Chapter 4: Sunday Evening

I'm still embarrassed for taking so long in updating my story, to make up for it by quickly adding another chapter. The horrible thing is I've had Chapter 3 and 4 done for quite a while, I just haven't had time to type and post them.

After they finished eating Jughead paid the bill (This shocked both Betty and Pop). Then they walked out the door, calling out their goodbyes to Pop, Veronica and Archie. Archie didn't say anything, he just kind of stared after them, and kept staring in the direction they went long after they were out of view.'

Veronica, however; jumped up right our of their both and hopped onto the barstool next to Pop. "Do you know something I don't?" she asked quietly. She had a feeling their was something going on and she hated being left out of the loop.

"No one's said anything to me," Pop Said with a shrug. "But I know what you mean. Jughead and Betty are acting kinda strange." He glanced at Archie, making sure he wasn't listening, then he whispered, "My theory is that there's something going on between them, but" He said, cutting off whatever Veronica was about to say, "I don't think either of even realize it."

Veronica scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"I think that they like each other more than just as friends, but I don't think they know that the other feels the same." Normally, Pop wouldn't have trusted Veronica enough to let her in on to Betty's interests, but after their little exchange earlier he was confident that she wouldn't pull anything. Plus, she never really got along with Jughead.

Veronica's eyes widened and she brought her perfectly manicured nails to her mouth but she didn't say anything. After a few moments, the shock wore off. "You know…" She said, lightly strumming her nails on the counter, "I bet if they were left to their own devices, they wouldn't never admit anything and they'd go nowhere."

Pop raised one eyebrow, "You have something in mind?"

Veronica grinned devilishly and nodded. She leaned over the counter and whispered her plan to him. When she finished she sat back on the stool with a self-satisfied smirk on her face and Pop was grinning. "What do you think?" she asked.

He grinned and nodded his approval. "I think that just might work."

Betty and Jughead took the long way back toward where they live, going through the park. They were laughing and goofing off the whole way.

However, as they neared Betty's house, the mood suddenly became grim and tense. They both grew quiet as they got to her porch. Both wanted to stay in the other's company, but neither wanted to be obvious about it.

Betty's eyes lit up as she remembered something, "Oh, I finally got that Cinderella album I'd been wanting, you know, the one with Nobody's Fool on it." Betty and Jug really liked Cinderella. "Did you wanna stay and hang a little while? I'll put on the CD and we could play a board game or something." Jughead readily agreed, ecstatic that he was able to spend more time with her.

Time passed extremely fast for both of them. When it came to be 4:30 Jughead knew he had to get home for supper. Just as they finished cleaning up and he was about to lave, the phone rang. Betty answered it, "Hello?"

"Hi, this is Mrs. Jones, is my son there?"

"One moment," she held the phone out to Jug, "It's your mom."

He took the phone from her. "Yeah… Yeah, I was just about to leave… I don't' know, hold on." He held the phone away from his mouth, "Mom wants to know if you wanna come over and have dinner with us. She made spaghetti and that there'll be plenty if you want to come over."

Betty grinned, "She does remember who she has for a son, right?" They both laughed and she nodded, "I'd love to."

"Yeah mom" he said into the receiver, "She's coming over." He listened as his mom continued to speak. "Yeah, ok mom… love you too… bye." He hung up the phone and turned to Betty. "She said it's almost done and we should come on over."

"Ok…" Betty said quietly, suddenly self-conscious, 'It's been forever since I've been to Jughead's house at all, let alone for dinner.' She thought as she grabbed her coat and followed Jughead out the door.

Jughead noticed her sudden change in mood because she kept tugging at her sleeves. 'I wonder what brought this on….' He thought. The he tried to think of something to distract her. "Our essay is due Wednesday in Grundy's class, right?"

Betty nodded, "Yeah."

"Did you finish yours?"

"Uh-huh."

"Would you mind taking a look at mine before you go back home?"

"Sure Jug, but I don't really see why you'd want me to… You're a very good writer when you actually do the assignment."

Jug smiled sheepishly as she pointed out his laziness. "True… but I always like to have somebody at least edit it. I can never see my own mistakes… Besides," he grinned at her, "Who better to have edit my paper than the girl who's the best writer in class. Plus you're the editor for the school paper."

"A-alright." Betty said as she blushed at his compliment and she began to realize just how much his opinions seemed to mean to her. Yeah, she might have blushed a little anyway, but she knew it wouldn't, shouldn't, have affected her this much.

She tried to push what she was feeling away because she knew how perceptive Jug was and didn't want him picking up on anything, if he hadn't already.

Jug began to relax as he felt her start to calm down. "You ready to face tomorrow?" He asked softly.

"Yeah… I think so," she said. "It helps that Ronnie and I already settled things." She gnawed at her lower lip, "It's probably a good thing we ran into them today."

Jughead nodded and had a slight grimace. "Yeah… although I know that had to be painful."

"Actually… " she said, "I expected it to be much worse." She broke eye contact with him and stared at their feet as they walked. "I think it was easier 'cause you were there."

He shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "I know you don't really feel like it, but you're a strong person Betty; the strongest person I know."

Betty blushed and Jughead chuckled as he put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his house, where the aroma of noodles, tomato sauce filled her senses.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'll try to make sure it doesn't take another year to update after this. All reviews are welcome, but if any are negative please let them be constructive.