Bad Beat Jackpot (Jughead x Reader)

Chapter 40

The goblin stood in the middle of the hall with his hand outstretched. When you placed the invitation papers in his hand he moved aside gesturing to the door at the end of the hall. You entered the side parlor seeing Chuck, Reggie, Veronica, Ethel, Dilton, and Archie sitting on chairs that had been arranged in a circle. In the center was a table with ten shot glasses.

"This seems like a strange assortment of people." Jughead stated as you made your way to an empty pair of chairs.

"I think the strange just walked in." Chuck expressed. Reggie almost spit out his punch.

"Does anyone have any idea what we are we even doing here?" Ethel queried.

"No clue." Jughead shrugged.

Suddenly the door opened, and you saw Betty and Cheryl enter, closing the door behind them.

"Great, you are all here." Cheryl exclaimed. Betty took a seat, while Cheryl remained standing. You lucky lot have been invited by muah for a very exclusive game of Never Have I Ever." She walked over and unlocked an antique cabinet. "With these bottles of 50-year aged scotch. My dad was keeping them for a special occasion, but I guess he won't be getting to them now." You noticed Reggie pat Veronica's thigh and she grinned at him. Chuck made a whooping noise, while Jughead looked uninterested.

"Thank god for Riverdale and Greendale giving their students the day after Halloween off." Betty said, causing a few smiles and nods.

"Alright fingers up." Cheryl placed the bottles of scotch on the table.

"Dear Archibald, we'll start with you, then clockwise around the circle."

Archie's eyebrows crinkled while everyone waited for him. "Okay. In the spirit of Halloween. Never have I ever had a paranormal experience." Both Cheryl and you reached for glasses, pouring yourselves a shot. Betty rolled her eyes at you. You hoped you would be able to take the shot nonchalantly as you'd never drank anything harder than champagne before.

"Veronica?" Cheryl urged.

"Never have I ever gotten a tattoo." Jughead reached for a shot glass. Archie and Betty gave Jughead a look until Dilton also poured himself a shot. They obviously found that to be even more unexpected.

"Alright." Reggie grinned. "Never have I ever crapped myself." This elicited a few chuckles from the room.

"Wow classy as ever Reginald." Veronica replied. No one reached for a shot this round.

"Never have I ever gone camping." Chuck sneered at Dilton. Betty shook her head and took a shot, raising a couple eyebrows. You Jughead, and Dilton also drank. Everyone's eyes turned to Ethel who was next in the circle. She bit her lip, looking down nervously.

"Never have I ever been kissed." She glanced up quickly, then back down. Everyone else took a shot besides you. You'd hoped no one had noticed, but Veroncia, Cheryl, and even Reggie were clearly looking at you with disbelief, while Jughead seemed to be glowering at you.

"Never I have ever been to a haunted house." Dilton exclaimed. Everyone drank aside from Chuck.

"You've never been to a haunted house Chuck?" Betty gave him a probing look.

"Nah, I don't like that stuff." Chuck shuddered. Everyone laughed.

"Never have I ever lived in Colorado." Betty shot daggers at you. You poured another shot, starting to feel slightly unsteady. You glanced at Jughead who looked irritated. You felt bad dragging him into this game that was clearly making him miserable.

Cheryl made a show of thinking of her question, suddenly clasping her hands together as if she came up with a billion-dollar idea. "Never have I ever been a Southside Serpent." She scrunched her nose and smiled phonily. No one moved for a moment but then Cheryl made it a point to stare at Jughead. You saw anger build in his eyes as he quickly poured a shot, and even more rapidly downed it. Many of the faces in the room turned to shock, others of them bearing disgust.

"What is she talking about Jug?" Archie inquired.

"You didn't join the Serpents." Betty insisted.

He ignored them, looking as if he may storm out. You looked at him wistfully. He just remained sitting with a scowl on his face. You decided to get on with your turn to get the attention off him.

"Never have I ever drank liquor before tonight." You felt like everyone's eyes examine you as they reached for their glasses.

Jughead's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

"Well, then you've definitely had too much." His tone turned acidic. "Come on." He grabbed your arm, extracting you from the chair.

"Oooh hoo, someone's getting the snake bite tonight." Reggie and Chuck high fived. Jughead led you into the hall, slamming the parlor door.

"What's wrong?" You looked at him. There seemed to be so many emotions gushing from his features you didn't know how to proceed.

"What are you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Letting a bunch of strangers know your secrets. Drinking profusely."

"That's literally the game."

He scoffed and began to walk away.

"Jug." You caught his arm. "I'm sorry, okay. I'm sorry if the game upset you. If I upset you. Let's just go if you want. Don't be mad at me. Please." He looked so gorgeous looking back at you. His eyes exotic orbs from another dimension, his features carved from another time. You couldn't ignore the desire, crowned with the courage elicited from the scotch streaming through your veins. You neared his lips, but he quickly turned his head.

"I need some air." He vanished from the hall. You'd wanted to say you'd come with him, but after he'd just refused your kiss, you felt embarrassed, as well as infuriated with yourself. You decided you should just give him space.

You went into the kitchen and filled a cup with water. You were beginning to feel rather woozy, as if all the shots were hitting at once. You felt awful. Why had you tried to kiss him? Had you just ruined your friendship with Jughead? You thought about eating something to counteract the alcohol, but you felt too upset to think about food. You left the kitchen hoping that Jughead had come back, but you had a dreadful feeling that he was already far from Thornhill.

The others had returned to the main parlor, mostly separating into their usual factions. Your attention diverted to Betty who was sitting on Chuck Clayton's lap. That was not something you'd expected to see. Suddenly you felt someone run into you. Reggie caught himself on your arm, nearly stumbling over.

"Oh crap, sorry-" Unexpectedly a fist collided with the side of his face. You gasped as you saw it was Jughead. Reggie caught himself on the back of a couch, quickly springing forward and landing a hard punch on Jughead, which caused him to fall back and knock over a large vase. Everyone's attention in the room immediately diverted to the commotion. Cheryl ran over as you went to Jughead. You helped him up simultaneously seeing something unusual among the shards of broken vase. You furtively slipped the discovered keycard into your dress pocket.

"Guess this is what happens when you invite trailer trash." Reggie spat. Cheryl looked around, her lips taut.

"That was a midcentury Murano." She glowered at Jughead, Reggie, and you. "All of you heathens, out now!"