"I feel like I'm fifteen and back in Riverdale again," Betty says with a giggle as her eyes dart around her, trying to take everything in. She takes a deep breath and a wide smile spreads across her face. The combined smell of popcorn, cotton candy and beer feels strangely enticing, reminding her of all the good times she spent at fairs back in Riverdale.

"That's supposed to be a good feeling?" Jughead mumbles with his mouth full.

Betty wonders when he managed to buy a hot dog, let alone eat a half of it, but she brushes the thought off along with his grumpy comment.

"Arch, do you remember that time we tried to sample food from each stand? There must've been like twenty," Betty says.

"I remember getting on the Thunderbolt and throwing up afterward." He screws up his face as he remembers the day. They have plenty of great memories from the Riverdale fair, but that's certainly not one of them. "You called me Pukey Andrews for a week."

"I did." Betty giggles as more memories rush to the forefront of her mind. Growing up in Riverdale wasn't always fun, but whenever she went to the fair with her best friends, everything seemed better. Even if just for one afternoon.

"You were upset because you were worried no girls would want to date you because of that."

"Well they didn't!" He exclaims with a pout and crosses his arms over his chest.

"I think it's an adorable nickname," Veronica says, squeezing her boyfriend's arm in comfort. "And I totally would've dated you despite it."

"You're the best, Ronnie, have I told you that?" he asks, and his frown quickly turns into a wide smile.

"Hmmm… Not in the last ten minutes." She grins, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pulling him closer to her.

"Oh, then I better make it up to you." He smiles back as he presses a soft kiss to her lips, then another and another until they both seem to forget they're still outside, oblivious to the horrified looks that a group of elderly ladies passing by are giving them.

"Now I'll be the one to throw up," Jughead mutters, rolling his eyes in exaggeration. After all, it's not the first time his friends invited him somewhere, just to randomly start making out and forget all about him. Thankfully, Betty is usually right there with him, making everything better. And today is no exception.

"I think they're cute," Betty chirps and nudges him with her elbow. "Not as cute as us," she adds in a whisper when she's sure their friends are still too preoccupied with each other's lips. Jughead gives her a tiny smirk in return.

"Hard to beat that," he says and shoves the rest of the hot dog into his mouth while Betty gives him her brightest smile. "So, what are we doing first?" Jughead mumbles with his mouth still full when he notices Archie and Veronica finally pulled apart.

"I know just the thing for you." Betty clasps her hands in delight and marches forward, determined to make this the best trip to the fair ever.

They start off by sampling the pies from a baking contest, then move on to their own competition in bumper cars, which Betty wins easily, followed by watching a dog show and then some more food sampling. And while Jughead is enjoying himself as it is, his friends soon start craving some more action packed activities. Despite his dread, it's time for rides.

"The view is amazing, don't you think?" Betty exclaims, turning around in her seat on the ferris wheel, trying to take full advantage of the view. They decided to take a ride just as the sun was about to set, and now the whole fair is bathed in soft sunlight, the pink tint giving it a dream-like feel.

However, what Betty sees as a dream, Jughead perceives as a nightmare. He grips the edge of his seat, trying to keep his eyes fixated on the basket in front of them, his face going paler with every unexpected shake or sway of their own cart. "Yeah, it is," he replies quickly, hoping Betty can't hear his voice tremble. However, he's underestimating her abilities if he thinks she doesn't notice his distinct change in behavior.

"You're not scared of heights, are you?" Betty asks. She berates herself for not even considering that Jughead may not feel as excited to get high in the air as she does.

Jughead shakes his head but gulps visibly as he happens to peek on the ground beneath them, quickly closing his eyes.

"Juggie," she whispers as she takes his face in her hands, gently stroking his cheek with her thumb. She noticed him nervously tapping his foot before they got on the ride, but assumed it was just the usual jitters that most people experience. "Why did you agree to this?"

