Them [bughead]

~Her~

It had been two weeks. Nothing in particular had happened. The first week she barely ate anything. And the second wasn't much better. She had crashed at Jughead's and his dad was nowhere to be seen. It had even gotten to the point where Jughead thought his dad had died. But a simple "I'm okay" text had ended those thoughts. She had noticed a pattern in her nightmares. Every time Jughead wasn't there to comfort her they appeared more often. The weeks was mostly spent in bed. Most of the days Betty couldn't even get out of it. It was as if she had finally understood that her beloved sister was gone. And that she was alone. Except for Jughead. Veronica had come to visit a few times. But Betty hadn't really been able to get out of bed. So Veronica had lied down beside her and hugged her for hours. Not saying a word. Just...existing. Kevin had been there twice too. And one of the times Betty actually got out of bed to help Kevin with his Tinder profile. She laughed for the first time in weeks when Kevin told her every guy looked the same on Tinder and then proving it. They really all looked the same. And then he talked about one app called Grindr. But he said it was too explicit for Betty's innocent mind. Archie had called her a few times. Which was more than anyone could say about her mom. Who hadn't even bothered texting her. Which made her just as happy as it made her feel like shit. One night they had sat outside watching as the sunset turned the sky dark. Jughead had smoked too many cigarettes to count. Betty had watched him. And they had fallen asleep under the bare sky. Her and Jughead had had long discussions about which character was the best in different movies. They had discussed what they'd do after graduating. How they want their lives to be. Betty had told Jughead how she always wanted to start a newspaper in New York. And he had listened at every little detail she had told him. He had been so interested that Betty thought he was being sarcastic. She didn't know that he loved listening to her soft voice and make up little stories about how they moved to New York together. He had avoided telling her that he couldn't leave Riverdale. Couldn't leave he Serpents. She had been up countless nights, crying. And he had been up countless of nights, holding her. They had had countless of nights talking about death. But most importantly they had had countless of nights with each other.

She woke up on a Friday, feeling rather good. Better than she had since Polly died. She didn't feel just fine. Or like she's falling apart. She felt good enough for school. So when the alarm went off, as it had every day, she actually sat up and turned it off. She buried her head in her hands, causing her hair to fall in her face. She sat like that, in Jughead's t-shirt. Her favorite. The grey one, with an S. There was something about it that made Betty feel so safe. She took a deep breath and walked into the tiny bathroom took a long look in the mirror and always got scared by the sight of herself. Her eyes had dark circles and were swollen and her hair was a complete mess. She just now noticed that she hadn't showered for almost a week. She felt deeply sorry for Jughead who had to be near her.

She stepped into the almost non-existing shower. She put on the hot water and let it clean her. Thinking about the past month. How her entire life had just fallen apart so fast. She felt the sudden urge to cut herself. Even though she, for once, could resist it. She closed her eyes and focused on Jughead's soft lips against her own. And then, life felt a little easier. A little less unbearable. She got out of the shower and took a white towel and wrapped it around her body. When she got outside of the bathroom she saw Jughead on his way out.
"Jug?" She said and he turned around. His face was filled with fear. His eyes were huge and his whole body was slightly shaking.
"Where the fuck did you go!?" He yelled, his voice was breaking.
"I took a shower." Betty innocently said.
"You don't get to fucking do that. I thought something had happened." He still yelled. But Betty understood it was out of fear. "I can't lose you." He whispered. Betty walked closer to him and cupped his face.
"Hey, look at me." She whispered. "I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere." She pressed her lips against his cheek but it wasn't enough. So he pulled her closer and buried his head in her wet hair.
"You scared the fuck out of me." Even though he was just whispering Betty could hear his shaky voice.
"I'm sorry." He pushed her closer and she grasped his shirt. "I'm okay." And for once. She actually was. His shaking body calmed down as he inhaled her scent. His panic calmed down as he saw that she was fine. But his love for her kept increasing. Increasing into something stronger than he had ever felt.