The words stuck on Betty Cooper's tongue. She didn't know what was the right thing to say in this moment. Nothing was really, truly the right thing. It could all go wrong in a second. So instead she just sighed, collecting her thoughts.

"I..." she started. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Or what I'm supposed to say." Betty chuckled. It was quite funny actually. She had rehearsed this moment in her head so many times. Yet when it actually came she was lost for words.

"You don't have to say anything if you don't want to," Jughead reassured her, but looked almost bashful for once. Like he didn't know what he was supposed to say either. "You can just leave... it doesn't matter."

"But it does matter!" Betty said, harsher than she intended to. "It really does," she added, her voice becoming a whisper.

"I know."

She sighed at his short answer. "I... I just wish..."

Those words stole Jughead's attention back from his feet. He looked at her curiously.

"I just wish I'd figured it out sooner. Figured out... How much I care about you?" she said the last line as if she was questioning if that was the right way to say it. "I wish I'd figured it all out. Then we would have had more time..." she trailed off.

"We have plenty of time..." Jughead said. "Really. This is just one thing."

"But.. what if this is the end of our story?" Betty started to fidget with her hands. "What if it ends here? What if I never see you again?"

"Well... That's not going to happen. But if it did... It would still be a great story."

She sighed. "True. But I don't want it to end here... I don't want it to end when it's only just started."

"Well, it doesn't have to end, Betty. It doesn't have to end. You're just going to college. It's not like I'll never see you again. And we can call... and text every day," Jughead added.

Betty looked up to meet his eyes. "Yeah... But... I just wish I'd... I wish I'd realized how much I loved you sooner."

Jughead gave her a small smile. "All that matters is that you figured it out, okay Betts? That's all that matters to me. And that's all that should matter to you."

Betty nodded slowly. They were standing in her room. Most of it was still intact. It was a perfect time capsule to all those years they'd sat on her bed and talked about silly little things. Betty missed those days. But most of all, she wished she'd realized in those days how much she loved the boy sitting next to her.

She'd always thought she loved Archie. Looking back, she'd been so blind. So oblivious to her true feelings. It was laughable even.

Jughead has loved her all along. He'd even known it too. He hadn't even tried too hard to hide it. But Betty has been oblivious to that too.

"Promise me, Juggy," Betty said softly, staring into his eyes. "Promise me this isn't the end."

"I promise," Jughead whispered, pulling her into a hug. She let out a small sigh, and buried her head in his shoulder. "I love you, Betty Cooper."

"I love you too, Juggy," she mumbled into the fabric of his shirt before he pulled away and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Now, come on!" Jughead chuckled. "These bags aren't going to move themselves."

Betty grinned. "I guess they probably won't."

"Maybe that's for you to figure out how to make them do that, Ms. Scholarship-To-Yale."

"I'm not going for science!"

"Still!"

"You'll probably be the one to write about suitcases that move on their own."

"You have a point... I might just use that."

"Hey! You can't steal my idea!"

"You're the one who said I would probably do that!"

"Still! It's my idea!"

The couple spent the rest of the day laughing and joking until the unthinkable happened the next day. College. Separation. But they didn't care in that moment because they were together.

They'd always be together. Even if miles separated them.