The Intriguing Originality (Ch. 2)
Summary: While further into their relationship, Jughead is still trying to keep Betty safe… even through her crazy, secretive mother and especially through the assholes of the Southside.
Notes: Sorry this took so long for me to get done! A few people requested a chapter 2 so I hope you like it :)
Ever since Jughead and Betty became a couple a few weeks ago, the boy was notoriously keeping his new, beautiful, unique girlfriend as safe as he possibly could in the dangerous halls of their high school. When they were together, the second any other student would give her a sideways look, he would scowl at them, showing a bit of threat. No one was to bother her, no one was to mess with her. Just his presence around her made that known to the students of Southside High, and anyone who crossed that line, well, they were in for a rude awakening. He had hoped that that stuck for when he wasn’t around her as well.
The core friend group that Jughead had was honestly warming up to Betty since they’ve gotten to know her. After a few days, they found her sense of humor and side comments were actually quite funny. Another thing that drew them to her was the way she that she outwardly volunteered her help with anything they needed, whether it be not understanding homework or not being able to clean up the aftermath of a fight that was shown on their face. She didn’t look at them with judgement as they did to her when she came around, and they all appreciated that.
Their relationship was just going really well, and Jughead wanted to keep it that way. He wanted to show her how much he valued her. “Hey, babe,” he said, while shutting his laptop to stop him from working.
“Hm?” Betty responded, not paying complete attention as she typed away on her own laptop. Her focus and determination also was a factor that made Jughead head over heels for her; it was quite admirable.
Toni snorted at the scene in front of her, lifting her head from the photographs she was going through. She knew that if Betty’s attention wasn’t directly on Jughead, she’d have no clue what he was saying to her. Helping her friend out, she called out, “Yo, lollipop!” At that, Betty’s head shot up, looking at Toni with horror at why she’d use that nickname again. “Your boyfriend’s talking to you,” she pointed at Jughead, who was grinning ear to ear. Betty’s cheeks flushed, not realizing she wasn’t aware of her surroundings a moment ago. Once her attention was averted, Toni refocused on her own work.
“What’s up?” Betty asked Jughead. He got up and started walking to her, sitting on the desk in front of where she was seated. “What?” She asked softly, wondering why he seemed so intent on whatever he was about to say.
“Let’s go on a proper date tonight,” Jughead proposed. “Like one where I pick you up and I take you out to dinner and a movie.” She was his girlfriend, and he was going to treat her the way a good boyfriend treats his girlfriend… like a fucking princess.
“Really?” Betty asked, a smile gracing her lips. “Like a real proper date? Are you gonna pick me up at my apartment? Do I have to dress fancy? Or are we gonna go to Pop’s? We both love Pop’s. What movie will we see? Ooh, Juggie! This is gonna be so fun,” she babbled, squealing giddily. The first ‘date’ she went on with Jughead went great, and all the other dinners they had picked up since then have went well also, but they never considered it to be a proper date. This excited her.
Jughead grinned at how fast her questions were coming. She was so adorable sometimes. “Yes, I’ll pick you up at home. A real proper date. Just dress like yourself. Yes, we’ll go to Pop’s. I’ll surprise you with the movie,” he answered all the questions in one go, just as she asked them. She smiled through every word he responded with, making his heart swell in ways he didn’t know was possible. “Oh, and seven o’clock, okay?”
Betty nodded. “Okay,” she responded. It was going to be a great night. She then reached up, grabbing Jughead’s leather jacket to pull him down for a kiss. He made a sound of surprised, but the kissed back even harder.
“Ew!” Toni complained. “Get a room.” The two separated momentarily, giggling. With no remorse, Jughead chucked the middle finger at her and then turned back around to kiss his girlfriend again.
Although Jughead had told her just to dress like herself, Betty wanted to look pretty for their date. She was looking through her closet and found a powder blue sundress patterned with pinkish-tan roses all around it, it was quite a nice dress. After trying it on, she decided to wear that with a tan cardigan and matching tan high heels. The outfit looked nice, but sort of like her regular self. Changing it up a smidge, she decided to wear her hair down in waves, simply clipping the tops back to keep it from falling in her face. For her makeup, she put on a light coating of pink eye shadow, mascara, and pink lip gloss to finish it off.
