Jughead threw down the paper in disgust, and promptly put his burger on top of it, hoping some of the grease would distort the damned gossip column. He should have known Joanie had been talking to Susan, the gossip queen. Susan was the only one interested in everyone else's business enough to go around asking such questions as whether or not Jughead liked girls or anyone for that matter. It almost put him off his lunch, having such a thinly veiled clue out there for everyone to read like that. He wondered what would happen if he stopped wearing his hat. Crown Prince indeed. He snorted.
"Hi Jughead, What's up? Not hungry?" Betty slid into the booth opposite him, not a hair out of place as usual, despite her busy schedule meaning she had most likely just come from track practice.
Quickly Jughead moved his fries closer to himself, guarding them from her devious methods of fry theft. She moved a hand towards his burger and he quickly grabbed that precious item instead, not realizing she had snitched a fry at the same time until he looked up and noticed her chewing on it happily. "Do you never buy your own fries?" He muttered crankily. Her face fell, and he kicked himself instantly. It wasn't her fault that Joanie was so observant and Susan so nosy. "Sorry. I'm not myself today." He offered, pushing the fries towards her slightly. "I probably won't eat all this anyway, help yourself."
Betty's mouth dropped open in shock. "Are you sick? Juggie, what's wrong?"
"I'm fine, just thinking about other things." He shrugged in response. Like fireworks. And people noticing that he noticed when Betty was looking particularly good. Or Rumpled. He did like seeing her rumpled although it rarely happened. Like on Friday, when she had worn one of her dad's old shirts after school and it had repeatedly slipped down her shoulder exposing her bra strap and the smudge of automobile fluid on her collar bone from one of the many times she tried to pull it back up while tinkering on the car. Friday had been a good day. He had helped her by holding the tools, and she had offered him brownies after, just like old times. When they were little, thankful baking had always been accompanied by a kiss on the cheek, which he pretended to hate but actually missed once it stopped happening. His face flushed at the memories and he quickly stood up, grabbing his backpack and the burger. "I should go, see you around. Enjoy the fries."
She watched him leave with raised eyebrows, her mouth ajar. Jughead never left food on the table. Ever. Did she smell? Betty surreptitiously smelled in the area of her armpits, wondering if her athletic endeavours had overpowered her deodorant, but no, she smelled like Secret same as always. Why then had he left so suddenly, and with such a strange look on his face? Her eyes drifted from his retreating back and down to the greasy newspaper still sitting on the table, open to the page with the gossip column.
"Hello Betty," Ethel slid into Jughead's spot and plunked her elbows on the table with her hands folded under her jaw. "That didn't look like fireworks to me." She wiggled her eyebrows and grinned. "Now that it's out," she continued, "you really should go light a firecracker under that boy's ass and initiate him into the teenage world of raging hormones and midnight kisses, don't you think?"
"I'm not sure what you are talking about." Betty frowned. "Jughead isn't feeling himself today, but I doubt it has anything to do with hormones."
Ethel pointed at the grease spot and rolled her eyes. "Betty, now is not the time to become suddenly dense, although I suppose you have been rather clueless... Odd for someone with the knack of investigative work that you have."
Pursing her lips, Betty stared at Ethel, then pushed the remaining french fries towards her friend. "I don't like being the subject of unfounded rumours, especially those which involve someone who has been my friend as long as Jughead has." She slid out from the booth and began walking away.
"Betty," Ethel said quietly, "Maybe think on it before you choose how you are going to react to this. If it has any shred of truth, if he does like you, you could hurt him."
Betty paused and looked over her shoulder at Ethel.
"To be honest, I'm hoping it's true." Ethel continued. "I would rather have failed because he was waiting for you, then because he just doesn't like me, even though I know that is also true." She smiled sadly. "I do want him to be happy though you know. He deserves to be happy.. Nobody is saying you have to proposition him in the middle of the cafeteria"
Betty nodded briefly, turned on her heel and continued out of the diner, her thoughts whirling. Did Jughead like her, more than he let on? Was he capable of a relationship with something he couldn't eat? For that matter, was she capable of a relationship that she didn't have to fight for? And what did Ethel mean? Was she insinuating that Betty should have a secret relationship with Jughead? Her pulse raced suddenly. Would that be fair to Jughead? But what if he agreed? He did like his privacy. Maybe just until they decided what they really wanted? She had a sudden image flash into her head, her grabbing Jughead by the shirt and pulling him into a deserted classroom, locking the door and throwing her arms around him, her lips against his, his ridiculous hat falling to the floor...
The street was pretty deserted, which was good, because Betty was lost in her thoughts all the way home. She could screw up their friendship forever, based on a rumour. Or maybe, just maybe, she could experience those elusive sparks she had read about. Did she even like Jughead that way?
It was true that she always felt happier in his presence. He was cute, she had always known that. His hair, waving softly just above his eyes, made her fingers itch with the need to rumple it. His smile was infectious when he bothered to use it. More than once she had admired his body from under her eyelashes at the beach, as he carefully built sandcastles that they both knew she would wreck long before the waves did. Suddenly sadness hit her in the gut, as she realized she actually had been pretty clueless. He was always doing nice things for her, thinking of her. While she hadn't taken him for granted, she also hadn't paused to wonder why. What if he had moved on, and she had never known he was ever there for her taking?
Firmly, she nodded, she was going to have to do something. But what? Slather herself in ketchup?
#############
It was late friday night, but Jughead wasn't in the mood for dealing with people. He turned off his phone, and made his way to the only place he knew nobody would be, his favourite place that didn't serve food or beverages. The tree house was a symbol of easier times for him. He was pretty sure Archie never thought of it anymore, most girls wouldn't climb up there to fool around, and Archie was all about the girls.
Betty probably would have climbed up there, but she liked to be out in public with Archie, so people could see that she had won, for that night anyway. There was always a dance or a band playing somewhere, never a reason to just go hide from the world.
Although someone had been visiting the tree house lately, and he was pretty sure it wasn't a kid. He had seen the glowing ember of a cigarette from below once or twice, though he didn't know anyone that smoked except for Betty's sister, who really only did it to piss off her mother, and only when her brother wasn't around to hunt down the person who sold them to her and charge them with some kind of federal crime. He smirked, Chic didn't come to town often, but it was always fun when he did.
He glanced up as he neared the tree house, relieved to see that tonight wasn't a night that he would have to wait on a distant bench until the coast was clear and the tree house empty again. Easily he climbed the rotting ladder, pushing his backpack in to the small interior before turning to let his legs dangle over the side. Taking a deep breath, wondering what kind of shit show his life was going to become, and simultaneously wondering if donuts would be a good base for a sundae, he sat watching the birds fly and the sun slowly start to set.
