Betty ground herself against Jughead's thigh once more and pulled Jughead's bottom lip between her teeth.
She placed her hands at the waistline of Jughead's pants. "Do you want to?"
Jughead's chest was heaving, the heat radiating through his body. Did he want to? Of course he wanted to. He'd wanted to with Betty since he was 14 years old and he saw her coming out of gym class. Of course, he didn't realize what wanting to actually was, but the thought had been in the back of his mind since.
He pulled back, his hands on her hips, resting tentatively. "I-I, of course I want to."
Betty ducked her head down, attaching her lips to his once more.
Jughead leaned back further, breaking the kiss. "...but, maybe we shouldn't."
Betty looked at him, her eyebrows furrowing. She slowly took herself off his lap, sitting down on the bed beside him.
"Betty, I know where your mind is going, believe me. Please don't let it go there. It's not like that, I 's just, a couple hours ago we didn't know the other had felt like that, and hours before that we weren't even friends. I just don't want to rush anything - what's happening between you and I, it's amazing, and I don't want to do anything either of us will regret. Okay? Is that okay?"
Betty was silent for a moment. She felt Jughead grab her hand, his thumb smoothing back and forth against her skin.
"Yeah, that's okay. Of course that's okay." She leaned forward and kissed him gently. "Thank you for being so sweet."
"I've just wanted this for so long," He whispered. "I don't want to fuck it up." He searched her eyes, needing her to understand - this meant everything to him.
He pressed his lips against her forehead - she closed her eyes, leaning into him.
After some soft, gentle kisses, they laid together in Betty's bed, fingers intertwined.
"What's your favorite show?" Betty murmured, her head on Jughead's chest.
"I'm more of a movie guy."
"Well you must watch something..."
"Faulty Towers is good."
"I've never seen it. What about Friends?"
"I've never seen it."
Betty shot straight up in bed,turning to look at Jughead. "Excuse me?"
He looked at her like she was crazy. "What?"
"You've never seen Friends?! Everyone has seen Friends. Everyone."
"Not me," Jughead smirked.
"Well get fuckin' comfy because we're about to watch all ten seasons." She smirked and grabbed her remote, flicking the screen awake. She selected Netflix, then Friends. They settled in, spending their evening with a 90′s sitcom.
After several hours, including breaks for food, kisses and stretching, they made their way through the first two seasons. Jughead had to admit, he was intrigued.
Sometime after Rachel Green walked down the isle with her bridesmaids dress tucked into her underwear, Betty fell asleep. Her blonde hair was splayed out around her, The light hit her blonde waves in such a way it made her look like an angel.
Jughead smiled, scooting off the bed slowly as to not disturb her. He padded around the bed to grab her cellphone - there was something he had to do.
He dialed the number he memorized years ago, tapping his foot as the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Mom. Hi."
A sigh. "Forsythe?"
"Yeah, hi."
"Hi, Forsythe. Look, it's late, and I'm kind of busy, so -"
"This will only take a second. And, it's important."
She sighed again.
"I've been having a really hard time lately, Mom. Really, really hard time. I've been thinking... I was thinking a lot about ending i-it all, but I -"
"God, here we go. Typical Jones men," She cut him off. "Always threatening suicide and never following through - you're the boy who cried wolf, you know that? Just like your father. He threatened me with that, too, just to make me come back to him. What are you trying to do to me, Forsythe? I've already got enough to worry about with your sister and these bills that keep piling up! You want to add to that?"
"Mom, I - " His voice broke.
"You think you have it bad now? You're a teenager. It's only going to get tougher from here on out, so man up. You'll be fine."
"Yeah, you're right. I'll be fine. Say hi to Jellybean for me. Tell her I love her."
"Yeah, alright."
"'Bye, Mom."
Tears slid down Jughead's cheeks as he ended the call and placed the cellphone back on the bedside table. He padded quietly to Betty's desk, took a piece of paper out of a notebook, and scribbled two words on it. He placed it underneath her cellphone and left the room.
Betty awakened when she heard the front door close. She blinked, expecting the see Jughead - she was alone. She looked around, trying to shake the sleepy stupor she was in.
She glanced at her bedside table, seeing the paper under her cellphone when she realized what had woken her - the front door.
She scrambled to grab the piece of paper. I'm Sorry it read it sloppy writing.
She felt her eyes prick, tears warping her vision. Her feet were on the floor, rushing out of her bedroom before she realized what she was doing. She pushed two shoes on her feet - did they even match? were they even hers? - and rushed out the front door.
Where would he go? Betty raced down the dark streets, her feet slapping the pavement underneath her. She wanted to call out for him, scream his name, but she knew that wouldn't help. She needed to find him.
She reached the trailer park she heard Jughead's dad lived it, running toward a closed door before stopping herself - she didn't know which one was F.P.'s. She looked around and spotted a dark trailer with broken police tape around the door.
Betty trudged up the steps and tried the door - it was locked.
"Jughead?" She cried, pounding on the door. "Hello?" She cupped her eyes against the door, trying to see inside. "Fuck," She murmured to herself, biting her lip.
She turned, jogging out of the trailer park. The cliffs, she thought. She picked up speed, hoping she hadn't thought of it too late.
She was out of breath, her chest heaving by the time she was half-way up the cliffs. Rain had started to drizzle down, making her climb that much more exhausting.
Finally, she reached the top. A dark figure was sitting in the exact spot she had for months.
"Please don't," She whispered. Had he heard her? She didn't want to say anything too loud, terrified of what he might do.
"Betty," He murmured, shifting to stand. "Betty, I'm so sorry." He started to cry as he came toward her.
"Jughead?" Was all she could mutter, not understanding.
"I'm so sorry." He said again, enveloping her in his arms. "I shouldn't have come here - I, I was going to, but -" He cried harder, nuzzling his face in the crook of her neck.
They cried together for a few moments, the rain pounding down on them.
"I called my Mom," He grit out. "And she - she told me I was just looking for attention and that I need to grow up."
"No," Betty cried. "Don't listen to her, Jughead."
"That's the thing," Jughead took her hand, squeezing it tightly. "The first thing my mind went to was this - fuck it, what do I have to lose? But on the walk over here, I thought of you. How beautiful you look when you're asleep. The way your nose crinkles when you laugh. That you dance around in your underwear listening to Frank Sinatra when you make pancakes." He smiled weakly. "And even if all we have are these 48 hours together, it'll have made an impact on me. You've made an impact on me, Betty."
Betty squeezed his hand. "We'll have more than 48 hours, Jughead."
"But even if, Betty, even if something changes now, you've done something inside my heart - you woke it up." He took a deep breath. "And I can't leave Jellybean, y'know? I can't fuck her up like they fucked me up. She's only 12, what would that do to her? And you know I have a novel to publish. Make my mark on the world."
Tears welled in Betty's eyes.
"We'll get through this together. I'm so sorry I left you that note."
Betty just shook her head. "We'll get through this together."
They walked up the stairs to Betty's bedroom wordlessly, closing the door behind them. Betty shrugged off her top as Jughead wrapped his arms around her, kissing her exposed skin. He peppered kisses against her shoulders and down her arms, reaching her palms. He trailed feather-light kisses over her scars.
Betty caught his cheek, reaching to place gentle kisses on his lips.
She smiled into the kiss, then pulled apart from him. He placed a kiss on her forehead.
Betty reached for Jughead's flannel, shrugging it over her shoulders.
"When do your parents get home, again?"
"A lifetime from now," She smiled.