Hopelessly Devoted ➳ a.a ♡ b.c.

fifteen

archie made it half way into the living room before the door flung open, and jughead rushed in. archie felt his stomach drop to his feet.

"jug? what are you doing here? it's like 3 in the morning." archie said to the boy.

"have you seen betty anywhere? she won't return my texts. i knocked on her door, but no one was home. i figured if she was anywhere else she'd be here." jughead said annoyance present in his tone.

"you needed to know if betty was ignoring you at 3 o'clock in the morning." archie sighed.

"you were up anyways. wait, why are you up?" jughead asked skeptically.

"um-" archie's failed attempt at coming up with an excuse was cut off as betty appeared under the kitchen archway.

"betty, where have you been?" jughead brushed past archie, and rushed to betty.

"uh-" jughead cut her off with a hug.

archie felt his heart clench as he watched the embrace. betty let her arms wrap around jughead's back loosely. she immediately regretted looking towards archie, because the look he gave her made her want to cry.

it looked like his heart had been ripped from his chest, and betty could feel it physically squeezing her insides. she was overwhelmed by guilt as she looked at archie, while she was in jughead's arms. even when his arms were gone her guilt remained.

"why have you been avoiding me?" jughead's voice came out surprisingly harsh.

archie frowned.

"i wasn't avoiding you jug-"

"yes, you were. you could've talked to me about whatever it was instead of running off to archie like always." his words were laced with a venomous tone.

"excuse me." betty crossed her arms over her chest.

"don't act all innocent, betty."

"hey, how about we all take a breath. okay?" archie said as he put his hand on jughead's shoulder, only for it to be shoved off.

"stay out of this archie. it's not any of your business." jughead spat at him.

"you made it my business when you decided to pick a fight in my living room." archie narrowed his eyes.

"fine, then watch yet another fight between us unfold. all we do now is fight." jughead glared at archie.

"and who's fault is that?" betty asked rhetorically.

"you act all high and mighty betty, like you're better than everyone else. truth is, you're not. you're worse than the rest of us." archie could see the tears welling up in betty's eyes, "you're just a snobby little girl who has nothing better to do than fuck with other people's lives."

right as he finished his rant an open hand smacked jughead right across the face, no doubt leaving a handprint.

"fuck you, jughead." betty said harshly.

"you already have, sweetie." he wore a venomous grin as he stepped towards her.

"take another step towards her, and you won't walk for a month, jones." archie warned.

"it's okay, arch. i can handle this myself," she put her hand up to stop the boy who always came to her defense before gesturing between herself and the beanie clad boy, "this, is over."

"fine with me. i already have half the serpent girls wrapped around me finger, and it's not like i ever loved you anyways. how could anyone ever love someone like you?" jughead chuckled dryly.

betty felt the tears in her eyes brimming. she couldn't cry right now, not in front of him. she needed to seem unaffected, so she swallowed hard and put on a strong facade. just as she was about to respond to him archie cut in.

"get the hell out of my house." archie stepped intimidatingly close to the skinny boy.

"or what? what are you going to do tough guy?" jughead didn't back down.

"i'm going bash your face in." archie growled. his tone had become so low it was almost inaudible to betty.

"i'd like to see you try." jughead snarled. before betty could breathe in, archie's fist flew across jughead's face.

jughead was on the floor spitting blood from his mouth staring up at archie, who was glaring daggers at him from above.

"get out." archie's demanding voice rang through betty's ears.

jughead stood up slowly, wiping the blood from his nose on his sleeve. he turned and began walking to the door. archie was behind him ready to shut it, but before he could jughead threw punch at his face. archie caught jughead's fist centimeters away from his face, and twisted it to the side with brute force, gaining a gasp in pain from jughead.

"if you come anywhere near betty again, you'll end up a lot worse than this. i'll see to it personally." archie released jughead's fist, and pushed him out the door slamming it behind him.

archie leaned his head against the door to catch his breath, before realizing betty was still there. he turned around frantically, and found her slumped over against the wall. he watched as a tear fell from her face onto her blue shirt, leaving a wet mark.

"betts," he said gingerly as he crouched down beside her, "are you okay?"

"i'm supposed to say yes," betty looked up at him with tears running down her cheeks, "that's what the nice girl always says, but no i'm not. i want to be, but i'm not. hearing those awful things come out of his mouth made me realize, they're true."

she wiped vigorously under her eyes as archie stared at her pitifully.

"he's right. how could anyone ever love me? he obviously didn't."

"how could anyone not love you, betts? you're the sweetest person i've ever met, you're brilliant, resourceful, caring, humble, beautiful,  and trust me the list goes on. jughead's an ass, don't take anything he says to heart. none of it's true, and for what it's worth i love you." archie reached for her hand, but she pulled away.

"i love you too, arch, and i'm sorry, but this is too much, too fast. i think i'm going to go home. i just need to be alone right now to think about everything that's happened. i'll see you tomorrow." betty planted a lingering kiss on his cheek before getting up to leave.

"betts," archie said from his spot on the floor. she stopped an turned to face him, "i really do love you, i always will. no matter what."

"i really love you too, arch. no matter what." betty gave him a fake smile, but it fell when she left his house.

"we kissed. we fucking kissed, while i was dating jughead. does that make me just as bad as him? why do i still feel guilty if we're broken up, and he was cheating on me? what is wrong with me?" too many thoughts swirled through betty's head as she made her way to her room.

but two things were prominent in her mind, "what am i going tell veronica, and what the fuck does this mean for me and archie in the future?"