7 hours earlier

"So we need to talk about this, what were you thinking?" Kevin started in a harsh tone obviously still not over what happened the night before. Betty stared out the window as Kevin drove, she was trying to retrace her steps of the night, her stomach twisting with so many emotions, but the most dominant one being disappointment in herself. She couldn't help the tears that filled her eyes, she laughed under her breath at herself catching Kevin's attention who turned towards her.

"Are you…? Why are you crying?" He asked softly trying to reach for her hand.

"I don't know," She laughed and cried at the same time "I feel like I'm going insane," She took his hand squeezing it. "It's like whenever I'm with him, we are just in our own little world, but as soon as he is gone it all comes crashing into me, not to mention how crazy I feel that I already miss him and it's been like two whole minutes," Betty rolled her eyes at herself laughing again through the silent tears. "Something is wrong with me," she sighed, staring out the window and up at the sky.

"Nothing is wrong with you," Kevin sighed, looking at her apologetically "I didn't mean it like that.. It's just, that was scary Betty," He tried explaining, letting her hand go and resting it back on the steering wheel.

"I know," she huffed out a breath in defeat "And I know how it sounds when I say it, but he really is a different person with me, I know you know that too," she looked at him sideways knowing he wasn't expecting to see the more brutal side of Jughead either.

"I won't disagree with you, but still I can't help but worry Betty," He stared straight ahead "Did you guys… you know, sleep together last night?" He asked carefully his tone bordering on disapproving.

"No, but we did other stuff, and I'm not proud of it okay? I just couldn't help it, I really am going to tell Archie, I swear," She looked at his profile, gasping slightly when he turned his head quickly.

"Like hell you will, I said you need to break things off with Archie, not tell him all of this, are you crazy? You guys have only been dating for like a week, in a few months it will be like it never even happened, and I'm still your best friend, I'm fully team Betty," Kevin tried to smile slightly.

"I definitely am going to end things, and honestly someday I'll probably tell him the truth, he is one of my closest friends," Betty sighed knowing in the end she would still stay true to herself and remain honest.

"You don't owe Archie anything, before this you guys haven't even been that close since he made the football team, and got too cool for all of us," Kevin chewed on his lip thoughtfully "I want you to do it for you, not for him," He looked at her pointedly and she understood completely that he was just worried that she wouldn't be happy with herself if it continued and she couldn't disagree, none of this was like her at all.

"Yeah," She nodded feeling like she should respond but not really knowing what else to say.

"You're not gonna let him go are you?" Kevin asked catching her off guard and confusing her after the conversation they just had.

"Of course I am, I know it's not fair to him," Betty said feeling oddly hurt that her best friend would assume that she would try to keep two lives going.

"I don't mean Archie…" Kevin trailed off, staring at the road, not showing any form of emotion.

"Oh…" Betty sighed realizing what he meant, "no, I don't think I can," she looked at him out of the corner of her eye watching his reaction. He let out a deep breath.

"Just trying to figure out if it's worth wasting my breath," He laughed lightly "I don't know if you know this about yourself, but you are what people would call headstrong," He finally looked at her smiling.

"Did Joaquin say anything last night?" Betty asked choosing to ignore him. He seemed to hesitate for a beat too long and she waited patiently keeping her eyes on him.

"He told me a little bit I guess, just that they had found a guy sneaking around, and had to find out why, he left out the shooting him part though. And I'm sure he wasn't supposed to tell me any of it because he asked me not to tell you, I assume Jughead would be pissed if he knew Joaquin was spilling secrets to me," He looked over to Betty, finishing his answer with a pointed look.

"I get it, I won't tell him," Betty nodded, understanding Kevin's point "Are you gonna let go of Joaquin?" She asked quietly, feeling an odd sense of guilt that she was turning his own question on him.

