repetition of his previous sentence.

“Can you lend me Spice Girls’ album?” Charles repeated and Betty couldn’t control her laughter for the next two minutes.

“Where the fuck are you even working? I thought you were only playing hardcore rock music, not ‘Wannabe’,” she managed to say between laughs.

“It’s not for me, airhead. Josie lost the vinyl she had promised to bring for tonight’s show and I offered to help her.” Well, that makes sense. Charles has had a crush on this girl for a long time and he still hasn’t made a move, something that often led Betty into mocking him. “I choose to believe you,” she said and after a brief research, she found the wanted album. Charles was ready to grab it when Betty took a step back and raised her finger to him. “But... you have to do something in return,” she suggested, causing her older brother’s disturbance. “I remember you were pretty good at physics, huh?” Betty continued.

“Yes, I was,” he admitted and she realised that Charles could already tell where this was going. “You have to explain to me Newton’s laws of motion if you want me to give you this.”

A loud groan could be heard from the outside of the store, but Charles was willing to do anything at the moment to get what he wanted, so he started explaining.

It was 8:57 pm.

The movie started at 9 pm.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

She didn’t want to be late, not again. There was only one thing she could do to be there on time: run. By the time she made a turn to her left, got into a tiny street and was officially one minute away from the cinema, she was sweaty and exhausted but she wouldn’t disappoint her friend. Betty ran even faster and she felt slightly relieved when she spotted Veronica waiting patiently for her while sitting on a bench – their bench – near the cinema’s entrance. She probably heard heavy footsteps because Veronica immediately tilted her head and waved at Betty, who was still in hurry despite the fact that she was already there and thankfully, she hadn’t missed the beginning of the movie.

“B, you look amazing!” Veronica exclaimed from afar, making some heads turn towards their direction. Betty instantly blushed since it was well-known she hated being noticed from many people but tried to ignore the few looks that were on her and moved towards her friend, managing to finally slow down. “I’m so sorry for being late-”

“Late? Honey, it’s 9 o’clock and the film won’t start until 9:15,” Veronica said. How stupid can a person get, Betty asked herself. “I thought I was late,” she said, clearly out of breath while leaning forward to touch her knees and trying to calm down. She was wearing her favourite outfit: a white t-shirt with a black spaghetti strap dress on top of it and her well-worn pair of black all-stars. But she probably looked disgusting right now and she had ruined everything, including the future memories of this outfit.

“Oh no, you weren’t, B. I’m sorry you had to run all the way here, I should have picked you up,” Veronica regretfully added. Betty didn’t want her to feel bad for her own stupidity, so she suggested to go and buy some snacks for the movie to change the current mood. In a matter of ten minutes, they were sitting in their seats and they were waiting for the movie to start. The cinema was almost empty, something that Betty loved since she could chat every now and then with her best friend or even cry if the movie gets too sad without worrying about making a fool of herself. Veronica was almost always capable of controlling her emotions, unlike Betty, who had once ended up crying next to an old man while watching ‘Romeo & Juliet’ and made him change his seat five minutes before the end of the movie because he couldn't keep listening to her sobbing. Veronica had laughed at her friend’s ‘accomplishment’ and forgot her own sadness thanks to Betty’s reactions.

The lights slowly turned off, which signalled that the movie was about to start. The two friends couldn’t contain the excitement and after sharing a smile, they were glued to the screen in front of them. Two minutes in the movie, the back door of the room opened and two people walked into it, but Betty was too absorbed in the film to pay attention to them.

“Are you serious, JB?” Jughead whispered a few seconds after he sat down. “The only people who are here are a few elderly ones and two sappy teenage girls,” he angrily added, trying to keep his tone low.

“I’m a sappy teenage girl,” Jellybean stated without even looking at him. Jughead scoffed and was about to shout at his sister for bringing him to the movie theatres to see ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ of all films, but after an annoyed “shhh” he thought better of it and instead remained silent. He saw that Jellybean was smiling, acknowledging her win, so he leaned into her and whispered to her ear. “You’re going to pay for this.”