Just as she was finishing up, the doorbell of her apartment rang. She flattened out her dress as quick as possible before running out of her bedroom to get the door, hoping to get there before her mother did. She was too late though, hearing, “Hello—”
“Hi Mrs. Cooper,” Jughead said. “I’m Jughead. I’m here for—”
“Me!” Betty finished his sentence, going to give him a welcoming kiss.
Jughead noticed something different, unsurprisingly. “Your hair’s down,” he realized aloud. This was his first time ever seeing it like this, and honestly, he couldn’t believe how amazing it looked. “It looks so pretty,” he said, reaching up with one hand to tuck a fallen strand behind her ear. Of course, she blushed, quietly thanking him.
Then, with the other hand, from behind his back, he pulled out a bouquet of red and white roses.
“Oh, my gosh, Juggie,” she gasped before she reached for the flowers. “You didn’t have to,” she beamed, looking at the beautiful bouquet.
Jughead chuckled. “You say that way too often,” he teased. “I do this stuff for you because I want to, honey… not because I have to.” The smile she was giving him at that made his heart swell, which just the look of her normally causes.
Betty stood on her tippy toes and planted a sweet kiss on his lips. “You’re the best.” She squealed. “I’m gonna go put this in a vase,” she said, running to go do that, leaving Jughead and her mother there alone.
Jughead shifted on his feet, a bit nervous to have to deal with the heavy gaze of Alice Cooper. The woman was really scrutinizing everything about him, taking in his whole entire appearance, so of course, Jughead felt a bit uncomfortable. To his surprise then, Alice spoke up. “You’re FP Jones’ son,” she said as if it was obvious.
Jughead nervously coughed. “Uh, yes, ma’am… how do you know that?” He furrowed his eyebrows a little bit in confusion. In his mind, the further he thinks about it, Betty’s family and his family seems to have no possible connection, right?
“We used to know each other,” Alice said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Your father wasn’t too good of an influence back then. Seeing as you, yourself, are a Serpent, I suppose you aren’t either.” She clicked her tongue, still studying the boy up and down, from his beanie to his combat boots. “Splitting image,” she mumbled under her breath. Then with furrowed and expectant brows, she asked, “So, Jughead, what are your intentions with my daughter? Trying to make her one of yours? Need another member in the gang?” She mocked.
“No,” Jughead responded instantly. He was internally wincing with each word that Mrs. Cooper said, but he kept a straight face. “I don’t want Betty to be a Serpent. I want her to be her, and that’s all. You have to understand, Mrs. Cooper, your daughter is like no one I’ve ever met before. Breaking someone of their nonconformity would be the worst action that I could take,” he spoke honestly. “I’m with Betty because she’s who she is. I would never try and change that.” He tried to hold eye contact with the woman after he finished speaking, but damn, was she intimidating, which was a lot to say, coming from a Serpent.
Alice stepped forward a bit. “A snake may shed his skin, but it always grows back.”Jughead raised an eyebrow and tensed at that, but then Betty walked back into the room. “Elizabeth, do you know you’re dating a Serpent? Do you understand how dangerous that is?”
“Yes, I know I’m dating a Serpent. No, he is not dangerous. He’s the one who keeps me safe in school. And you know what? I’d like for you not to insult my boyfriend, please. He’s better for me than anyone else ever has been,” Betty said, trying not to sound snappy, but ultimately failing at doing so. She then turned to Jughead, smiling and saying, “Let’s go,” she whispered, grabbing her boyfriend’s hand and pulling him out to the hallway of the apartment building.
Jughead looked a bit conflicted. “She does not like me,” he said, stating what was obvious to his eyes.
Betty stopped, and turned to look at him. “She doesn’t like anyone. Gosh, she doesn’t even really like me, for that matter.” She snorted, acting like that didn’t bother her. “So don’t take it personally,” she told him while she stood on her tippy toes, kissing his cheek.
As they started walking again, the boy interlaced their fingers. “She was the bitch of the Northside, correct?” Jughead asked, and Betty nodded. “I guess the name sticks around here too,” he and Betty snorted at that because it seemed to be the honest truth.
