Betty's pov
I step out of the airport, a duffel bag over my shoulder and my blonde hair cascading in waves down my shoulders. I take in the sights around me, of the city I rarely went to while I still lived near it, as I look for my mom, who said she'd be picking me up.
"Betty," I hear someone say from behind me, and I turn around, noticing it's a male voice.
"Jughead," I say in disbelief as I see the person I thought had the least likely chance of picking me up from the airport. "I didn't- why are you- what's going on?"
Jughead smiles weakly, running a hand through his hair, which is no longer covered by his beanie. I inwardly wonder when he stopped wearing it. "Your mom had an emergency at work, one of the journalists called in sick I guess, and she had to go in," he explains. I notice that he's wearing a few layers of jackets, and realize I should have worn something warmer than my thin sweatshirt and jeans.
"Was no one else available?" I question, not meaning to sound as rude as I did. "Sorry, that… came out wrong," I add, shifting my gaze to the ground.
When I look up again, Jughead is smiling softly, almost pityingly, at me. I realize that I barely know him anymore, and he's grown a lot in only a year.
"You're good," Jughead says. I realize it isn't pity in his smile, but longing, or sadness. "Your dad already had plans, since your mom was going to pick you up. Archie's busy with the center… Veronica doesn't get here until later tonight, and Polly has the twins to look after," he explains, counting off the people on his fingers as he lists them. "So your mom asked if I could pick you up, instead of having to call a cab or something."
I nod, inwardly cursing whoever had called in sick. It wasn't that I didn't want to see Jughead. He's the only person I ever want to see. But we haven't spoken since our breakup last year, and it's strange to be shoved back into someone's life without warning.
"So… you ready to go?" Jughead asks.
"Yeah," I say, giving him a tight smile.
The ride home, which lasts almost an hour, starts out awkwardly. Neither Jughead or I have any idea what to say to someone you used to date, but hadn't talked to in a year.
"What have you been up to, over there in LA?" Jughead asks as he drives. He keeps his eyes on the road, not even glancing at me.
I shrug. "You know, college stuff," I reply truthfully.
"You didn't come home for summer." Jughead sounds almost hurt as he says this, as if my decision to stay in Los Angeles for summer break was just because of him.
"I know," I say. "My parents wanted to come out, but since they're divorced, it couldn't be the same weekend. And my friend Camille, she kept talking about how amazing summer is in California, so I just had to stay."
"Did you ever regret staying there?" Jughead questions, still not even flickering his eyes in my direction.
"No," I say surely. "There are some pretty nice beaches, and pool parties, and ice cream, and Camille's parents let me tag along on their weekend trips up to San Francisco and Tahoe, plus Disneyland."
Jughead takes a deep breath, lowering his shoulders some. "Sounds like you had a nice summer," he comments.
I nod, looking at the floor of the car for a few seconds before returning my gaze to the passenger seat window. "How was yours?" I ask him.
"It was nice," Jughead tells me, not sounding like he cared very much about his own summer. There's silence for a few minutes, and I expect that to be the end of the conversation, but then he adds something on. "I dated someone."
It feels like ice cold water has been poured over me, giving me an unexpected shock. I didn't want to know that, and I suddenly regret asking him about his summer. The phrase ignorance is bliss seems to especially resonate with me in that moment. "Oh," I say.
"Remember that girl from school, Violet?" He asks, finally looking over at me.
I nod, wishing he would stop talking. I don't want to know who he had spent his time with, who he had kissed, while I had been in LA. "How's school?" I question before he can continue with his summer love affair.
"Don't wanna hear about Violet?" He replies, raising his eyebrows.
I don't answer, instead shifting my gaze back to the window and taking a deep breath as I look at the forest of trees we're driving by.
"You haven't been in Riverdale for over a year now, and you broke up with me," Jughead points out, his tone stern.
That is true, and we both know it. I spin my head back to face him. "Call it even?" I bargain, a faint smile on my lips despite how hard I try to erase it.
But Jughead smiles too, and nods in agreement. "Sure," he says.
I had missed his smile every day while I had been in Los Angeles, even after we had broken up. His smile had always enchanted me when we had still been boyfriend and girlfriend, and it's no different now that we're no longer together.
"I can't believe it's been a year since last Christmas," I say after a while of more silence.
"Yeah… that was… a rough one," Jughead says, referencing our Christmastime fight the year before.
