“From the moment I first met Veronica Lodge, something instinctively told me that she belonged to me and I belonged to her. She’s my soulmate. I love her, and I’ll love her until my last breath and beyond. Even if she never knows.”
Veronica read the words over and over again, the flutters never ceasing each time. Jughead Jones loved her. He’d said it, written on a piece of notebook paper.
She’d found the paper when it had fallen out of his notebook after they’d met up at Pop’s after school to talk about their English class research paper that they had been paired up to write together. He’d left in a rush, having a Southside Serpent meeting he needed to get to. By the time she’d noticed the paper laying on the floor by their booth, he was already starting up his motorcycle in the parking lot and she didn’t catch him in time.
She wasn’t trying to be nosy when she’d unfolded the paper and read the confession in his infamous jagged handwriting. But she figured if the paper was important, she would need to get it back to him as soon as possible.
Veronica took a sip of her coffee, hoping it would quell her shaking hands. This new information had been startling. After all, she and Jughead had never been anything more than friends, and it felt as if even calling him her friend seemed like a stretch.
Most of the time, she didn’t think Jughead even liked her, let alone loved her.
Maybe the note was something else. Maybe it was some bizarro story he was telling. Maybe he was doing some kind of Cyrano De Bergerac thing for someone else. Maybe it was just a cruel joke.
“Oh…shit…” She heard a familiar voice say.
Veronica looked up to see Jughead stopping in his tracks as he walked back into Pop’s, apparently having realized that he had dropped something he hadn’t anticipated her seeing.
“Is this yours?” She asked him, knowing full well it was but hoping he would explain what it meant.
Jughead nodded, with a look on his face like he was going to be sick.
“Is this how you really feel about me?”
Jughead hesitated, clearly not sure if he should tell her a complete lie or just take the opportunity to come clean.
“Um…yes…it’s how I really feel.” He said as he nervously stuck his hands in his pockets and looked down at the linoleum tile beneath his feet.
“Were you ever going to tell me?”
“I’ve tried to tell you so many times, Veronica. I’ve wanted to tell you. And I wish I’d told you instead of you finding out like this.”
Veronica smiled as she stood up and walked towards him.
She took his hand and placed the note in his palm, and covered it with her own..
“I’m glad I know how you feel, no matter how I found out.”
Jughead swallowed hard and looked at her nervously.
She placed a hand on his cheek and gazed into his eyes with amorous adoration.
“Because I feel the same way. I love you, Jughead Jones. Ever since the first day I met you, I knew you belonged to me and I belonged to you. You’re my soulmate…forever and longer.”