"No I guess not, so I'll keep my hypocritical mouth shut," He laughed, shaking his head. They drove the rest of the way home in silence, pulling up to Kevin's house. Once they were inside Betty went to the restroom immediately pulling off her hoodie and Jughead's shirt that she still had on underneath it over her head and stuffing it into her backpack before pulling the green hoodie back on and leaning over the sink splashing some water on her face. She pulled her phone from her pocket. She opened a text to her mom typing quickly.

Hey we are awake, could you come pick me up?

Her mom texted back quickly saying she would be on her way. Betty pulled her hair up into a messy, high ponytail and stepped out of the bathroom, walking down the hallway to Kevin's room, she threw her backpack on the bed and sat next to it looking over at Kevin, who had already changed his clothes and was sitting in a low circle chair in the corner of his room, looking at his phone.

"Where is your dad?" Betty asked pulling his attention back up from the screen.

"Probably at Sierra's house, he has been surprisingly absent since he got wrapped up in that relationship," Kevin shrugged, referring to his Sheriff Keller's new relationship with their classmate, Josie's mom. "But it works out well for us seeing as we have spent an odd amount of nights being here, without being here," Kevin laughed, Betty smiled at him feeling grateful that he was at least somewhat in this with her, it helped knowing she had ally on her side of things.

"I have to talk to my mom today about everything," Betty cringed needing to say it out loud, her anxiety already making an appearance, Kevin's eyes went wide as he leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees.

"What are you gonna tell her?" He asked, not hiding the empathy in his voice for her situation.

"I have no idea yet, I mainly just have to explain why I don't want to be with Archie, but that seems kind of difficult to do without mentioning Jug," She sighed, holding her phone tightly in her hand.

"Well I'm sure she will understand, at least the Archie stuff, maybe just leave out the Serpent's stuff for awhile, at least until you have more of a grip on it yourself," He tried thoughtfully, Betty nodded knowing he was right. Her mom was very present in her life, she had always been incredibly involved, and was always very understanding, of course Betty had been a straight A student who was involved in multiple clubs and extracurriculars, she had never really given her mother a reason to worry, so she had no real idea how any of this was going to go, Alice wasn't exactly strict, but Betty was also by no means a problem child, other than her argumentative nature as a child, but that was just a result of Betty's need for answers that were satisfactory and not accepting any answers that weren't. This would be new territory for both of them. Betty's phone vibrated in her hand, and her hand instinctively squeezed it tighter already knowing it was her mom letting her know she was there.

"I'll call you later, wish me luck," She looked at Kevin inhaling deeply as she stood and threw her backpack over her shoulder. He nodded, smiling warmly. Betty walked out of the room, and bounded down the stairs letting herself out of the house and walking along the walkway to her mom's car that was parked at the curb. Her mom sat behind the wheel smiling sweetly as Betty pulled the door open and sank comfortably into the passenger side.

"How was your avoidance mission," Alice raised her eyebrow playfully at Betty.

"Good, I actually slept and had no text or calls to dodge," Betty laughed, lying through her teeth, her voice quivering slightly as she looked over at her mom, and it might have been ridiculous but being around her suddenly made tears prick at Betty's eyes again. After the night she had, the odd amount of safety she felt sitting next to her mom was surprising, she hadn't realized how much emotion she was suppressing until she was sitting there and having her mom next to her was making it all come to a head as the strong act she was putting on crumbled.

"Honey are you okay?" Alice searched her face noting the change.

"I will be, can we just go home, I need to change and I'm starving," Betty smiled, realizing all she had eaten that weekend so far was a cup of noodle, french toast, whiskey, and a poptart. Alice just nodded pulling the car into the street and heading to their house on the other side of town.

Once they were home, Betty dragged her feet up the stairs after telling her mom to give her twenty minutes to get changed and ready, she walked into her room throwing her backpack to the ground, she stepped into the bathroom, washing her face and throwing on a light tinted moisturizer, she spayed herself with body spray hoping she didn't smell too much like Jughead's body wash or his cigarettes. She made a mental note to talk to him about quitting the next time she saw him, but she wasn't sure if he would even hear it, but she figured she would at least try. She got undressed, throwing her clothes in a pile on her bathroom floor, staring at herself in the floor length mirror, twisting her body to the side and examining her figure, trying to see what he saw. She ran her hands down the dip in her waist, squeezing her fingers into her hips, she was a petite girl, with a decent hour glass figure, her D cup breasts were desirable she supposed, and she had good curves, she noted that she wasn't rail thin though, but he didn't seem to mind so she decided she would force herself not to either.

