Remind me to forget

Chapter 07

Jughead must have fallen asleep again. When he opened his eyes again, the sun was up already and instead of FP on the wheel, Archie was driving. Though right now they were parked at a Starbucks. Jughead sat up, groaning as he moved his leg, and rubbed his eyes. Not even ten seconds later, Archie held him the bottle with his painkillers and a water bottle.

"Want that?"

"Yes, please" Jughead smiled softly, taking both things from him in order to get one pill out. Then he tried to lean back, holding his hand against his rib cage to make moving easier without feeling like his ribs were trying to pierce through his skin.

"How is the pain these days?"

"100 times worse because of the car ride"

"Be relieved in that case: It's only another..." Archie leaned forward to look at the navigation route on the display "not even another ten hours anymore, you're lucky"

"Haha" Jughead couldn't help the chuckle though, regretting it right away as pain shot through his rib cage but it was so worth it. Soon the back row of the car filled again. Betty had something with caramel, as far as Jughead could tell, and Veronica sipped on a strawberry Frappuccino. FP was having his normal coffee, though Jughead had lost count of how many he had already drank during this drive. To his surprise, he reached the cup over to Jughead, who thanked him as he took a big sip.

"Alright, who wants a normal breakfast and who can push through till lunch?" FP asked.

"Lunch is enough" Jughead said, yawning.

"I mean... I could eat something small but it's not necessary" Archie said.

"Okay, then, just pull over when you see something or we go to a supermarket. Otherwise just follow the route, I will go to sleep. Don't you dare crash my car"

"Oh you know me, FP. I would never do something like that"

"You walk into lampposts, Archie" Betty said. Archie grumbled something under his breath as his cheeks reddened before starting the motor again. Halting at a little donut shop, Archie and Betty got out to buy some. Jughead got convinced to eat two as well, then he went off to another nap to pass the time.

When he woke up, it was in the midst of playing 'I spy something'. Jughead didn't participate in it though, he simply looked out of the window and then went to watch Archie drive the car. He steered them smoothly through the traffic and didn't even curse that much when someone took his right of way.

When Jughead saw the first sign heading to Boston, he couldn't help the gut pull and for some Godforsaken reason his hand immediately reached towards Archie's thigh before he could do something about it. Archie didn't acknowledge it. He shortly eyed him, though then continued driving as if nothing was different. He acted as if Jughead didn't just grab him in a very intimate place.

"I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... I-" Jughead swallowed, quickly pulling his hand back before putting it under his own thighs to keep from unconsciously reaching back for Archie — whatever that was.

Towards the end of the afternoon, Archie finally parked in the parking lot of the Tipton hotel. It looked just as Jughead remembered. Though he still wasn't sure why he felt so uneasy.

"Remember, our deal still stands. Tell me if you want to leave and we can pack our stuff and leave" FP reminded him, voice low, as he gave him the crutches.

"I know, thanks" He smiled softly, supporting himself on FP to grab the crutches before sliding in his arm with a groan.

"How is the pain?"

"Manageable. Everything is just stiff and I'm tired" Jughead said, still stretching his legs like he had done at the parking lot of the gas station.

"Well, you can go straight to bed if you want"