If there was one thing that Betty was sure of, it was that this was very much a now or never sort of a scenario.
Time was of the essence - and that could be said for more than just her dating life. With less than half of the academic year left, it was almost frightening the way time seemed to have just slipped by. To make matters worse, it didn't look to be slowing down.
Betty leaned forward forward and inspected her appearance more closely in the mirror, brushing a loose eyelash off her cheek. She blinked a few times, and then flipped her hair over her shoulder.
There was a knock at her door, only faintly audible over the muffled sounds of chatter and laughter coming from the next door room.
"Come in," Betty called.
In the reflection of the mirror, she saw her bedroom door open, and her roommate Jughead come into view. He looked mildly stressed.
"You're still in here?" he said disbelievingly. "Betty, are you planning on making an appearance any time soon at this function you're supposedly hosting?"
Betty turned around and rolled her eyes at him. "This function we are hosting," she corrected. "You live here too."
He could be so melodramatic sometimes.
In all fairness, though, said function had not really been his idea. Nor, for that matter, had she really run it by him when their friend Veronica had proposed their apartment serve as the location for what she'd referred to as a 'small social gathering'. And this was mostly because Betty had suspected he would say no.
Though generally friendly and easy-going, Jughead was not known to be the most enthusiastic host. He also tended to be, perhaps justifiably, a little skeptical about plans that were hatched by Veronica. She had a track record of throwing slightly wild parties, was something of a social butterfly, and loved drama almost as much as drama seemed to love her.
While Betty could understand Jughead might be hesitant about the proposal, in this instance Veronica's intentions seemed well-meaning enough, and she'd offered to handle the majority of the hosting duties anyway. Betty had felt a little guilty about it, but had opted to break the news to Jughead gently when it was too late to uninvite everyone. He'd been predictably opposed to the idea at first, but had eventually given in and agreed.
Betty now realised that might have been under the condition she herself actually make an appearance.
"I'll be out in a moment," she placated him, still peering at her reflection in the mirror. This was important. If she was going to seduce Archie tonight, a little preparation surely wouldn't go amiss.
Behind her Jughead let out an exaggerated sigh. He hovered for a moment, as though he might be about to say something else, but then he backed out of the room, closing her door again.
Betty and Jughead hadn't exactly discussed her debilitating and hopelessly all-consuming crush on his friend Archie, but she suspected him of having at least some awareness that this was the case. Jughead was quietly observant, and he was also fairly perceptive. He had a tendency to pick up on things that other people missed. She hadn't mentioned to him that Veronica had, in part, orchestrated this gathering to provide Betty with an opportunity to get Archie alone, but she thought there was a high chance he might have been able to deduce that for himself.
When Betty finally emerged from her room, it became immediately apparent to her why Jughead had seemed a little stressed. She'd been aware there was a fair amount of commotion coming from the main area of the apartment, but it was only now that she realised what Veronica had marketed as a 'small social gathering' seemed to include not only most of their mutual friends, but also friends of friends she didn't even recognise.
The apartment was spacious enough for her and Jughead, but as she wove her way through the crowds of people, it occurred to Betty that it wasn't really that well suited to a group already in excess of thirty.
In her quest to find Veronica, Betty encountered several other people she knew - all of whom were in various states of intoxication. They seemed to alternate between shrieking in delight and hugging her. Veronica was eventually discovered to be in the kitchen.
"Oh! There you are!" Veronica exclaimed. "I was starting to think you weren't coming."
"Ha. Ha."
Betty's lack of humour did little to dampen Veronica's enthusiasm. She handed Betty a drink, and then nodded unnecessarily at the crowds of people occupying the apartment. "Great turn out, huh?"
Veronica seemed pleased. Betty registered a degree of concern that several more people she didn't know seemed to have just arrived, but nodded in agreement anyway, pleased for her - pleased that people had showed up, and pleased that people seemed to be enjoying themselves. She was even more pleased to see Archie over in the corner, engaged in what looked to be reasonably jovial conversation.
Veronica followed her gaze. "So," she said, as the two of them watched Archie. "Tonight's the night?"
Betty took a sip of her drink and nodded again. There were very few people she'd really confided in over the years about her feelings for Archie, but Veronica was one of them. In fact, it was Veronica who had managed to convince Betty that, if Archie was so very important to her, then she should possibly consider working up the courage to do something about it.