"I know," I reply. I still feel guilty about it, but at the time, it had seemed like the right decision. I had regretted it the next morning, but had talked myself out of apologizing, thinking I'd get over it soon enough. I didn't realize that soon, it would be Christmas again, and I would not be over him.
Finally, a few minutes later, Jughead and I pull up to the house we've shared since my mom and his dad moved in together.
"It looks the same," I say, looking at the house that I had grown up in, but become a sort of stranger to since starting college.
"It's looked the same since you were little, Betts," Jughead points out, using the nickname that only he has ever used for me. "Did you really think they'd change it so much in a year?"
I smile, partly because of the truth of the statement, and partly because I missed that nickname. I missed everything about him. "That is true," I agree.
Jughead leads me up to the door, which he unlocks to let us into the entryway.
"Jughead, is that you?" I hear my sister call from the living room.
"Yeah. I got Betty," Jughead replies as he pulls off his topmost jacket, hanging it on the coat rack that stands next to the door.
I set my bag on the floor to get after I greet Polly and her twins, and then I walk into the living room, where Polly is sitting on the couch, an open book next to her and the twins, now three years old, are building something out of wooden blocks on the floor.
"Betty, you're actually home!" Polly exclaims, standing up to hug me. "I was starting to think you'd never leave Los Angeles," she says, grinning.
I shrug, smiling as well. "Well, I'm back, if only for the weekend," I say. "I must say, winters in California are much nicer than here."
"What, the below freezing temperatures and snow aren't your thing?" Polly questions. "All the jackets, hats, and mittens you have to wear every time you step out of the house?"
I chuckle. "Well, the snow can be nice, but everything else I can live without," I reply.
"But who wants to spend Christmas on the beach, right?" Jughead asks with a smirk. "I mean, palm trees just don't feel the same as pine trees."
I playfully roll my eyes, looking pointedly at Polly. "So, how are the twins?" I say, looking at the two children on the ground. They've stopped playing with the blocks and are now looking at me with wide, green eyes.
"Juniper, Dagwood, come here," Polly tells them, turning to them and beckoning with her hand. "Look, it's your aunt Betty. Remember her from summer?"
The twins approach cautiously, and stand very close to their mother's legs. "Hi Betty," Dagwood says softly, his strawberry blonde hair styled so it sticks up in the front.
"Hi buddy," I say, bending down to reach his level and waving.
"They'll warm up soon. They're just shy at first," Polly tells me, picking Juniper up. Her hair, also strawberry blonde, is just past her shoulders and held back with two clips that match the leggings and shirt she's wearing.
"I know," I reassure her.
Later that evening, I'm in my old bedroom, getting everything ready for my stay of only a few days. My room hasn't changed much either. Less stuff than when I lived in it, but the bed was still made, the wallpaper was still the same, and everything on the vanity was arranged just as I had left it.
I hear a knock at my door, and call, "Come in!" as I look through my closet, deciding on clothes to donate or take back to LA with me.
"Hey, lovey, your mom wants to know if you're ready for dinner," Jughead says after opening my door.
I turn to him, my lips slightly parted as my heart feels a pang. "Juggie…" I say softly, wondering if he'll realize.
He cocks his head to the side a bit, and then I see his eyes widen as he processes what was said. "Oh shit… I'm sorry, force of habit," He says, brushing his hand through his hair again and looking at his feet.
I look at him longingly, missing the days where he didn't apologize for calling me lovey. I shake my head slightly, hoping that will knock me out of it. "I like it as much as I did back then," I confess. "Use it, just for the weekend."
Jughead looks up, hope in his ocean blue eyes. "You sure?" he asks. It doesn't look like he wants to ask it, but finds it the polite thing to do.
I nod. "Tis the damn season, right?" I say, shrugging.
Jughead chuckles, nodding and crossing his arms. "Right," he agrees. He sighs, looking at me again. "So, I came in here for a reason…" he says after a moment.
"Dinner?" I say, remembering him mentioning something about dinner earlier in the conversation.
"Yes," Jughead says confidently. "Dinner. You ready for it?"
"Always," I tell him.
"Great. Let's go then, lovey," Jughead says, grinning, as I lay the stack of clothes in my arms on my bed and then follow him out of my bedroom.
The next day is Christmas Eve, and I have some last minute Christmas shopping to do, along with lunch at Pop's with Veronica, Archie, and Jughead.
"Are you going out?" Jughead asks as I pull on my jacket that's hanging from the door.
"Yeah. I still have to get presents for the twins, Archie, and your sister," I respond, grabbing the car keys my mom left for me to use.
