Betty hears Veronica whistle as they walk onto the construction site of Fred's new SoDale project. Having Clifford Blossom poach his crew after learning who really bought the land had been a problem that was temporarily fixed. Fred renegotiating his contract after the revelation the week before had been a battle but it had been a battle Mary Andrews had won a few days before flying back to Chicago.

She can see Jughead and Archie tearing down the burnt leftovers of the Twilight, laughing and pushing each other as they joke around.

As Veronica keeps cat calling them Betty sees some of the Serpents that offered to work when asked by FP turn and look directly at them. "V, maybe you shouldn't do that again."

"I think I finally get the appeal of being a sexist douchebag," Veronica tells her, eyeing Archie as he bent over to pick up more debris. "So much to look at, so little time."

"Veronica!"

"I'm kidding, B. I figure it's my right to do it at least once after all the times it's been done to me."

Jughead and Archie both look up as they get closer, Jughead eyeing the Pop's bag in Betty's hand.

"Did you bring me food, Betty?"

"Oh, no, sorry. These are just my leftovers from my lunch with Veronica. You can have them if you want though," she states innocently, holding the bag out towards him.

He's wearing the saddest face she thinks she's ever seen and she can't help but laugh. "Jughead. Of course I brought you lunch."

"What kind of monster…?" he trails off, grabbing the bag and digging into it immediately.

Betty looks around for another familiar face but can't find it. "Where's Kevin?"

Jughead's cheeks are stuffed full of burger and she doesn't think he even looks up when he points towards the other side of the construction site.

"Would you look at that?" Veronica says, handing Archie the bag of food she brought for him. "Kevin found a friend."

Kevin is standing there, talking to a guy maybe a little older than they are in a Serpents jacket. For anyone else, it might not be noticeable that Kevin was in his flirt stance, but Betty could see it immediately.

"He's cute!" she exclaims, excited for Kevin.

Jughead starts coughing, slapping the palm of his hand on his chest to help move what he's choking on. Veronica begins to laugh at him as Archie starts to pound on his back, trying to help. Betty gives him the drink she'd brought for him, noticing his eyes starting to water.

"Are you okay, Juggie?" Betty questions with concern all over her face.

"Scared of a little competition, Jug?" Veronica asks him with a lift of her eyebrow. "Betty, please put your boy out of his misery and tell him you think he's the very cutest puppy in the pound."

Betty's eyes widen, "What? He's cute for Kevin, he's not Moose and that already gives him extra points in my opinion."

Finally in control of himself Jughead adds, "I just swallowed wrong."

Veronica rolls her eyes at him. "And a pig just flew over my head. Now that we're both liars, we can move on." She turns to Archie with a grin. "I'm digging this whole flannel vibe you've got going on, Archiekins. Very construction chic."

Betty laughs at Archie's blush as she stands next to Jughead. "How are you?"

"I'm good. Better now that I have food," he tells her, leaning over to kiss her hello. "I've been starving all morning."

"Jug, I gave you a dozen muffins to share this morning, did you not eat enough?"

Archie cuts in with, "He ate six of them, Betty."

Betty stares at Jughead. "Six?"

"Hey, you said to share and I shared! You never said how many were for sharing. That, Betty, had been left up to me and I made the best possible decision I could."

"You're a bottomless pit, Jughead," Veronica interjects. "I'm starting to wonder if you can unhinge your jaw?"

Jughead gives her an unimpressed look and ignores the bait. "What are you guys up to today?"

"I'm going to see if Cheryl can give me any updates on Polly. It's killing me not to know how she is and I still have to pretend I don't know anything in front of my parents," Betty answers, starting to clench her hands in anxiety and frustration.

Jughead looks down and catches her at it. She sees him look over at Archie and Veronica who have moved are quietly flirting off to the side. He grabs her hand and pushes his thumb between her palm and fingers. She's trying to relax her hand but she's been doing it all morning. Betty can tell right away that he can feel the damage she's inflicted on herself.

He looks at her with concerned eyes. "Betty."

Her eyes start to water and she just shrugs at him with no explanation. Mostly because she'll cry if she talks and because she doesn't have anything she can possibly say about it.

Jughead pulls her to him and wraps an arm around her. "It'll be okay," he whispers into her hair, tugging her into him and she lays her head in the crook of his shoulder.

She can feel him running a hand up and down her back as they stand there quietly, listening to Archie and Veronica talk.

"Betty? Are you okay?" Veronica asks her.

