***
She was sick, it wasn’t the normal, stay in bed and eat soup type of sick, Something was wrong with her heart, the doctors couldn’t quite place what was wrong, but the one thing they knew for sure was that Betty Cooper was very, very sick.
“It’s failing, your heart is failing. we’ve put you on the top of the donor list but even with your high placement, there’s really not much we can do. We just have to wait.” Her doctor had said, looking sadly at the family crying in his office.
So they waited. And waited. And waited. It had been four months and she knew she was running out of time. Everyday she got weaker, some days she could hardly keep her eyes open through a full period and other days the walk from class to class left her more than winded. She knew she was losing weight but she couldn’t eat, the nausea from her heart pills was too severe.
The only person she had told was Veronica and that had been completely accidental.
“What are these?” Veronica had asked looking at the array of medications and paperwork on her dresser. She meant to put all that away but she had fallen asleep
“Oh, those are just for my headaches.”
Veronica didn’t believe her so she pulled out her phone and googled the medications “these are all for heart disease? Why would you have these?” She couldn’t hold it in anymore and told Veronica everything, they both cried together that night, before they fell asleep, Her best friend holding her hand.
Veronica had been great, supporting her and coming to her hospital visits almost every time. Betty’s parents had checked out about two months in , they resigned to accept the fact that their daughter was dying and couldn’t bring themselves to get to close for the fear of it hurting more when she died. It hurt, but she figured it was for the best.
Settling down onto the cold metal bench in the courtyard Betty shivered, she seemed to always be cold these days even in the late spring sunshine, she had asked to leave class early so she could make it to lunch on time, she knew she was awfully slow these days, and she hated to hold people up in the hallways.
Suddenly a dark blue flannel was draped over her shoulders and she smiled instantly, tugging the material closer to her chest before glancing up at Jughead. “Thanks juggie” she whsipered, he just shook his head and offered one of his rare smiles, reserved only for Betty. “Don’t mention it.”
Their quiet moment was quickly interrupted by the rest of the gang, dropping their trays on the table and jumping into conversations.
Kevin was going on about the adorable new uniforms pembrooke got to wear “I mean come on, do you know how much time it would save me if I only had one option of clothes, look at Archie all he wears is jeans and that letterman jacket I bet he’s ready in like two minutes” Archie chucked a grape at the boy and rolled his eyes.
Cheryl sighed “the skirts are cute, I’m totally into the naughty school girl look.”
Betty relaxed into Jugheads side, feeling tired and drained, this was nothing new, but she always felt extra tired when she tried to keep up with all of her friends conversations.
“You okay green eyes?” Jughead grumbled above her, dropping a hand to her face pushing away a few loose blonde strands of hair that were dangling in her face.
Jughead was exceptionally affectionate, he was almost always touching her, or leaning on her and when she leaned on him he accepted it with open arms, shrugging an arm around her shoulder pulling her tighter every time. The thing was, he wasn’t like this to everyone, in fact the only person he let touch him was Betty. She never brought it up, afraid to jinx it but she always wondered if maybe he felt the same way she did.
She loved Jughead jones, she had realized that the day she got over Archie. She loved him and she couldn’t help but think, would he ever know? Would she ever get the chance to tell him? Shaking her head to clear those thoughts, she smiled up at him weakly “just tired juggie.”
“One more period bets” he said, squeezing her shoulder.
“Are we still on for after school B?” Veronica asked from her seat across Betty, she gently nudged Betty with her foot and wiggled her eyebrows, smirking.
Betty shot her a mock glare and nodded “yep, 4:00” she was going in for X-rays, the doctor was concerned, and if things were getting worse, she would be bumped up even more on the list. She hated feeling happy to be taking away someone’s chance.
“What’s after school?” Archie asked putting down his guitar.
Veronica shook her head “its girl things Archie you wouldn’t understand.” He rolled his eyes “well then how come Cheryl isn’t invited?” He smirked at the redhead to his left, she threw him a glare before she turned to the two girls
“Yeah, how come Cheryl isn’t invited, last time I checked, I am a girl.” She said sassily, flipping her long hair.
“yeah and I’m an honorary girl, where’s my invite?” Kevin added placing a hand on his hip.
