~~ w r i t t e n i n t h e s t a r s ~~ a bughead story

c h a p t e r t w o

Someone had brought a stereo, and loud music was blasting through the house, which made yelling for Archie difficult. She searched each room, but it took about twenty minutes before she spotted the familiar ginger hair in the sea of others. She pushed past the other students, to make her way to her childhood crush. She found him, arguing with Reggie, as per usual.

"Hey, Arch!" she shouted, and both boys turned to look at her.

"Hey Bets!" Archie greeted, turning his attention away from his rival. He was slightly pink, too. "I have a question!" he shouted at her happily. She nodded to show she was listening, and he smiled toothily. "Where do you think I should take Ronnie out to dinner tomorrow?" he asked. Betty felt her heart drop into her stomach. She should have known, Archie either forgot that he had a date with Betty the next night, or he dropped it for Veronica. Betty was guessing it was the latter. Tears were brimming her eyes as she shrugged her shoulders and walked away. How could he? Again? It was stupid to believe he wouldn't pick Ron over Bets. Stupid to get her hopes up.

She brushed her bangs out of her eyes and wiped away her own tears. She wasn't going to let this ruin her night.

She was going to get Archie to want to go out with her.

Jughead had become quite bored just sitting in Betty's room. Caramel was sleeping soundly next to him, so he had no one to talk to. He had been here many times before, sitting with her, comforting her or just talking with her. He knew her room better than Betty did, so he didn't think there was anything interesting to be discovered. Speaking of Betty, where was she? She had been gone for quite some time, an hour and a half, at least.

Jughead decided to busy himself with finding his blonde best friend. As he sat up to get off of her bed, Jughead heard a shout from downstairs, even louder than the music. He snorted and left her room, walking cautiously down the stairs. He too, tried not to breathe through his nose, because the whole house smelled awful.

He found that most people were not inside, but crowded outside in the backyard and cheering. Curious, he stepped out the backdoor and tried not to touch as many people as he could.

"God, disgusting teenagers," he mumbled as he passed a couple doing... questionable things on the grass. He stepped over one guy, who happened to be passed out, and slipped into the group crowding around Betty's kiddie pool. The cheering suddenly got louder. He slipped into the front and tried desperately not to faint.

Betty Cooper stood in the center of the pool.

Betty Cooper was not wearing clothes.

Betty Cooper was going to give him a heart attack.

Of course, she was wearing her matching bra and underwear, which Jughead couldn't help but notice was black, and lacey, but she looked ready to take those off, too. She was obviously drunk out of her mind, but she also looked like she was well aware of what she was doing.

She danced in the kiddie pool, flirtatiously flicking and splashing water at the boys in the front. She turned and she bounced, and pulled her hair out of its ponytail. Her blonde hair cascaded like a waterfall down her back, settled below her behind, and spun around her as she twirled. She didn't seem to mind all the attention, and the calls and wolf-whistles that were coming at her from all sides. In fact, she seemed to enjoy them, like they gave her more confidence.

Betty spotted Jughead, and they locked eyes. Jughead expected her to keep dancing and ignore him, but instead, she did the most unexpected thing :

She winked.

She looked him in the eyes, and she winked. Then, she turned around, pulled her hair to the side and over her shoulder, and wiggled.

Jughead took a deep breath and had to remind himself that she was drunk. He shook his head to clear any thoughts that had surfaced, as he removed his "S" shirt. He walked up to the short blonde with his shirt in his hands, and pulled the shirt over her head, gently tugged her arms into the sleeves, and threw her over his shoulder. She didn't complain as much as he thought she would, which he was thankful for.

"Alright, party's over, everyone go home," Jughead announced. There was a collective "boo", and guys made obscene gestures at the tall brunette, who only rolled his eyes. "Look, you can either leave now, or I call the police. You can be arrested for underage drinking, ya know." There was a series of groans, but everyone began to file out through the house, and out onto the street.

Veronica stood by the kitchen sink, dumping her alcohol, and fixing her blouse. She glared at Jughead as he approached, and crossed her arms.

"What'cha want, ya oversized hockey puck?" Jughead rolled his eyes.

"Do you have a ride home?" he asked her, trying desperately to ignore the stench of mixed drinks wafting off of her. She shook her head, and with his free hand, Jughead plucked Veronica's phone out of her pocket and called her chauffeur, Smithers.

"Veronica?"

"Uh, no. This is Jughead, but Ron's drunk and needs a ride. We're at Betty's," he told the man on the other side of the call. Jughead heard a soft grumble come from the man, but heard him say that he would arrive in five minutes. Jughead ended the call, and carefully placed her phone back in her pocket.

Archie stumbled through the doorway, and tried to give his Ronnie a kiss before she left, but Jughead turned him towards the direction of his house and instructed him to go home.

Jughead gently laid Betty on the couch, told her sternly to stay where she was, and went to lock up the Coopers' house. He cleaned as best he could, trying to get rid of most of the stench of other people, but decided that wasn't going to happen quite yet. So, he finished locking up, picked up the blonde, and carried her over his shoulder out the back door. He wasn't going to let her sleep alone, but he most certainly was not going to spend another minute in that stench-ridden house. He locked the back door, carried her through the backyard, and into the backyard of his home, since there was only a wooden fence and gate separating the two.

He carried Betty up the stairs and into his bedroom, where he laid her down in his bed, and gently tucked her in. He grabbed a few extra pillows and blankets, and laid them on the floor to make his bed. Taking off his shoes and hat, he realized that she would need aspirin in the morning for her headache, so he made a mental note to make some tea.

Jughead laid on the floor, staring up at the ceiling, and fell asleep listening to Betty's light snoring.