She turns her head to look at Veronica and gives a slight nod. She just wants to know her sister is still okay and she's so tired of pretending with her parents.

Veronica doesn't look convinced. "Come on, say goodbye to your boy toy so we can go find Cheryl and then regret it for the rest of the day."

"Boy toy? Really?"

"I was going to make a Hungry Hungry Hippo joke after last weeks little Betty buffet you were enjoying but I chose to let it slide. Today, though, all bets are off," Veronica tells him.

"Let's go, V," Betty says, leaning up to kiss Jughead goodbye. "I'll see you later, okay? Be careful. Oh, and tell Kevin hello from us, I don't want to interrupt him. Bye, Archie."

Archie just waves his burger at her, concentrating on eating. Jughead tells her goodbye with the rest of his burger halfway to his mouth and already back in the bag for more fries.

"You know, I really do think if he tried hard enough, Jughead could totally unhinge his jaw," Veronica states quietly as they walk back off of the construction site.

Jughead is exhausted. All of his nerve endings hurt and he's pretty sure he pulled something he had planned on using in the near future with Betty. Lift with your legs is only good advice if you follow it as it turns out. Trudging up the stairs after their day of helping Fred, he slowly makes his way to the room he's been sharing with Archie. It's already getting dark and no lights are on yet when he's distracted by the sight of Betty in her room.

Don't stare like a creeper, he thinks. He's about to turn away like a decent human being when he notices she's pulling her shirt off, leaving her in a bra and jeans and it looks like she's talking to someone.

His first thought is Jesus, how often does she do that in front of an open window where Archie can see at any time?

His second is Don't be a jealous asshole, she's allowed to do what she wants in her own room.

His third is Who is she talking to with her shirt off?!

He should move, he knows that but he's stuck watching his girlfriend walk around without a shirt and he's honestly surprised he can still blink. He relaxes when Veronica comes into view. Thank god, he thinks.

That is, until she turns Betty around and starts adjusting the straps of the bra she's wearing. Do girls do that sort of thing for each other? I know this makes me a jerk but I swear if Veronica touches Betty's breasts before I do, I'm going to be more than a little bitter about it.

Veronica turns her around by the shoulders, looking at Betty's chest and nodding at her. Grabbing a different shirt, Betty puts it on and looks at herself in the mirror on her vanity. He can see she's talking animatedly about something and he finally breaks his stare to find what he originally came into the room for.

With a handful of clean clothes he heads into the shower and is struck by the memory of Betty at the river when they were fourteen.

July 2015

Jughead and Archie are already at Sweetwater River when Polly shows up with Betty, carrying towels and a bag he knows is full of sandwiches and probably even more sunscreen than sandwiches. He waves at them from his place in the water, starting to head towards them. He's halfway there when he sees Polly pull out the sunscreen and Betty is taking her old t-shirt off and her jean shorts fall to the ground after she unbuttons them. She turns so Polly can put the lotion on her back and for the first time in his life, Jughead is struck dumb.

The first thing he notices is legs. He knows she's taller than she was last year but he didn't realize that the only thing that seemed to grow was her legs. As his eyes travel up he sees her swimsuit isn't the one from last year, no, this one is white with a tie around the neck, a tie that seems to be making her chest more visible than he's ever seen it.

Not knowing how to respond he just turns around and walks back into the river where Archie is still floating on his back.

It takes another ten or fifteen minutes before Betty makes her way into the water with them and he's trying to act normal but Betty is jumping around with them, laughing and splashing water each time Archie throws more water in her face. Jughead declares himself hungry and Betty tells him she made his favorite sandwich and it's in the bag by her towel.

Sitting on the towel, eating, helps him clear his head where he can at least concentrate again. He can hear Betty yelling something to him but he can't make out the words. Jughead gets up to walk closer so he can hear, walking down the crooked path that leads to where she is when he notices she's walking out of the water, at a slight jog to catch up to where he's at, when he feels the impact of something immovable.

He walked into a tree.

He actually walked into a tree.

He can hear Archie laughing loudly from the edge of the river as Betty hurries her pace to see if he's okay.

"Juggie! Are you hurt?" Betty asks, looking to see the bark of the tree cut his shoulder.

He's standing there miserable but tells her, "No, it's fine, I just wasn't looking where I was going."

"I was going to tell you to put some sunscreen on, remember the sunburn you got last year? You looked like a flaky lobster for a week," Betty reminds him, scrunching her nose up in memory of it. And it was gross, he burned bad enough for his skin to peel after it finally stopped hurting.

