You move to a new town after your father accepts a promotion at his company. You soon find out that the small town is riddled with secrets, chaos, and intriguing characters. There is one boy in particular, Jughead Jones, you can't seem to get off yo...
Your curiosity led you into the hall, where you began to hear sobbing coming from the locker room. You edged inside and knew right away that it was Cheryl Blossom although you could only see the back of her head.
"Cheryl? Are you okay?" You braced yourself for a snarky comment.
She turned and looked at you in surprise before returning her gaze to the ground. "Jason's dead. He's really dead."
"I know. I am sorry." She began sobbing even more hysterically. You hesitantly sat down beside her, putting an awkward hand on her shoulder. She took that as a sign to full on hug you and you remained stuck that way for a moment.
"Cheryl?" You turned to see both Veronica and Betty standing in the doorway. They both rushed in, taking over the duty of comforting her, while you took it as your chance to leave.
You were making a beeline away from the school when all of a sudden you saw Jughead pop out from underneath the side of one the bleachers. He had such an adorable little smile on his face, all you wanted to do was nuzzle yourself into his arms.
"Hey," he said gently. Concern showing on his face.
"Hey."
"I thought you'd gone home."
You didn't know what to say, so you just gazed at the grass.
"What exactly happened?" He tapped your arm.
"Nothing... your friends just hate me."
He laughed. "Hey," he said again when you didn't react. "Come here." He pulled you under the bleachers, away from prying eyes. "Why do they matter?"
"Because they are your friends. If they don't like someone than it's only a matter of time before you cut that person out of your life too." You felt yourself blushing. This really made it clear that you cared about him and were worried about losing him.
"Honestly, I could care less if they like you." He seized the sides of your arms and stroked them gently with his thumbs. "You are my friend. You barely knew me, and you were there for me. And I feel like I can actually talk to you, without safeguarding myself. Yeah, Archie and Betty are my friends, and they are great, but so often I feel like they are judging me or trying to change me. Not to mention, I can't fully trust them. They just end up doing what they think is best regardless of how I feel. Sometimes I wonder how much respect they really have for me..." Your heart was beating hysterically as you looked up at him. His green eyes sparkled so deeply you swore there must have been sorcery behind their creation. His face so close to yours, you couldn't help but take a quick glance at his lips. You hoped he hadn't noticed.
"Okay but honestly Jughead... Would we even be friends if it weren't for the whole Lockheed Pyron situation?"
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"Yes."' He said matter-of-factly, releasing your arms. "I have something for you." He reached into his jacket pocket. "I went to dinner with my dad at this little hole in the wall on the Southside. It's a long story. But anyways, they had a gumball dispenser, and I had a quarter, so I thought why not." He handed you a small capsule. "I thought you'd like it." You popped open the capsule and inside lay a groovy ring. He stared at you causing your cheeks to flush. It was just a simple alien head, green, with black slanted eyes and a miniscule oval mouth, yet you immediately cherished it. "I know you like aliens." He nudged you.
"I do." You grinned. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." He put his hands in his pockets and shivered. "I am done taking pictures for the night."
You just looked at him, apparently now too shy to come up with anything to say.
"Do you want to go for a walk?" He probed.
"Yeah." You went ahead and slipped the ring on and threw the capsule in your bag.
You ended up on an outdoor picnic table on the far east side of the school. It was freezing out, but you didn't care. Just watching him talk about random things, seeing him breathe out the misty flurries into the night air, having just one of his knees touching yours, your heart was pumping more blood a minute than it ever had.
"So, I found this book in the library earlier, Pyron- The Metal of the Future."
"How about we take a night off from Pyron, Jason's death, all of that." He gently squeezed your thigh.
"Okay." You exchanged smiles. "So, you ended up going to dinner with your dad?"
"Yeah. Archie's dad offered my dad his old job back. I went to try to talk him into taking it. And long story short, he has actually shown up for work the last three days in a row." He laced his fingers and brought them to his chin. "Even more astonishing, he's been sober for three days. I know it doesn't seem like much, but..."
"No, that's amazing Jughead. It's literally been decades since my dad has gone more than eight hours without a drink. He'd never be willing-"
"Don't say that. You never know." Suddenly you heard a bunch of horns honking in this distance. "Game's over." Jughead frowned facetiously.