She made her way down the stairs after pulling on a pair of jeans, her Uggs, and light pink sweater, her hair still pulled up messily. Her mom was waiting in the kitchen, a copy of her newspaper in one hand and a coffee mug in the other, that she pulled up to her lips.

"You ready?" She asked, looking up at Betty when she realized she had entered the room. Betty nodded, leaning against the counter, and waiting for her mom to finish her coffee. "I was thinking we could go to that cute bakery downtown, maybe get some virgin mimosas" Alice smiled.

"So just orange juice?" Betty laughed rolling her eyes and her mom nodded still smiling cheekily, "Sounds good," Betty smiled back. She followed her mom out of the house, and looked up at the sky, the dark clouds still filling the sky, but the rain had let up for now, the clouds breaking up and showing a small amount of sun. The wind had picked up blowing the already cold air through the fabric of Betty's sweater making her shiver, the unmistakable feeling of a larger storm coming in filling her. They drove in a comfortable silence, Betty finally pulled out her phone unlocking it and opening her messages and reading the few Archie had sent.

Hey, hope you are having an okay night at work.

Call me when you can.

We need to talk

The last one he had sent this morning at 6am and Betty sighed taking in a deep breath, she was about to close her phone, when her fingers instinctively went to her contacts instead, she pressed the small crown emoji opening a new message.

Hi, just wanted to say drive safe.

She added a heart, before deleting it and adding a smiley face before deleting that too trying to come off as cool, she let her thumb hover over the send button, wondering if it was too soon to text him. She pressed it quickly before she could change her mind. Her heart started involuntarily pounding as it said delivered. She closed her phone quickly sliding it back into her pocket just as they pulled into a parking spot on a main street in front of The Corner Bakery. Her mom got out, and Betty followed, walking into the small quaint shop, small wrought iron tables were placed around mimicking a french bistro, They walked up to the counter, her mom sliding off her tan peacoat and folding it over her arm. Betty studied the menu, deciding on breakfast sandwich and a chai latte, they made there way over to a table sitting opposite each other and waiting on their food and drinks. Betty felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and her pulse spiked, her palms immediately starting to sweat as she reached for it pulling it out, the sound around her started to fade as her heartbeat thudded loudly in her ear the small crown emoji showing on her screen, she slid her thumb across it.

Always do, Betts.

Her heart dropped at how short his response was, making her regret that she had texted him so soon. She closed her eyes pushing away the feeling of rejection filling her gut, she opened her eyes looking at the screen relief flooding her as she saw the three dots

Did you get home okay?

She decided she would play it more cool this time, just putting a simple 'yeah', closing her phone and going to put it away trying not to care, her phone vibrated again and she opened it back up quickly.

My bed smells like you, I'm having a hard time getting out of it.

Her lips pulled up into an impossibly large smile as she stared at the screen the three bubbles still there, her cheeks getting hot.

I miss you already.

She blushed harder rereading his words over and over again.

I miss you too.

She wrote back quickly feeling her earlier rejection melt away completely. She had gotten so lost in her phone she had completely forgotten where she was and she looked up to see her mom watching her, her eyebrows raised, Betty closed her phone quickly sliding it back into her pocket, trying to smile innocently at her mom.

"So what's going on?" Alice eyed her, just as a young man dressed in all black, his long dirty blonde pulled back into a bun. He put their drinks in front of them saying that their food would be right out. Betty pulled the large black mug to her lips taking a small sip, the was liquid sliding down her throat comfortably.

"I'm just having a hard time with some stuff, I think I have to end things with Arch," Betty answered, raising her eyes to her moms knowing look.