He slowly opens his eyes, this time careful to not look at the ground that' still too far below them. Instead, he tries to focus on the tiny freckles covering Betty's nose, a reminder of the summer weekends they spent having picnics in the park, sipping coffee on terraces or just walking the busy streets of New York City hand in hand. Were it not for those tiny dots of proof, he'd think it was all just a beautiful dream.

"You seemed excited," he answers honestly, even though he knows it makes him look like the biggest sap. But maybe he is. The moment he saw the way Betty's face lit up when she looked at the ferris wheel, he knew there was no way he'd let her get on alone. Fear be damned.

She lets out a small chuckle before her lips spread into a wide grin. "I was excited about taking the ride with you, silly." She lightly stabs him in the chest with her finger, careful not to move too much as to not make the cart sway any more than necessary. "I thought it would be romantic."

"Oh," he breaths and casts his eyes down in embarrassment, still being careful to not look outside. "I guess me being such a chicken shit kinda ruins that, doesn't it?"

"Not really." Betty shakes her head, the smile not leaving her face. She feels bad for unknowingly pushing Jughead into doing something he fears, and she's determined to prove to him they can still enjoy the ride regardless. "I'll just need to distract you."

"Distr..." he doesn't even get to finish the word when she presses her mouth against his, slowly at first, but soon enough the tip of her tongue skims to seam of his lips, begging entry. He happily obliges. With their friends still completely unaware of their relationship, they haven't been able to do anything more than trade a few quick pecks here and there in public. Craving the feelings of their bodies pressed against each other, Jughead's hands move to Betty's hips, pulling her closer to him.

"Better now?" Betty asks with a giggle when they pull apart, gasping for air.

"Much." Jughead nods, his pupils blown wide.

Betty nestles herself in the crook of his arm, interlacing their fingers while her other hand settles on his knee. They sit in silence for a moment as Betty watches the world outside of their cart and Jughead focuses on the way she gently rubs her thumb over his leg, trying to provide him with comfort. It's such a small gesture, yet its implication makes his chest feel tight again. "Betty I..." he trails off, taking a shaky breath.

"What is it?" she asks, turning her head back toward him, her eyes wide and soft, like despite all the hustle and bustle around them, he's the only thing she sees.

Jughead's tongue darts out to wet his lips, buying himself an extra second as he glances at their intertwined fingers. Since that moment in the bowling alley just two days ago when he almost let the words slip out, he's been thinking about his feelings for Betty more and more. It's only been two months since they decided they wanted to be more than friends, less than a week since he officially called her his girlfriend for the first time. Thinking about love so soon should make him feel crazy, or maybe scared, but instead it just feels… right. He looks back at Betty and she's still staring at him with a question in her eyes, but her lips are curled into a soft smile and that's all he needs to see to reaffirm himself that he's not crazy. He's just in love. With that thought he takes a deep breath when suddenly the cart sways again and he grips her hand so tight he worries he may hurt her.

"Just... kiss me again," he croaks out.

It's not the words he wanted to say, but he realizes it doesn't feel appropriate to profess his love to Betty when there is cold sweat running down his back and his stomach is churning.

"Anytime."

Betty's smile widens as she reaches for his face again and pulls him towards her, closing the gap between them completely. As her hand slips underneath his beanie and into his hair, all his fears fade away.

"No way. I'm not eating that!" Veronica exclaims with a shake of her head.

"C'mon, Veronica. It's the last one," Jughead whines, pushing a paper plate toward her.

They've spent the last hour locating and tasting the weirdest fair food they could find and subsequently trying to keep it in their stomachs. Now that Veronica is the only one with one more item left on her plate and everyone is eagerly waiting for her to try it, she decides to put up a fight.

"I made it through the deep-fried beer and the chocolate covered corn dog, but I'm not putting a whole stick of deep-fried butter in my mouth. Absolutely not."

