And the next chapter! This is quickly becoming one of my favourite stories to write...

Betty hadn't been on a motorbike since she was eighteen years old, but she had never forgotten the way it felt to be on the back of one.

The wind whipped at her legs and her face, and the street lights flashed above them as Jughead accelerated. Her bare legs were stinging a little from the wind, but it was easy to ignore, tucking them in behind Jughead's legs so that her knees were pressed behind his, protecting hers.

She was trying not to pay any attention to the fact it was Jughead in front of her, but it was kind of impossible to ignore the warm, muscled body in front of her, and she could feel the stitching of the Serpents logo on the back pressing against her chest, through the thin material of her shirt and into her skin. Betty honestly had no idea where they were heading, but despite the years that had passed since they had seen each other, she still trusted Jughead implicitly.

Maybe that wasn't the smartest thing, and yeah, okay, trusting the big, bad guy who drove a motorbike that probably cost more than she made in six months and had tattoo's all up and down his arms, and was part of the local motorbike gang who dealt in both guns and dugs didn't seem like something an intelligent girl like herself should do...But Jughead would never, ever hurt her.

She knew that better than she knew herself.

They drove for a while, before Jughead started slowing the bike down—although her heart was still pounding double time in her chest—and Betty lifted her head from where she had been protecting it behind Jughead's body to look over his shoulder.

Of course.

They were at the Twilight Drive In.

This had been Jughead's special place since they were kids, and they had made a hundred memories here. Jughead drove across the grass, which was long and overgrown, and that kind of made Betty sad, because she remembered back when they were in high school and this place was well looked after. He drove to the other side of the drive in before stopping his bike, resting one foot flat on the ground as he waited for Betty to get off the bike, taking off the helmet and holding it loosely under one arm. Jughead looked at for a couple of beats, and it made her shift uncomfortably from one foot to another, very aware of the clothing she was wearing.

Or lack thereof.

"What did you want, Jughead?" Betty asked, her voice quiet, because it felt like the stillness of the night required it. She was just glad that it was a warm night, so that she wasn't standing in front of him shivering.

"You're back," Jughead stated, swinging his leg over the bike, slowly taking off his helmet. He refused to move from where he was standing beside his bike, his face hidden by the shadows of the tree they had parked under. It was a power move, and Betty knew him well enough to know that that meant he was feeling uncertain, maybe a little vulnerable.

At least she wasn't the only one, she pondered as she drew in a deep breath.

"I am," she jerked her head in a nod.

"For how long?" Jughead asked, his words brisk.

"I'm not sure," Betty gave a one shouldered shrug, and given she couldn't see his face, she wasn't sure how he felt about the news.

"Why?" Betty licked her lips at the question, tilting her head to the side. Her hair fell over one shoulder, a couple of flyaway strands falling over her cheeks, and she wondered if she was ever going to actually see Jughead's face throughout this conversation. She kept her lips pursed together, staring at the outline of his head for a long, few beats before Jughead let out an annoyed sigh and stepped forward. She could see his face in the pale blue of the moonlight, and although his expression was carefully blank, she knew him well enough to pick up on certain flickers that gave away whole stories.

"Polly," she answered honestly. "She's close to having the babies, and she's selling the house. Chic is off doing god knows what, and with both of our parents gone, I wanted to make sure she had some family around. You know the Blossoms aren't exactly the nurturing kind." Jughead snorted and shook his head.

"You're telling me. I remember when they told Cheryl not to come home after she failed that Spanish test," he muttered.

"That was a fun three days, having Cheryl sharing my bedroom while good ol' Cliff and Penelope calmed the fuck down," Betty remembered. They had been seventeen, and while they were good friends at that time, Cheryl was definitely used to a life style that Alice and Hal's pay cheques didn't quite provide. The red head was a lot more used to Betty's more simple and cost efficient way of living now, but she hadn't been as a teenager.

"Your hands were a mess at the end of it," Jughead noted, and the small smile that had crept over Betty's lips at the short trip down memory lane quickly fell away, thinking about the anxiety outlet that she had as a teenager, digging her fingernails into her palms. She swallowed hard and didn't respond, and Jughead shifted conversation tactics. "You and baby Blossom still seem to be tight."

"She's my best friend," Betty gave a short nod of her head.

"How does Keller feel about the demotion?" Jughead arched an eyebrow at her.

"You can have more than one best friend," the blonde shot back at him.

"I don't know about that," Jughead muttered, glancing to the side. "I find it difficult just to like two people at the same time." Betty couldn't help the small laugh at that comment and Jughead's eyes widened, surprised. The laugh seemed to loosen something between them, and Jughead's shoulders slumped slightly and he licked his lips, reaching up to tug at the beanie that he had on. "We never got to talk about what happened," he murmured, and Betty's face closed down once more.

