Jeronica

Chapter 1

The words that marked the end of a beautiful chapter, rung through his head, tearing into his mind. Betty wanted to end their time together, the time that left him smiling like a little kid again, the time that was able to help him wake in the morning. All because he was looking forward to seeing her. But now that was over, the last breakup had been nothing but a lie to push him from harm but this time it was real. She was standing in front of him, hand in hand with his best friend. Her childhood love and his all the same as well. He couldn’t explain the painful feeling he got when he looked on at the couple, drawing in a tight breath and smiling lightly. Archie was everything to him, more than Betty even so letting this get to him was wrong. However, the look on a certain raven haired princess face showed otherwise, there was light grey stains on her cheeks, but she continued to smile when they looked at her.

“Good luck with my Betty Archie-kins, the time we had together was fun regardless of it ending now” she drew in a breath, the remainder of her tear sliding down her cheek, beckoning to be seen. She was hurting. He was hurting. They both were hurting. But they also knew that Archie and Betty were end game, best friends who were in love with each other dating each other’s best friends. It could refer to either of them he supposed.  Life has a funny way of playing out was his last thought before everyone settled into their booth. Veronica shuffled over, giving room for him and he reached his hand out to her. A simple gesture but one enough to make her smile. He could tell she needed that.

He didn’t know how long that night lasted, it was more of a blur than a memory. Most of the night consisted of the two newly formed couple, cuddling up to each other and kissing in front of them. It was torture for the two of them to watch and Veronica excused herself many times to go to the bathroom, her eyes even redder each time she sat back down. He could tell she was desperate to not reveal her true thoughts on the subject, so he continued to comfort her, pulling her towards him and made conversation with her until the booth was filled with her melodic laughter. 

It was around midnight when just the two of them were left at the diner, sitting side by side. There was still plates of food left untouched, placed on the table beside the two. Her milkshake was half full, courtesy of him. Ronnie lay against him, drowsy from all her crying. Archie had practice in the morning and Bettys curfew was getting closer is what they said but no doubt they were off at Archie’s having the time of their life together. He shook her a little enough to let her eyes flutter open. Weirdly enough though, she just snuggled into him more.

He shook her again, Pop staring at the two of them with knowing looks. “It was about time you two happened.”

Jughead looked up in confusion, pursing his lips as he registered what the manager standing before him had meant. “Oh, you mean Veronica and I? This isn’t a thing, it’s a..” he couldn’t finish his sentence. Was it just a friend helping another out? Or a possible lover in his arms. Before he could answer however, Ronnie had gotten up, moving her legs to the end of the booth desperately trying to slide out. For a second he paused unsure what to say to her, right now wasn’t the time for a witty comment and he wasn’t even sure if he was capable of making one.

“Ronnie, are you okay?” he watched her actions as she said the word that proved she wasn’t fine. Fine meant a lot of things, however it was mainly used when someone wasn’t anywhere close to being okay. “But, I feel a lot better since you’ve been helping me. So, thank you.”
It caught him off guard when she smiled her big smile, thanking him for his efforts. Maybe it was the fact they were both hurting, just dumped. Maybe it was the fact that she looked so happy because he wanted to comfort her. Whatever it was, his hand was on hers again squeezing her small fingers to show he cared. She entwined her fingers with his, snuggling back into his shoulder and Jughead smiled as she closed her eyes.
“I should get you home, your parents will be worried sick about you” he mumbled, brushing her locks behind her ears. Her skin was soft to the touch and her hair felt like silk against his fingers. “I don’t want to go home” was all she said as she tightened her grip on him.

A blush fell over his cheeks as _bad- thoughts of what could happen if she came over filled his mind. Though he relaxed knowing that the look on her face didn’t beg for sex but rather sleep. “Its not a good idea if you stay at mine, you need to go back home” She sighed into him, a bratty side appearing to tell him no. “I don’t want to go home to the family of lies” He stopped on that note, realizing that tonight may not have just been about Archie but about everything. He knew Hiram was a bad man, but he also knew that she wanted her daddy back. It was something he wished he could help with, but he knew deep down he couldn’t. It wasn’t possible. “Could I stay at yours?” It was barely a whisper, she was nervous to ask him. This was further proven by the way her heart beat escalated, she unclasped her hands from his and then took them back. He’d never seen the princess behave like this and it made him curious about this new side of her.

He gave in, giving her hand another squeeze. “Sure, you can stay over at mine.”