𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙚𝙧 | 𝐉𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐉𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 |

No Parties

Chapter seventeen: No Parties

    "And why didn't you tell me?" Drea asked Jughead as he closed his locker. Drea was told that it was his birthday by Betty. "Tell you what exactly?" He asked. "It's your birthday tomorrow, dude." Drea gave Jughead a playful punch on the arm.

"Look, I don't celebrate my birthday. Big parties, lots of people, not my thing." Jughead told her as they walked down the hall.

Drea couldn't argue she was the exact same. A quiet evening at home with her parents was all she needed. Ok, fair, but at least let me get you a gift." She offered.

"No."

"A card?"

"Fine."

"Yes." Drea was totally getting him a gift, and she had the perfect idea for one.

"When is your birthday?" Jug asked.

Drea paused. "Uhm, October 8th." She mumbled.

"That's two days after mine, and you're talking about me not telling you."

"I know, but just don't tell the others. I'm with you on the no party thing." Drea told the boy.

Jughead nodded.

"Hey, maybe tomorrow you could come over and watch a movie." Drea suggested.

Jughead thought about it. "I'm actually doing the movie thing with Archie, but I will gladly come over." Jug agreed. This caused Drea to smile more than she meant to.

"Great, but I have a question." Drea started.

Jughead motioned for her to continue. "Why don't you want to celebrate your birthday, and why hide it?" She asked. She knew her reasons for not celebrating her birthday. She wanted to hear his.

"Well, I guess it's from when I was a kid. As you know, I never had the best home life. It's mostly because of my dad. We did celebrate. We would pretend things were great when it wasn't. It just made me feel...lonely."

Drea stayed silent. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. Why do you not celebrate your birthday?" Jughead asked her.

"I will tell you on my birthday." Drea said to him. "Ok then." He smiled.

Later that night, Betty messaged Drea telling her that she was throwing a party for Jughead. She told her it was a bad idea and decided not to go, but Jughead messaged her the night of his birthday.

"So Cheryl showed up. I'm hiding out."

"Let me guess. With like half the school."

"Yup."
"You know I'm glad you weren't a part of this little surprise."

"Betty messaged me and told me about it, but I told her it was a bad idea and that I wouldn't take part."

"For a girl who barely knows me, you sure know me more than my own girlfriend."

"You told me that you didn't want a party like...this morning."

"You know what I mean. Thanks, Drea."
"Betty's here. I'll come by later."

"See ya, Stalker."

Around 10 at night, Drea was looking through her photos on the couch when there was a knock on the door.

She got up to open the door. Jughead stood on the other side. "Hey." She smiled, but it dropped when she saw a cut on Jughead's cheek.

"What... happened?" She carefully touched his cheek. "It's nothing."

"Seems like something." She pulled him inside. "I got in a small fight. It's fine." Jug sat beside Drea on the couch.

He explained what happened at the party. He was going to leave after Betty and him had an argument, but Cheryl made them play some dumb game. Throughout the game, Chuck said something about Betty, which caused Jughead to get angry and punch him.

"Wow. I can't believe I missed you punching Chuck." Drea laughed, causing Jughead to smile.

"Well, at least Betty and I made up."

"Yeah." Drea wasn't sure why, but her stomach fell at that.

"So, what movie are we watching?" Jughead asked.

"Um... Scary Movie?" Drea suggested.

Jughead thought about it for a moment. "Friday 13th?"

"You know me so well." Drea smiled.

Jughead settled into the couch while Drea put on some popcorn. When she came back, she sat beside Jughead.

"You know. You never told us why you left Chicago." Jughead said. Drea stayed quiet. "I-I don't really wanna talk about that right now."

She spoke, looking down. Jughead noticed her uneasy expression. He nudged her arm with his. "It's ok, you don't have to."

Drea noticed something. "Why do you do that?"

"Do what?" Jughead questioned.

"When you want to ask me something or in the middle of a conversation, you nudge me. Almost...almost like an excuse to touch me." She was probably reading too much into it.

Jughead stayed quiet. He looked everywhere but at her. It was silent for a while until the microwave beeped. "Popcorn's done." Drea muttered.

She went to the kitchen. Taking out the popcorn, she carefully put it in a bowl. When she went back into the living room, she saw Jughead gone. Did he really ditch her? "Jug?" She said. No answer. "Jughead!" She yelled a bit louder.

"Yeah?" This time, she got a reply. It sounded like it came from her room. Drea placed the popcorn on the table and walked towards her bedroom.

"I thought you ditched me." Drea leaned against the doorframe. "I would never." Jughead gave her a smile before looking at something on her bedside table.

He picked up a photo. Drea knew exactly what photo it was. "Who is this?" Jughead asked the girl. "Could you put that back?" Drea walked further into the room. "Yeah, sorry." Jughead put the photo back.

"It's fine. I just... that's my brother." Drea admitted. She was hesitant, but she knew he would find out sooner or later.

"You have a brother?"

"Had. He uhm. He died about a year ago. We were uhm. We were twins." I tear fell as Drea spoke. Her brother was the one topic she never brought herself to talk about. Not even with her parents.

Jughead stepped towards the girl and wrapped his arms around her. "It's ok." He whispered.  "It's ok." Drea cried in his arms.

When she calmed down, Jughead pulled away and brushed her hair from her face. "Sorry, I got your shirt wet." She wiped her eyes with the back of her palms.

"It's fine. I'm sorry about your brother." Jughead spoke softly. "I'm really tired of people saying that." Drea whispered.

Jughead rubbed her arms with a sigh. "Can we watch that movie now?" Drea asked. "Yes, yes, we can." Jughead led Drea to the living room. He didn't notice Drea grab something before she exited.

The two teenagers settled into the couch as Drea started the movie.

"Happy birthday." Drea handed Jughead a box. It was wrapped in blue with a red bow. "Cute." Jughead muttered.

"I told you no gift."

"I didn't completely ignore you. There's a card in there." Drea smirked. Jughead shook his head.

Drea watched as Jughead opened the gift. He smiled once he saw what was inside. He pulled out a leather journal.

"It's for jotting down ideas and notes for your journal." Drea smiled. Jughead didn't say anything. He only wrapped his arms around her into a tight hug.

"Thank you." He whispered into her ear.