Betty was stood outside the Precinct apartment complex with her suitcase and a shopping bag full of freshly purchased linen. She was examining the intercom system, trying to remember the instructions Veronica had given her. She remembered which apartment she was looking for, it was merely a matter of working out how to put a call through. Veronica and the others had been moving their possessions in all morning, and Veronica had promised someone would be around in the afternoon to let her in.

Having identified the correct combination of buttons, Betty dialled the intercom and waited nervously.

"Hello?" a male voice answered.

"Oh! Hi!" Betty replied, accidentally sounding a lot less calm and collected than she had intended. "It's Betty," she added.

"Betty?" the voice replied.

"Uh...yes. I'm moving in today. I wondered if…if you could please let me in."

"You're moving in," the voice repeated, slowly. "Are you sure?"

Betty didn't quite know how to respond to this. All in all, this exchange was not going well.

"Ahh," she said, uncertainly. "Maybe I have the wrong apartment. I'm...I'm so sorry to bother you."

Betty was just about to hang up when she heard a much more familiar voice through the intercom, sounding rather more distant. "Betty!". The exclamation was followed immediately by muffled laughter and the sound of conversation in the background.

"Oh my god. Jughead, seriously, piss off," Betty heard Veronica say. "Betty, I'm so sorry. Please come up, I'll unlock the door."

"Thanks Veronica," Betty breathed, relieved. She waited for the click of the lock, and then pulled the door open and wheeled her suitcase inside.

Betty was still feeling confused, slightly flustered and more than a little apprehensive by the time she made it to the top of the elevator. She could hear voices on the other side of the apartment door, accompanied by bursts of laughter. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door.

Veronica opened the door almost immediately, and welcomed her with a warm smile.

"Oh my god, Betty, hi! I'm so sorry. That was Jughead, it's okay he was just joking around," she said, rolling her eyes. "Come in."

"Hi Veronica, nice to see you again," Betty smiled gratefully, following her inside.

The apartment was just as nice as she'd remembered. The doors to the balcony were wide open, and sunlight was streaming in through several other open windows. Noticeably different, however, was the vast amount of belongings stacked in the middle of the room. There were some boxes, several racks of clothes and multiple suitcases.

"I'm so sorry about the mess. We're in the middle of unpacking," Veronica explained, picking her way, through the maze in front of them and hurriedly trying to clear a path for Betty. "Betty, I want you to meet my boyfriend Archie. Archie, this is Betty."

Betty looked up in the direction Veronica was gesturing. Archie was tall and athletic looking, with vivid red hair and a friendly face. He held out his hand to her.

"Hi Betty, nice to meet you," he said, shaking her hand.

"Yeah, nice to meet you too, Archie," she smiled.

"All sorted to move in, then?" he asked her, conversationally.

"I am indeed," she replied. "I've only got the one suitcase, at this stage, so it's all been pretty straightforward."

"Good stuff. Come down and see your room," he said, beckoning for her to follow him down the hall.

Betty's room was compact, but it was fully furnished and made good use of the available space. She was pleased to see the room got a decent amount of afternoon sun. Archie was explaining the layout of the rest apartment in more detail, when a loud crash sounded from the next door room.

Archie snorted. "Alright Jughead?", he called through the wall. There was no answer. He turned to Betty, grinning. "Come and meet Jughead."

Betty followed Archie out into the hallway, and along to the next bedroom. Rather like the living area of the apartment, the room was in a haphazard state of half finished unpacking. Piles of belongings were scattered throughout the room and over the bed, and Betty recognised a large box of books spilled all over the floor as the source of the loud crash she and Archie had heard only moments before.

In the middle of this chaos, was a tall dark haired guy, who Betty could only assume was Jughead. Betty couldn't help but notice his hair was primarily obscured by a beanie, and thought this a little odd given how summery it was outside.

"Betty," Archie announced. "This is Jughead."

Jughead looked up and made direct eye contact with her. "Betty Cooper," he said. "At long last we meet."

Betty was a little taken aback by this as a greeting. "Hi!" she said, holding back a nervous laugh. "Nice to meet you".

He grinned back at her. "I understand you're here for moving day. Let me tell you something about moving day, Betty, it sucks. Moving apartment sucks. No one should ever move. Look at all this shit. Where did I even get it all from?" He brandished dramatically around the room.

"That said," he turned back to her. "Welcome to "Veronica and Archie's apartment"," he said, his fingers sketching quote marks around the phrase.