"Come on, I'll help you before I eat, okay?"

The memory of her jogging towards him, legs moving, chest bouncing is going to be stuck in his head forever. And now she's going to put her hands all over him.

If he hadn't walked into a tree he might declare it one of the best days ever.

Standing under the running water, Jughead shakes himself out of that memory. At fourteen he thought he'd never top that day but then he thinks about kissing Betty for the first time in her room and kissing her in the Blue and Gold office. Kissing her in the treehouse and her on his lap in both the treehouse and in Archie's garage. Every memory with her is becoming a new favorite.

He groans as he looks down at the predicament he's put himself in. Hoping no one notices he's suddenly taking a much longer shower he replays all of his recent memories of Betty in his head, thinking about her hand finally replacing his on himself.

Betty's sitting despondently in the locker room thinking about the last few days. After trying and failing to get Cheryl totally alone to ask about Polly she finally managed to do so right after Vixen practice. Not that anything came of it, Betty thinks sadly.

"Cheryl," Betty starts, "how is Polly doing?"

"What part of keeping you out of it did you not understand?" Cheryl questions with her arms crossed and ambivalent look on her face.

Betty looks at her in confusion. "Wait, I've already seen Polly and you've told me the whole story, I'm pretty sure that makes me involved, why can't I know how she's doing?"

Cheryl tilts her head at her like she can't believe she has to explain herself. "I took you to Polly so you'd stop sticking your Nancy Drew nose where it has no business being. You saw her, she's fine, the end."

"But-" is all she gets out before she stalks off leaving Betty confused. Why is Cheryl withholding innocuous information? It has to go deeper than her just being a bitch over Polly.

Jughead finds Archie and Veronica sitting in the Andrews living room, talking lowly. "What's going on?"

Archie looks up at him, a little startled at the interruption. "Oh, hey, Jughead."

"Where's Betty?"

"At home. She managed to get Cheryl alone after basically hunting her down for days and she won't tell her anything about Polly," Veronica informs him.

Jughead can't think of a single reason that justifies Cheryl not telling Betty about Polly. "Why?"

"Cheryl didn't really elaborate, just that they're still keeping Betty out of it," Veronica tells him.

"But Betty is already involved. In fact, she might have more pieces of all of it than they do."

Veronica stares at him with apprehension in her eyes. "What if she doesn't though? What if they know something we don't? If they do and it's something that can get Betty hurt, then I don't think she should start pushing Cheryl over it."

"This isn't the case of the mystery meat in the cafeteria, Veronica, this is Betty's sister. Her family. It shouldn't even be up for negotiation, she has a right to know what's going on," Jughead snaps at her.

"If this is about Betty's safety, then maybe she doesn't always have to know everything going on," Veronica snaps back, standing up to face him.

Jughead's anger grows as he crosses his arms and responds, "Don't you think, that maybe, Betty should know everything because her safety is in question? You really think she should walk around not knowing what could possibly happen to her?"

"Not if Betty knowing everything would send her marching off into something that could get her hurt, then no, maybe it's better she not be aware of every step someone else is making!" Veronica shouts at him.

Archie is standing up now, looking concerned. "You guys, come on, calm down."

"Not knowing what's going on is just going to make Betty spiral, Veronica. I know you think you know her better than we do, but you don't," Jughead says firmly with an edge that implies Veronica is on dangerous ground.

"Ronnie, Jug, come on, let's-" Archie interjects as he tries to play mediator.

Veronica is staring at him with fire in her eyes. "I know just as much as you do about what's been going on with Betty about Polly, Jughead. We don't actually spend all of our time extolling your virtues when we talk."

Jughead rolls his eyes at her. "That's cute, Veronica, that you think a couple of months of bonding is going to somehow measure up to how well I know Betty."

"Archie has known her just as long and he agrees with me, Jughead! Betty might get hurt. Hell, you might get hurt. The two of you don't need to act like bulldozers over everything you get nosy about."

Looking at Archie, betrayed, he asks him, "You can't think that, Archie? You know what this is doing to Betty."

Archie's shoulders slump as he stands there and closes his eyes in resignation. "What I know, Jug, is that if either you or Betty got hurt, it would hurt everyone around you. And for what? Information? Betty knows Polly is fine, Cheryl would tell her if something happened."

"I can't believe the two of you. Where is this even coming from? You want Betty to back offafter you've involved yourself? Do you know how suspicious that sounds?" he questions Veronica angrily.

