WITHOUT YOU [RIVERDALE] (on hold)

03

[trigger warning: mentions of statutory rape (ew grundy)]

After a long weekend of Betty ignoring her after Cheryl's party, Julia was extremely stressed. She was unable to sleep properly, or even get Betty and Archie out of her thoughts. All Julia could think about was how upset Betty was, and nothing even slightly romantic had happened in the closet.

Julia sighed and pulled on her sneakers, prepping for a midnight run to help her sleep. Exercise usually made people more energetic, but it wiped the thin girl out.

When she started to walk outside, she noticed her across the street neighbor shirtless. Julia did have to admit that Archie had definitely been working on his muscles this summer, and the transformation was insane.

"Hey," she jogged up to Archie, "what are you doing out here so late?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Archie replied as he matched Julia's pace.

"Haven't been sleeping much. Betty has this idea in her head that we did something in Cheryl's closet that obviously never happened, and she won't talk to me about it." She spoke between heavy breaths. "Or Veronica, but I have no idea what happened there."

Archie winced, "Well, she's been ignoring me too, if that's any consolation. And Veronica and I may have kissed."

Julia stopped in her tracks, "what?"

"She was hammered and Betty happened to walk by at the exact moment it happen-"

"Oh my God. Listen, good chat, but I kinda wanna run alone if that's okay with you," Julia excused herself from the run. She couldn't believe what a fxckboy Archie had become.

"Okay, Jules, see you at school tomorrow. Are you driving?"

"Maybe. I might have to walk and smooth things over with Betty, since you know, you broke her heart." She glared at him, feeling strangely protective over the girl.

Archie looked pained, "I hate that I'm hurting her."

"I know."

..........

The next morning Julia woke up at the sound of the Arctic Monkeys playing throughout her room. She groaned and began to get ready. The tall girl ran downstairs fast and grabbed a banana, spotting Betty exiting her house at that exact moment.

"Hey, wait up!" Julia yelled at her cousin. She could see Betty rolling her eyes from across the street. "Hey! Can you hear me?"

"Yes," Betty replied shortly.

Julia cursed under her breath, the girl was more angry than she thought. "Listen...I wanted to talk about this weekend. Nothing happened between me and Archie, I swear on my mom's life."

"You don't even like your mom," Betty replied, crossing her arms.

"Okay, true, but I'm being serious, Betty. Nothing happened. We just talked the whole time. He was mad because of how I left Riverdale and we just decided to be on good terms. Please believe me." Julia anxiously waited for Betty's reply. She didn't want to lose her cousin, again.

Betty paused but the corner of her mouth lifted up. "Okay, I believe you."

Julia sighed in relief, "Thank God, Archie is just a dumb boy anyways. If he doesn't like you then obviously something is wrong with him."