Betty was enjoying the party, she was surprised by how much Jughead had seemed to be enjoying himself, she thought he would mope all evening hating every moment of it, but he had danced and talked with her constantly, she had shared a couple of dances with Kevin where he shared details of his new 'closet case' Moose, and she had danced with Archie. She had found herself stupidly mentioning the idea of having a relationship with him, his reaction was enough to show her that he had never even thought about it before. She wasn't surprised but it still hurt, Jughead had noticed and had somehow managed to cheer her up again, that had surprised her as well, he knew her really well and knew exactly what she needed. It was getting to the end of the night and she was trying to find Archie, it seemed that he had abandoned Veronica a little while ago and now he was nowhere to be seen.

"Let's just go, I'll send him a text saying I left, chances are he got bored and went home anyway."

"Ok, I suppose that will be fine." Jughead could tell she was concerned about Archie but he didn't see anyway to help her with this.

"He will be fine, Betts." She just nodded at him and started walking with them towards the exit.

Kevin had left a few minutes ago for some rendezvous, so it was just Jughead and the girls as they left the gym, as they left the school he saw something move in the corner of his eye. As he turned to look he realised it was Archie in an embrace with someone he couldn't quite make out, he knew he had to get Betty away from here before she saw anything that would hurt, it was bad enough after the conversation they had but this would destroy her, especially so soon after she had made her feelings clear. He started to push a little stronger to get the girls to carry on moving, unfortunetly Veronica noticed his sudden change and turned to see what was going on, anyone else may have been able to be subtle about it, but not Veronica.

"Whats going on Jughead, What is that?" She seemed to realise her mistake a second too late. "Oh, Archiekins... And Valerie." She gave a short sideways look to Jughead in apology but he wasn't paying attention to her, instead he was looking at the spot Betty had run towards in the distance.

"What's going on?" Archie was completely clueless.

"Dammit Archie!" Jughead had had enough of it and just left the three of them stood there as he followed Betty.

"Really Arch, you do have impeccable timing. Betty was here a minute ago."

Archie realised what was wrong now and ran his hand through his hair.

"Oh god, I... I didn't realise."

"I know."

"I'll walk you home. Sorry Valerie, I've got to deal with this."

"I'm good, I'll see you at school." Valerie just turned and walked back into the school.

"I screwed up didn't I?"

"Oh yeah."


He didn't know where Betty would go right now, he felt certain she wouldn't go home, it would be the last place she wanted to be right now, to be told 'I told you so' by her mum. He thought maybe Pop's but she hadn't been in. A thought suddenly came to him and he headed to the small opening he had found and showed her in July, he was relieved to find her there and safe, it was started to rain slightly.

"You ok?"

"I'm being ridiculous." He could see tears rolling down her cheeks, he wished he knew how to help her.

"No, Betts. He's being an idiot." He moved towards her and before he knew it they were hugging each other tightly. When the tears slowed down he spoke again. "I should get you home."

She just nodded into his shoulder and a few moments later she pulled away, he put his jacket around her shoulders so she wouldn't freeze on the way back. They walked in silence to her house, there were no words he could think of that would give comfort right now.

"Thank you, for tonight, and walking me home."

"Anytime." She took off his jacket and handing back to him.

He turned when he heard a noise and saw Archie walking towards them.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, go Juggie, I'm alright. See you at school?"

"Sure." He left her stood on the path and made sure to give Archie a look to show him how pissed off he was at him, he purposely didn't go far, he wanted to know what was said and that she was going to be alright.

"I'm sorry Betty."

"So, you and Valerie?"

"Aren't anything, she's just agreed to help with some music stuff and the kiss just sort of happened." He said it as if this would be easier on Betty but Jughead knew it would be even worse for her, he fought the urge to go back towards her.

"Is there any chance, has there ever been, of you loving me, or even just liking me?" Even though he couldn't see her face he could hear the tears in her voice and hated it, hated Archie for doing this to her.

