Shadows of Your Dreams

Chapter 14

When they came to the stop in the neat driveway, Jughead turned off the car, but both of them stayed seated, only unbuckling the belts. His head moved to look at Betty who was frowning at her legs, face frizzled up adorably.

"You okay, hon?" he asked tenderly, taking her hand into his.

The blonde looked up with a small sad smile. "Yeah, I'm fine." Both of their attention moved to the Andrews house where Archie and Veronica could be heard yelling at one another, because of the open windows. "They're gonna make up, baby," Jughead murmured, nudging her cheek with his nose affectionately. Betty smiled, but didn't seem to believe it much, which was why he continued, "Veronica's pregnant, it's fine for her to be moody."

"Did you hear what Archie told her a few days ago?" she murmured with raised eyebrows, tilting her head to look at him.

"I did," he said softly. "But he was half-drunk. And Ronnie will understand that, eventually."

The woman sighed and gave him a small smile. "Yeah, okay. Not everyone's as perfect as you," she teased, planting her hands on either side of his neck. Jughead chuckled in amusement and leaned over to kiss her lips. They parted when the little girl in the back let out a small scream and then giggled afterward. She couldn't see them in her rear-facing seat, but definitely knew they had come to a stop.

The next morning, the two decided to leave the car at home due to the sunny day and grabbed a stroller where they put Bea, taking a walk to Pop's instead of getting there with the next five minutes. Jughead's hand looked for hers immediately, and she smiled while lacing their fingers together, loving that her man was a hand holder.

When they finally reached Pop's—after Bea decided she wanted to walk instead, and later be on Jughead's lap—it was half an hour later. They knew FP and his girlfriend, Janine, were waiting, and Betty was a bit anxious when they got there so late, but Jughead insisted on it being fine.

When FP introduced them, he looked a bit nervous. Both Betty and Jughead frowned at the fact that the two hadn't ordered or started eating yet. "Aren't you guys hungry?" Jughead asked as he let Betty slide into the booth before sitting down himself.

"We are, we just thought we would wait for you guys to get here first," Janine said with a soft smile.

"Well, that's really sweet of you, Janine, but—" Betty started only to get cut off by Jughead's father.

"Whoa, how come you think it was her? Can't I come to that decision?" FP joked, and Betty tilted her head, raising her eyebrows, which made them all laugh.

"Right, you turned down the opportunity to get some burgers for breakfast."

"That doesn't sound like me at all, huh?" he chuckled, genuinely happy they were all getting along, and to see his granddaughter again. Bea was on his lap, standing on his thighs and touching his nose while giggling.

"She thinks I have a big nose too, dad," Jughead said, rolling his eyes playfully.

"Oh, but you do," Betty teased shortly, and smirked when he turned his head to face her, blinking his eyes in amusement like he liked to do, and smiling. Betty giggled at the look and at his arm that moved to the back of the booth, right behind her head. He kissed her and then once more quickly as the waitress got there.

Betty ordered pancakes with syrup and berries—her go-to breakfast in Pop's—and Jughead got the same, and after that also told the high schooler working there that he would like his usual. She made an uncomfortable face for a moment and reminded him she was new there, and Jughead's face seemed to kind of drop at that.

None of them were used to Pop Tate not working there. So, Betty dropped her hand to his thigh and squeezed it softly, telling the girl his usual two burger meal.

"Aw, she's adorable," Janine said with a smile a while later when Jughead was finishing Betty's breakfast, and his dad was eating his third burger. Bea was on her lap and engaging her with simple gestures and giggles, sticking her tongue out sometimes to show it off.

"Yeah, you can keep her for few days," Jughead offered, eyeing his dad's surprised face for a moment.

"Really?" FP asked, smiling.

"Nah, she'll scream your heads off," the guy shrugged and Betty sniggered at his humor as always, planting a warm kiss to his cheek.

"You guys can have her some night if you want to," she assured and bit her lip with a smile when Jughead arched his eyebrow at her in amusement.

"Oh, they can?"

"Mhmm."

He winked at the blonde and nodded at his dad and Janine, who were looking incredibly amused by the two's encounters. They had kept flirting throughout the whole breakfast, and the older woman found it rare that young people still were like that after being in a relationship for a long time, or in a marriage. Later, FP told her it was always like that, and it was more of a teasing method they liked to use. That they had acted like that back in the day, even when they were only friends.

"You can take her tonight, if you wish," Jughead nodded.