Betty wondered how many connections in New York Veronica had. A beautiful champagne sequined coloured dressed had showed up at her door and she honestly thought it was a mistake. There was no way she had accidentally ordered a six hundred dollar cocktail dress from Nordstrom. Betty looked at the note attached to the garment bag: Wear it! - V. It was simple and too the point.

V: Did it arrive? You better put that dress on your rockin' hot body, girl. I'll see you tonight!

She sighed lightly. Veronica would protest and probably be pissed if she didn't wear it. Maybe she could wear it for a few hours then give it back to Veronica after. She really couldn't keep it. After another inner battle with herself, Betty took the dress off the hanger and out of the garment back, laying it neatly on her bed.

Betty sat down to do her makeup and curl her hair. She was still listening to Christmas music even if the rest of the world had moved on. There was nothing wrong with singing Holly Jolly Christmas at the top of your lungs when no one was around. Jughead was going to pick her up in an hour so she had a little bit of time. The dress fit her like a glove. It had a scoop neckline with three-quarter length sleeves and just hit above her knees. The dress hugged her in all the right places.

Veronica definitely knew how to choose a perfect outfit.

Lastly, Betty found a black clutch putting her ID, some cash and her phone in there. She felt confident and was in a great mood.

"Wow."

Betty nearly jumped, turning around to see Jughead standing the doorway of her bedroom.

"Juggie." She laughed as she caught her breath. "You scared me."

"I knocked but I figured you couldn't hear me over Michael Buble singing Santa Baby." He smiled.

"It's still Christmas in my world." She took in Jughead dressed rather impressive with a suit jacket, dress shirt and a tie that matched her shirt. "You look handsome. I'm impressed."

Jughead took a look at himself, smoothing out his shirt. "Veronica sent me this tie. And my good guess is that she did it on purpose."

Betty smiled, walking over to him. "Obviously. Look at this dress. This isn't me."

"But you look beautiful." He told her. "You always do."

She could feel her cheeks flush, leaning towards him to peck his lips. "We should go, the subway is probably packed with people."

Betty made sure her curling iron was unplugged and turned off the lights, shrugging on a jacket and locking the door. Jughead took her hand as they left to go meet Archie and the rest of them.

The New Year's Eve party was at the same club the Halloween party was at. Jughead got out their tickets that he had gotten from Archie that morning. He still couldn't believe how many times he had been to a club in the last couple of months.

Betty stood looking up at the building. She remembered Halloween and the girl with drink. "Betty." Jughead gently touched her arm to get her attention. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She took his hand and laced their fingers together. "Let's go."

Jughead gave the tickets to a girl with a clipboard and she let them on through. It was a complete transformation from Halloween. There were golds, silvers, whites, confetti, balloons, two champagne fountains, and refreshments.

"I can't believe this is Veronica's life on the daily." Betty said. "I feel like I should be used to this by now but…"

"I know." Jughead said, talking a walk with her to see the decorations. They were handed cheesy glasses and hats, Betty went ahead and took the tiara for fun.

"We can play pretend for a little while." Betty took the top hat and placed it on Jughead's head. She smiled, laughing softly at how silly he looked. "Maybe not."

Jughead took it off his and set it to the side. "Most likely not."

They found Veronica and Archie after another lap of the area. They had a seating area blocked off which some bottles and snacks on the table.

"You look so good! Look at you!" Veronica called over the music. She got up and hugged Betty tightly. "I'm so happy you're here."

"Are you drunk?" Betty asked. "You seem really chipper."

Veronica waved her off, moving to sit down. "In less than three hours it's going to be a brand new year. We can be whoever we want to be and do whatever we want to do."

"New year, new me?" Jughead said sarcastically.

"You can actually be fun instead of a buzzkill." Veronica crossed one leg over the other, sipping her drink.

Jughead rolled his eyes, taking a handful of pretzels to much on. The conversation got divided with the girls on one couch and Jughead and Archie on the other. Veronica pulled Archie up to dance about ten minutes, finding them a spot close by.

"I'm having deja vu again." Betty said, sitting next to Jughead. "No way I can persuade you to dance?"

"I have zero rhythm." He replied.

Betty nodded. "If there's a slow song, I'm pulling you up. You can at least sway." She got up seeing Kevin and Adam show up, going to see if they wanted to dance instead.