Veronica throws her hands in the air in exasperation. "Not everything is a conspiracy, Jughead! I am prioritizing Betty's potential safety over the solving of some mystery that is way above your paygrade."

"If you knew-" he starts but cuts himself off. He shakes his head at them in disappointment. "I understand you're looking out for her but she needs this."

"Why?" Archie asks him, concerned. "What do you mean?"

Jughead looks past Archie to a point behind his head and thinks about all of the times Alice Cooper took all of Betty's control, the way teachers and friends have used her sweetness to their own benefit, how the burden of expectations on her keep her up at night. The way her hands curl up into fists because it's the only outlet she thinks she has. They just don't get it and it's not his right to share Betty's pain with them. "Have you told Betty this?"

Veronica looks guilty. "No, I haven't."

"You need to either tell Betty about how you feel or whatever it is you're hiding because I don't believe for one second that there isn't something else going on and then leave her alone about it when she ignores you and keeps doing what she's doing. And she will, believe me. Or you need to suck up whatever it is bothering you and support her the way she would support you," Jughead tells Veronica with a passive face.

Veronica looks pained. "Jughead...I want Betty safe, okay? I love-"

"I loved her first, Veronica! And if you think that somehow you love her more or that you're even capable of loving her like I do-" he stops suddenly and turns to walk out of the house. He's angry that he just told someone else how he feels before Betty knows how much he loves her.

He wants Betty to know he's on her side, no matter what. The way she always chooses him is the way he's always going to choose her.

There are no cars in the Cooper driveway but he still takes no chances with just walking in so he texts Betty asking if he can come up to her room without his head being taken off three steps into the house.

Come on in, no one is home.

He relaxes at her reply when another comes through. And I doubt my mom would kill you, Jughead.

He texts back as he's opening the door. Do you have that in writing?

The response hits as he starts up the stairs. And here I've been thinking you were brave this whole time.

He opens her bedroom door to see her sitting on her bed, hugging a pillow. "Of course I'm brave, Betts. But there's the sort of brave where you face your fears and then there's the kind of brave where you fight a bear bare handed after punching its cub in the nose. Guess which category I place your mother in?"

She's laughing at him and he's glad to see her smiling but her smiles drops just as fast as she tells him, "I didn't get anywhere with Cheryl. She won't tell me anything."

"Veronica told me," Jughead replies, leaving out everything else they discussed. If Veronica wants to tell Betty to back off, she's going to have to do it herself. Sitting next to her on the bed, he takes off his hat and he takes one of her hands in his. He flips it over to look at her palm and the marks are red, fresher than they should be. "Betty, how do we fix this?" he asks, running his thumb along her palm around the edges of the cuts.

She shakes her head at him. "I don't know. I could wear mittens?"

He smiles at her suggestion. "Very fashion forward. You could start a new thing."

"I'm not sure the appeal would catch on," she tells him.

"I don't know, mittens could become pretty sexy if you're wearing them," he says, leaning forward to kiss her.

"Do you have a yarn fetish?" Betty asks him, trying to maintain a serious face.

Jughead considers this as he puts his arms around her and leans them both back onto the bed. "Hey, no judgment. One grandma's hobby is another man's passion."

"You're ridiculous," she laughs out at him. Her face turns somber as her laughing trails off. "I'm tired and stressed out, Juggie."

"I know you are."

She tilts her face up towards his from her place on his shoulder. "I'm not going to stop, though. Not until Polly can come home."

He pulls her in tighter as he breathes out the tension he's been holding onto. "You wouldn't be you if you did. And that is why I love you, Betty."

Betty's eyes widen as she sit up quickly with a wide smile of her face. Her mouth parts a little like she's going to say something but nothing more than a little gasp of a sound comes out.

"I love you, Betty Cooper." And he does. He feels like he finally knows what it means when they talk about love as this great, overwhelming thing. It's a terrifying knowledge to know there's someone in the world that you don't think you can live without but Jughead thinks it might also be the safest he's ever felt.

Smiling happily at him, Betty reaches out and touches his face. "Jughead Jones, I love you."

He hopes Betty doesn't notice the wetness in his eyes as he smiles at her and tackles her to the bed. They're both laughing as he presses kisses to her lips and cheeks. It becomes something more within seconds, his hand on her neck, pushing her jaw up so he can get better access to her neck. He's holding her face firmly, keeping it still as he makes his way down and over throat, biting soft kisses into her as she breathes out heavily. He thinks he hears a whispered yes from her but as soon as he gives it thought he moves a little to the side and one of his legs slips between her thighs.