"Betty, I do love you, always. But I can't love you the way you want me to."

"Why not?"

"You're perfect, in everyway. I wouldn't know how to ever be good enough for that, for you. You're my best friend."

There was just silence then, Jughead knew Betty would be practically falling apart at those words, he wished he knew how to help her. He haeard the sound of a door closing, he figured it would be Betty going back inside her house. He moved back towards where he had left the two talking and saw Archie still stood there.

"You're an idiot."

"What was I supposed to do, lie about having feelings for her?"

"No, there was no good way out of this. Doesn't stop you being an idiot though."

Jughead just continued past him then, he didn't have anything else to say to Archie and didn't want to hear anything he wanted to say in return. He didn't know where his feet were taking him until he was below Betty's window, before he could talk himslef out of it he was using the lattice along the side of her house to get up to her window, it was harder than he thought it would be but he was soon knocking on her window while trying to hold himself steady.

Betty had dodged her mum for the evening it seemed, managed to get into her room and ready for bed. She heard a sudden knock on her window that nearly made her scream out loud, thankfully she turned and saw it was Jughead. There wasn't much time to be confused as he knocked again louder and gestured widely to be let in. It's hard to believe that even in this moment he could make her laugh, she hurried to open her window.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying not to fall off the side of the house, remind me to bring a ladder next time."

"You're planning on coming through my window on a regular basis?"

"Well I certainly can't use the front door, what with your mum and all."

"Good point. But why are you here?"

"I may have been listening in to your converstion, I wanted to check that you were ok."

"I have a phone, Juggie." She turned as she heard a noise of someone coming up her stairs. "Hide, now."

"What?-" He was suddenly being pushed under Betty's bed, and he realised not a moment too soon as there was a knock on her door. The matteress sagged above him slightly as Betty lay down on her bed.

"Yeah?"

"Betty, just wanted to see how you were."

"I'm fine mum."

"Oh, honey." The bed sagged even deeper when her mum sat next to her. "I told you that boy would do nothing but hurt you, I was trying to help. Now you know though, you should really stay away from him"

"Mum..."

"I'll leave you to sleep now, you look tired. These things aren't good for you."

"Goodnight mum."

Jughead felt the bed rise above him as her mum stood back up and saw the red heels move back towards the door, he realised he was holding his breath and let it out in a long burst after the door closed behind her.

"You can come out now Juggie." He had stayed under the bed for a couple of minutes, only moving when Betty told him it was ok. He slowly slid from under the bed and knelt beside it as she stay laying on it.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm getting really sick of that question."

"Right sorry, I can go. I just wanted to check on you." He moved to stand up but stopped as he felt her hand touch his arm.

"Would you stay, for a bit. I could use some company, and conversation."

"Sure." He was surprised by the turn of events but he wasn't going to complain. He sat down on the bed next to her. "What would you like to talk about?"

"Lay down properly so I can see you when we talk." Jughead did as he was told and lay on top of covers next to Betty and faced her. "Tell me about this novel I've been hearing about." He knew why she wanted him to face her now, she wanted to see his facial expressions as he spoke.

"It's nothing much." He tried to turn away from her, he didn't like talking about his writing.

"Come on, I need the distraction, just tell me a little about it." He looked back at her and knew it was a mistake right away, he never could say no to her.

"It's just about the summer. Thought I'd write a little about Jason, how it's affected people and the town."

"Sounds like it will be interesting, when can I read it?"

"I didn't say anything about letting you read it." He laughed then, he had never shared anything he had written with anyone.

"Why not?" Jughead just shook his head at her, his expression said to leave it alone. She decided not to push any further. "Ok, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry."

"It's fine." He smiled at her.

"So tell me about your summer, what did you do?" This conversation was no better for him, he didn't want to share all his faamily drama tonight, they needed lighter topics.

"I heard you did some sort of internship?" He turned it back to her, she had to have a better time this summer than him.

