He treated my cuts with great care, bandaging them delicately, consciously putting in an effort to make sure that I was comfortable while still getting the job done. He struggled to meet my eyes, then immediately welling with tears when he did.
⚠️TW⚠️
His voice broke as he spoke. "Betty, w-why would you do this?", he asked simply. I inhaled a sharp, shaky breath, chuckling half-heartedly after. "Because my life sucks, Jughead. Nobody fucking cares about me. I don't fucking care about myself. Why shouldn't I want to die? It's too much pressure being here. I don't know why the fuck I'm even telling you, a total stranger, all of this...", I muttered.
He hesitated to set his hand onto my arm, flinching slightly as he did. "That's not true, Betty. I care about you.", he stated. I could only scoff. "We met a few hours ago. You don't care about me. Spare your lies for someone else.".
He winced. I hurt him. I felt guilty, truth be told. That was a harsh way of putting it. "See, I just hurt you. I don't even deserve to be on this pathetic planet. Though pathetic, it still deserves better than some excuse of a girl like me living on it.".
I leaned forward to stand, but he quickly tightened his grip on my arm, pulling me back down slowly. "Look, Betty. Nobody's perfect. I can tell that you've gone through a lot. I know the position that you're in, trust me. But everyone deserves a second shot at life. Your life can improve, but only if you want it to. And about the other thing, yes, I only just met you, but as I said, I can tell that you're in a great deal of pain. I don't like seeing people, especially a pretty girl like you, hurting and in affliction. I want to help you. I will help you.", he said. He gazed deep into my eyes, as if to emphasize his words, to cause them to actually have an effect on me.
I tried so hard to push that effect away, but I couldn't help but let it sink in. He cared. Nobody had ever told me that before. Never. At least, not that I can remember. My face softened against my will, a small smile crawling to Jughead's face before it fell again. "Please let he help you.", he pleaded.
I knew this would just be a phase. He would think that he could help me. He would see that it was no use. He would leave, and that would be the end of it. So, I tried to make my response as believable as possible, as if I was confident in the abilities of a man I'd just met. "O-Okay.", I whispered, nodding as tears slipped from both of our eyes, none of which were fake.
He urged himself to take me into his arms, embracing me tightly against his chest. I tentatively allowed my head to rest against his shoulder as he stroked my hair gingerly, steadying his breathing for me to follow. It was strangely calming. Once again, I'd never experienced anything like it before. A new, unfamiliar emotion overtook me as I attempted to shut out the confusion it was causing. The mix of both negative known emotions and unknown emotions caused apprehension and fatigue to rise within me. He seemed to notice.
"Why don't you close your eyes? Let yourself rest for a while, okay?", he suggested. I nodded tiredly. "Do you want to stay here or do you want me to bring you to the bed?". That was the last thing that I heard as I fell asleep.
