Oooooh, and one other: I’m a sucker for silly party games like spin the bottle or seven minutes in heaven. Especially when Jug surprises the hell out of Betty with his enthusiasm. 😉
Aww. I love this. I've always wanted to write a Never Have I Ever fic (they are my secret weakness). Thank you <3 Jughead hates parties. Everyone knows this. Everyone but Betty knows that she's the only reason he's here, smoking on the back steps, while most their friends, soon to be college graduates drink and laugh inside.
Even out here on the porch Jughead can feel the music thump through him. On the grass three steps away from him is Betty, his usual companion in peace and just about everything else, although she dislikes the cigarettes.
His smoking is probably the reason she isn't beside him now. The wind is blowing it back behind him, into the solid wall of house.
They've been friends since the first day of college, when they met at orientation, the only two freshman interested in joining the cryptography club. He's always wanted more than that, but has yet to figure out how to put that want into words or actions. He's so afraid of loosing what they have: Companionable silence, lively debates, and occasionally sleepless nights walking the preserve commiserating about the sheer hopelessness of their fathers.
Jughead is just about to ask Betty what's she reading right now, when the door slides opens behind them and a wall of sound breaks through, a women wailing in key over it all. Then Archie shouts "You've got to get in here now. We need you."
Jughead should have ignored Archie as he usually does but instead he snubs out his cigarette and he and Betty join the crowd inside. Val and Josie are there laughing, and Veronica's in the corner making out with Reggie. Archie's already back on Sweet Pea's lap so this must be one of the weeks they are on again.
"Ok, it's time for truth and dare" Val declares,
"I'm out," Jughead says turning around to go back outside.
Betty blocks his way though, standing between him and the door. "Why not try just this once?" she asks, her eyes greener than moss, than a fresh leaf.
"Fine," He groans, facing the cheering room. Veronica turns down the music and pours the drinks.
Pea goes first - "Never have I ever egged anyone's house."
Archie looks at him in disbelief "Didn't you set your principles car on fire?"
"That's completely different. There were no eggs involved," Pea says seriously. Meanwhile Jughead, Val, Reggie, and Veronica all take a drink.
"Never have I ever stolen a library book," Archie declares.
"Traitor," Betty mutters as she, Veronica, Jughead and Josie all drink.
"Never have I ever slept with a teacher," Veronica declares. Jughead looks at the floor so he doesn't have to see who drinks. He knows some people consider that something other than statuary rape and power imbalance, but he's not one of them.
"Never have I ever been in love with my best friend," Reggie offers. Everyone but Veronica drinks and Jughead can't help notice the deep pink flush of Betty's cheeks.
"Never have I ever been to chicken to ask my crush out." Val says, and Jughead swears that she's looking right at him when she says it. Still he can't not take a drink, the alcohol rolling a little in his stomach.
Betty drinks too, but no one else does, and that stands out to Jughead. It might explain why everyone else in the room is part of a couple.
The game continues for another two rounds before transforming into a debate about what exactly counts as "sleeping" with someone. It's a dumb debate after Josie's opening point, and Jughead head's back outside, his body connected to the ground a little less solidly.
He doesn't light his cigarette once he gets outside. Instead he stares at it, and thinks about all of the new things he learned about Betty, all the things he always suspected they'd had in common coming into closer view now.
Still he wondered if he was best friend she took a drink for.
All of a sudden he's not alone in the dark.
"I love you," she says, and he knows that they've loved each other for a long time as friends. She's behind him, and he's still staring out at the lawn. He swears he can see fireflies out there in the dark, but his brain must be making that up.
"I love you in every way." He says back, and then she's standing in front of him, blond hair down, beer on her breath, but nothing overwhelming. His probably smells the same way.
He saw her take her drinks, small and dainty sip for every open mouthed swallow Reggie took. He knows the way alcoholism flows through her family the same it flows through his, the caution it brought both of them.
She's beautiful of course, and that's his last thought before her soft lips press into his, a gentle, tentative push that he greets, softly at first, and then more sure of himself, his mouth parting and his tongue slipping out.
The door opens behind them and someone, probably Pea, says "Fucking finally."
They break apart and Jughead can't help but notice how red Betty's philtrum is, how it matches the beautiful glow of her cheeks.
Then Pea says "There's a fucktonne of fireflies out here."
Jughead turns to look, and sure enough there is. The whole yard blinking in and out of light.