"Why is that?" Alice asked looking down at her own latte and pulling it to her lips, sipping gently.

"I don't know, it's just not feeling right, I think maybe we moved too fast," Betty shrugged not meeting her mom's eyes.

"And it wouldn't have anything to do with whoever just texted you?" Alice asked pointedly wasting no time. The boy came back with their food, and Alice thanked him quickly turning her attention back to her daughter. Betty looked at her mom, her eyes wide, feeling completely frozen and unsure how to answer.

"I..umm… It's… I guess it's a little more complicated than that," Betty stuttered out her eyes sinking to the floor. Alice grabbed a fork a and started cutting into her berry filled crepe, taking a bite, Betty finally looked back up watching her carefully.

"So let's start from the beginning…" Alice tried pulling more information out. Betty started her story explaining the beginning of her and Archie and how they had been okay but something felt off, and how he recently had tried to get more physical, even trying to get Betty alone more often.

"...I guess I just wasn't as ready as I thought to be in a relationship," Betty finished successfully leaving out Jughead completely.

"To be in a relationship specifically with Archibald," Alice nodded her eyes still boring into Betty, as she ate another bite, Betty grabbed her sandwich taking a large bite and shrugging as she chewed. "Elizabeth you are still so young, these things happen, but Archie is such a good guy, are you sure you aren't just pushing away something good?" Alice tried lightly, pulling her latte up and taking a long sip.

"No mom, it's not like that, Archie is great, just not for me," Betty explained, taking another bite of her food.

"And there is someone who is great for you?" Alice asked raising her eyebrow. Betty Blushed thinking of the southside serpent, his face flashing into her mind as he wrapped her in a warm towel his sparkling green eyes drinking her in, but his gaze suddenly grew dark and cold as he stepped away from her a gun in his hand, pointed right at her, she shook her head pushing the image from her head and shivering. She looked at her mom her eyebrows knitted together as she realized there was no good answer.

"I don't know," Betty answered honestly, the image her subconscious had created was not lost on her as her mother's words rang in her ear. Was he great for her?

"And who is this other someone?" Alice asked not letting up.

"Just an old friend, but it's really nothing, just a little stupid crush," Betty shrugged, "I just don't want to be with Archie if I already can feel this, it's just not right," She explained. Alice just nodded making Betty shift uncomfortably. They sat in an odd silence for awhile as they both continued to eat.

"Just make good choices," Alice looked at her daughter, Betty nodded her cheeks feeling impossibly hot, knowing she was already far past that point.

"I always do, mom," Betty lied, but forced a smile. Sipping the last of her tea, and putting the mug on her now empty plate.

"Are you going to talk to Archie?" Her mom started more lightly just making conversation "I didn't want to make you more upset by telling you this but he came looking for you this morning, I told him you had slept in, but he seemed upset," Alice sighed looking at Betty somewhat sadly. Anxiety and guilt erupted in Betty's gut.

"Yeah, I was hoping to maybe talk to him later today," Betty pulled her lips to the side thoughtfully. Her phone vibrated again making her jump slightly, she reached down pulling it out excitedly before freezing and stopping herself looking back up at her mom.

"This someone, is really something huh?" Her mom asked giving Betty a pointed look. Betty let out a defeated sigh, her act falling away slightly.

"I think it might be," Betty sighed honestly, feeling an odd sense of relief that she could admit it out loud.

"Will I be getting to meet this someone?" Alice pried.

"Yeah, I hope so," Betty finally gave a genuine smile, Alice narrowed her eyes slightly but smiled.

"So should we still go see a movie, or should I get you home so we can get through this Archie talk, and maybe binge watch outlander in our jammies tonight" Alice coaxed finishing her drink and leaving some cash on the table as she stood.

