Betty's POV
I've been stressed way more than usual lately. I had the unsolved mystery of "The Black Hood" to uncover, I was extremely worried about my sister who just left Riverdale with a killer on the loose, my boyfriend might be in harm's way; all that, plus school and just simply being a teenager.
Just as my mind started spiraling, I heard taps on my window, so I got up to open it, letting Jughead climb through my window. "Hey, Betts," he greeted me once he was in. I sighed and dully responded, "Hey, Juggie."
"What's wrong?" Jughead asked, a look of concern growing on his face. "Everything," I responded. "Everything's wrong." "What can I do? How can I help?" Juggie offered, taking my hands in his supportively.
"Unless you can magically bring Polly back to Riverdale, find out who The Black Hood is, and tell all my teachers to let me pass all my classes, there's nothing you can do," I replied, sitting on the edge of my bed. Jughead sat with me and put his hand on the side of my neck comfortingly. "Betty, I had no idea you were so stressed, I'm sorry," He apologized.
"I just don't see how to get rid of all this stress," I sighed. "I might have an idea," Jughead smirked, standing up. "What're you gonna do?" I asked as he gave me a quick kiss on my temple. "You'll see," he replied before going back out the window.
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Jughead got back within 20 minutes with a bin full of water balloons that he filled and tied. "Juggie, I love you, but how is a water balloon fight supposed to help?" I asked when he set the bin on my bathroom counter.
"It's not for a fight. Just, here," Jughead paused before grabbing a single balloon and black Sharpie, taking the cap off. "Name one thing that's got you so stressed." I thought for a while before coming up with an example. "Uh, school," I said.
Jughead simply wrote 'school' on the balloon and carefully put it back in the bin. He then picked another balloon and asked, "Alright, what else?" I responded rather quickly. "I'm so worried about Polly and the babies' safety," I said.
Jughead wrote 'Polly/babies' on the next one. This continued until we finished all my stresses and surprisingly had a few leftover balloons. Then, Jughead carried the bin to the front yard as I followed him. We stopped in the driveway and Jug set the bin on a stool he must've sat out here earlier. "Okay, pick a few up," Jughead said. I did as told, picking the balloons with markings.
"Alright, in your hands are burdens, weights," he started and I nodded my head in understanding. "Let them go." "What?" I asked for clarification. What Jughead said next almost broke my heart: "Drop the balloons. Drop the weights. Let go." I started to tear up, realizing how emotional this went, how deep. "I can't," I said, my voice cracking. "I can't do it, I just can't let go."
I saw his face gain a look of sorrow and ache. "Betty, I know how hard it is," Jughead said, trying to sympathize. "But at least try." I trusted him; I knew he would never put me through something so emotional if not for my best interests.
I slowly felt the balloon marked 'school' slip through my fingers and I felt the cold water splash on my ankles as the balloon burst against the concrete. I know it sounds stupid, but I felt somewhat relieved. Jughead must've too, because his once sad and concerned face turned to one wearing a smile as I dropped more, one by one, a smile growing on my face as well.
From 'Black Hood' to 'Polly/babies' to 'Friendships' and 'assignments', Each balloon fell and I was more and more relieved. Soon my hands were no longer holding balloons and my head was no longer holding burdens. "You did it, Betts! I'm so proud of you!" Juggie gushed.
"Thanks, Juggie, that means a lot to me. You mean a lot to me," I said stepping closer to him as he stood in front of the stool, holding the bin of leftover balloons. "In fact, you mean so much, that I wanted to thank you," I said, reaching into the bin a pulling out a balloon. I quickly stepped back and threw the balloon at Jug's chest, laughing, seeing his reaction of a smile-ish smirk.
Hey, guys! Really hope you enjoyed this oneshot, it's been so long since I updated because I have so many stories to be working on! I was actually going to have this be a really long chapter and have a water balloon fight, but I decided to make that kind of like a part two to this one, so that should be coming out in like 30 minutes. Thank you guys for all your support and reads, about half of my published stories have over 100 reads, which to me is huge. Please continue to read vote and add stories to your reading lists. Also, please show some love to 'Til Death Do Us Part because I have like 20 reads on it, and I work oh-so-hard on the chapters. Anyway thank you, thank you, thank you for everything.