Broadway Love

Chapter 9 - Age 16 (2)

Betty wanted to die when she saw him. He didn't only hold a huge poster over his head with 'HAS SOMEBODY SEEN BETTY COOPER??' written all over it, but he was also wearing sunglasses and had just for the fun of it put an earbud into his ear, looking like a stalker or a professional driver or something. At least his clothes were still dark, and he still had his suspenders hanging low on his hips.

She could tell he saw him when his lips twitched into a smirk and he opened his mouth. "Betty Cooper?" he called. "Has somebody seen Betty Cooper?"

All the attention was on him and Betty wanted to die right there when she reached him, pressing her hand over his mouth so that he'd stop making it a public thing. Jughead laughed into her cold palm, wrapping his arms around her, the poster pressed against her back now. The blonde let her own arms slip around him as well once she was positive about the fact that he wasn't going to scream anymore.

Jug's arms lifted her into the air for a moment, her body flush against his. Once they had pulled apart a few minutes later, his lips touched her forehead tenderly, kissing it a few times before actually pulling away, both of them smiling.

"How tall are you?" was the first thing he asked as he carefully let go of her hand, not wanting to confuse or hurt her any more than he already had.

"5 foot 4."

"Shorty," he chuckled, taking her small suitcase.

Betty rolled her eyes with a smile, knowing very well he was six feet tall. "You came with your car?" she asked, walking close to his side as they stepped outside into the burning spring heat. The girl smiled, closing her eyes for a short moment to enjoy the sun on her face.

Jughead's face got softer and softer by minute just by looking at her again over a long time. And once his heart was warmed up again, she reached for his hand wordlessly and he didn't pull away, intertwining their fingers instead.

"So, uh..." Betty said, looking at Jughead whose side she was curled up in on the hotel couch. The boy looked down at her with an amused look, knowing what this was about. "There's just one bed..."

"I can sleep on the couch. The room is paid for you to stay in, so you have all the rights for the bed."

The blonde sighed quietly, turning her head back normally, facing the TV screen again. She could still feel his thumb brushing over her shoulder blade every second, his arm around her, which just made her sink deeper into her thoughts. "You could... Sleep next to me?"

"Wouldn't you like that," he replied, a huge smirk on his face.

"It'd be more comfortable, that's all..."

"Right."

Betty rolled her eyes, siding off the couch, onto her feet. Jughead looked at her with the same smirk still on his face, discovering she looked hot when she was pissed. "Right. I'm going to bed then."

Jug watched her go and climb under the thick covers, just as her hand moved and shut out the light. He chuckled, shutting the TV off as well, and crossed the room in the dark, both of them in their pajamas already. He could see the girl's eyes opening as he climbed under the sheets.

"You're being an idiot," the blonde murmured when Jughead pulled her into his arms, spooning her.

He planted a soft kiss onto her nape. "I just don't want to confuse you, that's all."

"Right, because kissing my neck in the dark is not confusing at all."

"Betts," he said seriously now. "You live in New York. I live at the Stanford campus. I'm not making you do long distance from the first second of the relationship. And I'm not making you stay away from boys at your school. You're 16. Just have fun."

"I don't want to have fun," she said quietly, turning around. Her cold fingers touched his jaw in the darkness, seeing his eyes far too well. "I want to be with you, Jug." She sighed quietly, continuing. "You said we were doing this so that both of us could be happy and have relationships and friends and to trust each other... But what you're doing isn't that. Every time I talk to you, you have a new girlfriend."

"Betts—" he breathed.

"No, let me finish. Juggie, I want you to be happy, okay?" she asked, cupping his face tenderly. "And I understand hormones, believe me, but... Having sex with literally every girl you see isn't the answer. Do you understand that you hurt them too while saying you don't care about them?"

"Betty," he sighed again. "Baby, it's not like that. They come to me at a party. They say they want to get over their exes or over their emotions or whatever. And I need to do the same. So, yes, I do have sex with a different girl every week, but they also know it's sex and nothing else."

"Wouldn't you like a real relationship?" the blonde frowned. "One with trust and love and future. I'm not saying it has to be with me, but at least with somebody who you care about... I know what you're doing, Jug. You don't want to hurt me. But believe me, I'd rather meet at Christmas with some awesome girl that you're dating than see you unhappy and alone on the other side of the country where I can't even hug you. We were friends first, that relationship is more important."

"You're the kindest person ever, you know that?"

Betty smiled sadly. "I've been told."

Jughead planted a soft kiss onto her cheek. "Can I still sleep here?"

"Sure. Just as a friend, though. So, don't touch," she whispered, kissing his jaw before turning around again. Jug nuzzled his nose into her hair, keeping his arms wrapped around her. "That's really not what I just said," Betty giggled, feeling his smile grow.

"It's what I had in mind."

Five weeks later, Betty was face timing the casting director and filmmakers of "Rainey", the new Disney movie that was going to be ready in about three to five years. After the first videotape, she had gone to LA two times, and know as she had to do the Junior SATs, she couldn't fly out, so she was video calling them instead.

"Okay, that's great, but... Could you play this scene still a little happier?" one of the men asked with a kind smile, everybody else in the table doing the same.

Betty made an unsure face, biting her lip with a smile.

"Imagine we gave you the role," the other man said. "Imagine you got the role of Rainey. Act it from that happiness."

Betty took a deep breath, not able to not smile at that. So, she did the small dialogue two more times, before being stopped again. "Alright, Betty. Listen. We're not kidding."

The girl raised her left eyebrow in question, confused. "Kidding about what?"

"You got the role."

With just a millisecond, the girl's emerald eyes went wide in shock. "Are you serious?"

"We're serious," the man smiled, waiting for her reaction.

"No way," she breathed, tears starting to stream out of her face without a warning. "No way no way no way." Betty's hands covered her hands as she fell into a squatting position, knees weak suddenly. The filmmakers watched with warm smiles on their faces as she chuckled quietly while crying. "Thank you so much," she cried.

"Thank you," the woman chuckled. "Not only are you amazing in acting, singing and all related to it, but I think Rainey also gained some new facial expressions."

Betty laughed at that in pure joy, pushing herself to stand up, trying to wipe her tears away, but still unable to stop the crying. "My eyebrows move a lot," she said, making all of the people behind the table on the other side of the screen laugh.