Veronica crosses her arms to underline her point. She never agreed to this idea to begin with. She thought it would be stupid to eat a bunch of disgusting food before going on more crazy rides, but since both Archie and Betty for some reason supported Jughead's idea, here she is.

"The rest of us did," Archie mutters to himself, and Veronica shoots him a death glare. "Which is how we know that Ronnie shouldn't be forced to do this," he quickly adds.

"I thought Veronica Lodge wouldn't be stopped by anything, but if a little bit of butter is what it takes…" Jughead trails off, and by the change in her eyes he knows he got her.

While he knows Betty may berate him for trying to upset her best friend again, it's too good of an opportunity for him to pass up.

Veronica grabs the wooden stick with determination and shoves the deep-fried butter in her mouth. It takes less than five seconds before her face twists in disgusts and she quickly reaches for the paper plate again, spitting out the offensive food. Jughead wishes he had his camera ready so he could take a video of Veronica being unladylike.

"Oh my god!" she exclaims, taking a napkin and trying to swipe the remaining butter off her tongue. "This is the worst thing I've ever tasted."

In desperation, she grabs a half empty bottle of beer from Archie, trying to wash down the taste of butter, but the look on her face reveals it was futile.

"How did that make it worse?"

Betty and Archie are both biting their lips in an attempt not to laugh, but Jughead doesn't try to hide his amusement as hearty laugh leaves his throat.

"This is the funniest thing I've seen in a long time," he says finally, wiping tears from his face but still keeping a wide grin.

"Is this payback for that time I made you try caviar and you almost threw up?" Veronica asks with furrowed brows.

Jughead is glad looks can't kill.

"No, but maybe it should've been. That shit was disgusting."

He shudders at the memory of Veronica's birthday party, when she insisted he try some caviar. His gut was telling him not to do it, but much like Veronica, he was easily provoked into tasting it when she insulted his gourmet choices.

"It was thousand dollar caviar, I'm sorry that your sugar-and-fat-destroyed taste buds couldn't appreciate it," she fires back.

"Let's not fight." Betty raises her hands, trying to stop them before their bickering goes any further. "We don't like it and Jughead does. So if he wants his arteries clogged by the age of twenty-five, it's his decision."

"Thank you." Jughead smiles at her fondly. "You always know how to appreciate me."

"That was not a compliment. I'm still judging you."

"I'll still take it." He grins and Betty shakes her head, briefly wondering how she managed to fall for a guy with the eating habits of a preschooler.

"I need one more drink to get rid of this disgusting taste in my mouth," Veronica announces with another glare aimed at Jughead. He knows she won't let this go anytime soon. "Anyone coming with me?"

Before she even finishes her question Archie stands up and they both walk back toward the food and drink stands, leaving Betty and Jughead alone.

"I hated the caviar too, but deep-fried butter? Really?"

Betty scrunches her face in disgust. She and Jughead may be in perfect sync on many things, but even she can't understand some of his food choices.

"I like what I like," Jughead replies with a shrug. "But if I had to choose between deep-fried butter and you, I'd pick you."

"How romantic." She rolls her eyes, but Jughead can see a small smile forming on her face. With a quick glance toward the crowd of people to make sure their friends are out of sight, he presses his lips to hers for a brief moment. When he opens his eyes again, her small smile has turned into a wide grin.

"What's next?" Veronica asks once they leave the food and drinks area behind them, trying to forget all about their last activity.

"How about…" Betty looks around, as if trying to decide what ride they should go on next, even though she knows exactly what she's going to suggest. "A tilt-a-whirl."

"Tilt-a-whirl?" Archie scrunches up his nose, clearly not happy with Betty's choice. "But that one doesn't even go high. It just spins and shit. That's not scary."

"So? We just ate a bunch of gross food. I think all the spinning will be more than enough. I don't really need to be upside down." Betty crosses her arms, not willing to back down. "You don't wanna be called Pukey Andrews again, do you?"

"But…" Archie tries to protest, but Veronica stops him.

