~Him~
Sometimes people surprise us. It's like...you think you know everything about this person and then they just...show a different side. And it is as if you have to rethink your whole way of looking at people.
***
They stared at Carla, wondering what to do next, as none of them took the initiative to even move.
"I uhm...I'm Miss Stone." She said and they all nodded.
"Yeah...Leonard's sister." Jellybean mumbled and Carla nodded.
"If I have understood this right, you..." She looked at Betty. "isn't a family member?" Betty nodded.
"She's my girlfriend," Jughead said and Carla turned to him.
"I really don't care." She mumbled and then turned back to Betty. "Is it okay if I have a word with...?" She looked at Jughead and then at Jellybean.
"Jughead and Jellybean," Jellybean said and Carla scoffed.
"Jellybean..." She mumbled silently to herself. She then shook her head and looked back at Betty, waiting for her to answer.
"Yeah, of course. I need to buy some coffee either way." Jughead kissed her and watched as she walked to the store.
"I have a few questions, I'll make it quick, I promise. I guess the two of you want to be here just as little as I want to." Jughead nodded and Carla looked down at Jellybean. "You lived with him, am I correct?" Jellybean nodded slightly at her. "Did he ever act inappropriately around you?"
"Yes, he did," Jughead said through gritted teeth. Carla sighed.
"That motherfucking..." She gave them a slight smile. "Listen, the family has a brand and an image to keep up, okay?" Jughead shrugged. "The way Leonard acted is horrible, it truly is, and no one is more sorry about it than me, trust me." She turned to Jughead. "In exchange for not telling any newspapers or any media at all, we will give you check." Jughead frowned.
"You think a check will fucking help?" He mumbled.
"It's not a small amount. It's...well...we are offering as much as you need. Leonard was a real pig." She sighed. "And we understand that he may have caused you trouble for the rest of your life, you're not the first he's hurt but thankful enough, the last." Jughead stared at her, wondering if she had had anything to do with his death.
"We will think about it...I mean...media will probably pay pretty well for such a juicy story." Jughead said, pretending to be thinking hard about this.
"Here's my card, call me as soon as you have an amount in mind and we can discuss it further, okay?" Jughead took the card and barely looked at it before putting it in his pocket. "I also wanted to ask you if you could...well keep quiet about the accident." Jughead raised his brows. "Do not tell media nor the police what happened...about the malfunction, I mean." She silently said and Jughead smirked at her.
"Oh my, oh my, oh my..." He happily said. "you had something to do with it, didn't you?" She looked around in the empty corridor.
"I didn't purposely kill him, if that's what you're suggesting, I just..." She looked at Jellybean and then back at Jughead. "I was looking for drugs in it, and I picked something apart and then I couldn't put it back together. I'm pretty sure that's what caused the accident." Jughead laughed.
"Damn, you have really helped us all by sucking." Jughead laughed and her eyes widened. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, business language." He mumbled as he returned to a neutral expression.
"Just don't tell anyone about this little mishap." Jughead smiled.
"Listen, you killed your own brother, who also happened to be the person I hated the most. You only did us a favor, a big one. Now I don't have to deal with him." Jughead shrugged. "Besides, I'm not a snitch." It looked as if Carla breathed out.
"Are you sad he's dead?" Jellybean asked and Carla looked at her.
"I mean...he was my brother after all." She mumbled. "Feels a bit weird. And now I am the only one left in the family, I mean except for..." Her finger spun around as she tried to remember the name of Glimmer's name.
"Glimmer." Jellybean said.
"Exactly. I don't know, I'm happy the messy part of him is gone. But I guess I'm going to miss small things that he always did." Jughead looked at her, wondering what to do next, when Jellybean walked closer to her and hugged her tightly.
Carla hesitated at first but then wrapped her arms around the young child.
***
"I'll see you soon," Jughead whispered as he hugged Jellybean tightly. Without looking he knew that she was crying.
"I don't want to go home," Jellybean said when they let go of each other. Jughead looked her straight in the eyes and smiled slightly.
"There are a few things at home I have to fix before you can come. And while I do that, I need you to stay with mom. I know it sucks, I know it does, but you have to promise to stay strong, and to not run away. Okay?" She nodded and he wiped away her tears.
"Goodbye, Betty." Jellybean hugged Betty and she hugged her back. Jughead couldn't help but smile slightly at them. There was nothing that made him happier than the fact that Jellybean and Betty seemed to like each other.
"Goodbye, sweetie." She said. "If you ever need to talk to someone I'm just a call away, okay?" Betty whispered and Jellybean nodded.
"Thank you, for everything."
"No problem. It was really nice meeting you." She lowered herself and whispered, loud enough for Jughead to hear. "You're the better Jones." Jellybean smiled and turned to Jughead.
Jellybean got into the taxi and Jughead glared at his mother.
"Bye, Jughead." Gladys said but he just ignored and. Instead, he waved as the car drove away and then he turned to Betty.
"What the hell are we going to do?" He sighed and Betty wrapped her arms around his neck.
"We..." She stared into his eyes. "are going to go back home, to Riverdale, and face my mom." She sighed. "And then, we are going to have a real talk with your dad, tell him to get his act together, because Jellybean really needs him. But before all of that, we are going to eat a burger at Pop's and just forget about all of this, just for a few minutes, and we are going to be two normal teenagers, sitting in a diner, being in love."
He gently placed his hands on her hips and pulled her closer to him. Their faces only a few inches from each other. He let himself lose himself in her eyes, let himself forget everything that has happened, let himself forget everything around them.