“So, off the topic of my insane mother,” Betty said, now showing a sliver of excitement in her tone. “What do you have planned for this date of ours?” She squeezed his hand, beaming up at him as they walked.
Jughead smirked. “Pop’s first,” he said, which Betty already knew. “Then, Rebel Without a Cause,” he told her the movie, wiggling his eyebrows at her. The blonde girl squealed once again and jumped up, she loved that movie. It was really going to be a fun night.
As they got to Pop’s, they laughed, they joked, they kissed… they had a really good time as a couple. Being with each other was truthfully the happiest either of them has ever felt. Though they had been together for three weeks, it felt so new and perfect. For God’s sakes, when she did something as simple as leaning into his side during the movie, it felt like the fucking stars aligned; any form of touching was so electric and intoxicating.
The only unconventional part of the date was that throughout the night, while Betty acted like she didn’t notice the sideway glances they were getting, Jughead had to tighten his grip around her and send evil eyes to anyone that would internally downplay his girlfriend; they created quite the system. In reality, the strange looks were understandable being that a girl who resembled a real-life Princess Bubblegum was with a boy who resembled punk rocker, Glenn Danzig. From the looks of it, they didn’t seem to be a matching pair, but man, no one knew how perfectly they fit together.
Overall, with the gorgeous bouquet of flowers, the scrumptious dinner, and the fantastic movie, it was a wonderful date night.
Betty walked into school early as she had been for the past couple weeks, still feeling like she was on a high from her date with Jughead the night before. With her books in her arms, in her light colored jeans, white blouse, and green cardigan, she trotted her way to her first period class. The way her lips were curved upward into that blissful grin of hers seemed to be completely unfaltering.
As she approached her classroom, a boy budged into her, causing her books to fall. She didn’t get frustrated or even a bit bewildered by this, she just simply bent down to pick everything up. “Sorry,” she said apologetically, looking up and realizing he must be a new student. He was also in all black, coming off very grungy like everyone else in this school (besides her). In response to the girl’s apology, he growled. Once he looked at her, he snorted at the sight of her, and then stormed off. It was nothing new, but Betty refused to let the judgments bother her… not today.
While she tried to grab all of her stuff, a familiar hand came under her vision, helping her gather all of her belongings. She looked up to see Jughead, unsurprisingly. Leaning over everything, she immediately went in to plant a sweet kiss on his lips. “Good morning,” she beamed.
“Hi, sunshine,” Jughead responded, standing up with all of Betty’s books in one arm while he helped her to her feet with the other hand. “Someone giving you trouble already today?” He asked worriedly, looking around the hallway to see if there was anyone who seemed worthy of getting cracked down on.
Betty was constantly flattered by the way he always wanted to take care of her, but any unnecessary acts of roughhousing was not in her agenda for him. Her plan was to keep her boyfriend out of as much trouble as she could. “No, no,” she cleared up. “There’s a new student here, I think. He accidentally ran into me, that’s all,” she said, intentionally leaving out the part that he laughed at her because she knew how that would turn out for the new kid. From the look on his face, Jughead still seemed skeptical. “That’s all, Juggie,” Betty repeated, putting a hand on his arm to emphasize the sliver of truth that she was telling him.
“Alright,” Jughead replied, knowing he had to believe what she was telling him. He simply didn’t trust the other kids in this school, but in reality, who did? Then the two entered the classroom, and Jughead set her books on her rightful desk. “How was your walk here this morning? I could’ve picked you up, you know?” He grinned at her.
Betty nodded her head. “I know. You can pick me up tomorrow,” she said. “It was good though, quick. I was distracted the whole time,” she sheepishly admitted. He gave her a feigned questionative look, clearly holding back a smirk. “Yes, Jug, ‘cause of you,” she spilled. “I just had a lot of fun last night. Thank you for that,” she said, reaching from her desk to his so that she could give an affectionate squeeze to his his hand.
As he brought her hand up to his lips so he could kiss Betty’s knuckles, Jughead grinned. “So did I, babe—”
“Okay, class of involent criminals!” The teacher let out a shout, trying to avert all of the students attention to be on him, and cutting Jughead off in doing so. The boy hunched his shoulders, looking at Betty with a defeated frown. She silently giggled and put a finger up to her lips, telling him to keep quiet.