"You don't have to get Jellybean anything, she'll be with our mom for most of the day anyways," Jughead tells me.
I shrug, knowing that already. "Still, she'll be here for dinner, and it's the nice thing to do," I tell him.
"Whatever," Jughead says, shaking his head. "Well, I also have some shopping to finish up with. Want to go together?" he questions, sounding almost nervous as he looks at me.
"Sure. Then we can meet up with Veronica and Archie once we're done," I point out.
"Great," Jughead says, smiling. "Let me just get some shoes on, and I'll be ready to go."
We finish up with our shopping right on time, and then drive straight to Pop's, where Archie and Veronica are already seated, and we join them, catching up on what we've been up to this year, and how college is going for all of us.
After that, I wrap the remaining presents at home before heading over to my dad's house with Polly and the twins to have a Christmas Eve dinner together, and an early Christmas celebration with present opening after the food.
We watched Christmas movies until late that night, which, combined with me still adjusting to the time Riverdale was on compared to California, was probably what caused me to sleep throughout Christmas morning.
I wake up to a knock on the door, and I turn over in bed, opening my eyes and stretching. "Yeah?" I call, my throat rather dry. I take a sip of the water next to my bed as the door is opened.
"Good afternoon, love," Jughead says, coming into my bedroom.
"Afternoon?" I question, setting the cup back down.
"It's twelve thirty, Betts," Jughead says, pointing towards the clock on my wall, where I see he's telling the truth.
"Already? Why'd you let me sleep so long?" I wonder aloud. I know I would have woken up earlier if they had just come to get me.
Jughead grins, and I'm sure he can tell what I'm thinking. "For your information, I did come to get you for breakfast, but you were still sound asleep. I didn't want to disturb you, you looked so peaceful," he explains. "Don't worry, though, we waited to open presents."
I tilt my head to the side, confused on the presents. "Oh!" I exclaim as it hits me. "Merry Christmas, Juggie," I tell him, smiling serenely.
He chuckles, smirking, and nods his head. "Merry Christmas, Betts."
We share a moment in peaceful silence, staring into each other's eyes. If we were still a couple, it would be the perfect moment for a kiss, alone on Christmas morning.
But we aren't together, and we don't kiss. Instead, we smile rather awkwardly at each other before Jughead continues the conversation.
"So, want to come down for pancakes? We saved you a few," he offers. "Fancy gingerbread kind, even."
"Sounds amazing," I tell him, standing up and letting him lead me to the dining room, and the rest of our family.
Christmas day passes in a flurry of happy smiles, laughter, and all around joy. The twins run around, playing with their new toys as they sneak Christmas cookies from the counter and Polly pretends not to notice, saying it's a holiday and she doesn't feel like dealing with a tantrum from taking the cookies away today. We have more Christmas movies playing on TV, and simply lounge around until dinner.
That night as I lay in bed, I decide to do something on a whim. As quietly as I can, I stand up and sneak out my bedroom to Jughead's down the hall, where I twist open the knob. Jughead is sitting at his desk, typing at his computer, but he glances over as I stand in his doorway.
"Betty? What's up?" he asks, spinning to face me completely.
I look at the ground for a moment, my lips slightly parted. "I don't feel like being alone tonight," I say softly. I glance back up at him, wanting to be closer to see his eyes more clearly.
Jughead, although keeping his smile hidden, looks immediately the most joyful I've seen him look this whole weekend. "You don't have to be alone, then," he says, standing up and walking to his bed. "Come on". His tone is friendly, as if all he were doing was helping out a friend. I realize painfully that basically was what he was doing.
I walk over, climbing into the bed we had spent many nights in. Jughead shuts out of his computer before crawling into the bed next to me. He puts his arm over me and I nestle into his body, feeling calm and perfect.
"I missed this," I confess, feeling sleep start to overtake me.
"Me too," Jughead agrees. Even before we broke up, we hadn't seen each other for a month, and three before that. We hadn't done much cuddling at all, and it felt amazing to be back in my rightful place, held perfectly in Jughead's arms.
We fall asleep like that, cuddled together in the bed we had once spent the second highest amount of nights in, after my bed.
I wake up before Jughead, well rested from the many hours I had slept the night before. As much as I don't want to, I know I have to get up and pack, because I have a flight to catch this afternoon.