She raised her eyebrows as if she was challenging him to say what he was willing to do, so Jughead decided to share with her his suggestion. “That boy you can’t stand? What was his name by the way,” Jughead questioned himself and stayed silent for a while until he remembered him “oh yeah, Ricky DeSantos? I’m thinking of inviting him and his older brother, Joaquin, over,” he continued, feeling satisfied with the way his sister was looking at him right now.

“No, you wouldn’t!” Jellybean exclaimed and was met with the disapproval of two old women in the front seats, who tsked and threw and angry glace towards her.

“Enjoy the movie, JB and try to be quiet,” he said in a whisper. The only thing Jellybean did in response was to smack him in the arm, not daring to say anything else.

Jughead – Jellybean: 1 – 0

He wouldn’t admit any of this out loud, but he actually kinda enjoyed the movie. It even made him sad at some times, including the ending scene. His sister was sobbing next to him and despite their earlier fight, he gave her a quick hug and handed her a tissue. Jellybean accepted it and laughed through her tears, mumbling a “thank you” and proceeded to blow her nose. “I told you I’m a sappy teenage girl,” she said after a few seconds. Jughead just smiled at her and got up, extending his hand at his sister, who took it and stood up next to him.

“So, I assume that you liked the movie?” Jughead asked on their way out. Jellybean had been silent for a while, probably still affected by the bittersweet ending of the film. She nodded at him and thanked him again for allowing her to see it and coming with her. “It’s okay, JB. I'm glad you had fun,” he admitted before he stepped out of the building. He was about to tell her that he wouldn’t ask Ricky to come over or pressure her into putting up with him at all when he was met with the same pair of green eyes he had seen earlier today. The blonde girl who bumped into him earlier was sitting on a bench a few metres away from him and she was chatting with a dark-haired girl. She looked different from this morning. First of all, she was smiling. She looked carefree and happy, without any attitude or moodiness. Also, her outfit was pointing out her long, beautiful legs and the dress she had chosen was hugging the curves of her body perfectly.

Fuck, he was staring.

His sister was too occupied thinking about Julia Roberts’ heart-breaking story to notice anything he did. They were throwing away their finished snacks and his sister was arranging her makeup, which meant that Jughead had a few more seconds to examine the blonde girl in front of him. So, he kept looking at her. She seemed to talk a lot and she was passionate about the topic she had chosen because he swears, he hadn’t taken his eyes off of her for two minutes straight and she didn’t even realise he was looking at her. She didn’t feel his intense look. Her friend was the first one to notice Jughead and she instantly blushed, pointing at him and saying something to her. And that’s when she saw him. That’s when the calm look on her face was replaced by a pissed one.

Jughead didn't know how to approach her, so he did the first thing that came to his mind, something he would probably regret soon after this encounter: he gave her the finger.

*

“She even gave him and his wife their song, V. If this isn’t the most selfless thing in the world, I don’t know what is!” Betty cried out. She was analysing the movie with Veronica, a tradition of theirs that helped them understand the facts and explain the ending in a better way than they would do on their own, sharing their opinions and insightful comments. Veronica seemed a bit distracted right now though, and Betty wanted to find out what was bothering her. Maybe she was too invested in the film, she thought but asked her about her current state regardless.

“Veronica, are you listening?”

“I’m so sorry, I am just confused,” Veronica replied.

“About what?”

“Why is this handsome man looking at us? Do we know him?” she continued and pointed behind Betty. The latter followed her finger and when she faced the man Veronica was referring to, she gasped and remembered her eventful morning.

“How dare he ruin my night too,” she mumbled. But then, he saw him doing something that she was pretty familiar with, something she had done to him this morning. He gave her the finger.

Oh no.

Before Veronica could ask her what was going on Betty stood up from the bench she was sitting on for the past five minutes and walked straight to him, the man who seemed to follow her everywhere today. The look on his face indicated that he wasn’t expecting this reaction from her, but he would soon find out that Betty Cooper was full of surprises.

“What the hell did you just do?” she angrily yelled at him as soon as she was close enough for the man to hear her.

“Hello to you too,” he cheekily said to Betty.