"Let Betty have this one and you can choose the next ride. How does that sound?"

"Like you're their mom," Jughead mutters under his breath, which earns him an elbow between the ribs from Betty, though he can see her smirking.

"Fine." Archie agrees with a sigh. "But I'm riding with Ronnie. I'm not risking Jughead puking on me after all he ate."

"That's fine with me. I have some disinfectant wipes and mouth wash in case anything happens." Betty gives him a cheeky grin, links Jughead's arm with hers and marches towards the ride in victory.

"Tilt-a-whirl? Really? You love the crazy rides," Jughead says once they're seated in a shark shaped car, the ride almost ready to start.

"Well maybe I love…" You more, she almost adds before stopping herself.

"...Staying closer to the ground sometimes," she finishes instead.

It's been a few days since she was first hit with the realization that her feelings for Jughead were deepening, and while she hasn't given much thought to how and when she may tell him, she's pretty sure it doesn't include a fast spinning amusement ride with a high chance of puking.

"Oh, do you?" Jughead probes teasingly.

He knows exactly why she chose it. After finding out about his secret fear of heights at the ferris wheel, she must've figured out that he wouldn't want to put himself through that again. The tilt-a-whirl is the only ride at the fair except for the kid ones that doesn't go crazy high. If he wasn't in love with her before, he definitely would be now.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

She gives him her sweetest smile and loops her arm through his as the ride starts moving. At first, the cars just move in a big circle, but then they start spinning as well and Betty tightens her grip on Jughead.

"You okay there?" she asks.

"Yeah." He nods with a smile. "Thank you. You didn't have to… I could've just waited for you guys."

"Nonsense." Betty shakes her head. "You deserve to have fun too, Jug."

"I have fun whenever you're around."

"Me too."

She beams at him with complete honesty. While Archie and Veronica are her best friends and she loves them dearly, their interests vary a lot. Jughead gets her like nobody else and there's never a dull moment when she's with him.

"You have fun when you're around too?" he teases, and just as he feels Betty's hands moving around to his torso, ready to tickle him for trying to be a smartass, he presses his lips against hers in a swift kiss.

"Veronica and Archie could see us," Betty murmurs, but doesn't pull away.

It's been getting increasingly more difficult to hide their relationship from their friends, her hands itching to touch him whenever he's around. At the same time, it makes their every interaction ten times hotter, something neither of them thought could even be possible.

"So?" Jughead cocks his eyebrow, a mischievous grin dancing on his lips.

"This ride needs a bit more thrill," he says, and before Betty has a chance to reply, he kisses her again. Secret be damned.

After a ride on a Power Surge that Jughead happily opts out off in favor of getting some funnel cake, his friends stumble toward him with varying expressions on their faces.

"This was the best ride ever!" Betty exclaims in delight.

Her ponytail is slightly askew, tendrils of hair escaping around her face, but her green eyes are shining as adrenaline pumps through her veins.

"I don't know, Betty, I'm not feeling too well," Veronica says with her palm pressed to her stomach and her other arm wrapped around Archie's, who also looks slightly dazed. Looking at the two of them, Jughead is more than happy that he choose to pass on the crazy ride. The ferris wheel was more than enough for him, but at least Betty was able to take his mind of the danger with her many kisses.

"Oh, no. Do you wanna sit down? Get something to drink?" Betty asks, scanning the area for the closest bench.

Perhaps a ride on the Power Surge after eating so much fried food wasn't the best idea after all. The moment Archie saw it though, there was no talking him out of it. Looking at his green tinted face now, Betty is sure he regrets that.

"No." Veronica shakes her head. "I think my body is telling me I've had enough of all of this for today," she says, flailing her arms around. "It'd be better to just call it a night."

"Oh." Betty's face visibly falls at Veronica's words. She's not ready for the fun to end, but seeing as her best friend would never end an evening of fun early, she assumes she must feel really sick and it would be unfair to try to persuade her to stay.

