It has been their meeting place since they were kids. And as they got older, the innocence of it wilted, as it became a place for the hormone enraged teens of Riverdale to come to in the middle of the night to meet with those their parents didn't approve of. Betty had been here with Archie, he called it romantic and she would roll her eyes at the thought of a steamy sweaty car, in the amidst of other steamy cars was romantic. But tonight, sitting on this rock, that overlooked the dark glistening of sweet water river the moonlight made it feel romantic. She waited with bated breath, anticipating his arrival, he promised her midnight and as usual the punctual Betty Cooper was early, and there was something in the rustling of leaves and the wind in the trees that made her nostalgic.
"I'm telling you Archie, we shouldn't be here!" Betty shouted at the ginger boy who was snickering and pulling her arm further into the woods.
"Relax Betty, your mom wont find out, and if she does we will blame Jughead, we are supposed to be at his house anyway." Archie snickered as he sat against the rock pulling out all the food he could find that would fit in his pockets from his kitchen.
"You know how hard it was to convince my mom to let me stay with you guys tonight, I will never be allowed to go to another sleep over again, and you cant always blame Juggie for everything. It's not fair, it was your dumb idea!" Betty said snatching the candy bar from Archies hand.
"You don't mind do you Jug? It's not like your dad will even notice, we will be back before he is even home, he wont suspect a thing!" Archie said smiling up at Jughead, who in that moment blushed under the pressure.
"I'll take the blame for Betty, but not for you Andrews, you wanted to come here because you thought you could kiss Betty" Jughead said bitterly making a snide remark that made the red head go even redder, even if it was dark Betty supressed the smile that was caused by his embarrassment which was clearly evident.
"Yeah well you want to kiss her too Jughead!" Archie shouted furiously.
"GUYS! Nobody is kissing anybody, is that all we came here for? If so I would like to go home, and to my house not Jugheads!" Betty squealed. Part of her was flattered, it was exciting to have two boys fight over her, she was 10 and felt like she was 20.
"Nice going Jug, now Mrs Cooper is going to find out!" Arche said as he stormed away courageously back into the pitch black woods all alone. And for some reason Betty felt so terrible she started to cry. In a full tantrum she sat against the rock, pulled her knees up to her chest and cried dramatically. Jughead stood over her awkwardly, not knowing quite how to handle the situation.
"Its okay Betts, don't cry, Archies just being an ass, he will be at my house waiting for us when we get back, you're not going to get into any trouble, okay? He is not brave enough to walk all the way back to the Northside alone" Jughead chuckled sitting down against the rock beside her and putting his arm around her in a hug. She just nodded as she wiped away her tears and looked up at jughead who had the largest grin on his face she ever did see.
"I know Archie wants to kiss me, he wants to kiss everyone, but why do you want to kiss me jug?" Betty asked him. His grin set into a thin line and he squinted his eyes as if he were thinking.
"Well Archie wants to kiss everyone because he thinks everyone is pretty. And I think your really pretty Betty, even when your crying" Jughead blushed. And then she did something, that took all of the courage a ten year old could muster and sloppily left a small peck on his lips before whispering the words "Don't tell Archie" urgently as she ran into the woods.
"The kissing rock? Oh my Betty have you invited me here for sex? I don't believe it I feel so used!" Jugheads familiar chuckle came from the darkness and Betty turned around to see him leaning against the tree and she couldn't help but smile and playfully roll her eyes.
"Well, what can I say? Heart break has turned me into quite the player" Betty laughed shrugging her shoulders.
"I beg to differ, if anything it has made you more fun" Jughead laughed sitting on the rock next to her.
"As opposed to how fun I was before?"
"Come on, you know what I mean Betts"
"Well if anyone has changed it is you Jones, you have became furiously jealous" Betty laughed.
"That's because I know what I want, and don't want anyone else to have it. It's took me almost 10 years to get you to like me Betty."
"I've always liked you Jug" she said knowing that wasn't the answer that he wanted. He wanted her to tell her that she loved him. That it was him. It had always been him. But that's just not the way their story goes, neither of them would accept the blatant love they shared, hence the contract, hence the no strings, because they were terrified of losing each other so soon. So they did what many other teenagers were doing that night by sweet water river, and ignored their feelings and gave in to their hormones.
What would you do if you were in Betty's position? Torn between her head and her heart. It was funny, story as old as time, yet every book she had ever read was nothing but pure fiction, thought up by great minds with no intention of ever having to explain further than the last sentence of their own book. But this wasn't words written on pages in ink, it wasn't fiction, it had to have a further explanation. Her mind was swarmed with questions. What if? And here's why it was so difficult to grasp; it was there happily ever after, she was just reading too much into it. However it wouldn't be a story if the pair kissed and lived happily ever after, because life doesn't always have happily ever afters, life wasn't fiction. So, as any normal teen ager would in Riverdale she gathered the essentials, her keys, phone and her copy of Forever by Judy Bloom, and headed to her most sacred spot. Where she felt relaxed and calm, a safe environment for her to mull things over and draw a line through what she wanted. Riverdale Public Library. It was raining outside, and it was early enough for the last few brainiacs to still be here. And Betty thought that this was the most magical place in the world, each book she read was an opportunity to learn more, not under teachers expectations, who forced their view of the story to be gospel truth. For example, if Shakespeare decided that Romeo didn't fall in love with Rosaline, it would be fated that Romeo and Juliet were fated to be together based on the beliefs of the Edwardian era that everything that happened to them was predestined and they had no free will. In Bettys case, she believed that the tale of Romeo and Juliet and how it tragically ended was the result of patriarchal society trying to force their young impressionable daughters into marriage, which causes these daughters to rebel resulting in chaos. Juliets father can be to blame for most of the problems caused in the play. Betty was free here, to read a book and form her own opinions and interpretations of it, which made her feel intellectual, and in charge. Something she had control over, but she didn't have control over this situation and neither did Jughead, she compared them to Romeo and Juliet and hoped, with fingers crossed behind her back as she read that the end result wouldn't be as catastrophic.
"Jughead, meet me at the library".