“Hey,” Jughead threw a balled up piece of paper at his girlfriend to get her attention. She picked her head up from her book, looking at him. “Last night your mom said she knows my dad.”
Betty raised an eyebrow before saying anything. “She did?” Jughead nodded and explained. “How would that even be possible?” Now, Jughead shrugged, showing his similar amount of confusion. “I’d ask her, but my mother is my mother, and she’d never voluntarily tell me about her past. That’s something I’ve learned over the years,” she snorted.
Jughead contemplated for a moment, before perching up. “Let’s go to my trailer. You could meet my dad, for one… and for two, we could ask him about it,” he suggested.
This took Betty by surprise, but she nodded her head and stood up. “Okay, you run to your locker, and I’ll run to mine. I’ll meet you at your motorcycle, sound good?” He nodded, and they split ways then.
Betty got to locker quickly, and retrieved everything she would need to go home after going to Jughead’s trailer. She heard the same snickering coming from behind her that she heard from the new student that she collided with in the morning. Turning around, she saw that same boy standing with Malachi, the heir of the fucking Ghoulies. Snide comments started to come from the both of them, but for the moment, they were keeping their distance. When she wasn’t responding to their disgusting flirtation, the words became more cruel and they insulted her in every way they could. Her stomach twisted nervously at everything they said.
Wanting to get away from the Ghoulie boy and their new apprentice, once her backpack was filled, she practically made a run for it. When she got outside, her boyfriend was already pulled around to the front of the building, waiting for her. “You okay?” Jughead asked, noticing the way her free hand was clenched.
“Yeah, of course,” Betty responded, faking a smile. She knew damn well that Jughead could see through it and was ready to interrogate her, but the way she was looking at him caused him to keep his mouth shut. When she was sure he wouldn’t ask any question, she put the helmet he had for her on and climbed on the back of the motorcycle. “Let’s go meet your dad,” she said, more to herself, and then they were on their way.
When they got to the trailer park, Betty took of the helmet, fixed her pony tail, and breathed in the air. She was happy to be away from other people, but no one needed to know that. Looking at the trailer that Jughead lived in, she grinned to herself, being that this was the first time she was seeing his home. It made her happy for some reason… made her feel like their relationship was taking a step up.
“Ready to go in?” Jughead asked, snapping her from her thoughts. Betty nodded, reaching for his hand. When they got inside, the boy yelled, “Dad! Come here! I want you to meet Betty!”
There were sounds of shuffling and then out came an attractive, middle aged man in an infamous leather jacket, who resembled very much of his son, minus the fact that he had scruff and Jughead didn’t. When he caught eye of Betty, his jaw gaped. “Holy shit. Your have got to be Alice’s daughter,” he said. Instantly he realized how that probably was rude to just blurt that out without introduction. “I’m sorry. Hi,” he extended a hand. “I’m FP, Jughead’s father obviously. I’ve heard a lot about you,” he smiled.
Betty returned that smile of course, but hers was more naturally jovial. “It’s nice to me you too, Mr. Jones,” she responded, and FP replied by insisting that she calls him by his first name. After a little bit of small, introductory talk, Betty curiously asked, “So, FP, you know my mother?” Now Jughead has stepped forward, wanting to her the response to that.
FP reached for his collar, tugging it lightly. “Uh, yeah. I used to know her.” From way that the two teenagers eyes were pleading for me, he sighed, caving in. “Ali used to ride with us,” he said, looking down. “She was never a real Serpent, but she knew the game, and played along.” He seemed a bit uncomfortable talking about it, like it ended badly, maybe?
Betty was more shocked than she was she found out her mother wanted to move to the Southside a few weeks ago. Alice Cooper? Riding with the Serpents? It almost didn’t sound real, but Betty wanted to know more. “How did she get into that?”
“Well, your mother, Fred Andrews, and I were like the three amigos growing up,” FP told her, grinning a bit at the memory of how close they all were. “I broke off though, following in my father’s footsteps, and one day after I left the Northside, I opened the door of my trailer and there she was,” he shrugged his shoulders. “She didn’t fit in around here, but man, the way she is? She made sure by the time that she left this place that she made a fucking imprint.” FP chuckled a bit, feeling reminiscent.