Archie picked up a nearby pillow and threw it at Jughead, who ducked. "OK, that's enough interaction with Jughead for the week," Archie said, backing out into the hall. Betty turned to leave also, smiling at Jughead as she did so, who waved and called out dramatically "Bye Betty!".

"Jughead thinks it's hilarious that Veronica's parents bought her an apartment for us to live in," Archie explained, as they returned to the living area.

Veronica looked up as they re-entered the room. "He won't think it's so hilarious when we kick him out," she said, dryly.

Archie laughed. "He's actually a really good guy, Betty. Just a bit of a smartass. You'll get used to him"

Betty felt like this was rather an understatement, but was not about to say so. "He seems friendly," she said, settling for a neutral response.

"Well, you'll have plenty of time to get to know him. Veronica and I are out with my parents for dinner tonight. But yeah, you're welcome to start unpacking. Don't feel like you have to hang around here and engage in our discussion about Veronica's hoarding habits."

Betty smiled at Veronica's look of indignation. "Thanks, I do have a bit of organising to do," she admitted, grabbing her suitcase and heading back down the hallway.

Several hours later, Betty's suitcase was fully unpacked, her bed made, and her clothes hung neatly in her closet. She liked her room already. Dinner time was fast approaching, and Betty supposed she'd better head out and find some food. She'd heard Veronica and Archie leaving to go and meet up with his parents, but assumed Jughead was still home. She was a little nervous to about what they would have to talk about now that it was just the two of them, but figured she was going to have to do her best.

Sure enough, she found Jughead busy in the kitchen.

"Hey Jughead," she said cautiously.

He turned around. "Betty Cooper," he acknowledged, closing the fridge door with a flourish. "How's the unpacking going. Are you winning?"

Betty wasn't sure why he kept using her full name. "All finished," she said, hopping up onto one of the stools at the breakfast bar. "How about you?"

Jughead leaned back against the fridge, folded his arms, and gave the question consideration. "I feel like it could be going better. I don't have as much shit as Veronica, but I there's nothing like moving day to reveal just how many of your belongings are superfluous."

Betty nodded slowly. "I guess that's one benefit of a limited baggage allowance."

"There is truth in what you say. Veronica mentioned you'd only just moved here. What brings you the bright lights and the big city?"

"I have a graduate journalism role starting on Monday," Betty explained.

"A writer, huh," Jughead said thoughtfully, leveraging his weight off the fridge and moving towards the pantry.

"I guess so, yeah."

"Are you excited?"

"I am, I'm looking forward to it."

Jughead was rifling through items in the pantry. "Do you know anyone else at the company?"

"No, I don't."

"Is it the kind of graduate role you were looking for all along?"

"I hope so."

"Did you move here to you follow your dreams, Betty?"

"Uhh.." Betty was starting to feel like he was enjoying this conversation a lot more than she was. "You ask a lot of questions."

Jughead, having found what he was looking for, closed the pantry and piled what appeared to be sandwich ingredients on the bench in front of her. "I know," he said smiling, his eyes twinkling. "Especially considering it's you that's supposed to be the journalist."

Betty opened her mouth to reply and then closed it again, lost for words yet again. She decided it was time for a change of subject.

"Veronica tells me you're a lawyer?" she tried, finding it difficult to believe this as she said it.

"Did she tell you Archie was a lawyer too?"

This did not answer her question at all. Betty cast her mind back to her first meeting with Veronica. "No," she said slowly. "She told me he was a musician."

Jughead laughed. "That's cute," he said, pausing to take a bite of his freshly prepared sandwich. "You should ask him about his law degree. It's a really popular topic with the Lodge family. Not at all controversial."

Betty stared at him, bewildered. She had a feeling she would not be asking Archie about his supposed law degree. In fact, she had a feeling she shouldn't have brought up the topic of lawyers at all. There was only one exit strategy.

"I'm going to pop off and buy some groceries," she announced, standing up.

A look of realisation crossed Jughead's face, and he put his sandwich down. "Oh! You don't have any food. Sorry. Do you want me to make you sandwich?"

Betty laughed, touched by the gesture. "Thanks, Jughead. But I have to go and get food anyway, so don't worry."

Jughead shrugged. "If you're sure. Are you sure?"

Betty looked at him, unable to stop herself smiling. "Yes. I'm sure."

Jughead shrugged. "I'm just checking. You didn't seem very sure about moving in."

Betty blushed slightly, remembering their conversation over the intercom. "I'll be back in a bit," she said, grabbing her bag and moving to leave.

Jughead saluted her in farewell as she looked back at him before leaving the room.

Betty closed the door apartment door behind her, and leaned against the wall while she waited for the elevator. She smiled.