"We are going to pretend that our biggest issue is what movie we should pick, a rom-com or a documentary about a sick murderer, or whether we should wear light blue or baby blue to the winter formal."
He pressed his lips against hers and pretended that, as she had said, their only issue was what color to wear to the winter formal.
***
"Wait, you're telling me that you've never been outside of like Riverdale and Greendale?" Betty asked as Jughead took a bite of his burger. He shook his head.
"No, I mean...we never really had the money, and dad was always busy with the Serpents and mom was just...I guess she was too mad at dad to even consider doing something with the family." Jughead stirred the straw in his huge milkshake.
"Why was she so mad?"
"I don't know. I guess...well uhm she kinda said dad fucked someone else. Maybe she always suspected it or something. I don't really care. Either way, they weren't the best parents." Betty reached her hand out and he took it without hesitation.
"I hate when parents just kind of ignore their children because they have other issues. Like...yes it sucks to be a grown up but you know, they decided to have children and they have to make sure that they are as happy as possible, no matter what." Jughead nodded.
Betty took a sip of her milkshake and stared outside. He could see that she was drifting off and squeezed her hand gently to make her come back to reality.
"What are you thinking about?" He asked softly, looking at her with the kind of fondness that only she can bring out, and she looked at him.
"What does your mom have against mine?" Betty asked and Jughead looked confused. "Remember when she found out who my mother was? How she reacted, almost as if I changed in her eyes." Jughead nodded, he remembered the disgust his mother's eyes held when she found out. "And then when I sat with her in the hospital, she talked to mom, on mom's demand of course..." Betty rolled her eyes. "and Gladys seemed to really hate her."
"How do you mean 'hate her'? Are you sure you aren't reading too much into this?"
"She said mom had some nerve wanting to talk to her. Asking if she was still seeing someone, I don't know who though, and said that I at least give a shit about people, as if my mom doesn't." Betty looked at the ceiling and then back at Jughead. "Which is kinda true." Jughead laughed.
"Maybe they had a beef or something? They went to the same school so it wouldn't surprise me, they're both pretty opinionated." Betty nodded. "Come here." She walked around the table and sat down beside Jughead.
He wrapped one arm around her and she looked up at him.
"I love you so much, Betty." He said and she smiled. "And I am so thankful for everything you have done, both for me and Jellybean. I couldn't have done this without you." She kissed him gently, pushing herself closer to him, as if she couldn't get enough of him. "One day, I'll make sure we get the hell out of here, yeah?" She nodded and rested her head on his shoulder.
"I love you too, Jughead."
***
The warm summer weather seemed to have disappeared and left a cold, chilly feeling outside. Something that Jughead was less excited for. Because when it got cold outside, it meant that the trailer would get cold as well, which meant that he would freeze his ass off for half a year. It was already dark outside and both of them realized that they didn't really know what day it was.
Jughead held Betty's hand tight in his own when they walked inside her house. She had insisted that they'd stay together, at least for one night, especially after he'd mentioned how fucking cold it was going to be at the trailer.
Alice stood in the hall, they didn't ask why, didn't care why. She glared at them as they walked inside and Jughead could feel her hand starting to shake.
"Mom, I am not going to fight with you. Not now, not today." Betty sighed as she and Jughead took off their coats. It had, over one night, become really cold outside. He knew that she was exhausted, that today had been long and a fucking pain in the ass.
"Elizabeth Cooper..."
"Mrs. Cooper, listen, I get that you are mad at me...and her." Jughead said and then stopped for a second. He wasn't sure what to say and then, out of nowhere, he just started to talk. "and you should, because I did hurt your daughter. But I love her, and I left because I thought she would be better off without me. But she wasn't and I can't live without her." Jughead said and Alice kept quiet.
"I really do love her, Mrs. Cooper. And I'd do anything for her. Like she has done everything for me in these past few days. Right now, she has been up for almost two days without sleep, because my family is fucked up and she tried to help. She took in my little sister because she needed help even though she was so mad at me that she couldn't even look at me." Jughead just kept talking, unsure of where this little speech was going.
"Because she is kind and loving. And she decided to look past us to help someone who needed her. In this very second, she is going to fall apart if she doesn't get to sleep, okay? So we need to get her to bed, make sure that she gets some sleep, and doesn't break. I'll do whatever you ask me to, clean up, fix Polly's room, cook, whatever really." Jughead took a deep breath. "But please, don't be up her ass, not tonight."
Alice stared at them for a few seconds. Wondering if what Jughead had said was true.
"Fine, get to bed. The both of you. I'll tell your dad that you're here." Jughead raised a brow when she mentioned FP.
"You don't have to tell him, he doesn't care." Jughead shrugged and Alice looked at him. Straight in his eyes.
"I know it doesn't feel like he cares, but he really does Jughead. He loves you." And then it looked as if Alice realized what she had said and he soft expression hardened. "I mean, I guess. I mean as a parent I know that my kids didn't always see everything." Jughead frowned, a little bit confused about this conversation, but then he just shook the weird feeling off.
***
"I've missed this," Jughead said as Betty rested her head against his bare chest.
"Missed what?"
"You." He whispered.
"What do you mean? I've been here all the time."
"I know. It's just...I don't know...I've just missed this."
Before she could even answer he had drifted off to sleep. He felt safe with her. Even though everything around them was a mess and everything was falling apart, he felt as it would all be fine, as long as he had her it would be fine. They would conquer it all.