“Were you two, like— together?” Jughead asked, seeing his father talk this way about a woman was not very common.
FP sucked in a breath. “Once upon a time, we were almost in love with each other, but we were never together.” Now looking at Betty, he smirked. “She was quite the girl… not too nice though,” he laughed. “You any nicer than your mother?”
“She’s a fucking saint,” Jughead responded for her, nodding his head to emphasize. “Or a fucking angel,” he said. “Maybe both.” Betty smiled at the compliment, and leaned a bit into her boyfriend’s side.
“Stay that way, honey. You’ll get farther in life,” FP told her, feeling like she already knew that. “Well if you two know all you need to know about Alice, I’ll give you two some time alone. Don’t need me haggling you all night,” he joked. “Time to go to the Wyrm,” he said, patting his son’s back as he walked passed the two.
Betty smiled. “Thanks, FP,” she said generously. He nodded and was on his way. Once the door shut behind the Jones father, Betty turned to look at Jughead. “Holy crap,” she said, shocked.
Jughead put an arm around her, pulling her close as he led her to sit on the couch with him. He gazed at her, wondering how she was feeling and what she was thinking about what his father told them as she curled her feet up behind herself, leaning into him. She sighed, just getting lost in her thoughts for a moment.
Running a hand though her pony tail, he softly asked, “What are you thinking?”
Not looking at him, rather just staring ahead of her, Betty responded, “That my mother’s a hypocrite, and that I actually have no clue who she is as a human being.” On the inside, she felt a bit conflicted. Jughead just sighed, wanting to respond and be helpful, but not knowing how. Betty looked at him, knowing what he was thinking himself and weakly smiled; he always wanted to make her so happy, and she loved him for that.
For a while, the couple just stayed on the couch. In that time, they both realized that laying with each other like this was somewhat of a safe place. Betty made a pact with herself that if anything goes wrong, this is where she wants to be.
After so long of simply lounging around, Betty got up to make them dinner. Unsurprisingly, she ended up make Jughead enough food to last him and his father through a whole entire week. They lacked home cooked meals, so this was a nice twist on their everyday lives. As she cooked, Jughead stood in the doorway, watching with a lingering grin on his lips.
While Betty cleaned the dishes she used, Jughead stood behind her, wrapped his arms around you. “I can clean the dishes, you know,” he said, resting his chin on her shoulder. “Also, did you know food is the way to my heart?” He teased. Then he kissed her temple, trailing down to her cheek.
Betty put the dishes down, not caring since she was almost done anyway, she’d rather kiss her boyfriend. Leaning against the kitchen counter, she grabbed onto his jacket, pulling him in so that their lips were clashed together. It started off slow, but eventually got pretty heavy. Passionately, they made out right then and there, against the counter. Somehow, Jughead’s beanie was taken off in the midst of this, causing Betty to run her fingers through his beautiful black waves of hair while he kissed along her jaw and neck. One of his hands held her close to him, sporting her lower back while the other was held on the other side of her neck, keeping her in place. She closed her eyes as he sucked into the sensitive part of his neck, helping him slide his jacket off while her shoulder peered out of one side of her falling cardigan. As his hand slipped in between her blouse, touching her skin, hers went up the front of his, resting on his hips.
Just as Betty let out a moan of pleasure, they heard the door swing open. “Jug, I’m home!” FP called out, causing the two to jump back in fear, like all the wind was knocked out of them. Thankfully they were still clothed. For a moment, they just stood there, collecting themselves. FP walked into the kitchen, seeing both teenagers with bright red cheeks and Jughead’s beanie and jacket on the floor. He wasn’t dumb, so not wanting to embarrass them more, he said, “Damn, Jughead, you even take your hat off for her? You must really like this girl,” he patted him on the back nonchalantly and walked into his bedroom, not even waiting for a response.
Now Jughead was chuckling and so was Betty. Their cheeks were still red, thanking the heavens that FP didn’t actually get to see anything. Then Betty walked forward, wrapping her arms around her boyfriend. “I should get going,” she said. Jughead had offered to drive her, but she insisted that she’d be okay walking… although she was safest and happiest with him around she had a lot to think about with her mother and the way kids still treated her at school sometimes. She kissed him goodbye and was on her way.