"I'll call us an Uber then," Betty says, trying not to sound disappointed as she pulls out her phone from her tiny handbag.

"No, no, no!" Veronica protests, stopping her before she can even unlock her phone. "You guys stay here and I'll head back home with Archiekins."

"Are you sure?" Betty asks with concern.

"Absolutely." Veronica nods. "Don't worry, B. I'm gonna be fine. I just need to eat something that's not full of sugar or deep fried and preferably stay in an upright position."

Archie snickers at her last words, but Veronica quickly shuts him up with an elbow between ribs.

Betty chews on her bottom lip for a few seconds, feeling like it's not right to stay behind and continue to have fun while her friend heads home not feeling well, but the last ride put her on such a high she's not ready to go home yet.

"You will not hear me say this often so enjoy the moment, but I think Veronica is right," Jughead says and the rest of them raise their eyebrows in surprise. "Besides, there are still plenty of food stands I haven't had a chance to look at. I can't go home now."

"Always so selfless, aren't you?" Veronica grins at him and he shrugs.

They take a few more minutes to say goodbye, and the moment their friends are out of earshot, Jughead leans towards Betty.

"They totally ditched us to have sex, right?"

"Juggie!" Betty exclaims, smacking his arm for suggesting that her two best friends would lie to them like that. "No I'm sure they…"

She trails off, thinking back on all the other times their friends came up with ridiculously bad excuses to get some alone time. They almost got her this time.

"Oh god, you're right."

Her eyebrows knot in an exaggerated frown, but her irritation quickly fades away as she remembers that their friends ditching them means she can finally get some time alone with her boyfriend. Or as alone as they can be in public.

"So, now that we're Varchieless," Jughead cringes at his use of the nickname Veronica made up for her and Archie and wonders whether he's spending too much time with her, "what are we gonna do next?"

Betty pretends to think for a moment, even though she knows exactly what she wants to see next. Something that Veronica and Archie probably wouldn't find thrilling enough or worth their time, but that Jughead may appreciate.

"I know this is probably gonna sound really lame but… There's an ice cream magic show happening near the food stands and I really wanna see it."

Jughead cocks his eyebrow in surprise but grins.

"All you had to say was ice cream and I'd be in," he says, and since their friends are finally nowhere near them, he intertwines his fingers with hers and gives her hand a tight squeeze.

"Let's go."

"I admit it was cooler than I would've expected, but I don't think making ice cream disappear is such a big deal. I'm doing that right now."

Jughead takes a big bite of his ice cream and grins.

"See? Easy."

"I still can't believe you got bacon ice cream."

Betty scrunches her nose, wondering whether the food vendors at the fair had some sort of competition between them about who could come up with the most repulsive food.

"It sounds disgusting."

"It sounds perfect to me." He shrugs.

While his friends have not been happy with the assortment of weird food he forced them try, he's thoroughly enjoyed both the food and their mortified faces.

"Wanna try it?" he offers, even though he knows what Betty's response will be.

"Absolutely not." She shakes her head, but Jughead is already extending his hand toward her, swiping a bit of the ice cream over the corner of her mouth and onto her cheek.

"Oops."

"Did you do that on purpose?"

She shoots him a playful glare because even though she knows he did, she can't be mad at him when he looks at her like that.

"No?" Jughead tries to look innocent but can't stop a mischievous smile from forming on his face.

"I can fix it though," he says and presses his lips to the corner of her mouth, his tongue darting out to lick the ice cream off.

"Unbelievable."

Betty shakes her head in amusement as she wipes the remnants of the ice cream from her face with the back of her hand.

"Also, gross. Don't lick food off of me."

"Oh, is it gross?" Jughead's grin grows even wider. "Because you loved that cotton candy flavored gel you put all over my…" She stops him with a hand over his mouth, her face bright red.