Veronica sighed loudly “okay! Fine! It’s not girl things! It’s B&V things, now butt out. Hey Betty are you okay?”
Everything was blurry, her breathing was slow and she felt her heartbeat at an alarmingly uneven rate.
“I…Im..” she couldn’t focus, couldn’t get her thoughts together.
Suddenly she felt two large, warm hands grip her shoulders “sunshine! Hey bets! Betty look at me, come on bets.” Jughead was pleading with her, the last thing she saw before everything went black was the blurry piercing blue eyes staring her down and filled with worry.
She woke up in a hospital bed, her eyes painfully adjusting to the light. The familiar face of her doctor was standing over her and smiling relieved. “You gave us all quite the scare ms.cooper, we have you on supports right now, your heart rate slowed down to an alarmingly low pace, we were able to restart it, but it’s not a permanent fix, fortunately yet unfortunately this situation helped you bring your standings all the way to the top. You should hopefully have a brand new heart within the next two weeks. Your friends are all outside, shall I bring them in?” Betty nodded weakly sending a Thankyou smile to her doctor.
They all must know now, she didn’t want them worrying about her, it was too much too carry, she should know. Veronica came bursting through the door and immediately launched herself on top of Betty, tears leaking from her eyes “I was so scared! I thought we lost you! The ambulance kept asking me what was wrong and I just kept saying your heart! But those idiots didn’t know what to do!” Betty laughed softly “I’m okay Ronnie, I’m okay!” Archie came to stand by her bed followed by Cheryl and Kevin “never do that again.okay?” Cheryl said seriously her eyes red rimmed a sure sign that she too had been crying
“I promise.” Betty returned linking pinkies with the redhead.
Archie grabbed her free hand “Betty.. I didnt .. I didnt know. I wasn’t paying close enough attention.. this whole time..” she cut him off quickly “this isn’t your fault Archie, it’s no ones fault. I’m sick. I’m sick but I’m hopefully going to get better, the doctors say I have a really good chance at getting a new heart as soon as possible.”
Everyone nodded as Kevin dropped a kiss to her cheek “as soon as you get out of here, we’re having a sleepover.” She laughed “you got it Kev” she looked over his shoulder and caught the eyes of Jughead, instantly she froze. Veronica noticed and began ushering everyone out of the room"alright everyone, let’s give her some space.“ She leaned over the bed to wrap Betty in a hug
“He was a mess, I’ve never seen him like that, he is totally in love with you.” She winked as the teens left the room, leaving only Betty and jughead.
It was quiet for a few seconds and Betty needed to break it “ Jughead I..”
Cutting her off ,he shook his head
“You didn’t tell me. I didn’t know.”
“Jughead..”
“You almost died Betty. In my arms. I was holding you. One second you’re staring at me all green eyes and smiling and the next you’re lying there not moving, not breathing. I thought you died Betty.” She shook her head tears leaking out. She opened her mouth to speak but he wasn’t done. “And then Veronica is yelling about your heart, how you have heart problems and I’m thinking "she’s sick?” I should’ve known. I should’ve payed closer attention to you, but I didn’t. I could’ve lost you today. I could’ve lost you without telling you everything, telling you how I feel.“ His eyes were panicked and he was clenching his fists so tight his knuckles were white.
"How you feel?” Betty whispered, confused and shakey, did he have feelings for her, feelings stronger than friendship?
He took a deep breathe and clutched her hand
“I love you Betty Cooper, I’m so in love with you it hurts. When I watched you pass out in my arms today, I realized i can’t take time for granted anymore. I want to be with you. I want to be with you for as long as I can, for as long as time allows, which I hope is a very long time. I understand if you don’t feel the same but you needed to know, I needed you to know.” Betty cut off his rambling by tugging on his sleeve and pulling him Down to her, pressing her lips gently against his. She was still weak, but damn, if her heart hadn’t gone out through all of that, she was pretty sure it never would.
She pulled away smiling as she looked into his dazed and droopy eyes.
“I love you Jughead jones, I’m not going anywhere, not for a very long time.”
He smiled at her dropping his forehead to hers
“Whatever new heart you get, I hope it knows ..you already have mine.”