On the walk home, Betty tried to figure out what she would say to her mother, but the looks people were giving her distracted her from that. She figured she was just overthinking it; she was actually almost sure that she was, but it just bothered her way more than she bothered to show. Sure, she didn’t fit in, but she’s never been the type to care. It was just the hateful eyes that got her riled up. Trying to ignore all that, she thought about Jughead, which always made her smile.
When she entered her apartment, she saw her mother sitting in the living room with a glass of cheap wine in her hand. Betty knew that she probably wouldn’t be able to hold back from saying something tonight. “I’m home, Mom,” she said first.
“Out with that Serpent boy of yours?” Alice responded, sounding disapproving. It made Betty see red.
In an unaware state, Betty clenched her fist. “Mom, I found something out tonight,” she said as she walked closer to her mother. “You rode with the Serpents.” At that, Alice’s head whipped around to look at her… pure horror. “If you know the ropes, why are you so against me being with Jughead? You’re the one who sent me to the school in the first place.” She crosses her arms.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Alice spat, standing to be level with her daughter. “I sent you to this school because your father and I separated. We have no money—”
“Bullshit,” Betty snorted, surprised at the audacity she had to curse at her mother. “You could’ve kicked Dad out of the house. You were just fine coming here, until I find a boyfriend who just so happens to be one of your old friends son?” She was so frustrated. “I’m happy with Jug, Mom.”
Alice snorted. “Please, Elizabeth. You’re just trying to fit in in that school. You’re nothing like the rest of them, you’re better. You could have a life set for you,” she said. “You’re trying to ruin it though by becoming one of them.”
“Who says I’m trying to become one of them?” Betty shot back. “Jughead isn’t trying to recruit me. I don’t ride with them. I’m just there! What is so bad about that?”
“Because you aren’t a Southsider, Betty. You aren’t even a Northsider. You’re Elizabeth Cooper, the perfect girl, with a life set out for her. You are not supposed to be falling into groups, trying to get along. You are supposed to be leading,” Alice said.
This is what Betty hated… the way her mother had planned her whole life out for her, yet gave her no say, or the way she never took Betty wants and needs into consideration. Also, thinking that Betty was actually stooping to levels of peer pressure and following was like a punch in the gut because she has never been a follower. Betty has and always will march to her own drum, no matter how hard it could be with the way people judged her. Shocked and offended by the way her mother was speaking, she scoffed and stormed off into her small bedroom, slamming the door on the way. She needed some alone time to cool down.
Betty was thankful that it was the weekend. She was also thankful that her mother had to go into work for a few hours. She took this time to take a relaxing bath and finish up some stuff for the Red and Black. Dressed in a lilac-colored sweater that was a size too big and a pair of gray leggings, Betty had to run some errands after she was finished with her morning activities. She was doing all of this to keep her mind off of unpleasant thoughts.
While she was out, she couldn’t help but hear what people were saying, and immediately thinking it was about her; most of it was, but some of it wasn’t. “Who the fuck is she?” Another one was, “Damn, that bitch should loosen that ponytail. She’ll lose brain cells.” Her nails dug into her skin. “Ew. She is so weird,” someone cackled. “Wrong side of town, princess.” Betty’s throat was starting to close up. “Bet anyone could force a girl like that into the sheets.” No, no. “What is she doing here?” Enough was enough.
Betty didn’t exactly know why everything was so prominent and stinging lately, but she couldn’t take it. She dropped the stack of paper and the notebook she was about to buy right on the floor of the store, and ran out. It felt like she was gasping for a breath. Absentmindedly, she dialed Jughead’s number and called. “I need you to come get me.”
Unsurprisingly, Jughead was there within .2 seconds with his father’s truck rather than the motorcycle. While he pulled the car up to where she told him to be, he saw her sitting on the curb with her ponytail half falling out and her face shoved in her hands. He didn’t know what happened, but he wanted to kill whatever or whoever made her so upset.
He parked the vehicle and hopped out, running to his girlfriend. “What’s wrong, babe?” He asked softly, removing her hands from her face to find her red rimmed eyes. It didn’t look like she had been crying, but more like she was holding back from doing so. “Okay, what happened?” Jughead spoke more sternly. “I will fucking end whoever—”
“Jug,” Betty cut him off with a quiet voice. “Can we just go back to the trailer, please?” He’d never say no to her, so softening his eyes for her sake, he nodded and then they were on their way.
