The next days that followed, Betty mostly spent babysitting kids around town, which left Jughead a lot of time with his friends, and alone. So there he was, sitting on his old shattered couch with a few takeout boxes around him, typing away on his laptop.
His usual murder mysteries that had always included mostly only victims, police, different investigators, and murderers, of course, earned now a few new characters.
Typically, in his books, the investigators or police officers would have a few affairs, with both men and women, and victims would have family and lovers they left behind, but in the new one he was currently writing, a perky blonde woman appeared in many scenes.
Her eyes were green as emeralds, but hair cut short with seemingly a piece of sharp glass. She didn't care for her looks or hygiene much but was one hell of an investigator. The young skinny woman had earned a lot of her characteristics from Betty, but there was so much written in that didn't even go near her.
Jughead had gotten the inspiration while watching an old serial killer documentary with Betty one day in the projection booth at Twilight Drive-In. The girl's eyes had been glued to the screen the whole time, not even sipping water to distract herself, but her mouth had been opened constantly, silently giving Jughead her new theories.
In the end, the boy had only been focused on her and missed quite some amount of the interesting plot, but he had gained too many ideas for the next book. Betty's theories were wild—something you would never think of in a million years—and, of course, none of them ever became true, but the girl had a ferocious imagination.
Jughead wondered why she had never tried to write any books of her own.
(Of course, he hadn't asked, not wanting to be like Alice Cooper who only wanted her wishes and dreams to be accomplished by her daughter, and not her daughter's.)
So, now Jughead was sat on his couch, fingers furiously flying over the keyboard, his breathing shaky as he introduced the new character. She was going to be an investigator and a murderer.
Nobody would suspect an investigator that seemingly had nothing to do with the victims. She was short, blonde, and beautiful if taken care of. But the psychotic look in her eyes would sometimes refer to the fact.
She was a serial killer.
The boy was so in his world that he didn't notice when a girl opened the trailer door and closed it behind herself. She perked up her eyebrows, watching the way he typed away, silently sipping on his black coffee to get some more energy and taste into his mouth.
"Jones."
Jughead's head whipped up and was met with a confused look on Toni's face.
"What are you doing?" the brunette questioned and walked over to him, the boy quickly saving and pushing the lid shut as he faced her.
"Why are you here, Toni? I'm kinda busy."
"Busy doing what?" she scoffed, amused. "Writing the next New York Bestseller?"
Jughead gulped, rolling his eyes forcefully. "Right. I'm working for the bar since dad hasn't shown up in two days... Do you know where he's at?"
"Nope, haven't seen him in the bar the last few nights."
The boy nodded and turned toward his friend. "What's up?"
Toni narrowed her eyes a bit, smirking while doing so. "Nothing. Can't I come and hang out?"
Jughead simply stared at her for a while, not believing it. She never showed up just to "hang out". "Okay... What do you wanna do?"
"Go to Pop's?"
"Is Joaquin working?"
"Yep. He said he doesn't have many customers today."
"Okay..." Jughead reluctantly stood as Toni rolled her eyes at him.
"So that's why you wanted to come," the beanie-wearing boy murmured once they were in Pop's, sitting behind the counter to talk to Joaquin, and a certain redheaded Northsider walked through the doors with her older brother.
"Ooh, someone's on a date?" Joaquin whispered back with a smirk as they watched the two siblings take a seat.
"Just wait," Toni silently said. "They won't be alone."
Right as she had stated that, the bell over the door rang once more and four more people walked in this time blonds, two of them relatively tiny. A stupid grin took over Jughead's face as he saw Betty carrying a little girl who must have been her niece, the other hand busy holding her nephew's who was toddling next to her, barely able to reach her hand.
"Dada," the little girl suddenly said, starting to bounce on her lap, so Betty leaned down and placed her on the ground, both of the children running to Jason Blossom.
When her sister and the blossoms were speaking something about being late, her eyes gazed over Joaquin, Jughead, and Toni, giving the boy behind a counter quick wave and smiling at the other two, including her boyfriend.
Jughead noticed that the smile didn't quite reach her eyes, though.
