a/n Gonna be using quotes directly from the show since this is my retelling of it from Jughead's mind more so than the show gives us. It's a retelling but I'll probably be adding in scenes too, to pad the edges and have things make more sense. idk we'll see.

'It was midnight when my old friend, Archie Andrews, arrived at the one place in town that was still open. He was looking for the girl next door. Instead, he found me.'

I see Archie step up to the register at Pop's over the top of my laptop. It feels a bit weird to be narrating what's happening as it's happening.

Faintly I hear my friend ask, "hey, Pop, Betty hasn't come in tonight, has she?"

Betty? Why's he asking about Betty? I thought they went to that dance together. Shouldn't he know where she is?

"Nope," Pop answers, nodding to me. "Just uh Night Hawk's in tonight"

Arch mutters a thanks and walks toward me, looking back over his shoulder once. Hoping someone will interrupt him? Making sure no one sees him sitting with me? I shouldn't be so mean, maybe he's looking to see if Betty came in. "Uh, can I sit, Jughead?" there's a truly uncomfortable edge to his voice. Good.

"If you want," I give a shrug and he slides into the booth across from me.

"What are you working on?"

Like you care. "My novel. About this summer and Jason Blossom." I keep my eyes on my laptop. I didn't think I would still be this mad after all these months.

"Seventeen years old and how will he be remembered, as the captain of the water polo team?"

"The aquaholics? Considering how he died, probably not." I can't resist a sarcastic retort.

"No," he sidesteps my humor, "what I mean is … was he doing everything he was supposed to do, everything he wanted. I mean, did he even know what that was?"

Wow surprisingly deep for Archie Andrews. At least this new Archie who blows off his best friend for months and becomes an overnight football superstar. Which makes me add, "Coach Clayton was in here talking to Pop Tate. Varsity. Does that make you Mr. Popular Football God now?"

"No. In fact, I'm kind of terrified I lost my best friend tonight."

And he honestly looks so torn up about it that my anger starts to slip. Come on, don't make me feel bad for you, seriously not cool. I sigh internally. Shit.

"If you mean Betty, whatever happened, just talk to her," I force out the advice even though I'd rather tell him to quit being a dick to her. "You know, it'd go a long way." Okay you can be done there, Jughead, don't make this about you. Except... maybe he deserves to know he hurt me. "Would've gone a long way with me."

It still would, I add in my head, if you'd just tell me what happened this summer.

But I don't say it out loud, I just stare at him, hoping he'll be the open guy I've always known. Instead, he just nods, staying a few beats longer before saying he has to go find Betty.

So I watch my friend get up and leave me.

I spend the rest of the night writing until I get a text from Archie saying they found Jason's body in the river. Shot.

The sun is just starting to turn the sky a light grey by the time I get there, camera and notepad in hand. After a while Betty shows up with her parents. She's still in the dress she must have worn to the dance, soft pink and knee length, and her hair is down. Despite my resolution the year before last to put my long time feelings for her behind me, my heart gives a few extra hard thumps, first over how pretty she looks and then when I notice her tear reddened eyes. The pained look she shoots Archie, who is farther along the bank of the river, makes me wonder again what happened last night.

Not my business, I force my thoughts to the task at hand. I pull my camera up to my face, trying to sneak a few good shots before Keller catches me. In the view, I see Archie and he looks pretty pathetic; tired eyes, rumpled dress clothes, hair sticking out all over the place.

Even though I shouldn't have to be the one to, since he's the one who fucked up, I decide to make the effort to try to be friends again.

It's nearly 8a.m. when Sheriff Keller finally shoos the crowd away from Sweetwater River. I walk almost another hour, clear across town, to finally collapse in bed, shades drawn tight to block the sun and think. My thoughts start with Jason Blossom and what this development will mean for my novel, but eventually I end up at Betty and Archie.

I'm too curious about all this, I know it, but I still want to know what happened. Betty has had feelings for him as long as I can remember. Maybe she told him and he … what, turned her down? Or maybe it's something else. There's a lot of stuff they could have fought over. Archie doesn't think before he speaks a lot of the time. I could see him making her cry with his insensitivity.

Betty did look nice.

Sighing, I punch my pillow into a more comfortable shape and lay down again, trying to bottle those emotions right back up. I might still be harboring a childhood crush on my once friend. She'd probably say we still are friends but I haven't talked to her since the end of middle school, besides school stuff of course. I decided it was probably best to stay away until I didn't love her anymore and then she filled my space in her life with Kevin Keller.

Sometimes, I muse darkly, I make terrible decisions.

a/n obviously this one is short cuz he's only in it for like 3 minutes. the rest will be longer. hope you liked it