Miss Atomic Bomb (Jughead Jones)

Part 16

I sat on the waiting bench outside the mayor's office for Jughead. For some reason he thought he was going to be able to change her mind, which he wasn't. I even told him this so he didn't get his hopes up, but he was stubborn as ever.

The door opened and out popped Jughead and I already knew it didn't work, but nevertheless I asked him, "What did she say?"

"She said it was a blight that's a favour for criminals." He answered with no amusement in his voice.

"So I take it didn't go well?"

"No."

Not many people knew the real reason Jughead didn't want the drive in to shut down. Of course he loved it and spent his entire childhood there, but he also lived there.

"Oh my gosh Juggie!" I laughed as he spoiled the ending of the movie that was showing.

"Sorry, I couldn't hold it in!" He choked out between laughs.

When we finally calmed down I realized we were out of popcorn.

"Come on, we're out of popcorn."

He rolled his eyes and hopped out of the lawn chair he sat in.

We headed to the counter when he suddenly pulled me aside.

"What are you doing?"

"I need to show you something."

We walked up to the projection room and he opened the doors with his key.

I knew Jughead worked here, but I didn't understand what he had to show me up here.

The door creeked open and I saw a cot with a pillow and a blanket on it.

We stepped inside and he sat down on it.

"Jug, you live here?" I asked delicately.

He shrugged, "Yeah I guess."

"Why don't you live with your dad?"

He looked up at me.

"You know why."

I slumped down next to him.

"You could have told me before. You could have stayed at my place."

He shook his head, "Nah, I like it here. No one can tell me what to do."

I rested my head on his shoulder and he wrapped an arm around me.

"You can stay with me." I offered.

"I already stay at your house to much, I'll find somewhere."

"Wait, I know where we need to go."

Before I knew it we were walking into the workplace of Fred Andrews.

"Hey Jughead, hey Marina."

I opened my mouth to greet him but Jughead wasted no time to get to business.

"Mayor McCoy says you won the contract to tear down the drive in."

"I did." he started hesitantly, "Look I'm sorry Jughead, I know how much you love the Twilight, so do I."

Jughead walked over to him.

"Mr. Andrews, just give me one week to track down the person who bought the land and convince them not to demolish a holy house of cinema."

Fred started shaking his head, "It's a big contract for me, Jug, and for my guys. Whatever the build at the drive in can mean more jobs."

Jughead was obviously not having any of this and continued to attempt to convince him.

"Yeah, and what? Some hypothetical future!"

I walked over to him and put a hand on his arm as discreetly as possible.

"Jug, you need to cool it." I whispered.

He looked confused and then he took a deep breath.

"You put one Jones out of work, why don't you put out another, huh."

Fred rolled his eyes, "Jug, your dad was taking materials from one of our jobsites. I had to let him go."

He looked away from him, "Right, you did what you had to do." He paused, "Like you're doing here now? Later."

He began to pull me along and as we walked out the door I turned back and mouthed an "I'm sorry."

We head to the drive in and I could tell he was still fuming.

"Juggie, please calm down."

He stopped walking and turned to me.

"Y'know I still don't get why you've been acting so weird all if the sudden."

I looked at him and raised my eyebrow.

"What?"

"You've been acting weird around Betty, Archie, and now his dad." I still didn't understand so he continued, "First you jumped away from me when you hugged me in front of Betty, then you told Archie that I was talking about the drive in when I was obviously talking about you, and you hid in front of his dad! What's going on?"

He was right, I had been hiding it.

"I just," I paused due to my throat choking up, "I don't know. I'm just not ready to tell anyone about this thing we have."

He looked at me and smiled, "Okay."

He was about to wrap his arms around me when he looked behind me and frowned.

I turned and saw the one person I did not want to see ever again.

"Get out of here Jack."

He smirked and walked over to me.

"What? I was just taking a walk." He said with mock innocence.

I rolled my eyes and took a step back towards Jughead.

"Jack, I swear to god! I'm sick of this shit!" I shouted at him in exasperation.

"Oh Mari, this shit is just starting." He grinned and walked past me.

As he disappeared out of earshot Jughead pulled me closer to him and furrowed his eyebrows.

"Let's just get to the Twilight."

OMG IT'S OVER!!! I'm so sad:( but luckily it's on Netflix now so hopefully I'll get the conversations and stuff more accurate! I also have a newfound appreciation for Archie after he saved Cheryl cuz that was amazing. Also school is out for me on June 1st so I'll be able to update more. I want to make a new fanfic from another TV show or book so I'll make a list of shows and books I've read or watched so you can vote.