"Nice deflect there. Yeah I did, it was great."

He lay there quietly as he listened to her talk about it, just letting her talk about something that made her happy, he was glad to see he could put her in a better mood after the night she had had.

"What is it?"

"Hmm?"

"You're looking at me weird, what's wrong?"

"Sorry, just glad you seem to be in a better mood then when I first got here."

She just nodded slightly at him. He instantly felt bad for bringing it back up, she had been feeling better and now she looked on the verge of tears again.

"And now I've made you feel worse again. Come here." He pulled her in for a hug as they lay there, he stayed silent as he did, he didn't know how to make it better again now.

"It's alright. I'm ok." She mumbled into his shirt but he caught every word. He could hear the tears back in her voice though. He pulled away slightly.

"You don't have to be ok Betty, I don't expect you to be. You've been hurt and it's ok to feel that. But don't just brush me off and tell me you're fine, please. I'd rather have you break down and cry on my shoulder all night than fake being ok for me."

She was surprised to hear those words from Jughead but he was right, she was so sick of trying to constantly be perfect. She felt like she didn't have to be here, in this moment she could just be Betty, hurt and crying because she'd had a terrible night. The realisation also made her feel a happiness and calm that she hadn't felt for the longest time, the need to cry had stopped, not because she was hiding it but because she really didn't feel like crying.

He watched her face quietly as the expressions passed across it, he wasn't sure why but something he had said had effected her. It was odd to him but her face settled on an expression that was almost happy, he hadn't been expecting that, he was ready for her to break down in tears again. He could tell this time that the expression was real though, that she wasn't faking it.

"What's going on in that head of yours?"

"Nothing, just thinking how long it's been since I haven't had to be completely perfect for somone."

He just nodded at her. He couldn't pretend to understand what it was like but he was glad she didn't feel like she had to be perfect when she was around him. He wasn't sure what made him do it, but he felt his hand move to the side of her face. Her cheek was still wet from her tears and he wiped them dry with his fingers, he saw her eyes closed as he touched her cheek. It seemed his brain completely stopped working in that moment, she had never looked more beautiful to him than right now. Before he made any conscious decision he could feel his lips meet hers. He was about to pull away when he felt her return the pressure, suddenly he felt an inferno ignite inside him, he saw red beneath his eyelids. She was everwhere, he felt her hands start to go around his neck, her fingers playing with his hair at the nape. He pushed to deepen the kiss and heard himelf groan quietly when she complied, his hands were on her back, moving slightly across her skin there. He could feel her pushing herself towards him, they were flush against each other and he could feel their legs entwined. He was reluctant to pull even to smalest part away but he needed oxygen before long, when he pulled away the smallest distance he could manage, their foreheads still rested against each other as they beathed deeply.

The guilt hit him suddenly, he felt as if he had taken advantage. She was still hurting, still heart broken, still in love with Archie. He was the idiot now, he should never have let himself do that, just let himself use her like that. It was selfish and it would hurt her, he hated the thought of being someone to make her hurt.

Luckily there was no time for conversation as they heard footsteps again, this time Jughead used the moment to get up and move towards the window, he had to get out of there now.

"I'll see you Monday, I'll be around if you need to talk though, ok?"

Betty just nodded as she sat up in her bed and watched as he stumbled slightly getting back over to the lattice to climb back down.


"Just for the record, I'm not gay."

"Of course you're not Moose. But if you were, what would you want to do?"

"Everything but kiss." Kevin chuckled at that, closet gays were the best.

"How about some skinny dipping, see what happens?"

Moose just nooded as Kevin made his way over to the lake, taking off his shirt as he went. He hadn't realised how muddy it had been up the bank but he slipped slightly, as he fell he saw a shape in the water. A sense of horror washed over him as he made out what it was.

"Oh god. It's Jason."

"What?" Moose moved closer to where Kevin stood.

"He's been shot. I need to call my dad."