Jughead let her go. Sure, they were somewhat opposite but he was glad she didn't push him to do things he wasn't comfortable with. He could slow dance and that was fine. He went ahead and people watched; couples dancing and sloppily kissing one another. Betty was bouncing around with her arms flailing, laughing at something Kevin must have said.

Betty kept to her word and got Jughead up when there was a slow song, wrapping her arms around him. He placed his hands on her waist and swayed with her to the song. Betty thought it was nice, resting her head against his chest. They stayed that way long after the song was over. No one seemed to care, especially them.

Time seemed to fly by between the dancing, drinking and Veronica almost getting into a cat fight with a girl who had been openly flirting with Archie. Archie managed to pull her back to their section even though she was still heated about the situation.

"I think I need some air. It's really warm in here." Betty told Jughead. Her cheeks were flushed a deep pink and she was fanning herself with one of her hands.

Jughead set his empty drink down and got up with her. There was a small balcony to the back of the space. There were a few smokers out there along with a group of girls chatting. Betty went and stood by the railing, folding her arms around her body. She sighed with a cloud of cold air escaping her lips.

"I know this isn't your thing." Betty said. "But I'm glad you're here."

"Admittedly, Ronnie pushes me to get out more whether it's here to at the bar Archie likes to play at." Jughead shrugged off his jacket and placed it over Betty's shoulders. She smiled, pulling it around her. "And I don't necessarily hate it."

Betty laughed softly. "Maybe we're good company."

"You're good company."

There were still Christmas lights twinkling in every direction. Betty brushed some strands of hair away from her face as she looked out at them, thinking for a few moments. "Jughead." Betty said a few moments later. "What are we doing?" She asked. "Me and you, relationship-wise."

Jughead quietly sighed.

"Because I like you. A lot." She added.

He looked at Betty before turning his head to see the view of the tall buildings. "I don't know if I'm good enough for you. Realistically speaking, you're out of my league."

"What does that even mean?" Betty asked. "There are no leagues. I'm not better than you, we're equals. The only thing that should matter is whether or not you feel the same way." She reached out and touched his arm to get Jughead to look at her. "Jug. I want to be with you."

"This is new to me." He mumbled.

Betty moved to tuck herself into his side. "That's fine." She replied. "You don't know if you don't try."

There was a barrier that Jughead was trying to push through. He protected himself from anything he wasn't certain about. If he wanted to get passed that he knew he had to try just like Betty had said. And with Betty, he was willing to try because his feelings were so strong for her.

Jughead turned to Betty, tilting her head up so he could kiss her. She knew what his answer was and she smiled into the kiss. Labels weren't a necessity but it'd be cool to call each other boyfriend and girlfriend.

"Let's go. It's almost midnight!" Kevin had opened the balcony door to call out to them. "You can go back to kissing in two minutes."

Betty laughed, taking Jughead's hand to pull him back inside. Veronica handed them glasses of champagne. "A toast to us." Veronica announced as the DJ said there was a minute to midnight. "To new friends, new relationships, a new year. The good, the bad and whatever in between."

Ten… Nine… Eight… Seven… Six… Five… Four… Three… Two… One…

They were a loud pop of confetti from the ceiling with people shouting Happy New Year and celebrating. The group clinked their glasses together, taking a drink of it after. Archie immediately took hold of Veronica after, dipped and kissed her. Veronica laughed, holding onto him as it slowly turned into a make out session.

Betty kissed Jughead again, lingering a little longer than the previous kiss. Auld Lang Syne played throughout the speakers in the background. "I'll take you to see the ball drop next year." Jughead said.

"I'm keeping you to that promise." She grinned, pecking his lips. "Happy New Year, Jug."

"Happy New Year, Betts."

New Year's Day always seemed to be so quiet. People were recovering from the night before or taking the day to be with their loved ones. Betty rolled over in bed as she started to stir. She opened her eyes and squinted around the room, not seeing anything familiar for a moment. Jughead was sound asleep beside her with his arm draped over her midsection and half of his face buried into the pillow. She put it all together quickly that they had crashed in Veronica's spare bedroom. Her head hurt, only slightly, and her ears were still ringing from the loud music.

Betty carefully moved Jughead's arm off her and slipped out of bed. She looked down at herself seeing she had some silky pajama shorts and a tank top that definitely screamed Veronica. That was good. She tiptoed her way to the kitchen to get a glass of water and to look for Advil. The entire apartment was silent since it was barely eighty-thirty in the morning. Once she had her water and headache medication, she crept back into bed with Jughead, replacing his arm over her.