I savor the last few moments, soaking up the feeling and attempting to commit it to memory, never wanting to forget what it feels like to be held close to someone. I do have to get up eventually though, and move as carefully as I can so as to not wake Jughead up. I slip out of the room, thankful no one sees me leave.
Once I'm back in my own bedroom, I quickly get ready before packing up everything, swapping some clothes I had brought from LA that I was tired of for some clothes I had left here, leaving the old ones for Jellybean to have if she wanted. I pack it all into the bag I had brought, carefully arranging everything so it fit just perfectly.
As I'm almost done, I hear the door open and turn to see Jughead.
"Hey," I say, smiling wishfully at him.
"So this is where you went off to, huh?" he says, but he's smiling as well.
"For your information, I have a flight to catch," I say, zipping the bag up and sitting on the bed.
"You could've spared a few minutes though," Jughead points out, walking over to my desk and turning the chair the opposite way before sitting on it.
"I did, you were just asleep," I respond.
"Pretty sure this weekend has been a sign that we should both stop sleeping in," Jughead says, making me laugh. "I mean, you were asleep all of Christmas morning, and then I missed waking up next to you."
I sigh sadly, wishing we could wake up next to each other every single morning, and we would stop being separated by thousands of miles and a breakup.
Before either of us can pick up on the conversation, a call of "Breakfast!" interrupts us, and we both look towards the door.
"Well, that's our cue," I say, standing up. "Breakfast, then it's off to the airport."
"Yep," Jughead says, sounding disappointed. I wonder silently if he wishes I would stay. I wish I could stay, but I had already booked the flight, and really, there was no reason for me to stay. I had been there for Christmas, gotten to know the place again, and caught up with all of my friends in person. Now it was back to Los Angeles to have some more fun before the next semester started.
Promising to come home for spring break, I said goodbye to my family before getting in the car for Jughead to drive me back to the airport. I'm not sure why he's the one taking me, but I'm not complaining. More alone time with him sounded wonderful.
"This has been an amazing weekend, Juggie," I say, looking at him longingly.
"It really has," Jughead agrees. "It feels like it did right before we all went our separate ways, off to all our new college adventures without each other."
"It does, doesn't it? Those days were the best," I say with a sigh. I remember all of the pool parties and lunches at Pop's we had shared that last summer before we all departed to go to college.
"Truly incredible," Jughead adds, a sad smile on his face as he thinks back to those times. We had it all planned out, thinking life would be some fantasy dream instead of the reality that had settled in.
We arrive at the airport a little while later. The drive there felt much quicker than the first one to my house. Maybe because there was a sense of first meeting awkwardness, but now all we wanted was to stay together.
Jughead looks at me as I stand in front of the airport, not quite ready to leave him and go inside yet.
"Lovey…" he says in an almost whisper.
I stare at him, wanting so badly to kiss him goodbye like I had the first time leaving Riverdale.
"I… I want…" he says, sounding nervous. Suddenly, his hands are on my neck, and his mouth is on mine, and we're kissing, our lips connected for the first time in what feels like centuries.
I feel the butterflies flutter around my stomach as I hold onto the kiss for as long as possible, finally pulling away.
I feel myself get lost in Jughead's ocean blue eyes, forgetting that we're in an airport surrounded by people. I want to stay. I can't stay. I want to ask him to wait for me, to not do anything with other girls until I'm out of college and we can be together in person again. I want to get back together with him, and stop getting so caught up in the fun I'm having in California that I forget about Riverdale, and make Jughead feel like I forgot about him, too.
Jughead's eyes are begging me to stay just a little bit longer. A few days only, even. But he never says it out loud.
So instead of saying my wish to him, I say, "I'll miss you the most."
Jughead looks like he wants to cry, and he grasps onto my hand. "I'll miss you too," he says, taking a deep breath.
I feel like I'm ripping my heart out as I head towards the airport doors. I turn back once, looking at Jughead as he stands there, alone and sad. I shut my eyes and turn back the right way, continuing my walk, every step getting harder and harder as I walk farther and farther away from Jughead.
I know I'll come back. I know Jughead and I will get back together one way or another. I know it won't end like this, with me abandoning him for Los Angeles. But right then, it was what had to be done, so I was doing it. And next Christmas, we would have that fantasy we had imagined the summer before our freshman year of college. As naive as we were, the plans still seemed perfect. And we would make them be nothing but that.
Hey all! Hope you enjoyed this little story. Tis the damn season is probably my favorite song off of evermore, and I love the story behind it, so I decided to write a little Christmastime story inspired by it. Happy holidays!