"So I arrive at the house and all I can hear inside is screaming." He was leaning over towards her, his elbows braced on the table, head resting on his hands listening intently to her story. "So I open the door and Juliet has just puked all over her Louboutin shoes." He was laughing out loud as she recounted her story of Veronica babysitting a 9 month old Juliet. Betty gave a snort herself, immediately clamping her hand over her mouth in embarrassment. "My darling daughter had just ruined a thousand dollar pair of shoes. And that was Veronica's first experience of baby sitting."
"So has she volunteered again?" He took a fry from her plate which she had already pushed towards him when he finished his own meal. A sheepish smile on his face as he accepted her offer.
"Yeah, but only if Archie is helping." Betty rolled her eyes. Archie was so much more confident with kids. But she guessed that came with being a teacher. "And I never hear the end of how Juliet destroyed her favourite shoes."
"They sound like good friends." He envied her for a moment, having these people around her but given what that bastard had done to her she deserved all the friends in the world. How someone could abandon their child had always been beyond him.
"They are the best," Betty smiled fondly. "They have been there for me through all the drama. Do you have friends back in New York?" She cast her eyes downward as she asked the question, not wanting to force questions too much on his past, but still wanted to know more about him.
"Not really, they weren't ever really my friends. They were hers." The text messages from them had all stopped shortly after he arrived in Riverdale, he guessed it was out of sight out of mind. He couldn't blame them really he had never been the life of the party that had always been Louise. Now he wasn't their problem anymore, that responsibility now laid with his sister.
"Oh" Betty seemed at a loss for where to go next. She desperately wanted to ask more about, her, but managed to hold her tongue on that subject. "But you have your sister right?"
"Yeah JB is one in a million, we have had to stick together. Our dad isn't exactly on the up and up." He admitted reluctantly. The last person he wanted to bring up tonight was his father.
"Sounds ominous." Betty leaned further forward, inviting him to tell her more. He paused considering what to tell her. Your father's criminal history and gang related activities was usually not something you volunteered on a first date. Especially not to a girl like Betty Cooper.
"Petty theft. Some other things, but I don't want to scare your off." Petty theft hardly even covered the amount of dodgy dealings and bad decisions that his father had been making all his life. It had been what drove their mum away. She had cut ties with all of them when he was eleven and JB was six. He supposed that he couldn't blame her really for wanting out. He only wished that she had taken him and JB with her. It had made the two siblings each other's only family that they could depend on.
"Please after the information dump I gave you earlier tonight, I think you would only be evening up the score." Betty teased.
"Maybe another night." Betty nodded. She wanted there to be another night, she wanted several more nights. She had at first to be honest been attracted to his looks and then further enamoured with watching him as a father. His interactions with Jackson showed a sensitive kind side. Now after the time spent together in this old booth at Pop's Betty could feel that familiar tug in her heart when he smiled at her and she couldn't resist smiling in return.
"So there is something I have been wanting to ask you." She was nibbling on her bottom lip nervously, always afraid of putting herself out there in case of rejection. "I know it's short notice but it's Juliet's birthday this weekend and so far the only other kids there will be my niece and nephew." Betty had tried to make friends in the neighbourhood to no avail. " I thought it would be nice if she had a friend there. If you and Jackson came, it would be nice. And JB as well." she added excitedly, thinking of the joy on her daughter's face at some new people to meet and make friends with.
"I would really like that, I'm sure Jackson would to. And JB wants to meet you so."
"Great, just a warning though Veronica, my mum and my sister will be there. If you thought Veronica was bad the three of them together is a force to be reckoned with."
"I notice you didn't tell me that first," he said and she shrugged her shoulders at him in apology."I guess I'll just have to keep you by my side to protect me."
*
As they walked together up to her front door she had to restrain herself from reaching out to grasp a hold of his hand. Already it seemed so natural to her. They stopped outside her door, and she could see her mum sneaking a look through the curtains. She looked back up at him, as he shifted from foot to foot, seemingly unsure of what to do.
"I had a really nice time." She looked up at him from beneath her eyelashes. She gripped the blue pastel dress' skirt between her fingers, twisting the material as she examined him carefully.