Surprised he goes to move his leg back and as he does the pressure he inadvertently puts against the apex of her thighs causes her to jerk a little, grabbing him tighter, keeping him in place.

Jughead looks at her with wide eyes and she's trapping his leg between hers, staring at him nervously. He pushes his thigh against her again and her breath hitches at the feel of it. It's enough for him to lay himself back over her, kissing her again as he repeats the movement until she grabs the hem of his shirt, pulling at it impatiently. He sits up to help her get it off and tosses it to the side when he's struck by a thought.

"Wait."

She's looking at him impatiently with flushed cheeks and messy hair, biting her swollen lips in anticipation. "What?"

"Where are your parents?"

Betty relaxes back on her bed again. "They're at some journalism professionals dinner, they won't be back until late."

Jughead lets out a sigh of relief. "Thank god."

Laying back on top of her, he starts to suck lightly on her pulse point and as his hands are moving to pull her shirt up she's the one who stops and says, "Wait!"

"What?" His eyes are wide and anxious.

"We should lock the door just to be safe."

He grins at her. "I don't think that's quite what they mean when they preach safe sex, Betts."

"Oh my lord, you're absurd. And when it comes to you and me, I think it's been proven that having locked doors is imperative," she laughs out at him, pushing him by the shoulders to get up and lock the door.

He almost trips over his own feet while kicking off his shoes walking back to where she is on the bed when she's pulling him back onto her reaching for his face when he stops short. "Wait."

"I swear to god, Jughead, this better be good."

"The window, Betty, your curtains are open. Anyone walking by Archie's window can see in here," he tells her with a serious face. Getting up to close the curtains he can feel the nerves settling further into him. Looking at her with her messy hair and rumpled clothes he still can't believe that he's here. He loves her and she loves him back and if that was the only thing she could ever offer he thinks it might be enough.

Then again, he thinks as he catches sight of the strip of skin between her shirt and waistband, no it wouldn't be. He just really, in that moment, in all moments maybe, wants to touch parts of Betty Cooper no one has ever had the privilege to touch before.

"What are you waiting for? An invitation?" Betty asks him and he realizes he's just standing there staring at her.

She sits up as he walks back over to her and she helps him when he goes to pull her shirt off. He tosses it behind her when it's finally free of her arms and he's struck by how beautiful he finds her. He can't stop looking at her, she's not wearing any less than what she was when he accidentally saw her the other day but the intimacy of the moment as she stares at him in nothing but jeans and her pretty lavender bra is making him feel like they're both totally bare in front of each other.

Softly pushing her until she's flat on her back, he crawls over her, pressing kisses to the tops of her breasts, to her shoulders, to each side of her neck until he reaches her lips again, kissing her deeply as he holds himself over her. He can feel her legs move and go around his hips, locking her ankles to keep him in place as she moves against him.

Jughead sits up and back on his knees, breaking the connection of her legs holding on to him. She's looking at him confused until he runs a finger lightly across the soft skin just below her belly button, tugging gently on the zipper of her jeans.

Nodding slowly at him, she lets him unbutton her jeans and pull the zipper down, helping him as he tugs them off her hips, exposing the underwear she's wearing. Standing up to pull them off of her legs and drop them to the ground along with the socks he helped her tug off, he feels a little breathless. If it weren't for the persistent reminder that he's awake by the hard ache in his own jeans he might think it's a dream he's having.

Betty sits up once he's taken her jeans off and reaches behind her to find the clasp of her bra. Once it's loose he helps her move the straps down her arms until she pulls it off completely and he's trying so desperately to keep maintaining eye contact with her but he can't.

He looks down and sighs.They're perfect, he thinks. That was what he should have said in response to seeing her topless for the first time. Instead of telling her how beautiful they are, that she is, that he can't imagine anything better and he wants to put his hands on them, his mouth on them, he wants to feel them pressed against his chest, he just says the first thing that comes to mind. "Oh thank god, I was starting to think these were a myth."

Betty's uncontrollable laughter and the subsequent bouncing of said perfect breasts help distract him from his embarrassment of the moment.

"All breasts, Juggie, or just mine?" she questions.

He looks at her intently. "Other breasts exist?"

The disbelieving smile she gives him with an eye roll is enough to make him smile at her. He reaches over and tugs at the band holding her hair and once her hair falls around her shoulders, he's pushing her back onto the mattress again, finally pressing his naked chest against hers, letting the weight of his hips settle on hers, thrusting a little to help ease the ache of his erection.