That was easier said than done. But as Veronica had pointed out, this was the last semester of the last year of her degree. There were not unlimited chances at the things you wanted in life, and now seemed to be as good a time as any to try and finally make what she wanted a reality.
"Do you need backup?" Veronica asked, still observing Archie intently.
Betty tipped her head back and sculled the rest of her drink, returning it the the kitchen counter with a flourish.
"No," she said, steeling herself. "I've got this."
Betty still had vivid recollections of the first time she'd met Archie. They'd been assigned as lab partners in the elective psychology paper she'd taken in her first year.
Archie had proven to be something of a liability. He'd been perpetually distracted, was a little reckless in his approach to collecting data, and Betty'd had to rewrite a substantial amount of their joint lab report. But what he lacked in discipline and understanding of social psychology, he did more than make up for in social skills. He was friendly and charming in a way that made it almost impossible not to find him endearing. He was also in a band, and he had a nice smile and great hair. To complicate matters, Archie was wildly popular. So Betty had silently joined a long list of admirers.
She'd also gone on to join his friend group. But here she was, several years later, still unable to let go of what else could possibly be.
At least now she had a plan afoot.
That said, it was true that she didn't have it all quite as under control as she would have liked. Despite what she'd told Veronica, an hour later, things were not really going as planned.
For starters, there had been rather more people involved in her attempts at conversation with Archie than she would have liked. Archie had a lot of friends, and he seemed fairly intent on talking to every single one of them. This in itself was problematic, and not especially conducive to Betty's plans. But even more problematic was that she kept being interrupted by Jughead. He kept seeking her out to express his concerns about the dishevelled state of their apartment, and the increasingly inebriated state of its occupants.
It was true that someone had knocked over a potted plant, somebody else had taken to the fridge with a permanent marker, and multiple drinks had been split over the carpet. But Jughead's concerns about all of this seemed to grossly outweigh those of Veronica's - to whom the apartment actually belonged, though that was another story. For that reason, Betty was really struggling to be interested in his plight. She was on a mission here.
When she'd dismissed Jughead's concerns for the umpteenth time, and went to phase herself back into casual conversation with Archie, she realised he'd been joined by a girl she didn't even know.
Great.
"Oh Betty," Archie said casually, "this is Valerie."
Betty smiled at Valerie, who was probably nice enough, but whose presence was really making all of this much more difficult than it needed to be.
"Do I recognise you from somewhere?" Valerie asked.
This was the kind of conversational question one asked when they weren't quite sure what else to say, and Betty very much doubted Valerie did actually recognise her.
"Don't you work in the university library?"
Okay, so maybe Valerie did recognise her. Betty did, in fact, work in the central library.
"Yeah," Betty nodded. "Just part time. Just to help cover the rent."
Valerie smiled and nodded. "And how do you know Archie's friend Jughead?" she went on, apparently still intent on making polite conversation.
Betty wasn't sure how to redirect the flow of this conversation, wasn't sure how to redirect Valerie, wasn't sure how to redirect this entire evening.
"Betty lives here," Archie chided in.
"Oh!" Valerie acknowledged, in Betty's view finding this much more interesting than necessary. "And how long have you and Jughead been dating?"
"Wait...what?" Betty said, now confused.
Archie laughed. "Betty and Jughead aren't dating," he told Valerie. "They're just roommates. He moved in here when Veronica moved out."
"Ohhh, I see."
Betty was now wishing she could see a way out of this conversation, but short of going to get another drink, she couldn't really.
"I'm going to get another drink," she said hastily.
Archie looked a little confused, and that might have had everything to do with the fact that Betty was not typically a 'going to get another drink' kind of girl. But desperate times called for desperate measures, and also she wasn't good enough at thinking on the spot to dream up anything else up.
"Nice to meet you," Valerie smiled, waving in farewell.
Valerie actually was nice, Betty thought as she left the two of them to it. And that was the worst part.
Betty did get another drink. For that matter, she got several more drinks. She vaguely recalled despairing to Veronica in the kitchen later that evening that all had not gone as planned. Then she remembered very little at all, which turned out to have been due to an extended, alcohol induced nap.