"Me too." He spoke softly, smiling at her, making those butterflies that she had been keeping at bay all night rise up. She wanted him to close the distance between them. She glanced at his lips, her heart racing a little. What was the typical etiquette on a first date, could you kiss someone on a first date? Did you have to ask permission? She scolded herself for being so silly.
He knew what she was waiting for he could tell the way her eyes kept flicking to his lips. Her tongue flicking out to wet her own lips drawing his attention to how pink they were, even after her lipstick had worn off.
His thoughts halted as she rose to her tiptoes pressing her lips gently against his. Her arms wrapping around his torso to bring him closer. She tasted like the strawberry milkshake she had had at Pop's. She moved her hands to wrap around his neck as she deepened the kiss. Her tongue moving against his lips seeking permission. His tongue sought out her own and he continued to move his lips against hers. Breathing her in. He hadn't felt something like this in months, a year, a year since…
He pulled away abruptly as there was an ache in his gut. Guilt.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have -" she started to apologise at the abrupt loss of contact.
"No it's just -" he felt as though he had lost himself for a moment. There had been so many that during his dinner with Betty where he found himself not thinking of her. She had dominated his thoughts taking up residence in his mind for so long that it was strange not to think of her. And then the guilt would hit, guilt that he had forgotten her. That he had lost her all over again. Maybe the date with Betty had been a mistake. Taking the plunge too early. But it was the first time since Louise that he had felt anything like what he had felt before. He had felt ready until spending time with Betty that night reminded him of spending time with her, of spending time with another person who made you feel something.
"It's been a long time." he finished. His hand rubbing the small of her back as he could see the self doubt flash in her eyes. She took a deep breath before meeting his gaze again and he could see the concern in her eyes. Eyes so deep and gentle they made you want to confess our deepest darkest secrets and he could feel that they were about to claim their next victim.
"If you want to talk about-"
"Louise." he breathed, feeling the weight on his shoulders lessening just by uttering her name.
"If you do. I'm a good listener." He didn't doubt that Betty was a great listener. He could already imagine that she was the one that people went to when they needed a shoulder to cry on, that she would carry another person's burden in a heartbeat, just to give them a reprieve. He knew because that was how Louise had been as well.
"She was my wife. Jackson's mom." He found his grip tightening around the material of her shawl that was draped around her shoulders. The tears were already starting to burn behind his eyes as he decided on his words. "She-" he choked on the words, his voice stilted by a cry he was trying to restrain. Betty's hand was on his upper arm rubbing gently, as her face softened in empathy. He took another breath before he managed to force the words out of his mouth. "She's gone. She died." The tears flowed now, staining his cheeks. Betty clung to him tighter as she pulled him into an embrace he rested his head on her shoulder as the sobs shook his body. He could hear her gentle shushes as he imagined she had done to Juliet on numerous occasions. Her hand moving against his back, the gentleness of her touch taking the edge off the pain of a wound that would never close.
"She was so good Betty," he mumbled into her shoulder. "She didn't deserve it. She was so happy. She had finally gotten everything she wanted. A real family and then -" his words trailed off into sobs as they continued to stand there on her mom's front porch her holding him as he clung to her his cries finally subsiding.
"I'm so sorry, Jug," she whispered breaking the silence between them. He pulled away from her as he wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket reluctantly breaking their embrace.
"Yeah," he mumbled in return. A year gone by and he still was not sure how to have the conversation with people about her. He wanted to tell Betty more, he did now that she knew, but not now and not here.
"We can go slow," she said reassuringly. "Or if what you need is a friend. I can be that." He wasn't sure how Betty would react, maybe that's why he had avoided telling her. He wasn't sure whether it would be too much. She had already been through so much herself she deserved something simple, not someone who was still carrying this weight on his shoulders.
"Thank you. I guess I'll see you this weekend then." He was eager to change the subject anything to shift the focus.
"Yeah." she replied as she gave his hand one final squeeze before he broke contact, leaving her standing there as he made his way back to his car. Looking at her again briefly before he got in. His head and heart a mess of emotions.