"I should definitely get this talk over with…. But maybe tonight we could watch something that isn't full of redheaded Scots," Betty gave her mom a sideways look and they both laughed. Betty chatted lightly with her mom as they drove home, feeling relief that she had opened up more than she thought she would, but that relief was cut completely short when they pulled up to their house and Archie was sitting on his front steps next door, a small raven haired girl sitting next to him. Betty's stomach dropped impossibly low making her immediately nauseous. Her mom pulled the car into the driveway, putting it in park and looking over at Betty.

"Will you be okay?" She asked her tone careful as she looked past Betty at Archie's house.

"Yeah, I got this," Betty said trying to convince herself too. Her mom got out of the car and Betty did the same, Alice locked it before giving Betty and encouraging nod and turning to walk towards the house. Betty stayed facing the car taking in deep breaths and bracing herself to turn around, she finally pushed her feet to move, stepping away from the passenger door and turning, she looked up seeing Archie and Veronica now standing, his arms crossed over his chest. Betty smiled sheepishly and started over to them.

"Hey," She said softly, staring at her feet and noticing as she stood in front of them that her toes were slightly pointed together, making her stomach erupt in butterflies as she remembered Jughead pointing out that she did that. She dragged her eyes up meeting his, his brown eyes searching her face, an annoyed look on his face. Betty looked away from his stare, her gaze landing on Veronica, an odd realization falling over as she wondered what the girl was doing there, and noting the obvious absence of any suspicion or jealousy.

"I was actually here looking for you," Veronica answered as if reading her thoughts, "Archie happened to be outside so we just ended up chatting for a bit," she explained, looking to Archie, and back to Betty.

"Oh," Betty started, feeling weird that the girl even felt the need to explain herself "What's up?" Betty asked shoving her hands mindlessly into her front pockets.

"I just wanted to catch up since the last time we saw each other," Veronica said giving Betty a pointed look. "But it seems like maybe that's for another time, I should probably go," She looked awkwardly between them, shrugging before going into give Betty a light hug and doing the same to Archie. "I'll catch you guys later," She smiled, Betty stayed silent but waved as the girl turned to walk away making her way down the sidewalk to her Grey Mercedes that was parked in front of Archies house.

"Hi," Betty squeaked out finally addressing only Archie, She looked up at him through her lashes, her heart pounding hard in her chest.

"Hi," He looked at her sadly, letting his arms drop to his sides, and just like that the sky opened up, the rain falling down around them. They stood there looking at each other neither of them moving to find shelter as the water started pouring down harder soaking quickly through Betty's cable knit sweater.

"So you wanted to talk?" Betty asked quietly, blinking through the rain.

"Don't you want to too?" He asked his tone cold, as he looked at her knowingly. Betty's anxiety spiked having no idea what he and Veronica had talked about.

"I'm sorry Arch," was all she could squeak out, her voice breaking slightly as tear pricked her eyes, more emotion running through than she expected.

"So that's it, you're sorry?" He laughed darkly looking away from her. Betty's hair was sticking around her face and down her neck, she pulled it to the side, trying to look up at him, but the rain started coming down impossibly hard, and she squinted her eyes against it. "Come on," Archie said flatly grabbing her hand and dragging her up onto his porch. Once the were under the roof, she wiped her eyes, shivering and wrapping her arms around herself, he stepped to the outdoor swinging bench and plopped down tiredly looking over at her.

"I really am sorry Archie, I thought this would go differently," She explained, knowing she was already in the conversation and she just had to get it over with like ripping off a bandaid, and judging by his cold demeanor it was seeming like it should sting a little less, but this incessant tugging in her chest was telling her for some reason it was going to make it sting more.

"Me too," He sighed, looking out across his yard, watching the rain. "What happened Betty?" He asked turning his gaze to her, the hurt in his eyes evident.

"I don't know, I'm just not as ready as I thought I was, I kept getting cold feet and avoiding you and I'm so sorry, I really do love you, you are my best friend," She hurriedly explained willing him to understand her half truth.

"But you love me as just a best friend," He finished for her shaking his head. Betty watched him mull over his own words, his face contorting, and breaking her heart in the process, the guilt overwhelming her to the point where tears were inevitable, so she stopping fighting it and let them spill over her waterline.