“Are you kidding me?” Before either of them could say something, a younger girl that was the female version of the man in front of her turned her attention to them. She looked puzzled but didn’t seem to really care about the whole situation since she asked him, the man who was probably her older brother (he must be her brother, he looks way too young to be the father of this teenager, Betty instantly thought) the keys for the car and left with a quiet “I’ll be waiting there, don’t be too late.”

“Where were we?” he said after the girl disappeared.

“Why did you give me the middle finger?” Betty demanded to know, losing her patience with him. She had crossed her arms in front of her, a usual pose she struck when she was angry.

“I’m sorry, isn’t this kind of our thing? I assumed it was when I saw you giving it to me as a way to say goodbye this morning,” he sarcastically told her. He didn't necessarily seem mad about it, but Betty still felt the need to confront him.

“Seriously? That’s your excuse?” she exclaimed. 

“I should stand up for myself somehow, shouldn’t I?” he jokingly answered. “Also, if I’m not wrong, you did the same thing without a reason or explanation,” he continued. 

“You’re unbelievable! You were rude to me today and yes, I shouldn’t have reacted that way but that doesn’t mean that you’re allowed to offend me without a cause.” He took a step closer to her and if she wasn’t annoyed at the time, she would have probably blushed at the action.

“You can always apologise, you know. I am more than happy to forgive you,” he said with a wink. He freakin’ winked at you, but that’s not what you should be thinking about Betty, she mused.

“And why should I be the one to say sorry?” she wondered out loud. “It’s not like I was the one who started yelling out of nowhere earlier today.” The man chuckled at that and looked at her persistently, not wanting to comment anything on what Betty just said. “You have a point, so in that case,” he said and extended his hand to her “I’m Jughead and I’m sorry for being a dramatic ass earlier.”

What had just happened? Was he saying sorry that easily? And what kind of name was-

“Jughead? Is that really your name or are you pulling a prank on me?” Betty asked him, feeling doubtful about this man’s honesty.

“It’s a nickname and it might suck, but that’s how my parents used to call me from a young age, so it’s stuck with me now, I guess,” he replied and looked at her cautiously. He was waiting for her to introduce herself, Betty assumed.

“I’m Betty Cooper,” she responded and grabbed his hand. As soon as their hands touched, doing a little handshake, Betty experienced a sentiment she was not aware of. Touching his warm, bigger palm gave her a sense of comfort and familiarity which was new to her, especially while being in contact with a total stranger.

“Apology accepted then?” the man, Jughead, asked with a hint of a smile after he dropped his hand. He rubbed his neck, probably because he was feeling uncomfortable and he was scared of her answer. Betty wanted to reassure him that everything was okay but at the same time, she wondered what she was doing. Why was she being friendly and why did she even say her name to him?

Betty turned and caught Veronica’s eye with exasperation, feeling very confused and not knowing what she’s supposed to do. Her friend was patiently waiting for her to finish the small talk with an excited look on her face that screamed “you’re finally going to get laid” and Betty felt the need to roll her eyes at her. Jughead sensed her discomfort and looked between the two friends knowingly. With a sigh and without knowing what else she could do at the moment, Betty repeated his previous words and decided to forgive him.

“Glad to know that you won’t be calling me ‘moron’ anytime soon,” he commented.

“You remember that?” she sheepishly asked.

“Uh-huh,” Jughead replied. Betty must have been blushing because she was embarrassed and she wanted this conversation to end, even though Jughead’s company was quite pleasant. Before she could say anything, he continued to speak. “Would you like a ride home? It’s kinda late and I know you have school-”

“No, thank you,” she politely declined, remembering that Veronica was still waiting for her and she had promised to her that she would sleep at her house that night.

“Oh, okay,” Jughead said clearly disappointed. Why did he want to spend more time with her? “I should be going then, my sister is waiting for me,” he continued and glanced towards his left, where his car was parked with his little sister safe in it.

“Goodnight, Jughead,” Betty told him and without thinking, she added a “see you around” at which Jughead smiled.

“Goodnight, Betts,” he said and left her standing there alone.

It was a chilly night. Betty was aware of that since the moment she stepped out of her house earlier tonight. But why did she suddenly feel colder than she did a few minutes ago?

tbc...