A/N: Heyo, so I've recently started watching Riverdale, and it's kind of become a guilty pleasure of mine? So I decided to write a fic, as you do. This is a really short chapter but I just want to get something out there to motivate myself to keep writing. Let me know what you think!
"Hey Jughead, wait up!" His insides fill with dread at the sound as he closes his locker. That voice. Against his better judgment he turns around. Who else would it be but Betty Cooper, newspaper in hand, looking triumphant. So he does what he always does in situations like these: focus his eyes like a laser to the top of her head. If he doesn't look at her face, it's easier to pretend she's someone else, anyone else.
"Juggie, are you even listening to me?" He jerks his head back down to earth and tries to look at her.
"Sorry, long day," he mutters, and starts to turn away, hoping she'll leave it at that. But he should've known to expect resistance from Betty.
"Don't you want to here about how the paper's doing? It's only been a week and almost 60% of the students have actually picked up a copy! And your interview with Dillon is all anyone's talking about!"
"That's great, now can I-" Betty flinches as if he's just punched her. Jughead immediately feels his insides turn over. Nice going douchebag, you just offended the one person who's been genuinely nice to you in who knows how long.
"Oh. I guess—I guess I'll just leave you alone then." She turns to go and he can't help but reach his arm out after her.
"Betty wait-" She looks back at him over her shoulder and he steps back, uncertain. Her eyes get him, every time. He'd spent years learning to control himself, to hold in emotions, far more than most people would consider necessary. Revealing so much of yourself to somebody did not seem like an agreeable option to him. But Betty—well, her eyes were an open book. He prayed to God that he was imagining the watery state of her eyes. His arm fell back at his side.
"Let me take you to Pop's. On me. We should celebrate our newfound journalistic fame." Betty grins, and he feels his stomach flip right side up again. They make their way through the hall together, and he pretends he doesn't feel the stray warmth of her hand brushing against his own.