"I disagree," she straightened up, jutting her chin forward. "I think we talked a whole lot."

"Not after," Jughead pointed out.

"There was nothing to talk about after," Betty's voice had an edge to it, and her eyes slid to the side, not wanting to look at Jughead. But he stepped forward, and she felt a tug at the helmet she had tucked under one arm. She let it go, lifting her arm to release it, and Jughead tossed it back toward his bike, not paying any attention as it fell on the grass.

"You left," Jughead's words were pained, and it tugged at something inside Betty. It was that same part of her that always ached when Jughead was mentioned, or she saw a photo of him, or she thought back to when she was a teenager. She locked her jaw, feeling pressure behind her eyes, and she knew that if she looked at Jughead, the tears were going to spill over. "You left me." He reached out and his thumb and forefinger gripped her chin, tightly but not enough to hurt her, just enough for him to turn her face back so that she was looking directly at him.

"Jughead..." Betty swallowed hard, trying to twist her head and pull away from him, but he held on firmly, his eyes narrow as he looked at her.

"That was never part of the plan, Betty," he continued, and she felt the tears prick at the corners of her eyes. "I tried to call you—I tried to call you for six months, even though it kept going straight to your voice mail. Veronica finally told me that you had changed your number, and she wouldn't give me your new one." Betty knew this. Well, she didn't know that he had tried calling her old number, because she had thrown that out the window of her car about two hours outside of Riverdale. But she knew that he had asked for her new number, because Veronica had called her, and tried to talk her around to letting her give the number to Jughead.

Betty had practically slept for two days straight after that call from Veronica, curled up in a ball in her bed.

"Look, it happened when we were teenagers, and I know that it was a long time ago. We were both scared and confused—we were kids. But I need you to know that I always stood by you," Jughead leaned forward, and Betty could see the glint in his eyes spoke to how serious he was. She couldn't help it, her eyes fell down to his eyes, remembering how soft they used to feel against her own. His face was so close that she could see the flecks in his blue eyes, and she could feel his breath on her cheeks, on her mouth.

"It doesn't matter now," Betty managed to say, although each word felt as though it was getting stuck in her throat.

"Why not?" Jughead asked, and the breath that puffed out over her lips made her shiver.

"Because it was a long time ago," Betty replied as she looked made another attempt to step away from Jughead, this time managing to break free of the hold he had on her chin and stepping back shakily. Her heel got caught in a dip in the ground, though, and she almost fell over, but Jughead's hand snapped out and wrapped around her wrist, his thumb pressing against her pulse point. Betty bit down on her lower lip and Jughead closed the distance between them once again, massaging his thumb gently over the inside of her wrist.

"It wasn't over then, Betty," Jughead said, watching as Betty's pupils dilated and her breathing came out faster and faster. "And it's not over now. Not for me," he watched as her eyes flickered between his eyes and his lips and that gave him the last ounce of courage that he needed to wrap his other arm around Betty's waist, pulling her in close to him so that their bodies were lined up. "And not for you." Betty's gorgeous, red lips parted, as though she was going to say something, but Jughead didn't give her a chance, bringing his lips down on hers, hard enough to make their teeth click together.

For one second, Betty resisted.

But then Jughead felt her melt against him, and she returned the pressure.

I haven't really watched any movies since I last updated, but I've been binging this TV show called Bitten, recommended by the lovely reppinda5o3, who has now moved on from recommending fics to TV shows! I'd be lost without her. It's not award winning or anything, but I really wanted another werewolf show to watch, and so it definitely scratched that itch. If that's the sort of thing you're into, definitely check it out if you haven't already.

On the music side of things, I've had Crying in the Club by Camila Cabello on repeat for, like, the past week. I fucking loooooove it. I was never a fan of Fifth Harmony, but I absolutely adore this song. Also Power of Love by Gabrielle Aplin, which I heard ages ago, but then I heard it on something recently and put it back on my phone and have just had it playing everyday on the way to and from work. It's just...It's just so pretty and makes my heart ache just a little.

Also on the subject of music, the One Love Manchester concert that Ariana Grande got together...All of those artists coming together and so quickly after the horrible event was beautiful. My heart went out to Ariana, she was really having a hard time holding it together. And Miley Cyrus was a beautiful human, as per usual. A lot of people are trying to drag the event through the mud, saying that worse things happen all the time, saying that she is just doing it for attention...Come on, just accept a nice, good thing. Our world is full of shit, horrible things, we have to love and accept the good when it comes along xx

Anyway! Please make sure you leave a few words, let me know what you guys thought of the chapter. Just a couple of words make the hard work worth it! And make sure to let me know if you want a preview xx