There was a first for everything.
It was some time later, in the early hours of the morning, that Betty regained consciousness. Curled up on the couch, she became vaguely aware of Jughead showing out the last of their friends. She sat up as she heard the door close, her head spinning.
"You're alive."
Betty chose not to acknowledge this, instead leaning forward and burying her face in her hands.
"You alright?"
"Yes," she replied, her voice muffled by her hands.
Through the gaps between her fingers, she saw Jughead enter her line of vision, and set about filling a rubbish bag with red cups and God only knew what else.
It seemed to be irrepressible, this uncontrollable need of Jughead's to keep their apartment clean. She thought it might be partly to blame for his dislike of hosting such events. All of this cleaning could surely be done in the morning, but Betty was hardly in the mood to argue with him.
"It didn't work," Betty said, now recalling the events of the evening, and unable to keep the small sadness out of her voice.
"What didn't work?" Jughead asked patiently, starting to clear glasses off the sideboard.
It took all of Betty's energy to sit up back and rearrange herself. She stared up at the ceiling, noting it was still spinning a little. "Archie," she sighed, suddenly compelled to air this unfortunate end to several years worth of pining. "I don't think he's going to fall in love with me."
There was a long pause, during which Jughead seemed to be thinking of an appropriate response to this uncharacteristically emotional, alcohol induced confession. That he didn't express surprise at this seemed to confirm what Betty had earlier suspected - that he was more clued in to the more delicate balances in her life than he let on.
"I don't think anyone's going to fall in love with me," she added, more for dramatic impact than anything else.
Jughead scoffed, having now moved on to stacking stray glasses in the dishwasher.
"You don't sound very sympathetic," Betty said, summonsing as much indignance as was possible in this hazy state. It was rare that Jughead offered sympathy, but she rather felt that now would have been an appropriate time for him to do so.
"We can't always get what we want," Jughead said shortly, punctuating this statement by closing the dishwasher a little more loudly that was probably necessary.
Out of her peripheral vision, she saw Jughead cross the room to the couch she was in. The cushions to her right sank a little as he collapsed down next to her.
He didn't say anything.
"Are you mad at me?" Betty asked. "For Veronica's party?"
Jughead gave the sort of half hearted laugh that was mostly just exhaling more air than usual out of his nose. "No, I'm not mad at you."
"You seem mad."
"I'm not mad, Betty. I'm a little unhappy with all this mess, but I'm not mad." He paused. "I'm sorry things didn't work out with Archie."
"Me too."
To suddenly be discussing the topic of Archie in this kind of detail was a little odd. Though it perhaps not entirely unexpected, in a hazy kind of way. The kind of hazy that was born out of too much alcohol, and feelings of vulnerability, and the possibility that maybe everything you'd been hoping for wasn't going to work out.
"Did he leave with anyone?" Betty asked quietly.
"Yes."
"Was it Valerie?" she prodded, knowing the answer but needing to ask anyway.
Jughead didn't reply immediately, but when he did he simply repeated himself. "Yes."
There was a long silence while Betty wallowed in this. And then she leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder. "I think I need more alcohol."
"I don't think that's what you need," Jughead said flatly.
Betty lifted her head and looked at him, waiting for him to make eye contact. Willing him to give her some answers.
He stared blankly ahead, stoically refusing to look at her.
In years to come, Betty would never quite be sure what propelled her to do so, but out of nowhere she leaned over and planted a kiss on Jughead's mouth.
Perhaps it was best blamed on the alcohol.
She pulled back immediately, and now that he was finally looking at her, it was with an expression of absolute bewilderment.
"I don't think that's what you need either," he said, sounding amused.
Betty shrugged in dejection. "I just wanted to be sure."
She could tell the follow up question was on the tip of his tongue. For all his outward appearance of calm collectedness, there was something a little less sure in his eyes. Something that made it very clear he knew precisely what was happening, and that he perhaps wasn't altogether opposed to it.
"And… are you?" he finally asked, his voice quiet.
Betty breathed out slowly, then shook her head.
There was only the smallest window of opportunity to consider regret, and to wonder if this was perhaps not one of her best thought out decisions. Betty disregarded it, instead leaning in and kissing him again.
And this time, she felt him kiss her back.
