stay away

Part 21

Jughead pov

When I woke up the next morning, with the upcoming sun shining directly in my face, I saw a still sleeping beauty named Betty next to me. Her golden hair was all over the pillow and her slow breathing let me know that she was still asleep. It was a sight for sore eyes and nothing could have been more beautiful for me right now than to know that this woman told me yesterday that she loved me. It still felt unreal, maybe even a bit strange, because until a few months ago I was sure that there would be no place in my life for love except for my sister and yet I am lying here, watching one of the most amazing women I know and wishing for nothing more than to be near her forever.

Of course I also know that there are still many unresolved things between us that we absolutely had to discuss and that would not be helpful for my standing with her but it was important to me that Betty knew everything about my life. The good but also the bad things. I had been thinking for quite some time about a new way to go with the Serpents and get them and me out of the illegal business but I never had a real reason until now.

With Betty in my life, everything is different, kind of new. It felt like she made my black and white world much brighter and more colorful. For a long time it had been a new experience for me and I didn't want her world to lose color. She had to be protected from the darkness at all costs.

The longer I stared at her the more I wanted to touch her to feel her warm skin under my fingers, so that's exactly what I did. I started at her head and let my fingers wander down to her shoulders. This gave me a pleasant shiver while a smile spread across my face. Her skin was as incredibly soft as it was delicate and before I knew it, I was kissing my way slowly from her shoulders to her ear. A small but noticeable moan announced me that my princess was about to wake up. Betty opened her eyes and looked at me sleepily as she turned her head towards me so that a large area of her neck became accessible to me.

"Jug..." she moaned as her hand found a way into my hair to hold on to it and I could pull her closer to me so that our bodies could finally touch. It started a fire inside me that made my blood boil and made me forget everything that had been around and finally I gave in to the desire to taste her. Our lips clashed, our tongues explored each other, leaving hardly a pause to breathe. I pulled Betty on top of me to make everything a bit more intense for both of us but not even five seconds later the door slammed open with a loud bang and a so far cheerful looking Cheryl burst into the room.

"Good morning Betty. Breakfast is...WHAT THE HELL? Jughead?" she screamed shocked but also excitedly towards us and certainly woke up everyone present in this apartment or even in Riverdale, you never know with Cheryl's voice.

"Oh damn it Cheryl, have you forgotten how to knock? Get out!" Betty admonished her with a grin on her face that wasn't really serious. I had to laugh because of this strange situation and got weird looks from them, but I don't know why.

"Ok, ok. I'm leaving but Betty remember you have to work in 3 hours and tonight the much anticipated party is taking place, so be on time or at least show up."

"Yes, Mom." Betty playfully rolled her eyes while Cheryl retired to leave us alone again.

"Which party did Cheryl mean?" I asked curiously as well as confusedly, because she had never mentioned anything about a party.

"You own the Whyte Wyrm and don't know that there is a party there today? What kind of king are you?" she joked, rolled off me and started to get up to go to the bathroom.

"Apparently a king who is kept in the dark about things like that and now at least explain to me why there is a party tonight."

"It's a tradition of Veronica and Cheryl. They think you should have a party every now and then for no reason at all to enjoy life to the fullest. That's their philosophy, that's how they are. I'm going to take a shower now and then I promised to drop by Jellybean before work." she said with a lowered look, knowing full well that I had a fight with JB. I said nothing about the subject and let her go to the bathroom, although I didn't like it.

After we were finished, we took the motorcycle to my apartment. Betty clung to me just like yesterday evening and still didn't enjoy the same feeling of freedom as I did. My short hesitation at the door didn't go unnoticed and so Betty stood in front of me and tried to give me courage.

"Jug don't worry, it's your sister. You have already mastered so much together that I am sure you will manage that as well. Please be patient with her. She doesn't know her mother like you do." I looked at her in shock and didn't know what to say because she knew about my mother even though I had never said anything. We had never talked about it so I assumed that Jellybean must have talked to her about it yesterday.

"Yes, JB told me yesterday during our phone call." she answered the question in my head as if she could read my mind. We entered my apartment together and were greeted by my sister standing in the kitchen while she filled two glasses with water. Two?

"OH Jughead, what are you doing here? I th...thought you were coming back later." she stammered, and I noticed that she was shaking slightly. What was she afraid of?

And then I saw her.

"Mother?"

Any feeling of happiness, love or affection left my body and hid in a dark corner. The sight of her tightened my throat and gave me a feeling of nausea as if my body could not bear to see her. My hands clenched into fists, my jaws tightened and anger flooded me. If Betty hadn't taken my hand, I don't know if I would have been able to control myself but I couldn't look at her to thank her because I didn't want her to see such an expression on my face.

"Jughead...? Is that you, son? Oh, my God, it's really you. You're beautiful and you look just like your father." She stood up and took a few steps towards me until I made it clear with a gesture of my hand that she should not take another step. I couldn't let her get any closer to me, it was as if with every step she took, I could feel the stabbing of her representative.

"Honey, I'm your mother. We need to talk about this, but first tell me who your friend is." she said with a fake smile that was far too familiar to me, pointing at Betty. Without thinking about it, I stood in front of Betty to protect her from my mother's eyes.

"Hi, I'm Betty. Jughead's girlfriend." Betty greeted her after she walked around and now stood in front of me and kindly reached out her hand. My mother had grown older but I could still see how evil she was even though she was able to cover it well, but she couldn't hide it from me.

"Betty, very pleased. I am Gladys. My son may have told you a lot about me, probably nothing good."

"No, he hasn't told me anything about you." replied Betty, turning my mother's face to stone. I could see that she suspected I was talking badly about her, but she didn't expect me to say nothing about her, and the pain was clearly visible in her face. I had no pity for this woman, to be honest I felt nothing for her.

"Juggie I have to go to work. I'll see you tonight, okay? I love you." Betty said to me, stood on her tiptoes and kissed me. She was stirring up a feeling in me again but as soon as she got away from me it was gone and I was facing my nightmare again.

"Here take my car, I'll take you downstairs." I took my keys from the box next to the door, put them in her hand and accompanied her outside where she showered me with encouraging words.

"Jug I know this is the last thing you want but you have to talk to her. If you don't do it for you, do it for Jellybean. Please try."

"I hate her. How dare she just show up here and then come to my apartment. I don't want to be in a room with her, I can't do it without you." I confessed to her and saw how her eyes started to glow like I said something beautiful to her.

"You can do this. I believe in you and your good heart. You can always write or call me if it gets too much. I have to go. I love you."

"I love you too." I replied, gave her one last kiss and watched her drive away in my car. Now I was alone and again my body emptied itself of any happy memories and left me ice-cold. I thought about just running away but was it really a possibility? I finally had to face my past to make room for my future. This conversation will be worse than anything I've ever had to go through. However, I didn't know at that point how bad it was going to get.