The low moan of approval Betty gives him encourages him to push against her harder and faster. The feel of her skin on his is clouding his thoughts, she's definitely the softest thing he's ever touched. Feeling her nipples tighten in response to his movements causes him to shiver and when she pushes him up and over onto his back so she can climb on top of him, it's happened before he even realizes the full ramifications of her position.

She's sitting on his hips, pressing herself against him, her slightly jerky movements making the sound of her uneven breathing more pronounced in the quiet of her room. Betty grabs his hands, putting the palms of his hands on her breasts.

The sensation of the weight of them in his hands causes his breath to stutter out and he looks at her face with questioning eyes.

"Please touch me, Jug," she pleads to him in a quiet voice.

He can't do more than nod and though he's running on instinct it seems to be the right thing when he brushes his thumbs over the hardened nipples, making her jolt slightly at the feeling. She stops moving and her hands fall down to the button of his jeans and she's pulling on it to undo it and the zipper before his brain catches up with his body he's pushing his pants down as she stands up to give him room, he almost forgets to take his own socks off as well.That's probably not a good look, he thinks.

Sitting there in his boxers he's staring at his beautiful girlfriend, thinking how lucky he is as he reaches out for her hand to bring her closer to him. Standing between his thighs, her breasts are at his eye level and he's still looking at her face, letting her lead them where she wants to go.

He can hear the nerves in her voice as she lets her hand drop, to run her hand across him over the cotton of his boxers and the thrill of having her touch him like this sends his nerves into overdrive. Jughead puts a hand on her hip, gripping it a firmly to keep himself grounded as she lets her fingers trail over him.

"Is this okay?" she asks him.

"Yeah," he manages to breathe out.

She moves forward and sits herself on the end of his thighs to keep enough room for her hand to go back and forth unencumbered, she tells him, "Put your hand on me again. Like you did after the dance."

He drops his other hand immediately, letting his fingertips glide over her thigh until he presses his thumb over the fabric like he had that night. His other fingers are toying with the edge of her panties and as soon as he slips them under the cotton he can feel the wet warmth of her. She presses herself into his fingers as he holds her firmly in place with the hand still on her hip.

Distracted by the feel of her movements he doesn't notice she's pushed her hand past the band of his boxes, gently grabbing him fully for the first time. He breathes out harshly, panting at the sensation of her soft and warm hand moving up and down on him.

"Is this right?" Betty asks, eyes full of uncertainty.

He's in some sort of heaven at the feeling of her touching him but the only words he can get out is, "It's perfect, Betty." Her soft smile followed by a moan when he uses his fingers to push her panties aside and start circling her clit with his thumb. She's squirming and her grip tightens slightly on him in response and he jerks under her. Her eyes open and she looks at him as she sucks her lower lip into her mouth.

He nods at her to keep going and gasps out a low, "Just like that."

As they both start moving faster with each other, he's worried about Betty losing her balance so he carefully slides off the edge of the bed slowly, wrapping the hand that was on her hip around her back so she doesn't fall. Once firmly on the floor their movements increase pace again and Jughead can't control himself when he spills himself onto her hand with his head thrown back into the side of the mattress.

Picking his head up, he keeps moving his fingers on her until her free hand comes around to hold onto the back of his neck as she cries out and he can feel her finish with a jolt of her hips and the shuddering of her legs as she brings her face to his to press a kiss to his lips.

Pulling back she lays her head on his shoulder, still shaking, and slowly catches her breath and says, "We are getting really good at this."

He huffs a laugh out. "Yeah we are."

After cleaning themselves up and getting dressed he figures they have at least another hour before anyone starts asking where he is so he sets an alarm just in case. Laying with Betty in his arms on her bed, feeling relaxed and comfortable is officially one of his new favorite things.

She's picking at the sleeve of his shirt when he can't help but ask her, "You meant it, right?"

He knows she knows what he meant and her movements stop as she looks up at him. "Of course, Jug. I'll probably love you more tomorrow but I don't think it'll ever be less than it is right now."

"What about Friday?" he questions with a smirk.

She rolls her eyes at him and just sighs into his chest. "What's Friday?"

"I was thinking that it could be our first actual date. What do you think?" he answers as he plays with the ends of her hair, pressing a kiss to the top of head.

"I think it sounds great, Juggie," she says and he can feel the shape of her smile through the fabric of his shirt.