"I didn't want it to be like this," she whimpered, her nose stuffing up from crying and the cold.

"Why didn't you just tell me? I mean shit Betty, it's our senior year, I would have been fine just having fun," He looked at her, the anger obvious on his face. Betty felt her jaw almost drop, but she held herself back meeting his stare, glaring back at him.

"Okay, good then just have fun," She spat back feeling her strength coming back.

"Okay cool I will," He nodded cockily, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest again. "Maybe if you want we can just be friends and still have some fun," He looked over at her raising his eyebrows, Betty stared at him her eyes wide, she couldn't help the biting laugh that left her lips.

"Alright, this is over and I'm done with this conversation," she rolled her eyes, turning on her heel, and making her way to his porch steps.

"Betty wait!," He called getting up quickly and following her, he grabbed her arm spinning her around to face him just as she hit the last step "I'm sorry okay, I didn't mean that," He ran his hand through his still wet hair, looking down at the floor. "I'm just being a dick, I'm hurt okay? But that wasn't fair…" He trailed off, guilt filled her as she watched him open up.

"I understand," She sighed " You have every right to be hurt, and you should be having fun, I hope I didn't waste too much of your time," She said honestly, meaning every word.

"You didn't," He met her gaze "Just give me some time," He nodded trying to reassure her. She nodded back, looking down at his hand that was still wrapped around her forearm. "Can I at least hug you?" He asked in a small voice.

"Of course Arch, I don't ever want to lose you completely," She smiled sadly as he pulled her into a tight embrace her cheek pressing tightly into his wet letterman jacket.

"I think we can get back to normal someday," He whispered.

"I hope so," she smiled gently, pulling out of his grasp, suddenly feeling very tired, and wanting to get as far away from the situation as possible, she had done what she was supposed to and she should have been relieved but instead she felt heavy like her limbs were made of concrete. "I should go.." She trailed off involuntarily looking over to her house, longing to change into dry clothes and be under a warm blanket.

"Yeah okay, I'll see you at school?" He asked stepping back up to his porch and turning his head to look back at her, she just nodded and turned walking away and walking robotically across their yards to her front door, wiping her feet mindlessly on the welcome mat before opening the door and stepping inside shutting it behind her and leaning against the wood. She pushed off of it going straight for the stairs.

"How did it go?" Her mom asked leaning against the door jam to the kitchen and looking at her, her floral house robe lazily open over her loose T-shirt.

"I think fine, but can we talk later? I need dry clothes and to lay down," Betty turned without waiting for an answer and bounded up the stairs, she closed her self in her room, tugging off her wet jeans that had started sticking to her skin and pulling her sweater over her head, she pulled on sweats, and a tank top, her exhausted bones needing her bed more than she was willing to admit, she laid down, pulling herself up on her pillows, she rolled over grabbing her wet jeans off the floor and pulling out her phone, rubbing it on her comforter and making sure it was dry, the crown emoji popped up as she remembered he had texted her back earlier.

I haven't even left yet and I already wanna come get you.

She smiled at her phone, all the negative emotions leaving her body in a large wave, as she pulled her phone to her chest rolling back onto her back and bending her knees up.

You have no idea how much I want that too.

She texted back honestly, the three bubbled popped up quickly and the butterflies returned at how quickly he was already responding as if he were just waiting for her to text back.

Everything okay?

She blushed at his concern, and how easily he had read the emotion in her text.

Yeah, I'm okay, just might close my eyes for a bit.

She knew she was partially lying but she didn't want to bother him with more emotional problems especially since she had no idea what he was dealing with on his end right then.

Okay, sweet dreams beautiful, don't forget to do your homework.

Betty stared at her phone reading his text over and over again, her cheek almost hurting from the smile on her lips as her thumb traced over the heart he had put at the end. She rolled back on her side, her phone still clutched in her hand as her eyes involuntarily fluttered closed, she had a fleeting thought that she should probably set an alarm to make sure this was just a nap but before she could sleep consumed her.