Betty had been sitting in the booth with her sister and the Blossoms for quite a while now, and yet the only thing holding her back from going to the bathroom to vomit out the salad she had just eaten was the fact that both of her sister's children were sitting on her lap, trying to engage with her in their baby talk. They always ranted to Betty about everything and even as she didn't understand, she was happy that someone was so happy to see her.
She watched the way they pushed the meatball around on their shared plate with their fingers, repeating the word "ball" a million times between the small words they understood but she didn't.
"So, Cousin Betty," Cheryl started, earning her attention.
"We're not actually cousins, Cher," she quickly pointed out, only making the redhead roll her eyes.
"What am I supposed to call you? Brother's sister-in-law? No thanks."
"They're not married yet, either."
Sighing exaggeratedly, Cheryl rolled her eyes once more. "That's exactly what we need to talk about. You're one the bridesmaids, right?"
Betty tilted her head to look at Polly for confirmation, and after her sister simply smiled and nodded, she looked back at Cheryl with a single nod and a shrug of her shoulders.
"So," the girl smiled. "We should match."
"The date isn't even set yet," Betty said.
"Can you just ignore something your facts say for one moment and have a conversation with me?" the girl rudely asked.
"No offense, Cheryl, or any of you, really, but I'm really not in the mood to talk about the wedding my mother and father have argued about for months."
"Your parents are arguing about our wedding?" Jason frowned.
"I told you," Polly pointed out to her fiancé. "Mom is driving dad crazy, and according to Betty, now there are other topics they're fighting about."
"The whole town knows they're constantly screaming. So what?" Cheryl asks, totally indifferent about the whole situation.
"So, I'm not getting enough sleep, and my neighbors keep staring when I leave the house, and I'm just tired of hearing about it."
"Well, Cousin Betty, the earlier the wedding is celebrated, the less time they have for fighting, right?"
"You don't get it," Betty mumbled and looked right into the redhead's eyes. "They're talking about divorce. But my mother is a proud woman as you all know, and she isn't going to the wedding alone. So, Polly is trying to postpone the deciding of the date as long as possible, because she wants for our parents to stay together, because who are we kidding... we all know they're gonna break up after it."
"Betty, they're not gonna get a divorce if we give them enough time to talk their things out," Polly said, shaking her head.
"Yes, they are, Polls," the girl sighed desperately. "You're not the one having to sleep through all that shit. Nobody can sleep in the neighborhood. I just want it to be over."
"Over as in together or...?" Jason questions.
"Over as in broken up. I'm sick of them telling me what to do and trying to control fucking every move of my life." Betty looked down after she had said that, feeling the eyes of the three Southsiders on her, as well as the few other customers in various booths.
"Wow. Look who finally grew some balls," Cheryl smirked, raising her cherry coke in a salute. "Looks like you're maybe going to be a real cheerleader this year."
"You don't have to be a bitch to be a cheerleader, sis," Jason sniggered before looking back at Betty, a little shocked by her use of words as well. "You really want them to break up?"
"It'd be easier for dad, wouldn't it?"
"And you'd stay with mom?" Polly asked.
Betty shrugged, passing her niece to her sister, and carefully lifting her nephew to Cheryl's lap. "I need to go now."
Her eyes met Jughead's who was obviously trying to hold his amusement at a bay when she walked behind the counter, giving Joaquin a nod, and disappearing to the kitchen to help Pop bake—something she had promised to do today.
When she was gone, Jughead looked back toward the table she had sat at and heard Cheryl asking something in a tone he had never heard that girl use before. "Is everything okay with her? Why is she so skinny?"
The boy gently cleared his throat and turned back toward Toni, taking a sip of his chocolate milkshake.
Even Cheryl Blossom noticed. That was something new.
Betty walked out of the kitchen of the diner, only to be faced with Jughead behind the counter, Joaquin serving other clients, and her table half-empty, Cheryl gone now too.
"Hi beautiful," Jughead silently said, smiling while doing so, and earned a glimpse of her smile as well.
"What are you doing here?" she questioned, anxiously looking around.
"I don't know, eating?" She giggled quietly and he smiled. "Toni dragged me here to hook up with Blossom in the bathroom, so now I'm stuck here, sitting and listening to your conversation with your family like a creep."
"I don't mind," the blonde said, eyebrows knitted together on her forehead. "Toni and Cheryl?" she whispered.