He finds it incredibly cute how the woman with foul mouth in the bedroom can't bring up the topic of sex outside of it without blushing profusely.

"That's different," she whispers, as if worried that if she speaks at a normal volume everyone will suddenly be interested in their conversation.

Despite her slightly exhibitionist tendencies, it's not something she wants. So when Jughead opens his mouth to speak again, she quickly extends her hand to swipe her own ice cream over his lips before covering them with hers.

"Now we're even," she says as she pulls away, but Jughead quickly wraps his arm around her waist and pulls her closer.

"If you wanna kiss me, you can just do it. You don't need to make excuses for it."

He gives her a cocky grin and she rolls her eyes, letting him know his overused lines aren't that clever. He knows that, of course, but after a few hours of having to pretend in front of their friends, he can't help the flirtatious lines, however horrible they are, from slipping out.

"How presumptuous of you to think I wanna kiss you," she says, but can't help herself as her eyes slide to his lips.

In the past, they were her favorite part of his body because they produced his witty remarks. Let the conversation between them flow. Now, the memory of them on various parts of her body keeps her awake during the lonely nights when he's not next to her.

"Maybe it's just me who wants to kiss you then."

His voice is low as his gaze flicks between her eyes and her lips, wondering whether he could still taste the vanilla ice cream on them. Just as he leans down to find, out they hear the sound of someone coughing a bit too close to them, but tune it out, their lips melting into a kiss. But as the obnoxious throat clearing becomes louder the second time around, they quickly pull apart, exchanging a confused look before turning their heads toward the sound. They see a group of three elderly ladies with almost identical scowls staring at them, muttering something about today's youth and their lack of manners before turning around in an almost synchronized movement and walking away.

"That was…" Betty trails off with a huff, glaring at the three ladies who just interrupted their moment.

"Eerie?" Jughead finishes for her with a raised eyebrow.

"What? No."

Betty shakes her head and laughs, but then the frown quickly reappears on her face.

"I wanted to say rude. They don't get to judge me and tell me when and where I can kiss my boyfriend. I'm an adult woman and this is a free country."

She all but stomps her foot, but all Jughead can focus on is the adorable way her brows scrunch up when she's mad. Especially since the reason she's so upset is because their kissing was interrupted.

"I like it when you call me your boyfriend," he whispers, resting his forehead against hers.

"Well, you are. The best one," Betty says with a timid smile, and Jughead's ears go red beneath his beanie.

"Now just kiss me again and don't let anyone interrupt us."

He obeys, not wasting a second before his lips are back on hers, the melting ice cream in their hands quickly forgotten. And for once, Jughead doesn't mind wasting the food.

"So, what are you gonna call him?" Betty asks nodding toward the stuffed dog tucked under Jughead's arm, a prize she won for him in a game of ring toss. It was his idea to try to win her something, fulfilling some teenage fantasy she didn't know he had, but hand-eye coordination has never been his strong suit.

"Hot Dog," Jughead replies without a second of hesitation.

"Hot Dog?" Betty raises her eyebrows, wondering whether she could've misheard him.

"Yeah, I like hot dogs," he says as if it's the most obvious explanation.

"But you like burgers more. Why don't you call him burger?"

"Burger? Betty, that's not a name for a dog," he says wish faux-offense. What kind of name is Burger?

Betty laughs and Jughead pulls her closer to him, dropping a quick kiss to the crown of her head.

"Thank you, Betty."

"Oh, please. It was nothing." She waves her hand nonchalantly. "An average eight year old could win that."

It's Jughead's turn to laugh now as he shakes his head.

"I don't mean for the dog. But everything. I had the best day."

"I had the best day, too." She beams up at him, giving his hand a tight squeeze. "Maybe one day we can go back to Riverdale and visit the fair there. The way it should've been. Together."

"Maybe we can." Jughead smiles, and for the first time in forever, the idea of going back there doesn't fill him with dread. Everything is better with Betty by his side.