When they got to the trailer, Betty immediately sunk down on the couch, curling her legs under her. Jughead went to get them a blanket so they could cuddle up under it. The second he sat, she curled into his side.
“I don’t know why I’m not used to it,” Betty whispered, shoving her head in the crook of her boyfriend’s neck.
“Used to what?” Jughead asked softly, stroking the hair that was now messy and out of a ponytail.
Betty let out a heavy breath. “Every time someone says something… something, you know… not nice. I don’t even know half the stuff people say is about me, but I always assume the worst,” she explained. “And today, it was just too much. The way my mom was last night is probably why I’m so, like, short tempered or whatever today, but still,” she shrugged, not meeting his eyes. “I don’t want to change, Juggie. My mom though, she thinks that I’m with you only to fit in.” Her voice was starting to shake as she spoke. “But I—”
Jughead’s heart was breaking for her. If he could make her life full of happiness, he would in an instant. “You what, Betts?” He asked, pulling back so he could look her in the eye.
Mustering up words, she blubbered, “Well, for one, I am sick of being bothered by everything and holding it in all the time. And for two,” she said, now slower. “I love you, Jug.” This was the first time she’s ever admitted that, both to herself and to him, but in all honesty, it was the truth. Betty Cooper was completely and utterly in love with Jughead Jones.
Jughead’s eyes widened, and Betty nervously looked away. His heart started beating just as it did the first time he snatched a kiss from her. Not being able to speak because of the initial shock, he lifted her chin and kissed her as hard as he possibly could. She let out a surprised sound, but then melted into it. “I love you,” he managed to mumble into her mouth, causing each of them to smile through the kisses. Abruptly, out of nowhere, he pulled away. Something had clicked in his head and he needed to act on it right away. “I’ll be right back,” he pecked her cheek, and ran to his father’s bedroom, leaving Betty alone and confused.
With a small smile from their proclamations of love and the kiss that came with it, Betty relaxed back into the cushion of the couch. She thought for a moment, realizing that she shouldn’t be so bothered by others thoughts when she had someone who loved and cherished her by her side.
Jughead bursted out of his father’s bedroom then, holding something behind his back. “Okay, you said you don’t want to change, right? But you hate how people talk and shit?” Betty nodded at Jughead questions. From behind his back, he pulled out a pink leather jacket with embroidered sky blue and yellow flowers on the back. “This was my mom’s,” he said, handing it to her. “I think it’ll fit you perfectly,” he grinned at her shocked and baffled expression. “Before she left… she was like you; always around, made her own path, never wanted to join the Serpents. She liked to be herself, but this made her feel more involved.” He sighed. “When she took Jellybean and left, she told me to give it to someone worthy of it, and well, that’s you.”
Slowly, she took the jacket, inspecting it all around. Without a word, she placed it on her lap while she discarded her oversized sweater, revealing a plain white tank top. She put the leather jacket on, finding that it fit perfectly. Tugging at the sleeves, she bit back a grin. “Jug, are you sure? It was your mom’s.”
Jughead nodded, going to sit next to her again. “I said she told me to give it to someone worthy, didn’t I?” Betty blushed at that. “You’re who I want to have it. Plus, you’re the perfect person for it.” All of a sudden, Betty tackled him down into a big hug.
It wasn’t just the fact that he gave her his mother’s jacket, it was the fact that he loved her for who she was, and was simply help in her boost her self confidence in such a cute way. “Thank you,” she said into his neck. “You’re the best.”
The rest of the day, Jughead and Betty stayed curled up on the couch or eating whatever the girl could muster up in the trailer’s small kitchen area. They exchanged ‘I love you’s, and kept each other smiling. Jughead knew that this girl was the best person he had ever came across, and he was grateful that his small gift to her was enough to cheer her up. Like he’s been saying from the start, he wants to keep her safe so… for a final nail in the coffin, he texted his Serpent friends to make sure one of them is always around in school to look out for her. No matter what was thrown at her, he’d go to all ends of the world for her, and she would with him in return.
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