"Apparently," he mumbled back and nudged his head toward her table where he could feel direct eyes on him.
"Do they know about us, too?" Betty asked, theatrically placing her hands on her hips so that the conversation wouldn't look casual to anyone watching them.
Jughead smirked, eyeing the position in amusement and gave her a slight nod. "Well, then I know who I don't have to look out for," she murmured back when Toni emerged from the bathroom and started to walk toward them.
Betty waited until she was sat down and smiled at the girl slightly, dropping her hands from their position not to look rude. "My mom would kill me for those," she mumbled, eyes on Toni's neck.
Jughead gazed at it for a second and bit back a chuckle when Toni's eyes widened a bit, realizing Cheryl had left hickeys. "Fuck," she hissed and practically glared at the girl who now stepped out of the bathroom, looking even better than before.
Betty walked back to her table with her and was handed her niece immediately, which wasn't anything she minded. Jughead, on the other hand, smirked at his best friend. "One hell of a woman in bed, huh?" he teased, quoting the words she had once told him.
Toni's hand slapped his head, probably stronger than necessary, yet he still laughed quietly, not getting the point.
Betty and Jughead met again the next morning when she was baking in the empty diner and he dragged his feet inside. He asked for a coffee from Pop who was out serving the few clients that were crazy enough to spend their time in Pop's at seven in the morning.
"Hey, Jughead. You're early," the man greeted, as he made the boy a strong black coffee, but not the kind that would make his head hurt.
"Yeah," he simply sighed and thanked him once he received the cup. The black liquid gave him enough energy not to fall asleep right there behind the counter, but definitely not more than that, which was why he ordered another just some minutes later.
Betty emerged from the kitchen soon enough, a cheery smile on her face. "Good morning," she greeted him as she stopped right in front of him.
"Morning," he grumbled back, eyes a bit narrowed once she giggled at him.
"You didn't have to come," she mused, her hand reaching out to push back the strand of hair on his forehead.
"Yeah, well, when a pretty girl texts you saying I could come to meet her for a few hours if I wanted to, I'm obviously going to do exactly what she offers."
Betty smiled, running her hand through his hair, and leaned over the counter to plant her lips on his. Jughead kissed back, but after a brief moment realized they were in public. "Whoa, Betts."
She gave him a shy smile. "No one's here but Pop. And I'm sure he doesn't mind."
"Aren't you worried someone will see and tell your mom?" he frowned.
"Um... yeah, a bit, but... I don't know, I yelled at her yesterday and—"
"Wait what?" His lips formed into a smile. "You yelled at your mother?" Betty bit her lip as she sighed, but he only kept grinning. "For what?"
"She realized that I hadn't given back Archie's flannel."
Jughead smiled, showing off his two rows of white teeth, and leaned over to kiss her nose. "Oh yeah? And what exactly did you tell her?"
"That it's none of her business, and that I'm seventeen and should be able to choose what I wear. That, of course, made her scream at me again, saying that she has let me pick them out myself over the past few years, but she guesses she'll have to start doing it herself again if I want to wear those rags."
Jughead laughed, their fingers intertwining over the wooden stand.
"And then she made sure to accuse me of having an affair with Archie who broke my heart and surely would do it again. But then I got kinda mad and told her that..."
"That...?" Jughead smirked.
"That I'm not dating Archie and he's become like a brother to me, and the flannel isn't even his. Which I hugely regret because my mom made sure to go and scream at Fred Andrews for lying for me."
The boy laughed his head off at that and smiled at the way her nose squirted up as she blushed. "I love you."
Betty raised her head at that, the smile disappearing for a moment as she stared at him. His chin was resting on his hand, elbow on the counter, and his head was tilted toward his left shoulder, eyes full of adoration and... and love for her. Quickly recovering from the shock, the girl let out a shaky breath and shook her head a bit. "I love you, too."
A grin spread over Jughead's face again, and she mirrored the reaction, both of their hands cupping one another's faces as they leaned over the counter separating them. Resting their foreheads together while their lips met in a passionate kiss.
The bell over the door interrupted them, and the two jumped apart, not used to doing this in front of anyone, both of their heads whipping to the side as they stared in the eyes of the boy on the door, his mouth fallen open.
Reggie.
☆☆☆
Uh-oh. Writing the next one already.
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