A.N. – Takes place during episode 1. After leaving Cheryl's party, Betty makes a pit stop at Pop's and runs into Jughead.

If the Writing is Honest

Of all the booths in all the 24-hour Chock-o-lit shops in all of Riverdale, she slid into mine. Her normal blonde ponytail had transformed into a river of soft, windswept waves, cascading down her back. Her eyes were puffy, her cheeks were flushed. Even though she was distraught, she was still the most beautiful sight I had ever laid eyes on. The untouchable girl next door.

The words appeared on Jughead's screen before he even knew he was typing them. The second Betty had walked into Pop's, he glued his eyes to his screen and opened a new file on his laptop. She made a beeline for the counter, not bothering to take in any of the other late night patrons. After a few words with Pop, he went about his way to make her what could only be a strawberry sundae – Betty's comfort food of choice. Even though there were probably other orders in front of hers, Pop made Betty's sundae first. That was just the effect she had on people.

Jughead watched her out of the corner of his eyes, not wanting to be the one to make the first move. He could feel her eyes stop on him when she finally spotted him in the booth he would have once called theirs. Not Betty and Jughead's booth. No no no. Archie's booth. Archie and friend. Because everything in their lives revolved around Archie Andrews in one way or another.

"Thanks, Pop." Betty's voice carried across the room and, just as he had written, Betty Cooper slid in across from him.

Jughead cleared his throat. "Hey there, LA woman." He gestured towards her sundae. "Bad day?"

She sent him a quick glare before tearing into her frozen treat. "You have a lot of nerve, Jughead Jones."

"How's that? I haven't seen you since June."

Betty let out a sigh in between shoveling ice cream in her mouth. "You text me nearly every day when I was in LA. Then I come home and its radio silence. We've been back at school for a week and we have three classes together. You've seen me plenty. You avoiding me is the problem."

"Betts…"

"No. Don't Betts me. I had a terrible night. I know you have your little phases where you sulk off on your own for a few weeks at a time, pretending you don't want anyone to bother you, and then come back to us pretending nothing happened. But I hate it. I hate it. I know you and Archie had some stupid fight this summer."

"He told you that?"

"He didn't need to."

"There was no fight. We just stopped talking."

"Because…?"

Jughead snapped his laptop closed, not bothering to save his short paragraph about Betty. "Archie and I have been growing apart for a while now. That's not news. This summer was just the straw that broke the camel's back."

Betty stopped a spoonful of ice cream that was nearly to her mouth. "Because…?"

"I don't really want to talk about this, Betty."

"Don't make me ask for a third time."

"It was noth-"

Betty let go of her spoon and it clattered against the half empty sundae bowl. "I swear, if you say it nothing… Ugh. I'm mad at Archie too right now. So go ahead and bash him all you want. I could do with a little anti-Archie talk right now."

"Something happen at the dance?"

"You're not getting off so easy. You first."

Jughead tapped his knuckles against the table. He had always lacked a certain skill of saying no to her. "I missed you this summer."

Her eyes softened a degree. "I missed you too, Jug. But you already know neither of us will feel better about Archie if we don't talk about it."

"July 4th weekend. Archie and I were supposed to go on a road trip to Centerville to watch fireworks, like we used to do with our parents when we were kids. He bailed last minute. Didn't show up at the bus stop."

"Geez. Why?"

"I didn't ask and he didn't tell. When I ran into him a few days later he…" Jughead paused, wondering if he should tell Betty about covering for Archie. How Mr. Andrews still thought they went on that trip and thanked them for being out of town during Jason's drowning. "Well, he didn't even mention it. Acted like nothing happened so I did the same. I told myself I wouldn't contact Archie again. I was going to wait for him to come to me. It's been about six weeks now. Still waiting."

"What a jerk."

Jughead shrugged. "This was inevitable. Archie and I were friends through convenience, not free will."

"Don't say that. You two have been friends since you were born."

"Exactly. We never had much say in the matter. Our dads were friends growing up. We were born a few months apart. Then my mom used to babysit Archie while his parents were at work. We were pushed together. We had no choice."

"Don't be silly. Of course you had a choice. You two would have split in kindergarten if you weren't really friends."

"Nah. Five-year-old Jughead already knew companionship and wasn't about to go spend another couple years training a new friend."

Betty's lips twitched. If he could make her smile tonight, after she came to him so broken and downtrodden, he could die a happy man.

"So really, you've just been playing Archie for a fool these ten years?" she asked.

"Archie does a pretty good job playing the fool himself, don't you think?"

"You can say that again." Betty swirled the rest of her sundae around in her bowl, making her melted ice cream a sad mixture of brownish-pink. Her eyes darted quickly up at Jughead. "I tried telling Archie how I feel about him. It didn't go as planned."