She hadn't realized she had passed out again until there were some noises coming from the kitchen. Betty reached for her phone for the time seeing it was now nearing eleven. She stretched her legs out under the covers and turned herself into Jughead's chest, tracing her finger on his arm. Jughead flinched.

"Are you ticklish?" She whispered, holding back a giggle.

"You scared me." He mumbled back, pulling the covers up to his neck. "Could've been attacked."

Betty rolled her eyes playfully. "I wasn't super drunk last night was I?"

"I wouldn't say drunk. Maybe a little tipsy." He replied with a yawn. "Veronica, on the other hand, will be struggling to make it through the day.

"I think breakfast is being made." Betty said. "You hungry?"

"Always."

Betty pulled herself up to sit, getting out of bed. Jughead pulled on his dress pants and his white undershirt, following her and the smell of food. Archie was making bacon and eggs while Veronica sat at the island with her head down and a glass of water in her hand.

"You okay, V?" Betty sat down beside her, gently rubbing her back.

"A small hangover won't bring down Veronica Lodge." The raven-haired girl proclaimed. Jughead took a piece of bacon, accidently (maybe on purpose) knocking over a pot. "Jughead!"

"Sorry Queen, my mistake. I'll keep it down." He snickered, picking up the pot and placed it back on the counter top.

She gave him a clear side eye, sipping her water. "Archie said we were dancing on a table last night."

"I somewhat remember that." Betty nodded. "It must have been a good song."

"Veronica was harassing the DJ to play Justin Bieber's Sorry." Jughead said.

"That sounds like a lie." Veronica retorted.

Jughead carried on, "So he played it but you told him to restart it when you missed the beginning of it when you started another argument with the girl that had been flirting with Archie."

Betty started to laugh. "It's all coming back to me now. Archie had to pull you off the table later when security told us we had to go."

Veronica looked at Archie. "You told me all I did was dance on the table."

"I mean, that wasn't a lie. You did." Archie replied, putting a plate of food in front of her. "And then other things happened."

Jughead found a video on his phone and showed it to the girls. It was pretty clear Veronica had had one too many drinks. Veronica pushed the phone away, flicking her hair over her shoulder. "I may have been drunk but at least I have the decency to get myself home in one piece with those red bottoms on."

Archie set the food down on the island along with plates so it was a free for all. Betty took some food but she wasn't too hungry, so Archie and Jughead split the rest between them. Veronica declared it was going to be a lazy day, they could watch movies and order takeout later.

"Kevin and Adam didn't come back?" Betty asked as she put the dishes into the sink.

"They took a taxi home when we were leaving." Archie said.

Betty thought they were a pretty cute couple. Adam was super nice seemed to be really into Kevin. As long as they were both happy that's all that mattered. She went with Veronica to get some pillows and blankets for the living room.

"So you and Jughead… Are you officially a thing yet?" Veronica opened a linen closet to get some blankets.

"If you're asking if he's my boyfriend, the answer is yes." Betty smiled, almost feeling shy about it. Sure they had been hanging out for a while and then randomly kissing, but now it was actually a thing.

"Look at you blush." Veronica poked Betty's arm. "So cute. Jughead needs someone like you."

Betty grabbed a few pillows from the bedrooms. "Jughead's not like those douchey, boneheaded guys you figured you meet. Those guys that only want you for one thing and one thing only. He actually cares what you think and listens. Do you know what I mean?"

She didn't meant for this to turn into a girl talk but Veronica didn't seem to mind. "Of course. Archie could be especially but in the category of a muscle-y douchebag. Yeah he's athletic, which I'm not complaining about, and he can be hard headed and super annoying but he cares a lot about people."

"Do you love him?"

Veronica nodded. "A lot. It's almost pathetic." She laughed. Betty smiled, her friend did seem really happy.

They took the pillows and blankets, going back to the living room. The boys had already picked couches so Betty went over to Jughead, handing him a pillow and she got herself comfortable next to him.

"We're watching Mean Girls." Veronica announced.

"No." Jughead and Archie said in unison.

"Whoa. Relax." She replied, searching around on Netflix for something else. She put on Kingsman.

Jughead placed his arm around Betty as she rested her head on his chest. She knew she was probably going to drift off again. It was the first day of the New Year and things seemed to be looking up. She was with her friends and her boyfriend.

Jughead Jones was her boyfriend.