BPOV
Betty opened her eyes, triggered to wake by the vibrating phone clutched in her grasp. Squinting to focus her freshly opened eyes she noticed that it was none other than "WORK" calling.
Sitting upright immediately, Betty cleared her throat and answered in hopes they wouldn't know she had overslept.
"Hello?" she asked, trying to convey "perfect and fresh" Betty Cooper.
"Yeah, Betty, it's Andy. Where are you? You're 30 minutes late." Andy claimed, sounding irritated.
Quickly pulling the phone away, Betty glanced at the top of the screen where it read "11:00 AM". How has she slept that long?
"I am so sorry, I am on my way!" Betty chided, hanging up immediately, avoiding any more questions for being so late.
Throwing her couch blanket aside, she scrambled on her morning legs to the bathroom to make herself presentable. She glanced at herself in the mirror and couldn't help my notice the bags under her eyes were gone; there was even a hint of a sparkle in the corner of her wide eyes.
Hastily brushing her teeth, she charged into her and Archie's bedroom in search of her uniform. Archie barely stirred in his sleep, clearly not bothered by her loud intrusion. Stripping her sweatpants off Betty forced her legs into the tight pants using one hand, the other trying to pull off her shirt carefully over the toothbrush clenched in her teeth.
"Betty?" Archie grumbled rolling over to face the struggling mess she currently was. Betty had been in the phase of finding her bra when Archie's eye zoomed in on her naked chest.
Betty knew she shouldn't be embarrassed. Archie had seen her naked plenty of times in the past. This time however, Betty immediately covered her exposed chest with her arm, blushing at the prospect of Archie being interested in more than just a glance.
"Thorry Aaarthi," Betty garbled as she tried to speak with a good 2 minutes' worth of toothpaste foam in her mouth. She hastily grabbed her sports bra and put it on faster than she had in her life.
"It's fine. See you later." Archie muttered as her rolled over to presume his sleep, clearly annoyed at her absurd modesty around him.
Trying not to focus on how gut wrenching her own behaviour made her feel, she flung her purse over her shoulder and headed to the bathroom to finally empty her foaming mouth. Betty assessed the necessity of make-up and how much effort needed to go into fixing her hair, deciding on a quick coat of mascara and pulling her hair into a top knot.
With that, Betty flew from the bathroom and snatched her cell phone from its place on the couch and headed out the door.
It was not until she was settled in her red Ford Escape, ready to back out of their parking stall, that she noticed the notification on her phone; indicating none other than an email response back from last nights' inquiry.
Betty slammed the gear shift back into park as she clutched her phone, opening the email with the sound of blood pounding in her ears.
"Hi Betty-" the email started, "I would love to meet you and discuss the details of renting out my property. Please contact me at …"
Betty set her phone down on her lap, not bothering to finish reading the message. What had she done? She hadn't even asked Archie. She didn't even process how much effort and consideration should have gone into vetting this place. The couple still had 3 months on their lease until renewal.
Despite all of these pressing and legitimate concerns, Betty felt the smile that had crept on her face beginning to make her cheeks ache.
They could do it, they could really make a fresh start. Betty glanced up at the door to their suite, knowing that the next time she pulled into the lot and stared at this door she would be asking Archie to give them this chance.
With a deep breath, Betty shifted back into reverse to head to work, knowing that the day would be a blur. Her head was already beginning to fill with thoughts of waking up to the ocean and less of month to month gym memberships that would try to plague her brain for the remainder of her day.
JPOV
The sound of crashing waves and a loud seagull pulled Jughead from his dreamless sleep. He opened his eyes, allowing them to adjust to the room around him. Crisp white beams of wood and a painted white ceiling were in view above him. The warmth of the bed and the generous padding had been a comfort Jughead had long lived without.
He rolled over to the small wooden bedside table and grabbed his cell, scrolling through his emails in search of any "we would love to see more of your works, Mr. Jones."
Jughead had submitted what felt like 300 short stories, articles, and various photographs to multiple high profile publishers. Even not-so-great-but-it'll-do magazines had received at least two dozen of his photographs.
After a minute of reading through every email, Jughead closed his eyes and pulled the covers up over his face. No luck today. Or yesterday. Or the weeks before. Holding his phone above his face, creating a tent in the covers, Jughead checked his bank balance. $439.09. That would tide him over for at least 2 weeks; 3 if he cut back on snacks.
After a few minutes of half-hearted deliberation between determined Jughead and lazy Jughead, he finally pulled himself up to the edge of the bed to start his day.
The adjoined bathroom had a shower with half decent water pressure, cleansing Jughead of the previous days' drive. There was only one towel in sight as Jughead emerged from the steamy stall.
"Good ole dad, always planning for one." Jughead mused while tying the towel around his waist. He went to his strewn bag beside the bed and fished out a comb and his toothbrush; reminding himself of the need to actually unpack.
Once in the bathroom, Jughead brushed his teeth and attempted to comb the tousled nest of black into submission, only succeeding as the wet strands liked to cling together. He rummaged through his bag for the most decent outfit he could put together- deciding on a pair of black jeans and a cable knit grey sweater. He needed to run into town for a few things. One: towels. Two: food. Three: a job of any kind.
Jughead would love to be able to actually pursue his passion and be fruitful in his efforts, however the world didn't seem to need yet another freelance writer with a dash of photography. He decided with much chagrin that he would take what he could get, but gathered his portfolio of some of his best works to bring along anyways.
Locking up his new house with the key now in its place on his rabbits foot keychain, Jughead hopped in his truck and backed up to the road, ready to see what Riverdale had to offer.
BPOV
"What the hell are you talking about Betty?!" Archie fumed as Betty explained the cottage. She had planned it out all day between weigh-ins and goal establishments. She knew it would be ugly before Archie understood.
"Did you even think of me when you made this decision? Was I even on your mind when you decided to make a new plan for us?" Archie breathed, clenching the counter tops as his back was turned from Betty.
"Arch, you know how miserable I am! You can't be happy either! Archie we haven't even screwed in months! How can you be happy?!" Betty exclaimed, trying and willing him to understand.
Archie turned, running both hands up his face into his fire red hair while inhaling deeply. Before he could speak, Betty pressed her palm to his chest.
"Arch, I need this," Betty started, focusing her eyes to the hand on his chest "We need this. You can still work from home. I will find something new. Just imagine for a second how peaceful and amazing this could be."
"Bet-" Archie tried to say before being cut off.
"What if this escape is all it takes to make me happy again? Archie, I love you so much, and it kills me to have no desire to show you. Let us do this, let us try to be happy. I want the old us back." Betty sighed and stared into Archie's eyes, pleading him to say yes.
"Fine." Archie said, exhaling a breath that seemed to have been held for far too long. Betty cocked her head back, startled at how soon he had caved.
"We can do this Betty, for us. We need to get back on track. You shouldn't feel the need to cover yourself around me…" Archie trailed off, knowing that mentioning her lack of interest was always touchy.
Betty nodded, her gaze now dropped to the floor.
"I know," Betty mumbled "I'm working on it."
Archie reached around Betty's shoulders and pulled her into a tight embrace, resting his cheek against the top of her head.
"Show me this house of your dreams Betty. We should make it ours before someone else does." Archie breathed, blowing loose strands of hair onto Betty's face.
It wasn't until Archie agreed to the move that Betty realized that she had preferred the dream house without Archie in it.
I want to thank my new followers and those who have reviewed my story! I find your support so encouraging and inspiring so please stay tuned! I promise the drama will ensue shortly, I just don't want to leave the characters cheated of development :)
-casualfridays