"What happened?"

"He made out with another girl instead."

Jughead swallowed the lump in his throat. "That's a weird way to get a message across."

Betty let her head thump back against the booth, eyes fixed on the ceiling. "Have you met Veronica Lodge?"

"Not formally."

"But you've seen her around?"

"She's kind of hard to miss. In a 'demands attention' sort of way."

"You can just say she's gorgeous. I'm not blind."

"She is not gorgeous, Betty."

Betty tilted her head up slowly to meet Jughead's eyes. "Oh?"

You're gorgeous, Betty, he wanted to scream.

"Audrey Hepburn never held a candle to Grace Kelly," came out instead. "And Archie is an idiot if he doesn't see that."

Betty leaned across the table and said in a hushed whisper, "Your preference for blondes is beside the point."

He rolled his eyes as she finally let her face relax. A smile ever so slightly there. "Am I that transparent?"

"Only to me. I must know you too well." She sighed and the short lived smile disappeared. "Veronica wanted to help me out, so she made me ask Archie to the dance. I chickened out and asked him to escort the both of us. Every time I tried to talk to him, he was distracted, kept running off. Then Cheryl Blossom invited us to her stupid party and the two of them got partnered up playing Seven Minutes in Heaven. I couldn't take the embarrassment, so I just left."

"Archie will probably come looking for you."

"I doubt that," Betty scoffed, crossing her arms across chest. "If he shows up here it's only because making out builds an appetite."

Jughead held back a laugh. "You scarfed down that sundae pretty fast. Nothing else happened at that party?"

She kicked at him under the table and Jughead could see the smile returning. "I am not a Seven Minutes in Heaven kind of girl."

"Note to Betty – stay away from Blossom parties in the future. Or maybe just stay away from Cheryl Blossom all together."

"Easier said than done, what with the River Vixens and all." She glared at him shortly. "Go ahead. Give me your worst."

Jughead held up his hands in front of his chest. "What ever do you mean?"

"Give me crap for joining the River Vixens. I can take it."

He shook his head. "Not falling for it."

"Come on, Juggie. I probably only have a few days before Cheryl finds some BS reason to kick me out. Might as well make your jokes while they're still relevant."

"I don't have any jokes. Betty Cooper as a cheerleader is just so… so normal. Polly was a cheerleader. I bet your mom was too."

"Nope. Mom was track and field. She thinks cheerleading has no real world application."

"Cheering on football players is less practical than quickly getting from one place to another? I don't believe that for a second."

She kicked him under the table again. "Don't be a smart ass."

"You said give you my worse. That wasn't even close."

"And for the record, Archie was not the reason I joined."

"New girl was the reason?"

Betty shook her head. "Veronica was my foot in the door. I'm doing this for myself. I don't do anything for myself."

"You deserve to get what you want, Betty. If you want to be the star cheerleader who dates the varsity football player, get it."

"How?"

"Spell it out for him. Sometimes people are most blind to what's right in front of them. And you know, hear him out too. Maybe what happened tonight isn't as it seems."

"I guess." Her eyes widened in curiosity. "Hey, how'd you know about varsity if you two aren't talking?"

"Just because I'm pissed doesn't mean I don't keep tabs on him. Idiot needs someone looking out for him."

Betty nodded. "And how. I should get home. My mom has already been on the warpath lately and it's nearly curfew." She collected her small purse as she slid out of the booth. "Don't be a stranger, Juggie."

He let out a wry smile. "I won't. Just don't be surprised if it takes me a while to warm back up to everyone's favorite redhead."

"Duly noted." She turned towards the counter. "Hey Pop. If anyone asks, I wasn't here."

Pop Tate winked at her. "Betty who?"

With a sad smile and the jingle of the small bell, she was gone into the night. Her short heels clicking as she made her way across the neon lit parking lot into the darkness of night. Her pink dress trailed ever so slightly behind her, as if I was willing a small part of her to stay behind with me.

"You know, that Betty Cooper is a great girl," Pop said as he picked up her empty dish from the table.

"Of course she is. Betty is the best."

"You know, I once heard some kid say something that rings true. 'Sometimes people are most blind to what's right in front of them.'"

Jughead looked back to his laptop quickly. "Yeah, Archie's an idiot."

"Don't think Archie is the only idiot around here." Pop nodded towards the window. Archie was making his way across the parking lot.

"I'm an idiot? For helping a friend?"

Pop shook his head as he walked back to the counter. "Take your own advice, Jug. Spell it out for her."

Jughead gulped. He closed the second file he started about Betty without saving again and reopened his Jason Blossom file. His eyes darted at Archie when the bell above the door chimed.

He was looking for the girl next door. Instead, he found me.